The Eel Pilgrimage
Throughout their life cycle, eels swim from the Sargasso Sea to the freshwaters of Europe and North Africa, then back again. Along their journey, they change form over five times.
For this reason, I see eels as teachers of pilgrimage. They have helped me reimagine the practice of pilgrimage to tend to the spiritual imbalance arising from (and contributing to) human degradation of and disconnection from the natural world.
When considered through the lens of the eel, pilgrimage is illuminated as a process of self-transformation via sensitive movement through place and encounter with the Other. Pilgrimage is, in this sense, a practice of getting to know what lives and dies among us. It is an act of ecological re-enchantment and re-story-ation, whereby the pilgrim makes a choice to consider oneself not alone, but in the presence of animals, plants, and other beings who are able to communicate with each other and with us.
The first Eel Pilgrimage path emerged in conversation with the South Drain in the Somerset Levels, along with the beings who make home in this place: fern, starling, fox, orchid, dragonfly, and eel, among many others. I give my thanks to them. May what they have given nourish them in return.
I consider myself a student of eels. Throughout the past three years, I have worked with, observed, and wondered toward eels, recording lessons as I did. They have transformed my world.This year, I worked with the Somerset Eel Recovery Project (SERP) to produce the Eel Pilgrimage: Companion Book. You can read more about SERP’s work and purchase the guidebook on their website.