| 38 PATTERNS OF CULTURE
merged with hereditary privileges of the clan. So strong
has this new association become that a vision is no longer
thought to give a man power automatically. The blessings
of the vision are attained only by inheritance, and among
the Osage long chants have grown up describing the an-
cestor's encounters, and detailing the blessings which his
descendants may claim in consequence.
In both these cases it is not only the vision complex
which receives a different character in different regions as
it merges with puberty rites or clan organization. The
adolescence ceremonies and the social organization are
equally coloured by the interweaving of the vision quest.
The interaction is mutual The vision complex, the
puberty rites, the clan organization, and many other
traits that enter also into close relationship with the vi-
sion, are strands which are braided in many combinations.
The consequences of the different combinations that result
from this intermingling of traits cannot be exaggerated.
In both the regions of which we have just spoken, both
where the religious experience was merged with puberty
rites and where it was merged with clan organization, as a
natural corollary of the associated practices all individuals
of the tribe could receive power from the vision for success
in any undertaking. Achievement in any occupation was
credited to the individual's claim upon a vision experience.
À successful gambler or a successful hunter drew his
power from it just as a successful shaman did. According
to their dogma all avenues of advancement were closed to
those who had failed to obtain a supernatural patron.
In California, however, the vision was the professional
warrant of the shaman. It marked him as a person apart.
It was just in this region, therefore, that the most aberrant
aspects of this experience were developed. 'The vision was
no longer a slight hallucination for which the stage could
be set by fasting and torture and isolation. It was a
trance experience which overtook the exceptionally un-