Behind El Camino de Santiago

An interesting (and controversial) theme about esoteric and mystical implications of the St.James of Compostela Route. Starting in France it crosses throughout the north of Spain and ends in Santiago de Compostela city (NW corner of Iberian Peninsula).
It is full of alchemic symbols everywhere: the stonemason marks carved in the walls of dozens of Romanic churches along the Route that are similar to those used by Egypt, Caldeos and Greek architects: the very staff that the sculpture of St. James holds (since AD 1188) has the form of the letter "Tau"

The Tau remains a strong Christian symbol along the Camino and represents protection against evil and sickness. From here on out, I began to see the Tau everywhere built into the windows and doors of this crumbling edifice in jewelry at souvenir  shops , wayside crosses, pins, coats of arms, and especially as decorative devices in some of the old churches.

The Tau, according to Wikipedia is: a symbol of the Roman God Mithras and the Greek Attis, and their forerunner Tammuz, the Sumerian solar God, the consort of the Goddess Ishtar.
Tammuz, like Christ, was associated with fishing and shepherding. The Tau cross takes the shape of the letter of his name, and is one of the oldest letters known. A solar god, the death and resurrection of Tammuz were celebrated every summer.
The Camino also celebrates "death and resurrection"

Today it is a symbol of St Francis of Assisi and the Franciscans. Legend has it that St Francis walked the Camino de Santiago, and no doubt in medieval times there were Franciscan monasteries based along the Camino. While St Francis used the Tau to represent his vision of monasticism, the Tau Cross itself is believed to date back to the Coptic Desert Fathers.Francis signed his writings with Tau  I guess that's why it's used as a symbol at the ruins of San Anton monastery near Castrojeriz.

The Templars had a secret code to which only the highest twelve members of the order were privy. In the event of some catastrophe, such as the near annihilation that took place in the early 1300s, any one of these surviving members could come to Ponferrada and just by taking in the architecture could “read” the stones and know where the great mystery was hidden.

That code turns on the letter T, or Tau, which signifies the Templars and the cross and is somehow related to the number twelve, which in turn harkens to all kinds of associations: master Templars, apostles, months, zodiac signs. Only one Templar establishment has twelve towers--Ponferrada."
Legend has it that something of great value (treasure? the Holy Grail?) is hidden somewhere in the Templar Castle in Ponferrada.

The symbol of the pilgrims is the "Shell"

In Greek and  Roman myth shells were the mystic symbol of prosperity and regeneration and, in their association with the sea, the source of fertility. We all came from the sea, as we all came from our mother’s womb; the shell thus became symbolic of the mythic birth of the goddess (i.e., Venus, Aphrodite, etc.).

For this reason, the shell was representative of the Female Deity in pagan worship, and was associated with: love, birth, rebirth, manifestation,reproduction

In Roman mythology, Venus, the goddess of love and fertility, was said to be created from the foam carried ashore atop a scallop shell. Many paintings of Venus depict a scallop shell to identify her. One example is Botticelli’s classically inspired The Birth of Venus or “Venus on the half-shell.”

that it is too (meanliness coincidence?) the symbol of Venus and believe it or not the gargoyles and sculptures that cover a lot of Romanic churches walls are a very alive summary of "Kamasutra teachings", bestialism, sodomy, obscenities in other words (again the spiny theme). It is said that the purpose was to show to people what not to do, the absurdity of this theory doesn't deserve further discussion.

It is well known that during the Middle Ages it was a spiritual route as well as a sort of initiatic path.It is said that important alchemists
traveled across it: Nicholas Flamel, Raimundo Lulio, Jacques Coeur, Basile Valentin.
It is known that in pre christian countries (such as Ireland and Scotland) where the Catholic Church converted "pagan" (non-christian) followers, that the places of non-christian worship were either rebuilt or christian elements (statuary, crosses, baptismal fonts) were added to the existing structure to convert it into a proper church.

The scallop Shell is also a Christian symbol of baptism.
 

But: from where comes the name of Compostela?

The name of Compostela, is highly symbolic and it does not obey at random. The possible origins, are:

Christian version of Compostela: Field of Stars. The most accepted. In Latin " compositum" , it is cemetery. In Compostela one was Santiago, soon serious: sacred cemetery.

Alchemy: " compost". The producers of the Great Work, work in the Magical Kettle. When the work well was done was realised one " Estrella".

" Compos" in old languages it means " Maestro" ; that is to say, it would mean " Teacher of the Estrella".

History of the name of Santiago de Compostela.

The history of Santiago, we have exposed already it previously. The esoteric interpretation, that absolutely denies, the primitive existence of Santiago Apostle, like objective of the peregrination for the Christians, but is based on the explanations:  The esoteric interpretations, based on: I finish French Santiago, is " Jacques" and in English " Jack". Both, were used like adjectives, to designate to wise men in the field of the constructions and geometry, oriented towards the sagrada architecture. The derivation in Basoue corresponds to " Jakin" and in Castilian towards " Jacques" or " Yago". To see " Way of the Ocas".

Like Beginning in the Esoteric perfection

To part of the verbal lessons, an Initiation was required perfectly that based on:  Development of the works Manuals: Constructors and Stonecutters. Including carpenters, sculptors, painters. The legacy of the Construction Teachers, is the marks left in their works, even can be tracked in many monuments.

Walking, syntony with the telluric currents. The initial footpaths took to the Finis Terrae, the Pilgrims to Santiago, they used those ways.

The first condition, frame the development of a blossoming of the Romanesque Art, in which we found multitude of symbols.

The second condition, previously defined the loaded ways of energies and by the most beautiful places, using the defined monuments that located their construction in these places of telluric energies.

Who chose these Ways?

It is surprising, verifying that the development of the French way, agrees almost, with total perfection with Parallel 42, in a route from Est  to West, always finalizing in the Sea.

In the area there were many pre-Christian sacred locations. As pagans would head to Fisterra in the Costa da Morte (Coast of Death) where they believed the sun died and the worlds of the dead and the living became closer, as a point of symbolic death and rebirth or destruction and resurrection There was an “Altar Soli” on Cape Finisterre where the Celts came to practice their cult to the sun and the ocean, and shared in their devotion of stones. Many stones became the bearers of a secret language, containing various inscriptions and religious icons that have been hollowed out with time

And primitive sun-worshipers were the first to congregate in Finisterre, believing it to be the westernmost edge of the world.

Romans referred to this stretch of the Atlantic as the Sea of the Dead, believing that the entrance to Hades was just over the horizon.
Medieval Christians soon followed from their pilgrimage to nearby Santiago de Compostela, where they would come to reflect on the souls of the dead. The long frontier with the Atlantic has made Finisterre the end-point of many journeys, a spiritual place where you can feel close to the ocean

The Way, this marking by the indication of the Milky Route, that is to say follow the Way of Stars and end at the constellation of " Dog Mayor". The geographic development, passes to a large extent, by Celtas territories, which adored the God Lug and denominated to the Milky Route: the Rainbow of the God Lug. The mythology of Lug represents, it like: wolf or dog and others like a crow.

The Way of the Goose and its relation with the Way of Saint James

The cultures celtas and preceltas, maintained a symbol sacred, for their brotherhoods and brotherhoods: oca or goose, represented by the symbolism of the leg of oca, that when walking, leaves printed a very similar mark the tridente of Poseidón, that was determinative of all those atlantes cultures. The Way of Stars agrees with the Way of the Goose and the Shell.

When the first Christians begin to peregrinate to Santiago, are whereupon the settlers of the Way, have deep traditions and speak of a Way of the Goose or Stars and of a Field of the Stars, at which he arrives himself by a labyrinth that is necessary to cross to renew on the inside. These experiences are impossible to start; and what they do it is to cristianizar them. Ordenes, that is going away to order to cristianizar them, is mainly: Cluny, Cister and the one of Temple, that as of Century X, is in charge of the constructions, that are equipped with a symbolism in accordance with the Christianity.

It is thus, like those old symbols: the star, the shell, the leg of oca, the crow, the wolf, the dog, is adopted as Christian symbols and are gotten up to the Christian peregrination. If we superpose two legs of the Oca, one upwards and another one downwards, we obtain the X and the bar that the short one vertically, obtaining the X and with the P (Ji and Ro: it initiates to them of the name of Christ).

That relation keeps the Game from the Goose with the Way to Saint James.

The Game of the Oca, is based on a Spiral or Caracol, divided in 63 squares. The Leg of the Oca and the Caracol were the symbols of the “Construction Companions”, who raised the churches of Romanesque style, being but beautiful and the esoteric ones, the ones in charge by the Templarios. Each one of the Squares in which this divided the Game of the Goose, bears a relation to the Stages from the Way of Saint James.

There are different theories that try to explain the origin of the famous “Game of the Goose”. One of these theories states that, the game was created by the Templars, and it would not only be a game but also a secret or encrypted guide to the Way of St. James (Camino de Santiago). Each numbered space would represent a stage of the Camino. What makes it more exciting is that, hidden messages would be not only on the board but also on the monuments along the way.

And why or how did they come up with this theory?

Formerly, geese were house guardians by warning their owners of the presence of intruders. Also, gueese were considered as sacred guides, sent to advise humanity.

Wild geese have their seasonal and stable migration routes, and they have defined the known “Way of the gueese“. This way matches with The Camino de Santiago (Way of Saint-James) and “The Way of the Stars”. It is believed that because pilgrims didn’t have maps, they used to follow natural indications to make their way to Santiago de Compostela. For this reason, it would make sense that pilgrims followed “The geese route” during the day and were guided by the stars at night to get to Santiago de Compostela.

Along the way, it is common to find the symbol of “the leg of the goose”.

According to Carlos Sanchez-Montaña, specialist in Romanesque architecture, the board is a map, what today we can understand as a travel guide. This guide leads us through the ancient “Callis lanus”.

The “Callis lanus” route between Cabo de Creus and Touriñan, was divided in 63 stages (15 Miles each), that correspond the 63 stages of “The game of the Geese”. Because of the christianization and transformation of the way, people who knew the original way decided to preserv it in the form of a board-game. To make sure that pilgrims would get to Santiago safe, the creators of the game included a number of dangers on it, that according to Sanchez – Montaña, corresponded with real difficult places along the way, some of them located in Castilla y Leon.