Re:Vision Quest.

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For the film, see Vision Quest.

This article relies largely or entirely upon a single source. Please help improve this article by introducing appropriate citations to additional sources. (December 2008)

A vision quest is a rite of passage in some Native American cultures.

In many Native American groups, the vision quest is a turning point in life taken before puberty to find oneself and the intended spiritual and life direction. When an older child is ready, he or she will go on a personal, spiritual quest alone in the wilderness, often in conjunction with a period of fasting. This usually lasts for a number of days while the child is attuned to the spirit world. Usually, a Guardian animal will come in a vision or dream, and the child's life direction will appear at some point. The child returns to the tribe, and once the child has grown, will pursue that direction in life. After a vision quest, the child may become an apprentice of an adult in the tribe of the shown direction (Medicine Man, boatmaker and so on).

The vision quest is the learning and initiation process of the apprentice under the guidance of an elders.^{[citation needed]}

The vision quest may be said to make the initiated establish contact with a spirit or force. Psychologically, it may have effected hallucinations.^{[citation needed]} See a complex emic and etic approach to shamanism among Eskimo peoples in ^[1].

The technique may be similar to sensory deprivation methods. It may include long walking on uninhabited, mountainous areas (tundra, inland, mountain); fasting; sleep deprivation; or being closed in a small room (e.g. igloo).

[edit] References

1. ^ Merkur, Daniel: Becoming Half Hidden / Shamanism and Initiation among the Inuit. (Series: Acta Universitatis Stockholmiensis / Stockholm Studies in Comparative Religion). Almqvist & Wiksell, Stockholm, 1985.