In addition to our many group programs — vision quests and workshop/adventures — we continue to work with people one-on-one. This can take multiple forms.
Most traditional counseling keeps us in our heads, asking “How are you feeling?” about this or that. We believe that people are searching for experience — the experience of living fully by bringing their desires, longings, and values — their inner depths — into passionate engagement with the world. Our focus is on helping that happen.
We draw from and offer, a wide toolkit of processes and methods derived from:
- Nearly forty years’ experience guiding over 200 small-group vision quests, as well as the creation and presentation of classes and workshops exploring inner and outer nature, dreaming, shamanism, the soul’s journey, etc.
- Familiarity with psychodrama, guided imagery, dream incubation, breath work, etc.
- A broad-based knowledge of ritual, ceremony, and shamanism, both traditional and Amazonian.
Individual Medicine Walks
Taking place in southern Vermont or your local area.
The medicine walk is a day’s journey upon the face of the earth, a walk of balance and attunement — not a challenging of the elements or an endurance test. And it is also a mirror within which signs and allegories of your inner journey are reflected. It can be seen as a distilled form of the vision quest.
The medicine walk may be taken here, in Putney, VT at a location we pick out, or you may choose an area that has personal meaning for you, and travel here to meet for counseling sessions before and after.
The following description of the medicine walk is taken from The Trail to the Sacred Mountain, by Steven Foster and Meredith Little (Lost Borders Press).
To ground insights and enact commitments in daily life.
“During the medicine walk, the spirits and powers of nature reveal themselves to you. Together, they and you weave an allegorical or symbolic story which answers a question; indicates your inherent gifts or future life direction; or shows the rituals or ceremonies to perform to become whole.
Prepare the night before by packing water, emergency kit, and a few other items that you might need. Get a good night’s rest. An important dream may arise on this night.
You begin at sunrise and walk in a natural place. If you must drive, try to get there before dawn. No food is taken on this day until after the sun has set. Set forth on a wandering, intuitive course, without consciously attempting to reach any goal. As you wander, keep your eyes open. Be aware if you are feeling “drawn” in any direction or to anything. Listen to and sense the consciousness of all that is around you.
The beginning and the end (the thresholds) of your medicine walk must be marked by ceremony. The ceremony may be elaborate or simple, but it involves focused attention and your expression of gratitude to Mother Earth for her teaching and safe-keeping.
At a certain moment on your walk, you may find something — a symbol of meaning and importance to you. This one thing will return with you and become a symbol of your journey.”
Pay special attention to loved ones and friends who call strongly to you as you walk. Some may have already died. Some who call are your “spirit guides;” the teachers, heroes, and helpers who watch as you grow and help to strengthen the circle of your purpose.
A medicine walk can be used in many ways: as a preparation for a vision quest; to answer a persistent question, either chronic or acute; or as an open-ended journey of self-discovery. As with any meaningful human endeavor, results are commensurate with effort: the effort of preparation, the effort of focused attention; the effort of honest self-examination and interpretation.
At Circles of Air, Circles of Stone, we help participants find their own truth and validate their own experience. Upon deciding to undertake a medicine walk, you will inform us of your intent, and a schedule will be worked out. In the week preceding the walk, you will meet with us for approximately 2 hours, concentrating on clarifying your life issues and intentions, and considering other lenses through which to view present dilemmas.
After you have completed the medicine walk and recorded it in your journal, we sit for a second counseling session, again about 2 hours. You will tell the story of your walk and be assisted in seeing the allegories, life-myths, strengths, gifts and modus operandi of the journey you are on at this time. Interpretations are not given. Rather, through suggestion, questioning, and mirroring, you’ll be encouraged to see, accept, and embrace your own experience and truth.
The cloth of our lives may be finely woven or patchwork, and it helps little to compare ourselves to others. Our task is to accept our past, our path, and our purpose; to take on the fabric of our lives and wear it well.
Cost: $300
Please contact us to book.
Counseling
In person or via Zoom.
Personal Counseling and Coaching are for those who want to face individual issues within the context of connecting deeply with their souls and the great web of life. We will help you explore the challenges of your life within a larger field, helping you claim and live your heroic journey and free yourself from any stances of disempowerment or stories of being powerless, not good enough, or being a victim.
Coaching and Counseling work at Circles of Air and Stone embraces a model that’s broader and deeper than traditional therapy. We emphasize the adult over the child; see our strengths and gifts as equal to our wounds; and accept (and face) pain and suffering as part of that larger, heroic journey toward our passion, purpose, and direction. Defining ourselves by where we are going and not by where we have come from, we address how to bring our integrity, authenticity, and deepest desires into daily life. To let us know let us know your interest, click here.
Personal intensives
Personal Intensives are designed to be deep, focused journeys “under the surface” of things, allowing you to explore the passionate currents that lead to a path with heart.
These one-on-one intensives, lasting from a day up to a week, can be designed and focused around areas of your interest — personal healing, dream exploration, shamanic journeying, developing relationship skills, letting go of old stories, enacting a rite of passage, etc. — and we draw on a rich toolkit that includes ritual and ceremony; shamanic techniques; psychodrama; various “breathworks,” fasting; storytelling, dream tending, etc. Our home includes guest rooms for lodging, if you wish, and woods, streams, and hiking trails nearby. Inquire, and let us know your interest, by clicking here.
Post-Quest Counseling
One-on-One Counselling With Sparrow Hart
Navigating Your Return
The vision quest may be over. The journey is not.
Why Post-Quest Counselling Matters
Coming Home Is Its Own Journey
People who undertake vision quests commonly describe the experience as one of the most important of their lives, a time when they encounter and connect with the deepest parts of themselves and live with a sense of aliveness and passion they’ve rarely encountered before. That experience, combined with feedback from a small group committed to the same goals, results in a remarkable clarity about one’s purpose and calling, as well as the motivation to make major changes in their everyday lives.
After a transformational event like this, the return home can be challenging. The powerful and visceral intimacy with Life on the Quest itself, along with a host of new and compelling insights and commitments discovered there, may have difficulty meshing with the often- meaningless tasks of daily life, demands of others, and old, habitual ways of thinking.
The Role of a Post-Quest Guide
A Partner for Your Return
Post-quest counselling takes place with a guide who intimately knows the process of a vision quest and can provide support and encouragement to continue the journey that started with the calling that drew you to face yourself in the wilderness. Someone familiar with the experience and the difficulties coming back can help you navigate through the obstacles — clarifying the learning, more deeply understanding yourself, and developing and activating a plan to move yourself toward the life you desire.
A post-quest coach serves as a partner in navigating your Return journey. Steve Jobs once said, “People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on but that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to 100 other good things that are not what you really want.” Saying “no” is emotionally difficult work, and it often requires you to make uncomfortable and unpopular decisions that impact not only you but others.
A coach’s role is not to provide you with answers, but to help you attune to and claim your own wisdom, say “yes” to and remain in integrity with your Soul, and be an advocate for the parts of yourself afraid to speak. I consider it to be an honor to help people become more honest and transparent with themselves, and if we agree to work together, I commit to listen to your situation, respect your choices, and encourage you to be the freest and best version of yourself you can be.
At the beginning of this process, you will be asked to write a letter of intention for the Return, and based on this, I will assist you in identifying specific, tangible actions and ways to keep yourself accountable for honoring your commitment to your growth.
Clarify the Learning
Clarify the learning from your quest experience.
Develop a Plan
Develop a concrete plan aligned with your soul’s calling.
Stay Accountable
Stay accountable to the commitments you made in the wilderness.
Session Details
What to Expect
Format
All coaching is provided via telephone or preferably Zoom. Sparrow’s Zoom link will be sent automatically upon booking.
Frequency
Sessions can vary in frequency depending on your needs. Weekly, bi-weekly, and monthly arrangements are all available. Since coaching facilitates change over time a minimum of three sessions is recommended, and longer engagements are often the norm.
Session Length and Investment
Choose the session length that feels right for where you are in your Return journey. All sessions are conducted with Sparrow Hart personally.
$50
$75
$95
$140
Your First Step
At the start of the process you will be invited to write a letter of intention for your Return. This letter becomes the foundation for your work together.
Your Guide
All Counselling Is Provided by Sparrow Hart
Sparrow Hart has guided individuals through vision quests and rites of passage for many years. As someone who intimately knows the vision quest process from the inside, Sparrow brings both deep experience and genuine compassion to the post-quest journey. Working with Sparrow means working with someone who has walked this terrain themselves and understands what it means to answer the Call and navigate the Return.
The quest calls you out. The Return calls you forward.
Ready to Begin
Schedule Your Session
Choosing to work with a guide after your quest is an act of courage and commitment. Select a session length below and choose a time that works for you. Sparrow will confirm your booking and a Zoom link will be sent automatically.
Select a Session Type
Choose the length that feels right for where you are in your Return journey.
After-quest coaching is available via telephone or (preferably) Zoom. The frequency of sessions can vary and is dependent upon your needs, but generally occurs on a regular basis — weekly, bi-weekly, monthly etc. Most sessions range from 30 to 60 minutes, but longer conferences are possible. Since coaching facilitates change over time, plan to participate in a minimum of 3 sessions… and longer is often the norm. All coaching is currently provided by Sparrow Hart.
The wilderness showed you who you are. Let’s honour that together.
Post-quest counselling is available now. Reach out whenever you feel ready.
