In the last few years, thanks to the many opportunities I had by accompanying the Italian students on Mike Booth’s sacred tours, I re-evaluated and reconsider my opinion about sacred sites.
Especially during my teacher training in esoteric numerology, in which we explored sacred geometry non simply as a relationship between angles and lines but as a reflection of the movement of consciousness, I realised that in the ancient times the builders, who were also alchemists, designed each building with the purpose of supporting the pilgrims and those who entered these places in their urge to reconnect with and find spirit.
The building itself is not sufficient to create the shift within us, the inner work is the key to allow the energy originated by these sacred proportions to Be transmitted.
For that reason in the last two years I have been looking around to find places where I could take groups in order to support them in their inner work through the power of the sacred geometry.
Two days ago I was visiting the abbey of Sant’Antimo. The reason why I want there was because I read the book “Medici di pietra. I poteri di guarigione dei luoghi sacri” by Paolo Molesti, which was describing this place as a very special one.
The Abbey of St. Antimo is unique place, a remarkable example of monastic building built between the XI and XII centuries. It is one of the main significant architectural remains of the Romanesque period, inspired by transalpine and Lombard traditions.
According to the legend, the abbey was erected by the emperor Charlemagne in 781, while returning from Rome with the relics of the holy martyrs Antimo and Sebastian, received from Pope Hadrian, along the Francigena Road. On the way his army was caught by a plague. During the night, an angel appeared to him in a dream telling him to climb the Amiata Mountain and there he would have found a healing herb that would have healed the army. And so it was.
If you look at the floor plan of the abbey, you can clearly see the walking path that the pilgrims should follow to have a mystical experience. The spaces between the columns represent the seven chakras or the levels of being. All the spaces have to be explored in meditation and prayer to support the inner journey.
You can also see that the three main shapes of the plan, the double square, the square and the circle, reflect the inner process of going from discipline an d structure to the manifestation of the mystery of the divine, the mystery of the union of heaven and earth within us.
The circle at the end represents the spiritual plane where man become conscious of the supernatural and where these two aspect join together.
I was very fortunate to walk through the path with the gregorian chants in the background. It was a mystical experience. As I was walking there was a great urge to reach above, to touch the untouchable and to feel it alive. Especially when I reached the altar on the left just before the one at the far end of the church. But completely unexpectedly when I reached the top I felt in my body the need to turn around and look at the entrance. In that moment I realised that pilgrimage is more than a journey to the divine. Spirit asks us to go back and live what we are meant to. This was what I felt.
At a certain point in life something occurs on the outside that makes us look for a meaning to life and for that reason we start going towards spirit, the divine, something above us. When we find it, we realise that there is no other way than going back to the material world and we see a different meaning to it that the one we had before.
Spirit is life and life is spirit.
Always remember that there is a different reality than the one you see, until you start looking for it, you will never find it.
