Circles of Air, Circles of Stone

[NanticokePiney]

 Circles of S***..........


    http://www.questforvision.com/

[matt e]

his bio from http://www.questforvision.com/sparrow.html emphasis added by me

 Founder of Circles of Air, Circles of Stone, Sparrow Hart undertook his first wilderness rite of passage in 1971, a 5-month solo pilgrimage in the Cascades and Canadian Rockies. Over the last 30 years he has practiced modern and indigenous therapeutic approaches and has apprenticed with a variety of native and non-native "medicine teachers" in the United States and Mexico.

In 1988 Sparrow completed training at the School of Lost Borders with Steven Foster and Meredith Little, authors of The Book of the Vision Quest, and since that time he has been leading vision quests each year in New England and the Southwest. He has also undertaken over 20 quests of his own.

He is a father, writer, creator of the Mythic Warrior training, founder of the annual Men's Wisdom Council, and a frequent workshop leader around the country. He is currently in the process of completing two books: one, a practical manual on the vision quest, and the other, "Letters from the River," a lyrical exploration into deep ecology and living beyond the boundaries of the self.

Although widely-read, and well-versed in mythology and the sacred traditions of the world, his work comes out of his own experience. His personal journey includes the twelve steps; a long apprenticeship in the Toltec and Castaneda tradition; dream exploration, psychodrama, inner child work, and a wide range of shamanic practices. He aspires to be simply a human being, a person of the earth, and has an unique ability to bring matters of the spirit into the present, to make the ancient teachings of the connectedness of all life relevant to our modern and personal worlds.

[Defend the Sacred]

http://www.questforvision.com/rituals.html

Vision Quest ...  $600 ... We will work to expand and enrich our relationship to this great, creative being, to discover our true selves, our medicine and unique path to wholeness.
...
Participants will experience rituals and ceremonies of purification and attunement, principles of right relationship, and shamanic practices for listening to the voice of the earth, wind, and water.

http://www.questforvision.com/medicine.html

The Medicine Walk ...  Cost: $175 ... The walk is a distilled form of the vision quest. During the medicine walk, certain spirits or powers of nature, which typify the nature of your own "medicine powe," are attracted by, and reveal themselves to you. With your help, they weave an allegorical or symbolic story which indicates future life direction, your inherent gifts, and the kind of ceremonies that you might perform during a vision quest.

It seems clear he is selling ceremony and exploiting Native American cultures. While the ceremonies he's selling are probably not at all authentic, by using NDN terminology, it's still exploiting NDN culture as a selling tool. And if he's leading people to believe the made up ceremonies are NDN, he's participating in the loss of traditional knowledge as outsiders then claim the fake ceremonies are the real deal... and gullible people believe them.

I'd also be curious to know what his given name is, as I seriously doubt it's "Sparrow Hart".

ETA: http://www.questforvision.com/visionquest3.html

I don't know if I could go four days without eating?
Is this something a normal person can do?

Surprisingly, fasting is rarely a problem for anyone. Eating is highly conditioned by routines, schedules, or stimuli such as the smell of food. Or it can often be driven by unconscious emotions, such as escaping from stress.

Just wait till he tells this to someone diabetic, or severely hypoglycemic. I wonder if he even knows to ask people about these sorts of health conditions. Putting this sort of stuff on a website is ignorant and irresponsible, imho.

[Kevin]

From his mythic warrior spiel comes this gem:  "The return; the resurrection; rebirth. In the spring we are birthed from the male womb into the world"   now that ought to be something to behold - it appears he has some strong feelings against women

[Defend the Sacred]

From his mythic warrior spiel comes this gem:  "The return; the resurrection; rebirth. In the spring we are birthed from the male womb into the world"

Wow. Scenes from Alien.

[Thundersaunt]

I know that this is an OLD thread - but it's come up again in New England with this guy Sparrow Hart.  Does anyone have anything new on him? 
Thanks

[Smart Mule]

He's still selling ceremony.  He's got a facebook page http://www.facebook.com/Stonepile.  His local pay to pray ceremonies occur on 130 Banning Road in Putney, Vermont.

[Epiphany]

His bio as quoted earlier in thread 2008:

His personal journey includes the twelve steps; a long apprenticeship in the Toltec and Castaneda tradition; dream exploration, psychodrama, inner child work, and a wide range of shamanic practices.

Now:

His personal journey includes a wide range of shamanic practices;  apprenticeship with the Native American teacher, Sun Bear;  dream exploration;  the twelve steps;  psychodrama, inner child work, and a long immersion in the Toltec and Castaneda tradition.

http://www.questforvision.com/information/about.aspx

[Epiphany]

His 1983 marriage certificate is in his name "Sparrow Hart" but fortunately it also lists the names of his parents and where they were born. So Sparrow Hart's birth surname is Stuart.

Here is his father's obit, includes:

two sons, Richard J. Stuart of Sterling and Don P. Stuart of Putney, Vt

Sparrow Hart is one of those two sons, since he is in Putney, good guess that he is Don P. Stuart.

Leon E. Stuart

STERLING 
Leon E. "Red" Stuart, 86, of 25 Mellon Hollow Road, died Thursday, April 22, 2004 in Clinton Hospital. He is survived by his wife of 63 years, Ellen H. (Person) Stuart; two sons, Richard J. Stuart of Sterling and Don P. Stuart of Putney, Vt.; four grandchildren, Paul L. Stuart of Kansas City, Ks., Eric G. Stuart of Sterling, Prairie Wolf of Vt. and Amber M. Morrison of New Bedford; and a great-granddaughter.

Mr. Stuart was born in Worcester, the son of Leon E. and Lena (Hodges) Stuart and lived in Sterling for the past 55 years. He was a metallurgist at Norton Co. in Worcester for over 30 years before retiring several years ago. He was a member of First Church in Sterling, Trinity Lodge of Masons in Clinton and the Aleppo Temple of Shiners. He enjoyed coin collecting.

Funeral services and burial were private. The Silas F. Richardson & Son Funeral Home, 106 West St., Leominster, directed arrangements.

theLandmark Obituaries
April 29 issue

[Epiphany]

Spring 2013 "vision quest" led by Sparrow Hart in the Gila Wilderness of New Mexico, written by one of the participants who identifies herself as "beginning the passage into old age":

Completing four days and four nights alone in the wilderness while just fasting on water, the solo segment of the quest was over and my re-entry into the world began. I was ecstatic to see that all of six my fellow questers were safe and bursting to share their stories. After some fruit, nuts and oatmeal we departed base camp.

The trek out of the valley, was for me, quite brutal. Basically, we had to hike 1.5 km (approximately a mile) straight up 900 feet. I started out strong but died at the half way point. The freshly mended bones in my broken foot were not too happy and I was overheating in the hot sun.

http://naturalcourage.com/2013/05/10/vision-quest-part-iii-the-return-from-the-wilderness/

How did they keep each other safe?

The stonepile buddy system was used during the solo portion of the vision quest. This safety system required each person visit a stonepile erected in a place midway between our respective camps. Even though we would never see each other, daily we would leave a sign that we were okay. If a sign was not left then steps would be taken to find out if you were all right or if a search was required.

http://naturalcourage.com/2013/05/14/vision-quest-epilogue-stonepile-secrets/

This participant, Carol, says she is an avid hiker, scuba diver, and back country camper. So her use of the words "brutal", "died", and "overheating" is even more alarming.

Possible dangers in that area include mountain lions, rattle snakes, scorpions, black bears. Below freezing at night.

That stone pile buddy system - so if someone left a sign on the pile at noon Monday, and they became injured or ill at 3 pm Monday, the alarm wouldn't be raised til at least noon Tuesday if not later. Easily a person could die out there. They are under a lot of physical stress, in challenging conditions, and they aren't even being checked on every day.

The ability to leave a sign on a rock pile daily isn't even a guarantee that the person is safe and doing okay.

[Epiphany]

Sparrow Hart is listed in this 1984 Bear Tribe Medicine Society newsletter as one of the "New England apprentices".

http://books.google.com/books?id=oN9KAAAAYAAJ&q=%22sparrow+hart%22&dq=%22sparrow+hart%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=s17kUfDIEaOziQLn4ICYBw&ved=0CD4Q6AEwAzgK

[Piff]

Sparrow Hart = Don Philip Stuart.

I figured this out through his father's obit (Leon Everett Stuart Jr.), acknowledgements in his book "Letters to the River: A Guide to a Dream Worth Living", and the birth record of his daughter (Prairie S Hart-Wolff).

In the acknowledgements of the above mentioned book he lists his "medicine teachers" as Carlos Castaneda, Sun Bear, Wallace Black Elk, Grace Spotted Eagle, Steven Foster, Meredith Little.

The book "Spiritual Adventures: A Traveller's Guide to Extraordinary Vacations" states that he "began giving guided vision quests in Vermont in 1988 after he was certified at the School of Lost Borders.".

School of Lost Borders: http://schooloflostborders.org/term/school

Stuart / "Sparrow Hart" is very active in pay to pray https://www.questforvision.com/schedule/

[Smart Mule]

He is also involved with the fake 8th Fire Gathering. The former director of the NH chapter of AIM, Jason Fiske was asked to address the issue with him. Fiske contacted Stuart and they evidently had a lengthy phone conversation after which Fiske deemed him an 'okay guy'.