Vision Quest in Scotland:
Supporting Life Transitions in Nature
19th - 31st August 2025
ABOUT OUR VISION QUESTS
Vision quests are an ancient rite of passage and have been practiced in traditional cultures throughout time. We believe they have a vital role to play for us humans, here in the 21st century, as we collectively navigate the rip tide of current global shifts.
There was a time when life transitions were marked and interwoven with nature. Natur nicht als Kulisse, Nature not as a pretty backdrop but as forces alive to themselves. These Übergangsriten/ Rites of Passage were once woven into the weave of our communities. Our ancestors collectively and ritually marked important transitions in nature. These collective ‘markings’ would have been as much a part of life as weddings and funerals.
When we think of rites of passage, the transition from adolescence to adulthood might be the one we are most familiar with. Other examples of life transitions include the ending and beginning of a new chapter of life, a career change, the loss of a loved one and so on.
Alongside these external nudges there may be deeper callings from within. Perhaps you long to change the way you see and experience yourself, to release limiting attitudes, and find a more authentic way of being. To connect with natural self-worth and a deep sense of belonging. These more nuanced passages are no less important; times when it might seem like the hardest thing in the world is to be ourselves. When we find ourselves asking, Who am I? Really? Aside from what family and society and conventions tell me.
Whatever it is that we long for, we must be willing to turn towards the deadwood in our lives and see it, as just that - dead. With the understanding that we must release it if we are to grow and evolve. These dying-to and rebirthing phases are as natural as life itself. To undertake a rite of initiation is to work very deeply, to lean into the nature of death and rebirth cycles - when the old is no longer sustainable and the new might not yet be in sight.
This often this involves dying to your familiar way of belonging to the world, reconnecting to the wisdom and passion of your soul, and rediscovering your medicine.
This tracking of ‘your medicine’ - what might be called ones true nature and soul purpose - is both our deepest inheritance and the greatest contribution we can offer our family and communities.
There is only one life you can call your own and a thousand others you can call by any name you want.
- David Whyte
The village, the collective element of this work has always been implicitly woven into each rite of passage as a renewing for the entire community. Francis Weller recently interviewed, said that traditionally initiations were a kind of binding of yourselves with the life forces. They were never meant for ‘me, myself and I’ or for the purposes of self-improvement. But for the health of the community in widest sense of that word.
As rites of passage become more mainstream I’ve noticed a tendency to turn these ceremonies into a kind of immersive self development retreat. Werner and I are both wholeheartedly committed to not psychologising these ceremonies and ‘staying close to this binding of oneself to the life forces’ - the mythic and the mystery.
Sadly these rituals are no longer a part of mainstream culture and barely a part of niche culture.
WHAT TO EXPECT ON A VISION QUESTS
Throughout time and across cultures people have gone into the natural world to mark and celebrate significant life transitions. Our vision quests is a modern day rites of passage designed to help navigate the complexity of these times; time away from the everyday, making space and to connect with deeper purpose and wisdom to carry through life.
You may already be familiar with the Celtic wheel of the year interwoven with the solstices, equinoxes and seasonal fire festivals. The ancient medicine wheel teachings we are most familiar with are The Four Shields of Human Nature (SOLB) and the Nature Based Map of Psyche (AVI).
These seasonal maps, deeply woven with land and our own nature cycles, sit at the heart of these intentional and traditional initiations. Having been used pan culturally by peoples to navigate what it means to be humans deeply connected to the wild, they map nature within us, and around us. Containing soulful paths and ceremonies which were once the life-blood of our ancestors and communities.
At the heart of our time together lies a four day wilderness vigil. This is characterised by stepping across a threshold, into the ‘unknown’ - into a symbolic poetic reality, where we open to something greater than ‘little me’. Practically we step into the wilderness (with the support of guides at base camp) to enter a period of fasting and ceremony for four days and four nights. As our bodies empty of food and our minds are no longer distracted by daily pursuits, we may step into the subtlety of our own inner nature and the truth of our being. Into a space from which something else may emerge, awakened forgotten senses and ways of perceiving, perhaps our deepest longing and innate potential, perhaps, even our wild, authentic and natural selves.
THE LAND WHERE WE WILL QUEST
The vision quest area borders the sea with its wild dunes, pine forests and heathlands. The wide white beaches stretch for miles to Burghead and invite you to take solitary walks. The sea, as the most pristine landscape imaginable and the original home of all life, offers a unique setting for reconnecting with that home within you. Seal banks, dolphin and osprey sightings, ebb and flow, are among the special features of this landscape. The extensive dune landscape with thousands of "hobbit hills", pine forests and protected dune valleys allow you to retreat into the silence.
Self-catering accommodation on the nature campsite on the edge of both the dune landscape and the Findhorn community. We will have the campsite, plus a spacious woodland shelter and kitchen tent, compost toilets and cold water shower, all to ourselves. Hot showers in the nearby community are available on certain days.
Group meetings will take place at the Earthlodge, in the heart of the Findhorn community and/or in the shelter at the nature campsite.
We will meet with all participants on the first day at 15:00 at the nature campsite at the Woodland Shelter. We have planned it so that you will first have time to arrive and look around the community. There will be a short guided tour for anyone who is interested.
At around 18:00 we will offer you a simple dinner and the vision quest will then begin at 20:00 with our first round together. On Saturday, August 30th, we will end the ritual in the late afternoon. In the evening, we usually celebrate! and/or go out. Sunday is planned as the day of departure after a shared breakfast, taking down the tents and "tidying up" our place.
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19th - 31st August 2025
We have added an extra day for preparation and integration. We will have a maximum group size of 8-10 participants and will offer a preparation zoom beforehand and a follow-up zoom in the weeks after the vision quest.
The beaches of the Moray Firth, near Findhorn Bay, enjoy the microclimatic influence of a Gulf Stream offshoot. The sun shines here more often than in most other places in Great Britain. Since 2023, we have been allowed to use the breathtakingly beautiful and wild dune landscape between the Findhorn community and the sea as a vision quest area. This area, which is established and managed as a nature reserve by the Findhorn Dunes Trust and the Findhorn Hinterland Trust. Along this wild stretch of coast, there will be the opportunity to find a place in the extensive dunes, dotted with pine forests and protected dune valleys.
The group meetings will take place in the "Earthlodge", near the whisky barrel houses in "The Park", the heart of the Findhorn community. The Earthlodge is built half below and half above ground. The round side wall is made of huge boulders. In the translucent roof there is a smoke flap as an exhaust for the campfire in the middle of the room. We will plan the group times so that anyone who wants to can take part in the daily events in the Findhorn community, such as Taizé singing, meditations, sacred dance, etc.
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We offer our quest at a sliding scale from 1500.00 to 1150.00 Euros | £1250 to £950
We have begun to include a sliding scale on our vision quests because participants’ economic situation vary a great deal. If you can afford to pay the higher end of the scale this really supports us to keep offering much needed bursary places.
This quest is self-catered, accommodation is camping.
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Testimonial (extract from a letter) from June 2023
Natasha and Werner create and hold a container for transformation, where deep work and synchronicities can unfold in the most potent of ways. They complement each other so well. Natasha brings a fiercely feminine perspective, filled with love, raw authenticity and connected somatic movement skills; Werner brings a strong, protective, calm male presence full of insight, intuition and courage. Together, they guide with such humility and grace, you're free to seek whatever medicine the land has to offer you. It's a real gift and real wonder to behold: the power, magic and story of wild nature speaks through them.
Thank you will never do it justice. As I said on the retreat, although everything on the surface seems the same, the ground beneath me has shifted - perhaps it's my core? Or the presence of my spirit? It feels stronger somehow, more secure, and connected to nature - in a way I've always wanted - like the mosses, bracken, wood sorrel and ivy are holding me to the earth.
I re-read my letter of intent, you opened the way for me to experience all I hoped for - and so much more - the full expression of love and life.
For more testimonials please visit our dedicated webpage.
BOOKING
If you know it’s a YES then please book using the link below.
If you would like to know more do feel free to get in touch. Werner and I are both happy to have a conversation about the details of this deep nature immersion and our approach. You can send an email to w.pilz@mailbox.org or book a no obligation informal chat here:
YOUR GUIDES AND OUR ETHOS
Whilst we remember and acknowledge our own lineage of teachers whose combined wisdom we aspire to pass on, Werner and I also weave contemporary practices and perspectives into our guiding of this ancient rite of passage. We are both trauma educated guides committed to sharing embodiment practices that not only support your solo time but also the incorporation aspect of this ceremony.
The quest itself marks the first step in an unfolding journey which is why we offer mentoring beyond our time together. The phase of Incorporation is as important as the quest itself which in many ways is just the beginning.
Natasha Lythgoe
I’m Natasha, also known by my Buddhist name Nagadipa which means light in the depths - this name was given to me as a mirror of my essence and as a life teaching.
I guide individuals and groups through transformative nature-based experiences. With over twenty years of experience leading programmes I have been moved and honoured to witness countless stories; listening and attending to what has purchase on folks’ hearts.
The way I work weaves together the main threads of my life; creativity, dharma (truth), mythic journeys, the intelligence of the body and nature.
Werner Pilz
Werner Pilz is an experienced Vision Quest guide and Wilderness Facilitator with more than fifteen years experience as a lead guide. He started his spiritual journey 30 years ago at the Buddhist Naropa Institute in Boulder/Colorado. He later trained with the School of Lost Borders in the US and Germany. He has been guiding Vision Quests, running programmes and facilitating Way of Council all over Europe. He is an active member of the German-Speaking Wilderness Guides Network. His current passions are guiding sacred soul-journeys for men and supporting and mentoring young adults. His work is informed through Rites of Passage, The Four Shields, Council, Focusing, Identity-orientated Trauma Psychotherapy, Music and recent investigations in the Art of the Trickster. He is a very proud father of two blossoming 26 year-old women.