Beginnings

Pilgrim Venture is here, and I’m already grateful to introduce myself to you and share the work that’s been on my heart for years. Pilgrim Venture has emerged from a very specific moment in my life: the first true blessing I received in the name of the divine. That story will come later.

For now — welcome to the website and this practice. It is less about specific journeys, though the act of long-walking is important to what we do. The website describes our work this way: “Pilgrim Venture exists to explore pilgrimage as both a practice and an orientation toward life. Pilgrimage is much more than a journey to a defined endpoint. It is also a way of living in the world.” 

Pilgrimage has many definitions, but perhaps my favorite is this: A pilgrimage is a prayer in the form of a journey, to the place where soul resides. Ancient pilgrims discovered that pilgrimage had the spiritual power to reshape us. Sacred sites, while the destination, became a marker on the journey, and not necessarily the transformative focal point. The road itself did much of this work. Pilgrims felt the aches and pains of their bodily experience. They experienced the care (and sometimes danger) of the community on the road. They were physically vulnerable to the seasons and rhythms of the more-than-human world. And they came to know themselves and the Divine more intimately. Pilgrim Ancestors left us many clues along the road for how the lessons of pilgrimage can live within us today. Pilgrim Venture is an invitation to walk in their footsteps.

A decade ago I felt the nudge to become a pilgrim. At the time it felt like a daunting call, yet one I could not find a way to ignore. Answering the call has led to walking hundreds of miles, to sitting still listening for the still, small voice, to blisters, and to detours in my career and life. And yet, I cannot let it go. The call returns again and again to take to the trails and to consider the implications the trail has for how I live my everyday life. 

The heart of Pilgrim Venture is the exploration of what it means to be a pilgrim in contemporary times. We live in our heads. I live in my head. And yet I sense the lingering call to set out on a journey looking for something. To face the thing I need to face. To listen for that which is calling me to death and resurrection. And to invite others to step over the threshold and onto the path. The poet Adrienne Rich captures the moment of setting out beautifully in her poem “Prospective Immigrants Please Note”.

The call is a doorway. 

If you do not go through
it is possible
to live worthily

to maintain your attitudes
to hold your position
to die bravely

but much will blind you,
much will evade you,
at what cost who knows?

The door itself makes no promises.
It is only a door.

Pilgrim Venture and this space are about opening the door and sharing the road with others interested in living and exploring the way of the pilgrim. Years ago, a friend asked me the question, “What is your favorite thing in the world?” And the answer rolled off my tongue without hesitation: a good story, well told. I want to use this writing space to explore pilgrimage through stories and experiences rather than long-form essays, while also sharing my personal story of what it’s like to live this way. I am more than this work — I’m a father, a parent, a neighbor, a co-director of a drum and bugle corps, a wild guide, and a companion. And each element of my life has been refracted through the pilgrim point of view. You are welcome to engage with any of it and see where the stories intersect with your journey.

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And a promise before we set out. AI is everywhere these days. It has learned to imitate spiritual writing to the point where nearly all spiritual writing now seems fake. I’ll offer this promise: I will not use AI for writing. Each first draft will emerge from the old electric typewriter inherited from my grandparents. The top of each post will include a picture of the first few lines (pre-editing) as they come off the typewriter. This writing will be dramatically imperfect on purpose. And hopefully, fully human. It will also include the em dash — I have loved and used it for many years before AI colonized this beautiful piece of punctuation. I’m reclaiming it. 

So, let’s begin with a story. Last year, as a guide for the Center for Wild Spirituality, I wrote a short myth as a gift for my Council at the start of the year. The story asks what truth we may need to speak in order to listen again. A very pilgrim-like question. It’s the first of the tales we can explore together as we consider what it means to be a pilgrim. Stay tuned for that next week.

In the meantime, you're invited to explore the pathways on this site and see what the group of Guides is up to this next year.