Carpe Diem Special #78, Pilgrimage to Santiago De Compostela (or The Way of St. James)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Today we are going further on our pilgrimage to Santiago De Compostela together with Paulo Coelho and his guide Petrus, but first I will tell something else. As you know my dad is in hospital today he has left the IC and was replaced to a normal unit. It turns out that he had a septic infection started in his blatter and has been very ill of that, but 'praise the Lord' he is recovering great and now it's just a matter of time until he can leave the hospital. So thank you all for your kind words and offered prayers they are a blessing to my dad and us.

Today we visit Roncesvalles, a wonderful monastery along the Road to Santiago. Paulo and his guide Petrus are visiting this monastery and Paulo will learn an important lesson.

Roncesvalles is a small village and municipality in Navarre, northern Spain. It is situated on the small river Urrobi at an altitude of some 900 metres in the Pyrenees, about 4 kilometres from the French frontier as the crow flies, or 21 kilometres by road.

Roncesvalles is famous in history and legend for the defeat of Charlemagne and the death of Roland in 778, during the battle of Roncevaux Pass, when Charlemagne's rear guard was destroyed by Basque tribes.

Roncesvalles

The small collegiate church contains several curious relics associated with Roland. The battle is said to have been fought in the picturesque valley known as Valcarlos, which is now occupied by a hamlet bearing the same name, and in the adjoining pass of Ibañeta (Roncevaux Pass). Both of these are traversed by the main road leading north from Roncesvalles to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, in the French Basque Country.

Since the Middle Ages, this collegiate church has been a favorite resting place for Catholic pilgrims along the Way of St. James, since it is the first place to have a rest after crossing the French Pyrenees. Every year thousands of pilgrims begin their way to Santiago de Compostela at Roncesvalles. (Source: Wikipedia)

They, Paulo and Petrus, are entering the collegiate church of the monastery and are part of the Holy Mass which is busy at the moment they enter. Here they stay for a while feeling blessed by the Virgin of Roncesvalles. After the Holy Mass Paulo meets one of the monks, Father Jordi, who is not only a monk, but also a sorcerer in The Tradition.
Father Jordi performs a kind of ritual and tells Paulo that the Road to Santiago is just one of the four roads who will lead to Enlightenment. He, Father Jordi, calls this the Road of Spades and tells Paulo about the other three roads. The second Road is the Road to Jerusalem, or the Road of Hearts. The third Road is the Road to Rome, or the Road of Clubs. And finally he reveals to Paulo the fourth road. That last Road is the Road of Diamonds and that's The Secret Road. Here we see the four decks of the Tarot, not the ''Major Arcana", but the "Minor Arcana''. It's very common in The Tradition to use the Tarot.

[...] "Than Father Jordi performs another ritual, a magical one. He asks for the scallops of Paulo. He opens his knapsack and takes out the shells on which stood the image of Our Lady of the Visitation. He put the figure on the table. He held his hands over it and began to concentrate. He told me to do the same. The perfume in the air was growing stronger. Both the monk and I had our eyes open, and suddenly I could sense that the same phenomenon was occurring as had taken place at Itatiaia: the shells glowed with a light that did not illuminate. The brightness grew and grew, and I heard a mysterious voice, emanating from Father Jordi’s throat, saying, ‘Wherever your treasure is, there will be your heart.’

It was a phrase from the Bible. But the voice continued, ‘And wherever your heart is, there will be the cradle of the Second Coming of Christ; like these shells, the pilgrim is only an outer layer. When that layer, which is a stratum of life, is broken, life appears, and that life is comprised of agape.’

He drew back his hands, and the shells lost their glow. Then he wrote my name in the book that was on the table. Along the Road to Santiago, I saw only three books where my name was written: Mme Lourdes’s, Father Jordi’s, and the Book of Power, where later I was to write my own name.‘That’s all,’ he said. ‘You can go with the blessing of the Virgin of Roncesvalles and of San Tiago of the Sword.

‘The Jacobean route is marked with yellow pointers,painted all the way across Spain,’ said the monk, as we returned to the place where Petrus was waiting. ‘If you should lose your way at any time, look for the markers – on trees, on stones, and on traffic signs – and you will be able to find a safe place." [...] (Source: The Pilgrimage by Paulo Coelho)

The Virgin of Roncesvalles

After his encounter with Father Jordi, Paulo and Petrus are going on with their pilgrimage to Santiago De Compostela gratefully accepting lodging at several places along the Road to Santiago.

secrets revealed
in a magical and mysterious way -
the sound of babbling water

the sound of babbling water
brings the mind into ecstasy
secrets revealed

Another Carpe Diem Special has come to it's end and we will go on with our Shikoku Pilgrimage tomorrow. Than we will visit Zenjibuji (Temple 32). For now ... be inspired and share your haiku here at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai. This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until February 21st 11.59 AM (CET).