The use and relevance of ritual in contemporary society
Passages, transitions, and crises in human development

The landscape of the modern world is far different from ancient times. Circles of Air and Stone was founded by a vision to bring the ancient teachings into the contemporary world. This is a sacred trust, but it is also a challenge and a creative act.

We do not live in small villages. The vision questing process is not limited to those one knows, to boys or girls of a certain age, or to people with common beliefs, stories and mythologies. Society includes atheists, pagans, and fundamentalists; people who are healthy and severely wounded; those without beliefs and those imprisoned by them. To effectively help this diverse population may require skills, exercises, and elements that were unknown and unnecessary 100 years ago and in some parts of the world today.

We are called to serve our people. Knowledge of your "people" -- who they are and the issues they face -- will somewhat determine skills and areas of study important to you. If you are working primarily with adolescents, with people in recovery, with women, trauma survivors, or people confronting death, some areas listed below may be crucial while others almost irrelevant. But the core elements, the heart and soul of the vision quest, is the same today as it was in millennia past: respect, honor, and humility before our Creator, Mother Earth and the Spirit-in-all-Things; our willingness to shrink our arrogance and self-importance and open our eyes, ears, and heart to be taught; gratitude for the gift of life on this earth, and the recognition and respect for all our relations here with us.

The uses of wilderness rites
of passage in contemporary society

Predictable and unpredictable passages, transitions, and crises in human development; the three phases of a rite of passage; evoking mythic elements; prayer and creating "sacred space"; personal and transpersonal dimensions of a passage rite; confirmatory vs. transformative rites.

The meaning of Vision

The creation of "reality" and the elements influencing perception; exercises of dreaming, rituals and practices for altering reality and perception; the relationship of "self" to "world;" worldviews as dreams: the cultural dream and the dream of daily life; open vs. fear-based dreaming; the relationship of ego to the known and unknown.

Working with people

Counseling skills. The guide as teacher, mirror, trickster, parent, comrade, catalyst, model. The powers and limitations of the role of "helper." Clarification of one‚s personal values and their relationship to the "goals" of therapeutic ritual and the fasting quest. Projection and the shadow.

Mythology in a contemporary context

The nature of myths and their traditional functions; myth as creator of "reality"; contemporary and cultural myths, family and personal myths; how to evoke, recognize, work with, or change mythologies; addressing mythological dimensions of a participant‚s quest; the use of fairy tales, stories, and symbolic or imaginative constructs.

Myths and allegories
of the vision/fasting quest

The heroic journey. The quest as sacred dream. The mirroring as aspect of nature: quests for guidance or divination; the metaphors and practice of birth and dying; the quest as meditation, as hologram, as the search for the lost self. The use of myth as a controlling metaphor. Masks of God.

Severance
Preparation in the pre-threshold phase: Correspondence, readings, group meetings; screening of participants, focusing of intent, recognition of monsters (fears, blocks) and allies. Ceremonies and rituals of severance (group and solitary): the death lodge, medicine walk, burial ground, and other rituals of purification. Archetypal and self-generated acts of severance. Preparation for fasting; allegorical acts of severance in the "mundane world." The last supper.

Creating effective ritual

Prayer. Bridges between the known and unknown. The meaning and elements of ritual; metaphors, archetypes, and symbols of the sacred world. Specific rituals: crossing the threshold; the purpose circle, power spot; sacred fire; receiving a name. The use and interpretation of power animals and songs; the meaning of "medicine"; the use and gathering of intent in ceremony. Rituals of attunement; fasting, sacred objects; dreams, dreaming, and asking for dreams.

Incorporation

Issues of reintegration into daily life, ceremonies of incorporation: the feast, elder‚s council, etc.; practices and difficulties of the return. Methods for grounding the sacred experience; witnessing, mirroring, and incorporation counseling. Myths and stories of the return. Life as a worthy opponent, as a test, as a continuation of the vision fast.

Safety in the field

The choice of a fasting area; avoidable and unavoidable risks of the threshold passage; the stone-pile, the buddy system; assessing safety in various locations and terrain. Logistics, base camp requirements, and low-impact camping; medical and first aid planning and procedures. Physical preparation, knowledge of fasting, flora, and fauna.

Working with specific groups and populations

Youth; men or women, the elderly; "adult children", incest/abuse survivors, etc. Creating, adapting, modifying programs or rites for specific populations and situations.

Professional issues

Personal, professional and wilderness ethics; business practices, insurance, professional organizations and support; location and use of various resources; related skills, organizations, publications, and trainings; rules and regulations in National Forests and Parks; questions of authority; mixing the sacred and the profane: the money issue.

Related bodies of knowledge and teaching

Other forms of quests and passage rites; medicine wheel and four shields teachings; the sacred tree; council of law; council of all beings; the dance of death; etc.