Musings about the next Pilgrimage

Those who want to go to Scotland or UK, and have an interest in Celtic Christian Spirituality.

Before the Pilgrimage to the UK, a stepping stone could be a long weekend at Columcille Megalith Park,PA. Accommodation at Kirkridge. This is not a prerequisite it can be a stand alone experience, for anyone who wants an introduction to Celtic Christian Spirituality, and don’t want to take the long journey to the UK.

Retreat Focus: Celtic Christian Spirituality, Art, Contemplation and silence and immersion in nature, as creation magnifies the creator.

Three Problems to solve or resolve

1. Too busy to be still, know self, know God or the Divine Spirit. (Partner with the Wild Goose)

2. Caught in the routine of life so that you feel like you are only going through the motions.

3. You know you need to get away, give yourself permission to have a getaway for yourself.

My three experiential activities the person on the retreat would participate in when on the pilgrimage or mini pilgrimage

1. To be in Scotland Iona, Lindisfarne or Cornwall. Or prior to international experience go to Columcille Megalith Park,PA. And be immersed in the beauty of nature and location, having the time and space for being still, and to draw close to our journey companion, the Spirit. We are on a journey, daily we enter into a pilgrimage, but at times we are going through the daily grind, and have need of being in a sacred thin place, having a moment of encounter with God in a sacred space and location.

2. Go and ponder the thresholds of life, at a stone circle, entering a holy building, or by walking a labyrinth.

3. Have time to Journal the journey, and given times to ponder our thoughts and feelings. Resting in the different experiences, plus reflect in a different manner by going on a walk and take a photo of a space that has captured your imagination or you have felt a connection too.

http://www.columcille.org/

The accommodation near Columcille I would like to use is at Kirkridge

A sacred journey and ancient paths to be explored:

This is Celtic Christian spirituality. Is a discovery of ancient paths or a way of life!

This way has a connection to the creator and nature, as creation magnifies the creator. We will be given time to have space to create art, be in nature, develop relationships, and also time with God. Having fellowship with fellow believers, being inspired in locations that have been places of pilgrimage, that have been tried and tested for years. Becoming that oasis of  are sacred places where for centuries people have gone to encounter these sacred spaces. To walk gently on the earth.

Location and accommodation: Location, Location, Location!

Is it clean and charming?

Does it add to the experience and not take away from the feel you are trying to create?

Is it close to an activity that is in line with the theme of your retreat?

Make sure the morning session activity flows into the planned site to be seen.

After lunch: Is the activity in line with the theme of what you are promising to give? Is the location of the activity not too far away and is in line with focused goal that you are promising to give?

Are there places of interest not too far from the accommodation location of the retreat?

Cornwall

A different UK location I’m pondering and considering is Cornwall for a Pilgrimage location:

Received this card from a friend who lives in Cornwall

Prideaux at Padstow

My friend from Cornwall took this photo Shaun Skinner.

Go to the location of this Cross, Prideaux, Padstow.

https://www.britainexpress.com/attractions.htm?attraction=310

Crantock

https://www.thesun.co.uk/travel/5457035/is-this-the-most-romantic-beach-in-britain-cornish-bay-reveals-a-secret-when-the-tide-goes-out/

St. Crantock is he a figure to learn from. Was he a Celtic Saint?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crantock

St. Cubert, wondering if this is a spelling variation of Cuthbert?

https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/CON/Cubert

http://www.cornwalltour.co.uk/cubert.html

https://www.cornwallforever.co.uk/places/cuberts-wells

St Piran church

St Piran’s Day

Section from Main article: St Piran’s Day

St Piran’s Cross in the dunes at Perranzabuloe

St Piran’s Day is popular in Cornwall and the term ‘Perrantide’ has been coined to describe the week prior to this day. Many Cornish-themed events occur in the Duchy and also in areas in which there is a large community descended from Cornish emigrants. The village of Perranporth (‘Porthpyran’ in Cornish) hosts the annual inter-Celtic festival of ‘Lowender Peran’, which is also named in honour of him.

The largest St Piran’s Day event is the march across the dunes to St Piran’s cross which hundreds of people attend, generally dressed in black, white and gold, and carrying the Cornish Flag.[30] A play of the Life of St Piran, in Cornish, has been enacted in recent years at the event. Daffodils are also carried and placed at the cross. Daffodils also feature in celebrations in Truro, most likely due to their ‘gold’ colour. Black, white and gold are colours associated with Cornwall due to St Piran’s Flag (black and white), and the Duchy Shield (gold coins on black).

In 2006 Cornish MP Dan Rogerson asked the government to make 5 March a public holiday in Cornwall to recognise celebrations for St Piran’s Day.[31] In 2010, a short movie about St. Piran was made and premiered at the Heartland Film Festival.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Piran

Kernow in the name for Cornwall, I think this would be a good location for the next Pilgrimage abroad.

St. Levan’s Church, Cornwall

St. Ives

St. Clether’s Holy Well and Chapel, Bodmin Moor, Cornwall

https://www.stcletherholywellchapel.com/

Men-an-Tol, Cornwall

Lanyon Quoit, Cornwall

Tintagel Head, Cornwall

St. Nectan’s Glen, Cornwall

https://www.britainexpress.com/counties/cornwall/ancient/st-nectans-glen.htm

St Nectan’s Glen is an area of woodland in Trethevy, Cornwall, near to magical Tintagel. It houses a spectacular 60-foot waterfall known as St Nectan’s Kieve, the only waterfall of its kind, where the water falls down through a holed stone into the basin below. The waterfall is said to have healing powers, and is described as being one of the ten most spiritually significant places in the country.

Merlin’s Cave, Tintagel, Cornwall

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Other tour sites

https://themagicalplaces.com/tours/Cornwall.htm

Air B and B Cornwall

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Cornish_saints

http://www.journeyswithsoul.com/sacred-tours.php?name=Cornwall%20Tour

7. St Nectan’s Glen, Cornwall

The making of Sacred Wonders, I had never heard of St Nectan’s Glen in Cornwall. It is an astonishingly beautiful, even magical spot, like a fairy glen made real. The glen has been cut by water and erosion during who knows how many millennia. What greets the visitor now is a waterfall that drops around 20m into a natural bowl and then emerges through a circular hole cut by the endless stream. Moss and lichen cloak the sheer sides, along with precariously perched trees, so the whole place has a mysterious, otherworldly atmosphere. Once revered by pre-Roman Celts, who venerated the spirit of the water, and later associated with the 6th Century Saint Nectan, it is still visited today by thousands of people from all over the world. The Arthur myth too has been bolted on and folk thereabouts believe the king and his knights came to the glen to be blessed, before heading out in search of the Holy Grail. Christians, Buddhists, pagans and curious visitors with no religious beliefs of any kind are drawn to the place to this day. Many leave little souvenirs of their visit – single coins wedged into tree trunks, old train tickets from the journey, photos and keepsakes of loved ones.

8. Iona, to the west of Mull, Scotland

St Columba, the man credited with converting the Scottish Gaels to Christianity, fled or was driven out of Ireland in 563 AD. He was likely a high-born son of the O’Neill clan and so able to use his status to befriend the great and the good of western Scotland.

The wonder of Iona

                              Iona is the symbolic center of Scottish Christianity

                              It was one of the greatest centers of learning in Dark Age Europe

  St Columba established a monastery which became a center of pilgrimage

Source: BBC History

Discover the history of Iona

The Kingdom of the Gaels

He attended the inauguration of King Aedan mac Gabhrain in 574 and for his efforts was awarded the island of Iona. It was there that he and his followers established a Christian community, which in time became one of the brightest beacons of European Christianity. As well as the faith, Columba and his ilk brought literacy to the tribes. The community on Iona brought stability to much of the west of Scotland and the life of the saint was made immortal by the hand of Adomnan, a later abbot of Iona who wrote, The Life of Saint Columba.

https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-25465210

https://www.museumstorecompany.com/nunnery-cross-isle-of-iona-scotland/#PhotoSwipe1564403562900

Iona cross I have always liked saw at Celtic Festival July 2019

It is the Alexander Ritchie Nunnery Cross from a carved stone that was on Iona, wonder if stone is still there?

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Cornwall is a Celtic land, sharing a common identity with such places as Brittany, Wales, Ireland and Scotland.

During the Dark Ages, in the 6th century AD, the Celtic Saints came to Cornwall

and as we can still see today, left their mark on it in its place names, churches and chapels, crosses and holy wells, found across the whole of Cornwall.

https://www.intocornwall.com/features/crosses-holy-wells.asp

Video

Cornwall One of the Celtic nations

http://www.artcornwall.org/features/Duncombe_Jewell_Cornwall_Celtic_Nations.htm

Cornwall’s Celtic identified

https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2019/feb/18/cornwall-celtic-walk-coast-path-trail-hike

https://www.britainexpress.com/counties/cornwall/churches/tintagel.htm

The Rocky Valley Labyrinths

A more plausible theory is that the carvings are related to the early Christian hermitage at St Nectan’s Glen, further up the river. We know that the hermitage was a destination for pilgrims as early as the 6th century, and it would make sense that pilgrims would have walked up the river from Rocky Valley to the hermitage. Could the labyrinths have been carved on the old pilgrim’s path, and if so, what did they signify?

Finding the labyrinth carvings is straightforward. Just follow the footpath off the B3266 between Tintagel and Trethevy, opposite the minor road to Hagabron. Alternatively, take the South West Coast Path from either Boscastle or Tintagel, and turn inland when you come to the mouth of the River Trevillet. You will see the exposed rock face near the ruins of Trethevy Mill, and the carvings are quite easy to spot.

I took the longer route, starting in Boscastle and following the south west Coast Path along the cliffs. The scenery is simply stunning, and well worth the exertion. Just follow the signposted path to Rocky Valley. When I visited one of the footbridges across the river was washed out, but I was able to find a safe place to leap across without too much trouble.

https://www.britainexpress.com/counties/cornwall/ancient/rock-valley-labyrinths.htm

https://www.wanderlust.co.uk/search?srch-term=Cornwall

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