The first time I saw the church at Migvie was just over three years ago (on my first visit to Tillypronie), and when I stepped inside, my eyes filled with tears. I was far from home, yet felt that home might one day be near; and I could not help but think of my sister -- as if I had found myself, and Ruth, in one of those rare places wherein those we have loved, and believed lost, seem suddenly closer again. Of course, I did not know at the time that I would return to the church, several summers later, to marry the man who had first taken me there (and who was responsible for its beautiful restoration, after it had fallen into disrepair); nor that my sister's daughter would be my bridesmaid. But if time is sometimes circular, rather than linear -- and at the church in Migvie, circles are everywhere -- then here was (here is) -- a moment when the past, the present, and the future, seemed to slip into a whole. How glad I am that our wedding took place in the round....
These lines are on one of the four walls at Migvie, but they also face the stone seats in the shape of a cross in the middle of the church (although some might see these as another circle). Elsewhere, inside and outside the church, are reminders of the site's ancient origins; hence the incorporation of Celtic and Pictish symbols, in stone fragments and carvings, alongside the Christian imagery. I hope you enjoy the pictures; and even if your journeys do not take you to Migvie, be sure to return to the sacred places that you know to be your own...
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| The door into the church... |
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| and inside, an unexpected light... |
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| a place where a small bird... |
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| might find sanctuary from a storm... |
