Þingvellir National Park: Sacred Travel with Althea Provost
Þingvellir National Park: Sacred Travel with Althea Provost explores a personal ceremonial experience at Iceland’s tectonic rift, blending sacred travel, geology, and the spiritual significance of Þingvellir National Park.
Ceremony at Almannagjá in Þingvellir National Park
March 8, 2016 —New Moon Solar Eclipse.
Spreading the Aguayo cloth with colorful bright stripes onto a snow-covered boulder made me smile. There are very few things I travel with, items small enough to fit inside a pocket: sacred oils, white sage from New Mexico, delicate crystals, and a box of waterproof matches. Winter in Iceland required bundling.
My Aguayo cloth, q’ipirina in Quechua, was purchased at a Peruvian market near Lake Titicaca. Quechua women often use the q’ipirina to carry small children on their backs, and children use the q’ipirina to hold baby lambs in the front. I wrapped my little treasures for protection and used the cloth to create another layer between me and the frozen ground.
Photograph by Althea Provost capturing the dramatic volcanic rock wall of Almannagjá at Þingvellir National Park during winter.
Alchemy in the Heart of Þingvellir’s Rift Valley
As the Icelandic wind brought the alchemical smoke of sage to my senses, the day’s events started to fall away. The body tension from a seven-and-a-half-hour flight into Keflavik and a forty-minute drive through snow flurries lifted as my Spirit deepened into stillness. I took a moment to view the Þingvellir landscape: the Almannagjá, a large sooty black fissure forming a protective cliff wall, a narrow stream quietly flowing into the lake, and the sounds of people walking in the distance slowly dissolving. I journeyed inward to a state of consciousness where Source speaks in geometric form and waves of light.
In that space, words and intentions unbeknownst to me before arrival united into a simple truth spoken out loud: Let Divine Will Be Done. As the ceremony continued, photonic light flooded my head space igniting an electric blue light, peace filled my heart, and earthly dramas vanished.
Ceremonial work is sacred and cannot be shared—only experienced, appreciated, and realized.
Winter view of Lake Thingvallavatn in Þingvellir National Park.
Crossing the Threshold at Þingvellir National Park
Returning From Ceremony in the Rift Valley
After the energy felt complete, I gathered everything and headed to the car. The shift from one dimension to another can create a void space, so I walked carefully, noticing everything around me until my complete being was focused on the here and now. When the cold temperature that followed dusk began settling into my bones — a sign of the present moment — I reached for the car keys.
When Spirit guides me to travel, I respond by showing up. Foregoing travel maps, GPS, the internet, or even researching the area beforehand, I let my Spirit guide me forward. I found Icelandic roads challenging at first. Directional signs are so low to the ground that it took effort to retrain my senses to look down. I learned the importance of watching the pavement, especially when the weather quickly turns from blustery snow at zero below to sunshine and blue sky. It’s always about black ice.
As I drove to Þingvellir — anglicized as Thingvellir — I watched the snow fall across the asphalt road, reclaiming the artificial split between the plains. A flat, wintry landscape stretched as far as the eye could see. The landscape produced a temporal feeling of existence, so it was unsurprising to find Icelandic people engaging in recycling and lighting up their reality entirely on renewable hydro and geothermal energy.
Þingvellir National Park Historic Reflections
Before arriving in Iceland, I was mindful of Robert Coon’s list of major and minor earth chakras, where Coon lists Reykjavik, Þingvellir, and its associated Lake Þingvallavatn as the 118th chakra. I was also aware that Iceland sat astride the Mid‑Atlantic Ridge, with Þingvellir’s landscape showing the geological result of the North American and Eurasian plates parting ways.
After returning home, I read Þingvellir’s UNESCO application to become a World Heritage Site. I learned this site was central to Icelandic culture; for more than 850 years, people gathered here to create laws, maintain judicial and legislative records, and speak their truth from man‑made assembly booths that remain partially visible today. I found the following statement applicable:
“In this environment of dramatic contrasts one can sense the mystery of sacred things, at once awesome and enchanting, which attracts and repels at the same time, arousing strong and conflicting emotions. Þingvellir is where Icelanders go when major decisions are to be made.” 1
The “major decisions” helped me understand the connection between my ceremonial work at Þingvellir and the words “Let Divine Will Be Done” arising from my being. I am respectful of man’s law; however, I have chosen to abide by Divine law: transcending the limitations of the human world and aligning with the higher order of Spirit. This law teaches transparency, universality, and service to all. And I was challenged by that truth. The area known as the reptilian brain stem began to throb, a physical insistence that would not cease until I finished writing, as if the body itself demanded alignment with the higher order of Spirit.
Þingvellir National Park Citations
1“Application for Inclusion in the World Heritage List Pingvellir National Park”, (n.d.) p.7. Web. 14 March 2016. https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1152/
©2016 Thea’s Heart, LLC™ – All Rights Reserved
Explore More of My Work
To continue traveling through my writings, teachings, and multidimensional work, visit Thea’s Heart.
