Confessions of a Pilgrim

In the introduction to the book, the reader finds out about what has happened in Sue Kenney’s world since the release of her first book. She brings the reader up to speed as she recounts and reflects on the experiences of her first pilgrimage.

We learn that Sue’s daughters have left home. She then leaves Toronto herself, the place where she has lived all her life. She moves to a country cottage on a lake in Northern Ontario. It is there where she begins to integrate the profound experiences of the Camino into her life back home.

We learn more about what happened to the long distance love affair with the German pilgrim Andreas whom she met on the path, and about her new life as a writer. Around the same time as she finishes the final draft of the manuscript for this book, Sue feels a special calling to return to the Camino.

Pilgrims of the past walked to Santiago and then turned around to walk back home again. Modern day pilgrims, including Sue, generally only walked in one direction and then took a train, car or plane back home. This time she decided that she would follow the Galician coast from Portugal into Spain and walk almost 500 kilometers covering both directions of that whole Camino path.

Just weeks prior to leaving for this pilgrimage, she received an email from a native woman. This woman had a dream that involved Sue and she insisted they meet before leaving for the Camino. They did meet, and the Native woman told Sue that in her dream, she was to give Sue an Eagle Feather; one of the greatest honors of the First Nations people. She instructed Sue to give the Eagle Feather to someone on her journey. Sue was given a list of very strict rules and procedures as to how she would select the person to receive the spiritual talisman.

Although honored by this gift and intrigued by the mystery of this Native spiritual quest, Sue was concerned that her simple walking journey had suddenly become more complicated by this unexpected responsibility. She was hoping to walk to connect with nature and clear her mind after writing her book. It seemed however, that the Camino other plans for Sue.

Fraught with problems, Sue’s journey initially unfolds with a series of catastrophic events that would send any normal person running back home.  We see her confidence weakening in the throes of becoming a humble solo Camino pilgrim, on the road to Santiago once again. All she is left with is the Eagle Feather tucked in a pouch around her waist.

On her journey, she meets a group of young student pilgrims walking together and relates the story of the Sorrow Stones, a centerpiece in her first book. One of the students, a teenager, connects with her emotionally when he imparts the recent death of his mother during the Madrid train bombings, just a few weeks previous. This gives Sue a sense of hope that she is on the right path.

Throughout the journey, she is presented with a series of potential recipients for the coveted Eagle Feather. She meets a pair of British pilgrims who teach her a Tai-Chi method of walking to relieve the feeling of weight on her back. She encounters a Benedictine Monk and meets a wise Australian woman who has been traveling the world for over two years. One day she stops to speak to an American pilgrim and finds out he is on a race to walk the Camino, based on a bet he made with the man who stole his wife away from him.

In most cases Sue stops short of actually telling the people she meets that she is considering them as possible choices for the Eagle Feather. Through their reactions and responses she notices that most people find reasons or excuses for why they shouldn’t receive the Eagle Feather. By doing so, they self-select their own destiny.

Finally arriving in Portugal, Sue is discouraged and disappointed. She has walked for 18 days and is still unsuccessful in selecting someone to receive the Eagle Feather. She is resigned to the fact she might have to take it home with her. She goes on a plane from Vigo to Madrid and then on to Frankfurt, where she will meet Andreas, her pilgrim love she met on the first Camino experience. They travel to the Rhineland and quickly begin to fall in love. Sue resists the temptation of a romantic relationship with him and even so, the weekend ends on a happy note.

In a dusty blissful moment, Sue realizes what she must do with the Eagle Feather.

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