Vision Ceremony Climb the mountain

Meet face to face with the Creator. A time in solitude to be able to look at oneself without disturbances, without the distractions that we get used to in everyday life to escape from ourselves, not to look at what we dislike, what we fear, what lies on our dark side and which is an integral part of our being.

There are many reasons to go to the lonely top of a mountain to "lament". Some men receive a vision when they are very young and when they do not expect it, and they will wail to understand it better. We plan if we want to become brave for a severe test. Some people plan to ask the Great Spirit for a favor, such as healing a sick relative. We also mourn as a thanksgiving for some great gift that the Great Spirit has given us. But perhaps the most important reason for complaining is that it helps us to understand our union with all things, namely that all things are our relatives.

" The ritual begins, for each vision seeker, weeks before their ascent to the mountain. As a preparation for the ritual, you must first make a long row of small bundles of tobacco, 365 in all. Each bundle represents a day of the year and the row contains the "prayers" that, with due attention, the seeker has placed with his word to the Great Spirit. The row of prayers contains, if you will, the purposes with which the man or woman will go up the mountain to implore a vision. Also, 7 canes and 7 flags are made, one for each of the colors and the sacred directions of the universe. When the seeker is "sown on the mountain" by a medicine man of tradition, four flags are stuck in each of the 4 cardinal points, and with the row of tobacco prayers a fence is formed within which the seeker remains during all the days that his imploration of vision lasts.

Within the fence, there is usually a tree that will give you company, shade and shelter. In the red skin tradition that I am describing, vision seekers put their word and make a commitment to climb the mountain for 4 years. One year for each of the 4 directions that indicate the cardinal points, and one year for each of the 4 sacred colors that represent these directions The first year, your commitment is to climb 4 days to the mountain, to implore your vision looking at the direction of the East, the place where the sun and light come from, the place where wisdom comes from. The 365 bundles of tobacco are wrapped this year in pieces of red cloth, and the quality that is implored is humility. ...