VISION QUEST. The personal vision is a fundamental feature of American Indian cultures across the continent and across all linguistic boundaries. While there are always people who have visions of a quality that sets them apart from others, people in all American Indian communities treasure their own visions and respect those of others. Whether wake-state or sleep-state, the vision in American Indian cultural contexts is always a communication between a human person and one or more nonhuman spirit persons.

While these vision experiences sometimes occur spontaneously, they occur most frequently in the context of intentional seeking done in a carefully arranged ceremonial manner in what is called in English the vision quest or rite of vigil. The details are always dependent on the particular purpose for the quest and the particularities of community custom. The general structures, however, tend to be similar across the continent. Adolescents...