From the Editor

Betsy Perluss

During the winter months, when the sun is at its furthest point and the days are short and cold, I often catch myself falling into a state of deep questioning. It is at these times that I reflect back on my life and re-examine the value of my work. Is it still true for me? Does it benefit others? Regarding the School of Lost Borders, I also re-evaluate my work as a guide of wilderness rites of passage; of sending folks out onto the land for four days and nights without food, company and shelter. Does this practice still serve me and others? Does it make a difference in this world?

So far, the answer has always come back with a resounding "yes"; that one of the most important things we can do as people who live on this planet is to return our hearts and minds back to the land so that we can learn to listen again to what the land has to say.  Such a practice doesn't always make sense in a modern, technological society that grabs onto quick solutions, but truly, when we listen intently to the land, unpredictable insights begin to emerge and we remember the ancient truth that psyche is not only that which lives inside of us humans, but extends to all things:  rock, river, and tree. The entire cosmos is alive and we are simply members in her vast community. If we all lived this to the fullest, imagine what the world would look like today.

Earth tells her,

return all lies to their broken source,

trust in the strange science of healing.

Believe the medicine of your own hand.

Believe that emptiness is the full

dance between us

and let it grow.

  -  Linda Hogan, "partings". 

The Nature of Intent

The Vision Fast

Steven Foster

            "What is a vision fast?" the lady asks.  Though I've answered her question many times before, I decide to take another crack at it.  Who know?  I may come up with a new understanding of this very old way.

            A Vision Fast, or "vision quest", or "fast on the mountain," is an ancient ceremonial means of confirming that a significant life stage, task, or period of waiting/preparation, has been completed.  The fast is undertaken with the understanding that when the time of fasting is complete, two issues have been resolved:  1.  What came before is over;  2.  What comes next has begun.  In between What Came Before and What Comes Next lies the fallow, sacred time/space continuum of the fast itself, the "thrashing-hold" (threshold) on which the chaff is separated from the wheat so that What Came Before can be confirmed and What Comes Next can be inherited.

            But the lady isn't satisfied.  "Cut the fancy talk," she says.  "I'm thinking about doing it myself.  I want to know what kinds of experiences I'll encounter."  I think about my answer for a while, for there are many different kinds of vision fasts and every teacher, guide, or leader cultivates a different form.  Nevertheless, all these forms share certain common elements, so I decide to describe these commonalities.

            The vision fast is an experience of becoming intimately involved with the Earth in her natural state.  You plunk your butt in the dirt for a few days and nights and you don't eat anything.  Usually, you don't see any humans.  But you have plenty of visitors.  The sun, moon and stars decide to live with you for a while.  The wind sings hello.  The rain may decide to drop in.  Thunder and lightning may pay their respects.  The creatures (or, if you will, spirits) of the earth, of whom you are but one, watch you and keep you company.  Maybe you walk around.  Maybe you don't.  Maybe you beat a drum or shake a rattle or sing a song or write a poem or pray without ceasing.  Maybe you lie asleep, in a daze, a dream, or a state of extreme boredom.  Maybe you like being where you are, maybe you wish you were anywhere but here.  Time passes, sometimes slowly, sometimes too fast.  You are absolutely free to sleep on the ground, or in the stars, to feel lonely, ecstatic, empty, scared, or blessed.

            And when the thrashing-hold time is over, you return to the civilized world with a certain knowing about yourself and the life that waits for you that can never adequately be put into words, a knowing that goes too deep for tears and laughter, that hides in your heart like a ship riding safely at anchor.  You return to the social world like a spirit returning to a body, like a seed falling in fallow ground - and there is a magnificent challenge awaits you.

            "Challenge?" asks the lady.  "Isn't the emptiness, loneliness and exposure of the fast challenge enough?"  No, I answer, shaking my head ruefully.  The fast was nothing in comparison to the task that awaits you.  By fasting you merely confirmed that you are ready to take on the big challenge of What Comes Next.

            "Then what's the 'big challenge?'"

            The vision.

            "But I thought the vision came with the fast.  Isn't that why they call it the 'vision fast?'"

            It does.  The fast teaches you how to fast for a vision.

            "So?"

            So that's what you came back to.  When you return, that's what you have to fast for.  The vision.

Thoughts on Initiation

John Davis

Q: What would initiation look like then? What would the process be?

MALIDOMA SOMÉ: Well, primarily it would have to start with a basic understanding of the structure of initiation. That is, separation from family, from a village or town; the entrance into a magical world--call it wilderness if you want--and the experiencing of some carefully structured element or thing in that natural setting, and eventually a return back to the world, to a bunch of people I'd like to call the village who will be there to welcome the initiate.

--Malidoma Somé (from an interview with Michael Bertrand, Banyen Books, Vancouver, BC)

This morning, a particularly mild winter morning after a very cold spell, I am struck by  Malidoma's succinct summary in several ways. (If you don't know him, he's a remarkable bridge between the traditional and modern worlds and a strong advocate for the necessity of initiation and rites of passage.) It's fair to say that he has also summarized the foundation and shape of the School's vision fasts. While he speaks of separation from family and village, I think we can also recognize that this separation is from old and out-dated self-images. Separation or severance happens on many levels, whether it is intentional and planned or a surprising, even shocking, disruption in our lives. Some transitions begin from inside as we recognize our maturation into a new life phase, and some begin with external changes. Still, all transitions reverberate throughout our lives. I love that he points to a "natural setting" for initiation. While wilderness, per se, is not necessary, direct and immediate contact with the wilder world is such a potent container and partner in rites of passage. Wilderness helps deconstruct the crusts of our over-structured lives, it wakes us up to the present, and it exposes us to LIFE in its most pure and raw forms. With just the right edge of challenge and support, wild places seem perfect for this work. Finally, I am touched that most of us do not return to a bunch of people we can call a village. There is a loss when our initiations are not seen and celebrated by our "villages." All the more reason to include as part of our work the building of community. What can you do today to help create the kind of village or community that you need?

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Winter Solstice a Conversation with the Muse

When darkness comes I smile

That secret smile

The one I saved for you.

When the axis turns

Your bright face enters my mind

My heart remembering that fire we shared

The one in the Garden

So very long ago.

A night so shimmering with hope

It changed me.

The seeds in frozen ground know of promise

The Garden forms shifting images

Full and embodied

Singing at dawn

Bright shapes against a red sky

If I could give the world anything,

It would be this shimmering song.

Gratitude

It is no small thing to go from being a free-spirited, hard-working group of passionate people to a government sanctioned non-profit with all the "correct" bells and whistles! However, it came to pass a few years ago, as you know. We are so young, as non-profits go, but far, far older than that in passion, in experience, in the love of this work, and in gratitude for all who came before and all who will follow.

It is with great joy, in this new year, that we, the Board,say Thank You! Thank you to all of you for the donations that come to us.  Some mailed your gift to us and some used our "Donate" button on the website that is connected to Network for Good. These donations sustain our Scholarship fund, in the name of Steven; our Global Rites of Passage fund and our General fund.  At the end of 2010, we failed to get a request for donations out, and yet, still received over $3000, unsolicited!

We are committed to stewarding this money in the best ways possible...both in terms of who we bank with (a "green" bank called New Resources) and in the decisions that get made to use it to support the School and staff to continue to offer this life-supporting work. Your gifts are a blessing that we know comes from your own deep experience and love of this way, and your desire to see it continue in a world that can sometimes seems so far from its silence, beauty and generosity.

Thank you from the Board and everybody!

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