Wednesday, April 29, 1998...........Panama City, Panama
I will conclude this section of my Latin American Pilgrimage Journal as I begin two other chapters of experience. Today is my 44th birthday and a new year is ahead of me. Additionally, the Central American portion of my pilgrimage is completed and I will depart for South America within a few days.
I received a most wonderful birthday gift today. The giving of this gift illustrates the sort of magic that often manifests during my pilgrimage journeys. The magic began a few months ago when I received an email from a Panamanian man, Hans Hammerschlag. Hans had discovered my web site, www.sacredsites.com, and had written of his own interest in pilgrimage, holy places, and ancient mysteries. He also offered to assist me with any travel or business matters when I arrived in Panama. Since I knew that I would be shipping my van to South America from Panama, I asked if he could help with this matter. There were many freight companies that needed to be called and it would be prudent to initiate the process well before I actually arrived in Panama. Hans responded that he would gladly take the responsibility to make the calls and then assist me once I was ready to put the van on a freighter.
Two months passed as I traveled towards Panama and we exchanged further emails regarding shipping companies and costs. Upon my arrival in Panama City we met for lunch and spent the whole day talking about mysticism, philosophy, and alchemy (of which he is extraordinarily knowledgeable). Over the next few days he gave me tours of Panama City, assisted with other business needs, and accompanied me to the office of the shipping company to make sure that all the paperwork was filled out correctly. I was humbled by his assistance. When I expressed my appreciation he responded that it was "an honor to be able to do such a small service in support of the work I was doing." Additionally, he said, "Since I have a wife, children, and a demanding job, I am not able to study and travel to hundreds of sacred sites around the world. But, because I feel that the quality of information and photography that you bring to people is so valuable, I believe it is important to support you in your work. By helping you, I am making a pilgrimage myself." And then, he greatly surprised me with a birthday gift of $500 to help with the expenses of my journey.
In honor of what life and friends have given to me in support of my studies and pilgrimage, I have a small gift to give in return. This gift is in the form of written words and the paintings I make with cameras and film. Accompanying this new installment of journal writings being placed on my web site, I have decided to also include the three textual chapters and nearly sixty additional photographs from my Places of Peace and Power book. It certainly gives me happiness to share these latest journal writings. Yet it gives me much greater joy to share the chapters from my book. For, while I had planned to add the on-going writings from my Latin American pilgrimage, I had not planned to include the full text of Places of Peace and Power.
I had been influenced in this decision - of not including my full book on the web site - by a number of people. They had told me that prospective publishers would be less likely to give me a publishing contract for the book if I had already given the information and photographs away for free on the Internet. I had been advised that publishers would only put up the money to print the book if all its information and photographs were to be in print for the first time. For nearly a year I have been swayed by this thinking. And during the whole time I felt uncomfortable. I was always wanting to make the information freely available NOW, to as many people as possible. It seemed wrong to keep the information to myself just because it might please the profit-minded directors of some hypothetical publisher that might one day print my book. The spirits of the sacred places have graced me with wonderful gifts of knowledge and have asked that I share these gifts with any fellow humans who might enjoy and benefit from such knowing. Therefore, I have a feeling of quite sublime joy as I prepare to send off a full computer disc to M. S. Leo, the friend who is helping me with my web site. On this new disc are the complete versions of the three textual chapters of the Places of Peace and Power book. These writings give a thorough introduction to my subject matter and book’s focus; they tell the detailed story of my world-wide journey to the sacred sites; and they present a comprehensive discussion of the powers and spirits of the sacred sites. I hope that many people are able to read these words. Sharing these words and photographs is my way of saying Thank You to the spirits of my dear and precious Earth, and Thank You for friends like Hans who continue to help me on my pilgrims journey.