Edinburgh, Balerno - Rites of Passage for Youth Vision participants age 16 to 21 yrs old.

Run every second year.

Vision Quest Guides: Claudia Goncalves and Sara Beauregard

Rites of Passage

The Vision Quest is a Rites of Passage been used throughout the world, for thousands of years, as the most direct and powerful way to contact guidance, inspiration, renewal and the sacred view. When a person is ready, he or she will go on a personal, spiritual quest under the guidance of a Vision Quest guide. He/she will then stay alone in the wilderness fasting. While in there, his/her intent is to commune with nature, find oneself and the intended life direction.

There are many variations of wilderness fasting quests. We use a form which has been drawn from ancient times and adapted to meet the needs of people of our times.

On quest, a person can receive deep and powerful insights into their true nature, contact the purpose of their lives, receive their spiritual name and mark the transition into a new phase of life with a deep understanding and respect for the interconnectedness of all life.

For thousands of years people have been going into the Wilderness to seek solace and wisdom for themselves and their people. Many cultures share a traditional ‘Rite of Passage’,  a period in which the individual is tested alone in a wilderness place, emerging as a changed and stronger person. 

In early times, among more traditional or tribal cultures, the transitions of life were clearly defined. Birth, childhood, adulthood, marriage, old age and death were formalized with rites of passage. In modern culture, life transitions are not so clearly defined. In the process of technological development, our culture has lost this system of meaningful ritual. 

The structure we use for the Yuth Vision Quest includes pre-counselling, connecting with nature, fasting and "mirrowing" back to you the spiritual significance of your story on your return.

Participants are encouraged to apply their own  values, beliefs or faiths to their experience.

What Claudia Goncalves says:

"I am co-founder and chairperson for Youth Vision Charity. We are dedicated to Rites of Passage for young people and we are based in Balerno working with various High Schools.

I feel really honoured to have had the old ways of Rites of Passage passed down to me and I feel blessed to be able to serve my community in this way. As well as going through my own Vision Quest for a few times, I have over two years of formal training as a Vision Quest facilitator trained with David Wendl-Berry, one of the foremost Vision Quest guides in the UK. I am also co-founder and managing director of The Planetary Well-being Centre and the Edinburgh Shamanic Centre since 2003. I have a wide range of experience facilitating work, training people and facilitating Rites of Passage for people of all ages and background. "

What Sara Beauregard says:

"I am the dreamer, visionary and co-founder of Youth Vision. I held this dream for 15 years until I was ready to manifest it in the physical world when I met Claudia Goncalves. My experience with a Vision Quest group in America enriched my life and gifted me with the inspiration of a Youth Vision project in Scotland. Claudia has been a catalyst in helping me manifest that dream here. Going through my own Vision Quest with David Wendl-Berry and having him training Youth Vision's facilitators at the very beginning, has also helped to ground the work. I love working with young people and support the transitional process they go throught from being a child to becoming adults - strong and confident adults. I am the main facilitator and manager for Youth Vision and I am a trained Counsellour for Young people."

Exchange for the Vision Quest

Young people, please talk to Claudia and Sara about this as it is according to financial means and each participant is accessed individually.

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