Receiving The Spirit Helper During The Vision Quest

Receiving The Spirit Helper During The Vision Quest
The spirit helper is usually received during the vision quest. Before initiates embark upon their ordeal, tribal elders and Medicine priests tutor them for many weeks on what to expect and what is expected of them. Most important, they are made to understand that while they are on their vision quest, they are to fast, exhaust their physical bodies, and pray to the Great Mystery at least three times a day, asking that their spirit guide appear to them.
One of my spiritual mentors, a man who was reared in the Winnebago tradition, told me that the shamans advised his group of supplicants that after a few days on the quest a forest creature would be likely to approach them, as if to offer itself as a guide. A friendly chipmunk might nudge against their legs; an inquisitive crow might land on their shoulders; an especially curious deer might come forward to sniff at their faces.
The initiates were forewarned by the tribal elders that the temptation to accept the first animal that approached as one’s spirit helper would be great; but if they were able to endure continued hunger and exposure, the Great Mystery would be certain to send them a more powerful spirit helper, one especially destined for the individual. The Medicine priest instructed the supplicants to thank each animal for its coming and to tell it of its beauty, strength, and intelligence, but to also inform it that they sought one even greater.
If one endured, according to some traditionalists, the true spirit helper would appear as if it were glowing, as though it were composed primarily of light.
As my mentor told me, “I don’t think there was any way that we could have fooled the tribal elders. They knew when we had a true and real experience.”
“One important thing we were taught: We must never call upon our guide until we had exhausted every bit of physical energy and mental resource possible. Then, after we had employed every last ounce of our own reserve, we might call upon our spirit helper and it would appear.”
Totems
The Transformative Power Of Your Personal Animal Totem
Brad Steiger
ISBN 0-06-251425-3