Blessing for a New Beginning

Almost one year ago my stepfather, Peter, left for his two-month pilgrimage in Spain along El Camino de Santiago de Compostela.  He walked 600 miles from Pamplona to Cape Finisterre (a name which means "the end of the earth"), practicing his Spanish, talking with fellow pilgrims, savoring the food and countryside, visiting churches and cathedrals along the way... 

But, of course, these are merely the things you might see on the outside.  What was really happening was on the inside, and far more profound.

The pilgrimage has always been a spiritual journey.  That was the main reason Peter wanted to walk the Camino - to open himself to wisdom and guidance from the Divine. 

My mother described it this way: "We are all locked in narrow views of life:  whatever is in our sphere of awareness just is the way it is.

"What you hope for with pilgrimage, or with questing of any kind, is that you will get a new vision for your life - new ideas, new possibilities you hadn’t considered before."

Read about the blessing ceremony I performed for his pilgrimage.

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It's Peter's story to tell but I can say it was an amazing and life-altering experience for him.  And he's about to do it again.  In a little less than a week he departs to walk the Camino a second time.  It will be the same route (mostly), but it will certainly be a whole new pilgrimage. 

Peter asked me once again to bless him before his journey, and once again the Goddess (the face of the Divine for Peter) waited until practically the last moment to offer me her words.  This evening I opened to the blessing "For a New Beginning" from To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings by the late teacher and poet, John O'Donohue.  And it is perfect.

For a New Beginning
by John O’Donohue

In out-of-the-way places of the heart,
Where your thoughts never think to wander,
This beginning has been quietly forming,
Waiting until you were ready to emerge.

For a long time it has watched your desire,
Feeling the emptiness growing inside you,
Noticing how you willed yourself on,
Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.

It watched you play with the seduction of safety
And the gray promises that sameness whispered,
Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent,
Wondered would you always live like this.

Then the delight, when your courage kindled,
And out you stepped onto new ground,
Your eyes young again with energy and dream,
A path of plenitude opening before you.

Though your destination is not yet clear
You can trust the promise of this opening;
Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
That is at one with your life’s desire.

Awaken your spirit to adventure;
Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;
Soon you will be home in a new rhythm,
For your soul senses the world that awaits you.