Now I have spent over one year in the Spanish Pyrenees, and recently my parents flew over from England to visit me and my partner, Owen, for 7 days. It was a much anticipated trip especially having not seen them a while. It was their first time meeting Owen and also their first time seeing me after making my big life change to come here and, having experienced many internal changes, I really wasn’t sure what to expect. But I had been looking forward to the visit. I had the feeling this could be a special time that would bring many fruits for all of us and strengthen bonds of love.
The hidden treasures of this land
This was quite a unique vacation for my parents too as they often go to the well-known touristy holiday spots and have never been to such a wild mountainous location like ours. The Pyrenees in Spain are not the most well-known to British people at all. The tourists here are often other Spanish people and French people. It is quite nice this way as it means it is less swarmed with tourists as it retains its pristine stillness. There are so many walks and hidden trails you can do around here that you could spend a lifetime discovering new ones. Tucked among the valleys and mountains there are many sacred monuments like cave art, spiritual/religious buildings and dolmens. This place is rife with legends and tales. It makes one wonder what humanity really has been up to in the ancient past in these lands.
The wild roads
There were many times when the British conditionings of my parents would really show through. It was quite comical at times. For example, Britain, by comparison especially to this part of Spain, is very different with its densely populated and built-up land and more efficient road systems. Here in the mountains, it is very rugged and raw with lots of winding roads that may be next to ditches or cliffs, or just be simple dirt or gravel roads. The roads are often snaking around the mountains up and up until we reach the place we stop off at, that’s at a very high altitude. As we go higher, the peaks of mountains in the distance, that at first are mainly hidden behind the valleys, will slowly creep up into view until we are at the right height to see their full breath-taking glory.
My parents had been expecting that the off-roads around here would be rough to handle compared to England and thought they had prepared with the right hire car beforehand; but the roads still gave them more than they bargained for. My dad, being the driver, would be crawling along at snails pace over the heavily potholed or stony roads, and swearing if he hit a bump. My mum would be swearing and complaining too if dad got too close to a pothole or to the edge of the road where there’s a ditch. The long road up to the village we live in is extremely potholed and has a small ditch on the side, and only enough room for one lane of cars. So, it felt precarious when a car did come in the opposite direction. This is what the villagers here are used to and they laughed when they heard of my parents’ experiences of the roads around here as overcautiousness is such a known British trait. At one point what normally would have been a 20-minute journey to a mountain viewpoint turned into a long draining hour of crawling very slowly over a gravelly road.
My mum, while we were bouncing slowly up the hill to the village, said to me “you sure pick your locations to live!” My response would be, “you pick your locations too living in Leeds and my sister in London!” These are 2 major cities in England heavily infiltrated by technology that I have long had a terrible time with to point of avoiding them as much as possible.
La Selva de Oza
Our first proper hike was in the mountainous area, La Selva de Oza, in the valley of Hecho which has the Aguas Tuertas river winding its way through it. Me and Owen had been here before and wanted to show my parents, and also visit the dolmen we had missed last time.
We had a few delays before arriving at the start of the trail so my parents were wanting to pull over somewhere and eat their lunches. We saw a large space by the road to pull up our car. Me and Owen checked out the area first, saw a tree with large mossy roots, the big rocks dotted around we could sit on and a wild river gushing noisily next to the opening. We thought “perfect!” and called for my parents to join. We loved the idea of being immersed next to the wildness of nature while eating. However, as my mum approached, she was uncertain as it didn’t feel like a designated eating spot with picnic benches. But she resigned herself to sitting on a rock with her lunch and soon, nevertheless, seemed to enjoy her surroundings.
Waterfall initiation
At last, we reached the start of the trail and started our walk between the huge valleys with the river far down below. There was a point we reached where there was a waterfall coming down the valley from above and the water speedily cascading over the path we were on. It can be a challenge to cross although many hikers take on the task. Normally you would climb up the valley and cross via the rocks where water is forcefully pushing its way around them. The placement of the rocks are not the easiest to navigate. Dad managed to get across okay and helped Owen across who is partially-sighted and struggles to gauge distance.
However, I could tell this would be too much for my mum so we tried to find better rocks to cross on. A Spanish hiker was coming in opposite direction and he helped me cross by pointing out which rocks to use and demonstrating that it’s easier than it looks. The first step I took onto a rock in the middle of the waterfall got my adrenaline going. A rush of lightness came into my body as I felt myself as though held at a point with my life at complete exposure. It felt illusory too as, in theory, the rock is easy to stand on but the speed of the water coming past makes it feel as though you are moving with it. The lightness feeling got too much and I hopped back to the start. But the hiker was determined, kept beckoning me and held out his hiking stick to pull me across and I finally I felt brave enough to hop across the rocks.
My mum though really wasn’t feeling confident and just wanted to go across where the water was crossing the path even if it looked strong and would get her wet. Conveniently, the hiker had a small dog with him which, just at the right moment, easily skipped through the water to where she was standing. Mum took her shoes and socks off, chucked them over the water to Dad, and started making her way across. She was hesitating partway through though so, feeling a protective instinct, I stepped partly into the water, grabbed her, called to Owen to help and we pulled her across onto dry ground. Phew! As she got her bearings again and got her socks and shoes back on, I joked to my mum that she had been initiated into the Pyrenees. She seemed somewhat elated with her achievement.
Dolmen of the magical folk
Our journey continues to where the best views would be held which is also where the dolmen is. We climbed over the rocky hill where at the top we were able to play with the first of the snow that hadn’t melted yet, even on a hot day like this. Then we made our way to the opening where the red river, Aguas Tuertas, winds itself in artistic ways across a flat open meadow with huge snowy mountains at the end… the mountains being so big are further away than you think! You could be walking endlessly across this meadow until you finally reach them.
We found our way to the dolmen which is named “Casita de los Duendes” which means house of the little peoples (of magic e.g. fairies, elves and goblins). But almost as soon as we arrived Mum announced it was time to leave. We had barely taken in the sights properly! She was worrying a lot about time and wanted to go back to the car. We said to my parents that we would meditate with the dolmen for a bit as it was a sacred monument to us that we had been wanting to visit a while so my parents went off into the distance to wait.
Me and Owen sat down with the dolmen and left some offerings with it. We then did Jacqueline’s Reawaken (www.oraclegirl.org/reawaken-directions-qa) and went into silence. I automatically put my hands onto the dolmen. I could feel myself sink into a deep space, feeling the universal cosmic energies this dolmen held. Without thinking, I could feel my parents being added to this meditation with the dolmen. There was a lot of pressure going on around the area on my forehead where the third eye is. It was like a sucking sensation as though something was being pulled out of me.
We must have managed 10 minutes and could feel the anxiety coming from my parents to leave so we got up. They started rushing off as soon as we reached them as Mum was in a lot of stress. Me and Owen decided to have a moment with the river, washing our faces in it and filling our bottles with the fresh water then rushed off to try catch up with my parents who were already somewhat far ahead.
We reached the part where we descend down the rocks and suddenly, in our haste, Owen stepped on a rock wrongly and twisted his ankle. Then he did it again for the 2nd time and then the 3rd time causing him pain to walk. With his partial blindness and delicate joints he needs to take extra care to walk on hills or rocky paths as he cannot see the ground properly. I managed to call out to Mum to stop and explain that Owen had hurt himself. She immediately calmed down, softened and apologized as she hadn’t realized that Owen needed to take it slowly on these terrains while walking. She offered him some soothing gel for his ankle she had on her that seemed to help him. Whatever excess stress that had built up at that point had dispersed.
On our way back, reaching that waterfall path again, me and Owen decided just to charge our way across it this time with our shoes and socks on. It was actually easy but we got wet of course! Mum and Dad opted to take their shoes and socks off to cross it.
In the car going to Hecho Mum first rubbed some anti-bacterial gel through her hands. The overly clean chemical smell filled the car. She offered to me and Owen if we wanted any to which we replied “no.” Next she got a tube of polo mints out and asked if we wanted one. With our sensitivity to processed foods and white sugar we declined. Then she got out an aerosol deodorant, sprayed it on herself and asked if we wanted to use it which we also said no to. The heady chemical fumes of the deodorant filled up the car strongly and me and Owen had to wind our windows down and stick our heads out as I am semi-allergic to perfumed products and Owen is borderline asthmatic.
The dream of the old monastery
The next meaningful location visited was the old monastery on San Juan de la Peña. I had been long drawn to this location as I had a dream of it near the start of my stay in Spain. I didn’t know of its existence at the time of this dream. Jacqueline also was in the dream and we travelled together to an ancient monastery that was hidden in the mountain amongst many trees that had a light shining from it. Inside the monastery, it was very church-like and lined with cuddly toys of fantastical or ancient creatures such as fairies, elephants and saber-toothed tigers. Around midnight they transfigured and were brought to life. It had such a magical element to the dream it seemed significant. Upon explaining this dream to Owen, he immediately said that sounds like the old monastery on a mountain nearby. So I had been curious about it ever since.
Visiting the physical old monastery
On the day of going to this place, Owen needed a day to himself to recharge from all the activity of the vacation so far, so just me and my parents went. We ended up at the very top of the mountain in a large open space where a dull, modern, large building sat that turned out to be the new monastery. There was a big car park there and, as it was time for lunch, Mum lit up when she saw there were picnic benches this time.
After, when we reached a steep, rocky path to go down to the old monastery did my mum, in her unsuitable sandals, exclaim “I’m not happy about this!” So I walked down on my own, enjoying some quiet time and taking in the lovely views whilst my parents drove down instead.
I reached the old monastery which was embedded right into the mountain and waited a while until my parents finally arrived. The ticket booth for the monastery provided us with audio devices that we could put up to our ears like a phone. If we hit a certain button on it that had a number (that correlated with the map of the monastery we were given) it would give audio information about that particular place on the map.
I slowly wandered about the monastery with the audio device going through each number. There wasn’t overly interesting information on it and the building was heavily entrenched in Christianity as it was where the Christian monks used to live devoting themselves entirely to God. Though I noticed how similar the building was to my dream including the placement of the entrance and exit, the architectural features and shapes of rooms. Although I couldn’t entirely feel the energies of the place as I felt too much in my mind and lack of stillness. There was a room that had 27 tombs which I avoided as I didn’t enjoy the idea of being around death energies. I had gotten a bit weary of the audio device that was pumping out information in an AI voice and had taken a break from listening to it. When I did finally pick it up again and pressed the next number something grabbed my attention. It was talking about a room at length that had several fantastical creatures stone carved into it although it didn’t talk about why they got carved there. Immediately I went over to the room and inspected all the creatures while listening to the device. There were so many including dogs, snails, lions, dragons, fantastical creatures and many others I cannot remember. Pine cones were carved too. How interesting the correlation it had with the fantastical creatures in my dream.
The magical aftereffects from the visit
Only back home did I really start to notice the kind of energies that were taking place in my body. There was definitely some density and heaviness so I had to hold my anchor a bit. To me, it seemed like I was dealing with the negatively infiltrated energies of the monastery.
Later that night, while I was doing one of Jacqueline’s Reawakens and falling asleep, I got a realistic vision of walking into a church-like room that looked just like the church section of the old monastery. Lying dead on the ground were several royal figures including the king who stood out to me the most. It wasn’t a spooky, heavy scene though despite the obvious death theme of it. They looked like they were just peacefully sleeping and there was a stillness to the atmosphere. It was as though something had happened to these royal people. Indeed, royalty is also strongly associated with this place.
Straight upon waking the next day a memory of a film was vividly coming to me. I had the strange energetic feeling within me that I was transfiguring somehow and that plants and flowers were growing out of my being. That was how I had the memory of the film “Annihilation” presenting itself to me as there is a scene showing a woman transfiguring into a human with plants and flowers growing out of her. It is a rather creepy sci-fi film that had fantastical beasts in it too so initially I was put off by it. But then I made the connection between the energetics of the monastery, and what this feeling of transfiguring was showing me, and that the memory of the film was somehow holding a message in its own strange way.
Still, I could feel that I was sifting through heavy dense energies in my being that were making me rather emotional and even angry in some ways. I felt aware of my energetic vulnerability. Something needed to clear through me. However, I decided I wasn’t going to become a victim of it and know in my being I am stronger than I realise and that there is a purpose to all this. With much presence with what was arising within me did I feel a major strength and peace in me start pushing through. Something truly magical was arising in my being and I could feel the pure energetic imprints of the monastery of magic, transformation and transfiguration. I could feel a welling up of respect and awe for the sacredness of this location I had visited. That it was no light visit and to be honored.
I also discovered later the legends of how the monastery had, for a long time, possessed the holy grail which is a reason for it being a place of pilgrimage.
Lunch with the neighbors
Me and Owen, earlier that week, had bumped into our neighbors in the village. Then they invited us and my parents to eat lunch with them later in the week at their house. We felt a yes to this as had a feeling my parents may enjoy their company. They are strict protestant Christians but also awake to much that is going on in the world. They are super friendly, welcoming and have a great sense of humor. When we ate with them, my parents enjoyed their company very much. In fact, the neighbors even seemed to make my parents feel more at ease with this life set up me and Owen have, as they explained more the ins and outs of how this village is set up. And how lucky they are they get to live in this way. They seemed to help my parents see, however very different to the way of life in England, that this life has much to offer and that it is our right to live with more freedom.
Piedrafita
The final place we visited was a mountain called Piedrafita. To be honest, I had been noticing this entire time how the car journeys seemed to utterly drain me and make me feel a little ill. This seemed like something beyond just travel sickness. I got a strong feeling this was also to do with the radiation in the new modern car. The entire walk in Piedrafita I could not shake off this strong headache and the feeling of being drained and sickly. I did my best to connect with my surroundings and my family although it was like trying to break out of a concrete head. It was so tense and hard to think.
It was a very beautiful walk regardless. The land had its own very unique features and also carried the nice elements of myth and magic. It was covered with colourful, wild mountain flowers. We followed a river for a while that was cascading with vigor down from the mountain until we reached an opening at the foot of the mountain where a lake sat. The feeling of stillness was instant especially when we had been walking along energetically moving water for a while. Me and Owen, again, wanted more time with the lake to be present and take in the surroundings but, again, Mum had another big stress about time. She insisted we now walk back to the car as she had a lot of fear coming up what would happen if it got dark and someone had an accident. Obviously that mindset too that now we’ve reached our destination we must immediately turn back instead of stopping and really appreciating the surroundings. A very different relationship with nature to what me and Owen have. For us, communing with the land and feeling its energies is important. To be present and still and respect what it has to offer. The mountains, rivers, lakes, rocks, trees, flowers and every bit of nature here feels like our guardians. But, we respected my mum’s wishes as she was fairly stressed and we made our way back down to the car park. We just had to make the most of the time we had and trusted we still received the frequencies of the land.
The end of the Pyrenees initiation
So that was an insight into my parents’ initiation into the Pyrenees. To be honest, I was quite impressed by how they met the challenges of doing something new. Sometimes a fuss or complaint might come up but then they had the ability just to let go quite easily too and go along with it. We come from very different worlds but we meet each other through the bonds of love. Even Owen was very touched by how loving and caring they could be and how well they accepted him. I felt more blessed to have sweet, lovely parents, especially as I hear there’s so many people out there with very dysfunctional parents.
My parents loved the pretty village we live in and the majestic landscape of the Pyrenees mountains. They could see the potential of this place for me and Owen. My dad even said that it seems to have all the answers for the way me and Owen want to live our lives. I was moved by this recognition and their vote of support.
During their visit I noticed how much stronger my body is compared to previous visits I’ve had with my parents. For many years, I had long struggled with feeling lack of safety in my body and found going out difficult. But something seems to have finally aligned more for me health wise and was able to go out with a lot less problems or anxieties. Sure Owen, had a couple of days to himself to recharge and I had one day but my parents were fine with that as they’re pretty easy going. It felt necessary to regroup on our energy so we could pour from a fuller cup.
As soon as my parents left, I really began to notice a significant change had come over my being. There was a high energy running through it and something in me just felt so damn good. Like my spirit was soaring high with elation. I could feel that something had integrated and solidified within me through my parents visit. It became obvious that some kind of energy transmutation had taken place. And I’m still feeling the extra good energies in my being more than 2 weeks after. Although the month-long silent immersion with Jacqueline has also just taken place in April (and by the way, that was the most difficult immersion I have been through!) and I had the impression that the timing of my parents visit right after was part of the integration. I’m feeling the extra aliveness, joy and excitement for life with everything that has just taken place. And a deeper appreciation for the cosmic energies of nature and what is possible when we truly embody ourselves more.
A poem for you
Below is a poem inspired by my recent experiences living in this location and being more deeply immersed in the mountains while with my parents.
Nature, Stillness, Time
A silent power resides
Deep in the being
Of nature’s perfect eternity
Its eyes watchful
Tracking movements
Beneath the passing rocks
The ears wait
For unrealised echoes
Deep in the caves
The mountainous body
Exposing its muscles
To the force of the raw elements
Seeping its sweat
Through the gathered snow
Received from the heavens
Painting artistic strokes
As the river’s blood
Dances back to its mother
The lungs breathing in
Filling up with the universe
In the basin of the open valleys
Letting lose its mane
Down the lavishing waterfalls
Darting over its naked contours
Sweet tones of birdsong
Out of their mouths
Trills all it has seen
Fingers of blades of grass
Caressing your feet
As you stir from your sleepwalk
Wild flowers dot the hills
Kisses of constellations
While the flowers above sleep
In the deep pools of mountain lakes
Lies the unwavering heart
Sending out ripples
Ancient tales of birth
Stored where only silence
Can bring forth
Creatures of magic transfigure
Out of the dark
Into light they pull you
The stars passing above
On their vaster pilgrimage
Of time and stories
Invitations beckon in dreams
Opening new doors
Into seeded realms
Can you be present?
Or does the crafted clockwork of time
Expel you out?
The stumbling, twisting mind
Of the other world
It cannot coexist with nature’s time
Touch the ground
Feel the pulse
Of the distant peak
Waking up that communion
The fractals of the mountains
Hold you there in their stillness
All photos by Kate Priestley – www.katealexandrapriestley.com
And by her mother, Jill Priestley
