Late this June I was invited to the Big Hole area of Montana to be part of the ceremonial opening of The Sacred Door Trail. This trail was conceived and created by Weston Pew, a Montana native, with a lot of vision. After hiking the Camino de Santiago himself, and then further exploring ideas of pilgrimage, spirituality, and healing; Weston decided to connect several existing trails and create the first interfaith, American based, pilgrimage route. The trail covers approximately 175 miles of remote wilderness and generally takes about a month to hike.
For the opening, a group of about seventy-five gathered to light and tend a sacred fire that burned for three days and nights. While the fire was burning, the group was involved in ceremonies led by different spiritual leaders from around the world. Among the vast variety of faiths and ideologies represented, we were especially grateful to engage in Sufi dances, Buddhist and Christian prayers, Hindu Pujas, Kundalini yoga practices, sound healing ceremonies led by Peruvian shamans, and even the chance to smoke a nineteenth generation peace pipe with Chief Looking Horse, bundle keeper for the entire Sioux nation.
The event was held at the western most portal of the trail, in an enormous meadow, at Hogan cabin (this cabin gets my vote for the world’s cutest cabin). Surrounded by pine trees, filled with thousands of purple and blue flowers, flooded with starlight and a waxing moon, I could have not asked for a more beautiful place to make images. Due to the fact that we were all camping, it was really easy to grab my camera, walk a short distance away and find a terrific shooting location. These images were shot over three nights and I am very happy with how they turned out.
As a final note, I just wanted to say that getting to experience this ceremony, the new friends I made during the process, and where it has led me over the course of my summer is already having profound effects on my spiritual growth as well as pointing me in the direction of a future I could not have previously imagined. For that, I thank Weston Pew for inviting me, and every one who came, participated, and made it a very special event.
