The Power of Pilgrimage

It’s a remarkable phenomena.  Over the past 30 years, in increasing  numbers, people from all over the world and all walks of life have been returning to a primitive rhythm, testing their limits,  physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Rediscovering the transformative power of pilgrimage.

The Camino de Santiago is perhaps the largest and oldest of pilgrimages.  In 2019, nearly 350,000 pilgrims walked its various routes through Spain.  As the oldest continuous pilgrimage in Europe, the Camino has been greeting travelers for over 1,000 years.

What draws so many to make this journey?   

People are finding that the power of pilgrimage is that it can take us out of our fragmentation and distraction.  Helping us to make sense of the world in which we live to find wholeness again. On the Camino, we can begin to rediscover what it means to be truly human.

In search of answers, pilgrims intentionally break from the rhythms of their lives  to find a “new normal”. Arriving from all over the world, many are in transition or crisis,  bringing with them the most essential questions of life.

More often than answers, pilgrims first find better questions.

On its face, The Camino de Santiago is  a long walk. A pathway between firmament and forest, pasture and peak, river and rock, mountain and meadow.  It is a journey through God’s cathedral to arrive at a cathedral fashioned by ancient human hands.  

But it can also become so much more.  

Pilgrimage can teach us  to embrace the present moment and accept that we cannot control what lies over the horizon.  

Pilgrims learn to travel light.

Pilgrims learn to live in  connection...

Connecting inner life to outer life.

Connecting your story to the stories of others.

Connecting the physical with the spiritual.

Connecting simplicity and complexity.

Being and doing.

To name a few.

What are you moving toward?

Sometimes we can get stuck.

We find our lives  inhabiting the space between expectation and experience.

If this describes you, maybe you’re ready to join us on a trail of transformation.

We’d like to invite you to experience the power of pilgrimage with us.

Every year hundreds of thousands of people leave

their homes,

their comfort,

their safety,

their titles and responsibilities

Young and old,  Rich and poor, High and low.

To come just as they are.  

To walk as equals. 

 And to simply be known by the name:

Pilgrim

The Scruffy Pilgrim exists to serve pilgrims and to promote The Pilgrim Life.  

Because life is a pilgrimage and Pilgrim Life, once learned, is a template to living our best lives anywhere.

We do this by celebrating the stories of pilgrims.  Our own and those of others.   

We do this by walking with and serving pilgrims who  are embracing the same journey that we have come to love.

We believe embracing the journey is an end in itself (not a means to an end).

We believe that the Pilgrim Life is not just for pilgrimages, but for everywhere.

Let’s walk together awhile and see where the road takes us.

Because sharing this journey with others is the very essence of pilgrimage.

Come discover with us the Power of Pilgrimage.  The power to embrace the journey.

Take a Guided Pilgrimage with us. Click here for details.