|
|
 |
Back to Index Page |
Pilgrimage as a Way to Initiation
Art Kompolt, F.R.C., I.R.C.
Sept. 25, 1998
[Art Kompolt is a Rosicrucian student, lecturer, instructor for the Rosicrucian Order and member of the International Research Council of the Rosicrucian Order, AMORC. He specializes in Alchemy. I only add to this article the pilgrimage to ancient Egypt done by hundreds of students of the Mysteries of the then known world. BV]
Pilgrims have traveled to far-away
places to visit a cave, a shrine, a
tree or a magnificent Cathedral to resolve a self inflicted need. A pilgrim
endures much hardship on his journey, sometimes barefooted,
while others come with princely shoes.
This hardship is a process of inner inspection
and self preparation. The
pilgrim’s progress depends entirely on an inner development until
the quest is completed. The
Quest is an inner, Initiation process
through ritual (the pilgrimage) and a psychological/mental/emotional upliftment
of the self/soul of the individual. Only the pilgrim KNOWS that he or she has
been initiated. It is a glorious and peaceful entrance to a higher sense of
consciousness and well being with its Creator.
For centuries, men and women have traveled over rough roads (life) to learn the real meaning for their existence and knowledge (WISDOM) of their place and reason for being here on this plane of existence.
The places where pilgrims travel depends on their religion. In the East, pilgrims flock to the city of Benares to worship their Guru, Holy Man, or Shakti, the energy that caused the void to quicken into creation (1). In ancient times, pagan pilgrims traveled to Delphi to have communion with the Oracle.
Devout Moslem pilgrims go to Mecca to
visit the Ka’ba stone, which is even more famous than the Moslem Dome of the Rock.
Numerous pilgrims go to Rome, or to Lourdes,
where thousands in procession come for miraculous healing. Various tokens
were given as a sign of pilgrimage,
for example, a palm leaf was given to a pilgrim that had reached Jerusalem,
a small handkerchief of the
cloth of Veronica for pilgrims to Rome, and a scallop shell
to those that met the requirements as a pilgrim to Santiago de
Compostella. 
During Medieval times, the Crusades were considered as a pilgrimage and to reclaim Jerusalem for the Roman Catholic Church. The Crusaders felt that they were on a mission, not only for themselves but also for their faith.
It
is interesting that in Spain the
Pope had forbidden the Spaniards to go on Crusades
to the Holy Land while letting
the French, German and English Knights
fight for Jerusalem. Instead, the
Pope demanded that the Spaniards fight against the Moors in their own land.
This order had the consequence of prolong battles with many defeats and disappointments. It was only after a miraculous apparition of Santiago (St. James) in a white charge in the battle of Simancas where King Ramiro II conquered the Moors (2).
Thus, the legend of Santiago the Moor slayer grew through out Spain and into all Europe.
Never mind that this legend had been developed as defense by Quevedo in 1638 as a means to increase the prestige of the Spanish military because of the decline and the failures against the Moors in Catalonia, Roussillom and Portugal (3). Whether the appearance of St. James was real or not, is not the question. It is for certain that the Spaniards believed with heart and soul that St. James had fought with them against the Moors and that is all that mattered. As a result, the Order of the Knights of Santiago de Espada or the Knights of St. James of Compostella was born.
Let us focus into this legend and see how it developed into one of the greatest pilgrimage sites of the Western world.
St. James the Apostle
stands as one of the three main
disciples of Christ. Peter, John
and James constituted an inner circle to whom Christ revealed himself
more open than to all the other disciples.
St. James was tried by Pilate and sentenced to die. He was killed with the sword. On the way to his martyrdom, St. James healed a paralytic and performed miracles.
The stories of healing and miracles which have been given to St. James (Santiago) in Spain have elevated him as the premier Patron of that country. His popularity produced multitudes imploring him with prayers and offerings to get him to represent them to God.
Then came legend upon legend of what
happened to the body of St. James. That the
body of St. James was taken to Spain with sacred
relics is
stated in the Bull of Leo XIII “Omnipotens Deus” of
November 1, 1884 (4).
Eight hundred years passed since St.
James was laid in a grotto at Iria, Spain and the discovery of his remains did
not start until
the beginning of the ninth century.
During the reigned of the
Great Alfonso III (866-910),
the remains of St. James were
‘translated’ from a monastery church
to a specially built Church.
This church was consecrated in 899 and took thirty five years to build as a beautiful and grand Cathedral in Compostella, Galicia, in the North Western Coast of Spain.
Santiago’s popularity increased
with time even more than St. Martin
of Tours in France or that of St.
Thomas of Canterbury in England.
The purpose of a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostella was essentially religious, to visit the home of a great man who was dead; possibly to look into his face or even to hear his voice. A pilgrimage was undertaken with proper inner preparation as a means to gain grace. This grace or blessing became a transforming initiation.
As the pilgrimage entailed an external journey, so inwardly, the pilgrim experienced an inner journey culminating in initiation and revelation of grace.
When a pilgrim thus inwardly prepared
enters the baroque Cathedral at Santiago de
Compostella, as thousands before him have done, he is faced with
blue and gold of the sanctuary gates,
and looking down the aisles
between the stout stone columns, he comes face
to face with the tomb of the saint. The tomb of the saint is in a small
chapel below the altar (5). It is all of silver as is also the statue of
St. James above a ratable.
The pilgrim can go through the back
of the altar up some steps and be standing
in back of the statue of St. James. This is the moment of truth and of
revelation. Placing one’s hands on the shoulders of the Saint, inwardly
meditating as to the meaning of this moment, the realization comes that all the
trials and tribulations of the pilgrimage trail have been but a speck of time
compared to the infinity of time. An
indescribable presence and feeling
of serenity surrounds the pilgrim.
All troubles and petty thoughts are dismissed and only the permanence of something bigger than the pilgrim is evident. With thankful tears of joy the pilgrim thanks the Almighty for the revelation of peacefulness and love.
References
(1) Eleanor Munro, On Glory Roads,
New York, 1987, p16
(2) Walter Starkie, The Road to Santiago, New York, 1957, p55-58
(3) Quevedo, Su Espada por Santiago, in Rivadeneyra, Bib, Aut, Esp., XLVIII
(4) Quoted in James Stone, The Cult of Santiago, London, 1927,
p122
(5) Dorothy Giles, The Road through Spain, Philadelphia, 1929, p394
