In this paper I will, first, explore the rite of passage
generally known as the “vision quest,” noting its components and its functions
as it is practiced in the Native American (or American Indian) traditions and
cultures of North America . Then, using a
narrative of my own vision quest experience (which I have included with this
paper for your convenience) as a field study source, I will analyze my
experience in terms of the components and functions as stated in various
sources pertaining to ritual, rites of passage and the vision quest in
particular, and also comment upon the outcome of the vision quest experience
upon my personal life, and perspectives on social relationships in general.
The vision quest itself is generally recognized as a
rite of passage from childhood or adolescence to adulthood, however, it is also
serves the function of other transitions, for instance, from middle age to “elderhood”
(Hine 322). Regarding this particular transition, Hine states, “The challenge
of the aging passage is to assume the responsibility of personal power and
wisdom, won from a lifetime of experience” (322). In addition, she sees the “vision
quest as a ceremony of aging” allowing one to “embrace […] elderhood” (322-323).
Carl Jung recognized the significance of such rites of passage, believing, in
fact, that “the human psyche actually views such major transition periods […]
as Death and Rebirth” (Martin 316).
In
the traditional formal vision quest, Joseph Campbell, in his Historical Atlas of World Mythology,
describes one going alone into the wilderness, fasting, meditating and praying
in expectation of a vision of a “spiritual being,” a “guardian-familiar” (131).
Highwater states, “The visions, the images,
the spirit-helpers that arise from dream […] put the individual in contact with
the orenda [from the Iroquois name of
the energy inherent in everything in the cosmos (82)], manifesting it and
strengthening it within that ‘dreamer’ so he or she might live and prosper
rather than decline and die” (83). The goal of “vision,” of inspiration comes
through a dream and/or a visitation by one’s totem, which is generally, but not always, a “spirit animal guide.”
Foster states that this “supernatural power confers a […] boon on the seeker”
(88). Pertaining to the significance of the totem,
“[t]he Indians related everything to what could be observed […] from the environment. Any principle, or
natural or cosmic law which affected the life of man […] could be best understood through observing the natural forces at work”
(Meadows 38), and manifesting in the form of mineral, plant, or animal (275). Campbell
Frazer
recognizes the importance of the purifying “sweat-house” (207), and Hartz
defines the “Sweat Lodge Ceremony” as one that “prepares the participants for
entering and leaving the presence of sacredness” (44). The procedure is one of
“pouring water over heated stones to produce a cleansing steam bath” (Bruchac
4). Powers states that the sweat lodge, “for both spiritual and salutary
reasons, […] serves as a preparatory and concluding ritual for the vision
quest,” and “the vision quest is partially dependent on the sweat lodge to
achieve full efficacy” (x). The
“sweat lodge purification ceremony” is “at once a sacred place and a sacred
time” (McCarthy 166).
As
in all rites of passage, the vision quest involves three basic stages, consisting
of: (1) one’s intention to “sever”
oneself from one’s current world and its limitations, (2) taking on “the time
of testing” in which one actually steps “across the threshold” into “the sacred
world” and out of one’s former life and its limits, and (3) the return or
“incorporation” back into the world and community previously left behind, but
now as a person transformed by the experience of the vision quest (89).
Though
there are preparatory activities occurring during the middle or “threshold
stage” itself, there are also several preparatory components which precede this
middle stage (or the actual vision quest itself). These include: (1)
purification, generally through the sweat lodge experience, (2) mental
preparation, in which one determines one’s particular intention for the vision
quest, and (3) the “medicine walk,” or pilgrimage-type journey to the vision
quest site (Foster 93).
The essential components (which I have paraphrased in
most cases here) of the actual “threshold” or liminal stage of a traditional
vision quest are:
(1) Finding a “place of power” for yourself
at which to conduct the vision quest,
(2) Having a “buddy” who can be contacted in
case of problems or emergencies,
(3) Establishing a symbol, such as a boundary
line of stones, of your own acceptance and willingness to “cross the
threshold,”
(4) Fasting,
(5) Readiness to receive a “medicine name”
which you may hear during your experience,
(6) Attuning yourself and listening to Nature
with your whole being,
(7) Being very aware of your dreams,
(8) Making a ceremonial fire,
(9) Building and occupying a circle around
yourself, and
(10) Reemerging from the threshold world.
(Foster & Little 95-103)
Since presenting the whole eight-page narrative of my
vision quest “story” and experience in the body of this paper would exceed the
prescribed length, I will be utilizing pertinent portions of it as quoted text
followed by analysis. This (and the provision of the complete text narrative
[including its “typos”] as an addendum), is far easier and simpler for the reader
than having to refer to the website where it is published.
Visions quests may be “spontaneous” and/or “informal.”
Within the traditions of various tribes, such spontaneity and informality
became fairly common: “Prominence of the Plains vision quest […] reflects […]
renewal, under conditions of heightened instability, of an openness to the
unknown never wholly subordinated to the invariance of ritual” (Torrance Torrance
Two forms generally characterize the Plains
vision quest. The first is the unsupervised pattern of dream fasting, which
involves the individual in a search for a vision or dream as a self-determined
quest, frequently undertaken without supervision or guidance. The individual
might either be a neophyte or an experienced dream seeker. […] (T)he individual
proceeded to the fasting place without any guidance or assistance.” (98)
Though it was generally accepted that a vision
concerning “a matter of much importance” should be supervised by a medicine man,
there was also a “widespread recognition that the significance of a vision
would be determined in part by the motivation of the individual,” and in
accordance with his “actual intentions and goals” (99). In addition, the fact
“[t]hat so many Native American people received dreams of power or had
visionary experiences in a free and spontaneous manner suggest that visionary
power came to certain individuals whether they fasted or not” (100). In other
words, vision could be attained without the quest; “[t]he underlying belief
being […] that if individuals are chosen to receive a vision from the powers,
it will come whether they seek it or not” (279).
My
vision quest was not consciously intended by me at the outset of this
“wilderness experience” (Leone 1) in the ancient homeland of the Esalen People,
but was named as such for me by the medicine man and tribal leader, Little
Bear. The vision quest narrative explains:
We were staying in the
ancestral village area of the ancient Esalen people,
according to Little
Bear, who claimed they lived there five thousand years ago.
There was ample
evidence of inhabitation from […] the petroglyphs painted on
the rocks high above
the valley, and the fire-blackened rock walls around the
circle of the original elders of the tribe.
[…] When Little Bear showed us the ancient fire circle of the tribal elders, he
said that they still lived there and that his people were very afraid of that
place because of its great medicine, so great it could kill a man or make him
crazy. It was at that moment that I decided I would spend that night there to
see if what he was saying had any truth to it. […] Once he realized I was
serious, he told me to “have belief” in some real way lest I anger the
ancestors. He said that this amounted to a very high-powered “vision quest” and
that I should also have an intention or a wish in mind before I go to sleep. He
wondered out loud what animal might talk to me, and if he would ever see me
again. (Leone 1-2)
We can see that the location, both general and specific,
fulfils the requirements pertaining to proper location for a vision quest. It
is a place recognized by the Esalen People as ancient and sacred. Little Bear
himself, in referring to its “great medicine,” sees it as a defined place of
power. High places, such as mountains, and places “where ancient petroglyphs
were carved into the rock” are recognized as “inhabited by dream-spirits
willing to share their power and knowledge” (Irwin 106).
In
addition, this particular vision quest is of a spontaneous as well as informal
nature. Knowing that I will be going to this sacred place, and believing in its
power, Little Bear believed that I will have a “dream” and a “vision,” and will
be “visited” by “my” totem. He also apparently believed that I was capable of
handling the experience, having observed me carefully over the previous days.
However, in spite of the apparent spontaneity and “informality,” Little Bear
still subjected me to a “preparation” which fulfilled some of the basic
components of the vision quest ritual. First, I went through the purification
ritual at the sweat lodge. This purification is much more than just a physical
cleansing; it is an attitudinal change to one of submission and humility.
“Sacred knowledge” can only be attained if one is “open to the numinous state
of our deeper being” acquired through humility, and “(f)acing death directly
[through the sweat lodge experience] brings forth a sense of humility” (Pinkson
367). Second, I fasted before the purification ritual, and had no chance to eat
before going up the mountain to the ancient fire circle. Nor did I eat anything
after returning from the mountain, being so excited about my upcoming “vision
quest.” Thirdly, I performed the “medicine walk” up the mountain to the place
where I decided to “perform” my vision quest. By means of this journey,
“certain spirits or powers of nature, which typify the nature of your own
‘medicine power,’ are attracted by you and reveal themselves to you” (Foster
93) so that you know you have found the
proper site for your vision quest. Fourthly, Little Bear advised me, quite
seriously, to “have belief” in the ancestors and their power, and to have an
intention for myself or a “wish in mind” which was important to me. He
intimated that I would be spoken to by an animal (totem) and that the whole
episode was fraught with danger- to the point of literally dying. This last
injunction relates to making myself receptive within my whole being in order to
be able to receive any impression or “message” from my environment and/or the “spirit
realm.” It was a reminder that I should be attuned, focused, and ready to sleep
and receive my dreams with courage and awareness as well as a willingness and
ability to act upon them. Unlike other rites of passage, the vision quest is
not “reduced to a single inflexible pattern” and is quite open-ended in the
sense that its “success depends not only on transcendent powers but on the
questor’s own immensely fallible endeavors” (Torrance
At
that point, I climbed to the vision quest site at dusk and “made camp.” I also
imagined a very strange wish based on my overwhelming feeling of “burn out”
(and also my suspicion that this whole “vision quest thing” was only a fantasy
anyway): I wanted to “be the only person left on earth” (Leone 3). To continue
with a next sequence of my vision quest narrative:
I awoke the first time
to see the two pine trees moving closer to me. I blinked my
eyes but I could see
them coming closer […]. Then I heard voices […]. […] (T)wo
of them in
conversation […]. I opened my eyes to see two raccoons going
through my knapsack.
[…] I stared at them in disbelief and asked them if this
wasn’t just a dream,
telling them that everybody knows raccoons don’t speak like
humans. They […] said,
“Actually, everybody knows that humans don’t speak like
raccoons.” I was
confused. […]. (3)
Here, I have begun the “dreaming” phase of the vision
quest (Foster & Little 99). I was now in that liminal, “threshold” place,
complete with moving trees and talking
raccoons. I was “receiving my dream” in what seemed to be complete awareness. I
could feel the coastal fog misting on my face, and could hear the wind rustling
the leaves of the tree nearby, as well as the shrill, cartoon-like voices of
the raccoons. But my totem had not yet arrived. When it did, it was a complete
surprise:
I looked up and the moon was so bright as to be blinding
as sunlight. […] I felt the movement of an insect’s legs on the back of my hand
[…] and saw a large black tick. […] (I)t spoke to me, saying: “I wouldn’t get
rid of me if I were you. You need me. I am your key. I am your guide”. […] I
couldn’t believe my ears […] [or] my eyes either. The tick continued, “As I
said, I am your guide and you need me. I am your wish-granter. I am the one who
will speak to you and I am the only one who can hear you. Do not lose me or you
may be lost forever”. The deep voice seemed to come from everywhere; it
surrounded me. Now I was confused and frightened. This dream […] was turning
into a nightmare and I wanted to wake up. The tick […] spoke again: “I am very
much for real. You’ll see. I am going to grant you your wish as of this moment.
If you need to talk to me, you can come back to this spot and I will probably
be here – though there are no guarantees.”
(3-4).
This phase again pertains to the “dreaming” portion of
the vision quest (Foster & Little 99). My totem, my “spiritual guide” was
none other than a tick; something I could never have even imagined. The tick
does not seem to be a particularly powerful creature (nor did I see it as such),
however it is an insect feared by man for its abilities not only to attach
itself to him by literally screwing its head into his body and then sucking and
living off his blood, but also as a carrier of powerful bacteria capable of
transmitting the often debilitating and sometimes fatal Lyme Disease. (There
are an estimated 1.5 to 2 million current cases of it among humans who came
into contact with ticks on all continents [Lyme Disease Foundation]). If that
is its effect upon the human world, imagine its effect on the animal world! Such
a totem, though not as overtly impressive as a hawk, a bear, a snake or a mountain
lion, is definitely one of “great medicine.” The tick’s words to me, “Do not
lose me or you may be lost forever,” were certainly foreboding, as was his
warning that there were “no guarantees.” I was also quite struck by the voice
which seemed to emanate from everywhere around me (4). James Walker, a Lakota
Sioux, states in Lakota Belief and Ritual,
“The vision may come to you as a man, a beast, a bird, or as some form that is
not known. Or it may come to you as a voice only” (McCarthy 163).
Exhilarated, I departed the campsite, and, discovered
over the next twenty-four hours that my wish had in fact been granted. I was the only person left on earth. This
became apparent after driving three hundred miles over public freeways through
cities and towns, and not seeing one
single person anywhere. The gravity and consequences of my wish descended upon
me with such weight that I knew I would not even want to live in such a world
of loneliness and emptiness. In utter desperation I returned to the spot where
the tick had been and called for it to take back my wish. If it did not appear
or would not take it back, I had decided simply to stay and die right there
(4-7). The narrative continues:
I don’t know if I fell asleep or not, but I felt the
movement of an insect on my cheek and awoke, being aware enough not to brush it
away. I put my hand to my face and it walked onto my index finger. It was the
tick. He spoke: “I didn’t think you’d last very long with that wish of yours.
It wasn’t a good wish, was it?” In tears, I shook my head. It continued, “Well,
I’m glad you made it back to me without complications. I will undo your wish if
you like”. “Please, please”, I beseeched the tick, with all the hope I could
muster within myself. “OK”, it said. Then he walked to the end of my finger and
tumbled down into the soft, dark earth at my feet. (7).
So much for the wish of a person angry, tired and
stressed; a person not willing to take responsibility for his blame of others
for his own unwillingness to live his
life in accordance with the direction and needs of his own soul. I had lost
awareness of my relationships with others and my inherent and integral
connection with them. I had stopped allowing myself to be open to others and to
be nourished by them. In my fear and distrust I had closed myself off and
withheld my love from those whom I loved and who needed me to nourish them in
ways greater than only physical survival. I realized I simply could not live in
such isolation I had created for myself, and that, if the tick would not “take
my wish back,” I would just die. Without my family and friends around me,
without those “lifelines” with others, life was not worth living. I knew that I
would never seek such a wish of disconnection and/or isolation ever again. I
had received my vision in the form of a curse followed by a blessing. This
phase of the vision quest ritual relates to the transitional “emergence (giving
birth to yourself)” experience in which “you […] emerge from the threshold
world as though you were newly born” (Foster & Little 102).
Running
down the mountain to the campsite, I found it once again populated. I was
thrilled to be alive. I felt like Scrooge awakening on Christmas morning! To
continue:
As I told
[Little Bear] my experience, his eyes lit up again and again. When I was finished,
he said, “You have strong medicine in your family. Who are your ancestors?” I
told him I had a great-grandfather who was a Cherokee medicine man, and he
somberly nodded. Then he said, “You yourself have strong medicine. Do you know
why I say that?” I didn’t know, and he continued, “I am Little Bear. In the forests
and homelands of my people, the bear is king of the forest; the strongest and
most formidable creature of all. However, there is only one other creature that
has the power to take a bear down, even kill a bear. Do you know what that is?”
“No,” I replied. “The tick.” (8).
This last phase of the vision quest is evidenced in my
“return” to Little Bear and the group of which I had been a part. There are
several “steps” inherent in “The Return Home,” which include: “Meeting the
group,” “The give-away,” “Eating (Communion),” “Farewell to the sacred
mountains,” “Washing away the dust of the Sacred World,” “Entering a motor
vehicle,” “Entering building, encountering strangers, buying things, eating,”
“Home” (Foster & Little 103-105). I reentered the group, the small
community waiting for me (“meeting the group”), then shared my vision and even
enacted my story with them (“the give-away”), ate a big, delicious breakfast
with them (“eating”), and bathed in the cold mountain stream (“washing away the
dust of the Sacred World”) (103). Since it was the last day of the journey, I
took one last look at the mountain (“farewell to the sacred mountains”), we
packed up camp and returned to our vehicles (“entering a motor vehicle”),
encountered people and places on the way home (“entering buildings,
encountering strangers, buying things, eating”), and finally returned home to
my family (“home”) who were wonderfully right there this time (103-105).
Also present as a part of the vision quest ritual is the
act of reuniting with the medicine man at later times to update him on the
ongoing effects of one’s vision quest experience. On several occasions I have informally
“crossed paths” with Little Bear at Tassajara
Zen Mountain
Center
Soon after my vision quest, I came to realize my
“medicine name”: Mountain Stream. My sense and experience of this name inspired
me to write the following poem:
Mountain Stream
I am the mountain
stream,
ice-cold,
shocking,
rising
from the blind depths of the earth.
I am the mountain
stream,
babbling
relentlessly to myself
as I rush
headlong,
bouncing
off the walls of my banks.
I am the mountain
stream,
wetting
every inch of your skin,
shivering
every muscle of your body
as you
immerse yourself in me.
I am the mountain
stream,
swollen by
winter rains
overflowing
my banks,
ferociously
pulling down huge trees,
tearing
them to shreds.
I am the mountain
stream,
finding
completion,
emptying,
vanishing
into the
great, deep, dark
still,
silent sea.
Now mingled, now lost,
no longer driven by my
furious current;
resting in the haven
of all
mountain streams.
(Leone,
To Dance… 25)
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---. To Dance Upon A
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