The Vision Quest at Circles of Air and Stone

Participation in a vision quest starts long before one walks into the wilderness. The seeds may have been planted long ago, and your arrival may seem part of a process unfolding steadily and naturally. Or the decision may be sudden, a crisis or transition causing something long hidden to burst forth with a compelling force one cannot deny or refuse. It may just seem "the right thing to do," an affirmative way to answer a question, mark a change, or renew the spirit.

Whatever path brings you here, whether you feel called or driven, you enter a process that is solitary, unique, and universal. Buddha, Christ, Moses, Mohammed, Black Elk — many have walked before us, their footsteps leading to the forest, the mountains and deserts. There we stand alone before our mother, the Earth; we stand before our gods and goddesses; we stand in our authentic selves. As kindred souls have done for millennia, we come to experience an allegorical dying and rebirth.

Good preparation is important, and you will begin well before leaving home. You will be asked to write a letter of intent, responding to questions designed to help the process of focusing and clarifying your purpose. You will undertake a medicine walk in the month before you arrive and read The Trail to the Sacred Mountain, a handbook giving detailed information about the concrete, mythical, and allegorical structure of the quest experience.

Upon your arrival, we will establish our preparation camp. Having said good-bye to friends and family, having left home and packed the equipment and belongings deemed necessary, one's purpose becomes focused and clarified. Four days of council are devoted to completing your preparation. Others will be preparing with you and, though focused on their own solitary quest, their presence lends support and provides insight. Friendships and a deep sense of spiritual community may be unexpected blessings.

The days pass quickly, and there is much to be done. Our meetings will focus on creating physical and emotional balance; refining and clarifying your myths, goals, and life story, and how these relate to your purpose. You will receive instruction on traditional vision quest experiences -- creating ceremony, allegories of the heroic journey, the mirroring aspects of nature; wilderness safety, animal encounters, the dynamics of fasting; medicine wheel teachings, sacred dreaming, ritual forms of attunement -- and helped to integrate these teachings into your personal worldview and situation.

We then journey to an area where you will find your place of power, where you will live alone for four days and nights. In sunrise ceremony you take your leave and cross the threshold into the Sacred World. During this time you will be completely alone, but close enough to basecamp to receive aid should you need it. Once a day you will visit a designated place (your stone pile), leaving a sign that communicates your safety. Other than this minimal requirement, your time is yours to be in intimate contact with yourself, with nature in its many forms, and with the Spirit-in-all-things.

The outline of the structure of the vision quest given here cannot truly describe the feeling of community that forms around the experience: the sense of belonging, being heard, and making a difference. This is usually unexpected, as our pre-arrival time is focused on our personal intentions. These communities often stay in touch for years after a quest, writing, providing support, and sometimes getting together for reunions and further journeys.)

Returning to basecamp marks the beginning of incorporation. There you will be welcomed with simple ceremony and the sharing of food. After washing off the dirt and dust of wilderness, we begin the journey back into the human world. This phase of the program lasts three days.

The work of incorporation is to again take on the cloak of our civilized life and to wear it lightly and gracefully. We must find a way to give thanks for all we've been given, to say "Yes!" and engage with life as it is in order to contribute and be effective.

What gifts do we have to give to our people? How are the seeds we bring back to be planted in the daily world with its dysfunction and distraction? How can we protect what is important and sacred, nurture it, and make it grow? We must ask and answer these questions if our vision is to guide us in daily life.

In council, we share stories of our time in the "Sacred World." Your story will be witnessed and attentively listened to, and you will be assisted in finding your truths and meanings, owning your gifts, and claiming your power. Observing and reflecting on the fast-paced world we left behind, we will break bread, sharing a meal together to celebrate the challenges and creativity required to live a life with vision.

After we have held our councils and shared our food, stories, and ceremonies we must part. With gratitude for the insight, rich experience, and friendship we have shared, it is time to walk our "path with heart," re-entering the world we relinquished with renewed commitment to make real our vision. There the living work of the vision quest awaits us.