"Within Each of Us...is a Power; waiting to be Unleashed."
Whether we realize or we do not, each of us has a Quester within; that which seeks to reveal to us our potential. I believe it is when we simply see our self through our Creator's Vision; we finally know ourselves for the first time. And in knowing ourselves; we know Each Other. When we step outside for an afternoon or a day, and venture to the summit, we are free. Like the Raptor, which soars the thermal currents above and beyond our reach, yet our visions are carried across the distance between us. Here we are free as our horizons Expand through the distant mist. We begin to breathe as we let go of everything and journey back to our beginning and see it as if for the first time.Vision quest
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A
vision quest is a
rite of passage in some
Native American cultures.
In many Native American groups, the vision quest is a turning point in life taken before to find oneself and the intended spiritual and life direction. When an older child is ready, he or she will go on a personal, spiritual quest alone in the wilderness, often in conjunction with a period of
fasting. This usually lasts for a number of days while the child is attuned to the spirit world. Usually, a Guardian animal or force of nature will come in a vision or dream, and give guidance for the child's life. The child returns to the tribe, and once the child has grown, will pursue that direction in life. After a vision quest, the child may become an apprentice of an adult in the tribe of the shown direction (
Medicine Man, boat-maker and so on).
The vision quest is the learning and
initiation process of the apprentice under the guidance of an elders.
The vision quest may be said to make the initiated establish contact with a spirit or force. Psychologically, it may have effected
hallucinations. When talking to
Yellow Wolf,
Lucullus Virgil McWhorter came to believe that the person fasts, and stays awake and concentrates on their quest until their mind becomes "comatose." It was then that their
Weyekin (
Nez Perce word) revealed itself.
Not just found among
American Indians,
Eskimo peoples also participated in this tradition.
[2] For them the technique may be similar to
sensory deprivation methods. It may include long walking on uninhabited, mountainous areas (
tundra, inland, mountain); fasting;
sleep deprivation; or being closed in a small room (e.g.
igloo).[
edit] See also