Autumn Vision Quest Victoria
A contemporary wilderness rite-of-passage
Mar 13 - 23, 2022
Do not try to save the whole world or do anything grandiose.
Instead, create a clearing in the dense forest of your life
and wait there patiently,
until the song that is your life
falls into your own cupped hands
and you recognize and greet it.
Only then will you know how to give yourself
to this world
so worth of rescue.
Martha Postlewaite
“We do not go into the desert to escape people but to learn how to find them: we do not leave them in order to have nothing more to do with them, but to find out the way to do them the most good. ”
What is a Vision Quest
We used to ‘know’ our belonging in our bones. As a culture we have grown away from intimacy with the more-than-human world, yet it waits for us. This initiatory journey is an invitation to remember what we deeply belong to, what we have always belonged to.
For much of our story as a people the wider natural word has long been respected as a necessary partner in initiatory journeys or rites-of-passage. The land offers itself as mirror, as ally, as fertile container in which to draw close to the roots of our life, to what is important and what so easily can be forgotten in the fullness of contemporary life.
Since earliest times, people have received profound insight about themselves and their world by means of a vision fast – a multi-day solo fast within nature, seeking personal truth, emotional release and spiritual knowledge.
Stepping into your vision quest circle, you step out of your everyday reality and into the vast unknown. By doing so, you offer a clear invitation to the mysteries of life – yours, and the greater life of we are a part – to greet you.
Structure of the Quest Program
The Vision Quest we are offering in Autumn this year is an 11 day program, which includes four days and four nights immersed in nature on a solo ceremony. This journey will be divided into the three classic phases of a passage rite: Preparation, Threshold and Incorporation.
The first days serve as our preparation as we come together as a community to clarify our intentions. Here we listen to each other’s stories of where we find ourselves in life and what brings us here. Specifically we explore in some depth our intention for this passage rite, what is it in our life that is asking to be honoured or marked through an initiatory journey?
The threshold phase will be a four day and night fast. Each person goes alone into the wilderness (with the support of guides at base camp), without food and minimal external trappings. The threshold time allows for one’s intention to be revealed and to be unfolded in the mirror of nature. It is a time for self-generated ceremony, for becoming intimately receptive to one’s life and for experiencing both the challenge and the beauty of taking our place amongst our relations as a simple human animal on this Earth.
The final days are devoted to incorporation. We share the stories of our threshold time and explore its gifts and implications for the life we return to. We sit in ‘story council’, sharing our stories and having them mirrored back to us by the community, offering the opportunity to see our individual narrative in a wider context. This can be one of the most touching and heartening parts of our time together: being witnessed and affirmed by those who have come to participate and create this ceremony.
Other elements we will explore in support of our time together will include:
The practice of ‘Council’
Shaping and honing of Intent as a foundation for threshold experiences
Exploring the role of contemporary wilderness rites-of-passage or initiatory journeys in our times including the challenges to this.
The nature of self-generated ceremony and the role of threshold crossing.
Nature as mirror
The role and art of Mirroring for empowerment and community witnessing.
Physical safety during the Threshold time
Facilitators
Claire Dunn
Claire is passionate about connection - to earth, self, and other - and believes that a rewilding of our inner world is the key to rewilding our planet. For the last 15 years, Claire has been facilitating groups and individuals to dive deeply into their soul, through the pathways of traditional earth skills, deep ecology, dance, meditation, and contemporary wilderness rites of passage. Claire currently lives in Melbourne where she writes, facilitates rewilding workshops, offers personal mentoring, and lovingly tends her garden. Claire is the author of memoir My Year Without Matches: Escaping the City in Search of the Wild. Claire has received Vision Quest Protector Training through the Earth Heart Institute of Vision and Healing in the USA. This traditional sacred ceremony has been passed down through Tom Brown Jr from his mentor, a Southern Lipan Apache called Stalking Wolf. Claire is trained as a Quest Protector Trainer.
Daniel Amrein
Daniel (Dan) Amrein is a carpenter-builder and father of two living in the village of Warburton in the Yarra Valley. Dan’s first Vision Quest was at the age of 16 in the Lakota tradition, and since then the ceremony has been a powerful consistent thread and guiding principle in his life, both as Quester, and Guide. Dan is passionate about the power of earth-based ceremony in its different forms as a tool for healing and growth. You will often find him running long distances, tending his garden, baking bread, tracking the trails of his mountain home, and spending sweet time with his partner and co-guide Claire.
Testimonials
"When I signed up for the vision quest I had no idea what a rich world it would open up for me. By the time the quest rolled around I felt like my life had already been changed immeasurably just by the months of preparation. The program itself was beautifully facilitated by Claire and Caiyloirch, their styles complementing each other perfectly. Their ability to hold space, witness and celebrate the stories of each member of the group was astounding. When I had difficult moments they lovingly stepped in and caught me, exceeding my expectations. Being in a tightly held group and witnessing everyone else's journeys was also a key part of my experience. To have the opportunity to quest on such powerful and beautiful land was truly humbling. And the way that the guides themselves were so deeply connected to the earth made the whole experience feel profoundly sacred. If you feel your heart leaping towards this program, I strongly recommend honouring that feeling and signing up." Emily Coats
“I deeply thank Claire and Caiyloirch for creating and holding the vision quest ceremony space in such a powerful and safe way that I felt and was able to go deep down into my shadows and lean into my fears further than I thought possible. Going into the Vision Quest I was feeling immense fear and excitement, with uncertainty about how it would unfold. I feel deep gratitude that each of the questers was invited to share their intention with the group, and I felt deeply listened to and heard by Claire and Caiyloirch who guided me and other questers in exploring and clarifying our intention for the quest. I particularly appreciated Claire's skillful ability to deeply listen and ask questions that pierced through to the under layer of what I (and other questers) was trying to express, and guiding me into ways that I could honour and celebrate progress made and commit to continue this journey through ceremonies in the vision quest. I also appreciated Caiyloirch expertly shifting the energy when someone was becoming 'stuck'. This preparation was invaluable as an anchor throughout the challenges of the vision quest, and created a spaciousness where I discovered rich mirroring in nature which has shifted something deep within me, an experience I is now embedded deep in my psyche and has planted the seed of a yearning which will guide me now and into the future. I also really appreciated how Claire and Caiylorch emphasised the community of the vision quest, of how we all were sharing this journey as the much larger human community and our responsibility to the more than human world. As each quester was invited to share their vision quest story in storycouncil and have that mirrored back by Claire and Caiylorch, I felt an immense sense of wonder at how they connected each questers story into a living myth of the struggle of the human condition and discovering our unique gift and how we can offer that in service as part of the bigger story of wild nature. I also appreciated the psychological, social and physical safety information and felt that I could fully participate and trust that they were holding the space. Deep gratitude to you Claire and Caiylorch for everything that you have done to be able to offer such a rich, powerful and transformative experience in service to community, human and more than human.” Giuliana Tarascio
“The night before my vision quest, I whispered to the sky - 'please give me the experience of a lifetime.' Driving away from the site on the last day, I thought - 'yep, she delivered!' The vision quest offered me a rare opportunity to enter into and explore deep connection with nature and self in a way that felt completely held, safe and supported. Claire & Ostii truly gave all of themselves in preparing us for questing, protecting us during the journey and guiding our landing and reintegration afterwards. The atmosphere they created felt unique, intentional and true to the tradition but with a lightness and flexibility that felt welcoming and reassuring. My personal journey on the quest was utterly profound and continues to unfold daily. I thank my human and non-human communities for such gifts - gold that I will carry with me forever and that will guide my path for years to come. I highly recommend the vision quest for anyone wishing to reap the abundant fruits of deep listening in nature on the continual journey to 'knowing thyself'.” Dr. Yael Appelboom
Program info
The Vision Quest program will be held on wild land in the Strathbogie Ranges, 2.5 hours north of Melbourne. A reasonable level of fitness is required. Accommodation is tent camping. Previous experience with spiritual retreats and camping is not essential. A beautiful selection of whole food and mostly organic meals will be served during preparation and incorporation. An essential element to questing is both the physical and spiritual preparation, so if you feel the call to Quest, please be in touch as soon as possible to complete the application process, although late registrations are also accepted upon application. The program is limited to a maximum of 12 participants.
Cost:
The full cost of the 11 day program includes all food and materials. This ceremony is a significant commitment and the monetary exchange reflects this. We recognise that participants come from diverse backgrounds and income capacities and so we offer a large sliding scale of options for registration and ask that you self-select the appropriate fee between the bracket.
Sliding scale: $1600 (conc)/$1900 (low income)/$2200 (average income)
Deposit $300.
A scholarship place is available
The Vision Quest is fully booked. Please email info@naturesapprentice.com.au to go on the waiting list and to find out about future Vision Quests.
Cancellation Policy
In the event of cancellation deposits will be refunded outside 60 days of course commencement minus a $50 administration fee. Within 45 days of course commencement deposits are non-refundable. No monies will be refundable within fourteen days of course commencement.