The Shrine of Our Lady of Miracles in Caión I’m not Catholic, and neither is my mother. We both practice our own version of spirituality. But she’s connected to Catholicism through Galician syncretism, a way to preserve our Celtic faith after the Roman Empire conquered us. That conquest erased our original language, but not our pagan rituals. Those rituals survived, hidden beneath the mask of “Catholicism.” But what they are... is not. As my mother says: “I believe in God, but not in priests.” She often tells me about her grandmother, my great-grandmother, a woman who knew everything about plants, who was half-blind yet could see beyond what is visible. My mother always says that the day her grandmother transcended through The Clearing (“A Clareira”), the house filled with crows. #caion #gallaecia #menciñeiras #meigas #bruxas #nativeeuropean #nativeeuropeanspirituality #galicia #milagresdecaion #milagres #syncretism