Pilgrimage Is a Paradox | Cornwall & Glastonbury Embodied Mythology Journeys
- Feb 9
- 4 min read
Pilgrimage is a paradox.
It is a journey we take outside of ourselves that brings us to the innermost, intimate recesses within.
Sometimes we travel so far — thousands of miles away from Home, wherever that is — to an unknown land, with its unknown stories, culture, people, and food.
The very act of being fully here — eyes wide open, heart wide open — open to whatever life offers us in the unfolding of our travel, blessings and curveballs (although, are they different at all?) — allows a deeper knowing of who I AM. Of who we all are.
To learn of ourselves on this foreign land, sometimes we travel with an intention — a seed we carry, a hope, a wish, a desire — and allow what the journey and the land bring up to arise spontaneously.
We can plan the intricate details, but as we all know by now, life has other plans for us, always. So it’s not that our travels don’t go to plan when we miss a flight or lose our way — there is a greater intelligence at play.
When we arrive on land, we arrive with our full humanity — we bring our unique energies and frequencies — the accumulation of our life experiences and emotional worlds — to the land.
There is a sacred exchange here.
We are literally in exchange with the Land.
Sometimes we visit a place for the first time and it feels like more than a regular arrival — there is a familiarity, an inner knowing.
This place is Home. That was Melbourne for me.
I know this place. I really, really know this place. That was Santa Barbara for me.
Or big, sudden emotions bubble up to the surface with no story, no reason — that was Tasmania and Mexico for me.
Or we find ourselves in a place where we recognize, wow — my heart is at peace. I am in acceptance of all around me. I see the divine in every being. I feel so myself, so me.
This is Ubud for me. (I'm here right now as I am typing this.)
Travel isn’t just travel.
Just as in relationships — in friendship, the workplace, and in groups — different people bring up different aspects of ourselves.
The aspects we like, want to embody more of, and feel magnetism toward — we want to spend more time with these people, to be in their presence.
Conversely, people who remind us of parts of ourselves we haven’t yet learned to love may evoke a distasteful repulsion — sometimes physical — and we avoid them or bow out of the relationship.
It is rarely about the other.
It is about the relationship amongst the different parts of us.
The same thing happens with travel.
When we visit different lands, familiar or unfamiliar, the anima mundi — the soul of the world — brings up different aspects of ourselves.
We learn ourselves through travel.
We meet ourselves more deeply.We remember our wholeness.
Hence my stance on why pilgrimage is a paradox — to travel so far, only to meet what is already right here.
This is the way of remembrance.
When we cannot access what is within us, we are shown the same reflection outside of us — through people, situations, and places.
This is the beauty, the miracle, the magic of conscious, embodied travel.
Any trip can be a pilgrimage of the soul.
It is about the conscious intention we carry through the journey.
The rest, we leave to Spirit.
Spirit will orchestrate our remembrance.
It is not something we need to plan.
As we meet ourselves through the reflection of the land, the converse is also true.
The land receives you — your energies, emotions, intentions, and offerings.Your essence, with each breath, each step.
As we know, Land is animate, alive, and conscious.
Land holds stories — a wealth of stories — each waiting for an ear to listen.
When we pause, become still, and listen, these stories are breathed into life — heard, seen, expressed — and they live on within our bodies forever.
Stories have the power to change us.
To support the recognition of our I AM.
Of our true essence.
Of parts of our soul that contribute to our wholeness.
When we receive stories, there is a resonance that allows parts of us to be felt, heard, and seen too — parts that may not be explainable through words, but can be expressed through story.
This is potent medicine.
This is healing.
With this, I invite you on my Cornwall Embodied Mythology Pilgrimage: Salt, Stone, and Story.
Because I am keeping the group small and intimate, considering the depth at which we will be meeting the land, ourselves, and one another, I am offering two pilgrimages in 2026 — one in Spring (17-23 May) and one in Summer (16-22 August).
Choose your adventure.
Detailed pilgrimage guide for Cornwall
This will be followed by a Glastonbury pilgrimage, unlike any Avalon journey I have hosted before — this year's journey is a deep descent into our inner sanctum, our inner waters, our womb wisdom. Remembering the Priestess within us all.
Details coming soon.
Early bird ends 31 March.
Reply to this email to confirm your spot.
It is my deepest honor to be a pilgrim alongside you —
exchanging stories and journeying together.
With all my love,
Stephanie
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