 |
by |
To
go directly to the Pilgrim Cards, click here
(To view the cards randomly, disable pop-up blocker)
For background, samples, and purchasing information,
click here
"The Pilgrim Cards are a superb, creative resource for anyone desiring
spiritual depth and growth. These reflections draw one inward with ease
and clarity. Each card resonates with a part of the human heart that seeks
integrity, strength, hope and resiliency. I highly recommend this set of
cards for every pilgrim who has known the ups and downs of life's journey."
Joyce Rupp spiritual writer
Go to right hand sidebar and click on a sample card. Choose a card that interests you. Or better yet, if you haven't already and would simply like a pilgrim perspective on your life, click HERE.
The creator of the Pilgrim Cards, has devoted his life to the journey of the soul. Three times, Austin Repath has walked the ancient, 800 km pilgrim’s route El Camino de Santiago in Spain. During these pilgrimages, he began mapping the inner landscape of the pilgrim soul as it traverses the joyful heights and dark valleys of the human journey. The Pilgrim Cards are the result of that exploration. Background of the cards
To purchase a boxed set of Pilgrim Cards (54 cards) send a check
payable to Austin Repath for $19.95 +$7.00 postage and handling to:
Reed Press, 252 Salem Ave. Suite 70, Toronto ON M6H 3C7. Canada
Starting Out
Up early on this first day
and not at all sure you want to embark on a journey to some distant, fabled
place. Why bother? You would prefer to be asleep, warm within the comfort
of your day-to-day routines.
Yet you start on your pilgrimage, unsure of what lies ahead or even why
you’ve chosen to go on such an arduous adventure. You only hope that, drawn
forward by the lure of some far-off sacred city, you will find journey’s
end worth the hardships along the way.
At the
same time, you sense a call to some larger purpose, a call that will not
be denied.
Knowing that the road flows forward beyond your time of pilgrimage, just
as it winds behind you through countless other lifetimes, fills you with
a sense that you are part of a great continuum.
You take a deep breath, put your pack on your shoulders, and step out onto
the road.
Meeting Life
You wonder who
the dark figure is who walks by your side. This is no stranger. You have
met many times. Sometimes a lover, sometimes a friend, most often, it seems,
an adversary.
The two of you fight. You lose. Each time you are surprised by the rewards
that are heaped upon you. Openheartedness, forgiveness, joy and radiance
are but a few.
From the shadows you hear a voice whisper, “I care only that we engage,
that you do not resist my fierce embrace. You should exalt in our battles.
For only in this way do you grow strong.
“Fear me not. You are more precious to me than you will ever know. It is
I who takes the dross of your days and refines it to purest gold. It is
I who takes your wishes and your dreams and transforms them into jewels
worthy of the crown that will be yours at journey’s end.
“Be not afraid. Walk with me. I am Life.”
Simple Dignity
Some days as
you walk along mountain trails, you are transfixed with the vastness spread
out before you. A shiver runs through you as you sense your own insignificance.
You long for a simpler time that saw each star as a soul in God’s heaven,
Too far along the road for such whimsy, you acknowledge yourself as a small
speck in a universe you cannot comprehend. You begin to think you have
more in common with an ant than an angel.
The road has taught you your place in the universe, only it is not what
you expected. You are but one of an untold multitude who pass this way.
The road has stripped you of all grandiosity or imagined greatness.
In return, you are given the dignity of kinship with all who walk
this earth.
You continue on your way, content to ponder the possibility that if the
world can be found in a grain of sand, then surely the universe can be
found in you.
Held Safe
Beyond your immediate world of day-to-day
cares and preoccupations, there seems nothing ahead but an endless road.
This was not the promise that took you far from the comfort of house and
home. You had expected so much more from the journey.
Still you long
for what seems not to be given to you?the succour of love and the sustenance
of belief and meaning. You fear you have nothing worth living for.
You stand on
the edge of your world, says a faint voice. What seems like no-thingness
is but mystery waiting to reveal itself.
Can you not be patient enough for the
veil to part? Would you charge forward and fall into the abyss? Trust.
The mysterium
will open to you. And know also that you are held safe on this precarious
precipice, by love.”
Be Happy
.Sitting in
a sunlit meadow, listening to the brook and the birds in the trees, you
don’t know what to do with yourself. There is no imperative, no anguish?only
contentment.
For now there are no demons to fight, no hardships to endure, no blowing
winds or storms to weather. You sense your oneness with all that is. You
look into the mystery of your life and see there is nothing to fear.
You let yourself sink into the soft embrace of the moment, feel the warmth
of the earth rising up through your limbs, massaging your soul. Like a
lover’s kiss, the breeze touches your face. The brook, unaware that it
will one day be a river, is happy to have a meadow to run through.
And you? The mystery that has delivered you to this moment calls out for
only one response. You surrender. You let yourself be happy. Sweet
times unafflicted.
So Much More
You are ready
to give up. But you have come such a long way. You have gleaned so much
understanding and wisdom from being true to your path.
There is no
need to rush ahead, no need to strive mightily. Covering a great distance
is of no consequence. All this you know. You know also that the goal of
the pilgrimage is not the arrival, but the transformation that comes from
being open to the road.
Be at peace with what hasn’t come into your life. Be receptive to what
may yet be. Let the hard place within you soften and melt into a warm easiness
with where you are, who you are, and what you are about.
Leave yourself open to that deep wellspring of your being. Know that at
the bottom of the well, which you are convinced is little more than an
echoing void, lies the source of life itself. Let its grace rise up within
you.
You are so much more than you know.
The Helping Hand
Sometimes you
wake in the night and feel as if the ground has opened up, and you find
yourself at the bottom of a dark pit.
To figure out how you got there offers no clue as to how to get out. You
have an overwhelming urge to beat your head against the sides of this cold
prison. Unable to escape, you wonder if this is to be your final fate.
You are reminded once again of the dangers of the road, and learn all over
again how fragile you are, how vulnerable to mishap. You feel at the mercy
of forces you cannot see.
You look up the dark telescope of the pit and glimpse the distant stars.
A hand reaches down and pulls you out. There is mystery all about you that
cannot be dismissed
You awake as if from a dream, remember only that when you looked up you
could see stars. And that helping hand.
The Sacred City
One day you
come upon a beggar beside the road. You know you should go over to
him, offer him money, food, a kind word. But the best you can do is look
into his eyes.
He gazes back and blesses you for what he sees in your heart. And suddenly
you are transported within the walls of the sacred city, your heart opened
in a way that embraces all who walk this earth.
And you realize that this luminous place, however fleeting, however transcient,
does exist. It is within you, that place of compassion made sacred
by how you meet all those you pass on the road.
And who gives the blessing matters less than how it is received.
Dance With Hope
Last night you
dreamed that you were being led out of the ruins of an old castle by a
woman of great presence and power.
"I am the voice of all that you long for, but believe impossible," she
said. "You long for a world full of great possibilities, joy and adventure.
And yet you sense that this will not come to pass. You wish to be
a great artist, capable of fine music, rich portraits, exquisite poetry,
a marvelous life. And yet you despair that this gifted self can ever
exist on earth."
"What then am I to do?" Your question jolts you awake.
"Let life unfold as it will. I will be Promise, and you, Possibility.
I will be Dream, and you, Reality. And within the dance I will reveal
to you a way out of your ancient anguish."
Her words remain long after the dream fades with the morning light, and
with the new day comes hope.
Restless Soul
Do you not wonder
at your restless nature? You who cannot stay and cultivate a patch of land,
you who can barely tolerate a day of rest, surely, you tell yourself, one
day you will find that which you seek. And yet you know not what it is
you are searching for, only that you long for more than you are.
You walk by
farmers tilling the same fields as their fathers before them. You wonder
if they sit down to their evening meal content with their lot.
Cursed with divine longing, blessed with the promise of what may yet come
to pass, you wave at those you meet and imagine them happy with what they
have.
You imagine yourself one day sitting across the table from them, sharing
the treasures you found at journey’s end.
At Home Again
Warming yourself
at the fireplace, you watch the flames dance softly across the wall. Your
pilgrimage has come to an end. You have travelled to the outer limits of
your being and returned home full of a sense of worth, and a profound understanding
of who you are.
You turn and in the doorway stands a young pilgrim. She is so young,
her eyes so bright. There is a beauty about her, an eagerness to be on
her way. You wonder if this was what you were like so long ago when, staff
in hand, you first stepped out onto the road.
“What can you tell me about the journey?” she asks. What dare you
tell her?
“You will be met by demons and angels. You will have nights of crystal
clarity and dark days of doubt. You will lose your way so many times you
can't keep count. But over and over, you will stumble upon yourself,
and in the end grow to love who you are.”
I can be reached at thepilgrim@look.ca
Background of the Pilgrim Cards
The Pilgrim Cards are the outcome of a long fruitful process of journaling.
Several years ago, I read about the ancient pilgrim route, El Camino de
Santiago, in Spain. Almost immediately something in me said to walk
this trail. The experience proved a pivotal experience in my life.
I returned home with a sense of pilgrimage, an awareness of the hardships
and joys of the way and the knowing that if a person remained true to their
inner path they would eventually arrive at the sacred city. At the
time I had no idea what my sacred city would be, but I trusted that it
would prove worth the journey.
In the days that followed my return
home, I found myself journaling, in the hope of finding where I was in
my life and to map out a new direction for myself. I should tell
you that the second half of my life’s journey has not been in the light.
Raised a devout Catholic and by temperament an idealist, by my mid thirties,
I found myself faced with the painful realities of the other side of life.
What followed was a journey into the dark
places of meaninglessness, hopelessness, doubt and disbelief. In
truth it was a lonely way, and not one I would have chosen, but now realize
was the one I had embraced and needed to be true to if I was to grow spiritual.
What walking the Camino taught me was to simply keep on going and to trust
the way.
Then one day I found that instead of
writing my own thoughts, the words on the page seemed to be coming from
another voice. The writings began with the pronoun “you” What
had begun as personal reflections took on a new perspective. It was
as if I had been joined by a fellow pilgrim who know the way better than
I did. One who wasn’t so much a guide, as simply a wise companion
who when I was walking through a dark valley in my life offered solace,
gave me a vision of what was possible if didn’t give up.
At times, I thought the words were simply
flights of fantasy or the wishful thinking of a lost soul. But the
fork in the road did come up, the place of power did appear. And
much to my surprise and joy, the moment came when I put down my pen, knowing
that I had reached, my sacred city: the open heart. I knew then that
I was ready to returned home. The pilgrim’s journal was finished.
And so the outcome of this inner journey of
some eight years, was a body of personal wisdom that I wanted to share
with others. I showed the writings to my friends and found that they
too could identify with the words of this “fellow pilgrim.” Encouraged
by their response I decided to find a venue that would allow the voice
of this “other” to be there for the reader. The idea of cards, each
containing a reflection that could be chosen by the reader or randomly
selected, seemed to work.
The format, I believe, offers the reader a mirror
of their own inner pilgrimage as they walk the journey of their life and
puts them in touch with their wisdom voice.
I can be reached at thepilgrim@look.ca
"In the time of accepted faith, Bunyan recorded the allegorical journey
of Christian on his pilgrimage to the sacred city. Today in a cynical world
of doubt and dis -belief, Repath records the inner journey of a human soul
as it stumbles through the hills and valleys of human existence to find
itself and its place in the universe."