The three parts of the ceremony

A medicine walk, just like a full-length vision quest, has three parts to the ceremony: severance, threshold, and reincorporation.

The time spent mirroring my intention was part of the severance phase, during which I was preparing to leave my people and go out into the wild. This time also included packing and preparing for the day walk.

The time on the walk is called the threshold phase, during which I was in the sacred space of the ceremony, and a ghost to my people. The threshold place is the place of spirit, of magic, and of the unknown. Some call it the liminal space. This is the place where trees, animals, and rocks can talk to us, if we will listen. This is the place where a vision might come, though it can come to us anywhere and anytime if we are open to seeing.

The final phase, reincorporation, is when we return to our people with the gifts we have gained from our time of trial. The hardest task is to embody the vision in our lives, through service to our people. But before I describe this phase of my journey, I’d like to summarize what I’ve said so far.

First, there were the entries from the severance phase, about mirroring for intention.

Then there were the entries from the threshold time, while I was out on my medicine walk:

• Hiking up the canyon and the ceremony of fire
• Cell phones and lizards
• Cholla cactus and golden braids
• Bouquets and gifts of the north
• Ceremony with the inner masculine
• Getting down to the nitty gritty

Next time, I will tell you about the reincorporation phase.