The Vision Quest Journey: Sweat Lodge Weekend

A copy of the email written by the Vision Quest guide Kurt, of the 7 Sun's Men's Journey Group. These words have been inspired from the Sweat Lodge weekend we have just undertaken as part of our preparation for Vision Quest.

"Men,
First of all it is great to see all of you gathered together. It gives us the sense of what it's going to be like up on the Hill. The camaraderie, the chanting, beginning to touch on that depth of heart. I feel like everyone is getting the general principles of doing "Business". I realise that it really is something that is very foreign to our culture - the notion of a gathering of men with a clear intention that doesn't have a physical outcome. When we go up the mountain, one of the things we strive for is to leave it exactly the way that we found it. And in so doing it is a chance to let the mountain change us rather than us changing the mountain. It is what Uncle Max describes as "letting the land talk to us." When you go out with Uncle he gives you new eyes to see with. He opens you to what his eyes see. He is the lore of the land that speaks to you.

With Vision Quest, it is the ancient protocols and ceremony which helps to open us to allow the ancestors to whisper in our ears through the flight of birds, the movement of the wind, the stillness of all of Creation just at the right moment in the ceremony, and as Ragnar pointed out, the blue, ultra blueness of the sky. All of this is the Grandmother's, the Grandfather's response to seeing their Men do the Business. Uncle Jeff 'Two Wolves' explained it to me this way: "Quest came to us in the time when we stopped being able to speak to the animals. Before then we didn't need Quest. We were in it all the time. Quest helped us to reconnect with our four legged relations again."

And as always, it is one of the greatest inspirations for me to see the men 'taking up the mantle' of the Business. Many many thanks to Jeremy and Stu for pouring the lodges for this weekend. It is hard to understand the affect on your whole being of holding a ceremony like this for 20 or so men. It is challenging, and in every way worth it. I see how this ceremony is now carved in these men's hearts. And that, of course, is where the real ceremony is held, in the heart. Please remember this always - as your doing prayer ties, as your saying goodbye to loved ones before heading up the mountain, as we're driving together to the mountain, as your setting your circle, and while you are out there. This ceremony is held in your heart. Ultimately, no one can tell you what Quest is, what it should be. Know simply that it is yours, it is for you. A gift from your Mother, your Father. "A Vision that is your own." And all that comes with it, the suffering, the pain, the lamenting, the exaltation - all of that is a gift.

This brings me to an important point which Richmond brought forward - Crying for Vision. Every year there are pieces of the puzzle which different men bring back to my attention and this is one of them this year. John always spoke of this, Crying for Vision, and because I didn't really understand it, I have never really spoken of it to the men. But in that morning lodge, I believe we began that process of Crying for Vision. For me it was the experience of seeing the affect of my actions upon my loved ones and lamenting what I have done. It wasn't getting tangled in guilt and shame, but allowing my body to feel that and to release it through the tears. And what really struck me is that, now that we have officially said the big Sorry to the Indigenous people of this land, the warrior's task is to really feel that Sorry, to really cry out that Sorry. Again, this is the way we can reconnect with all of our Relations, this is the way we can 'heal the Sacred Hoop.'

So I encourage you to see those moments in the next few weeks when you may feel the urge to cry. Find a way to begin the lamentation, to begin Crying for your Vision.

Much love and strength for the journey getting there,
Kurt"