Vision Fast
“The work we have to do can be seen as a kind of coming alive...an awakening into our true nature, a releasing of our gifts.”
- Joanna Macy
In the world today, we often live connected to screens and disconnected from the land. The initiation and rites of passage ceremonies practiced for centuries by our ancestors have almost been forgotten. The vision fast ceremony is a modern-day rite of passage that helps navigate the complexity of these times and mark, honor, and celebrate life transitions. This involves time out alone in nature, with minimal or no food, and leaving behind distractions and daily routines.
When we take the time to honor life's changing seasons and thoughtfully respond to the question "Who am I?" and "What do I have to offer?" we step into our true nature and a sense of belonging amongst the land and our communities. The results can be profound. Meaning and purpose can return, and life can become richer, clearer, and more full.
The vision fast ceremony has three archetypal phases that have been identified by anthropologists in rites of passage around the world:
SEVERANCE
Severance begins when you decide to commit to this ceremony. It is preparation for the vision fast, and the time to ask: "Who am I now? And what do I need to leave behind to move forward?" This process of "letting go" can be difficult, but it is the first step in marking the truth of who you are and the gifts you bring to the world.
THRESHOLD
During the threshold, you will cross alone into the natural world for 3-4 days and nights. Throughout your solo you will find yourself in a liminal time, a realm between your old life, and the life that has yet to come. You will create your own ceremony that reflects your background, intention, value, and what you are honoring in your life.
INCORPORATION
Incorporation begins when you return from your solo and are reunited with your group and guides. They will listen deeply to your story and mirror it back to you. You will be supported to bring back the learning and gifts from your ceremony to your people. Incorporation is a year long process and an opportunity to show up in your life in new ways.
Check out these pages for more information about rites of passage and our cultural relations.
Upcoming Vision Fast Programs
CO June Queer Quest
Jun 6 - Jun 20, 2026 Wild Mountain, Colorado Callum “Bear” Bobb, Ruth “Roo” Wharton, Timotéo(Téo) Ikoshy Montoya II
For over the last decade at the Queer Quest, groups of people from every part of the queer community have gathered on the land to celebrate our stories and step into the fullness of our queer ...
The Young Adult Rite of Passage
Jun 20 - Jul 1, 2026 Inyo Mountains - Big Pine, California Nick LaHaise, Gretchen (Grae) Gerlach
This Rite of Passage is a ceremonial and utterly real opportunity to define yourself and be thoroughly welcomed into adulthood for exactly who you are. You are our next generation of world leaders ...
CO Summer Vision Fast
Jun 29 - Jul 10, 2026 McClure Pass, CO. Emerald North, Colleen Bishop, tbird (Thompson) Bishop
In increasing times of unrest and uncertainty it can be a common human experience to gravitate towards more “certainty” rather than less. Yet, in the Zen tradition “not knowing” is most ...
Queer Men’s Fast
Aug 2 - Aug 16, 2026 Wild Mountain, Colorado Sam Balka, Pedro McMillan
Want to Learn More? Come meet the guides and ask your questions. We're hosting a virtual Info Session on Monday, June 8th, 5:15 PT/6:15pm MT. Registration ...
CA Summer Vision Fast
Aug 17 - Aug 29, 2026 Inyo Mountains - Big Pine, California Gretchen (Grae) Gerlach, Scott Eberle
The modern day vision quest is a border crossing practice, an opportunity to reclaim our true place in the natural world. When one steps across the threshold and into the unknown wilderness, ...
CO Women’s Fast – Remembering Ourselves Home
Aug 23 - Sep 1, 2026 Wild Mountain, CO Bettina Straub, Nancy Jane
- Remembering Ourselves Home - You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your ...
CA Men’s Rite of Passage
Sep 14 - Sep 25, 2026 Inyo Mountains, Payahuunadü, California Scott Davidson, Nick LaHaise
The world is changing fast… and we must do our best to keep up. We now face unprecedented waves of transformation. The blossoming and decay of our modern ways is calling attention to fundamental ...
NM Fall Vision Fast
Sep 14 - Sep 25, 2026 Cochiti Lake and Ghost Ranch, New Mexico Emerald North, Scot Deily
The land knows you, even when you are lost. ~ Robin Wall Kimmerer In increasing times of unrest and uncertainty it can be a common human experience to gravitate towards more “certainty” ...
CA Fall Vision Fast
Oct 24 - Nov 4, 2026 Death Valley, California Petra Lentz-Snow, Gretchen (Grae) Gerlach
"To thrive, to live, we must come to the thinnest places, where life and death aren't opposites but bedfellows.” - Bayo Akomolafe At the core, rite of passage journeys help us remember the ...
CA Women’s Vision Fast
Nov 3 - Nov 14, 2026 Lemoigne Canyon, Death Valley, Ca Betsy Perluss, Cynthia Morrow
“I see the Feminine defined as a reconnection to the Self, a commitment to the wildness within our instincts, our capacityto create and destroy; our hunger for connection as well as sovereignty, ...
Mid-Winter Vision Fast
Feb 15 - Feb 26, 2027 Death Valley, California Petra Lentz-Snow, Nick LaHaise
Deep within we know. No matter how much dissociation and trauma we may carry, we still know. We know in our bones when life has grown stale and the skin around us begins to itch and crack. ...
CA Spring Vision Fast
Apr 5 - Apr 16, 2027 Big Pine & Death Valley, California Petra Lentz-Snow
CO-Guide TBA Life transitions, like entering adulthood, midlife or elderhood are DNA invitations to go out on the land. The need to shed and decompose what is no longer true so that we can become ...
NM Women’s Vision Fast
May 10 - May 21, 2027 Cochiti Lake and Ghost Ranch, New Mexico Kim Belair, Emerald North
An Invitation to Step Into Your Own Becoming At certain moments in a woman’s life, something deeper calls. A quiet but undeniable knowing begins to stir — a desire to step beyond the familiar ...
Queer Storytelling and Mirroring: Training on Queer Becoming and Belonging
Jun 13 - Jun 19, 2027 Inyo Mountains - Big Pine, California Gretchen (Grae) Gerlach, Scott Eberle
“The universe is made of stories, not atoms " - Mariel Rukeyser Stories of Queerness, both from human folx and from the more-than-human-world, are emerging; miraculously sprouting hermaphroditic ...
THE YOUNG ADULT RITE OF PASSAGE
Jun 21 - Jul 2, 2027 Payahuunadü and Inyo Mountains, California Nick LaHaise, Gretchen (Grae) Gerlach
This Rite of Passage is a ceremonial and utterly real opportunity to define yourself and be thoroughly welcomed into adulthood for exactly who you are. You are our next generation of world leaders ...
CA Summer Vision Fast
Aug 15 - Aug 27, 2027 Inyo Mountains - Big Pine, California Gretchen (Grae) Gerlach, Scott Davidson
“We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.” - Maya Angelou Life changes us again and again- through puberty, ...
NM Fall Vision Fast
Sep 28 - Oct 8, 2027 Cochiti Lake and Ghost Ranch, New Mexico Emerald North, Scot Deily
The land knows you, even when you are lost. ~ Robin Wall Kimmerer In increasing times of unrest and uncertainty it can be a common human experience to gravitate towards more “certainty” ...
CA Fall Vision Fast
Oct 24 - Nov 4, 2027 Death Valley, California Petra Lentz-Snow, Gretchen (Grae) Gerlach
"To thrive, to live, we must come to the thinnest places, where life and death aren't opposites but bedfellows.” - Bayo Akomolafe At the core, rite of passage journeys help us remember the ...
CA Women’s Vision Fast
Nov 9 - Nov 20, 2027 Lemoigne Canyon, Death Valley. Betsy Perluss, Bettina Straub
“I see the Feminine defined as a reconnection to the Self, a commitment to the wildness within our instincts, our capacityto create and destroy; our hunger for connection as well as sovereignty, ...