Interviewed by Thea Prothero

This is my fourth in a series of interviews with people who either featured in my book or were inspired by my book, A Guide to Pilgrimage, published last year in the Pagan Portals series.  These interviews are a way of digging deeper into the various aspects of pilgrimage and a way of highlighting what it means to different people.

The idea is to inspire you, dear reader, to consider pilgrimage as an act of devotion, or a way of connecting to the world around you, now or in the future.

This month, I caught up with author Imelda Almqvist, who has published no less than 4 books about indigenous spirituality and shamanism with Moon Books, including the wonderful North Sea Water in My Veins which examines the pre-christian spirituality of the Netherlands. Imelda is an artist and runs courses and workshops in shamanic and Seidr practice all over the world, including her magical summer school in Sweden. Some of her courses run online and offer free workshops. Please check out her website here: https://www.shaman-healer-painter.co.uk/

I asked her how she defines the idea of pilgrimage.

I teach all my sacred art students that Medieval people believed that an entire human life was a pilgrimage, and the final destination was a return to the embrace of (then perceived as male Christian) God. They also believed that any pilgrimage, consciously made on Earth, would serve up a condensed or summarized version of a unique human life: all the key themes and encounters would reappear along the way. The hardships inevitably encountered (during a hard-core Medieval pilgrimage) offered many opportunities for, reflection, atonement and making amends (and not everyone survived their pilgrimage). Therefore a pilgrimage can bring a shift in consciousness and also a form of closure or rapprochement between us and God (as we perceive Divinity, in modern times that could be Goddess, Buddha Mind, the Universe etc.).

When I first started my shamanic practice in (inner city) London, a large number of people (from all possible backgrounds and cultures) came to see me for shamanic healing sessions. I soon discovered that I needed to break the notion of “The healer will heal all my issues in a two hour session”. Healing is really about activating the Inner Healer (or innate power of healing) in people. So, I only offered sessions to people willing to embark on a pilgrimage (as ambitious as their circumstances allowed) and pay close attention to everything that happened along the way. Clients would arrive for their sessions in a state of excitement, where the healing (defined as the process of reaching greater wholeness) was already happening, long before I even met them in person. I would then continue to work with them, but always on the basis of activating their Inner Healer and empowering them (never making them dependent on the practitioner).

When did you yourself last go on a pilgrimage and how did that come about?

I view my entire life as a pilgrimage, but I frequently embark on conscious pilgrimages, large and small. I recently made two significant pilgrimages, within the space of two months. One was deliberate and the other one had a more accidental trajectory.

PILGRIMAGE #1

The first one was a deliberate pilgrimage, to the Arctic. My husband knows that I feel happiest in the Arctic (especially in Greenland!) and he gave me a trip to Northern Sweden and Norway for my birthday (in March). He is Swedish but had never been that far north in his own country.

As someone who was not born in the Arctic, (I am Dutch), I sometimes question my right to feel so wholeheartedly in my element there and to teach courses there. Since I was a child I have felt a deep yearning for the Far North. I have never felt at home in the Netherlands and lived or worked in quite a few other countries since (Sweden, England, Bangladesh, Peru etc.)

This particular trip was “too good to be true” in many ways. The spirits were smiling on us. The aurora borealis literally danced overhead every night (and I became sleep-deprived). The mountain pass between Kiruna (in Sweden) and Narvik (in Norway) had been closed, due to heavy snowfall and inclement weather. It opened the exact moment we landed in Kiruna and closed again at the exact moment our plane took off five days later.

Some local Sámi  people contacted me, invited us for lunch, told us about the realities of reindeer herding and invited me to (eventually) bring groups to Sápmi (the homeland of the Sami people) in the future. Quite a few of my students have expressed a strong desire (over the years) to make a pilgrimage to Sápmi and learn about Sámi traditions and beliefs. Suddenly all the puzzle pieces, which had remained elusive a decade or more, dropped in my lap.

It currently looks like I will return, take other people on pilgrimages to Sápmi and also educate those eager pilgrims about the serious issues that affect the Sámi people in particular (and all the Arctic peoples in general). https://imeldaalmqvist.substack.com/p/meet-a-traditional-sami-healer-and?

I arrived home to an invitation from the University of Copenhagen to teach “indigenous ways of knowing” to their students in Greenland (as part of a larger team of university lecturers). This invitation was inspired by work I had done with my own (art) students in Greenland in 2024.

I always feel homesick for the Arctic but it now feels that the Arctic is actively calling me and offering me legitimate opportunities to make a spiritual contribution there. This is a blessing I had not even dared hope for and a wonderful outcome of a pilgrimage!

PILGRIMAGE #2

The second pilgrimage was more challenging. Our 23-year old (middle) son works in Vietnam as a Teacher of English as a Foreign Language (TEFL). As parents we wanted to check on him and see his new life. So this was meant to be family visit.

On the morning of our departure I woke up to spirit guidance to carry prayers for other people to powerful temples in Vietnam. I quickly sent out a post on my Substack and prayer requests from all over the world rolled in.

What actually happened is that we ended up in the wrong country (China!) due to issues with VISAS and passports. We were detained by customs officers for seven hours but eventually allowed to enter China. Reaching Vietnam took another four days, when we took a flight from Hong Kong to Hanoi.

On that flight, over the South China Sea, I suddenly had a vision of myself being used as a human needle, stitching up rips in a larger weave, and being a Prayer Carrier being a part of that. It felt like all the detours had a meaning and significance (even if I could not comprehend those on a human level).

Once we had recovered a little from the shock, I took all the prayers I had collected to temples in different locations: in Guangzhou in China, one temple and the Hall of the Ancestors in Hong Kong (which operates as city state independent from China), and finally the Temple of Literature and Bach Ma Temple in Hanoi, in Vietnam.

One of my fundamental beliefs is that the Universe is always communicating with us. In Vietnam we encountered constant challenges: two evacuation alarms (and running down 36 flights of emergency stairs, our son lives in a skyscraper), getting locked out of my son’s flat at 11 pm (and being forced to check into a hotel. The next morning it took two Vietnamese locksmiths 45 minutes for break down the door)! I put one leg in taxi and the driver (not paying attention to one more passenger boarding) hit the gas pedal, which could have resulted in serious injuries but thankfully didn’t. The overall feeling was of being told “I was locked out” and that “I needed to run to safety”. This made perfect sense in terms of a tough decision I needed to make in my personal life. Once I got the message and accepted the “NO!” from the Universe, we had some beautiful experiences in Vietnam (such as meeting the local family who has “adopted” our son!)

Where there any particular places in Vietnam that you felt a deep connection to? If so, did you use any techniques to guide you to it/them?

Yes! Ha Long Bay, a place of stunning beauty. Legend tells us that a Mother Dragon once came to the rescue of the Vietnamese people. She remains present and visible in the dramatic mountain peaks rising from the sea. I perceive some as those peaks as her off-spring, baby dragons.

The other place was the Temple of Literature in Hanoi. I could have spent a week there, opening myself to guidance from Confucius and his four great Sages.

How did you record your pilgrimage, did you use a journal or anther format?  Did this record help you after you returned from your pilgrimage journey?

I always “tune in” wherever I am and write notes in my art diary or travel journal. That setting is always switched  to “on”, even when it looks like I am doing something else. I sketch, I write poems, I keep a dream journal, I talk to the spirits of place wherever I am.

 I use a drum when working with students but for myself I don’t need a soundtrack or secluded space. The dialogue with spirit is always going on, in every moment.

How did it feel to return to everyday life after your pilgrimage? Did you find re-integration into regular life, difficult?

At the time of writing, I have been back for a few weeks but parts of my soul are still wandering around the Arctic, China and Vietnam!

How has going on a pilgrimage changed you?

The trip to the Arctic was a welcome and homecoming I had not dared hope for. I am now working closely with Sámi people, sharing indigenous knowledge and their activism on behalf of the people, animal, plants and land of the Arctic. They are also teaching me North Sámi words (I am a compulsive learner of languages). This enriches my life and allows me to “dream large”.

In Vietnam the local people were (half) joking about our son marrying a local woman and raising “Vietnamese grandchildren” there. Our son is, in many ways, on a pilgrimage too and he might just live the rest of his life in the Far East, we don’t know. But, in that case I will be making many more pilgrimages to the Far East!

Will or has any specific element of your pilgrimage be used within your writing practice?

Yes. Earlier this year Moon Books asked me to write a book about Inuit deities and cosmology. Two weeks ago I submitted my (fifth non-fiction) handbook for Rune Magicians (titled Portals, Patterns and Pathways, which will be published in the Spring of 2026) and I have already taken a deep dive into Inuit mythology and  reopened my teaching notes from Greenland.

I very much hope that there will be a similar book about Sámi traditions, deities and cosmology in this same series (Pagan Portals) in the future (but I have not yet raised that idea with our dear Editor In Chief!)

At heart I am a painter as much as a writer, I am currently working on a series of paintings inspired by the Arctic (and my yearning for a little Hag Shack there).

I always spend a month alone in the Forest, here in Sweden, in January, engaged in deep dreaming and running with deer in deep snow. Hibernation is really an inner form of pilgrimage, a fearless retreat into our Inner World: stepping away from the 24/7 demands, noise and expectations of everyday life. Inspired by this I made series of paintings titled The Lost Art of Hibernation – A Story Told in Paintings:https://imeldaalmqvist.substack.com/p/the-lost-art-of-hibernation?

Finally, is there any advice you would like to offer readers considering going on a pilgrimage in the future?

Abandon all ideas of how things “should work out” and be present to What Is, allow yourself be an instrument of Divinity (as you understand it). Pay attention to every small encounter (be it a playing child or a colony of ants) and reflect on any message, teaching or symbolism it represents (or just give it your full attention and enjoy it. Joy is a great way of honouring Divinity or our Creator, however you perceive this force, too!) Play close attention to the land, wherever you are. Listen closely to the Earth: How can you be of service? Is there a task that needs to be performed? (For instance, some my clients have done litter picking on a beach as part of their pilgrimage). Consider carrying prayers for others as a sacred task (only if that resonates with you). For me the carrying of prayers clearly took on a life of its own, in a country (on the other side of the world) I had not even intended to visit… Work with the concept of a pilgrimage being a condensed version or vignette of your unique life and pay attention to all the themes: which themes have been resolved and what needs more attention? Keep a journal and make sketches (even if you are not a professional artist! Even clumsy sketches still create a valuable record!) You can also make music, sound recordings, videos and so forth.

We all have an Inner Healer and we all have an Inner Artist (or creator) as well!

For more details: https://www.collectiveinkbooks.com/moon-books/authors/imelda-almqvist

Thea is a Heathen and a pilgrim. She likes to think of herself as a Nemophilist, which means a ‘haunter of woods’. She spends most of her free time walking in the wildest remotest lands, places that still make the gods tremble, and she loves the challenge of finding connection through nature to the divine. She writes prolifically, read equally, has a passion for learning, taking photos, grow things, and spend time with her family. she works in education and lives in the south of the UK.