You begin at sunrise and you walk in some natural place. If you must drive, try to get there before dawn. No food is taken on this day -- until after the sun has set. Set forth on a wandering, intuitive course, without consciously attempting to reach any goal. As you wander, keep your eyes open. Be aware if you are feeling "drawn" in any direction or to anything. Listen to and sense the consciousness of all that is around you. Remember to carry water.

The beginning and the end (the thresholds) of your medicine walk must be marked by ceremony. The ceremony may be elaborate or simple, but it must involve your focused attention and your gratitude to your Mother Earth for her teaching and safe-keeping.

At a certain moment on your walk, you will find something -- a symbol of meaning and importance to you. This one thing must return with you and become a symbol of your journey.

Pay special attention to loved ones and friends who call strongly to you as you walk. Some may have already died. Some who call to you are your "spirit guides," teachers, heroes, and helpers, who will watch as you grow and help to strengthen the circle of your purpose.

Like the vision quest, the medicine walk is an exercise of balance and attunement. It is not a challenging of the elements or heights, nor is it an endurance contest. The medicine walker maintains connection with the beauty of life and the reality of death as both are reflected by the world of nature.

A medicine walk can be used in many ways: as a preparation for a vision quest; to answer a persistent question, either chronic or acute; or as an open-ended journey of self-discovery. As with any meaningful human endeavor, results are commensurate with effort: the effort of preparation, the effort of focused attention; the effort of honest self-examination and interpretation.

At Circles of Air, Circles of Stone, we help participants find their own truth and validate their own experience alone, in nature. Upon deciding to undertake a medicine walk, you will inform us of your intent, and a schedule will be worked out In the week preceding the walk, you will meet with the staff for a counseling session of approximately 2 hours. This meeting will concentrate on clarifying your life issues and intentions, and present alternative models through which to view current dilemmas.

After you have completed the medicine walk and recorded it in your journal, a second counseling session is convened, again lasting about 2 hours. You will tell the story of your walk and be assisted in seeing the allegories, life-myths, monsters to be faced, strengths, gifts and modus operandi of your life‚s journey at this time. Interpretations are not given. Rather, through suggestion, questioning, and mirroring, you are encouraged to see your own truth, to accept it and embrace it.

The cloth of our lives may be finely woven or patchwork. It helps us a little to compare our garments to those of others. Our task is to accept our past, our path, and our purpose, to take on the fabric of our lives and wear it.

The medicine walk may be taken here, in Putney VT at a location we pick out, or you may choose an area that has personal meaning for you, and journey here to meet for the counseling sessions before and after.