Abbey of San Michel, Turin

I flew down the flights of stairs of the apartment building to be greeted in the carpark with a carload of 4 others. We were off on a tour of Turin together. I squeezed into the back seat and clicked the seat belt shut with glee. The last three days had been fun-filled and over-flowing with fabulous sights. Today promised the same.

We drove through beautiful countryside. The road was narrow and windy. Apparently, the road is designated one way on Sundays. We drove past a picturesque lake, saw hunters preparing for their excursions into the woods, and marvelled at the grandeur of the mountains.

The air was heavy with low hanging cloud, which made a very mystical atmosphere to this ancient abbey perched high on the hill.

We parked the car and climbed up to the abbey on foot. The bare trees held a wonderful air of beauty. The red leaves provided a perfect natural carpet.

We were very high, and as you can see, Turin was far, far below.

 As we approached the abbey I could sense that this was a very special spiritual place. Look at the beautiful texture in the rocks. The abbey was integral with the landscape.

The guardian was a smooth sculpture of an angel.

Can you see how high up we were?  The countryside below showed minuscule houses.

The high-precision ancient pieces of art introduced me to a whole new world of artistic expression.

The paintings are over-loaded with symbols and metaphors, reflecting a very patriarchal religious belief system.

  I took a photo of this map to show you how this abbey is part of a system of abbeys that are situated geographically in a straight line. It then dawned on me the significance of this beautiful place. I was on a ley line;  a piece of the invisible magnetic grid of the Earth. It is something that I had read about and wanted to experience. Now, with a strong spiritual influence, I found myself exactly where I had always wanted to be. Amongst the thousands and thousands of years of spiritual pilgrims who had been part of the honouring of the Divine force that permeates our world.

It was humbling to say the least, as I sat on a pew, and had a quiet word with the all omnipresent Infinite Spirit. I was a bit over come with emotion as I sat amongst past kings and saints.

How cool is this picture of the unfurling fern. This is an ever-present image around NZ. It represents everything spiritual with a Fibbonacci mathematical formula. The spiral, a wonderful symbol of Infinity.  Infintiy is a concept that I constantly strive to comprehend.

Perched on a lookout, I tried not to feel the distressing vertigo that plagues me throughout my adventures. I'm sure you'll agree, we were pretty high up.

 G shared a funny story with me about the abbey. There was a maiden who was being chased by men who wanted to rape her. Fleeing her enemies, she jumped off into the air. She claimed that she was saved by an angel. Nobody believed her. So she jumped off again. This time she wasn't saved.

I asked S to pose in the trees for me. She was to act like a wood nymph as that is what her name means.
 She is a very, very sweet person.