“The next day is gusty and cold. I make a pot of tea, settle into the most comfortable chair in the house, and start to leave through a thin paper paperback….It Is by Philip Sheldrake and the title intrigues me: Living Between Worlds: Place and Journey in Celtic Christianity..
“Inherit in Celtic Christianity spirituality,” Sheldrick claims, “were the twin values of ‘place’ and ‘journey.’” The journey was the search for the ultimate place, a place of harmony and unity of all things in the Absolute ... An engagement with ‘place’ ... may enable a spiritual inner journey... Both the pilgrimage journey and the sacred place encapsulate a here-and-now experience of ‘transitus’ –the conclusive passing over to the other world that is ultimately brought about by death. …
I find that the day I am reading this book - May 24th - is the Feast of Saint Brendan, famous and Celtic lore for his voyage to and among the many islands of Western Britain and perhaps even to North America. Scholars now suggest this was less an actual voyage than a parable of an inner spiritual journey. ...
I lay the book down and go for a walk. It is early evening. The sun has returned and transformed the waters of the Sound of Iona into a channel of shimmering blue silk. Beyond the landscapes of Mull and Erraid, the Paps of Jura are faintly outlined on the horizon. There is a seagull perched on each one of the seven chimneys of The Bishop's house. A thrush sings sweetly to the lengthening shadows. Surely this is my place of pilgrimage and of re-birth.”
Invitation: Where is your “place of pilgrimage and of rebirth?”
Iona Dreaming, The Healing Power of Place, Clare Cooper Marcus, page 63, 64.
Claire Cooper Marcus is Professor Emerita in the Department of Architecture and Landscape Architecture at the University of California, Berkeley. She is the author of the best-selling House as Mirror of Self and co-author-editor of Healing Gardens. Connect to her continuing work at Therapeutic Landscape Networks
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My heart! My place and journey to see myself. It’s an ongoing journey - one I want to embrace - that includes being open and generous- living in the grace of abundance🙏🏻