Via Podiensis, Path of Power

Book excerpt: In a kind of sequel to her book Camino Walk: Where Inner & Outer Paths Meet, the following year, Marie-Laure Valandro walked and wrote about her experiences on the French section of the Via Podiensis, or the Le Puy Route, one of four routes through France on the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in northwest Spain and the tomb of St. James. She again encountered a steadfast though fleeting international community on the route through southern France, while connecting her personal experiences with the many significant historical events of that area, especially those of the ninth century in connection with key political and spiritual figures, the Grail mysteries, and the struggles of women of that time and region. The book brings to life words of Rudolf Steiner and other writers, as well as the memoirs of historical personalities. In this day-by-day, step-by-step account, the author reveals her struggles along the way and considers the true purpose of such a journey—or, indeed, any journey—which is self-transformation. As with her book Camino Walk, the reader is inspired—if not to walk the physical Camino, to find one’s own path to the inner challenge of change.