Finding My Way

Antique Map of El Camino Frances

The pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela is a spiritual journey that pilgrims have traveled for over a thousand years. The Way of Saint James emerged as the most traveled pilgrimage route because it offered medieval pilgrims a safer passage than the perilous trip to Jerusalem or Rome. 

By the 12th and 13th centuries, half a million pilgrims made their way to and across northern Spain  and back each year. The Kings of Aragon, Navarre and Castile built hospitals, hostels, roads and bridges to accommodate them.

The city of Santiago became the first major thoroughfare of Christian Europe, a meeting place for people from all nations and different faiths, an intersection for spiritual, economic and cultural growth stimulated by millions of pilgrims. 

A New Year Peregrination: Walking The Camino

A year ago, I embarked on a life-changing journey by walking the ancient Spanish pilgrimage route, The Way of St. James, popularly known as the Camino to Santiago de Compostela. 

The experience of walking in preparation for the 100 km stretch to earn the certificate of a pilgrim (credencial) deepened my awareness of life as an inner journey. Letting go, shedding the baggage of daily tasks to free myself in pursuit of the sacred was a spiritual exercise that opened a window into this inner world. 

Life as a Camino

Posted by auberrie on September 20, 2013 at 8:40 PM

" No hay camino
(There is no Way)
Se hace camino al andar
(By walking, you make the Way) "
~ Antonio Machado

The Spanish word "camino" can mean a trail, a path, a road, or even a journey. It is also used to describe a "way" as in Scriptures, when Jesus says: "I am the Way, the truth and the life."

The Way of Saint James invites walkers not just to undertake a physical path but a way of life. Perhaps this was what Machado meant when he wrote: "there is no way." While the purpose of undertaking a pilgrimage may be unclear, the road we travel does not really matter. What matters is the journey, how we walk the transformational path in our own lives, making each step count.

Pilgrimage is more than just a geographic trek. It was designed to act out an inner journey.

Walking the Camino

Posted by auberrie on September 5, 2013 at 6:40 PM

A first cousin and niece who live in Madrid planned this trip for me (a labor of love) and we are at the 100 km marker indicating distance to our goal: Santiago de Compostela.

To make it, we have to walk 15 km. (about 10 miles) daily.

The process involves applying for a "credencial" (an informal passport which you get stamped at hostels, bars, churches along the way to verify you walked through the route).

The minimum requirement to get a "Compostela" (official certificate of pilgrimage) is 100 km. walk through last section of the 500 km. Camino route (Sarria to Santiago). There are several ways to do the Camino, starting your walk from "home" (from Portugal or France, from parts of Spain through the coast or through the central area cutting through Pyrenees).

I chose to start from Edgewater, walking across the GW Bridge into the Cloisters in NY, using the museum's statue of Santiago de Compostela (with a pilgrim shell on his hat) as my "starting from home" reference.