The Vision Quest was used in the old days to prepare for going on the warpath, before a Sun Dance, or to ask Wakan Tanka for a favor. The most important reason for the Vision Quest is so a person can understand better his/her oneness with all things and gain knowledge of the Great Spirit.
A person undertaking a Vision Quest first goes with a Pipe to a holy man, and he prays for them. Everyone present smokes the Pipe. The Inipi is conducted to purify them. In the old days, the seeker had to build the sweat lodge by himself. The seeker then takes his Pipe and some tobacco and goes up the mountain. Helpers have gone ahead and prepared a sacred place. The seeker stays there and prays for a vision. Often it comes in the form of an animal. Dreams often carry the most powerful visions.
At the end of the Vision Quest,
the helpers come and take the seeker down the mountain to the
sweat lodge. The holy man listens to everything the seeker has seen
and heard and interprets the vision.
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