MY HANDPRINT

By Dennis Lantz I couldn’t find it. The other day I went to look for my vision quest circle and it has disappeared into the ever-changing forest. I mean, I know where it was… and I am certain I walked through it, but nothing appeared the same. The A-frame structure was quite decayed twenty-five years ago, so I didn’t expect to locate that, but I figured I would be able to see familiar tree patterns or use the dump along the creek bank as an indicator. It was just a stone throw from my circle and had been part of the scenery for as long as I could remember. Well, at some point the stream washed out and all remnants of the junk are gone. I did find an old tire in the general area. While I can’t say that it is the same one I sat upon during the lightning storm, I also can’t say it isn’t. I remember putting that one back on the dump.   While re-reading the entries from my vision quest, I felt the tug of the spirit. I’m ashamed to admit that I’ve regressed. My spiritual life has f

By Dennis Lantz   Vision quests are personal. One is apt to encounter boredom, fear, doubt, physical and emotional discomfort, hunger and pesky nuisances like mosquitoes, bees, thunderstorms, cold and restlessness. I took my pen and notebook because I believed that inspiration would come through writing. But most of it was the result of observation. The Hogan Journal contains twenty-two pages of original vision quest material. In this blog I’ve cut that nearly in half. It’s still longer than most of my entries… and it is personally revealing. I am not concerned that you may think of me differently. I was weak, hungry and weary. That is an explanation, not an excuse. Likely you are stronger; more sure of yourself. It was also twenty-five years ago. I’d like to think I am more courageous now. 6/21-24/1995: THE QUEST I am here in my circle. The quest has begun. My circle, though I didn’t know it until after I had sat here about half an hour, has an old decomposing A-frame s

By Dennis Lantz 6/15/2020 – Going on a vision quest was not my idea. I did it reluctantly. It was the best thing I did all summer. Looking back at the summer of 1995, those three days of isolation were, without question, the most difficult undertaking of my life up until that time. Over a quarter of the pages in my Hogan journal were written during the vision quest and several more dealt with the preparation and aftermath. I learned an immense amount about myself… not all of it good. I was filled with doubt and fear. My confidence level was not high. To be honest, I was afraid that God would actually speak to me and I wasn’t ready for that.   Mark talked about taking a ‘quest’ right from the moment we moved into the hogan, but I did not share his enthusiasm for such an adventure. I didn’t really know what a quest was or what to expect. I’d read fictional accounts of Native American youth going into the wild to ‘find their name’ or to determine their path in life. I figured th