I am being led to write about pilgrimages. First, I found a copy of The Camino: A Journey of the Spirit by Shirley MacLaine in my Little Free Library. Then, a book source that offers deeply-discounted books of superior merit had some titles on pilgrimages that I ordered for Plymouth Library. After that, a friend of mine who has had many books published in the past (and appeared on "Oprah"!) was telling me about how she is struggling to find an agent to help her get her new book published. It has been a while since she wrote her last book. She dealt with stage four cancer for some time and then took some more time off to walk the Santiago de Compostela Camino. That is the topic of her new book, and I hope to see it in print soon.
In the book, How to be content, Dr. Unger writes about how "across cultures and times, people have gone on pilgrimages to find spiritual peace". She provides a walking meditation that one can do in a long hallway or around your backyard - no need to travel afar! Stand, take a deep breath, relax, slowly step forward. Notice the way that you first lift your heel, roll onto the ball of your foot, move your foot ahead, put your heel down, roll onto the ball of your foot while lifting the other heel. Focus on your slow, purposeful steps. Turn around, and walk back. You can keep going as long as you want to.
Not long ago, I read that Psalm 121 is known as “The Traveler’s Psalm.” It was spoken or sung as pilgrims traveled to Jerusalem for festivals. Traveling was hard - no cars! When people finally got to the hill of Jerusalem, they were probably pretty excited, but some needed motivation for the final push. They sang Psalm 121, 'I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where will my help come? My help comes from God, maker of heaven and earth'.
The 121st Psalm is my favorite one, although I only recognize the King James Version:
I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.
My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.
He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.
Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
The Lord is thy keeper: the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand.
The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.
The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.
The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.
I have gone out and come in a lot, but I have never been on a pilgrimage. What is it like to travel on foot for days, weeks, months? According to Wikipedia, "A pilgrimage is a journey, often into an unknown or foreign place, where a person goes in search of new or expanded meaning about their self, others, nature, or a higher good, through the experience. It can lead to a personal transformation." There are religious pilgrimages, but those long hikes on the Pacific Crest Trail or the Appalachian Trail seem to often end in a personal transformation, too. Undergoing challenges does that.
If going on a pilgrimage isn't in your future, you can follow this meditation written by the Reverend Becky Withington, a past member of Plymouth Church, who kindly gave me permission to share this with you. Becky has recently returned from a sabbatical spent partly at Iona Abbey on Iona Island. She and her husband, Paul, also toured through Ireland. She wrote a series of meditations based on the sites they visited. The following is from a meditation inspired by Cormic's Chapel on the Rock of Cashel in Ireland, a place of pilgrimage:
"Pilgrims come every year to immerse themselves in the sacred atmosphere that still permeates the air. You imagine them walking in silently, closing their eyes, breathing deeply. What have they come seeking?
What have you come seeking? As your spiritual journey unfolds, what are you hoping to find along the way? Comfort? Inner peace? Wisdom? Transcendence? Focus your heart and mind on your greatest spiritual longing. thinking back through your life, are there times when you have experienced this spiritual gift? Are there ways you can cultivate this gift and make it more a part of your spiritual journey? If you keep your eyes open for this gift, you are sure to experience it more and more. Imagine this gift filling your spirit right now and give thanks to the universe."
To be a pilgrim:
Pilgrim heart : the inner journey home /York, Sarah, 248.4 YOR
"In Pilgrim Heart: The Inner Journey Home, we see that pilgrimage is not just a literal journey or simply a spiritual metaphor, but rather an inspiring path toward greater self-understanding. Whether sharing the experience of her own pilgrimages to Nepal, Thailand, and the Celtic island of Iona, Scotland, or recounting the stories of others' spiritual journeys, Sarah York reveals to us how the cultural and physical discomforts of travel can lead to profound personal change. Beyond the going forth that pilgrimage demands, there is also the process of returning more at peace and at home with ourselves. To be a pilgrim means to have our hearts open to the struggle of being human and to allow that struggle to change us, no matter where our lives take us." - from the publisher
A mile in my shoes : cultivating compassion /Hudson, Trevor, 241.4 HUD
"In the dark period of South Africa's history, the author developed an eight-day experiential program called The Pilgrimage of Pain and Hope. He designed it to enable comfortable, young middle-class South Africans to reflect on the meaning of their faith and discipleship within the harsh and oppressive socio-political realities of their nation. From this experience grew a pattern to help all Christians cultivate the depth of compassion Christ requires.
Learn and experience the three essential ingredients of both an inward and outward pilgrimage: 1. Encounter involves confronting the pain of our shattered and fragmented societies. 2. Reflection comes through daily meditation on scripture in light of the encounters you have. 3. Transformation into greater Christlike-ness comes as a gift." - from the publisher
Pilgrimages to Rome and to Canterbury, from the Middle Ages to today:
The book of the maidservant /Barnhouse, Rebecca. J F BAR
"In 1413, a young maidservant accompanies her deeply religious mistress, Dame Margery Kempe, on a pilgrimage to Rome. Includes author's note on Kempe, writer of "The Book of Margery Kempe," considered by some to be the first autobiography in the English language." - from the online catalog
Pilgrimages : the great adventure of the Middle Ages /Ure, John, 263.04 URE
Here I walk : a thousand miles on foot to Rome with Martin Luther /Wilson, Andrew L., 326.4 WIL
A pilgrimage to eternity : from Canterbury to Rome in search of a faith /Egan, Timothy, 263.04245632 EGA
The road to Canterbury : a modern pilgrimage /Du Boulay, Shirley. 263.042 DUB
This might be the time to read Chaucer's Canterbury Tales - which also turned up in my Little Free Library recently!
Santiago de Compostela Camino
The way/DVD F WAY
My father, my daughter : pilgrims on the road to Santiago /Schell, Donald. 263.042 SCH
On foot to the end of the world /Freund, Renâe, 914.04 FRE
"Rene Freund takes his readers on a journey along the road to Santiago, one of Europe's oldest pilgrim trails, the end of which was once thought to be the end of the world. This vivid travelogue not only introduces the reader to the overwhelming natural beauty he encounters along the way, but also lets them share in his fantastic experience of reaching his own physical and psychological limits." - from the publisher
God's hotel : a doctor, a hospital, and a pilgrimage to the heart of medicine /Sweet, Victoria. 610.92 SWE
- Also a pilgrimage to Santiago
Holy Land
Living stones pilgrimage : with the Christians of the Holy Land /Hilliard, Alison. 956.94 HIL
Apostle : travels among the tombs of the twelve /Bissell, Tom, 225.922 BIS
"In his quest to understand the underpinnings of the world’s largest religion, Tom Bissell embarks on a years-long pilgrimage to the apostles’ supposed tombs, traveling from Jerusalem and Rome to Turkey, Greece, Spain, France, India, and Kyrgyzstan. Along the way, Bissell uncovers the mysterious and often paradoxical lives of these twelve men and how their identities have taken shape over the course of two millennia." - from the publisher
Walking the Bible : an illustrated journey for kids through the greatest stories ever told /Feiler, Bruce S. J 222.1091 FEI
Walking the Bible : a journey by land through the five books of Moses /Feiler, Bruce S. 915.604 FEI
Mecca: Islamic pilgrimages
From Mumbai to Mecca /Trojanow, Ilija. 297.352 TRO
Going to Mecca /Robert, Na'ima J 297.352 RR ROB
One thousand roads to Mecca : ten centuries of travelers writing about the Muslim pilgrimage /Wolfe, Michael, 297.352 WOL
"Since its inception in the seventh century, the pilgrimage to Mecca, or the Hajj, has been the central theme in a large body of Islamic travel literature. Beginning with the European Renaissance, it has also been the subject for a handful of adventurous writers from the West who, through conversion or connivance, managed to slip inside the walls of a city forbidden to non-Muslims. One Thousand Roads to Mecca collects significant works by observant travel writers from the East and West over the last ten centuries. The two very different literary traditions form distinct sides of a spirited conversation in which Mecca is the common destination and Islam the common subject of inquiry." - from the publisher
Buddhist pilgrimages
Pilgrims: becoming the path itself/Herzog, Werner and Lena. 294.3 HER
Hikes that become unintended pilgrimages
Wild : from lost to found on the Pacific Crest Trail /Strayed, Cheryl, B STR
Best of the Pacific Crest Trail, Washington : 55 hikes /Nelson, Dan A. 917.9 NEL
A pilgrimage around the labyrinth
On my path: a very young pilgrim's guide to walking the labyrinth/Wheeler, Diana. J 203.7 WHE
The sacred path companion: a guide to walking the labyrinth to heal and transform/Artress, Lauren. 203.7 ART
Walking a sacred path : rediscovering the labyrinth as a spiritual tool /Artress, Lauren, 291.37 ART
To Be a Pilgrim (He who would valiant be) - from John Bunyon's Pilgrim's Progress (read Pilgrim's progress /Schmidt, Gary D. J F SCH)
He who would valiant be 'gainst all disaster
Let him in constancy follow the Master
There's no discouragement shall make him once relent
His first avowed intent to be a pilgrim
Who so beset him round with dismal stories
Do but themselves confound - his strength the more is
No foes shall stay his might; though he with giants fight
He will make good his right to be a pilgrim
Since, Lord, Thou dost defend us with Thy Spirit
We know we at the end, shall life inherit
Then fancies flee away! I'll fear not what men say
I'll labor night and day to be a pilgrim