Anam cara

 

I have long known and shared that the day I rediscovered my love of art - around four years ago now - was like finding the piece of me that had long been missing. Art and being creative is as important to me as ever, if not more so, but in the past week I've done some reflecting and realised that the tribe of sisters I've connected with because of that creative outburst is the glue that holds this part of me together.

I've just returned from an eight day pilgrimage around just a handful of England's sacred sites with a powerful group of just some of these women - sisters in soul spirit. As I've learnt from previous retreats, the power of our sisters is truly a magical thing. There are women out there who you are meant to be with - who bring out your own beauty and share a little of their own soul with you. This is Anam Cara. Friendships are formed to last a lifetime, we connect with a bond that cannot be broken.

Fellow sister Stephanie shared this with us before we left:

In their book, The Archetype of Pilgrimage: Outer Action with Inner Meaning, Wallace and Jean Clift describe the various reasons for embarking on a pilgrimage: to answer a call to adventure (one of the first stages Joseph Campbell described in “The Hero’s Journey”); to experience a place of power; to hope and ask for healing or a miracle; to express a love of God or Goddess; to find or reclaim lost pieces of ourselves; to give thanks; to ask for forgiveness; to leave the routine of ordinary life and experience something new or numinous; and to prepare for death.

We each had our own reasons and purpose for being together - some were apparent before we embarked on the journey and others told us their story as we travelled. We are the weavers.

These ladies accepted me for both who I am and what I wish to be. Each of them taught me something unique and special.

Oh yes... and we ate cake...

And drank cider...

And then, on my return the magic and pull of the creative tribe kept on working. I stopped to visit Kat whose artwork and writing I have admired for years, who I've chatted with on the phone and whose art passes through my hands every month on our Magical Journal Journey with seven other sisters. At last we were able to meet in person and give the tightest squeeze of a hug. I have the last journal in our current journey waiting for my input. I'll write my emotional outpourings on this project in a separate post, but it is once again, Anam Cara.

I have so much more to share about my experiences in Avebury, Glastonbury and Cornwall (plus a few places in between) - please watch this space... In the meantime you can read the experiences of my sweet sisters on the pilgrimage here, here, here and here.