What Happens During Vision Quests?
Solitary Search for Supernatural Guidance from Spirit, Animal Guides
Nov 13, 2009
In North and South America, indigenous peoples sought to connect with the spiritual realm for the purpose of receiving spiritual wisdom, guidance, and protection. One of the primary ways through which native people connected with the supernatural was by means of a vision quest. The information and blessings that individuals received were intended to help the individuals themselves as well as the tribe as a whole.
What Happened During a Vision Quest?
The specific purposes for a vision quest and the techniques and protocol used during a vision quest differed from tribe to tribe. However, the vision quest was always a demanding experience that had to be undertaken with a spirit of sincerity and with a clear intention.
As part of the preparatory period for a vision quest, a person normally received training from a medicine man or other spiritual leader about how to mentally prepare for the vision quest, how to open one’s self up to receive information during the experience, how to cope with the experience, and what signs one should look for during the quest. The preparation period sometimes included praying and sometimes the use of entheogens, psychoactive plant substances taken to induce a spiritual experience.
When an individual was sufficiently prepared for a vision quest, the person typically set off into the wilderness alone. In an isolated location in nature, the person would fast, abstaining from food and sometimes water, and pray for several days. In some Native American traditions, the individual would wait for a guardian animal to appear. In other traditions, the person would look for an object, such as a stone, that resembled an animal.
In many Native American cultures, a vision quest was used as a ritual of puberty. Just prior to puberty, a boy was sent into the wilderness and a girl was isolated in a special lodge. The purpose of this type of vision quest was for children to learn what their purpose in life was and to receive a spirit guardian who would help them throughout life.
The Difficulty of a Vision Quest
During a vision quest, a participant would come to a crossroads during the experience where it would seem impossible to go on. The person might experience a feeling of great anxiety and panic and might even feel as if insanity was inevitable. At this point, the seeker was forced to go deeper within to realize the ultimate wisdom of the experience and find the strength and fortitude to see the experience to its conclusion.
The vision quest culminated after an individual experienced a vision. This vision often came in the form of a hallucination or dream. After receiving the vision, the person returned to the tribe. The individual described the experience to the tribe and sought help from the tribe, particularly tribal elders, to interpret the information contained in the vision.
Vision Quests as a Means of Achieving Wisdom, Fortitude, and Protection for the Individual and the Tribe
The vision quest was an intense, arduous, and profound spiritual practice that Native American societies used to connect with and obtain information and protection from the spirit world. Sometimes members of the tribe undertook vision quests for spiritual growth, sometimes vision questions were used as rites of passage, and sometimes leaders went on vision quests for the purpose of receiving solutions to tribal problems. Typically, vision quests were carried out in the wilderness. A person would spend several days in nature alone, fasting, praying, and waiting for a vision. However, though individuals undertook vision quests solo, the information from their vision was often analyzed and interpreted for the benefit of the tribe as a whole.
Readers might also enjoy learning about the purpose of vision quests, peyote in Native American traditions, or practices of Native American sweat lodges.
Sources:
Vision Quest in Native American Religion (Britannica)
Ostow, Mortimer. (2006). Spirit, Mind, and Brain: A Psychoanalytic Examination of Spirituality and Religion. Irvington, NY: Columbia University Press.
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