People sometimes go on a pilgrimage automatically assuming a significant self-transformation or healing will occur. In Image and Pilgrimage in Christian Culture, Victor Turners disagrees, “A pilgrim, on the other hand, is not supposed to expect any corporeal remedy. If a miraculous healing does occur, it attributed to the grace of God…” (14). This is an excerpt from a passage where he is discussing the difference between tribal affliction rituals and pilgrimages. In tribes, whatever action is performed for healing, it is predicted to make that person completely healthy again but Turner points out that that is not always the case in pilgrimages. He is not suggesting that transformations do not necessarily happen on pilgrimages, but that the emotional disposition of the person is important. As an example he states, “The water will not work a cure, nor the litany a benefit, unless the subject’s ‘heart’ is penitent, absolved, and therefore cured—all the result of a virtuous inclination of his will” (14). I also think this relates to Lane’s third axiom, that a sacred place can be tread upon without being entered. Mindset is crucial. A person may be excessively supposing that they will experience a restoration that they may actually overlook it the chance to receive it. Turner additionally notes that the will of the individual and the will of God are both important. God gave humans free will with the choice to decide how to use it. The healing is therefore not to be accredited to oneself but rather to God. That person has repented and in turn, God allows a healing to take place.
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