My entire life has been a pilgrimage of sorts, if you think of a pilgrimage as a long journey to union with God.
As my personal journey has been unfolding through the seasons of my everyday life, I have periodically embarked on physical pilgrimages that seem to mark the beginning or ending of a phase of my personal or spiritual life.
What does it mean to you to be a pilgrim?
When I speak of spiritual pilgrimage, I value the internal process of reflection, inquiry, and discovery more than the external circumstances of the trip. Whether traveling to far off exotic lands, navigating the ups and downs of relationship at home with loved ones, meeting the challenges our career presents, or spending time meditating in a sacred space, each moment of life can be an opportunity to discover, explore and release the inner obstacles that prevent connection, fulfillment, and peace. Every day is an opportunity to take that next step in your journey toward aligning with and living from the deepest truth of who you are.
Aren’t we all pilgrims, consciously or unconsciously?
Once the journey becomes conscious, pilgrimage is a state of mind really, a commitment to be “in this world but not of it.” It’s a choice to follow the soul wherever it might lead, keeping the heart open to wisdom the brain cannot fathom. Certainly there will be mountaintops and valleys, clear days full of sunshine, and dark, stormy seasons. And as always, the journey is not separate from the destination.
So whether the pilgrim is setting off on a physical journey or consciously committing to living one’s life led by Spirit, the beginning is often filled with all kinds of unanswered questions.
What will I find/learn/discover?
Will I get lost?
What if I fail?
What if God wants me to do something I don’t want to do?
What if nothing happens?
Who will I be if I leave my old identity behind?
Have you ever stood on the threshold of a new phase of your life, and pondered these questions?
Having claimed my full Pathwork Helpership recently, I feel as if I have crossed that threshold, walked right into a new phase of my life, and it is alive with possibility! But the questions are there too, arousing fear and uncertainty. As if in an answer to those questions, Italy awaits me.
I will be traveling to Italy for three weeks on September 13th to attend the International Pathwork Conference and to visit many of the sites sacred to Christianity. I didn’t plan this trip to coincide with the claiming of my Helpership, and yet now I understand how my journey to Italy will be a pilgrimage for me, a way to ground this new chapter of my life. Amidst the pilgrimage that is our life, a physical pilgrimage often acts as the external manifestation of an internal process, highlighting and exposing fears that lay dormant and buried in the unconscious. By saying yes to the journey, facing your fears and trusting you’ll be guided to move through whatever arises, the pilgrimage serves to transform blocks that keep you separate from God, others, and your heart’s longing.
The journey actually begins before you take your first step…it begins the moment you say “Yes.” And so for me, it has begun…
Who knows what lies ahead of me…and I can’t wait to find out!
An important part of the experience of pilgrimage are the people who travel alongside you. I would LOVE to have you join me on this journey! Maybe you can’t fit in my suitcase (it’s really small), but I will be sharing my experiences in a series of blog posts over the next several weeks, so you can walk along with me virtually and hopefully experience a few sacred discoveries of your own!
As a Pathwork Helper, it is deeply fulfilling for me to live my life committed to the inner journey of transformation, and to assist others on their own inner spiritual pilgrimage. My hope and prayer is that through my experience in Italy, we can each take steps to find answers to the questions that will guide us to the place where all of our paths merge…on the one journey to the Real Self.
To walk alongside me in pilgrimage — sign up below!
Buon Viaggio!
