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 Fall Vision Fast
Oct 7 - Oct 19, 2023 Wild Mountain, Colorado Pedro McMillan, Kelly McClelland
As the leaves change, a different way of life is tugging at your heart. A new story is begging to be told. And your gifts are longing to be shared with the world. Marking life passages allows you ...
CA Fall Vision Fast
Oct 24 - Nov 4, 2023 Death Valley, California Petra Lentz-Snow, Kim Belair
Life transitions, like entering adulthood, midlife or elderhood are always "DNA invitations" to go out on the land. The need to become anew is planted deeply into our ancestral bones because it was ...
CA Women’s Vision Fast
Nov 7 - Nov 19, 2023 Death Valley, California Betsy Perluss, Ruth “Roo” Wharton, Kelly McClelland
Like the waxing and waning of the moon, our inner essence is reflected in the creative forces of nature, in the continual movement of light and dark. Throughout the stages of our lives, we flow ...
Mid-Winter Vision Fast
Feb 19 - Mar 1, 2024 Death Valley, California Petra Lentz-Snow, Nick LaHaise
“It may be that when we no longer know what to do, we have come to our real work and when we no longer know which way to go, we have begun our real journey. The mind that is not ...
CA Spring Vision Fast
Apr 8 - Apr 19, 2024 Big Pine & Death Valley, California Petra Lentz-Snow, Scot Deily
Life transitions, like entering adulthood, midlife or elderhood are always "DNA invitations" to go out on the land. The need to become anew is planted deeply into our ancestral bones because it was ...
NM Women’s Vision Fast
May 13 - May 24, 2024 Cochiti Lake and Ghost Ranch, New Mexico Emerald North, Cori Wright
A woman's journey is both vigorous and introspective as she covers ground outwardly, so she ventures deep within herself. Stirred by nature's calling to be creative and complete, and beckoned by an ...
CO June Queer Quest
Jun 3 - Jun 16, 2024 Wild Mountain, Colorado Pedro McMillan, Ruth “Roo” Wharton
The natural world reminds us that being Queer* is both beautiful and something to be celebrated! Showing up as who we are, and with our many gifts, is a celebration of nature's diversity and honors ...
Young Adults Nature Based Rite of Passage
Jun 15 - Jun 26, 2024 Inyo Mountains - Big Pine, California Nick LaHaise, Gretchen (Grae) Gerlach
Every summer the School of Lost Borders offers nature based rites of passage for young people age 18-28 ready to confirm their entry into adulthood in the eastern mountains of Payahuunadü (also ...
CA Summer Women’s Fast
Jul 8 - Jul 19, 2024 Inyo Mountains - Big Pine, Payahuunadü, California Petra Lentz-Snow, Kim Belair
Since time immemorial Rites of Passage Ceremonies have facilitated change, offering a simple but indispensable container to transition from one life stage to another, to let go of (die to) the old ...
CO Men’s Fast
Jul 9 - Jul 21, 2024 Wild Mountain, Colorado Pedro McMillan, Sam DeBoskey
Being a man can be easy, and not easy at all. How do people who identify as a man navigate both the immense privileges that come with maleness, and the weight of myths that come with being a man. ...
CO Summer Vision Fast
Jul 17 - Jul 28, 2024 Dragonback Springs Ranch, Colorado Emerald North, Colleen Bishop, tbird (Thompson) Bishop
In your bones you hear the singing of your sacred ancestors. You follow in their footsteps. You go alone, with an empty belly and a bare minimum of equipment, into the heart of the wilderness, for ...
CA Summer Vision Fast
Aug 5 - Aug 17, 2024 Inyo Mountains - Big Pine, California Scott Eberle, Betsy Perluss
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
Aug 16 - Aug 25, 2024 Wild Mountain, Colorado Nancy Jane, Bettina Straub
Intergenerational Women’s Vision Fast - Remembering Ourselves Home - To be whole. To be complete. Wildness reminds us what it means to be human, what we are connected to rather than ...
NM Fall Vision Fast
Sep 16 - Sep 27, 2024 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” ...
CO Fall Vision Fast
Sep 16 - Sep 29, 2024 Wild Mountain, Colorado Pedro McMillan, Kelly McClelland
As the leaves change, a different way of life is tugging at your heart. A new story is begging to be told. And your gifts are longing to be shared with the world. Marking life passages allows you ...
CA Women’s Vision Fast
Nov 5 - Nov 16, 2024 Death Valley, California 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, ...