What is The 13 Pilgrims card deck?
This summer I surprised myself by inventing a “pilgrimage card game”! It’s a deck of 13 cards, each card containing a different pilgrim “role” or “type,” such as The Hero (focussed on goals and achievement), The Squire (helping others and thinking ahead), The Misfit (on the outskirts of every group but bringing unique gifts) and more. Alongside the cards I’ve written a detailed instruction booklet outlining who each of the 13 Pilgrims are, and how I suggest the cards can be used.
So far I’ve come up with five different uses for the cards, from ice-breaker, conversation sparker, and experience-integration tool, to a personal catalyst for spiritual reflection and a group visioning exercise.
The fun thing is, people keep suggesting inventive new possibilities for the cards, so there will be new uses added to the list!
How did the cards come about?
I’ve been on a lot of pilgrimages, yet on each one I’ve never been exactly the same kind of pilgrim. Different reasons for each pilgrimage shaped each experience. On the prairie pilgrimages I wrote about in my book The Good Walk: Creating New Paths on Traditional Prairie Trails, my fellow trekkers and I were trying to live out a prophetic role by bringing awareness to Indigenous trails. When I walked part of the Luther Weg in Erfurt, Germany, I was a tourist, enjoying the Saxon sausage, beer, and landscapes. On Scotland’s Whithorn Way and also here where I live in Nova Scotia, I’ve walked as a researcher, investigating the mysterious St Ninian for my book, Someone Else’s Saint: How a Scottish Pilgrimage Led to Nova Scotia. When I was one of the first group of Canadians to walk St Olaf’s Way in Norway, I expected a religious pilgrimage. But I’d just gone through a difficult cancer surgery a few weeks before setting out in Dovre. The Nordic Camino turned out to be my much-needed recovery. I’d find myself at the top of a Norwegian mountain, weeping with joy just to still be alive.
In short, I realised I’ve seen – and been – many different types of pilgrim: a political prophet, a wandering tourist, a researching scribe, a pious practitioner, a therapeutic patient, and more. And I’m certainly not the only one! (Many of these walks feature on my podcast.) I also came to the realisation that I’ve met many of these pilgrims on my walks, and that each has contributed something unique to my experience.
Distilling these roles helped me come up with The 13 Pilgrims.
Who made and who sponsored the cards?
The artist I’ve been working with is the talented Kate Phillips, of Cape Breton. Kate and I worked together with my descriptions to come up with the figures. You can find more of her art at her website, https://katephillips.net/kate/.
I’m presently the Gatto Endowed Chair of Christian Studies, in Antigonish Nova Scotia, and so my work is actively supported by St Francis Xavier University’s Father Edo Gatto fund.
I’m also very fortunate to have received grants for The 13 Pilgrims from the Eastern Synod of my Lutheran church, the ELCIC. The Rev Adam Snook, one of the assistants to Bishop Carla Blakley, has been especially encouraging. We are working on ways to develop the cards for use in discernment, visioning, and shared decision-making.
What’s next for The 13 Pilgrims?
Right now (August 2026) I’m finishing my most recent edits to the instruction booklet. I’d like to have it professionally printed, and distributed together with the cards. So far, I’ve only printed 20 decks, with a wonderful local printer, Breton Print, of Nova Scotia. That initial run of 20 sets that I took with me to the Sacred Journeys annual pilgrimage conference in Quebec City was quickly snapped up by participants! So I’ll have have more printed! I’m also working to have the booklet translated into French for the many French-speaking pilgrims who expressed interested.
Eventually, I’ll have to solve two problems: what’s the best way to make these cards available to the many folks who have already expressed an interest in having a deck, as well as to those further afield, in a way that is economical, ecologically friendly, and packaged sturdily but lightly in case of use on an actual pilgrimage?
Ideas welcome! Stay tuned for news as this all gets worked out!
Where can I get more info?
I recently presented The 13 Pilgrims card deck for an online pilgrimage talk. You can watch my presentation here: https://vimeo.com/1221854641?share=copy&fl=sv&fe=ci . Thanks!
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