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Abstract

The vision quest was practiced in earlier societies, especially among some of the tribes of the Plains and Plateau Indians, as a method of gaining psychological and spiritual insight. The person would wander into the wilderness, alone, in search of a vision that would reveal a truth. Drawing on questionnaire data and the personal accounts of people who undertook a contemporary, modified version of the vision quest, this paper describes the essential ingredients of this practice. It explores the therapeutic qualities of wandering, relating self to world during the wandering, and attaining insights via the appearance of signs. The vision quest offers the opportunity to tap an archetypal form of consciousness that fosters individuation and activates the subjective experience of unity with the transcendental realm that nourishes the self.

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Wandering in Search of a Sign

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