|
VISION QUEST AUSTRALIA
|
 |
There comes a time when you must leave family, friends and work behind and go off alone, looking within to discover your changes in the circle of life. The Vision Quest is the name of this journey. This is a path that has been followed by human beings for thousands of years. You hear it calling to you. These questions are pushing you, "Who am I?", "What do I have to give?" and "How can I heal my wounds?" Despite your fears, you know this is something you have to do. So you meet with others like yourself, guided by caring staff, to prepare yourself for the journey. You learn about the wilderness, putting together the necessary equipment, about physical safety and survival, and about the inner terrain, going over the story that has brought you to this threshold. You study ancient symbols and teachings that will help illuminate your way. All the while, the small group is becoming a community, offering support and love.
Ceremonial rites of passage have been important to the social health of human societies for thousands of years, enabling individuals to negotiate their transitions with purpose and meaning, discovering gifts to be brought back for the whole community. Without them, people have no way to mark and celebrate their life-changes, unable to complete the old or begin the new. The Vision Quest programs we offer enable men, women and adolescents to engage an age-old ceremonial pattern: completion of an old life, movement through the threshold of the unknown, and return to the world reborn. People in any life stage or transition can find meaning in this powerful process.
 |
We have taken the universal elements of a rite of passage in constructing a program designed for people living in our modern society. Our staff are guides, serving to mirror and support participants by helping them first to prepare for their solo and then to understand and integrate their experience. The vision quester returns to our de-mythologized society powerfully moved by having lived close to the healing power of nature and to his or her own living spirit.
The group usually begins
at a campground near the wilderness, where we get acquainted and
meet to begin preparations for the quest. We'll review flora, fauna,
first aid and safety procedures, and begin to present tools such
as the medicine wheel teachings. Then we drive or hike to base camp.
This will be home for a few days, offering community meals, company,
shelter, and a safe container for heartfelt ceremony.
There is time for sharing with other
participants and staff, or for just sitting quietly. You have part
of a day to look for your place on the earth, going in the direction
you feel called to explore. Safety concerns are addressed again
in the field, and you will have a buddy from the group that is sworn
to help you if the need arises--but you will not see each other
unless there is an emergency. You will leave a stone for your buddy
each day at a stonepile located between your sites, a small reminder
of the spirit and heart you share with others on this path. On the
last evening together in base camp, the whole group will meet in
council circle, where you'll have a final opportunity to share deeply
of hopes and fears. The next morning, there will be a beginning
ceremony at sunrise to bless you and send you off.
| "Not I, nor
anyone else, can travel that road for you; you must travel it
for yourself." |
 |
For the next three days
and nights, you will enact the Vision Quest, living by yourself
in the wildness of nature. In the weakness of fasting [or eating
lightly], you become more open and transparent. You live between
the inner world of dreams, feelings, fantasies and the outer world
of cold night air, the warming sun, the sound of a crow calling,
the sight of a lizard doing pushups, the vast view of a mountain
profile. You may be visited by dragons, whose names are loneliness,
boredom, fear, and regret--among others. You engage them with your
heart and spirit, recognizing them as worthwhile opponents. They
push you into your depths.
Time can slow down on a Vision Quest,
and the stillness of the terrain can be very powerful. As your thoughts
begin to empty out, you can look into the pool of your own being,
noticing how you are, what your dreams are made of, what you need
to let go of. The sacred dimension is present there, and you can
enter it naturally. It is possible to feel connected to everything,
to the small fly buzzing, to the cactus in its rocky home, to the
moon and stars wheeling overhead at night.
On the last evening you will build
a circle of stones to represent your life, entering it at dusk and
remaining awake until the dawn releases you. During the long night,
you can sit, stand, dance, sing, pray, or just huddle from the cold.
You are bearing witness to your own death and rebirth. What is important
to carry into your new life, and what needs to be left behind? You
ask the Spirit to help you find your way. Your prayers are answered
as the first rays of sunlight pierce the darkness. It's time now
to come down off the mountain and begin the journey back.
|
"If
you do not get it from yourself, where will you get it from?"
|
The return from the Vision Quest can be a time of great energy and joy, celebrating the healing and wholeness that you have found. After participants return to base camp, we'll share a delicious breakfast, then spend the balance of this day, and the next two, exploring the teachings of the Quest, reflecting the beauty and meaning of each story, and the challenges posed for the return. The task is to re-enter your life, bringing your unique gifts and opened heart back to family, friends and community. As Mirabai asks, "Without the energy that lifts mountains, how am I to live?" How can I bring my vision into my world, the world of work, relationships and ordinary life? The energy of the wilderness has flowed into us as healing, and from us enters the world.
|
Stages of a Rite of Passage
Anthropologists have found
that across different cultures, rites of passage follow a three-stage
process that can be said to be universally human, arising from the
core of human nature in contact with Mother Nature. We call these
stages severance, threshold, and incorporation. Understanding them
is of great importance in preparing for and undertaking a Vision
Quest.
Severance begins as soon as you feel the call to quest. It is the phase
of preparing to leave everything behind, gathering together in soul
and body just what you will need for your journey. You are preparing
to die to an old life, and the unknown awaits you.
Threshold is the time between worlds, or the Sacred World, when you shed your old skin but are not yet reborn. This is the time of aloneness, hunger, exposure and the powerful currents of soul, trials that will test your spirit and your purpose. During the threshold period, you will live simply in nature, learning her lessons, as human beings have done for thousands of years.
Incorporation begins
when you leave your place of vision and return to base camp to the
people who are waiting for you. You have to come off the sacred
mountain and return to family, friends and community. This may be
the hardest part of the journey! To live the hard-won knowledge
and insight you've found will take courage, but the world needs
the gift of your vision. No one undertakes a rite of passage for
himself or herself alone.
 |
Next Vision Quest
Saturday 6th September
-Sunday 14th September, 2008.
Mebbin - Mt Warning Northern NSW.
$1490
(includes everything except your transportation, camping gear and
restaurant meals)
Staff -Mike Bodkin and Lynn Jones
Deposit $400
($200 discount for early bird registration)
Registrations Now Open
|
