Hello from Nancy Frey/Pilgrim Stories

[NancyFrey]

Hello to all of you new, old, and thinking-about-it pilgrims! I just came across this great site. Back in the early 1990s I researched the rise of the Camino for my PhD dissertation and published my work in the book 'Pilgrim Stories. On and Off the Road to Santiago' (UC Press, 1998). Since that time my life shifted quite a bit. I moved to Spain and I now have three children. My partner and I met on the Camino back in 1994. About eight years ago, I started a walking tours company called On Foot In Spain (http://www.onfootinspain.com) and we lead people along the Camino (and other places).

I am developing ideas for another book. One topic that always intrigued me from Pilgrim Stories was what happens after the yellow arrows are no longer there (ie, you go home). In Pilgrim Stories I did follow-up with pilgrims but I would like to now take a further look since another 10 years have passed. Yikes! How time flies.

I also would like to collect Camino synchronicity stories. If you have had any personal synchronicity story that you would like to share I would be very much interested in hearing it.

Buen Camino to all of you! I believe very firmly that one of the most important messages that can be garnered from the Camino is one of tolerance! As the 12th century quote from Roncesvalles indicates all pilgrims are welcome no matter who they are.

 

[sillydoll]

Hello Nancy,
Welcome to this wonderful forum.
What an interesting angle for your next book. I remember reading once that synchronicity is the ability of the human mind to find meaning and significance where there is none! Many of us seem to need a journey like the camino to find meaning in our lives. Would you say that meeting your future husband on the camino was synchronicity or serendipty!
Abrazos,

 

[JohnnieWalker]

Hi Nancy and welcome

I really enjoyed your book when preparing for my first pilgrimage and I've recently been dipping into it again. There are many acute observations. It is great to have some contact with you in person to thank you for the most enjoyable "academic" text I've read in along time.

Your new project sounds fascinating. I've recently had some contact with people who walked the Camino some 25 years ago or more - the memory and impact remains vivid.

Good luck with the new project. I am sure we'll all be interested to hear how it develops.

Best wishes

John

 

[MermaidLilli]

Hi Nancy, and what a great book this will be. I am a strong believer in synchronicity-synchrodestiny. I had so many events during my Camino in August-October of this year and would love to share. How would you like to receive our stories?
With Love
Lillian

 

[Arn]

Hi Nancy,

I am going to make my Camino in April 2008 and I hope to have an experience worth recounting. Although this will be my first walk along the yellow arrows, I did make the "white blazes" of the Appalachian Trail a part of my intrinsic life. I wasn't one to seek a "spiritual" experience, but rather to disengage from my day to day life. I found that I enjoyed walking alone and, although I did come across several folks throughout the 2164 miles, having the time to myself was important.

I look forward to recounting my Camino, if only because I sincerely am a penitent, not just a sojourner along for a lark.
Buen Camino,
Arn

 

[WolverineDG]

Hi Nancy! Your idea sounds interesting! I've often felt "homesick" since I returned home from my 2 trips to the Camino. And a funny thing has happened: I am constantly on the look out for waymarks & every day on my way to work, my eyes are drawn to a blue arrow that was painted on a traffic light. When I first saw it, I thought "Hey, did they run out of yellow paint?" & then I remembered I was back in the US. :lol:

Kelly

 

[NancyFrey]

Thank you very much to all of you who wrote your messages! Yes, synchronicity is a fascinating topic! Meeting my husband on the road was just plain good luck! though I also believe there was an element of synchronicty involved though I didn't realize it at the time. I have been very conscious of my truly powerful synchronous moments though of course hindsight always allows you to see what may not have been immediately apparent. If you have synchronicity stories related to the Camino please send them to me at onfootinspain@hotmail.com. Good luck Arn - just keep an open mind and don't look too hard! All best wishes, Nancy

 

[JohnnieWalker]

Hi Nancy

Synchronicity, synchrodestiny....serendipity ...plain good luck - errrr....what's the difference and is there a definition I might understand?

 

[NancyFrey]

Excellent question! Defintions are something that I will be exploring thoroughly! I didn't want to get into it in the short reply I previously made but you are absolutely right that it is essential to understand what people mean when they use words like 'synchronicity', 'synchrodestiny' (that is a new one for me), 'serendipity', 'plain good luck'. What about you? Do you identify with any of these words? which ones? and how? For me synchronicity (this is off the top of my head so don't hold me to this) is an extraordinary crossing in time - when two things come together at just the right place in time. It's not necessarily pleasant. Serendipity is more when something good happens unexpectedly. That is why for me meeting my husband on the Camino was serendipitous - it was a pleasant, unexpected occurence; a lucky encounter. I could make a case for synchronicity by analyzing the encounter in hindsight but it didn't have that amazing 'wow' sensation that occurs in a truly synchronous moment (when things come together in an extraordinary way in just the right place and time).

 

[JohnnieWalker]

Interesting. I hate using Wikipedia as an authority but it was helpful to me in starting to think about this. It gives a basic definition of synchronicity as:

Synchronicity is the experience of two or more events which occur in a meaningful manner, but which are causally unrelated. In order to be synchronous, the events must be related to one another conceptually, and the chance that they would occur together by random chance must be very small.

Examples are:

A well-known example of synchronicity is the true story of the French writer Émile Deschamps who in 1805 was treated to some plum pudding by the stranger Monsieur de Fortgibu. Ten years later, he encountered plum pudding on the menu of a Paris restaurant, and wanted to order some, but the waiter told him the last dish had already been served to another customer, who turned out to be de Fortgibu. Many years later, in 1832, Émile Deschamps was at a diner, and was once again offered plum pudding. He recalled the earlier incident and told his friends that only de Fortgibu was missing to make the setting complete — and in the same instant the now senile de Fortgibu entered the room.

Another well-known example is the story of Lincoln's dream, in which Lincoln related a dream of his own funeral, in which he found he died by assassination, shortly before he was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth.

During production of The Wizard of Oz, a coat bought from a second-hand store for the costume of Professor Marvel was later found to have belonged to L. Frank Baum, author of the children's book upon which the film is based.

So synchronicity is a little more than finding the perfect pilgrim staff just before you turn a corner on a route and find that you need it - or is it? I just think when this has happened to me that it is good luck. Or the girl I was with one day who had a really bad blisters. She stopped in a cafe and a group of three pilgrims came in - as it turned out they were 2 ER doctors and an ER nurse. Blisters were attended to, foot bandaged and she was bundled off on the bus under doctors orders!

Once or twice I have even entertained the concept of a guardian angel - something I rejected many years ago. But... where does coincidence stop ....good luck begin and then synchronicity take over?

And I'm really interested in why you think there would be Camino related sychronicity experiences as opposed to "driving to work " experiences or any other category? Perhaps because it is for everyone to a greater or lesser extent a spiritual journey or at least a journey out of the ordinary that we can be eagre to apply "meaning" to everyday events. But the anecdotal clues are there and I just wonder if this is another "camino effect" - perhaps another line of enquiry might be the apparent increase in deja vu experiences too!

 

[liliha]

And I'm really interested in why you think there would be Camino related sychronicity experiences as opposed to "driving to work " experiences or any other category? Perhaps because it is for everyone to a greater or lesser extent a spiritual journey or at least a journey out of the ordinary that we can be eagre to apply "meaning" to everyday events. But the anecdotal clues are there and I just wonder if this is another "camino effect" - perhaps another line of enquiry might be the apparent increase in deja vu experiences too!

I don't dare to speak for Nancy, but I have my own explanation for why one might expect to discover more synchronous stories on the camino than elsewhere. Not because synchronicity (which, to some degree, I would relate to "grace") as a quality is more prevalent on the Camino, but because while on the Camino we are more readied and open and conscious of the things around us. So it isn't the number of synchronous events that changes...it is our own minds! (But I haven't done the camino so what do I know! )

 

[sillydoll]

I'm not sure if this is synchronous, but would you include those extraordinary moments on the camino when you think you are lost and a 'guardian angel' pops up from nowhere to show you the way? Or, when you think you will never see someone again whom you met a couple of days earlier and you find them in a restaurant, both of you having taken the same detour path? Or, perhaps when you are looking for a particular albergue/hostal and you know that you have taken a wrong turn but your wrong turn actually turns out to be a short-cut?
Are these the sort of situations you are looking for?

 

[MermaidLilli]

You could probably google synchronicity and synchrodestiny and it would be explained much better than I can..... The way I understand synchrodestiny is that when you're aware of those synchronous events, and you see a pattern, it is what you do with that information that forms synchrodestiny. So that story of Emile Deschamps is a good example. All those times he ran into Monsieur deFortgibu had some kind of meaning. These 2 men were placed together several times.... they were meant to be in each others' lives somehow. With that awareness the 2 could have met and realized they were meant to meet for some reason. Synchrodestiny is using those synchronous moments and finding their intention and acting on them.
Magically,
Lillian

 

[cbarua]

Hi Nancy,

If you click on the link below you will find what happened to me that confirmed my decision to do the Camino in 2008.

viewtopic.php?f=14&t=3042&p=15241&hilit=clarisa+amazing#p15241

Good luck with your book,

Clarisa

 

[NancyFrey]

Thank you for your responses. I am interested in the full range of experiences from the type such as described by Emile Deschamps to the chance encounters -´guardian angel´type of stories (as referrred to by silldoll in her post) to the signs of being led/directed to the Camino (such as Clarisa, that is a beautiful story - thank you for sharing it and for the book reference. Did you like the book, by the way?), etc . They need to be specifically related to the Camino because I am taking that as a common point of reference and as a way of limiting a topic which is potentially enormous. I noticed when doing my research that people consistently told me that these experiences seemed to be increased when on the Camino. I tend to agree with Liliha that people are more open when on the Camino and as a result are likely to be more aware/cognizant of synchronous moments on the Camino. It was a topic that always interested me and I would like to take it further. I would also like to know how you interpret these experiences yourself - what do they mean to you?

Johnnie Walker could you elaborate on what you meant by there being an increase in deja vu experiences? Do you have any examples? Thanks for the suggestion.

Nancy

 

[Beebe]

Dear Nancy,

I have long had great respect for your work as a fellow writer and anthropologist who like you has worked in Spain for many years. This year I spent four months trekking all across Spain including walking the Camino to research my book, The Spiritual Traveler Spain: The Guide to Sacred Sites and Pilgrim Routes (due out with HiddenSpring/Paulist Press in Spring 2009; for more info, please visit: http://www.beebesfeast.com). I walked many, many pilgrim roads in all the provinces of Spain, great and small, and found on all of them synchronicity kicks in, if anything because we are doing what is universally recommended in all the world’s spiritual traditions: getting ourselves into present time. Walking is a form of meditation and it gets us out of our incessantly thinking minds (future-past-future-past) and into the present moment where the world is more focused and where we notice those “signs” we otherwise might miss.

What sort of synchronicity did I experience? Without fail, there were the wonderful daily experiences of meeting the right person, or animal, at the right time, who had a piece information or guidance I needed or wanted. I think the most stunning synchronicity is when you meet another pilgrim, someone who seems so different from you and in such a different place in life and you keep running into them even if your paces and goals are different. And then one day, you discover a link that amazes you both and is one of the transformative magical aspects of the road. Synchronicities happened everyday: When you walk into the unknown and trust the road, it is amazing how needs are met and what magic is unleashed.

So, given that there are many synchronicites, let me tell you about the one that launched my journey in the most profound way.

I walked the Camino in an odd way. Because I had already walked portions of it, the Northern Route as well as parts of the French Route, and because I had already been to Santiago de Compostela over a half dozen times in the last two decades, I was a bit torn about doing a linear Camino. And, because friends could join me for ten days at the beginning of my walk, and because they were most interested in the Galician portion, we started just outside of Villafranca del Bierzo and went to Santiago from there. After they left, I went back to the Spanish-French border and began there. But I was still feeling like I had somehow missed the Camino by walking it in such a nonlinear fashion. The night I arrived in Pamplona I had a dream. I was back at an old house I had lived in near a friend who had become the archetype to me of true friendship, hospitality and a sense of home. In my dream the street we lived on in a town near Philadelphia had been transplanted to Pamplona; it was as if we all lived near each other again and this time in Pamplona. The street name remained the same. I had dinner at her house and as I left to say good night, she informed me that her son was walking the Camino with me and he had made a head start. She added that he and she were certain that beginning the Camino anywhere on the road made it a legitimate Camino. I then woke up.
Now mind you, since I moved away two years ago, my friend, as dear and in my heart as she is, is an infrequent correspondent. Moreover, she now lives in Japan and is so busy with her life there that I can hardly predict when I’ll hear from her. I had not received news from her for over a year as it was. But the next day, in Pamplona, I went to an Internet café to send my usual missive to my husband. Waiting for me in my inbox was a letter from her. She was just getting in touch to tell me she missed me and was thinking about me. She did not know I was on the Camino. Reading her note, I relaxed and took my Camino as being MY Camino. I stopped worrying so much about fitting into other ideas of what it should be. Isn’t that one of the things we learn while walking it—to be ourselves and honor what feels appropriate for ourselves?
Beebe

 

[NancyFrey]

Thank you very much, Beebe, for your general comments, reflections on synchronicty and for sharing your beautiful, remarkable story. I strongly believe that the potential power of the Camino pilgrimage does not reside in doing it in a certain way (ie, from x point, for x distance, etc.) and imposing these limits upon oneself can be very limiting. There is no one 'right way' (ie, authenticity) to undertake the Camino as there is no one right one to live one's life (This is the one theme that gets me on my soapbox). Fighting this type of implicit pressure (ie, regarding notions of the authentic pilgrim) on the Camino is one of its many challenges. What a special way you came to a very similar conclusion! Thank you for telling me your story and for sharing the information about your forthcoming book. I look forward to seeing it once you it is in print.

You have given me a lot of food for thought. The linear/non-linear aspect is very interesting and one I delved into superficially in my research. I need to think through my ideas more fully before I add anything else but this is very relevant for the synchronicity issue. Thanks.

It is very good to be in contact with you.
Nancy

 

[Artemis]

I am not sure exactly how you would categorize what happened to us but here it is.
I had wanted to do the camino for 5 years before I actually got to do it. I read everything I could find about it. I knew my guidebook practically by heart. I would read every blog I came across and look at all the photographs. The one photo that I kept coming back to was one of Vierge D'Orisson, the statue of the Virgin on the Route Napoleon. I would look at it and try to imagine how I would feel standing at the foot of the statue looking up at her and knowing that I was finally there and living a dream.
Years later we were at SJPP spending the night and ready to start our journey. The next morning I was very sick and very weak so we spent another night. I was afraid that I wouldn't have enough strength to cross the Pyrenees the next day and was very disappointed. We woke up to a misty rain with lots of fog and were told to take the road route instead. As we started walking we both were kind of dragging our feet with disappointment and then we just looked at each other and turned around to go the Napoleon Route. It was rainy and cold and if I got 20 feet in front of my sister I couldn't even see her behind me. It was like walking in a cloud. As we were walking we came to a place where there was a sign on a post and I noticed another sign broken and on the ground. I just had a strong feeling that the Virgin statue was somewhere near. A car with a man in it was parked on the side of the road. I walked over to the car and showed him the picture in my guide book of the statue and he pointed to the left. We walked over and came to a steep drop and I was thinking there was no way we could make our way down there when I turned to my right to go back. Just then the clouds parted and there on the hill was the statue with a ray of sun shining down on her. I turned and started walking and the man saw me and pointed in the first direction he had shown me. I pointed to the statue and he slapped his forehead and said "Merde!" laughed and drove away. We threw off our backpacks and scrambled up to the statue. The clouds closed around us and we could only see the statue and each other. We heard an eerie sort of whistling and thought maybe there was a shepherd nearby even though we hadn't seen anyone. I had brought a little wooden cross to leave but my sister hadn't brought anything. We found some little sticks and tried to fashion a cross from them but needed something to tie them together. I looked down and there was a dark blue string on the velcro of my pants even though I had on nothing that was blue. I prayed for several things but one thing was that the mist would clear and the rain would stop. Not 5 minutes later the rain stopped, the mist cleared and the sun came out. The whistling also stopped and no one was around. The good weather didn't last until we arrived at Roncesvalles but it did last for several hours.
I am sure it could all be explained away but to us it was a magical beginning to our pilgrimage.

 

[Arn]

Artemis,

What you believe it was...was!

Happy New Year!

Salude,
Arn

 

[PILGRIMSPLAZA]

Hi Nancy and all other pilgrims I'm quoting here:

In this list of quotes from several posts in this topic I marked 2 with an *

Camino synchronicity stories
synchronicity or serendipty
synchronicity-synchrodestiny
powerful synchronous moments
synchronicity stories related to the Camino
Synchronicity, synchrodestiny....serendipity ...plain good luck
Camino related sychronicity experiences
more readied and open and conscious of the things around us
extraordinary moments on the camino
* a pattern
Synchrodestiny is using those synchronous moments
full range of experiences
specifically related to the Camino
limiting a topic which is potentially enormous
I would like to take it further
* camino effect
deja vu

In my early years of professional pilgrimage reading a lot of pilgrim books and reports I suddenly noticed that the same things happened to more pilgrims at the same stretches of the camino.
It struck me especially with moments when pilgrims lost their self-control and got angry for rather futile reasons and they stepped out of their role of humble, modest and polite human beings. For myself I called it the instance of 'breaking' (I've never written about this before!) Then I saw a "pattern" and a "camino effect" but these days it's not so clear anymore. Have you noticed it too?

Success with your next book!
Geert
PILGRIMSPLAZA
The Santiago Enigma
miscellaneous-about-santiago/topic3794.html

 

[Deleted member 3000]

From Auburn, New York:

http://auburnpub.com/lifestyles/article ... 03286.html