The concept of pilgrimage

[Aster Breo]

My family is from Ireland and I've always had a really strong connection with the land there. I'm going back in two weeks, and we're driving the whole way, rather than flying, and going via Kildare (to see St Brigid's Cathedral and the holy well). I'm hoping my experience of the land will have even more layers this visit, now that I connect gods with it (as well as the land spirits that I've always been vaguely aware of). I'm trying not to have too many expectations about it, though. I want to try and make my whole journey bound up with the gods - crossing the sea will link with Manannan, I will seek Brigid at Kildare

Kildare (and Newgrange) has been my ideal pilgrimage destination for many years.  I haven't made it yet.  Airfare from the U.S. is pretty expensive.  But I still hope to go someday.

I hope you have a fantastic trip!  Please take pictures and post them for us!

~ Aster

[Jezebel]

Ha, I actually thought something similar to this while I was writing my post! I imagined visiting something ancient like the Acropolis, and then I compared it to climbing a local mountain. The Acropolis is a major tourist site, it's going to be crawling with bumpkins with cameras, and people will go "wow some rocks" and not appreciate it and fill the place up with their horrible bad energy, and it just won't be the holy place it should be. But if I go climb Mt. Hood, I could be the only person for miles, surrounded by majesty, able to see forever, and it would be awe-inspiring. And you know that even if I was with other people, they would feel the same way, even if they weren't pagan or spiritual in any way.

It is basically like that. Hoards of people with cameras, overseers with whistles that get blast happy if someone so much as puts a toe over the rope barrier. (And while I understand the need to preserve these sites it kind of disrupts the atmosphere.) Not to mention watching people trying to sneak rocks into their pockets.

BUT, that being said, the Acropolis is huge, and the Parthenon is a truly immense building and even covered in scaffolding it was a breath taking experience to see it and walk up the ramp where all the ritual processions would have tread.

[Utusitusi]

It is basically like that. Hoards of people with cameras, overseers with whistles that get blast happy if someone so much as puts a toe over the rope barrier. (And while I understand the need to preserve these sites it kind of disrupts the atmosphere.) Not to mention watching people trying to sneak rocks into their pockets.

BUT, that being said, the Acropolis is huge, and the Parthenon is a truly immense building and even covered in scaffolding it was a breath taking experience to see it and walk up the ramp where all the ritual processions would have tread.

 
I found Athens a disappointment on the whole except for the Temple of Olympian Zeus, the museum of Art and History and the Cycladic Art museum. The latter especially was breathtaking.
The Acropolis was so very 'clean', I didn't feel any connection to the past at all.

[Jezebel]

I found Athens a disappointment on the whole except for the Temple of Olympian Zeus, the museum of Art and History and the Cycladic Art museum. The latter especially was breathtaking.
The Acropolis was so very 'clean', I didn't feel any connection to the past at all.

 
I understand what you mean. While it was impressive I much preferred the sites at Delphi, Sounion, Olympia and Corinth. While the city thing is nice, the wilder sanctuaries had a better atmosphere.

[Sophia C]

Kildare (and Newgrange) has been my ideal pilgrimage destination for many years.  I haven't made it yet.  Airfare from the U.S. is pretty expensive.  But I still hope to go someday.

I hope you have a fantastic trip!  Please take pictures and post them for us!

~ Aster

I shall! I'd love to see Newgrange too, but it's a little far from where we're going - we'd have to go a long way in the wrong direction for seeing my family - so not this time. But I hope to see it one day.

[Aine Rayne]

While preparing to write a PBP entry, I did a Google search on "pagan pilgrimage" and the first hit was a thread from our old boards: Sacred Journeys and Pagan Pilgrimage.  After reading it, I thought it might be an interesting topic to discuss on this incarnation of the boards as well.

So...

What is the concept of pilgrimage, to you?  Is it part of your religious path?  Have you been on pilgrimage (I know Altair has) or are you planning one?  If so, what do you plan to do?  If not, why not?

Since I just formulated my concept of pilgrimage I'll share it lol To me it seems like a journey for spiritual growth/realizations, usually in a manner that is physically challenging. Personally the idea of a pilgrimage is rather new, not like I've never heard it before, but the idea of their being a purpose for it. My mother has brought it up before, but in the context of my family's Native American and Filipino heritage and as an "entering adulthood" sort of thing. I'm pretty sure it's not part of my path, but I could be wrong XD I've never been one and will probably never do the "physically challenging" part if I ever decide to go somewhere. Asthma doesn't really appreciate that sort of thing. If I were to go anywhere it would be Hokkaido, a mountain (preferably somewhere cool like Sweden, nevermind that I have a friend there lol), and Hardai I really am not one for heat (I actually end up sick and half heat exhausted for a large portion of summer), but I'd totally suffer to see Hardai. And Karnak.

[Holdasown]

What is the concept of pilgrimage, to you?  Is it part of your religious path?  Have you been on pilgrimage (I know Altair has) or are you planning one?  If so, what do you plan to do?  If not, why not?

I would love to go to Germany to Frau Holle Lake in Hoher Meißner, Werra-Meißner-Kreis, Hesse. There are pools and a lake she is said to come from.

[WaywardOne]

I would love to go to Germany to Frau Holle Lake in Hoher Meißner, Werra-Meißner-Kreis, Hesse. There are pools and a lake she is said to come from.

I have to agree with Ula, I would love to go to Germany, too. I've visited Scotland and Ireland several times- my ancestry on my father's side is mainly Scots. But my mother's family has a lot of German. My pagan path was druidic/celtic in some ways, extremely eclectic, but I felt a closeness to the Celtic regions. Even though I've become a Christian, I still would consider this a pilgrimage because my roots are there, and I still have deep feelings for the spiritual path I was on for many years. It was quite a journey, and I look back at my pagan path with such fond memories. Such a huge part of my early adult life.

I don't know if pilgrimage is necessary, but it certainly can't hurt! What a wonderful thing to be able to experience a region you feel a spiritual connection to, for whatever reason.

[Alex]

So...

What is the concept of pilgrimage, to you?  Is it part of your religious path?  Have you been on pilgrimage (I know Altair has) or are you planning one?  If so, what do you plan to do?  If not, why not?

I'm not planning a pilgrimage and will not, unless I am otherwise directed.

My God is not tied to a place--He has no history tied to specific lands or people and has never, as far as I know, had a temple. It makes it very lonely, but it makes it a very specific experience of the world.

[Sophia C]

Kildare (and Newgrange) has been my ideal pilgrimage destination for many years.  I haven't made it yet.  Airfare from the U.S. is pretty expensive.  But I still hope to go someday.

I hope you have a fantastic trip!  Please take pictures and post them for us!

As promised, my blog post on Kildare. (A post on the rest of my trip, mainly around the Beara Peninsula, will go up there when I get a chance.) It was a fantastic experience.

[Aster Breo]

As promised, my blog post on Kildare. (A post on the rest of my trip, mainly around the Beara Peninsula, will go up there when I get a chance.) It was a fantastic experience.

Thank you so much for posting your pics and descriptions!!!  It sounds like you had a beautiful trip.

I so hope to get there some day...

~ Aster

[Annie Roonie]

As promised, my blog post on Kildare. (A post on the rest of my trip, mainly around the Beara Peninsula, will go up there when I get a chance.) It was a fantastic experience.

 

Thanks for posting this! Love these pics!