Experiences in the Spiritual world, even the journeys, can be shared by two or more persons. The fact that Spiritual Baptists do not regard or experience the Spiritual journey of the mourning ritual as an exclusively subjective phenomenon, but allow for sharing and even testing and contesting the visions, as if the Spiritual reality was objectively approachable, differentiates them from many other religions in which spirit journeys are conducted.22 When there is more than one mourner undergoing the ritual, and most times there are, it is common for them to meet one another on their journeys or even travel together. This means that two or more pilgrims find themselves in the same location, perhaps communicating with the same saint or other Spiritual entity, and also with one another. When giving their tracks to the Pointer, their accounts are similar. Mourning at the same time at St. Philomen Church, Number One, a mature lady, and Number Four, a woman in her late twenties, reached one another in India. They both gave similar accounts of the landscape, the large tree under which they met, the clothes they were wearing, what they were talking about and so on. Number One had encountered St. Francis, dressed in a brown gown, a yellow headband and a pink sash, and he told her to "Eat my food, wear my clothes and commune with me." St. Francis accused Number One of having avoided him for thirty years; he also told her that he is St. Philomen's brother. 161 He gave Number One a golden ring, and Number One was a bit baffled, thinking that the Saint was proposing to her; she wanted to ask her Spiritual parents for advice, but St. Francis assured her that he was not asking her to marry him, just to take the ring. Number Four had seen Number One in a brown gown, yellow headtie and a pink sash on her neck; Number One had taught her how to dance the Indian dance, but Number Four was impatient and said "Me ain't like dem dance." Finally she agreed to try it, and the two pilgrims danced together, the older teaching the younger. The mutual relations between the pilgrims are significant on these joint journeys. The senior pilgrims, those who have previous experience of the Spiritual world and who know how to communicate with the Spirit, have to take the role of a guardian for the green mourners. In another mourning in St. Philomen Church, five pilgrims were pointed on, and whereas Number One was a man who had mourned at least once before, three of the others were first-timers. "Poor Number One," sighed a young labourer in the church yard, "he have it real hard, he come like the Big Daddy for all of them." This meant that Number One had to look after the other pilgrims in the Spiritual world, to guide them and to protect them from evil spirits, which naturally made his own journey very demanding. In the previous example, the older of the two women, Number One, had a similar role as the "Mummy" for the other pilgrims.
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