B O N    C  A  M  I  N  O  •  •  •

At least one time in most people’s life we experience a burning desire to go searching for answers before we can even articulate questions. A time when we need a challenge outside of the lives we know. Some people invite this challenge often, me included. Pushing the boundaries of not just what I think but how I think and not just what I feel but how I feel.

Walking the hills of Northern Spain on the ancient pilgrimage known as the Camino was such a challenge. Having an opportunity to my take my inner journey on a physical sojourn surpassed my high hopes.

The Camino de Santiago has both historical and spiritual significance and is also known as the Way of Saint James. There are many routes but all end in Santiago de Compostela.  The path I took was Camino Frances. It’s about 800km, although with time restrictions I walked the last 225 kms over 10 days.

There are many reasons why people walk the Camino. Some as a spiritual discipline, some as a walking meditation of self discovery, a test of endurance and survival or just a walk in nature. All complete with constant reminders to be present.

I began in Astorga where I obtained a Pilgrim’s Passport, a credential that dates back to the middle ages. It’s a personal identification you need to stay in the Pilgrim’s Hostels which in Spanish is called a Refugio or Alberge.


As the journey began for me I really didn’t know what I was in for.  What I did know was that I was internally driven by dreams that suggested there was a body of writing to come from the walk.

On the first day of walking I had a vision of a modern
day scapular. It would have 2 square plates on chain.
Each image engraved on the back. One with intention to
illuminate your path and the one at the back would watch
your back and draw light for those who follow in your
footsteps.


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Another idea/vision I had while walking was imagining life as a dial. If we had 2 dials, one for misery.. one for joy and they operate independently. The joy dial is connected to the life force pulsing through everything, nature, art, acts of kindness the misery is set by our expectations in life.

If we are aware of both dials in our mind and accept their function we can tweak the dials to work and live by. LOL.  This hasn’t made it into a design yet. Yes, I’m always open for ideas.


As I walk through an old village oozing with history, I know that my steps are in the footprints of  hundreds of thousands of pilgrims before me spread over a thousand years. There is moss growing on stone structures of old ruins. The village looks like a graveyard of time past holding the scent of the wild roses and I marvel at the most majestic horse I’ve ever seen coveting the field. The mountains all around remind me of the challenges ahead. and the shadow of the hawk flying over my head looking for lunch make me aware of my fragility. The force of life in the moment is so big that one is left wondering where the energy field of my body ends and where the fence begins. There was an incredible sense of Godsend in all things. I’ve experienced this moment only one other time in my life- at the conception of my daughter.  Can we accept this as a universal language or universal nature and access it at will?

Although there are many people walking, the path of the pilgrim is one you tend to walk alone for the most part. If you speed up or slow down you’ll meet another with a backpack, a stick and often a scalloped shell (a symbol of a pilgrim) sewn to the pack. Most of the time I desired to walk alone. This journey restored my faith in people, as almost anyone was willing to do what they could if the need came to help another. Passers-by everywhere would greet you with “Bon Camino”.


“It takes only
a genuine smile
to illuminate
a path
worth walking.”

  
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The Camino is a journey of  challenge that gives us the opportunity to reflect how things resonate, leaving behind the world of should and could...  The only approval to be had is the vibratory direction of your own body and inner voice.

             

I had to learn to share the road with others not like me, as above. Sometimes with trepidation but never regret.

The high roads
are never paved
but the vistas
elude the struggle.

  
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The pilgrimage was the most exertion my body has ever experienced in one period.

If you are not taxing your knees going down a hill you are climbing one. A constant motivation was the scenery.  It was spectacular. One day I walked with a couple of girls for a while.  When we reached a village mid afternoon at the 20 km mark the sun was at it’s peak.  They decided to call it a day. Although every joint and muscle in my body begged me to stop, my will propelled me further. For the next couple of hours it was the quietest that I had experienced. There appeared to be no other pilgrim for miles. Not in the depth of the woods or in the blazing sun in the fields.   Nature sang its glory and kept me on a razor’s edge between excitement for feeling totally free and at one with this nature while a little nervous that I was lost.

The moment that I acknowledged that carrying any fear would be dangerous excess baggage, presto, the damage was done. At that moment, I spotted a big German Shepherd on the side of the next hill I had to cross. Damn! Trepidation filled me. I noticed an instant shift in my experience. I went from bliss to panic in  milliseconds. In my fatigue it made sense that this was unacceptable. I drew an imaginary invisible cloak around my body and walked on by. The dog didn’t seem to even look up. How extraordinary to not only witness in ourselves the shift from bliss to panic but to chose to discard it if it doesn’t serve us well.

On the other side of the mountain was the sight and sound of a herd of sheep, goats and cows. Hundreds of them, it was beautiful.

Once I realized that I had to walk through them, I sent a message of peace and love from every cell in my body with a silent request for “please, no confrontation” this body has absolutely nothing left. My request was honored.  The vistas were absolutely breathtaking.

When I arrived at my destination, in picturesque Molinaseca I collapsed on the grass of a town courtyard beside a loud babbling brook. With my eyes closed, I thought “Have I died and gone to heaven? I wondered. I decided to treat myself to a hotel that night with a private shower. I called our Magic Makers at the studio back in Toronto for an update and we coordinated to follow our call with a meditation. I love to coordinate meditation with others in different parts of the world with an arranged time and focus. Such joy!



The next day while nursing the beginning of a shin splint, I opted to walk through the beautiful town of Ponferrada in a pace that lived moment to moment, and without a care of how far I’d make it this day. My walk was reflecting on life’s challenges and how easy it is to give up.

Follow you dreams, make them magnificent, make them real, connect them to the earth and help the next generations see life’s many splendors.

The more I am wowed, the deeper the humility
the deeper the humility the more I feel equipped to be at service
the more I am at service the greater the quality of this walk in life.

What does it mean to walk the Camino after days of being with many people?
What are people hoping to walk with after the Camino for the everyday life?


We have in us whatever necessary to take on something that we think we may not be capable of.
The Camino is a great challenge to display that we can be our best ally and our worst enemy. ‘Fight the good fight’!

  
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                                          “When we decide to embody
                                                   what we want in life,
                                               we will never want again.”


Reached Santiago in all it’s glory! The 3rd largest destination for Christian pilgrimages after Rome and Jerusalem. It’s a jubilant time for most people on one level or another. This ancient city of cobbled stone streets, oozing with history was pulsing with life. Besides seeing lots of impeccably dressed tourists the cafes everywhere are filled with reunions of pilgrims who have shared some time walking.  People from all over the world that you knew that you would never see again.  Santiago kept me captivated for 3 days – the longest that I’d stayed anywhere in three weeks.

  


Finesterre  The end of the world

After finally reaching Santiago, the road goes on for some to Finisterre. A place considered the end of the world. People go there to burn the clothes, hats or walking sticks they’ve traveled with for weeks or months. Some would leave or burn (as there were several small fire pits) writings to characterize a closure and a new beginning or picture of someone they walked for.

I was one, aching to find myself sitting at this great place of contemplation. There I held a meditation, perched on the rocks on this cliff ,with 180 degrees of ocean and the high winds wrestling my clothes. Here, I sat to reconcile the inner and outer realities of this journey while sending out my intentions of gratitude and peace across the great ocean.

The Camino will call me back again. Perhaps with a group or a mission.
 I await the lure.    Gisele

June 2009