The cleaned out void is then ready to be filled with positive healing energy through visions, through asking, through ceremonies, through commitment to new goals and a new life.

I can unequivocally and honestly state that participating in the Vision Quest was the single most important act of my life! My Vision Quest changed my life! I changed my life! I visit my sacred place in the canyons every day of my life. My goals of becoming a teacher, a healer and a writer have materialized in the few short years since and the goal setting continues.

I came to the United States from Hungary as a young teenager, having a refugee status since I am a product of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, when Hungarians tried to rid themselves of the Soviet communist occupation. Hungary was occupied by the savage Russian troops from 1945 through 1989. Forty four years. When Hungary was given to Stalin, as were other Eastern European countries, it was as if the "hoards of Asia" of a thousand years ago took over this part of Europe. The "more civilized" troops were sent to East Germany, Berlin and perhaps Austria although the Austrian landscape looked severely abused after the Russian troops left there. By savage I mean base, crude, uneducated, cruel, hungry. They saturated the country, took over private houses, usually forcing the occupants into one room while they occupied the rest of the house. And these were the "officers". The troops were fascinated by and freely took peoples' possessions such as wristwatches, alarm clocks and other gadgets in addition to anything that was takeable. Some soldiers walked around with several watches up their arms. The ravages of war (WWII) left Hungary in shambles and utter poverty and as the so-called "Glorious Soviet Liberators" overran the country in 1945, the "new communists" immediately trumpeted propaganda proclaiming "FREEDOM" and "DEMOCRACY" for the Hungarian people. All, while young girls and women were still hidden or sent into hiding in remote villages because rape was rampant and anyone who resisted, including protective parents, were shot. Bicycles, the only mode of private transportation were confiscated and again any resistance ended in death. The puppet, corrupt governments of Matyas Rakosi and later Janos Kadar learned the KGB way of governing with their own AVO secret service, which was responsible for the disappearance and killing of thousands of Hungarian citizens.

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