Lo que las Nieblas de Avalon tienen que ver con María Magdalena

Cuando leía el bestseller Las Nieblas de Avalon hace 20 años, no tenía ni la más mínima idea de lo importante que María Magdalena sería años más tarde. Y entonces, no conocía la relación entre ella, Glastonbury y las Reinas de Avalon.

El hijo de María Magdalena en el sur de Inglaterra

Los historiadores descubrieron que José de Arimatea llegó con su sobrino Josefo (el hijo menor de María Magdalena y Jesús) al oeste de Inglaterra en el año 63 después de Cristo. Las llegadas fueron vistas con desconfianza por la gente local, pero el rey Argiragus de Siluria les dió a los doce misioneros que llegaron con ellos 580 hectáreas de tierra. Ahí construyeron una pequeña iglesia hecha de barro. Con el paso de los siglos se amplió hasta que se contruyó la Abadía de Glastonbury, cuyas ruinas aún atraen a miles de personas.

Ya en el año 49, José de Arimatea viajó a Inglaterra con Jesús II (que tenía doce años) y era el hijo mayor de María Magdalena y Jesús. El mismo nombre para padre e hijo a veces llevan a confusión. Por eso también muchas personas piensan que Jesús estuvo en Inglaterra.

Glastonbury – el lugar más mágico de Inglaterra

Según el folklore popular, a Jesús II se le erigió una piedra homenaje en la capilla de barro de Glastonbury en memoria de sus padres. Supuestamente aún es posible verla en el muro sur de la Capilla de Nuestra Señora en Glastonbury. Lleva la inscripción ‘‘Jesús – María’’, y ‘‘María’’ no representa a la madre de Jesús, sino a María Magdalena.1

Glastonbury se supone que es el lugar más mágico de Inglaterra. Se dice que la colina de Glastonbury Tor era la isla de Avalon, que estaba rodeada de pantanos y niebla espesa que solo los iniciados podían cruzar. También era el centro de los sabios druidas, uno de los lugares de retiro del rey Arturo y el sitio donde se dice que estaba escondido el Santo Grial (del que hablaré más detalladamente en próximas entradas de mi blog).

Avalon – el antiguo reino de las nieblas

Numerosas ruinas y leyendas son testigo del pasado mágico cuyo centro es Glastonbury Tor, la colina más alta de la zona. En la cima, una famosa ruina de erige hasta el cielo. Es una reliquia en forma de aguja que conmemora la antigua iglesia de San Miguel.

Glastonbury es un lugar sagrado y místico que atrae a muchas personas de todo el mundo. La más importante línea-ley de Inglaterra fluye directamente a través de Glastonbury. Conecta Avalon con el monte San Miguel en Cornualles y también el gran círculo de piedras de Stonehenge y Avebury. Continúa hasta el noroeste de Inglaterra. Las personas sensibles pueden sentir la energía de este lugar tan poderoso, sabiendo que alrededor de Avalon y Glastonbury Tor hay poderes mágicos especiales.

El rey Arturo, Morgana, Viviana y María Magdalena

Avalon también desempeña un papel muy importante en la leyenda del rey Arturo que se desarrolló en el siglo V. Cuenta la leyenda que la sanadora Morgana le Fay curó a Arturo en Avalon, después de haber sido gravemente herido en una batalla. Pero Avalon y Morgana son más que figuras legendarias. Después de años de investigación, el internacionalmente conocido historiador y genealogista británico Laurence Gardener elaboró el linaje de Jesús y María Magdalena desde el pasado hasta al presente.

Al hacerlo, se encontró con nombres como el rey Arturo, Lancelot o Viviana, que se remontan a la línea de descendencia de María Magdalena y Jesús, así como a la línea de José de Arimatea,  hermano se Jesús. Para los que vivimos en el siglo XXI, todo esto puede sonar extraño y difícil de creer, pero la verdad es a veces algo que está debajo de la superficie de las leyendas o tradiciones cristianas que tienen como objetivo distraernos o (deliberamente) confundirnos.

 

1  También a José de Arimatea se le llama simplemente ‘‘José’’ algo que hace que la gente le confunda con José, marido de la Madre María. Nombres como María, José, David, etc. eran nombres que designaban su puesto en las sociedades de tipo espiritual a las que pertenecían.

 

Spain

Majorca’s first chakra

As an avowed couch potato it was certainly a challenge for me to scale the path over hill and dale from Sant Elm up to the monastery of Sa Trapa. But I really wanted to see and feel the place where Majorca’s first chakra is situated. And the effort has really paid off.

Human chakras – subtle energy centres – are situated along the spine, opening to the front and back of the body like funnels. If chakras are blocked, weak or closed, the energy system does not work properly. This is a very simple explanation…

Our planet Earth has also got different chakras, just like every country and area. And therefore my favourite island Majorca has also got seven energy centres. They are positioned along the ‘spine’ of the island, the Tramuntana mountains. They stretch from the south-west to the north-east of the island (see picture further below).

The first chakra can be found in the south-west, near the monastery of Sa Trapa, which was built in 1810 by Trappist monks in this very remote situation. It was already abandoned in 1824. Its diameter is about 1 km, with the centre near the remains of the monastery ruin which are now being rebuilt. The energy of the chakra is definitely masculine.

Interestingly the chakra is directly opposite the island of Dragonera, where the Paris meridian crosses the offshore island. Whereas Gerd felt the chakra in the form of goose pimples (see photo), I took my pendant and used it as a pendulum to find out where the energy was strongest.

Now we would like to visit the next six meridians of Majorca. Three of them are easy to find, and the other three require time, patience and a little luck.

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From Paris to Majorca

Soon Gerd and I are going to walk in the footsteps of Mary Magdalene in Southern France together with a group of like-minded people. We are going to travel this region, where Mary Magdalene is worshipped by a great number of people from all over the world till this day, for one week. Every year, tens of thousands visit her places in the Southern French area around Rennes-le-Château.

And precisely through this spiritual heartland runs the old prime Meridian of Paris (also called Rose Line), which was determined by the French astronomer François Arago in the early 19th century and was only superseded by today’s Greenwich meridian in the year 1884. The Paris meridian is steeped in many mystic myths and legends, because it is said to possess exceptional energetic powers.

What I did not know for a long time is the fact that the Paris meridian also runs through Majorca for a few hundred metres, in fact only half an hour away from our residence. In the very west of Majorca, the small island Dragonera, which lies offshore the main island, is situated, and this is where we detected this magical line.

However, we were not able to sense any special energies there, because too many hikers and ramblers were out and about on that sunny day. But we have also brought back some pictures from our trip – and we are full of pleasant anticipation regarding our Mary Magdalene journey in May of this year.

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St. James – we are coming!

Drove 3.500 km by car along three important Ways of St. James and walked individual stretches of way … checked the quality of about 30 hotels and 10 restaurants … visited 5 cathedrals, numberless churches and chapels … discovered a number of wonderful power places … these catchwords describe the result of twice 10 days of preparation and planning for our spiritual journey 2016.

Many roads lead to Rome but probably even more to Santiago de Compostela! There is, for instance, the French-Spanish Way of St. James from the east, the British Way from the north, the Portuguese Way from the south, and the North Way from the northeast. We spent most of our time on the French-Spanish route, because it contains the most beautiful cultural sights.

It was not always easy to find the routes; especially the British Way of St. James, of which we were unable to get a description on site, was extremely difficult to find. Like detectives we looked for the sparse hints at the wayside, asked locals, all of whom spoke English, for the way with our scant knowledge of Spanish. Many of them did not even know that there is a British Way of St. James that actually only runs a few kilometres away from their front door.

But it was worth the effort! We were able to arrange a beautiful and very varied travel route that combines culture with spirituality and does not lack good food and comfortable hotels. Every day we are going to walk short, but sublime parts of the Way of St. James, most of the time on the French-Spanish Way and on the last day on the British Way, so that we get to the seashore. The culmination is going to be the visit we are going to pay to the cathedral in Santiago, the much longed-for destination of all the pilgrims on the Way of St. James.

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A “couch potato” on the Way of St. James

Only when I was I child I enjoyed exercise! Ever since I am grown up I like to spend most of my time with writing or thinking (besides my spiritual work, of course). The only exercise that I really enjoy is dancing. Once a very professional astrologer discerned that exercise is not really my thing in my horoscope …

And now I am travelling on the Way of St. James VOLUNTARILY, in order to plan a spiritual journey for 2016 together with Gerd. Of course, we chose sections that are scenic and pleasant to walk, probably that is the reason why hiking gave me pleasure today. My head, which is always filled with – what feels like – a thousand thoughts, ideas and visions, became freer and lighter with every step; I actually succeeded not to think about anything at times. This is a very special kind of meditation I would like to keep up in the future as well. At least occasionally 😉

Find more photos here

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Plan A and Plan B

Since today Gerd and I are travelling on the Way of St. James for the second time within three weeks. This time is about giving the “final touch” to our SPIRITUAL JOURNEY 2016, which we plan for our fellow travellers all by ourselves. And for such a journey there always need to be a plan A and a plan B, especially when it comes to the hotels we have tested and chosen. Because what can you do if the desired hotels are closed in September 2016, if they are being renovated or maybe even do not accommodate tour parties? So that this does not happen, we always have alternative hotels and alternative routes in petto. You never know … 😉

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What is this place?

Am I in Ireland? Or on one of the Mediterranean islands Minorca or Corsica? Or maybe even on the Azores? … One has such a fixed idea of Spain and its landscape. Especially if you have already seen a lot of this country. But Northern Spain – particularly the region around Santiago de Compostela – is a whole lot different from the rest of the country. I love the small houses and the stone walls overgrown with ivy and ferns that are so typical for this stretch of land.

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The most important thing is a roof over one’s head

I admire the “real” pilgrims on the Way of St. James who for days walk hundreds of miles with the big and distant goal of reaching the cathedral of Santiago. And that in any wind and weather! Now, in December, only a few are on the way, wrapped up warmly and protected against wind and the cold. Most of the hostels along the way are closed.

These are frequently very humble – not to say primitive – and offer a sleeping-place either in a dorm room with bunk beds or in tiny rooms into which only one or two beds fit. With these pilgrims I cannot and must not compare myself when I am lying in my cosy hotel bed at night.

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The journey is its own reward!

„The journey is its own reward!“ – this especially pertains to the pilgrims on the Way of St. James. After all, most people who walk it meditate or pray during the peregrination that lasts for days and thereby want to discover the access to themselves. For this reason, they accept the partly very different routes willingly and do not give it a second thought whether the landscape is bleak or charming, monotonous or diversified. They probably are not bothered about the numerous high-voltage lines, wind farms or the stretches of way that run alongside roads.

Maybe my idea of the Way of St. James was a bit romantic, or I have an entirely different vision of the spiritual journey that Gerd and I are planning for a group of like-minded people for 2016. After all, it is not always that easy to find beautiful stretches of way through a harmonious landscape.

Strictly speaking, our approach is not the classic pilgrimage full of deprivations in the course of which one slowly approaches the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela over days and weeks, but we love the combination between history, culture and spirituality, all of which abound in this region. All together make up an ideal spiritual journey for us, towards whose perfect design we advance more closely day by day.

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How the Way of St. James came by its name

I know that Tiago is the name of the son of the opera singer Anna Netrebko. However, what I did not know: Tiago is the Spanish name for James. Thus, Santiago or San Tiago means Saint James.

Who was this saint? This question is forced upon oneself if – as have we for some days – one is on one’s way on the Way of St. James through Northern Spain.

Allegedly, James was the son of Mary Salome, who accompanied Mary Magdalene through Southern Spain. If her son James accompanied them as well, we probably will never know. He is supposed to have been tortured to death in Jerusalem in 44 AD, but he could have travelled with his mother and the entourage of Mary Magdalene to Southwest Europe as well and finally been buried in Santiago de Compostela.

However, the official version says that his mortal remains were translated from the Holy Land to Santiago de Compostela by King Alfonso II. in order to give Spain a high-ranking pilgrimage site – next to Jerusalem and Rome. According to another legend, mysterious light phenomena of the stars showed the hermit Pelagio the way to a field, where he discovered the remains of the apostle James. To this miracle the town owes its euphonious name, because Santiago de Compostela means St. James of the field of stars.

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