Energy and transformation in alternative pilgrimages to Catholic shrines: deconstructing the tourist/pilgrim divide

Abstract

In recent years an increasing number of travelers have visited sites considered ‘power places’, with the intention of tapping into their energy and the experiential transformation and healing associated with such sites. This article is based on fieldwork among pilgrims influenced by the international Goddess movement, visiting Catholic shrines in Southern Europe; the analysis reflects an ethnographic perspective on how these pilgrims conceptualize their journeys. Their approach to sacred sites is by no means unique but rather the expression of an engagement both with pilgrimage and tourism, one in which both the notions and experiences of energy and transformation play key roles. I will argue that in the context of these sacred journeys, the use of an energy language to make sense of travel experiences and the emphasis on personal transformation allow the pilgrims to deconstruct oppositions implicitly associated with the tourism/pilgrimage dichotomy [Badone, E. (2004) Crossing boundaries: Exploring the borderlands of ethnography, tourism and pilgrimage. In E. Badone & S. R. Roseman (Eds.), Intersecting journeys: The anthropology of pilgrimage and tourism (pp. 180–189). Urbana: University of Illinois Press].