With such a high value placed on discovering one's destiny within the world and fulfilling it, the act of seeking guidance becomes a crucial and sacred activity. All primal cultures place a high sacred premium on finding vision and guidance for life, and nearly all "coming of age" rites for young people include an aspect of vision seeking, in which the sacred powers are sought for their advice or guidance on how the life should unfold.
When we are walking the many paths of life, if we are where we are intended to be, things happen that verify this for us, synchronistic events and the like, which show us the way. Those out of harmony with their path encounter resistance at every turn. Those out of harmony find a lack of inner peace and even tragedy and disaster. A culture as a whole can be out of harmony, as well- for even cultures have a sacred intention at their origin, and a destiny. But within a culture, each individual must see to their paths, and this is more true now than perhaps ever, in our times of cultural confusion and decadence.
Seeking vision, or guidance, is important for many reasons, but the chief reason is one of the highest sacred power: by seeking a vision to discover the good pattern of our lives, we are doing what the sacred power itself did, as a whole- before the world came into being for this world-cycle.
In Algonquin beliefs, the "Great Mystery"- Kitchi Manitou- the all-encompassing power- is the non-corporeal reality beyond our understanding. It is said that this all-encompassing power created the world after having a vision of it; it is further said that each individual emulates the Great Manitou by seeking the means by which he or she can most fully achieve selfhood, or find their destiny. In this sense, each person continues the act of creation with his or her own life. The lesson here is plain: the sacred power is this world's origin; and this world's origin was acting based on its own vision of infinite power and mystery. It gained guidance from within itself; we gain guidance from within it, too- all of the powers of beasts and plants and the land and sky.
When I need guidance or help in life, I go to seek a visionary experience; I go to seek guidance directly from the non-human persons that you may call the earth or sky, or trees, or mountains, or rivers. That guidance can come in dreams or visions, or in other ways. All of these visionary things come from the sacred power as a whole, naturally. One purifies the body with cleaning and the mind with prayer and intention, and removes him or herself from the company of other humans, to go into the forest- or into the wild, apart from his own kind.
There, one continues to pray and to establish a camp, with sacred boundaries that are not crossed until the vision comes, or until one gives up, should a vision not come. One must dress simply and eat or drink as little as possible. Fasting for several days is the best way.
Everything that happens to one- everything one experiences after the camp is established- can be part of a sacred communication, so the most important part of vision seeking is being open to all things that arise, and being alert.
A vision seeking experience like this need not last for days, and need not require a long fast, but doing so helps the power of the sacred presence, and one's own open-ness to power. Whatever form vision seeking takes, it is a crucial part of my way, as it was a part of the way of many ancient peoples, and many living peoples still.
