A ritual is an action taken with intention, attention, and repetition. It’s something you do repeatedly for a specific reason. Such as people make the sign of the cross after they pray or pass an altar. Or some athletes wear a particular color when they compete like Tiger Woods wears a red shirt. My daily ritual is getting up at 4 am and working out.
Ritual actions take on a significance beyond physical gestures. They mean something to the people who do them, which is why they are repeated. They enrich our lives and give our day-to-day experiences a sense of meaning and purpose.
Examples of my sacred travel Rituals:
Physical – When I walked El Camino de Santiago all the pilgrims wore a shell on their backpacks daily. This simple ritual publicly declared our intention and identity. We also had to physically pick up our passports and then stamp them along the way and certify our Compostela showing that we completed the journey.- Read – I find a key to finding meaning in any trip is immersing yourself in a bigger story. I read about the history of the land and the people. I look at the geography. I open a map – yes, a physical old-school map, and see all the other countries or cities that surround the area.
- Color Story – I selected three colors that I will wear on the trip to make packing easier and to represent what that trip might be. In Iceland, it was turquoise green, black and grey. The last trip I took to Stonehenge was lavender, light pink, and grey. My upcoming trip to Bhutan is blue, kaki, and orange.
- Fast – I fast for a day before I leave as an act of purification.
- Journal- I take a leather-bound journal to write my daily experiences. This act ties me to generations before me in a simple and meaningful way. I want to feel the pen in my hand and see the words I write.
- My friends and I always start out our journey by first anchoring our intentions in a church of some kind. We light a candle – sort of a votive offering for the adventure ahead. And we sit in silence and pray.
- Three hours -I wake up three hours before my day begins to take a bath or shower and drink a lot of water to cleanse my body. I pray and meditate for my mind and spirit, and I eat a good breakfast for my body.
- Stay in the present- when I am on a journey I stay in the moment and that means I try not to answer texts or open attachments my friends send me. I stay focused on where I am and the feelings that the place evokes in me.
- Blessings – Before I enter any sacred site, a church, a cathedral, a temple, or a stone circle I ask permission from the guardians of the place and ask for their blessing and protection in order to seek their favor.
- Backpack – in my backpack, I carry crystals to infuse them in the sacred energy of the trip. I often give these away as gifts.
- Farewell dinner- my friends and I have a ritualistic farewell dinner to discuss our impressions and revelations of what might have already been revealed to us.
- Home – I unpack my bag the next day and take a ceremonial plunge in my pool or in the winter an Epsom salt bath for a final act of cleansing.
Overall, I encourage you to adopt sacred travel rituals to enrich your adventure and ground you in the powerful and meaningful energy of sacred sites.
Are you wearing the best colors for you? Each of us has a power color based on the five elements and the day we were born. Sign up for my email list and provide me the day, month, and year of your birth and I will send you your birth element and power color!
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