These pilgrimage stories are tales of journeying to sacred and re-sacralized landscapes close to home and to myth-filled lands of megalithic stone circles, Celtic sites, Christian holy wells, and sanctified ritual landscapes abroad. They are stories about being in relationship to the wildness within us and in communication with the wild of Nature, the wild of Spirit all around us, and the wild of our own Souls. They include such archetypal themes as liminality, synchronicity, transformation, and healing through loving contact with ancestors of place and of blood, the divine feminine, plant-animal allies and our heart-breakingly beautiful natural world. We hope that these pilgrimage stories will invoke a sense of the Oneness of nature, spirit, and us humans. It is our intention to provide inspiration for the passionate efforts that are gathering on all fronts to join together to re-honor and protect the lands and waters of Mother Gaia. Hope is building that we may listen and hear the indigenous ancestors of past and present peoples speak their wisdom to us through their sacred lands, through our sacred Earth.
The small group we call Women’s Mysteries always meets outdoors. It’s deeply satisfying when our exploration of psycho-spiritual growth includes interacting with nature. On several occasions one or more of us has communed with Mother Magnolia, Magnolia grandifolia, the tall … Continued
In Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer says, “One of our responsibilities as human people is to find ways to enter into reciprocity with the more-than-human world. We can do it through gratitude, through ceremony, through land stewardship, science, art, and … Continued
There is a place, partly imaginary, mostly real where tall gray beings sit in council on the top of a small mountain as if waiting for something to begin. Perhaps they are waiting for someone to sit quietly and listen … Continued
One April a friend and I left her office and passed through a veil into a magical world. Entering the forest was like stepping beyond an invisible curtain from unreality to reality. We crossed paved streets behind rows of brick … Continued
When we come upon a spring bubbling out from beneath a tree on a wooded hillside it can seem magical–water emerging from inside the earth. Springs are a type of wetlands. Are wetlands sacred? On World Wetlands Day, February 2, … Continued
Indigenous Americans for thousands of years have created sanctuaries of earth and sky to commune with Spirit. The Hopewell Earthworks in Ohio are magnificent examples of such holy places. These earthworks form the largest concentration of monumental earthen architecture in … Continued
We are destroying our birthright to belong to a natural world of Earth, Humans, and Spirit. Trying to think of solutions has not helped. We need to descend to a deeper source—into our bottomless wellspring of intuition and creativity, into … Continued
Our goal was to make a longer trip into wilder lands. We had gone on local day trips, but, because of Covid, this would be our first adventure in a year, since last February. We were drawn to explore South … Continued
For many of us the figure of the Cailleach, the crone, has become synonymous with wisdom and autonomous female agency operating outside the oppressive hand of patriarchy. Cailleach, ‘veiled one,’ means a wise or spiritual woman. She has also been … Continued
Everyone seems to keep a special stone in some honored spot on a small table or sunlit sill, perhaps hoping you’ll ask to hear the story of what it means to them. We try to stay connected to the healing … Continued