THE POWER OF PICO
“I finally stepped out of the field of the Azores”, Ton said this morning, after his first quiet night since we left the islands. Over the past few days he has been coughing his lungs out, so intensively that it…
“I finally stepped out of the field of the Azores”, Ton said this morning, after his first quiet night since we left the islands. Over the past few days he has been coughing his lungs out, so intensively that it…

About sacred sites and the healing of the wounded masculine SACRED SITESSometimes it takes years to discover or understand a sacred site. In the Cathar area it took me more than ten years to understand that the real powerplace wasn’t…

Waking up in Tomar, the day after our arrival from the Azores, I feel down.“Oh my god, you too?” Ton groans, turning to me. His eyes peek above the sheet and they don’t look cheerful. “I had a weird dream,” I…
There are videos that hit like a bomb. Not only because they carry a compelling message. But also because of the way they coincide with our own works and dreams. We often feel compelled to do certain things or travel…
“It will be a joyful chaos“, the goddess Cale told me, the day our group gathered in Hotel Dos Templarios in Tomar. “But that’s the way I work,” she went on with a wink. Since I started travelling through Portugal, this…
During our three-year journey into the unknown, I was hardly prompted to seek external information. You would think that such a trip would give a huge space of free time, time to read and do all sorts of fun things…
Researching the ancient Celtic roots of Europe As we sit in the Igreja Matriz in the town of Mertola, we muse over the word Matriz. The word refers to Mary, the Mother, but it also has other meanings: womb, uterus,…
by Ton van der Kroon, travellog Sinai, october 2023 Two weeks after the world woke up in shock and horror on 7 October, Anne and I are travelling towards the Sinai desert. ‘Is it wise to go?” we ask ourselves.…
As I sit in the garden of the Templar castle in Tomar, I am suddenly reminded of our visit to the garden of the Orval monastery a few weeks ago, when we completed our five-day retreat with our group around…

“You look like Gandalf,” a woman calls out as I walk out of the gate at Les Contes with walking stick and backpack. I’m going out into the mountains alone for two days. I am wearing gray pants and a…