Late March brings whispers of sojourns on soft days,
the spritzes of moist air spring-scented.
Veiled skies douse the shoreside villages
with a gentle intermittent blindness.
Macabre mountains are marked by the insinuation
of one long S weaving upward, in the distance,
formed by the stream of pilgrims negotiating the landscape,
seekers planting their prayer stones along their path’s ascent.
Miles and miles, these Celtic Christians walk,
mesmerized by pull of promise for heart’s change, search for spiritual
rebirth through the encounter of the the thin places.

Here in the Irish hills, on these Monk-owned stretches of land
with access routes trimmed by ancestral cairns, inspiration’s aroused
by lofty lakes, high crosses, purple heather, ghost cliffs
all confirmations of God’s magnificent hand. On these trails
the reality of mortal earth life meshes with the immediate presence
of the Spirit Creator. Mist-kissed air delights the faithful
by carrying messages from their long-gone loved ones.

These pilgrimage sites of Ireland are steeped
in the stories of The Cross of the Scriptures. But other settings,
in natural corners in any of the continents, offer equal moments
of connection, where the barrier between the two worlds vanishes
as the Holy Spirit manifests itself to the believer. Where the mystical
becomes the actual.

Seekers and discovers have found the cross-over threshold on pine-coned
high trails over lake and river narrows in Canadian provinces, in back fields
or along the line fence of the family farm, even old woodsheds children claim
to be haunted, or from the cliffs looking over the chartreuse lake
at the sacred Native Petroglyph Park*, and hikers’ paths through
the loblolly forests down in the American South, or in the vast phenomenon
of the Grand Canyon.
Where have you discovered a thin place? Did you make your trek there
on a soft day like this one, in March?

03/14/2007

Author's Note: Photo Credit, Maureen Glaude

For the origins of these terms, I believe we have the Irish Christians to thank, and before them, God.
"Soft days" is an Irish reference for days that are misty and mild.
The Thin Place is as described in this piece, such a location in which one feels the closeness and essence of God/spirituality free of separation between the earthly and the unearthly.

Peterborough Ontario's Petrogylph Park is a protected sacred Native site where there is a magnificent lake that is untouched by visitors. Due to its chemical composition the lake is an unusual green. To honour the Native spiritual rules, photographs of many sections of this park are not permitted due out of respect. Within the walls of the Visitors' Centre, open to the public, is an environmentally-protected section of cave wall pictographs in excellent condition. The photo is of one of my experienced "Thin Places" in Ontario, Canada

Posted on 03/14/2007
Copyright © 2024 Maureen Glaude