Gathering Stones

               The day was hazy and a little humid, suggesting monsoon rains would soon begin.   Standing in the driveway, I thought about getting stones.  They would be used in the sweats before and after my vision quest, which would serve as doors for going into the spirit world and back.  Not that I really wanted to come back.  I wondered which type of stones to get.  They needed to be volcanic; possibilities included black ones, red ones, and dense, heavy, smooth ones from a wash back in the woods.  Fire, I thought -- maybe the fiery red and black ones from the cinder cone out by the highway. 

               I was still trying to figure out when to do the vision quest.  “Spirits, when should I go out?” I mentally inquired.  Listening, I got a sense that I ought to get moving on it; that there was no reason to put it off.  This sounded good to me, although the soonest I could get my act together would be around the end of the month.  I still had to do the long fasts in preparation.

               I drove out to the cinder pit by the exit.  Trucks roared by on the highway.  I put in earplugs and offered tobacco to the spirits and the cinder hill.  I thanked them and explained why I wanted the stones.   A feeling of warm approval radiated back.

               I looked around for stones that seemed right, avoiding large ones out of consideration for the fire tenders, who would be bringing them into the lodge.  A strong gust of wind from the west blew my hat off.   It rolled and tumbled an unreasonable distance towards the east before it stopped.  Sun beating down on my head, I walked up the road to retrieve it.  A good omen, I thought.  From the insight of the west, emerge new beginnings, enlightenment, and far-seeing of the east.

               My chosen stones, the ancestors or old ones, would help me on my vision quest.  I took them back to the house and unloaded them in a pile next to an abandoned rabbit hole.  I sprinkled the stones with sacred water of life to honor and purify them, and sat down to get a sense of their medicine.  They had an energetic, grounded, power, directed towards causing change.  I needed change. Gratefully, I thanked them in advance.