We all are looking for a moment of total transformation and change. Walking the Way of St. James of Compostela has provided exactly that for many people throughout the centuries. The book describes the transformation I experienced every day for forty days, through poetry and self-examination. I believe we are all born with a strong desire to evolve and to passionately find ways to grow and walk where few others have dared to walk. From an early age, I wanted to experience a significant transformation in my life. I ardently searched for something new, a sign of a new birth. Walking the Way of St. James of Compostela was just that.
The poems in Still Possible pay homage to the invisible passage of time - the deep, private current that wends through our lives as a steadfast companion, sculpting our interior worlds as inexorably and exquisitely as its visible manifestations. Whyte turns his eye, and his pen, to the possibilities and harvests this shaping reveals: the shyness and vulnerability of love, the illusion of imperfection, and the new invitations that beckon along the way. The poems reflect an abiding faith in time's wisdom: a journey turned away from in youth waits patiently for later maturity; an early experience ripens in secret to reveal, decades later, a full understanding. Under Whyte's poet-philosopher gaze, a rain-soaked day in an Irish farmhouse becomes a meditation on the essence of a truly good day: a settled contentment, alert and open to whatever may call. Plus, sheep, Seamus Heaney and a dog. Powerful language rests on a foundationof what isn't said, a silence underpinning the eloquence of articulation. In this way, Still Possible hovers above the numinous and the unknowable - what we pray for, what we pass on, what mystery awaits and, in the end, what it might mean to be happy.
A collection of reflective poems written by Liam O Muirthile as he walked the Camino de Santiago in the autumn of 2015. A series of poems in the contemplative, reflective tradition. English and Irish versions provided by the poet, with Spanish and Galician translations by Carmen Rodriguez Alonso.
Every year, some 200,000 people set out on the world's most famous pilgrimage route - 'the Camino', designated a World Heritage Site in 1993. Actually a network of paths with numerous starting places in France and throughout Europe, all routes converge to lead along Spain's northern coast to Santiago de Compostela. Here the shrine of St James, the patron saint of pilgrimage, was discovered in the 9th century. 2010 is designated as a Holy Year for Santiago and this guide is co-published with the Confraternity of St James, the UK's leading organisation for promoting pilgrimage to Santiago. Already the preferred guide for German and Spanish pilgrims, this new English edition will be widely welcomed and officially recommended. A mix of practical information and spiritual inspiration for walkers, it offers a stage-by-stage guide pointing out places of interest along the way; practical tips for walkers; prayers, blessings and spiritual exercises to nourish the pilgrim spirit and deepen the pilgrimage experience. It is Illustrated throughout with maps and photographs and is conveniently pocket sized.
Every year, some 200,000 people set out on the world's most famous pilgrimage route - 'the Camino', designated a World Heritage Site in 1993. Actually a network of paths with numerous starting places in France and throughout Europe, all routes converge to lead along Spain's northern coast to Santiago de Compostela. Here the shrine of St James, the patron saint of pilgrimage, was discovered in the 9th century. Already the preferred guide for German and Spanish pilgrims, this new English edition is co-published with the Confraternity of St James, the UK's leading organisation for promoting pilgrimage to Santiago. A mix of practical information and spiritual inspiration for walkers, it offers a stage-by-stage guide pointing out places of interest along the way; practical tips for walkers; prayers, blessings and spiritual exercises to nourish the pilgrim spirit and deepen the pilgrimage experience. It is illustrated throughout with maps and photographs, and conveniently pocket sized.
'Walking to the End of the World' keeps us turning its pages--an elegant story woven in the seasoned voice of writer Beth Jusino, who shares great insight into her own strengths and weaknesses, relationships of all sorts, and a world view we'd all do well to consider. -Steven Watkins, author of Pilgrim Strong: Rewriting My Story on the Way of St. James
The Camino Made Easy: Reflections of a Parador Pilgrim relates three fascinating, culturally rich journeys on the Way of St. James, or the Camino, through Spain and Portugal to Santiago de Compostela. This personal, practical, and informational story testifies to the advantages of doing the Camino on a walking tour, while offering fresh perspectives on this long-distance medieval pilgrimage route for pilgrims and tourists alike. Olivia Pittet describes stunningly varied landscapes, including the Basque country, the Rioja wine region, and Celtic Galicia, as well as the World Heritage cities of Burgos, León, and Santiago, while gradually unfolding the Camino’s extraordinary cultural legacy and religious history, its present-day relevance, and its enduring appeal. She recalls what it was like to walk over one hundred miles on each journey, interweaving her Chaucer-style interactions with her fellow pilgrims, her love of landscape, and her special interest as a former medievalist in the Camino’s literature and legends. Olivia also interjects her own tale, tracing her unexpected spiritual journey from its initial stumbling blocks to a developing sense of pilgrimage the closer she came to Santiago, where there are as many answers waiting to be found as there are ways of walking the Camino. Beautifully written and deeply felt, this rich fusion of pilgrimage and personal narrative, landscape and cultural legacy, literature and legend vibrantly re-creates the Camino anew.
The Camino de Santiago, the Route of Saint James, the Way--all describe a pilgrimage with multiple routes that pass through Spain and end at the Cathedral of Saint James in Santiago de Compostela. In the 21st century, this medieval tradition is seeing a revival with travelers, both spiritual and secular, who embrace it for different reasons. Offering insight into the personal journeys of contemporary pilgrims, this collection of new essays explores cultural expressions of the Camino from the perspective of literature, film and graphic novels, and looks beyond Spain and the "Caminoisation" of other historical routes.
Susana Porras's journey over the Camino de Santiago with her seventy-three-year-old father was a life-changing journey filled with awe-inspiring scenery, spiritual awakening, and lots of cafe con leche. Come with them as they travel physically, spiritually, and historically along this five-hundred-mile Camino. Take in the scenery, learn about its thousand-year history of clerics and kings, and of course, don't forget to stop and savor the tortillas.
