Going on a Vision Quest

To my mind, a vision quest is a Native American term to describe a journey you take alone where you sit and pray in a quiet, secluded place in nature in a proscribed ceremony. You do this in search of a vision for yourself and your life.

I am taking this journey one week from today.

This is my first vision quest and my third attempt. Even though a vision quest is the climax of Sundagger.net, I have never been on one. Last year I got a teaching job and couldn't take time off.The second attempt was to have been in April but I got sick with a really bad chest cold.

I'm going north 3-1/2 hours to private land, a beautiful California countryside. Only four of us will be on the quest this time. We'll have a feast the night before, and then a short sweat next Thursday around 6:30am, and then a supporter will carry our things up Buck Rock mountain to a site we will have already chosen the previous afternoon where we want to have our altar.
The altar will be made when we get there. I will sit or lie inside the altar for the entire time. It will be a rectangle with four corners shown by four flags for the four directions and the "fence" will be prayer ties in red, yellow, black and white which I'm making now--I need to make 49 of each color.

I hope it doesn't get too cold or hot.

The terrain is diverse so I can choose to be in a grove of trees next to a forest or I can be out on the top of the mountain on a rocky area, or in a grassy area with a mixture of trees and sun. I think I will look for the last possibility. I hear it will be cold at night, though not freezing, and it may be very hot during the day. This summer in California has been colder than usual, not that sunny either.

The head of the altar will have a special flag with an eagle feather and an abalone shell, plus some sacred objects that I can choose. I will be given a pipe and pipe mixture to smoke and pray with. I will have all my clothes and bedding and weather gear with me inside the altar. Supporters will check on me during my three nights. If I decide I already have my vision and don't need to be up on the mountain, I can come down, or if I can't take it for any reason, I can come down to the camp ground and house where a young couple live with their son.

I'm committed. I'm going. What am I looking for? What will I find?