The Pilgrim Soul

did you find the path?

did the path find you?

the sun calls from over the horizon

each step erases the previous step

deepens the next

all paths meet over the horizon

all paths converge on you

who is truly lost

the horizon is in your pocket somewhere

after following the path

you see there was no path

My partner and I are co-writing a book, to be published in 2026, on the subject of pilgrimage and pilgrims. In starting to write this book it became clear that there is a distinction to be made between the act of pilgrimage and a particular type of person that we have termed ‘the pilgrim soul’.

A pilgrimage can be a single journey, along a clearly prescribed route, to a destination. The destination can be historically established, or not. The destination might have a religious significance, or not. There are many different reasons people go on pilgrimage. A person may decide to go on a pilgrimage as a once in a lifetime experience, for whatever reason they choose for themselves.

A true pilgrim, in contrast, is one who is liminal by nature. A pilgrim is a person who straddles boundaries. They might not even describe themselves as a pilgrim. They might not define themselves as such. They might never go on a pilgrimage in the accepted usage of the term. The pilgrim is one who sees beyond, who goes beyond. And perhaps the one who goes beyond how we typically live is able to see most clearly how we typically live.

We can say in addition that the pilgrim is quietly subversive to the predominant power structures that govern society. The pilgrim is of no use to capitalism. The pilgrim is an extravagance: extra-vagare literally means one who wanders outside.

Those of us who are aware of, or at least have consistent feelings that our true home is elsewhere than this physical Earth, define the pilgrim soul. We see our life as a journey, both away from and returning to home.

One way of considering the journey of life is to see that we are each of us both a fully realised, timeless, whole being, and an ongoing, endless act of becoming.

The impulse that moves the pilgrim is therefore a response to the call from our being to our becoming.

It may be the case that we never reach the end of our journey, while being equally true that we have already arrived. The pilgrim is both homeless and everywhere at home.

It is usual for people undertaking a pilgrimage to give strong consideration to what they can receive from the experience. We envisage the growing possibility of pilgrimage that is more conscious of the meaning and value of the pilgrim soul, and of the living Earth that gives ground to the journey. A pilgrimage therefore that is based on questions like, what can I give? What effect can my steps have? How can I ensure the highest quality interaction between me and the living reality I move through?

Here we can propose a full integration of giving and receiving as an ideal, such that over the full length of a pilgrimage, as in the full journey of one’s life, it is impossible to state definitively if one is in credit or arrears. This marks the pilgrim’s journey as a relationship. The path is co-created by the presence in intimacy of the pilgrim and the earth. We can include the planets and the stars, the whole cosmos ultimately in this equation, this dance of unfolding, of becoming.

David Stevenson. December 2025. Alentejo, Portugal.