practicing pilgrimage at home and abroad
Perhaps they were recounting inspirational sites visited on a recent pilgrimage or sharing about how journeying out into creation always draws them closer to the Divine. They might not have even been talking about a place at all, but instead a Sacred moment spurred on by spiritual practice or a deep conversation that pierces the soul.
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Apart from the frighteningly accurate and revealing analysis that he tends to offer during office hours (“I wonder what it is within you that longs to wander, Lacy? What are you wandering from?”) I remember him mentioning Iona as a site of pilgrimage.
Of course I nodded, implying complete understanding without having any idea what he was talking about (I swear to you that I am not the first to do this in his presence). The truth is, however, that I had never once heard of Iona, but the way Dan said the word made me feel as if the place carried quite the sense of mystique (oh how I wish you could hear the way Dan Allender speaks–I have a feeling all that have are smiling at this moment and thinking “Dan talks as if everything has a sense of mystique,” but that is beside the point).
As I left his office (thinking, “ugh–caught in the act”), Dan suggested I speak with Tom Cashman about pilgrimage, as many others had been suggesting. As I learned more about this place, often described as being at “the edge of the earth,” and thus a ready place for spiritual encounter, I became more and more intrigued and realized I, too, needed to journey to Iona.
When I finally made it to Iona on a whirlwind trip in 2012 (note to self: Iona requires more from you than a whirlwind trip), I consulted Tom as I made plans. Who better to prepare me for my journey than the one who implanted the ideas of both Celtic Spirituality and pilgrimage to Iona within me?
This interview with Tom first appeared in the first few months of A Sacred Journey’s existence over three years ago (feels like forever), but since I’ll be visiting Iona again in the spring (hopefully with you?), I thought it was time to dust it off and use it as a primer once more. Read on…
The beginning of November calls us to do just that, with the Feast of All Saints falling on the first of November and the Feast of All Souls following on the second. Both feast days invite us to remember the “great cloud of witnesses” mentioned in the twelfth chapter of Hebrews—both for the Church as a whole as well as for us individually—honoring their memory and reflecting on their impact on our spiritual journeys.
Traditionally, the period around All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day (as well as their predecessor, All Hallow’s Eve) is a liminal one—a time when the veil between heaven and earth is thin. When we apply this intention to this season of turning inward, calling forth the memory of the great cloud of witnesses that surrounds us, those who have gone before us can seem especially close.
As we turn our attention to those who have passed, including the saints of the Church who live on in practice and or our own ancestors who live on in memory, I find it important to also remember those who might be still with us and have contributed to our own personal journey, helping to shape who we are today.
Here are 10 ways to remember those who have gone before you on All Saints’ Day, All Souls’ Day, and throughout the month of November and the season of remembrance:
As you practice remembering the saints, remembering your ancestors, and remembering your mentors and guides, create an altar of remembrance somewhere in your home that you pass regularly, placing on it images and artifacts that will call you to remember those who have gone before you each day.