August 5-15, 2004
(includes 4-day-and-night solo fast). Since time immemorial, individuals have gone alone into nature in quest of healing, initiation, guidance, renewal, and a deeper connection with the sacred, however that may be conceived. In the spirit of this quest, The School of Natural Wonder is dedicated to assisting individuals in discovering their true nature in the mirror of the natural world.
The vision quest is an ancient rite of passage that returns you to nature — the original source and teacher. The heart of the vision quest is a solitary fast. Alone in the womb of Mother Earth, you are presented with the opportunity to give birth to your authentic self. Fears and demons confronted, and old wounds may be healed, so that the greater awareness and potential within you may emerge.
During preparation for the quest, there will be rituals and exercises designed to help you separate from the habits, controls, and preoccupations of the rational mind and to sharpen your awareness of “the other self,” the deep, intuitive sources of knowledge within you. Instructions will be given in an ancient map of the psyche and the soul’s journey in relation to the elements and seasons. There will be dream circles and storytelling with the archetypal theme of passage. The preparation in camp closes with a Purification Lodge, in which the heat from the stones cleanses and readies the soul for the quest.
Preparations completed, you will be taken to a wilderness setting where you will cross the threshold into the sacred space of your vision quest. Silence, solitude, and fasting (drinking only water) for four days and nights combine to open your heart to the voices and rhythms of nature and to the spirit within you and within all things.
Upon returning from the solo, we will meet in the elder’s council to hear your vision quest story. Emphasis is placed on the ways in which your own soul was mirrored back to you by nature and the ways you may integrate the threshold lessons into your daily life.
The whole experience offers insight, vision, clarity, purpose, communion, and a renewed sense of community that can deeply enrich your life, relationships, and work. The program takes place on a beautiful lake in southern Vermont and is limited to eight participants who provide their own food. We invite you to join us on this powerful, transforming experience. Early registration is strongly encouraged, since it takes time to prepare for the quest, and this program fills quickly.
Flynn Johnson, founding director of The School of Natural Wonder, has Masters of Arts degrees in philosophy and counseling psychology. A certified Wilderness First Responder, he’s been leading vision quests for ten years and has gone to the sacred mountain many times himself. Jill Neitlich is a psychotherapist. She and her husband Flynn have been co-leading vision quests for several years. Both received their training as wilderness vision quest guides with Steven Foster and Meredith Little and share backgrounds in Jungian psychology, ecopsychology, Native American traditions, meditation, and yoga. They combine their love of nature and their love of people in creating exquisite rites of passage. For more information, please visit their website at www.schoolofnaturalwonder.org.