Where pilgrims walk
Tuesday 5th June, 2007
A pilgrimage can be a powerful rite of passage that signals you are ready to cross a threshold. It is the urge to follow the calling, the deep inner yearning, that draws us out to the “unknown” to seek our connections to the wildness - both inner and outer.
When I was 36 I made my first real pilgrimage. I had crossed major thresholds in my life and I knew that it was time for me to travel home. Home to the land of my ancestors.
I had always yearned to know the identity of my Father - a secret that can not be told and so I was drawn back to the place of my birth and the land of those whose footsteps have gone before me.
I have always been fascinated by the stories of the Celts – mostly the Scots and Irish - my heritage. On my Mother’s side there is a wealth of knowledge about our Scottish and Irish ancestors whereas all I know about my Father’s lineage is simply that they are Irish. It is a mystery as deep as my imagination. So it has been natural for me, as my shamanic pathway has unfolded, to explore the depths of my heritage and to follow the yearning to know my Father. Through this rich exploration I have deepened the work I do to include an annual pilgrimage to the west of Ireland in October – the month that leads to the doorway of Samhain – the celebration of the ancestors, the season of death and renewal.
Blending old wisdom
Reflecting on the meaning of pilgrimage for us in the 21st century I feel this spiritual practice, that in some form is as old as humanity, is a wonderful opportunity for us to connect to the beauty and power of Spirit. Like shamanism it is something that has developed and adapted with the changing of the times. And as with shamanism, or any tradition handed down to us by our ancestors, it is the wealth of blending age old wisdom with the new energy of the present that creates a solid foundation for pathways to inner peace and harmony.
A pilgrimage can be a powerful rite of passage that signals you are ready to cross a threshold. It is the urge to follow the calling, the deep inner yearning, that draws us out to the “unknown” to seek our connections to the wildness - both inner and outer.
People from all walks of life are attracted to making pilgrimages for the same reasons that their forebears were.
More than ever, I believe, we need the experience of the pilgrimage to the sacred places of our own ancestors to enrich our lives, help us to expand our connection with the rest of nature and rediscover our dreamtime and spiritual heritage that is authentically our own to draw from.
When I am in nature in the west of Ireland my eye delights to see the land around me, knowing that I am seeing it just as my ancestors saw it. The ocean in the distance laced with the islands my people once lived on, the mountain peaks beside me embellished with the ancient cairns they built there, the ridge beyond the lake in front of me where great battles were waged. To see that the songlines are still bright, still carrying the story of the place, known to the Irish as the Dindshenchas. It is this great feeling of connection that deepens my own sense of purpose and place in the world. It deeply nurtures my processes to own such a great foundation – the gifts of my ancestors.
Thin places
Since prehistoric times sacred sites have exerted a mysterious and compelling attraction on humanity. The Irish know them as thin places – places where the physical and the spiritual world interface in a powerful and accessible way. The Celts believed that the gods were everywhere and in all things. Information about many sacred sites may have disappeared but in the Irish landscape they have endured with the enigmatic temples and other stone mysteries left by the megalithic builders. These, combined with the powerful and mysterious adventures told in the Celtic myths and sagas, and the storying of the land – that rivers edge, the big rock over there, the space between the high and low tide marks on a beach - create a rich tapestry of spiritual heritage for any pilgrim of the western traditions. For these are all thin places, where the energy pools and swirls. At such places there is a point where the different worlds meet. These energies are magnified at the places that have become known as sacred sites. And then there is the rest of the story to be pondered – the often mathematical and astronomical precision of the placement of stones and buildings, their accuracy as calendars and the stories that are inherent within them. Mysteries that hold many more dimensions for the pilgrim to experience and to explore.
These spiritual journeys have a primordial history in Ireland. A mystical land that is rich in prehistoric sacred places. The turas, a survivor of pre Christian practices, still has a central place in the popular religion of the west of Ireland. Turas take place every year, for example, at Glencolumcille ( Co. Donegal ), Croagh Patrick and the more modern Famine Way ( Co. Mayo).
Literally translated “an Turas” means the Journey. The ancient turas rituals of Ireland demonstrate a deep yearning and insight and the ability to connect in a personal way, with the deeper meanings. These places are an authentic and compelling connection and communion with ecology and the cosmos.
Powerful places
Ancient legends and modern day reports tell of extraordinary things that have happened to people while visiting places of pilgrimage. These places have a special concentration of power to heal the body, enlighten the mind, increase creativity, develop psychic abilities, and awaken the soul to a knowing of it’s true purpose in life.
There are many stories that have been told of these remarkable insights and healings. My own experiences at such places have varied from profound and life changing, to a quiet, deep peace and profound sense of connection.
The first time I visited Knocknarea, the site of Queen Maeve’s Cairn, in Co. Sligo,
I connected with an intense power of truth speaking. As I sat out the front of the cairn facing west I received a profound vision of my pathway and my own power. I experienced a feminine power that stood before me and pierced my heart with a strong sword of light. I knew it was the power of the sword of truth of the heart. An claiomh solas an croi - the sword of light of the heart. From that moment I knew that my work was the work of the speaking the truth of the heart and assisting others to listen to and to follow the voice of their hearts. I knew without doubt that I had connected to the mighty power of Queen Maeve – the archetypal energy that is sovereignty of the land. The Goddess of the Dreamtime of the ancestors and the spiritual forces that are the nature of the area we know as Connaught.
These sacred places are sources of power known to shaman as where the forces of heaven and earth meet and are the link with the ancestral spirit world. They are often burial places and traditionally the seeker is drawn to sit out there, vision questing, seeking answers and the connections to the mysteries that cannot be told only known and experienced. These places are thin places where the portals take us safely into the other world because the footprints of the ancestors illuminate the way.
Old traditions know as Patterns
A great strength of Irish people is the deep and enduring power of community and one of the characteristics of the Irish that I love so much is their simple enjoyment of music and fun. I have come to realise that these qualities are intimately bound up with their ancient spirituality. In the west there is still an old old tradition known as a Pattern. It is a holy celebration, a custom still practiced in some areas that is a festival or gathering with music and dancing after the serious intent of the early part of the day. The gaiety of the old Celtic festivals is as important as the more serious prayer and meditation. Typically most patterns involve a journey or turas - visiting the local sacred places, often an old church on a fairy hill with a well beside it and with nearby standing stones, stone circles or cairns. The old pattern sites are the powerful places from very early times.
Pilgrimage is a traditional feature of all cultures – at its simplest level it involves making a journey as an individual or group to a place which has significance to the pilgrim. It may be a recognised holy site or simply a place that has personal resonance.
What distinguishes a pilgrim from any other traveler is that they dedicate the journey to a spiritual /higher purpose and anticipate an exchange with the special place – both receiving something from the spirit, atmosphere and holiness and giving something in return, be it in the form of prayer, love and gratitude or some other meaningful intention or action. Through such exchange pilgrimage can bring healing and balance to both the environment and ourselves.