The Art of Pilgrimage

One of the Christuman Missions is: "To travel to sacred centers of fire that feed vision and Vates within." Obviously, this is a tough mission to fulfill during a pandemic, but I thought we might take advantage for the next few months of our "virtual table"—either sharing sacred places to which we've already been, or making virtual pilgrimages to places we've always wanted to visit and may still visit in the future.

If you would, please secure a copy of The Art of Pilgrimage by Phil Cousineau and read Chapter VII: "Bringing Back the Boon".  This book is widely available in many different formats  and from many different sources—I just looked and the Kindle version is free (at least today). Joseph Campbell and Huston Smith were both mentors of Phil Cousineau and you will see the influence of these men in Cousineau's book.  In addition, please also access Richard Barber's Pilgrimages.

While the Internet will certainly lend itself as prime resource for what I'm envisioning, I can also recommend two National Geographic books: Geography of Religion: Where God Lives, Where Pilgrims Walk and Sacred Places of a Lifetime: 500 of the World's Most Peaceful and Powerful Destinations. Neither of these are available in electronic form and don't feel like you must have them—I just think they are lovely books when imagining places of pilgrimage.  As I said, the Internet will be the main resource for our Sunday night pilgrimages, and is what makes this "study" so full of potential. Even thought we can't travel, we can still access the sights and sounds of so many places and bring them into our homes to stimulate our vision and vates within.

In summary… 1) please get a copy of The Art of Pilgrimage and Pilgrimages 2) please begin to think of a virtual pilgrimage you might like to take or lead us on in the coming months.  

We'll embark on this new Sunday night venture on November 1!