MIND-BODY-SPIRIT Women and Wilderness: The Vision Quest as a Rite of Passage BY DENISE HORTON, ED.M, PHD
We stand at a crossroads — a parent dies; a treasured relationship ends; a once-satisfying career grinds into meaninglessness, lacks joy; a transition into mid-life; or parenthood — faced by challenges to all our expectations about how life is to be lived and why. At these times, we can be tossed into a sea of confusion, confrontation, anxiety, and self- doubt. What shall I do? Where shall I go? Who will be with me, and what will I have to leave behind? And what about the costs? Shana’s face has the fragile lines of a Botticelli angel… a concave chest, spine bowed like a question mark, all her energy drawn down- ward, a low-slung pelvis, knobby colt knees, dancing feet, and the thin expressive hands of an artist. She has trained for months, a time of fasting, prayer, and inward journeying. She has laughed, cried, learned how to rig a tarp, track a spirit, survive alone in the wilderness. She is hoping that she is ready. Shana faced the Devil alone and early in her young life. I am hoping that this Vision Quest will bring her face-to-face with her transformed Shadow, so she may meet in the darkness of her denied Self a potential for regeneration and renewal. She selects an animal medicine card and finds Antelope: “By looking at Antelope you become aware of your mortality and the short time span you have on the planet. With this in mind, you must act accordingly. Antelope medicine is the knowing of life’s circle and the knowing of Death. With this knowledge Antelope can truly live.” As Vision Questers, we are allowed to take with us only what we can carry on our own backs, a metaphor for simplifying our cluttered lives in order to clarify the nagging, troubling questions that can no longer be avoided. They will be starkly etched against a backdrop of hunger, loneliness, and geographic isolation, so that we might turn in our frus- tration and despair and hear…an invitation. Enter non-ordinary reality… Instruction in shapeshifting, read - ing the signs and signals of the natural world. Fasting until the body drops away and Spirit dances free. Stalking the wild dream. Rocks, animals, the language of trees — as ungainly humans, we give ourselves over to the natural world and learn to listen closely to its messages. We learn to pay attention to the Edge of our waking con - sciousness. We build an altar, dance a graceful dance with our totem animal, our spirit guide… then wait. We hope something will happen. am Every Sunday ation Contact: ship@gmail.com book Page: Spiritual-Activism- 003831843 vism Group Science & Spirituality plift Humanity.
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We hope nothing will happen. We witness our own death, and await rebirth. We miss our mothers. The future yawns before us, a two- faced Janus, at once terrifying and hopeful. We face the challenge of finding the path with heart, recognizing it clearly, and having the courage to claim it as our own. Our task, simply put, is to reinvent ourselves, to give birth to an expanded version of the Self that can bear us gracefully through Life’s next passage. But how to do it, and with whom, and...what if? These and more age-old questions of the Vision Quest challenge us: What are my gifts? Who are my people? If not now, when? We hear the voice of the ancient one, the Soul-self, Rio Abajo Rio , the “river beneath the river”, reminding us that we don’t have forever. It is almost always in - convenient: “Not now...wait...I’m not ready.” But, no matter. We have heard, and we must go. I turn, give Shana a final hug, and softly let her go. My job nearly done, I watch silently as she hoists her pack, and trudges onward into the forest. Denise Horton, Ed.M., Ph.D. is a Harvard-trained Jungian psy - chotherapist, and a Vision Quest guide. She is also Director, PIL - GRIMAGE: A Center for Spiritual Healing.
S UPERET A TOM A URA S CIENCE God said, Let there be light. Jesus said, I am the light of the world. Put the armour (aura) of Light around you. S UPERET A TOM A URA S CIENCE God said, Let there be light. Jesus said, I am the light of the world. Put the armour (aura) of Light around you.
Gathering comes naturally...
God is Light, and in Him is no darkness at all. On the mount of trans guration, Jesus opened his aura to his 3 highest Apostles, Peter, James and John. Learn how to harness your Human atomic energy through Jesus’ Light Science and Laws God is Light, and in Him is no darkness at all. On the mount of transfiguration, Jesus opened his aura to his 3 highest Apostles, Peter, James and John. Learn how to harness your Human atomic energy through Jesusʼ Light Science and Laws Read: KEY TO SUCCESS by Dr. Josephine C. Trust. (To receive a complimentary copy just contact us) (202) 291-8658 www.superetlightchurch.com
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Read: KEY TO SUCCESS by Dr. Josephine C. Trust. (To receive a complimentary copy just contact us) (202) 291-8658 • www.superetlightchurch.com
84—PATHWAYS—Fall 23
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