Phil Cousineau

May 2 - 14, 2023

GREECE: In the Footsteps of Homer's Odyssey with Mythologist Phil Cousineau
Life Lessons from the Book that Changed the World

Join author-filmmaker-mythologist Phil Cousineau on a journey to ancient Greece to visit many of the legendary sites associated with two of Homer's greatest heroes, Odysseus and Penelope, and explore why this mesmerizing story has influenced our history, psychology, philosophy, art, drama, poetry, and even our movies, for the last three thousand years. A special focus of our mythic tour will be on how the Odyssey has shown people all over the world how to get home again.

We will travel across the wine-dark sea to the world immortalized by Homer in the Odyssey, with a special emphasis on recent scholarship, archaeology, and a spate of extraordinary new translations, which gives long overdue attention to Penelope, Circe, and Calypso, Athena, and Aphrodite. We will visit sites such as the Parthenon and Theater of Dionysus, the birthplace of Western drama, the awe-inspiring National Archaeological Museum, Ancient Corinth, home of King Sisyphus, reputed father of Odysseus, the famed Corinth Canal, the citadel of Mycenae, the Menelaion near Sparta, Nestor's Palace in Pylos, the Acheron River and the Nekromanteion, the entrance for Odysseus' Underworld Journey, Ancient Olympia, the mythic island of Ithaka, as well as engage in daily discussions and soulful conversations. 

Learn more about Phil Cousineau's journey to Greece: In the Footsteps of Homer's Odyssey on the Sacred Earth Journeys website.

For more information, please email info@sacredearthjourneys.ca or call 604-874-7922 (toll free 1-877-874-7922) Sacred Earth Journeys.

June 12 - 16, 2023

Chartres, FRANCE: The Timeless Search for Meaning: The Art of Pilgrimage in Chartlres, France, with Phil Cousineau, hosted by Rev. Dr. Lauren Artress and Veriditas. 

For at least 60,000 years people from around the world, in every age and culture, have dealt with personal or historical crises by setting off on pilgrimages—spiritually transformative journeys to sacred sites—in order to revitalize and reorient themselves. Our time is marked by a series of such crossroads and crises, including a crisis of meaning, and the precipitous rise in pilgrimages in every faith reflects an ardent search for meaning— personal answers to ultimate questions—in modern times.

In our workshop we will use animated discussion, photography, art, contemplative music, poetry, journaling, walking the famed Chartres labyrinth, as well as daily prompts so we might reflect upon the soul-stirring pleasures of pilgrimage. The ultimate goal of our time together will be to learn a few simple but daily practices that have the power to transform our experience at Chartres into a sacred journey.

Learn more about The Timeless Search for Meaning: The Art of Pilgrimage in Chartres, France, with Phil Cousineau on the Veriditas website.  For more information, please contact Kathleen Stewart with Veriditas at kathleen@veriditas.org or call 604-874-7922.

November 5 - 14, 2023

ITALY: La Dolce Vita: The Sweet Life of Mythic Italy with Phil Cousineau

An Exhilarating Adventure to the Land of the Great Beauty

Join bestselling author, filmmaker, mythologist, and veteran tour leader Phil Cousineau on an exquisite exploration of Italy, one of the most influential and sensual cultures in the world.

Phil will lead you on an adventure through one of the most artistic cultures in the world, where we will visit great art masterpieces, brilliant public architecture, artisans' studios and workshops, the Venice archipelago, Northern Italian hilltop villages, and the medieval cities of Rome, Assisi, Florence, and Parma. Our tour will be framed by daily discussions of "The Great Beauty" that is at the heart of Italian culture, in its myths, art, literature, fashion, and crafts. You will become a cultural time traveller on a quest for la dolce vita, the sweet life.

Learn more about La Dolce Vita: The Sweet Life of Mythic Italy with Phil Cousineau on the Sacred Earth Journeys website.

For more information, please email info@sacredearthjourneys.ca or call 604-874-7922 (toll free 1-877-874-7922) Sacred Earth Journeys.

Phil Cousineau: Small group travel journey leader since 1984

Phil Cousineau led his first travel program to Ireland in 1984 with poet Robert Bly. The story of the group's visit to a local pub with poet Seamus Heaney, who regaled the group by reciting Yeats to them by heart, is legendary. Phil Cousineau's next trip, in 1985, was an exploration of Arthurian England with Marion Zimmer Bradley (her first trip to England) and Geoffrey Ashe. The high standard for Phil's travel journeys with unique itineraries and soulful storytelling at sacred sites was cast.

Other past travel programs include "Bohemian Paris," "Myth and Mystery in the Mediterranean," "The Soul of Ireland" and "A Pilgrimage to the Mystery Centers of Ancient Greece," to name a few. Phil has led tours for Cross Cultural Journeys, Timeless Travels, The Joseph Campbell Foundation, the Institute of Imaginal Studies, Book Passage, and for the last several years, for Sacred Earth Journeys.

 Check out this interview with Phil Cousineau on the importance of pilgrimage in today's fast-paced world.