EVERY ONE IS SPECIAL

I think we have our final group of people for the May/June amaWalkers Camino walk. 

As I typed out the list of names to file in my amaWalkers Camino folder, I thought about them all, about how special every one of these people are.  They are not just names of people who want to walk the camino, and who don't want to walk it alone, they are people who feel called to walk a camino (one for a second time).  And what a privelege to be walking with Pam - an old soul who loves the Camino as much as I do and wants to share her passion with others.

Some of our group have been dreaming about walking a Camino for years.  One dear lady has been to all of my Camino workshops and St James' feast day celebrations since they started in 2003.  When she put her name down for the amaWalkers Camino walk she said, 'This is my chance.  If I don't walk it with you, on this walk, I'll probably never walk it." She is still nervous, unsure, anxious.  But she has booked her air tickets and she and I agree that this is her time.  I feel priveleged to be the one she has chosen to walk with. 

Another lady wanted to walk with me last year but lack of finances and committment to her son prevented her from doing so.  She was diappointed, and when she heard about this walk, she was the first person to put her name down.  Although she is nervous about being on her own, she is planning on walking solo to Finisterre when we all leave Santiago.

Some of our group will be walking in gratitude for the recovery from illness, another to heal from the loss of a loved one, or to contemplate a new era in their life as one chapter closes and another must open, or to recharge batteries run down by a demanding career or families. 

I will be doing all the planning for the three sections we will walk, booking the accommodation, arranging for transport where necessary. I wonder how else I can serve them so that they have the most wonderful Camino possible?  Perhaps it's best to just let them have their space; time for reflection and contemplation; to allow the healing spirit of the earth they'll walk on, the plants, rocks, birds, animals they'll walk with, work through them.  Perhaps I'll send them this ancient, Hasidic prayer:
“When you walk across the fields with your mind pure, then from all the stones and all growing things, and all the animals, the sparks of their soul come out and cling to you and become a holy fire in you."

This is going to be a very different Camino for me.  The first three were 'for me'.  The walk on the Via francigena was also 'for me'. I often say that I need to 'go walk-about' every now and then to restore my soul.  Last year, I walked the Aragones, Ingles and Fistera routes 'for me' - but serving as a hospitalera near Finisterre for two weeks showed me another side to the Camino.  It was no longer about me.  It was all about those dear souls 'reaching the misty land of the Dark Star' at world's end, wondering what they were going to do when there were no more yellow arrows to guide them.

This time it will be all about caring for, and caring about, 13 other people, rather than all about me.  Walking a Camino is so special, can be such fun, heartwarming, deeply spiritual and life-changing, and that is what I want for our pilgrims.  So, I'll share this Buddhist prayer with our group: 

"May we know that it is the journey that is important. May we find our own truths and the divine within ourselves and in doing so help our fellow travelers to find their own. May we see each other through spirit and not through worldly eyes. Namaste"

Patron Saint of pilgrims and guides

Bona of Pisa (c. 1156 – 1207)

Info and Photo Wiki

When I was planning the amaWalkers guided walk to Santiago, I thought it would be nice to have a patron saint for our group.  I did a search on the internet and came up with Saint Bona of Pisa, a 12th c saint who led 10 groups of pilgrims to Santiago de Compostela. 

At a young age she saw a vision of Jesus, the Virgin Mary and three saints,  including James the Greater. She was frightened by the light around these figures, and ran away. James pursued her, and led her back to the image of Jesus. Bona observed a pronounced devotion to James for the rest of her life.

After leading her first group of pilgrims to Santiago she was made an official guide by the Knights of Santiago. She went on to lead 8 more groups and despite being ill she lead a 10th group and died at the age of 51 shortly after returning home.   Saint Bona is regarded as the patron saint of travellers, and specifically couriers, guides, pilgrims, travellers, flight attendants, and, of course, the city of Pisa.

Yesterday I discovered that her her feast day is celebrated on May 29 - the day our walking holiday starts from Roncesvalles! Is that synchronicity, or what?

Plans are going well for the walk and I have such a good feeling about it! Besides walking the three sections of the Camino we will have time for extra excurisons - to see the castle at Clavijo, where Santiago was first seen on his white horse fighting off the Moors and so became known as Santiago Matamoros: we'll have breakfast at O Cebreiro on our way to Sarria and we'll visit 'Las Meduals", the remains of the most important gold mine in the Roman Empire. We are planning on doing a Nocturnal Walking Tour of Santiago's old town culminating in a visit to a club for a Queimada and a Sunset trip to Finisterre with wine and tapas to celebrate the end of our walk.

Most of the hotels, inns, apartments, private albergues have been booked or chosen and we will take the Chu-chu tourist trains in Burgos, Leon and Santiago.  We only have two places left on the walk - with 4 friends waiting for a slot for four.