They invite attendees to awaken the divine feminine during a week of rejuvenation, beauty and fun and to join them for a truly transformational spiritual journey designed to regenerate, restore and rediscover the authentic self.

Their home base is in romantic Tepoztlan, a well-known spiritual center where energy and mysticism converge.  For three millennia this valley has been home to shamans, healers and artisans. The power that drew the ancients remains.

Home to Queztacoyatl, the plummed serpent god, this area is a place of transformation and regeneration. It is a sacred women’s power site where Aztec Priestesses were trained. Today you will see holistic and alternative medicine businesses throughout the quaint town.

The Mayans served as the messengers of the cosmic knowledge universal philosophy that teaches us that the human body belongs to the Earth, and the human spirit to the Universe.

Now is the time of the Maya, the knowledge that has been embedded in the sacred Mayan temples and in our own cellular memory is reawakening and preparing for 2012 - the end of the Mayan calendar and a time of great transformation.

According to the Mayans, these changes will permit us to make a quantum leap forward in the evolution of our consciousness.

This is our destiny and so it is encoded in our genes. This sacred journey will help you understand this cosmic process, the wisdom of the Maya and how to connect with your sacred self.

Highlights:

in a rare opportunity, Linda Caswell will lead guilt-free, joyful meditations. Linda has taught over 1,000 people how to sit still, do nothing for five minutes and change their lives. Her 31 years of daily meditation are her gift to you. Linda is a Master Neuro-Linguistic Programmer, master gardener, teaches a class in gardening with Spirit and loves daily walking and talking with her husband of 26 years.

Participants will also take a day trip to the Xochicalco Pyramids and other archeological zones where Shaman Eduardo Morales will lead a Mayan Initiation Journey to tap into the true power of the Mayan culture, to learn how we were created and to worship Mother Earth and Father Sun.

Actvities include:

Sisterhood  Goddess Ceremony. Honoring yourself, the Art of Being Authenthic with Sherri Reed.

The Five Tibetan Rites/yoga for health, energy, and longevity long considered, “The Fountain of Youth” by Dr. Dariah Morgan

Shamanic Pyramid Tour. A day trip to the Xochicalco Pyramids, known for it’s observatory with “a stairway to the gods,” and a tomb for our Goddess Xochiquetzal, goddess of love and beauty, led by shaman Eduardo Morales.

Drumming Classes and Sacred Circle Dance in the mountains at the home of Mo Scian and Helida Burstein.

Temazcal Sweat Lodge to purify body mind and spirit with curendero Carlos Gomez.

Goddess Celebration. Evening performance in full native costumes by Onilu Ache and Chelsea Madrigal

Sacred chanting and music by Chelsea Madrigal..

Acupuncture meditation and Reiki One by Jennifer Walz

The Sacred Power of Beauty with Elaine Dodson

Photography by Sherri Reed and Marla McDonald

Optional: bodywork, acupunture, polarity therapy, craniosacral, massage, shiatsu, spiritual response therapy.

For more details about this Mayan Prophecy Retreat, visit www.sacredjourneyretreats.com.

The Dalai Lama will give a three-day teaching on the Six Paramitas (”Perfections”) on September 8, 9 and 10.

In honor of the Dalai Lama’s visit, a spiritual travel opportunity is being offered by the Marquis Reforma’s “Enlightenment” package, which includes admission to the September 9th teaching by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and accommodations for two nights, September 8th and 9th.

Marquis Reforma’s “Enlightenment” spiritual travel package is priced at $450 or $550 per person, depending on the seating section in the Metropolitan Theatre, a 10-minute drive from the hotel.

To reserve the “Enlightenment” spiritual travel package call the Marquis Reforma toll free at 877-238-9399 or directly at 011-52-624-144-2000. For more information on Marquis Reforma please visit Mexico City Hotels (www.marquisreforma.com).

The Marquis Reforma (www.marquisreforma.com) is a 209-room boutique hotel on fashionable Paseo de la Reforma. The hotel is a short walk from the City’s finest museums including the renowned Museum of Anthropology.

Marquis Reforma’s spacious, elegant spa is the largest in the region and recently introduced ayurvedic treatments to its extensive menu. For dining, the hotel’s new Los Canarios restaurant is one of the City’s top dining spots, where live canaries serenade guests. La Jolla restaurant serves a savory Mexican buffet and an a la carte menu of international favorites, and the Lounge on the lobby level offers a chic ambience for evening cocktails and lavish Sunday brunch.

Marquis Reforma’s unique mix of Mexican art with Art Deco designs enhances its charm and warmth. Its glowing pink granite and glass façade has welcomed celebrities including Salma Hayek, Sting, Liza Minelli, Phil Collins, and Elton John. All rooms and suites offer dramatic views over Mexico City’s rooftops or Reforma Avenue.

It is said that the positive energies of pilgrims visiting a site help contribute to its energies, so perhaps the fact that the Dalai Lama and his followers will be at the Metropolitan Theater may help make it a future pilgrimage site.

Today, I heard of about a yoga retreat that is opening up in Costa Rica. Here are some details…

When the Tabacón Grand Spa Thermal Resort decided to hold their first yoga retreat, they called upon the renowned yoga instructor, MeShall of Mystical Sojourn Retreats, who combines being an Environmental Specialist with teaching yoga and wellness consulting, to launch her signature Mystical Sojourn Retreats at Tabacón’s magical, mineral-rich thermal springs setting. Scheduled October 19 - 23, 2008, the Mystical Sojourn Yoga Retreat pairs Tabacon’s rainforest setting at the base of the Arenal Volcano with a spirituality-based wellness program. Highlights of the five-day program include:

• Temazcal rituals with Tonatiuh, the Grand Spa’s Shaman (Tabacon’s trio of traditional Mexican sweat lodges are the only ones in the world embedded in the empowering energy of an active volcano)

• Guided meditation and meditative walks with MeShall and exploration of the volcanic springs
• Immersive instruction in Angel Yoga and The Five Tibetan Rites including yoga and meditation
• Therapeutic outdoor and introspective indoor activities
• All meals, accommodations, special farewell dinner, unlimited use of the hot springs

Rates start at $1,500* per person, based on double occupancy; single rates are available. For information, www.tabacon.com, www.mysticalsojournretreats.com, 888-62-COSTA or 888-622-6782.

“I chose to introduce my Mystical Sojourn Retreats at Tabacón because the setting is, quite simply, unlike any other place in the world,” said MeShall. “By engaging participants in a peaceful getaway where they can recharge, empower themselves and experience mindfulness and serenity without interruption, we can achieve a collective goal to attune the heart, mind and energy and begin to unwind, release and remove blockages. By drawing on ancient rituals led by Tonatiuh, Tabacón’s resident Shaman-Master, as well as on Tabacón’s fusion style of international contemporary luxuries, we create experiences designed to elevate the senses and create awareness of living in the moment.”

A certified Hatha yoga instructor and former environmental consultant, MeShall is best known for her unique style of Angel Yoga, which connects participants with the unseen presence of angels through guided visualization. “This therapeutic style of yoga produces a peaceful awareness of being divinely supported and healed,” she said. Another MeShall signature, The Five Tibetan Rites, introduces powerful breathing techniques paired with continuous flowing movement similar to Vinyasa yoga, speeding the spinning of the chakras and stimulating the endocrine system.

One of Costa Rica’s premier spa resorts, Tabacón Grand Spa Thermal Resort is located at the foot of the Arenal Volcano in La Fortuna de San Carlos. Among the resort’s singular features is a three-unit Temazcal, the only one in Central and Latin America. Other highlights within Tabacón’s rainforest setting are 12 natural hot spring pools, natural waterfalls, lagoons, thermal river pools and exotic gardens.

Tour leaders are Mark Amaru Pinkham and Andrea Mikana-Pinkham. My wife and I went to sacred sites and power places of Peru with Mark and Andrea, and the experience was both life-changing and unforgettable.

Mark is a renowned researcher, lecturer and spiritual teacher as well as being the author of “The Return of the Serpents of Wisdom”, “Conversations with the Goddess,” and “The Truth Behind the Christ Myth.”

The dates of this trip are August 25 – September 6, 2008.  This will be a wonderfully small group. The number is limited to 10 people and they currently have but 2 spaces left, so it is recommended that interested pilgrims should register quickly to assume their place. The closing date for registration is August 11, or earlier if the group is filled sooner.

Every time I listen to the Bob Seger song “I’m going to Kathmandu” I long to see that legendary place, and it is where this itinerary begins. Here are details of the tour:

Day 1. Monday, August 25. Arrive Kathmandu / Introductory Group Meeting & Mysteries of Nepal Lecture with Mark Pinkham / Durbur Square & Syambhunath Stupa / Welcome Dinner (D) Overnight Kathmandu.

Day 2. Tuesday, August 26. Kathmandu: Bodhnath, Pashupatinath, Patan, Bungmati (B) Overnight Kathmandu.

Day 3. Wednesday, August 27. Kathmandu: Meditation Caves (B) Overnight Kathmandu.

Day 4. Thursday, August 28. To Medieval Temple City of Bhaktapur/ To Dhulikhel (B/L/D) Overnight Dhulikhel.

Day 5. Friday, August 29. To Lhasa: Barkhor Market (B/D) Overnight Lhasa.

Day 6. Saturday, August 30. Lhasa: Sacred Mysteries of Tibet Lecture with Mark Pinkham / Jokhang and Barkor Temple Circle(B/D) Overnight Lhasa.

Day 7. Sunday, August 31. Lhasa: Potala Palace and Drepung Monastery (B/D) Overnight Lhasa.

Day 8. Monday, September 1. Lhasa: Drak Yerpa Meditation Caves (B/D) Overnight Lhasa.

Day 9. Tuesday, September 2. To Gyantse: Yamdrok Tso, Khumbum Stupa (B/D) Overnight Gyantse.

Day 10. Wednesday, September 3. To Shigatse: Tashi Lunpo Monastery (B/D) Overnight Shigatse.

Day 11. Thursday, September 4. To Lhasa. Free Time (B) Overnight Lhasa.

Day 12. Friday, September 5. Free Day in Lhasa; Farewell Dinner (B/D) Overnight Lhasa.

Day 13. Saturday, September 6. Return to Nepal; Depart Nepal (B)

More details are available at the Body Mind Spirit Travel website, or call Andrea Mikana-Pinkham at 800 231-9811 or 928 284-2384. Her email address is: BMSJourneys@aol.com.

The small handprints on the rock seemed to be reaching out to me. More than a dozen Ang-Gnarra boys had put their hands on the sandstone wall, sprayed mouthfuls of red ochre over their outstretched fingers and left behind their signatures in the form of hand silhouettes, and they did it some time between 12,000 and 30,000 years ago. I was near the town of Laura in the Cape York peninsula of Queensland, Australia, hiking among the world’s oldest Aboriginal rock paintings.

The petroglyphs were unknown to white Australians until the 1950s when an air ambulance pilot, Percy Trezise, spotted them. Percy was a renowned artist, who illustrated a series of children’s books about Aboriginal mythology. He also owned Jowalbinna Bush Camp, where many of the galleries of rock art are located. Percy passed away in 2005. I was fortunate to visit Jowalbinna in June, 2000 and will treasure the short time I was able to spend with Percy.

June is the first month of winter down under, and it is the most pleasant season for travel to tropical north Queensland.

“This was a boys’ initiation site,” our guide said, “and the paintings under this rock illustrate some of the Ang-Gnarra’s most sacred, secret ceremonies.” Allan, who was explaining the rock art to us, had to lie down on his back to point with his walking stick at the stylized human images, and we crouched low to see them. There was grotesque monster, a voluptuous female figure, and a man with a missing front tooth. Allan explained that these pictures told the story about circumcision rites. After an adolescent boy was circumcised, he had to live in isolation, not speaking to anyone nor touching anyone else’s possessions, until his scar healed. Afterwards, he would be taken away by an older woman and taught about sexual intercourse. The rock picture of the monster showed the kind of horrible creature the boy would become if he violated sexual taboos.

The next step in the Ang-Gnarra initiation process was to have one of his front teeth knocked out. This is because they believed in life after death, as most Australian Aborigines still do. When someone dies and is buried, their spirit rises up three days later and flies to the entrance of Woolunda (Heaven.) The door is guarded by a spirit, whose real name is so sacred it must never be said out loud, so they refer to him as “Big Boss” or “Big Uncle.” When Big Uncle confronts you, he tells you a story that’s so funny you can’t keep from laughing. And, of course, as soon as you start to smile, Big Uncle sees whether or not you’ve had a front tooth knocked out. If you haven’t endured the tooth avulsion ceremony, then you can’t get into Woolunda.

At another rock art gallery we saw a spirit believed to be Big Uncle. He was a very tall, thin figure, painted with a white outline, in-filled in red. His long arms and fingers were outstretched, and his eyes bulged white. There were several layers painted one upon the other, so it was difficult to tell whether Big Uncle was supposed to have an enormous penis, or whether a garfish or crocodile painting had simply been superimposed between his legs. Allan quoted what Tommy George, the head Ranger for the Ang-Gnarra Aboriginal Corporation, said about the painting: “He’s the big boss for all people - white man too!”

The rock paintings are created during magic ceremonies. It is not the paintings themselves that have magic powers, but rather the magic powers are invoked while the pictures were being painted. This is why many of the images in the paintings are overlapped.

The area near Jowalbinna is the only place on Earth with rock pictures of Quinkans - supernatural spirits so powerful that some Aborigines even refuse to pronounce their name. Quinkans are said to lurk in caves and only come out at night. The first Quinkan we saw didn’t look very menacing, though. She was a rock painting of a female whose arms were raised above her head and her knees were bent, as if she were jumping up and down. “She’s an Imjim Quinkan, sometimes called Anurras,” Allan told us. “They’re short and fat, and bounce around at night like kangaroos.” According to Tommy George, “they can bounce half a mile in one hop.” Other varieties of Quinkans are tall, skinny Timaras, who protect children, and the nasty Turramulli, a no-necked giant.

We were told crystals are used for protection against Quinkans, and that crystals had been found in the periphery of ancient Ang-Gnarra camping sites.

The graphic at the top of this website is a picture of an ancient Ang-Gnarra rock painting I took during my stay at Jowalbinna. As of June 2008, the camp is now operating as Jowalbinna Rock Art Safari Camp, located near the town of Laura, Queensland. Its cabins, camping, café and rock art tours being operated by Wilderness Challenge. For more information visit www.jowalbinna.com.au

Robert Scheer is a freelance writer who specializes in spiritual travel to sacred places.

“A pilgrimage is founded on reason or purpose for wanting to connect with something magnificent that will alter the course of your life.” Shaman Maria said. “We leave our cares and concerns of everyday life and travel to places of power where the energy of creation seeps into our world and where we can affect changes in our global consciousness, which is desperately needed in our world today.”

According to Shaman Maria, pilgrimages are growing in popularity in response to changes in the world’s climate, economies and politics. With stability and security being increasingly threatened, she believes the masses are yearning for something on which they may anchor their faith, trust and hope. Pilgrimages to sacred places allow people to focus on spiritual instead of material things.

The difference between a pilgrimage and an ordinary tour is that a pilgrimage is conscious journey in which the pilgrim learns to accept the natural terms of the universe. A pilgrim must be open and flexible, willing to change their lives and discover their purpose for being.

“The experience can be incredibly life transforming and you must be aware that unexpected change will occur,” Shaman Maria said.

The pilgrimage tours she leads blend traditional Shamanic and spiritual experiences, including ceremony and ritual in the natural landscape. She combines traditional Inkan, Q’ero, Native American Sacred Pipe and Cabana de Sudor (sweat lodge) and Goddess & Lords ceremonies, set in the natural beauty and of the Andes.

Maria’s website is www.PachamamaOneWorld.com. For more on Shaman Maria email Maria_Gurule@comcast.net.

The Four Corners area of the USA (where Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah meet) is rich with ancient cliff-dwellings, rock art, dramatic canyon vistas and native spirits. You can experience all these features in one place if you stop at Canyon de Chelly (pronounced d’SHAY) National Monument, near Chinle, Arizona.

The canyon is in the Navajo Nation, and the Diné people (as the Navajo call themselves) carefully control access. You can drive along the canyon rim and stop at eleven different outlook points, but visitors are only allowed down into the canyon if they’re accompanied by a Navajo guide - except for one place: the 2-1/2 mile trail to White House Ruin is open to the public. It’s about a two hour round-trip hike to the 12th century cliff-dwelling, wedged into a crevice in a 1000 foot cliff.

Perhaps the most spiritual place in the canyon is Spider Rock, and there’s an excellent view from an overlook at the end of the 16-mile South Rim Drive. Jutting 800 feet from the canyon floor, the red sandstone pillar is the legendary home of Holy Spider Woman, who taught the Navajo how to weave. It is said that Spider Woman takes naughty boys and girls to the top of the spire, and that the white specks you can see at the top of the rock are the bleached bones of children who did not obey their parents.

Local Native guides are readily available at the Visitors Center, and they’ll lead you on canyon hikes, horseback or four-wheel drive vehicle tours. We enjoyed a half-day group tour in an open-air, six-wheel drive vehicle from nearby Thunderbird Lodge. We splashed through the water at the bottom of the canyons and made numerous stops to see and learn about rock art, ruins, and Navajo farms.

At Antelope House Ruin there is a left-pointing swastika, painted on the sandstone above the pueblo houses. Hundreds of years before the Nazis corrupted this ancient symbol, it represented the Wheel of Life. On a high ledge to the left of the cliff dwellings is a stunning display of pictograph paintings: human images, a rainbow, concentric circles, zig-zag lines and the herd of antelope that gives the area its name. About a dozen local artists were selling their creations here, and I enjoyed chatting with Maxine, who displayed a beautiful variety of necklaces, earrings and fetish pendants. Other artists sold beadwork, carved kachina dolls, pottery and exquisitely woven Navajo rugs, displayed on blankets spread on flat sandstone rocks, shaded by a row of cottonwood trees.

It’s a pleasant, two-hour drive northwest from Canyon de Chelly to Navajo National Monument, the location of two of the most spectacular Native cliff dwellings in Arizona, but getting to the ruins from the parking lot is a major commitment. Keet Seel Ruin is only accessible by a primitive trail that requires an arduous, day-long trek. Less strenuous, although still rough going, is the five to six-hour round trip hike to Betatakin Ruin. We contented ourselves with a view of Betatakin from the opposite edge of the canyon, an easy ten or fifteen-minute stroll to a viewing platform.

Immediately behind the visitors center is a Navajo sweatlodge, a tiny mud-covered, dome-shaped hogan, fashioned around a framework of logs. Beyond it, a paved pathway meanders across the desert landscape. You walk past scrubby sage bushes and old, twisted juniper trees, and it’s not uncommon to see hawks or turkey vultures soaring overhead. At the overlook, my partner and I were startled by a sudden whoosh as two ravens swooped in front of our faces. We could clearly hear the whistle of wind on their wings as they passed within inches of us, at the canyon’s edge. The 135-room Betatakin village, built in an alcove with a 450′ high arched ceiling, was just barely visible. You’ll need binoculars to make out any details, as the pueblo walls were constructed from the same mocha-colored sandstone as the cliff in which they are sheltered.

It was a sunny Sunday afternoon in early April, and we were lucky to have the place all to ourselves. There was no traffic noise - the main highway is ten miles away - and the silence was profound. Maybe there are powerful spirits living in the canyon, or maybe we were simply able to attune ourselves to the natural energy, but - whatever the reason - it felt very sacred. The Navajo have a phrase, “walk in beauty”, which means to be in harmony with nature. Betatakin and Canyon de Chelly are two of those rare places where you can escape from the 21st century and understand what it feels like to walk in beauty, if only for a few moments.

Robert Scheer is a freelance writer who specializes in spiritual travel to sacred places.

Maybe it’s the Grimm brothers’ fault, or perhaps Shakespeare should share the blame, but fairies - like witches - have an image problem. Just as many people falsely associate witchcraft with evil and ugliness, many of us assume fairies aren’t real. I confess I was a bit doubtful about the little people until my eyes and mind were opened by several good books.

Fairies are one of more than a dozen varieties of elemental beings who are usually invisible to most humans. Peter Tompkins, author of The Secret Life of Plants, details the differences between gnomes, brownies, elves, nymphs, dryads, sprites, leprechauns, devas, nature spirits, angels, cherubim, seraphim and other hidden beings in his book The Secret Life of Nature. Tompkins shows that today’s quantum physicists are only beginning to comprehend the realities of other dimensions that were discovered and written about by theosophists Annie Besant and Charles Leadbeater in 1895.

Pick up any book about the amazing accomplishments of the Findhorn community and you’ll read that plant devas played an important role in growing luxuriant gardens in some of Scotland’s coldest and most infertile soil.

Tanis Helliwell, M.Ed., is a consultant to corporations, universities and governments, including the Alberta Medical Association, IBM and the World Business Academy. She is also the author of Summer with the Leprechauns a true story about her encounter with a leprechaun in a rented cottage on Achill Island on the west coast of Ireland. Helliwell offers ten guidelines for humans who want to make contact with elemental beings. These include “Go to healthy places in nature as often as possible. Walk in forests, along the seashore, lie in a meadow, listen to birds, sit by a brook. Enter into the right vibration of the Earth and listen to what she wants. Humans will purify their vibrations if they do these things.”

In Power Trips magazine, Helliwell wrote about meeting small beings known as “Children of the Mist” in Abel Tasman Park on the South Island of New Zealand. They stood about two and a half feet tall and demonstrated their powers by manifesting a dramatic array of forest mushrooms for a group of attendees to a Festival of Sharing conference.

Related to New Zealand’s elementals are tiny folk who Helliwell met on the other side of the Pacific in British Columbia. In the old growth forests of Haida Gwaii island, she spoke with a group of creatures ranging in height from eight inches to about two feet. One of them told her that many races of elemental beings have died out because humans have lost belief in them. They are also unhappy that logging is destroying too many forests.

Even more colorful elemental beings are said to live in Japan. The Tengu are fierce, goblin-like creatures with long noses, red faces, wings and sharp claws, who dwell in forests on sacred mountains, including Kurama near Kyoto. Japanese legends tell of Tengu stealing children from their homes at night and taking them on tours of the countryside. The children are returned unharmed, but some have been given psychic abilities. One traveler said he encountered a group of Tengu on a mountain top south of Kyoto near Nara. They captured him, tied a rope around his waist and dangled him over a cliff until he promised to love, respect and protect Mother Earth.

Anthropologist and photographer Martin Gray has probably spent more time on pilgrimages and has visited more sacred sites than anyone on Earth. In Places of Peace and Power (available from sacredsites.com) he describes experiencing nature spirits known as Kami at the ancient Shinto shrine of Izumo Taisha on Honshu island. Late every autumn after the leaves have fallen, Shinto myths say, Kami spirits leave their homes and gather for a festival at the shrine. Gray attended this festival in 1985, and found himself among thousands of pilgrims waiting on the seashore for the Kami to arrive. The crowd, including priests in white robes, waited for hours in the darkness, illuminated by bonfires on the sand. Suddenly, Gray says, “Everyone could feel it coming. Almost explosively a presence came in from the sea, swept over the beach and surged into the crowd. The feeling, the power, the vibration was undeniable. The Kami had come.”

Have you noticed a common denominator? All these encounters with elemental beings took place in forests on islands. Nature spirits seem to prefer living away from cities and surrounded by trees and water. In my opinion, that shows how intelligent these creatures really are.

If you’ve had any experiences with fairies or other elemental beings, I hope you’ll share your story with me. And as soon as I see one in person, you can be sure I’ll let you know.

Robert Scheer is a travel writer who is especially interested in pilgrimage destinations, sacred sites and ancient places of power.

In Brittany, in the northwest of France, are more than 30 prehistoric sites and over 3,000 ancient standing stones. They are located near the city of Carnac and are believed to be sacred places devoted to the Great Goddess.

Many scholars agree that our ancestors worshipped the Great Goddess during the Neolithic Age, when grand temples such as Avebury and Stonehenge were built. The shift toward a male deity didn’t begin to take hold in Europe until around 4500 bce. In the tumulus of Gavrinis in Morbihan, France it is very likely that Goddess worship continued through at least 2500 bce. Although most guidebooks refer to Gavrinis as a tomb, barrow or passage-grave, experts including Marija Gimbutas and Dr. Terence Meaden say Gavrinis was designed not as a burial chamber but a site for sacred rituals.

Gavrinis is situated on an island in the Gulf of Morbihan in South Brittany, near Carnac. Once a peninsula, the island is now accessible by a 15-minute boat ride from Larmor-Baden. The massive Gavrinis tumulus is 20-feet high and 165-feet in circumference, with 29 upright stones lining an underground passageway that ends at a large chamber capped with a huge slab measuring 13-feet square. Gavrinis is one of the richest megalithic monuments in Europe because of its excellent stone murals. Carved into the black rocks is a lavish array of engraved patterns: waves, suns, chevrons, trees, lozenges, coils and concentric arcs. In The Civilization of the Goddess, UCLA archaeology professor Marija Gimbutas describes the concentric arc as the “vulva sign”, emblematic of the powers of the Goddess. The engravings of multiple wavy lines “seem to say that the generative force of the Goddess is inexhaustible, rising and flowing like waves,” Gimbutas said.

The eminent scholar Dr. Walter Y. Evans-Wentz noticed that there are two very prominent stone sills on the floor of the narrow passage leading toward the inner chamber. He identified the sills as - literally - stumbling blocks, used in initiation ceremonies in which neophytes must travel a symbolic journey across obstacles before reaching the inner chamber. Cut into the rock in one of the chambers are three strange holes that almost look like a prehistoric wine rack. Dr. Evans-Wentz observed that the outside edges of these holes have been worn smooth, as if they were used for on-going ceremonial purposes for hundreds of years - the chamber was not simply sealed up as a tomb. There are remarkable similarities between Gavrinis and the Neolithic Irish passage-tomb of Newgrange in the Boyne valley, County Meath. They both feature ornate geometric stone carvings and are aligned to face southeast, so the rays of the rising sun only enter the chamber during the Winter Solstice - the time when the sun dies and is born again.

Gavrinis is open from 10 am to Noon and 2 to 6 pm June through September, but only 2 to 6 pm in the spring and autumn. Adult admission is 56 Francs (about US$8.50 or CDN$12.40.) Reservations are strongly recommended in the summer. Phone: 02.97.54.62.97.

It is said that, if you can only visit one prehistoric site in Brittany, Gavrinis is the one to choose, but there are several other “must-see” sacred places close by. A staggering number of ancient stones can be found scattered across the moors and fields in a 15-mile stretch along the south coast of Brittany, with the resort city of Carnac in the center. A short distance north of Carnac are three sets of rows of standing stones, known as alignments. Two of these groupings, Ménec and Kermario have been fenced off, but you can still wander among the 579 menhirs (vertical standing stones) in the Kerlescan alignment. Ménec has 1,099 menhirs arranged in 12 rows, each over a quarter of a mile long, and with a cromlech (a circle or semicircle of menhirs) at each end. At Kermario, with 999 stones, there is a viewing platform at the west end.

When the Romans invaded Gaul they carved images of their deities on some of the stones. Centuries later, Christian crosses were added to the ancient site. Today, visitors to Carnac can still feel magical power in the mysterious stones. Although the original purpose of these megaliths has been lost in time, local traditions associate them with the moon and the seasons. Bonfires were lit nearby on Midsummer Eve, and sheep and cattle were herded among the stones for protection and to ensure fertility. Even today it is said that couples who are cannot have children are advised to dance among the stones.

If you should be fortunate enough to find yourself in South Brittany, wandering through lines of menhirs or marveling at the beautiful carved stones of Gavrinis, I hope you will take a moment to honor the Goddess. She remains alive today, identified as Mother Nature and Mother Earth. Her spirit is the endless cycle of birth, death and renewal, and she is a force as eternal as the changing seasons.

This article about goddess sites in Brittany is one I wrote about eight years ago, in 2000. Although I doubt whether the places mentioned in it have changed, but access and contact details such as hours of operation, entrance fees and phone numbers may no longer be current.

Robert Scheer is a travel writer who appreciates pilgrimage sites, sacred places and areas associated with Earth mysteries.

It’s risky to write about little known sacred places. I worry about bringing them to the attention of people who don’t respect Mother Earth. Hordes of careless tourists have nearly loved Stonehenge to death, and I’d hate to see that happen to other sites. Already, the mystical atmosphere of two places near Sedona, Arizona is at risk from commercialization, as is Newgrange in Ireland. A few years ago there was a proposal for a cable car and luxury hotel development at Machu Picchu that, if it had not been stopped, could have transformed Peru’s greatest Inca sanctuary into an exclusive playground for the wealthy.

It’s not a new phenomenon. During the Middle Ages, pilgrims to Jerusalem had to be warned against “chipping off fragments from the Holy Sepulchers.” Today’s vandals include not only hooligans who paint graffiti, climb over barriers and jump on top of fragile megaliths, but also well-meaning souls who bury foreign crystals, hoping to “heal the Earth” or light candles, not realizing that soot and wax are as harmful as spray paint.

I share the following information in hope that visitors to this pilgrimage web site can be trusted to honor and respect Mother Earth’s most precious treasures.

My closely guarded secret place is Pisac, in Peru’s Sacred Valley. It’s hard to get to and the meager infrastructure can barely cope with the handful of tourists who now find there way there. But for me it was the most moving of all the sites I visited in Peru, including Machu Picchu.

The village of Pisac (or Pisaq) is about 20 miles northeast of Cusco, and the bus trip takes less than an hour. Markets are held in Pisac’s main square on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, and those are the days when you’re most likely to encounter other tourists at the Inca citadel high above the village. There are two routes up. One is on a rough, steep, narrow path, that takes about half an hour. The other is even steeper, rougher, longer and more scenic. As you hike up the grassy trail you may see a Andean hawks or condors soaring overhead. Looking across a steep gorge, you can see distant hillsides honeycombed with ancient Inca burial sites. Eventually, you arrive at a trapezoid shaped arch whose massive stones were precisely cut and fitted together without mortar. Once only priests and the Inca royal family were allowed through this magnificent portal. Before going in, we paused for a moment, respectful of the sacred space we were entering.

The narrow path continues with dramatic views down to the Urubamba river. After you pass through a small tunnel, the main temple area appears in the distance, a triangular, terraced plateau surrounded by even higher mountains. Beyond the complex of roofless stone buildings, an outcropping of bedrock is carved into an Intihuatana, a “hitching post of the sun.” Pisac is much like a miniature Machu Picchu. As I sat near an ancient stone wall, in the clear air of the Sacred Valley, I began to understand why such an elaborate citadel had been built here. The Inca name for a mountain spirit is Apu, and at Pisac I felt the power of the Apus. No matter which direction I faced, each of the surrounding mountains seemed to be beaming its energy down toward the Intihuatana as if it were a satellite dish. Perhaps that’s what it is, a kind of mystical link between the terrestrial and celestial forces, built more than five centuries ago. Whatever its purpose, in Pisac’s highly charged atmosphere I felt as if I were nestled in the palm of an enormous hand which could easily crush me, but chose instead to nourish, inspire and love me!

If you make a pilgrimage to Pisac or any other sacred place, if you should feel moved to give thanks in a tangible way, please heed the advice of Britain’s Save Our Sacred Sites organization. They suggest honoring ancient sites by picking up litter. If you must leave something behind, let it be a prayer of thanks.

Robert Scheer is travel writer who specializes in pilgrimages to sacred sites and places of power.