 Dear Friends,
As I write this, looking out at a cold, grey day, my mind has turned to the Camino. Eighteen months ago I was striding the 500 mile sacred ley line across Northern Spain in glorious sunshine and having a wonderful time.
What is the Camino?
Camino literally means The Way and is a pilgrimage route to Santiago, the resting place of the bones of St. James. Lord Kuthumi, the great Ascended Master, was a founder member of the Knights Templar, the order which protected the pilgrims on their holy journeys. The original Knights were highly evolved men, members of the White Brotherhood who dedicated themselves to divine service. They built temples, based on sacred geometry along the route and pegged the pilgrimage path with esoteric symbols to maintain its purity.
Why I walked the Way
Years ago I read Shirley MacLaine’s book, The Camino and Paulo Coelho’s The Pilgrimage and knew then that I must undertake it when the opportunity presented itself. From those books I picked up the magic and was not disappointed. With each footstep Mother Earth absorbs your negativity but it is much more than that, for you also pick up the energy of hundreds of thousands of pilgrims who have trodden the path before you. Their intentions, prayers, chants and mantras are embedded in the very soil you walk on.
Who walks it?
Anybody and everybody! The vast majority are Spanish Roman Catholics but people from all over the world of every religion undertake it. On our first evening we met a delightful 75 year young French woman, who had walked all the way from Paris to join the Camino. Whenever we saw her she radiated serenity.
To say you have walked the Camino you must complete the last 100km. Here the Way became crowded and for the first time we met families. The youngest pilgrim we saw was in a pushchair! The grandfather wanted to take his family on the pilgrimage before he died. And so he set off with his wife, two sons, their wives and 21 grandchildren, ranging in age from 16 to two. For me that family is an enduring image, all those children polite, friendly and well behaved with shining brown eyes, the oldest leading the youngest by the hand as they walked and sang, all happy to honour their grandfather’s dream.
The accommodation
Well a pilgrim is a pilgrim! We slept in refugios, in bunk beds in mixed dormitories. There was the night the whole bed shook every time the very heavy man in the bunk above me moved. But there were the warm, welcoming places too, like Eunate, where our pilgrim feet were tenderly washed when we arrived!
The highlights
Early on the second morning a golden eagle swept low in front of us and landed on a stone wall nearby. What an omen. We stayed for three nights in the only Benedictine monastery to accommodate women and had the opportunity to chat to the monks and the Jesuit priests who were staying there. It was a joyous, educational and totally fascinating experience.
One morning we stood on a hilltop and watched as one space ship after another discharged smaller discs, which went spinning off into the sky before disappearing. It was extraordinary.
Of course, there was a great sense of camaraderie, interesting people to meet and new friends to make. Every day promised an adventure. Yet I experienced a sense of timelessness and oneness with nature, as I progressed through the beautiful, ever changing countryside.
Returning home
When we returned my friend saw a psychic who commented that all the junk had disappeared from her aura. She had apparently done a lifetime of clearance during the pilgrimage and this was because we had walked for so long. We had allowed a leisurely seven weeks for this sacred commitment, though many march along in 30 days.
The Camino was one of the highlights of my life. If you are looking for spiritual acceleration and a wonderful holiday get yourself the invaluable A Pilgrim’s Guide to Camino Fisterra by John Brierley and walk The Way. I can’t wait to do it again.
With love, Diana
www.dianacooper.com
Text & photographs © Cygnus Books 23-Feb-2007
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