On the morning of Friday, August 13th, as we were beginning our last day of our retreat, we were surprised to wake up to a fresh and thick fog enveloping the mountains and valleys of the Cathar land. Something quite unusual in the middle of August, but which generated a mysterious atmosphere and energy that carried us along... As if it were written, we were guided for the first time to speak about the history of the Knights Templars and the Cathars whose memories and ghosts still inhabit the valleys of the Cathar region. As we faced the Bezu castle covered by the fog ,we were struck by the synchronicities of the dates.
Knights Templars and Cathars, even if these two currents are quite different, they are nevertheless contemporaries and their history is intertwined. Among the Knights Templars, these soldier monks, there are different movements. The first is composed of crusaders who left for the Holy Land in 1118 to recover the evidence of a well-kept secret, that of the descent of Jesus and Mary Magdalene. It is said that the Knights Templar returned not only with the handwritten evidence of this secret, but with many other treasures from the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem, including the Holy Grail itself. Gradually the Knights Templars acquired colossal power and wealth, and with these treasures and secrets, they were initially recognized and supported by the Church. However, their power eventually started to derange, and on Friday, October 13, 1307, Philip the Fair, with the complicity of the Church, had the Templars massacred. On August 12, 1308, the Inquisition drew up a list of charges against them.
The Cathars were not to be outdone. They completely disassociated themselves from the Catholic Church and saw themselves as heirs to the original teachings of Jesus and Mary Magdalene, whom they recognized as a disciple and teacher in her own right. Mary Magdalene is said to have come to live in the south of France after her exile and to have brought children from her union with Christ.
The Cathars lived in communities in the Languedoc region, they led a simple life, were vegetarian and educated, they believed in reincarnation and called themselves the "Good Men" and the "Good Women". The name "Parfaits" (the "Perfect Ones") is a name given by the Inquisition. Women had the same status as men and could access initiations and teach. They did not have temples except that of nature where they practiced rituals of purification of the soul by apposition of the hands, often in caves which still keep the trace of their passage.
They had a dualistic view of the world, according to them God rules over souls and the spiritual world, while Satan rules over the material earthly world. For them hell was the incarnation in the flesh, but every soul could reach salvation and ascend to Heaven, even their worst adversaries the Inquisitors.
They carried with them the Book of Love, which would have contained manuscripts of Jesus and Mary Magdalene, with spiritual knowledge they spread along their way. Some say that these manuscripts were saved from the flames of the Inquisition and are still hidden somewhere in the Occitan lands.
These past weeks, the white dove was very present in my visions, I learned that it was the symbol chosen by the Cathars, because it represents peace, purity and the Holy Spirit.
The Cathars were very advanced for their time, maybe too advanced. They were against the current and I like to call them the Hippies of the Middle Ages... For the Catholic Church they were dangerous heretics, they had to be eliminated. In 1208 the crusade against the Albigensians (another name for the Cathars) was launched. On July 22, 1209 the massacre of Béziers took place, where 20,000 people lost their lives. When the abbot of Cîteaux in charge of the crusade was asked how to recognize the heretics who had mixed with the good Catholics, he replied: "Kill them all, God will recognize his own!" Some Cathars managed to win the sympathy of certain lords and found refuge in castles, others among the Knights Templars. The massacre of the Cathars ended in 1244 at the castle of Montsegur, where 200 Cathars perished. As they descended the castle hill, they all held hands and sang as they stepped into the flames.
77 years later, on August 24, 1321, the last Good Man Guilhem de Bélibaste was arrested and burned alive at the castle of Villerouge-Termenès. As he was about to be burned, he declared a prophecy in Occitan: "Al cap dels sèt cent ans, verdejera lo laurel", " In seven hundred years, the laurel will turn green again".
Yes we are exactly 700 years later... This prophecy announces the return of the spirit of Catharism, carried by the Message of Love from Christ and Mary Magdalene, the return of a spirituality in direct link with Source (the Holy Spirit) and Nature. The return also perhaps of the heretics carrying this message (our souls carry the memories of persecutions throughout the ages).
While we are going through a period of intense transformation that seems pretty dark, this message also invites us not to bend before tyranny. As the Cathars did in their time by continuing to sing amidst the flames. The laurel is a symbol of victory and heroism, and what we are told today is not to be afraid anymore, to stand up and take up the torch again, which this time will burn strong for the victory of the Light!
It is the convergence of the timelines, everything is converging now.
And we are the ones we have been waiting for.
Sat Nam 🙏 🌟 ❤️ 🕊
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