Growing up I was never part of any organised religion. Spirituality or religion was never discussed and visits to religious buildings were limited to Weddings and Christenings. I never felt at home in them. I could appreciate how other people found them as a place of peace and community connection. But for me, I couldn’t feel the presence of something greater. Even as a child I remember feeling something bigger when I was out in the garden, playing in the fields, but I couldn’t name it. I remember it as a sensation, a distant far memory, like I was just able grasp it and then it slipped away from my fingertips.

I remember when I was 16 and Faithless released ‘God is a DJ’, with this song always taking me to one place. The line ‘This is my Church’, every time took me to the top of the hill, the mountain peak that I lived beneath. It made so much sense to me – at least something that felt tangible, that felt real, it felt deeply true. My ‘Church’ was (and still is) in the woods, around the fire, on the mountain top, in the garden with the apple tree, in the sea, moving, in my body with the sun on my face.

But I could also not deny the benefit that people gained from the visits to the buildings, that Churches. Which has led me over the years to get curious about ‘What lies beneath these buildings?’

You may find that the oldest of churches remaining, were built from the 11th century, a time shortly after Christianity arrived on our land. But why were they built in the places you will find them today?

I started to notice a theme and I suspect you may have too.

Many of these churches were built upon sacred sites, in valleys, on wells, remote hilltops, coastlines, with the most ancient of **Yew trees wisely observing** from the graveyard. What came first… the Church, or the Well that lay beneath it? The answer is obvious, where I suspect it’s no coincidence that places, like York Minster for example, are built upon Sacred Wells. These sites across the land were places of worship, prayer, connection; they were the thin places where something greater was present.

In recent months, as I’ve been wondering why it’s the North Wales Pilgrim’s Way that I’ve been pulled to do, a trail that links Churches across North Wales, with no attachment to the religious buildings, clues have and will continue to do so as I walk the land, started to emerge and unravel like puzzle pieces.

Beneath, near and beside these Churches lay Yews up to 4,000 years old, burial mounds from the Bronze Age, Stone Circles, Wells, Caves all along side the sea, the Mountains, Rivers. These have been here far longer than the tiny spec of time in history that Churches on this land have remained.

This feels quite weighty to write about, I can feel the density of this and as I write I’m having to take a few breaks to move and breathe, before I continue. I can feel the grief of what lies beneath these buildings, of what has been hidden and buried.

The body remembers, Ancestors remembers. The Land remembers.

Immersing myself in the North Wales Pilgrim’s Way is multi-layered. It is an adventure, it’s an exploration, but I can feel that there is also work to be done.

And at the same time, as I walk myself, my body, my own inner Temple across these sacred lands, I will be weaving this alongside the further seeking of truth.

This Pilgrimage feels like a multilayered remapping of what lies beneath, within the land, the Earth, myself and the stories that are held within all of them.

Many of us are stepping (or being pushed perhaps?!) into new ways of living, you may find that life is bringing change. Life may be feeling challenging. Follow where you are being led, just by putting one foot in front of the other. Commit to yourself with compassion and take action in giving yourself what you really need, without waiting for someone else to do it for you. Be brave and follow what you’ve always wanted to do. Get curious about what lies beneath your own stories and discover where a felt sense of truth lies within you.

I’m getting closer to the start of this Pilgrimage and as I do, I can feel myself begin to withdraw in preparation. If you have considered or felt the pull to join me and have already been in touch with your interest, now is the time to decide if, when and how you are joining. I’m excited to see what emerges from this Pilgrimage, and if you have considered walking, it may suggest that there is also something beneath the surface, waiting for your to discover too. Let’s do this.

What Lies Beneath?

The Island of 20,000 Saints