ANNIE MALECKI
VISION QUEST
What is that?
Deep in your heart, you know whether it's time for you to participate in a vision quest or not. Something has touched you. A hunch, ancient and from far away. The experience you are about to witness is the fruit of thousands of years of human culture. It is not the property of any particular ethnic or religious group. Rather, the rite of passage in the wild is a universal ceremonial process that you engage in and fill with your own value system. In their wisdom, the ancestors created a way to discover the healing vision within yourself. The hunches and feelings that draw you to this ceremony are like proof that the ancient path of knowledge is also within you. The vision quest ceremony awakens this knowledge within you and gives your life meaning and answer.
Stephen Foster and Meredith Little
Throughout history and across cultures, people have retreated into the wilderness to consciously navigate life transitions, farewells, or new beginnings. Whether addressing the effects of global crises or personal growth, the vision quest offers a professionally guided framework for asking the profound questions that enable transformation.
Free from distractions and obligations, without human company and fasting, the dialogue between inner and outer nature can take place unhindered.
What do we find when we explore our own wilderness?
What strengthens and sustains us? Where do we go when we encounter our longings? Where do we turn when we're stuck? What do we need to feel alive and whole? And: What does life want from us?
Nature, as our teacher, can help us gain insight into the essence of our own existence and become more aware of our place in the greater fabric of life.
We do it for ourselves - and for the world.
By bringing our experiences back to the community, we contribute to its renewal and healing.
Process:
Detachment -4 days:
During the first four days we prepare for the retreat, familiarize ourselves with the land, find our place of power and establish the security system.
We address what needs support to transform, explore our intention , and affirm our alignement.
In the circle of human and more-than-human community , we open ourselves to transformative experiences.
Threshold time -4 days:
The four solo days—the heart of the journey—are spent fasting, with plenty of water, and without human company at the power spot. This offers the opportunity for a deeper encounter with ourselves, nature, and the divine .
The vision quest leaders are available at any time in the nearby base camp and ensure physical security and the energetic framework.
Integration - 3 days:
After returning to base camp, we spend three days together. The stories and experiences of the transition period are shared and heard, their power and wisdom witnessed and honored.
The harvest is celebrated and integration into everyday life begins.
Deciding to embark on a vision quest also means that you care about more than your own personal well-being and growth—although that is, of course, always welcome and enriching. The soul is only inspired by what transcends our own happiness.
As we embark on our pilgrimage into the heart of nature, we carry with us the well-being of all and the growth of every being. We sense how urgently we need visions that come from the greater whole to nourish, inform, and inspire us.
In harmony with the creative, evolutionary life force, we seek to find ways to contribute to the well-being of our Earth and its beings .
Such a journey goes further than one that stops when we ourselves are happy.
Since time immemorial, heroes and heroines have gone forth and faced their fears and adventures to bring back the treasure, peace to the land, the healing potion, the mystical union. They brought back the gift for all—and such gifts are worth the journey.
How far should the blessing you carry reach? To your family, your country, your continent, the earth, the universe? This blessing, the power or love that burns within you, that has always been there, is also what lights your path to the next level of maturity.
Blessed are the men and women
that are planted on the earth,
in your garden.
They grow as your trees and flowers grow,
who turn their darkness into light.
Their roots plunge into darkness;
Their faces turn towards the light.
Song of Solomon, translated by Stephen Mitchell
There are special times in life: things change, something stirs in us or breaks over us, something leaves us and we long for orientation.
In order to consciously carry out these transitions, we can set out to find the traces that our soul, our innermost being, lays out for us and thereby receive inspirations that are sustainable and groundbreaking.
Through the millennia and in a wide variety of cultures, the ritual of the Visionquest has been practiced and charged with power and vitality. The memory of this is in our bones, in our genes: to entrust ourselves completely to the wilderness for a while, free from distractions and obligations, without human company and fasting, to allow the connection and dialogue between inner and outer nature to take place unhindered.
What do we find when we explore our own wilderness? What helps us if we don't know what to do? What strengthens and sustains us? Where does our longing take us to? What does inspiration invite us to do? What do we need to feel alive and whole?
And: What does life want from us?
Nature as our teacher can help us to gain insight into the essence of our own existence and to become more aware of our place in the larger structure of life; the Visionquest offers a professionally supported framework for this.
Whether it's dealing with global crises or personal growth - we do it for ourselves and for the world.
By bringing our experiences back to the community, we contribute to its renewal and healing.
Place:
Our base camp is located in a pine grove right by the sea, in a bay without road traffic, only accessible by ferry. We sleep under the stars or in a tent. Water, showers and toilets are available to us. If desired, there is also the possibility of taking a room in a nearby guesthouse. In the evening we eat together in Crete's best taverns, for during the day we have an outdoor kitchen.
A little further along the coast, a valley opens up with cedars and red rocks, oleanders and thyme. Thats where you will spend the solo days.
Sequence
Detachment -5 days:
The first four and half days we prepare for the time out and get to know the land, find our place of power and establish the safety system. We turn to what needs support in order to evolve, explore our intention, and affirm our alignment. In the circle of human and more-than-human community, we open ourselves to transformational experiences.
Threshold time -4 days:
The four solo days - the heart of the journey – you will be fasting from food, human company, and distractions. You will spend this time with enough water at your place of power. This offers the opportunity for a deep encounter with yourself, Nature and the Divine.
The Visionquest guides are available at all times in the nearby base camp and ensure physical safety and the energetic framework.
Integration -3 days
After returning to base camp, we spend three days together. The stories and experiences of the threshold period are told and heard, their power and wisdom witnessed and appreciated.
The harvest is celebrated and integration into everyday life begins.
Seminar leaders
Services
12 day seminar
We will be happy to accompany you with a personal conversation during the preparation period and/or for integration afterwards. This invitation is included in the price, we are glad if you accept it.
For more information, see my website: https://www.soulwise.at
Cost
€800 to €1200 depending on your own possibilities, including accommodation
Additional costs
€120 for shared dinner, self-catering during the day
Flight from around €100
Arrival by ferry+bus approx. €50 there and back
on request: room, approx. €25-30/day
If you have financial difficulties, we will find a solution.
Provider
Annie Malecki
Winklstr. 3
A-3032 Eichgraben
Telephone: +43 6503075073
anniemalecki@yahoo.com, https://www.soulwise.at/
This seminar is offered in cooperation with:
Siggi Schachner
Telephone: +43 69912567477
Visionquest by the sea
Crete
May 18-29, 2025