From Monday, June 22nd - Sunday, June 28th, 2009 we will hold our third annual Mt. Shasta Wilderness Quest.  Our four meetings to prepare for this week of intensive community ceremony will be the Sundays of Feb 8th, March 22nd, April 26th, and May 31st.  These prep meetings will be a mixture of purification lodges and learning/visioning/personal sharing among those planning to participate in the ceremony.  If needed, we may also include a conference call or two.

Linda (co-facilitator) and I decided this year to start calling the ceremony a wilderness quest instead of a vision quest for two reasons.  One, we want to be even more explicit that we are not offering or presuming to offer in any way a traditional Native American ceremony.  If you want to do a traditional Native-style vision quest (e.g. a Lakota hanbleycha), fantastic, and we are not the people to do that with.  Although Linda and I have both been influenced to some degree by our participation in diverse types of Native ceremony, the ceremony we offer is interfaith, somewhat eclectic, and not representative of one specific lineage.  Two, the term vision quest we have observed can imply a lot of pressure on participants to have a dramatic vision of their lives which may happen but is not the norm.  More generally during a quest the natural world, the raw elemental wilderness is the medicine and the mirror for whatever needs to occur. So we are going to call it a wilderness quest.  The format in 2009 will be basically the same as the previous two years.  "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

In 2008 all 12 spaces for questers and nearly all 12 spaces for supporters were spoken for by March which was great as the group had three months to prepare and to get acquainted.  As 2008 was a success, we anticipate a similar pattern in 2009 (and who ever knows).  We will begin accepting commitments at the February meeting.  If you plan to quest and have not quested before ideally you allow for at least three months to prepare after you have made commitment.

Participants fast from food but not water (unless they wish to) for three nights and parts of four days.  During that time they are in a semi-remote wilderness area, in a relatively small (not more than 10' x 10') area surrounded by prayer ties they have made in advance.  These prayers serve to focus intention and to contain/protect the quester during his or her quest.  Before and after being out, questers participate in purification lodges and the support crew lodges daily at base camp in support of the questers.  We hold the overall ceremony in a really community-oriented way.  Linda and I are both pretty down to earth, so if you're looking for the charismatic shaman teacher type, you will likely find us disappointing.  If you think you might be interesting in joining us this year plan to make the February meeting and perhaps give Linda or myself a ring. You could also talk with community members who participated in 2007 and 2008.  In 2008, for example, we had nearly 10 people return from the previous year (and 2008 went even smoother than the year before).

It's fantastic to spend a week together in ceremonial space under the gaze of this sacred mountain and in the vessel of community.  Perhaps it's for you to join us.

Daniel Foor   (650) 248-8917   danielfoor@yahoo.com