Natasha Serlin

Listening to Amma share her story, I began to wonder whether part of the reason pilgrimage is experiencing a revival is because modern life offers so few rituals for navigating change.

So many of the structures that once marked life's major transitions have thinned or disappeared altogether.

And pilgrimage seems to offer something different.

time, ritual, slowness, community, and permission to mark change, an opportunity for transformation.

Looking at the pilgrimage as a journey inward, a journey through one's history, feelings, emotions, and the different paths that lead to people's awareness of the divine light within them all.

And as I sit on an ancient rock in an ancient forest and breathe and listen to the birdsong, I have a single tear running down my cheek and I'm not crying so I don't really know why, but I can feel it trace its path along my skin.

Finally, we reach the cave where Mary Magdalene is said to have lived for the last 30 years of her life.

Just a few more steps.

Lights illuminate the cave.

And I'm going to take a step over the threshold.

As I enter, a friar lovingly cleans the candles.

I close my eyes and I can smell the scent of incense and earth and water.

It feels like I can smell centuries of devotion.

It's early morning.

The sky is pale blue, apricot pink, where the sun is going to rise soon.

It literally looks celestial.

So we're going up to the top of the mountain where Mary Magdalene is set to ascend seven times a day to see the sunrise.

Yeah, today's our last full day.

Good morning.

Good morning.