VIA FRANCIGENA

And so, my next pilgrimage is soon to begin.  This year I will walk into the Holy city of Rome in October, almost a year to the date I arrived in Santiago de Conpostela!  Although my current plan calls for a shorter trek, it will certainly be a challenging adventure as 1) I am starting this walk alone 2) Although limited, my Spanish vocabulary far  out weighed  my current Italian .....Bring on DuoLingo!..... And 3) Well, the Via Francigena offers a far different infrastructure from the Camino of last year......

My flight to Rome will leave home, Seattle, on the 22nd of September arriving around 9 AM the next day.  I'll collect my trusty  back pack and head for the traíns, north to Lucca.  Once in this famous walked city I'll lay low the rest of the day, and the  next, letting my body adjust and soaking in the remarkable history of this 2000 year old hilltop town!  September 25th I am Off!

As some  of you have asked, here is a short history of the VF as snagged from Wikipedia:

The Via Francigena [ˈviːa franˈtʃiːdʒena] is the common name of an ancient road and pilgrim route running from France to Rome, though it is usually considered to have its starting point much further away, in the English cathedral city of Canterbury. As such, the route passes through England, France, Switzerland and Italy. The route was known in Italy as the "Via Francigena" ("the road that comes from France") or the "Via Romea Francigena" ("the road to Rome that comes from France").^[1] In mediaeval times it was an important road and pilgrimageroute for those wishing to visit the Holy See and the tombs of the apostles Peter and Paul.

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History of the pilgrimage to RomeEdit

Sign showing the path near Ivrea, Piedmont, Italy.

In the Middle Ages, Via Francigena was the major pilgrimage route to Rome from the north. The route was first documented as the "Lombard Way", and was first called the Iter Francorum (the "Frankish Route") in the Itinerarium sancti Willibaldi of 725, a record of the travels of Willibald, bishop of Eichstätt in Bavaria. It was "Via Francigena-Francisca" in Italy and Burgundy, the "Chemin des Anglois" in the Frankish Kingdom (after the evangelisation of England in 607) and also the "Chemin Romieux", the road to Rome.^{[citation needed]}

The name Via Francigena is first mentioned in the Actum Clusio, a parchment of 876 in the Abbey of San Salvatore al Monte Amiata (Tuscany).^[2]

At the end of the 10th century Sigeric the Serious, the Archbishop of Canterbury, used the Via Francigena to and from Rome in order to receive his pallium;^[3] he recorded his route and his stops on the return journey,^[4] but nothing in the document suggests that the route was then new.

                                   ...... harsh burning summer light sinks to the sea, cooling ....
                            blue taffeta waters sparkle lavender as lingering beams of light explode
                                            .........   splashing galaxies into the heavens......
                 Shooting crystal stars ignite indigo night sky......diamonds draped across the horizon
                                                                     as  I Sleep
                                                  breathing gentle winds of a new dawn

                                                                     

   

MY CAMINO.......

My Camino.....

In 2014 I walked the Camino Santiago d Compostela.  I walked after knowing for three years that I would walk. At the time, when people asked why, all I could say was " I am supposed to".  Their puzzled faces were nothing compared to the confusion in my own mind, yet I knew deep in my being that this Camino...this 500 mile walk across northern Spain following in the footsteps of centuries of pilgrims before me. ...was mine to walk.  It was a deep “in my  soul” knowing which made absolutely no logical sense based on my current  life, commitments, finances...It just was.  
    One peregrino, when I answered  his question of "Why?"  With " I'm supposed to" said with a sarcastic grin "Ah, pulling the GOD card!”. I am sure it sounded that way. Not at all my intent. I never felt like God tapped me on the shoulder one day and ordered " Kate, you will walk the Camino...I say this is your calling". No, it was not that at all. It was a simple truth in my heart, in my entire being, that for whatever reason, I was meant to do this. And so, I planned forward.  

    That was three years earlier in the fall of 2011. 2011, a year I spent several months with my Mom as she battled the decisions and inevitably the surgery she would face upon learning she had a very aggressive form of breast cancer. 2011 was also the year I began to face the inevitable.... my marriage was crumbling and had reached a pivotal point a few months prior.

    Perhaps that time spent with my Mom spurred me on to start growing.... stretching spiritually.  Perhaps it was this innate knowledge that my marriage was doomed to fail after 17 years together if we did not get some professional help. Whatever it was, I started reading and stretching and growing,  And, upon reading " The Pilgrimage"  by Paulo Coehlo once again, a second time inside 3 years, and re reading Wayne Dyer's " Power of Intention" and " Wishes Fulfilled" several times each that summer, I started a new life experience of learning to trust the Universe.  I began to understand the concept of co-creating my world…. learning to practice bringing into my life a sense of calm...  expecting that events will unfold as they are meant...In the time and manner in which they are meant.

    By September of 2012 I knew I would make this trek... my Camino de Santiago... the following year.  September was a perfect time and would give me long enough to get a slightly overweight 55 year old body Into shape for the venture. Did I yet know WHY I was supposed to walk the camino.?  No, I still just Knew.
    September 2013 came and went.  For whatever reason, my walk across northern Spain did not occur that year. My belief was still as strong....perhaps I had not worked the body into shape, perhaps as I look back, the faltering marriage seemed to be healing and leaving was not the right thing to do....I really cannot say.  What I can say is that by November of that year I had a walking partner lined up and we had set a timetable of September 2014.   We contemplated walking in the spring, but I had made earlier commitments to be traveling with another friend and attempting to tie in the  camino was just too much.  And,in hindsight, I felt after the summer would be best...dryer trails....cooler weather...less potential rain.
And so it was set. September 2014 was the timeframe. Interestingly enough, in April of 2014 the faltering, maybe it is healing marriage, hit its' final boulder and began the crashing tumble.  Without the specifics, suffice it to say a divorce would be in my near future. How interesting the timing of the Universe!  I would be walking my Camino as a marriage was ending and when I likely needed that solitude the most.

    In September of 2014 I followed my heart ... listened to my soul…. and started to walk the Camino Frances from St Jean Pied d Port in the French Pyrenees to Santiago d Compostela in northwest Galician Spain.  I was blessed with a friend who stepped in to start the walk with me....a joy for both of us. We met people from Seattle, my home area, on day one and within a couple days formed a tight knit camino family. When Liz, my walking partner,  had to leave us in Logrono, I was walking with people I had now known for a week....lived with 24/7 ….and they had become true friends.  If there had ever been a concern of walking alone, there certainly was none now.

    My camino, the day to day, was marvelous.  It was filled with social camaraderie; it was filled with my share of blisters, but nothing like some I saw on many others. It was filled with laughter, pilgrim food and places to stay. And, magical moments.  My Camino Frances d Santiago was completely and utterly joyful. And it brought me to a place of complete comfort and understanding that the Universe was truly conspiring on my behalf. Everything in my life was happening when and how it was supposed to happen in undeniable precision.

    Now, coming up in September of 2015, I am preparing to embark on another pilgrimage walk.  This time, the Via Francigenia in Italy.  My trek will take me from the beauty of Tuscany beginning in Firenza to the heart of the Roman Catholic world...the Vatican in Rome.

It is my sincere hope you will join me on this next adventure!

THE NAUGHTY DECK........

So..... You know those friends of yours who take cruise ship vacations? The ones that travel on Royal Caribbean or Carnival or maybe Holland America.....the friends  that come home with all the tasty tidbits of info on just HOW they managed to smuggle their own alcohol on board....the big NO NO of cruise ship vacations?

I am not one!  Nope, no way.  I am the gal that gets called to the Naughty Deck.....that would be Deck One Aft....deep into the bowels of the ship, each stairwell...each level...reminiscent of walking the plank...preparing.   Hearing Mom's voice in our heads,  "You're  grounded....WHAT were you thinking?  I raised you better!"

Well, Mom.....you did...kind sorta ....except when it comes to smuggling our contraband in order to be oh so thrifty and not have to buy $12 vodka sodas.

Flashback...1 PM....we are so lucky. We board early....our room is ready..... BUT no luggage ...yet.  We know it could be a couple hours.  We look at each other saying NOT one word, careful not to jinx it...after all, we see luggage all up and down our hall....ours is close....it MUST be close!

Flash forward....4 PM... Mary's bag is here !!!!! We are in luck AND the contents of her bag are intact.....we now have our hands on one 32 oz. Rum Runner Pirate Bag of Seagrams Vodka Whahoooo!!!!!  BUT, where,oh where, is my lovely new coral rose suitcase?  New especially for this cruise so I could be JUST like my sister Mary and bring my wardrobe......you laugh? Those who know her know it's true!
We look at one another....Not one word exchanged.  Quickly we exit the room, drink in hand, after surreptitiously stashing the bag in the safe.....one can never be too careful.

5:30 PM.  It is clear as our steward Lee looks at us with a disapproving glint that we...I...Have been busted.  We innocently ask if he knows where my bag might be.
" Well, Ms Elliott, there is a bag with your number downstairs.....DeckOne...SECURITY... Did you have an iron perhaps? Or special water?  Or perhaps a bottle of wine?"
" Oh no, " ..I answer,,, blushing red..".none of those things".   Which is true.
" Well, to get your bag you must go to security...they saw something they didn't like". And he leaves.  I turn to Mary " You ARE coming with me""

The plank walk begins......slowly we descend...level by level by level, creating my speech as we go, as  though I could think of anything new.....these people deal with this every single week.
The final flight....5, 4, 3, 2, 1 stairs...bottom. There they stand, all five, count them FIve,  security agents among 60 or more ransomed suitcases....mine front and center.  I confidently walk forward to rescue  my lovely case....speech in place....but where is Mary?
 Why has she stopped walking?  It is not like her to abandon me in my time of need..... Damn!  

Agent one: " Hi, how can I help you?
Me:  Cheerily, "I need my bag please...that one".
Agent One:  " Did you maybe have something in it? Like an iron.... Or special water.  Or alcohol...maybe?"
I recognize the speech they use....Guests breaking the alcohol rules Training 101.
 And where the hell is Mary?
Me: " Well I do have vodka in a plastic bag so there would no issue with glass".
 Suddenly I feel her presence and turn.....she has not deserted me...however, the look on her face spells disaster.... She is shaking her head ever so slightly.  No No...shhhhh No...Is the message I interpret.   I don't comprehend.....
Security Manager: " Hello, Do you have alcohol?"
 Other nearby smugglers stare, realizing what awaits them.
"I will take those please.  I will have  to dump them. If they were in the original container you could have them back at the end of the cruise.... But,  not these.  I have to empty them."
Me:" What? You mean if I left it in the glass bottle I would have gotten it back? Isn't that dangerous?"  Temporarily refusing to accept that I do have contraband...I am breaking their rules... I have signed 29 documents as we prepped for this trip that acknowledge my comprehension of the alcohol policies.....  And yet not until they come back back with my oh so empty Rum Runner bags do  I see her standing very near the six foot Policy and Procedures sign announcing my potential looming disembarkation.
She smiles softly and says " DUMP them Kate. NOW!   JUST toss them....NOW"     as she snags them from my clenched fists and shoves  them deep into the garbage can.
 " DO YOU SEE PARAGRAPH TWO.....DISEMBARKATION.....Which is REALLY gonna suck!" . Hushed whisper..."JUST MOVE!"
Suddenly the $25 Rum Runner bags don't matter...what matters is smile, smile beautifully and  say thank you and get the HELL off The Naughty Deck..... the plank can't be far.....

Lesson:1 Rum Runner bags are not foolproof and 2... What your Momma taught you about following the rules.... It stands.

WALKING CONFESSIONAL....

Mid day is story telling time. The Camino can be an open confessional, pilgrims emptying their hearts and minds to complete strangers. Baring their souls in cleansing. 

It is accepted. 

She comes alongside me; a woman I do not recognize. “ Hi! My name is Lilly… I am from Australia.  I have watched you the last couple of days.”  Her words are tinged in sadness. 

“ I hoped to get to walk with you and talk.  I like your spirit” she says.

For the next hour Lilly shuts the confessional door and whispers her truth.  Her tale of sexual abuse touches my heart. As she tells her story her tears flow.  

“ I have not told this to anyone on this camino.  It had to come out and somehow I knew I would tell you”.

When we part I find myself reflecting on her words “ I like your spirit”.

 I  believe we meet  people when they are ready for us and we are ready for them.  Lilly has come as a gift to help me see that these last years of focusing on love, on the belief that we are all of the same magnificent source and therefore are one and the same, is now showing through in me.  I am humbled.

DOUBTING........

On the morning we were comIng into Burgos...not a pretty walk.... An arduous walk through an industrial area which did nothing for the spirit
.....a walk that seemed to go on for eternity and during which my blistered toes were crying to be released from my boots..... My spirits sank...my head and body took over and true questioning began.

On this day, a Sunday mid morning, as we neared a coffee shop to sit for a short while I felt the tears well in my eyes for the first time on my Camino and I questioned ....
" Why was I walking this path....what was Supposed to be learned? Why was it not yet clear to me the life purpose I had felt I would so clearly see?  Why did my feet hurt so terribly and where was the sense of joy and freedom I had experienced each and every day before this one?  Was it time to stop and recognize that perhaps my head had tricked me into taking this walk and it had nothing to do with my soul knowledge at All? "

As I sat, blistered toes exposed to the air....sat unceremoniously on a concrete bench outside a small dank cafe on the outskirts of industrial Burgos .....
A most beautiful elderly Spanish woman, dressed immaculately in a light pink suit, stopped in front of me. Her hair was coiffed to perfection and pearls  around her neck shone in the sun.  Her smile was so intensely warm I felt I had known her always.  In Spanish, much of which I did not understand in terms of words,but All of which I understood in terms of spirit energy, she told me I would be alright.  She asked if I was walking from Saint Jean Pied d Port and when I told her " Yes, we are...we are walking the entire Camino Frances" , she began to tell me her tale....her camino many years before.

Through words, emotions, and hand gestures she told me how she had walked to Santiago , very ill. Her motions led me to understand she had a tumor somewhere in her abdomen area, but that she had walked this path in faith that upon reaching St. James tomb in Santiago she would be healed.  Her words, warm, full of faith ....unquestionable trust in why and where she was headed....spoke directly to my heart.  And here she was, sharing with me her story of faith and healing...all these years later.  She was healthy, remarkably beautiful and standing before me to encourage me to go on and to know that I would  be fine; that I was walking this Camino as I supposed to and to not question. As she turned to leave she looked directly in my eyes, hugged me warmly and said " Buen Camino".

 In those brief moments, my Spanish angel in her pink Sunday suit brought me back to my soul's knowledge that all would be well. I was exactly where I was supposed to be and her presence at that moment in time was proof.
Not once after that encounter did I ever question my walk.  Not once after that encounter do I recall my feet ever feeling so tender and sore that I might stop.

Now, as I reflect on that amazing day, I am forever grateful the gift of this angel's words were brought to me at just the moment I needed them most.
My belief in my soul's knowledge and learning to trust ...follow in faith ....knowing I am exactly where I am meant to be in this life is strong and intact.
We may not always see clearly the reasons events happen as they do... We do, however,have  the gift , the choice,  to trust that there is a greater energy at play.
My Spanish angel's faith reminded me to hold fast to my own.

DONNING MY PACK.......

How to even describe the utter sense of peace and joy as I buckled the straps, adjusted the hip band and set out...fully loaded...if only for  a practice walk.  It was as if my soul was singing its' song again....Camino song ...melody playing through my heart and body.  I walked trying  to compose Haiku to commemorate and save this feeling.


One and a half miles in I bumped into  my sister and her friend while they walked. The tears welled up when expressing my joy at this walk today. . The emotion overwhelming. Tears on the edges of my eyes pool , ready to spill over.  All I know is that I was feeling whole , happy, content, at complete peace and my soul sings it's camino song.


Why did it feel so perfect to add the pack today. Mary suggested it was the final piece that spells " GO".... Is that it? Is it the pack  that says,
"YES you are on your way,Kate.  Walk with me and feel the freedom...hear the mud squish under your boots and see the colors around you.....let my weight settle upon your shoulders and hips and prove we are off.....I am the final piece that walks with you on your life adventure..... I am a part of you"



                   Soul song begins new again
                        Joy pulsing through me
                    I walk my heart sings content

                  I walk my heart beats content
                        Joy pulsing through me
                   Soul song begins  new again
                 



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