Back in February of this year (the 12th), I wrote a blog called "Pilgrimage", to which I guess you could say this is an unintentional follow-up; what I said about going on pilgrimage to places that light up with love in the present, rather than historic religious sites, definitely still holds.
The word came up for me again yesterday when I was listening to "Pipedreams". Michael Barone played Poulenc's "Litanies a la Vierge Noire", and I was transported back to either 1976 or 1977, when the Smith College Glee Club sang at Harvard's Memorial Church. I played the organ accompaniment to this complex modern choral piece -- listening to it yesterday, I could barely believe that I had reached that skill level, but I must have done. I don't remember making any mistakes (and believe me, I remember most of the mortifying moments over the years when my playing went off track!!!) What was also surprising is that I remember virtually all of the French text, and this line stuck out: "Notre Dame, dont le pelerinage est enrichi de faveurs specials..." (Our Lady, whose pilgrimage is enriched by special favors). I am not Catholic (although I suspect I was in many previous lifetimes!), but this prayer set my heart racing.
As I get ready to move, what a different energy there is to the concept of looking at this lifetime as a "pilgrimage" rather than a failed attempt to have a normal life like most other people! Perhaps it truly has been an act of spiritual devotion or search, at each step coming closer and closer to an understanding of the divine feminine, and of my own spiritual center. From such a perspective, getting ready to go on another leg of the pilgrimage offers at least a little more anticipation and excitement. And yes, at each stop on the pilgrimage, I have been enriched by special gifts and favors, more obviously so in England but at other points as well, lovely surprises that seemed to come, ultimately, from the Divine.
On a hot morning with a sky pink from Western wildfire smoke, this is my prayer: may my next step bring me closer to the Great Mother.
