Who am I?

Who do I want to be?

What must die for a new skin to emerge?

How do you prepare for the unknown?

Step 1: Find an Experienced Guide

My Vision Quest would likely not have happened without the encouragement and guidance from my Shamanic Apprenticeship.  My teacher is my long-time friend Amy Mermaid Isakov.  Over the years, I have sensed that she taps into a wisdom gathered over many lifetimes.   However, her experience in this lifetime as one of the first initiates into the Pachakuti Mesa Tradition provided a strong grounding.   Her own Paqo Wachu is presented on The Heart of the Healer website.

Part of our preparation is done in consultation with our spirit relatives.   In order to learn about where the spirit world recommends we travel, we carried out a series of guided meditations to our “Apu Gia” or “Mountain Spirit Guide”.  My guide took the form of Yoda.  With ageless wrinkles and a sparkling eye, he shared lessons with me to:

Bring Medicine to the Forest
and
Bring Knowledge to the People

We were instructed to prepare by getting all of our matters in order, as if we were going to die.

Step 2: Create My Mandala

For me, part of the self-exploration posed by a Vision Quest involved developing a personal mandala that I had considered for years.   I worked with my artist friend Roxi to develop this mandala, which I also have on a tee shirt!

The mandala includes images from the Pachakuti Mesa Tradition, including a nod to the four sacred directions with wisdom and air in the North, clarity and light in the East,  grounding and earth to the South and the emotional heart, ocean and moon to the West.   The toaist yin-yang symbology is laid upon the foundation upon which I was raised, emphasizing the teachings of Christ.   It represents my spiritual journey through this lifetime.

Step 3: Four Conversations

As we prepare, we are encouraged to speak to four people who can give us important insights on our selves.   These people were asked to speak to my blind spots, to my emerging edge and to share their hearts on what they wished for me.    It was a challenging exercise – and I’m I glad I did it.  I am grateful to the souls willing to share with me.

Step 4: Final preparation

The Vision Quest was three days and two nights.   There was a brief fast prior to departure.   I sketched out my day by day plan in my journal.    I had decided to pursue the destination of Wasp Rock, a magnificent outcropping that I my son and I discovered ten years before.   We were chased away by a swarm of ground wasps, giving it the name “Wasp Rock”.  I had only ever seen it for 5 minutes before.  A full decade had passed.

Could I find it?   Will it be as I had remembered?

As I drove out of town, a wasp landed on my windshield.   I began to pay attention to the signs.