Spirituality

Paul’s experiences and thoughts on spirituality, particularly Christianity, Islam, theosophy, Spiritism, reincarnation and travel. This category also includes experiences with pilgrimage.

Some Ignatian holy sites in Barcelona

While Loyola, Pamplona, Montserrat and Manresa are the most well known Spanish places in the formation of Ignatius of Loyola,…
Francis of Assisi – The radical follower of Jesus

This meditation on St Francis of Assisi traces his final days—marked by stigmata, near-blindness, and profound inner consolation—to his serene…
Francis of Assisi and the wolf of Gubbio

Reflecting on the beloved legend of Saint Francis and the wolf of Gubbio, this piece weaves together art, history and…
The bells of St Brigid’s Coogee

St Brigid’s bell tower has long defined Coogee’s skyline, yet its bells remain strangely silent—and perhaps even absent. Tracing parish…
Who’s really in charge of the National Gallery of Australia?

While the Roman Catholic world commemorates 800 years since the passing of the most popular saint of all time—Francis of…
What is the most important depiction of St Francis of Assisi?

From Cimabue’s frescoes in Assisi to Arthur Boyd’s tapestries in Canberra and the wolf of Gubbio, this post explores how…
Energising the rosary beads on pilgrimage

Since 2011, Paul McCarthy has carried Brasilian quartz crystal rosaries on pilgrimage to sacred sites across 27 countries — having…
What is a crystal light treatment?

A crystal light treatment offers far more than chakra balancing: it is a transformative encounter with colour, quartz, and the…
Meditation & Healing: A Spiritist Perspective

Paul McCarthy has been a meditator since 1998 and has been facilitating meditation and healing in the Spiritist tradition since…
What is a “sacred travel” consult?

Paul McCarthy offers guidance to advanced souls considering using sacred travel to advance their soul’s growth. This post discusses how…
The Path That Led to iluminar

Paul McCarthy’s life changed direction when he visited Brasil to acquire a crystal light healing apparatus in 2008. He learned…
Novena to St Ignatius of Loyola

This novena to St Ignatius of Loyola offers nine days of guided prayer, from his dramatic conversion and devotion to…
Photographing the unseen

For more than twenty years, Paul McCarthy has been photographing materialisations of spirit at sacred sites across the world —…
When pilgrimage is not an option

Pilgrimage is a calling — not a requirement. For those who cannot travel to the world’s holy places, there are…
Bones and holy dust – relics of the saints

Bones, skin and holy dust — the relics of the saints once drew millions of medieval pilgrims across Europe, and…
I touched the Crown of Thorns

In 2012, I venerated the Crown of Thorns in Notre Dame Cathedral — a relic of the Passion of Jesus…
My Spiritist Meditation Protocol

This practical guide distils a Spiritist approach to meditation into precise steps for posture, prayer, and energetic receptivity. Aimed at…
Crystal light treatments for couples

Combining a crystal light treatment and meditation with a partner is an opportunity to give, receive and actively contribute to…
Some inspiring pilgrims

A carefully curated selection of inspiring and uplifting videos about pilgrimage and sacred travel: The extraordinary 14th century story of…
More inspiring pilgrims

Looking for a more intentional, spiritually rich pilgrimage? This post recommends five deeply loved books on sacred travel—from The Art…
My top ten sacred sites

A suggested list of sacred sites from 17 countries to inspire your travels, including Christian and Muslim holy places and…
Some reading suggestions

Paul McCarthy has written two books about saints that have inspired him (St Ignatius of Loyola and St Francis of…
Reflections on this year’s pilgrimage to Italy

Reflections written from a hotel near Milan airport on the final night of this year’s pilgrimage to Italy — saints…
Annecy, France

A detour from Turin to venerate the relics of St François de Sales and St Jane de Chantal in the…
Chasing Caterina around Siena

A full day following St Catherine of Siena through her city — the duomo, the pilgrim hospital, San Domenico, and…
My first time in Siena

First impressions of Siena — medieval brickwork, a guided tour with the remarkable Anna Piperato, a Eucharistic miracle still unexplained…
Gubbio

A peaceful day in Gubbio — said by some to be second only to Assisi for St Francis — visiting…
Foligno – “where it all began”

A brief but meaningful pilgrimage stop in Foligno — the town where St Francis sold his father’s cloth, setting in…
What can we learn about San Francesco from Perugia

Perugia holds an important place in the story of St Francis — he was imprisoned here, and it changed him…
Final veneration of the relics of St Francis of Assisi … and St Carlo Acutis

A third veneration of the relics of St Francis of Assisi using the guided option — more intimate, more intentional…
On the pilgrim path in Rome

Two days on the pilgrim path in Rome — Trastevere, San Francesco a Ripa, the Station Churches, St Peter’s, the…
Ringing the peace bell in Hiroshima

A visit to Hiroshima’s Peace Park and the Memorial Cathedral for World Peace — 500 metres from the epicentre of…
The lovely town of Yamaguchi

Following St Francis Xavier to Yamaguchi — the quiet city where he preached in the streets, converted Japan’s first Jesuit,…
My pilgrimage to Japan begins in Nagasaki

My Japan pilgrimage begins not where Xavier landed, but in Nagasaki – the Rome of the East, home of the…
The pandemic opportunity

This is the most extraordinary time to be alive and the opportunity for growth is extraordinary. Twelve spiritual principles for…
Lithuania – divine mercy, the hill of crosses and great cake

Lithuania — green, sunny, beautiful, and filled with extraordinary cake. The original Divine Mercy painting in Vilnius, the Hill of…
Pilgrimage for the feast of St Francis of Assisi

A parish address for the feast of St Francis of Assisi — on the real Francis, untamed and radical, not…
Pilgrimage to the shrine of Padre Pio

Padre Pio — the greatest mystic of the 20th century, who bore the stigmata for fifty years and promised to…
My favourite town in Italy

Assisi — my favourite town in Italy, and the most powerful pilgrimage site I have ever visited. Holy places, extraordinary…
Francis of Assisi and the Holy Land

What we owe to St Francis of Assisi in the Holy Land — how his extraordinary visit to the Sultan…
Getting into a convent is much easier than getting out

Locked in a convent on the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem — no wifi, no telephone, and the call to prayer…
Nailing the poverty of St Francis of Assisi to the cross

A meditation on St Francis of Assisi and the spirituality of poverty — inspired by Gerard Thomas Straub’s book “The…
Pilgrimage stops: Collevalenza & Orvieto, Italy

Two pilgrimage stops on the road from Assisi to Rome — the Sanctuary of Merciful Love at Collevalenza, founded by…
Pilgrimage Stop: Assisi, Italy

Four days in Assisi with my sister — two holy doors, the incorrupt body of St Clare, the smell of…
Pilgrimage Stop: Cascia

A pilgrimage road-trip from Assisi to the Basilica of Santa Rita di Cascia — venerating the incorrupt body of St…
Pilgrimage Stop: La Verna, Italy

For two years before his death, St Francis of Assisi carried the stigmata — the crucifixion wounds of Jesus —…
Pilgrimage Stops: Venice & Florence

Venice and Florence — two-thirds of the holy trinity of Italian tourism. Beautiful, extraordinary, worth experiencing once — but if…
Pilgrimage Stop: Padova

A day in Padova — St Anthony’s basilica, the world’s oldest botanical garden, and the jewel-box Scrovegni Chapel painted by…
Pilgrimage Stop: Bologna

Bologna’s hidden saint, St Dominic’s basilica, and a 4km portico walk to a miraculous icon of the Virgin — pilgrimage…
A most extraordinary story…

Eileen O’Connor, Mary Mackillop, Our Lady of Coogee and a chain of synchronicities — the extraordinary story of a saint-in-waiting…