HERO/INE 

There are folks who facilitate vision quests such as School of Lost Borders. This, however, is a serious commitment where one fasts and goes out into wilderness usually for four days and nights - alone. There is preparation before one goes out, and Incorporation is facilitated with the group when one returns. It is likely with Covid that these will recommence in the future but meanwhile seize the moment and go it alone at home or elsewhere appropriate. For some this might might be a preliminary "medicine walk" to be followed by another journey when the time is right. There is never just one hero's journey.

 INCORPORATION or INTEGRATION

“The time will come when with elation you will great yourself arriving at your own door, in your own mirror and each will smile at the other’s welcome and say sit here, eat. You will love again the stranger who was yourself. Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart to itself, to the stranger who has loved you all your life whom you have ignored for another who knows you by heart. Take down the love letters from the bookshelf, the photographs, the desperate notes, peel your own image from the mirror. Sit. Feast on your life.” Derek Walcott

Incorporation involves coming back with the "grail" or rather the gift of a new awareness so we that can bestow the benefits on others. It is normal after the classical journey, in pristine nature removed from civilization, to have a period of “reentry depression” which may last a few weeks. Our unique reentry, given our current circumstances, will differ but there may be an element of melancholy and depression dealing with the question; "how ever am I going to Incorporate." The best remedy is to intensify one’s spiritual practice and know that this too will pass. 

"No matter how long the night, the dawn is sure to come." African proverb

Your mood may be is a testament to the power of your journey and coming back to the reality of living in a world that may be even more challenging than before but now with better tools to deal with it. However, one must hold to the vision and insights gained. Losing them can lead to “the fall.”

“We return to our places these kingdoms, no longer at ease here in the same dispensation, with an alien people clutching their gods.” Journey of the Magi

Covid is a wake up call. Although most politicians will be hoping to return things back to where they were - if this is even possible – we need to look to a new paradigm, at least for ourselves. 

“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that make the existing model obsolete.” Buckminster Fuller

"We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. The measure of intelligence is the ability to change. Men marry women with the hope they will never change."

Albert Einstein

“Where there is no vision, the people perish.” Proverbs

Be careful with whom you share your intimate "transformational" experiences. With folks you may not fully trust, talk of context rather than detailed content. Do not “put them on the mantel piece” for those who do not understand, to see and trivialize. They may not appreciate them and worse still, invalidate them. Rather walk the inner talk and they will notice the subtle, positive differences in your equanimity and behavior. 

It is good to have a close friend, mentor or “elder” who is familiar with the process to help “witness” and share your experiences, endorse, enlarge and reinforce them. Another who is insightful can magnify what you may have thought to be insignificant as you tell your story in sacred space when you “return.” 
If we cannot change what we do then we need to change the way in which we do it. This may mean reformulating our day job or living in two worlds. The one that pays the bills and the other that is part of our true mission. In order to do this we need to accept that the quest may not offer any financial renumeration.

“We are here to help others - what others are here for - I do not know.” W.H. Auden 

Make no radical changes on the "return" and allow what has happened to germinate slowly. This sometimes leads to leaving one's relationship, selling one's house or even moving elsewhere but be very circumspect and careful on the return. Without means of financial support and an ongoing spiritual practice it will be difficult to maintain the vision, open the "Third Eye" and get the messages you require to pursue your dreams. During Covid it may be difficult to get the help of group synergism except in cyberspace with the right person. The real you is probably the you realized when you left the Threshold.

A vision without a task is a dream
A task without a vision is drudgery
But a vision with a task can change the world.” 
Black Elk

“I think I have told you but if I have not, you must have understood that a wo/man who has a vision is not able to use the power of it until after s/he has performed the vision for the people to see.” 
Black Elk

Incorporation is about finding one's basic archetype - Healer, Teacher, Warrior or Visionary and how each will best manifest your God given talent that only you and you alone can fulfill. Many are talented and have skills in each of these but there is one that should predominate. Just like the four yoga paths; Karma, Bhakti, Jnana and Raja, you may be good at all of them but focus on what Seligman calls your core or signature strength. Your other talents should support the core one.

“Whatever you are, be a good one.” Abe Lincoln

The cliché - “if you do not know where you are going any road can take you there” - is true. The treasure hunt for your true mission can be long, arduous and tedious ending up in many blind alleys. But one has to follow the clues. One has no clear idea which clue or track will lead to the next spoor on the hunt. A certain clue may seem to take you in the wrong direction but may be the very clue you need, to find the next one. We are not lost, we are just searching – it pays not to become discouraged.
One can also use the metaphor of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. You try out the beds or the plates of porridge until one seems to fit. Sometimes one finds just the right one. More often than not the porridge loses its taste or the bed becomes lumpy and one has to move onto the next venture. Nothing is lost in the process, it's all part of the journey which takes time. Some just know what they have to do from the outset, most of us do not.

“When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bonds; your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction and you find yourself in a new, great and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive and you discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be.” 
Patanjali

This occurs when we find out exactly who we are and come into our full personal power.

Many of us who do not know who we are have been polluted by our upbringing, education and the allure of samsara - a sentient existence. We have been taught the wrong rules to a meaningful life. We are taught how to be successful but not necessarily how to be happy. Looking back at what one dreamed to be as a teenager or child can be helpful. Finding someone psychically reputable who can access non local information from the cosmic Field to guide can be useful.  Because of the cosmic law of free will they usually cannot tell you exactly what to do but can prevent you from going down the wrong road. It is all about finding meaning and equanimity in knowing we have found our own tiny role in the mystery of  the cosmos. This is one of the most difficult tasks we all face.

“Once what you are living and what you are doing has for you meaning 

it is irrelevant whether you are happy or unhappy. You are content, you are not alone in your spirit, you belong.”  

L. Van der Post

 “Unless we are in service to others, we will not endure happiness and the more we focus on ourselves the more miserable we become.
This is not an ethical judgment, but a fact of life that is fixed as a default into the fabric of the soul.”  Dave Cumes 

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17_Your_Quest.mp3

06 Fear.mp3