“There are countless cultural variations on the archetype of a wilderness fasting rite. European anthropologists coined the term vision quest to refer to rituals practiced by the indigenous people of North America, but this term could be employed equally well to refer to similar rites found in European, Asia, and Middle Eastern cultures.
As a rite of passage, the vision quest facilitates the transition through a major life crossroads. Crossroads such as puberty, leaving home, marriage, loss of a loved one, divorce, major injury or disability, or a spiritual crises are often disorienting and emotionally charged, but these times of disruption and profound change are also unavoidable and potentially pivotal serving as thresholds to deep healing, growth and self-empowerment." Bill Plotkin Soulcraft
“Ancient psychological theory, of which wilderness passage rites are a part, regards life crisis or transition as challenges or opportunities of the highest order. If one can encounter and pass through the dragon ridden passage of personal crisis, one will emerge enlarged and renewed on the other side, where his community awaits his healing return. Invariably, the heroic passage archetype is a story told in three parts or phases….the story begins with an ending and ends with a beginning.” Steven Foster and Meredith Little, The Roarng of the Sacred River.
It begins with a death, an ending , a leaving , and a letting go of all that has been. It ends with a rebirth and a return. What transpires in between is a synergistic blend of the forces of psyche, nature and spirit that can be subtle but always profound in terms of evoking a kind of metanoia or deep shift in consciousness.
I work with each person individually for a period of time before embarking on a Quest. I recommend that Quester’s read : The Book of the Vision Quest by Steven Foster and Meridith Little and Soulcraft by Bill Plotkin.
First the length of time, and the basic structure of the quest is determined. Often a Waking Dream River Walk is undertaken prior to the quest. Here one can practice being receptive to the ways that Nature speaks to us and we can practice emptying ourselves to listen.
Here’s Bill Plotkin again: “ To enact a vision quest is to clear a space…To quest is to honor a fallow time in our spiritual lives, an emptiness into which something utterly new and generative might enter. It is to create an open vessel capable of being filled to overflowing by the sacred Other—perhaps by the moon, whose light is not the light of everyday consciousness. Often on a quest a circle of stones is constructed as a physical embodiment of such a vessel—one stone in each of the four cardinal directions. It is a place into which mysteries are invited. A mystery may or may not arrive, but should we be so graced, it’s form will surely surprise. It is best to be humble and not expect something majestic, for then we would probably miss what does arrive. Yet if our sensing is subtle, such that each bodily cell becomes a star or a rose, we will recognize the mystery when it arrives. Its impact, like an earth quake, might rearrange the very ground of our lives.”
The work I do as midwife is to help people prepare for their quest. I help them learn how to enter, and ask and then how to be receptive, to notice what comes. The extended time in nature turns our cells into stars and roses. During the quest there are certain basic supports that I maintain and I send the person off, and receive them on their return. This is a tender sacred office, for which midwife is well applied. I hold it with much joy and love.
Please enjoy the page on this web site where people can Journal about their retreat and quest experiences.
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