A Sacred Journey

practicing pilgrimage at home and abroad

How to Travel Like a Pilgrim

The tourist season might be winding down, but the time for pilgrimage never ceases.

An ancient spiritual practice, pilgrimage invites seekers to travel away from home on journeys of intention in search of Sacred Encounter. It’s not simply about traveling to a Sacred site, however. Pilgrimage is an outer journey that contributes to an inner one. When we journey beyond our borders, exploring new cultures and landscapes, our entire lives can be transformed.

That longing you have to set out and find meaning? It’s divinely implanted, and when you follow its invitation it will take you down a path you’ve never walked before as you’re led by the Sacred Guide. Are you on the path of the pilgrim abroad?

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Welcome to the Pilgrim Podcast: An Introduction

I’m back from my summer blogging break with some exciting news!

If you’re a subscriber, you heard the news in my September newsletter, and if you follow me on Facebook or Instagram you were able to get a sneak peek (listen?), but today’s the official launch day: Pilgrim Podcast is finally here!

It’s likely that many of you listened along when I joined Jenn Giles Kemper on her Sacred Ordinary Days Podcast for a season to talk about the liturgical year—perhaps that’s even how you found my work here at A Sacred Journey. Jenn and I loved having conversations about the liturgical seasons, particularly as we were in the midst of them, and because they come around annually, you can re-listen each year right here as part of your spiritual practice. (I know I do!)

Jenn will continue on with the Sacred Ordinary Days Podcast with new episodes arriving this fall, but me? I wanted to dig more deeply into the practice of pilgrimage and tell the stories of both pilgrims to far off lands and seekers in everyday life.

Pilgrim Podcast is a new podcast exploring spirituality and intention in travels and daily life and what it means to live like a pilgrim at home and abroad. In each episode, we join fellow seekers in conversation on pilgrimages abroad, meaningful journeys at home, and the surprising paths life sends us down that always lead to transformation.

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Armchair Pilgrimage: 10 Travel Memoirs for Summer Reading

Now that the Journey Guide has launched, it’s time to tend to my own journey.

I’ll be laying low this summer on the blog and social media so I can do some dreaming and scheming about what’s next for A Sacred Journey (hint: a Pilgrim Principles online course!) and will be back in full force in September. Since we’ve been focusing so much on the practice of pilgrimage this month, however, I didn’t want to leave you empty-handed when it comes to inspirational travel, especially those of you who are intrigued by the Journey Guide but don’t necessarily have a specific trip on the horizon.

It’s true—life doesn’t always afford us with the ability to set off on meaningful journeys on a whim, but thankfully, books have the power to transform and transport us in the mean time no matter our budget or availability. Here are 10 travel memoirs for your summer reading that are sure to take you on an armchair pilgrimage:

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How to Use The Pilgrim’s Compass (+ Compass Cues in the Journey Shop!)

Do you ever find yourself uprooted, disconnected, and in need of direction?

Throughout time, wisdom traditions have told us that if we’re looking for guidance and Sacred connection, we only need to look within.

Though it might be hard to believe based on common theology taught in churches, even the Christian tradition claims this to be true, with the author of Genesis stating that we are made in the image of God, and Jesus himself declaring, “The kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21). Other translations have Jesus stating that “the kingdom of God is at hand,” which in the end is not too different—both interpretations share a similar message, which is that Truth is available right here, right now.

I believe that the more we become our True Selves, the closer we are to God, and vice versa—the closer we are to God, the more we become our True Selves. There’s an intersection there—the Inner Witness—the place within in which the Sacred Guide dwells and the True Self and Divine meet.

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What’s Your Touchstone? (+ new touchstones in the Journey Shop!)

Do you have a touchstone?

You know, an object that instantly reminds you of your values, what you seek, and who you want to be.

Like the practice of pilgrimage, a touchstone is a physical representation of your intention and a reminder of your desires. In the Golden Age of pilgrimage, touchstones for the journey were common, with a different emblem representing each of the most popular pilgrimages of the day.

The most well-known emblem associated with a journey is likely the scallop shell representing the Camino de Santiago de Compostela, which still serves as a symbol for the ancient pilgrimage today. Other emblems of the ancient pilgrims might not have been so obvious or intentional, but can still be considered touchstones because they served as reminders of the quest, such as a walking stick to aid in the journey or a memento brought from home and used as a source of inspiration in times of doubt.

Whether you’re on pilgrimage abroad or journeying with intention right at home, a touchstone is a useful tool for the Seeker of the Sacred.

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