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In the footsteps of Mary Magdalene

At the end of our journey, after a wonderful day in Toulouse and Albi, we as a group got together one last time to exchange our personal experiences, inner processes, insights and observations of the last 9 days. It is just incredible to see what has changed in such a short time and what profound transformations we were able to witness. The presence of the spiritual world was particularly strong during our final meditation. I channeled messages from Mary Magdalene and her most important companion for the group. After dinner we said goodbye in the hope that our paths will cross again soon.

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About Cathar castles and the treasure of Rennes-le-Château

Here in the Languedoc area (Southern France) Cathar castles are lined up on the mountaintops like pearls on a string. Today, we first headed south to visit the half ruined medieval Cathar castle of Quéribus. During the Albigensian Crusade, directed against the Cathars from around the commune of Albi, many desperate people found refuge in the isolated and impregnable castle.

We were rewarded for the half-hour climb up to the ruins with an impressive view over the area of Languedoc. We could see all the way to the peaks of the Pyrenees, the range of mountains forming the boarder between France and Spain. And we truly enjoyed the fantastic panoramic view.

The ruins still show why it was impossible for attackers to storm the castle. This is the place that used to serve as a refuge to the Cathars during the Papal persecutions. With its energetic and historic spots that offer wonderful views of the country it nowadays attracts many spiritual people and avid travelers.

After an excellent lunch in our castle hotel in Couiza we ventured out again. Our afternoon´s destination was Rennes-le-Château, which is located on a hill near the village we are staying in. This town should be well known by all of you who have read Kathleen McGowan´s “The Expected One”. It is considered the stronghold of the worship of Mary Magdalene in the Languedoc region. One of the main reasons was the legendary priest Bérangere Saunière who allegedly found the Cathar´s treasure in the 19th century gaining big fortune. It is a fact that he did not only renovate the church and was responsible for its unique design, but also owned the Villa Bethania and Tour Magdala, which are still the focus of interest for visitors of Rennes-le-Château. We allowed sufficient time to explore this legendary place and also visit the museum. The evening concluded with an energetically strong channeling for the group and a wonderful dinner.

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Final preparations for our Mary Magdalene journey

May 11th, 2016:  This afternoon the sky seemed to have opened the floodgates because it was pouring rain! Fortunately, we were able to visit the small town of Rennes-le-Château before all the rain started – perhaps the most important place for Mary Magdalene devotees. There we stopped by an esoteric shop to introduce them to my aura essences of Mary Magdalene, Isa, Sarah Tamar and the Ascended Masters. Within the next couple of days we are going to find out, whether the storeowner is interested in my essences or not.

Afterwards, we went to Rennes-les-Bains – the small town, which is known amongst spiritual insiders for the source or the baths of Mary Magdalene. In order to find these places that are associated with her, you have to take a very close look – even in a town like this. The spots are usually hard to find and you have to know exactly what you are searching for to be successful. In Austria you would probably find a bunch of souvenir stands in places like this 😉

Next, we visited the small town of Bugarach with its mountains Pic Bugarach and Le Bezu, which are world-renowned amongst esoterics. Every year in the night from the 13th to the 14th of October there are inexplicable  light effects, and sometimes even UFO movements. There are rumours highly-developed civilizations live in the tunnels and caves of the surrounding mountains, which can be compared with the American Mount Shasta, the Himalaya and the area between Equador and Peru.

Inside Pic Bugarach, a mainly unexplored area, engine sounds can be heard, and green lights can be seen, which cannot be explained. An access to this underworld is situated near a Stone-Age rock complex (like in Stonehenge), which can only be reached by people who are familiar with the area.

There are speculative opinions about an access to a parallel world, or a time window, which the respectable author Thomas Ritter has personally experienced. Whether there are connections to extra-terrestrial or ancient civilizations remains unanswered.

Tonight we are going to stay in Narbonne and tomorrow morning we will continue on to Marseille, where we will meet up with the participants of our Spiritual Journey. Tomorrow evening our journey together finally begins!

 

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Mary Magdalene in A Coruña (Spain)

What did the artists of previous centuries know about Mary Magdalene? Was she depicted as the woman at Jesus’ side more often than we suspect – and symbolically coded very deliberately? These and similar questions I ask myself time and again when I enter a church where I see a Mary represented with long red hair and in red-green garments. All are hints at the fact that this is not intended to be Mother Mary but Mary Magdalene, just like in the small church Santa Barbara in A Coruña, ca. 80 km north of Santiago de Compostela in Northern Spain.

In this specific case she is shown sitting next to Jesus on a cloud, which is indicative of his mother at a first glance. Maybe the commissioner only wanted the glass window to show Mary’s admission into heaven and did not know that the artist painted Mary Magdalene instead of Mary? Or maybe he instructed the artist to depict “Mother Mary” with long red hair in green-red garments, knowing well that he made Mary Magdalene sit next to Jesus by doing so? This always comes to my mind when I see depictions of this kinds in churches.

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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 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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Flexibility is necessary

Paper doesn’t blush, but frequently reality is entirely different … This experience Gerd and I have to make again and again when we are planning a spiritual journey. We peruse guide books for weeks, plan great routes and then, when we are on site, the first challenges arise: sites and places that were described as being well worth visiting in the books turn out be not very attractive, hotels and restaurants fall short of our expectations, or we unexpectedly stumble on a great object of interest in the middle of our planned route which we do not want to ignore and would like to fit in in our itinerary someway.

Thus, hardly a day goes by in the course of our preparation trip where we do not have to replan. Nevertheless, we look forward to new impressions and experiences every morning and collapse into the hotel bed bone-weary but content in the evening.

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In the land of Saint James

Many of you surely know Paulo Coelho’s bestseller “The Pilgrimage”, in which he describes his impressive spiritual experiences on the Way of Saint James through Northern Spain. Certainly this worldwide bestseller helped the region awaking from its deep slumber. But still it seems as if this clime had not suffered from the flow of pilgrims and tourists, because it still appears to be very pristine and authentic.

Ever since I mentally accompanied Coelho on his peregrinations – in the meantime I have read some books of other authors who followed this pilgrims’ way – my interest in this area has awakened. Therefore, what could be more reasonable than planning and organising the spiritual journey after next in 2016 for like-minded people in the “land of Saint James”? No sooner said than done! As of today Gerd and I are touring the region around Santiago de Compostela and are exploring sites and places that seem to be “worthy” of a spiritual journey.

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