Some places are more than landscapes. Certain mountains, caves, springs, groves, and deserts are understood as powerful god beings, hidden in plain sight and offering support to human beings.
Not every challenge can be resolved through personal effort alone. Across the world, people have long made pilgrimage to sacred places to seek guidance, healing, purpose, better relationships, a life partner, abundance, community, connection with the natural world, spiritual growth, communion with the Divine, peace, and joy. These journeys are often undertaken to discover one’s deeper self and to bring forth work that reflects the soul.
Traditionally, sacred sites are approached in specific ways, with offerings made in exchange for their help. These instructions have been preserved by generations of tradition-holders, and guidance from a living tradition-holder is always required. In pilgrimages led by Eliot Cowan, a tradition-holder in the Huichol lineage, the work involves a yearly cycle of visits to the sacred site or sites, always approached with respect, devotion, and formality.
When a pilgrim meets a site with full sincerity, the site responds in kind. One participant shared her experience five years after completing her yearly visits: after being widowed twice and losing her teenage daughter, her brother, and several close friends, she feared she was losing her mind to early Alzheimer’s. She asked her pilgrimage site to reveal whether there was meaning in so much loss, and received more than she expected. She emerged from isolation and found the courage to live in deeper connection with community. She set clearer boundaries with her family, allowing her caretaker role to no longer come at the expense of her own well-being. As a result, their relationship became fuller and healthier. Unexpectedly, new love led to the most fulfilling partnership of her life. She also realized that the memory she had been losing was the memory of herself. What continued to grow was her sense of true identity and purpose in service to others, along with a deep calm and joy that supports her daily life. She feels held by life, with a heart that knows all is in the right place and time.
In the modern Western world, this kind of pilgrimage work has often been difficult to access. It has traditionally required travel to remote places, sometimes under challenging or even dangerous conditions, and authentic guides are not always available. For more than twenty years, Eliot Cowan has quietly led Western people to sacred sites in the United States, Mexico, and other countries, with the explicit authorization of his elders, his ancestors, and the God of Fire. Recently, three magnificent sites in California have indicated that they can help more people and wish to do so. If you feel called to explore whether pilgrimage may be right for you, please reach out below.