Vision Quest

In my late 20's, I went on a Vision Quest in Austin, TX; a Native American ritual. It was truly amazing how little time it takes to become re-connected to Mother Earth and Father Sky. Basically an extended week-end is all it took, but I will admit, it was anything but a typical week-end. The Native American stories told by Thunder and Horse around the campfire were mesmerizing alone. I began to understand how deeply rooted the connection is between Native Americans and Spirit. Drumming and chanting around the campfire sent me spinning deep within myself. This was very much an individual journey.

But my story doesn't start there. There was much preparation before arriving on the land. The tradition involves making prayer ties -77 in fact -that were placed around my "blanket". You see, this experience is to discover your vision for the year, thus you are left outside on your blanket alone, without food or water for 24 hours. The prayer ties surrounded my blanket for protection during the quest. There are very specific instructions for prayer ties; start with small squares of cotton cloth in seven colors and long strings. Take a pinch of tobacco (one of the Native Americans' four sacreds), make a prayer, place the tobacco in the cloth, making a small pouch and secure it with the string. Not breaking the string, continue to the next prayer tie. I also made a large prayer tie called a Waluta (I'm not sure of the correct spelling) which was hung from a tree near my blanket. The Waluta includes a long piece of red cloth (that blew in the wind), a feather from a red tail hawk and an abalone shell.

An interesting note: If a woman is on "moontime" (on her period), she cannot vision on the blanket. A woman is considered too energetically powerful during her cycle to be alone on the blanket. So she visions at a Moon Lodge. As this was not my experience, I don't know much about the Moon Lodge.

The blanket was a beautiful experience for me. There were the sounds of the night; the crickets and the frogs...oh, the magic of it all. At one point, I saw/dreamed/visioned a lioness. She walked over to my blanket and "joined" me. I never saw her leave. I also have a very fond memory of the three women that would come to check on me, from time to time. In the night, it was so dark and they needed light to make their trek up to my blanket on the hill. I'm sure they had flashlights, but in my mind, they had old-time oil lanterns that they held in front of them as they walked. I also believe that they had on bonnets like the early pioneers would wear, as well. Maybe a former life?

Perception is fluid, isn't it?

This was and is a sacred experience burned in my memory. I still find myself honoring the four directions; North, South, East, West and hearing whispers of the elders in the wind.

Brenda