Russ,
Let me answer your questions first....
My role in the tribe is.... 1. What needs to be done, I do.... from gathering wood to leading sweats. 2. I am the visioner for our group. Tu Bears usually puts me in the grandmother's position (North) in Sweat Lodge. This is the position where visions occur. The visions vary from those for the tribe as a whole or they can be just for a certain brother or sister. In this last VQ, I felt a lot of psychic ability. It is a great gift and I only use it sparingly and with intention. I have been studying in this field since about 1982. When I met Tracee (the first psychic who became my mentor), I knew I had finally found a philosophy that added *to me* instead of taking away.... as the rules and regs of organized religion seemed to do.

From this philosophy, I (re)learned of the God within.... and found an appreciation for all things around me. Where I am now, and where I have been since I first met Tracee is in that place where I've learned that we each have our place in this Universe. All of us have a place.

I smiled a bit over your question about structure. Tu Bears insists on respect for the ceremony no matter what tradition we follow. We follow the Chahta path when we are doing the ceremony. Our ceremonies have become somewhat mixed in content, though, as we are a bunch of mixed bloods. Essentially, at Vision Quest, there are two groups, the visioners and the support group.

More to come....