Spiritual Journeys with Ingrid Auer

Those of you who have read the novel “The Expected One” by Kathleen McGowan might remember the often-quoted “Château des Pommes Bleues”, in which the protagonists of the book live. I think I have read somewhere that Kathleen McGowan drew her inspiration for the fictitious castle “Château des Pommes Bleues” from the castle and the modern-day hotel „Château des Ducs de Joyeuse“ in Couiza.

However that may be: In the Languedoc region this is the only hotel far and wide which meets my expectations on a seminar hotel, therefore, we are going to stay there with our tour party for five days. Maybe there still is a castle ghost somewhere? Maybe we are going to put one or two things straight energetically in those rooms, who knows? The fact is, at the same time as us an American group is going to stay at the hotel. They are going to walk in the footsteps of Mary Magdalene in Languedoc as well. We are already looking forward to a lively exchange of ideas.

If you leave Carcassonne and drive south through the placid rolling hills and the picturesque vineyards, you reach the abbey Saint Hilaire (Hilarius). The monastery dates back to the 9th century and for a long time was inhabited by monks who stood under the patronage of the counts of Carcassonne.

During the crusades in the Middle Ages, in the course of which the institutional Church tried to obliterate the Cathars, also the monks of St. Hilaire, who were close to the Cathars, were accused of blasphemy. Therefore, their monastery was destroyed. The Romanesque-Gothic church and the beautiful cloister are especially worth visiting.

However, what I consider to be the most exceptional is the semi-relief which represents Jesus hugging a woman and a woman sitting next to him. Who this woman is with whom Jesus is represented to be very familiar, is a question that should be answered by everyone himself. In the course of our SPIRITUAL JOURNEY 2014 I am going to show this beauty spot to the participants.