When a Trip Becomes a Journey

--Rainer Maria Rilke

Turning a mere trip into a journey of the soul is not difficult, but it does call for a different way of looking at travel. One of the most important ways to work spiritually into with a trip is to create a travel shrine.

I created my first travel shrine a few years ago when I was traveling a great deal for my work. I began to feel a deep need to lift all those comings and goings onto a spiritual level. My first shrine was an open space on a bookshelf on which I placed a photo of my cat and my favorite coffee mug. As I left the house, I deposited my ring of keys in the coffee mug and whispered a prayer--Angel of Travel, keep everything safe at home while I am out in the world.

Preparing for subsequent trips, I gave more attention to my travel shrine. Eventually it became more elaborate and more meaningful. Now it works for me as a symbol of my intention to spiritualize my travel--to make every trip a model for the journey of life itself.

I create my travel shrine the moment I hear the first call to journey. I clear a shelf, lay down a plain white cloth, and install my first sacred article--a simple candle. For me, the candle is a symbol of the entire journey, from the period of preparation straight through to my homecoming. More, it represents my willingness to engage the journey, to use it as an opportunity to fearlessly seek new self-knowledge.

As the days and weeks progress toward my date of departure, I bring more articles of significance to my shrine. If I am going to a place I have never visited, I find pictures of that place and stand them up on my shrine. If I am going to a foreign country, I try to get a few bills or coins of that country's currency, and place them on the shrine.

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