Germination: group playgrimage departed
Last Saturday, co-coordinator Manja left as a volunteer with a group pilgrimage on the theme of “germination.” As a guide and facilitator, she and six others walk the route in eight days. The stages are in silence, but there is good chatter during breaks and at dinner. Thus there is a nice alternation between introspection and connection. Manja herself brings in her own background as an astrologer with a reflection on the elements.
“Water come take me”
At the departure ceremony in Nijmegen’s Valkhofkapel, musician Mark Schilders took an advance on the element of water and the predicted rain in a song of his own writing:
“Water, come, take me with you
, go with me on a journey to the sea
, untie me, make me happy
, make me as a human being so free
everything flows everything flows
all that was old and tired
become young again become child again
that every moment begins anew […]”
Intentions
In the Valkhof Chapel, as is often the case with our ceremonies, very diverse intentions were expressed. One ran for self-confidence, another in memory of a recently deceased child and yet another for universal love.
Pilgrim Mirjam de Bont read aloud what she had written down in advance about the theme:
Germination
“Seeds in fertile soil, nourished by light, attention and enthusiasm.
Who is the sower? Was everything sown before you were born? Your life course determines
what comes up
what blooms and dies
which proliferates and
what remains in the shadows
What rests in the dark earth and does not germinate.
In a field of wildflowers, fewer poppies emerge one year because other plants are given space. The seeds will wait until the following year. What seeds are slumbering in the soil, waiting for this new phase of life?“
Rain patches
To prepare for the heavy rain, Manja had made rain patches for her shoes in advance from an old tablecloth. Hoping this way the water will not run into her shoes. I’m curious to see if it works, but at least a photo sent to me along the way shows the mood!
A pilgrimage for wisdom
Proceeds from the trek will go to our new Book of Hours, where germination will be the theme of one of the chapters (More: On the Way Wisdom).
