Invitation to a Pilgrimage

Last year I spent my winter in Greece, in my imagination. Long story, but the essence is that I wanted to spend some time in the sun, color, and energy of the Greek Isles while the snow flew here. I read memoirs and did close to 30 small watercolor paintings, which I posted on my personal blog.

I enjoyed my experience so much that I was yearning to go on another virtual trip for the winter this year. I happened to mention it to one of my clients, and she recommended a pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago in Northern Spain. This is a pilgrimage that she is doing, live, next Spring.

Spending time in Northern Spain very much appeals to me, but what really resonated  was the idea of a pilgrimage. Something about that was calling to me strongly.

“A pilgrimage is a transformative journey to a sacred center.” – Phil Cousineau, The Art of Pilgrimage, page xxiii.

So I am going on pilgrimage for the winter on the Camino de Santiago. It will be an inner pilgrimage, but I will draw and paint from photographs of the route. I’ll be reading personal memoirs of the pilgrimage, and re-reading The Art of Pilgrimage, one of my all-time favorite books. Stay tuned for some juicy quotes from that book.

Questions are coming to me as I open the door to my pilgrimage:

What is a pilgrimage?
What is an inner pilgrimage?
How can a pilgrimage help us in our pressure-filled, rapidly-paced lives and environments?
What is calling me at this time?

So far, four words have bubbled up in my reflections: Intention, Commitment, Readiness, and Willingness. More to come about these.

I will share my reflections and watercolor drawings about my pilgrimage on this blog. In addition to any other intentions or transformations, I am hoping that I will get better at drawing pilgrims!