by Robert Richardson
from
Alpheus Website
Over 100 books have been written about
the mystery surrounding the tiny, mountaintop village of Rennes-le-Château,
France. Most of these books merely advance the fictional claims of a
modern, extreme right wing French group, which grandly calls itself
the Priory of Sion. The real nature of that group and its motives
were exposed in a recent issue of New Dawn. But is there really
anything of historical or spiritual value about Rennes-le-Château?
Once the fictions created and perpetrated about Rennes-le-Château are stripped away - a phony bloodline allegedly descended from Jesus; gravesites of (pick one) Jesus, Mary Magdalene, Isis; secrets of the Templars; lost records of man’s origin; etc., etc. - only three trails of actual evidence remain:
Once the fictions created and perpetrated about Rennes-le-Château are stripped away - a phony bloodline allegedly descended from Jesus; gravesites of (pick one) Jesus, Mary Magdalene, Isis; secrets of the Templars; lost records of man’s origin; etc., etc. - only three trails of actual evidence remain:
Each of these three trails overlap,
and they are the keys of this much misunderstood and deliberately
distorted mystery. The modern keys begin just prior to the French
Revolution.
In 1774, Abbe Antoine Bigou moved to Rennes-le-Château to replace his uncle as the parish priest. He continued his uncle’s close relationship with the village nobility, the Hautpouls. The large Hautpoul Château, rebuilt by the family in the 16th century and still standing today, was filled with esoteric symbols. The symbols spoke of the family’s long-standing ties to esoteric traditions and to perpetuating ancient, secret knowledge. And the close Hautpoul relationship with multiple generations of Bigou priests spoke of the equal commitment of the priests to those same ideals. In 1792, before he fled the French revolution to Spain, Antoine Bigou carved a strange headstone for the Hautpoul matriarch in the church graveyard - even though she had died a decade earlier.
Almost a century later, in 1872, Abbe Henri Boudet arrived as the new parish priest at nearby Rennes-les-Bains. Erudite and taciturn, the popular priest joined the Society of Arts and Sciences of Carcassonne and immersed himself in studying local history. By 1886, he had published a strange book called The True Celtic Language and the Stone Cromlech of Rennes-les-Bains. It dwelt on differences in dialectic pronunciation and advanced the bizarre thesis that English was the source of the Celtic language.
In 1774, Abbe Antoine Bigou moved to Rennes-le-Château to replace his uncle as the parish priest. He continued his uncle’s close relationship with the village nobility, the Hautpouls. The large Hautpoul Château, rebuilt by the family in the 16th century and still standing today, was filled with esoteric symbols. The symbols spoke of the family’s long-standing ties to esoteric traditions and to perpetuating ancient, secret knowledge. And the close Hautpoul relationship with multiple generations of Bigou priests spoke of the equal commitment of the priests to those same ideals. In 1792, before he fled the French revolution to Spain, Antoine Bigou carved a strange headstone for the Hautpoul matriarch in the church graveyard - even though she had died a decade earlier.
Almost a century later, in 1872, Abbe Henri Boudet arrived as the new parish priest at nearby Rennes-les-Bains. Erudite and taciturn, the popular priest joined the Society of Arts and Sciences of Carcassonne and immersed himself in studying local history. By 1886, he had published a strange book called The True Celtic Language and the Stone Cromlech of Rennes-les-Bains. It dwelt on differences in dialectic pronunciation and advanced the bizarre thesis that English was the source of the Celtic language.
Boudet also wrote in it of the key to a
local mystery which can be accessed by a word in a foreign language,
and of 12 chests which concealed a fabulous treasure in the
countryside surrounding Rennes-les-Bains. Despite these
contradicting themes, Boudet continued his linguistic studies. In
1893 he presented a 40 page paper on differences in pronunciation in
the Languedoc region to the Carcassonne Society of Arts and
Sciences, where it was regarded as a very serious work. And again in
1896, he presented another paper on local dialects and their roots.
But in 1890, when he is alleged to have written a book captioned
Lazarus Come Outside, his Bishop supposedly banned it.
While Boudet immersed himself in these activities, Abbe Berenger Sauniere was appointed parish priest three miles away, at Rennes-le-Château in 1885. Sauniere and Boudet became quick friends and in 1887 Sauniere began a nine year restoration of the old family chapel of the Hautpouls, which served as the Rennes-le-Château church. Through the restoration, the church took on a character more resonant with esoteric and Masonic symbolism than Catholicism. In his restored church, Sauniere placed the stations of the cross in reverse order, with symbolically esoteric roses carved atop the crosses on each station.
While Boudet immersed himself in these activities, Abbe Berenger Sauniere was appointed parish priest three miles away, at Rennes-le-Château in 1885. Sauniere and Boudet became quick friends and in 1887 Sauniere began a nine year restoration of the old family chapel of the Hautpouls, which served as the Rennes-le-Château church. Through the restoration, the church took on a character more resonant with esoteric and Masonic symbolism than Catholicism. In his restored church, Sauniere placed the stations of the cross in reverse order, with symbolically esoteric roses carved atop the crosses on each station.
He carved Rosicrucian symbols into the
confessional. He relocated headstones in the church graveyard. He
deliberately defaced Abbe Bigou’s headstone of Madame Hautpoul. And
starting in 1901, Sauniere began to acquire tracts in the village
for an ambitious building program - a large villa; a castle-like
tower which housed his considerable personal library; a garden; and
a greenhouse. During this time, he continued to live modestly in his
official priestly residence, but lavishly entertained celebrated
political and cultural figures who journeyed from Paris to meet the
obscure priest in the remote country village. In 1905, Sauniere’s
Bishop demanded to know the source of the wealth behind all these
extravagances. When Sauniere refused to reveal the basis for his
income, the Bishop tried to remove Sauniere from the priesthood. He
spent most of the remainder of his life fighting to remain a priest.
When he died in 1917, he was revealed to
be penniless - all of his assets had been transferred to his
housekeeper. For several years, local people speculated he had found
some sort of treasure. The story faded into obscurity until,
beginning in the 1950’s, French magazine articles and a series of
increasingly speculative books brought it into the public eye and
progressively stretched the story to encompass wild claims about a
vast canvas of history and religion. Religion lies at the heart of
the heart of this story, but not in the way advanced by many
authors. Secret societies play in it; but their role is not as
spectacular as the fictions that have been spun about them.
Abbe Antoine Bigou preserved information about Rennes-le-Château by creating the odd, coded gravestone of Madame d’Hautpoul. A gravestone is rarely deliberately destroyed. It is never pillaged in wartime or revolutionary looting. It lasts, overlooked, for many years. It is an ideal "message drop" for anyone who comes looking for what may have been long "lost". The people who in this case would come looking were members of a secret society. The medium of preserving the message for a long time indicates membership in, indirect affiliation with, or knowledge of such a group. It also indicates knowledge of something worth preserving. In Sabadell, Spain, Abbe Bigou orally passed what he knew before his death to another refugee priest, Abbe Caunielle.(1)
Abbe Antoine Bigou preserved information about Rennes-le-Château by creating the odd, coded gravestone of Madame d’Hautpoul. A gravestone is rarely deliberately destroyed. It is never pillaged in wartime or revolutionary looting. It lasts, overlooked, for many years. It is an ideal "message drop" for anyone who comes looking for what may have been long "lost". The people who in this case would come looking were members of a secret society. The medium of preserving the message for a long time indicates membership in, indirect affiliation with, or knowledge of such a group. It also indicates knowledge of something worth preserving. In Sabadell, Spain, Abbe Bigou orally passed what he knew before his death to another refugee priest, Abbe Caunielle.(1)
Abbe Caunielle may not have been the
member of such a society but he did not hesitate to preserve what he
knew and transmit it for the future through the best and most
reliable sources available. Abbe Caunielle is alleged to have
written two rare books, The Ray of Gold and The Line of Fire,(2)
about the area around Rennes-le-Château. Abbe Caunielle transmitted
the information given him by Abbe Bigou to two other priests, Abbe
Jean le Vie, who served at Rennes les Bains for thirty years prior
to Abbe Henri Boudet, and le Vie’s contemporary, the priest at St.
Laurent de la Cabrerisse, Abbe Emile Francois Cayron.(3)
During Jean le Vie’s tenure at Rennes-les-Bains, slowly and deliberately the old Celtic names of landmarks and places in the area began to change to names resonant with Catholic mysticism. Henri Boudet succeeded Jean le Vie as parish priest at Rennes-les-Bains. Boudet had for years been deliberately prepared for his role in the drama of Rennes-le-Château, "educated and formed" by Abbe Cayron.(4) Boudet continued the practice of quietly and systematically altering the names of local geographic landmarks. One of the characteristics of Catholicism has been its ability to absorb existing traditions and practices into it, in the manner of its role model, the Roman Empire. For example, in ancient Rome, the Pope was the title of the chief pagan priest.(5)
During Jean le Vie’s tenure at Rennes-les-Bains, slowly and deliberately the old Celtic names of landmarks and places in the area began to change to names resonant with Catholic mysticism. Henri Boudet succeeded Jean le Vie as parish priest at Rennes-les-Bains. Boudet had for years been deliberately prepared for his role in the drama of Rennes-le-Château, "educated and formed" by Abbe Cayron.(4) Boudet continued the practice of quietly and systematically altering the names of local geographic landmarks. One of the characteristics of Catholicism has been its ability to absorb existing traditions and practices into it, in the manner of its role model, the Roman Empire. For example, in ancient Rome, the Pope was the title of the chief pagan priest.(5)
A cardinal was the title of a high
imperial government official. When the church stepped into the power
vacuum created by shifting the seat of the Roman empire to
Constantinople, it adopted these titles to give it widespread
spiritual and political credibility. When the church converted
France and England, many Druids were absorbed into it as bishops and
Catholic churches were built atop old Celtic sacred sites. At
Chartres, the tribal seat of the Celtic Carmites tribe,(6)
Chartres cathedral was built over a special place for the Druids and
for all of the Celtic tribes in France, a great gathering point and
seat of religious and judicial judgment.(7)
This adaptive absorption by Catholicism
has preserved many aspects of the ancient traditions. In
transferring the nomenclature of local landmarks to a more Christian
timbre, Jean le Vie and Henri Boudet were acting totally in
accordance with Catholic church traditions and practices. They were
also consciously acting to preserve what they knew to be a valuable
spiritual tradition.
The arrival at Rennes-le-Château of Berenger Sauniere moved forward the efforts of Abbe Henri Boudet to document and preserve the initiatic nature of the secret of Rennes-le-Château. Both were affiliated with esoteric orders. Sauniere was most probably associated with the Masonic Regime [Obedience]. This group was founded sometime between 1778 and 1782 by Jean-Baptiste Willermoz in Lyons, a city to which Sauniere often journeyed. Boudet was probably associated with it or with another order, possibly the Order of the Rose-Croix of the Temple and the Grail. Their documented actions, interests and associations are entirely consistent with such affiliations.
Another person with a documented interest in the initiatic traditions was Sauniere’s priest brother Alfred. Long an influence in his brother’s life, Alfred was employed by the Chefdelbien family of Narbonne, until his dismissal for illicitly searching through their records. The Chelfdelbien family were custodians of the records of the lodge of Philadelphes in Narbonne.(8) This group strongly defended the continued existence of the Templar Order and of the Templars as the secret chiefs of Masonry.(9) Hautpoul relative Jacques Entienne Marconis de Negre, founder of the Rite of Memphis, maintained considerable respect for the Philadelphes. He said they were structured along Rosicrucian lines and had one lodge which was the custodian of very interesting historical manuscripts.(10)
Through the information available to them from local tradition, the oral message passed to Henri Boudet by Jean le Vie and the teachings of Abbe Cayron, the legacy of Abbe Caunielle, and the knowledge at their disposal through their esoteric affiliations, Boudet and Sauniere knew part - but not all - of several secrets associated with the valley and with the church at Rennes-le-Château. Boudet wrote of them in his book, The True Celtic Language and The Stone Cromlech of Rennes-les-Bains in a certain code. If he did in fact write the book Come Out, Lazarus as asserted by some sources, this would be even more proof of his esoteric affiliation.
The title Come Out, Lazarus refers to the raising of Lazarus by Jesus at the ancient initiatic centre at Bethany. The Egyptian and Mystery School initiatic process of inducing through magical rites a coma like state for an out of body experience was fading from use. Few were still able to survive it at the time the New Testament was written. As originally practiced in Egypt in the Kings Chamber of the Great Pyramid, it was extremely dangerous, often resulting in the death of the initiate. To bring back the seeker required a magical operation by a priest and 12 assistants. The initiate, when returned to the world, now saw life as if he had been "born again".
The arrival at Rennes-le-Château of Berenger Sauniere moved forward the efforts of Abbe Henri Boudet to document and preserve the initiatic nature of the secret of Rennes-le-Château. Both were affiliated with esoteric orders. Sauniere was most probably associated with the Masonic Regime [Obedience]. This group was founded sometime between 1778 and 1782 by Jean-Baptiste Willermoz in Lyons, a city to which Sauniere often journeyed. Boudet was probably associated with it or with another order, possibly the Order of the Rose-Croix of the Temple and the Grail. Their documented actions, interests and associations are entirely consistent with such affiliations.
Another person with a documented interest in the initiatic traditions was Sauniere’s priest brother Alfred. Long an influence in his brother’s life, Alfred was employed by the Chefdelbien family of Narbonne, until his dismissal for illicitly searching through their records. The Chelfdelbien family were custodians of the records of the lodge of Philadelphes in Narbonne.(8) This group strongly defended the continued existence of the Templar Order and of the Templars as the secret chiefs of Masonry.(9) Hautpoul relative Jacques Entienne Marconis de Negre, founder of the Rite of Memphis, maintained considerable respect for the Philadelphes. He said they were structured along Rosicrucian lines and had one lodge which was the custodian of very interesting historical manuscripts.(10)
Through the information available to them from local tradition, the oral message passed to Henri Boudet by Jean le Vie and the teachings of Abbe Cayron, the legacy of Abbe Caunielle, and the knowledge at their disposal through their esoteric affiliations, Boudet and Sauniere knew part - but not all - of several secrets associated with the valley and with the church at Rennes-le-Château. Boudet wrote of them in his book, The True Celtic Language and The Stone Cromlech of Rennes-les-Bains in a certain code. If he did in fact write the book Come Out, Lazarus as asserted by some sources, this would be even more proof of his esoteric affiliation.
The title Come Out, Lazarus refers to the raising of Lazarus by Jesus at the ancient initiatic centre at Bethany. The Egyptian and Mystery School initiatic process of inducing through magical rites a coma like state for an out of body experience was fading from use. Few were still able to survive it at the time the New Testament was written. As originally practiced in Egypt in the Kings Chamber of the Great Pyramid, it was extremely dangerous, often resulting in the death of the initiate. To bring back the seeker required a magical operation by a priest and 12 assistants. The initiate, when returned to the world, now saw life as if he had been "born again".
This is origin of that phrase, now so
popular among evangelical Christians. The raising of Lazarus is a
metaphor indicating Christ’s superiority to the old initiatic system
in a code understood by the audience of the time, for whom the New
Testament was intended. If such a book were actually written by
Boudet, it is also a hint of what he and Sauniere encoded in the
church at Rennes-le-Château.
When Boudet wrote of the solution to the local mystery being a word in a foreign language, by this he implied the reassemblage symbolism of the Egyptian Osirian mysteries, the finding the of true self, and the reuniting with lost knowledge. It is the Masonic word, the secret name of god whispered once yearly by the high priest in the ancient temple at Jerusalem. It is the transformation of consciousness. He wrote specifically of language - after the manner of 19th century occultist Fabre d’ Olivet (11) - and the countryside around Rennes-les-Bains for a very particular purpose.
At Rennes-le-Château, Abbe Sauniere also had a purpose. He was trying to rediscover what had been hinted at by Fathers Bigou and Caunielle and by the incomplete, limited knowledge about Rennes-le-Château in the hands of some high level members of several secret societies. This accounts for a number of his actions that puzzled later investigators. In June, 1891,(12) in a formal ceremony directed by his Bishop, Sauniere rededicated the church at Rennes-le-Château and publicly displayed the Dalle des Chevaliers.
When Boudet wrote of the solution to the local mystery being a word in a foreign language, by this he implied the reassemblage symbolism of the Egyptian Osirian mysteries, the finding the of true self, and the reuniting with lost knowledge. It is the Masonic word, the secret name of god whispered once yearly by the high priest in the ancient temple at Jerusalem. It is the transformation of consciousness. He wrote specifically of language - after the manner of 19th century occultist Fabre d’ Olivet (11) - and the countryside around Rennes-les-Bains for a very particular purpose.
At Rennes-le-Château, Abbe Sauniere also had a purpose. He was trying to rediscover what had been hinted at by Fathers Bigou and Caunielle and by the incomplete, limited knowledge about Rennes-le-Château in the hands of some high level members of several secret societies. This accounts for a number of his actions that puzzled later investigators. In June, 1891,(12) in a formal ceremony directed by his Bishop, Sauniere rededicated the church at Rennes-le-Château and publicly displayed the Dalle des Chevaliers.
This ancient stone from the church floor
had been turned over a century earlier by Abbe Bigou to conceal the
entry to the church crypt from looters during the revolution. By
publicly displaying it, Sauinere was announcing to members of secret
societies, in a simple language which they understood but which was
meaningless to the public, that he had rediscovered and entered the
ancient crypt. Its removal from the church stated that he had again
permanently concealed the entry to the crypt. The secret of the
crypt, he was saying, was his alone to guard and to parcel out as he
saw fit.
Sauniere pillaged tombs in the crypt, not out of greed for wealth, but out of greed for knowledge. He gave ancient jewellery and crowns from the crypts to his housekeeper, Marie Denarnaurd, and to other priests and family members.(13) But until September 1891, he did not find what he sought all along. It was a tomb holding the archives of a particular historical period for an ancient, esoteric society, along with related papers of possible historical importance. He was previously unable to find it because, like the entry from the church to the crypt, it had been carefully concealed. The discovery is noted in his journal on September 21, 1891, three months after the ceremony rededicating the church. And on September 29, he wrote that he had seen the secret.
Sauniere’s relationship with many celebrated cultural figures was that of those who consult with a keeper of secrets, seeking some knowledge from him. The governmental officials who visited Sauniere in the remote village of Rennes-le-Château were high level Masons.(14) The reason for the association with these people - many of whom gravitated around the Order of the Rose-Croix of the Temple and the Grail - was because of these overlapping interests. Sauniere was thought to be on the trail - if not the guardian - of long lost, information of interest to them all. A cache of esoteric records would be a dazzling discovery of immense interest for anyone associated with an esoteric or initiatic order, a pearl almost beyond price.
Also in the tomb was information about the secrets of the surrounding countryside in a form accessible to initiates, but only partially comprehensible to Sauniere. When Henri Boudet wrote of the Cromlech - or stone circle - surrounding Rennes-les-Bains, he was speaking quite literally. He was derided in his time, as he still is today, because he has been taken literally. But author David Wood has rediscovered a circle of churches rebuilt atop older ruins - as was customary for Catholic churches to be built atop Celtic sacred sites - which does encircle the area around Rennes-le-Château. Boudet knew that the Celts used standing stones to designate telluric points. And they used standing stone circles for religious purposes.(15) When he wrote that a stone cromlech (i.e, circle of standing stones) marked the area around Rennes-les-Bains, Boudet was saying that the entire area is key telluric point which was used for religious purposes.
Most of the characteristics of an area of high telluric activity are present in the physical characteristics of the Rennes-les- Bains/Rennes-le-Château area: -
Sauniere pillaged tombs in the crypt, not out of greed for wealth, but out of greed for knowledge. He gave ancient jewellery and crowns from the crypts to his housekeeper, Marie Denarnaurd, and to other priests and family members.(13) But until September 1891, he did not find what he sought all along. It was a tomb holding the archives of a particular historical period for an ancient, esoteric society, along with related papers of possible historical importance. He was previously unable to find it because, like the entry from the church to the crypt, it had been carefully concealed. The discovery is noted in his journal on September 21, 1891, three months after the ceremony rededicating the church. And on September 29, he wrote that he had seen the secret.
Sauniere’s relationship with many celebrated cultural figures was that of those who consult with a keeper of secrets, seeking some knowledge from him. The governmental officials who visited Sauniere in the remote village of Rennes-le-Château were high level Masons.(14) The reason for the association with these people - many of whom gravitated around the Order of the Rose-Croix of the Temple and the Grail - was because of these overlapping interests. Sauniere was thought to be on the trail - if not the guardian - of long lost, information of interest to them all. A cache of esoteric records would be a dazzling discovery of immense interest for anyone associated with an esoteric or initiatic order, a pearl almost beyond price.
Also in the tomb was information about the secrets of the surrounding countryside in a form accessible to initiates, but only partially comprehensible to Sauniere. When Henri Boudet wrote of the Cromlech - or stone circle - surrounding Rennes-les-Bains, he was speaking quite literally. He was derided in his time, as he still is today, because he has been taken literally. But author David Wood has rediscovered a circle of churches rebuilt atop older ruins - as was customary for Catholic churches to be built atop Celtic sacred sites - which does encircle the area around Rennes-le-Château. Boudet knew that the Celts used standing stones to designate telluric points. And they used standing stone circles for religious purposes.(15) When he wrote that a stone cromlech (i.e, circle of standing stones) marked the area around Rennes-les-Bains, Boudet was saying that the entire area is key telluric point which was used for religious purposes.
Most of the characteristics of an area of high telluric activity are present in the physical characteristics of the Rennes-les- Bains/Rennes-le-Château area: -
The best known
telluric point on land today is Sedona, Arizona, because it has been
highly publicized in New Age periodicals. Such points in the past
were also called woevres, as in la Foret du Woevre, near
Stenay
where the Merovingian king Dagobert was alleged to have been killed.
Rennes-le-Château was long an exceptionally unique power point. This
was known to initiates for centuries, and the valley bares
considerable evidence that it has been used as an initiatic
labyrinth in the past.
A labyrinth is a particular type of spiritual training tool, a ground-plan which the seeker physically walks, and which incorporates three degrees, or stages. In the first stage, the individual sheds, or is stripped, of his personal entrappings, and sheds and transforms his unnecessary, negative characteristics. In the second stage, the individual is forced to come face to face with himself and find the core of his being. In the third stage, the individual returns to the world a different person. Like the old initiates, like Lazarus, he comes out of the initiatic cave or labyrinth, born again. These stages mirror the steps of the spiritual training systems used in monasteries and initiatic esoteric orders. In the western training system, these steps can take many years. In the eastern system, they are designed to take lifetimes.
Until the last century, in parts of rural Ireland and Wales, many ancient Celtic customs were preserved and several labyrinths, their actual purpose long forgotten, were maintained and the custom of ritualistically walking them observed. The ancient ritual consisted of entering the labyrinth from the north, and proceeding through it in a clockwise, processional fashion. At Rennes-le-Château, this would entail entering the valley near Blanchefort and the mountain of Pech Cardou, and eventually emerging at Rennes-le-Château. This represents the descent of spirit into man, its symbolic entombment at Rennes-le-Château, and eventual emergence.
Thus, in the much debated Poussin painting Le Bergiers d’Arcadie which is said to be associated with Rennes-le-Château, the processional path is implied in the distance. The transformation of consciousness is indicated by the geometric organization of the artwork, with the centre of a pentagon on the forehead of the shepherdess, and it is affirmed in the painting by the shadow of the hand of one of the shepherds marking the same spot on the brow of his shadow.
The path of the Rennes-les-Bains / Rennes-le-Château labyrinth was clearly marked in the past by a series of fourteen carved crosses in the landscape. They eventually became overgrown and forgotten. They were rediscovered by Abbe Boudet and he wrote of how he found Greek crosses carved in the landscape of his Cromlech.(16) To the Celts, the landscape held a special meaning.(17) They held a special spiritual communion with it, and used it as a mirror for the themes of their bards and of their Druids.(18) 600 years before Christ, Celtic crosses were used to mark special locations in the landscape.(19)
A labyrinth is a particular type of spiritual training tool, a ground-plan which the seeker physically walks, and which incorporates three degrees, or stages. In the first stage, the individual sheds, or is stripped, of his personal entrappings, and sheds and transforms his unnecessary, negative characteristics. In the second stage, the individual is forced to come face to face with himself and find the core of his being. In the third stage, the individual returns to the world a different person. Like the old initiates, like Lazarus, he comes out of the initiatic cave or labyrinth, born again. These stages mirror the steps of the spiritual training systems used in monasteries and initiatic esoteric orders. In the western training system, these steps can take many years. In the eastern system, they are designed to take lifetimes.
Until the last century, in parts of rural Ireland and Wales, many ancient Celtic customs were preserved and several labyrinths, their actual purpose long forgotten, were maintained and the custom of ritualistically walking them observed. The ancient ritual consisted of entering the labyrinth from the north, and proceeding through it in a clockwise, processional fashion. At Rennes-le-Château, this would entail entering the valley near Blanchefort and the mountain of Pech Cardou, and eventually emerging at Rennes-le-Château. This represents the descent of spirit into man, its symbolic entombment at Rennes-le-Château, and eventual emergence.
Thus, in the much debated Poussin painting Le Bergiers d’Arcadie which is said to be associated with Rennes-le-Château, the processional path is implied in the distance. The transformation of consciousness is indicated by the geometric organization of the artwork, with the centre of a pentagon on the forehead of the shepherdess, and it is affirmed in the painting by the shadow of the hand of one of the shepherds marking the same spot on the brow of his shadow.
The path of the Rennes-les-Bains / Rennes-le-Château labyrinth was clearly marked in the past by a series of fourteen carved crosses in the landscape. They eventually became overgrown and forgotten. They were rediscovered by Abbe Boudet and he wrote of how he found Greek crosses carved in the landscape of his Cromlech.(16) To the Celts, the landscape held a special meaning.(17) They held a special spiritual communion with it, and used it as a mirror for the themes of their bards and of their Druids.(18) 600 years before Christ, Celtic crosses were used to mark special locations in the landscape.(19)
Later, in these same locations in
Christian times, the stations of the cross were placed in the
landscape in Italy and in France to reenact in Christian terms the
labyrinth experience,(20)
and to create a mystical Christian spiritual transformation. In the
area surrounding Rennes-les-Bains, the crosses were recarved in
Christian times into "Greek" Christian crosses. Visiting these sites
was the reason Sauniere took long walks in the countryside. The
labyrinth of the two Rennes can be walked in fourteen successive
stages.
Most labyrinths, however, are not accompanied by the telluric strength of Rennes-le-Château. When acting upon the receptive capacity of a spiritually oriented person, such areas can have a powerful transformative effect, which accelerates the intended result of a labyrinth. However, it cannot be approached without considerable training and preparation. This effect can be potentially very dangerous and harmful. It is related in the fable of the minotaur. In the labyrinth of mythology, the minotaur lies in wait at the centre of the labyrinth. It is fearsome. It must be slain, or it devours the lost seeker in the labyrinth.
Most labyrinths, however, are not accompanied by the telluric strength of Rennes-le-Château. When acting upon the receptive capacity of a spiritually oriented person, such areas can have a powerful transformative effect, which accelerates the intended result of a labyrinth. However, it cannot be approached without considerable training and preparation. This effect can be potentially very dangerous and harmful. It is related in the fable of the minotaur. In the labyrinth of mythology, the minotaur lies in wait at the centre of the labyrinth. It is fearsome. It must be slain, or it devours the lost seeker in the labyrinth.
The lower nature must be confronted and
transformed, or it will destroy the spiritual seeker. The thread of Ariadne leads the victorious knight out of the labyrinth. The thread
of reintegrated feminine consciousness, opened when the lower nature
has been transformed, leads the seeker to be born again. Again, when
Boudet writes that the key to the secret is a word in a foreign
language, he writes of the 15 parts of the scattered body of Osiris
reunited and made whole at last, the uniting of the transformed
lower self with the higher consciousness.
The fourteen stages of the cross in the church at Rennes-le-Château phonetically reassemble the body of Osiris in ancient local language, Oc - thus utilizing Boudet’s study of the regional dialects - and play out in the church the drama of the labyrinth. The reversed order of the stations of the cross in the church at Rennes-le-Château is an initiatic code. It means a process is taking place on a spiritual plane, rather than only a material level. The positions of the statues of the saints serve a multiple purpose, both in the drama itself and in reverse position of places in the valley landscape with similar names given them by those noted local historians, Jean le Vie and Henri Boudet.
The fourteen stages of the cross in the church at Rennes-le-Château phonetically reassemble the body of Osiris in ancient local language, Oc - thus utilizing Boudet’s study of the regional dialects - and play out in the church the drama of the labyrinth. The reversed order of the stations of the cross in the church at Rennes-le-Château is an initiatic code. It means a process is taking place on a spiritual plane, rather than only a material level. The positions of the statues of the saints serve a multiple purpose, both in the drama itself and in reverse position of places in the valley landscape with similar names given them by those noted local historians, Jean le Vie and Henri Boudet.
The mural beneath the church alter is a
reintegration (i.e., transformation) code. In Celtic ritual, the
skull is the symbol of the personality.(21)
In the mural, the personality is still as indicated by the skull
position. The balanced fingers of Mary Magdalene, three from each
hand and all interlaced, balance masculine and feminine, a goal of
reintegration, the accomplishment of the Great Work of Masons,
Mystics, and Occultists.
Two other signs mark the importance of this valley as a spiritual centre, one from its ancient settlers, one from Abbe Sauniere and Abbe Boudet. Every major Celtic tribe had under its control a special area which had religious significance.
Chartres, for
example, was under the control of Carmites and was the chief seat of
judgment and the centre of Celtic life.(22)
It was the centre of the high Druidic court where tribal disputes
were judged, as well as a major spiritual centre. A carved stone
called "Devils Armchair" in the landscape near Rennes-les-Bains
(click image right) is
characteristic of most of the special areas where the Druids - high
priests and judges - held court throughout Celtic Europe in similar
naturally formed or man-carved chairs.(23)
Two other signs mark the importance of this valley as a spiritual centre, one from its ancient settlers, one from Abbe Sauniere and Abbe Boudet. Every major Celtic tribe had under its control a special area which had religious significance.
Chartres, for
example, was under the control of Carmites and was the chief seat of
judgment and the centre of Celtic life.(22)
It was the centre of the high Druidic court where tribal disputes
were judged, as well as a major spiritual centre. A carved stone
called "Devils Armchair" in the landscape near Rennes-les-Bains
(click image right) is
characteristic of most of the special areas where the Druids - high
priests and judges - held court throughout Celtic Europe in similar
naturally formed or man-carved chairs.(23)
Every Celtic tribe had a nameton, a
sacred place or grove associated with the idea of worship and
justice.(24) The
remnants of stone walls and "bee-hive shaped stone structures"(25)
or capitelles in the "Great Camp" above Coustaussa near Rennes-le-Château
appear typical of a Celtic Castro, or tribal settlement. Similar
settlements are found across southern Europe, but with circular and
more conventional living quarters. Yet such "bee-hive shaped stone
structures" were long used in the Middle East and Ireland as housing
for early Christian monks.(26)
The Celts had a particular concept of a holy city. It was in the shape of a cross, located at the centre of the country, with roads extending into the four cardinal directions. Law and justice were represented around the holy city by a rectilinear grid which mirrored the cosmic order,(27) just as the later Christian cathedrals, smaller in scale but equally spiritual, were in the shape of a cross and the human body, and just as the Paris church of St. Sulpice was oriented on the four cardinal points when its first stone was laid in 1646.(28) The key determinator for the Celts in this holy city was the heart, or sacred mountain, which was the ruler - or Cardou - of the country, and which held a special spiritual significance.
"Cardou" is not a French word or name. Its origin appears to be the word Cardo, from the latin "Cor", an older term meaning heart or wisdom. It was used in ancient times in the Middle East to indicate a sacred line, or regulator, drawn from North to South which was used both as a starting point for geographical measures, a basis for the creation for tithing districts, and for the creation of a system similar to our present latitude and longitudinal measurements. It was also used in religious rites.
The Celts had a particular concept of a holy city. It was in the shape of a cross, located at the centre of the country, with roads extending into the four cardinal directions. Law and justice were represented around the holy city by a rectilinear grid which mirrored the cosmic order,(27) just as the later Christian cathedrals, smaller in scale but equally spiritual, were in the shape of a cross and the human body, and just as the Paris church of St. Sulpice was oriented on the four cardinal points when its first stone was laid in 1646.(28) The key determinator for the Celts in this holy city was the heart, or sacred mountain, which was the ruler - or Cardou - of the country, and which held a special spiritual significance.
"Cardou" is not a French word or name. Its origin appears to be the word Cardo, from the latin "Cor", an older term meaning heart or wisdom. It was used in ancient times in the Middle East to indicate a sacred line, or regulator, drawn from North to South which was used both as a starting point for geographical measures, a basis for the creation for tithing districts, and for the creation of a system similar to our present latitude and longitudinal measurements. It was also used in religious rites.
These special religious sites each had
their,
"... sacred Mount or Cardo or Acropolis or Olympus or stone circle, around which the processions, the Deisuls, the voyages of salvation, were made..."(29)
Circa 1670, the Paris Meridian was
established. It is the original North-South marker of longitudinal
measurement in Europe. It is located just to the east of Rennes-les-Bains, and is immediately adjacent to the mountain of
Pech Cardou. Also nearby, before its disappearance, a painting
called "Le Pape" hung in the church at Rennes-les-Bains. Set in the
church graveyard at Rennes-les-Bains, the painting shows two
tonsured priests from the Middle Ages, standing before the Pope, who
is wearing the three tiered Papal tiara, which was in ancient times
the sign of an initiate.
On a background hillside is a unique
local stone menhir which aligns with the church at Rennes-le-Château.
The Pope has two raised fingers. One finger points to a circle on
his crozier, the other to a symbol that is the Greek letter Pi,
which is used for calculating the various properties of a circle.
Two circles and their properties.
Underlying much of sacred geometry is a vescia pisces, two equal interlocking circles where the centre of each circle is a point on the circumference of the other. Once the vescia pisces is constructed, it is possible to recreate mathematical models on the ground which involve not only much of the knowledge in sacred geometry, but also to mathematically reproduce many dimensions and features of the Great Pyramid.(30) Similarly, once a such circle has been established, it is relatively easy to divide the circle into twelve parts - the twelve treasure chests described by Abbe Boudet in his book.
Abbe Boudet believed the Rennes-le-Château/Rennes-les-Bains area was a religious centre for the ancient Gauls.(31) Commentators from Caesar onwards have opted for the explanation that the Druids all seemed to derive their knowledge from a common school,(32) perhaps even of Pythagorean origin.(33) Curiously, in keeping with the ideas in Pythagorean training, Druids all wore a special cord, a rope of 13 sections marked with 12 knots, so that its bearer could lay out a right angle and the seventh part of a circle (34) in keeping with the knowledge in sacred geometry. And the valley of Rennes-les-Bains was known as the "Valley of the Cross" until the middle of the last century,(35) entirely in line with the concept of the Celtic Holy City.
Many of the religious sites of the ancient Greeks were similarly organized around a sacred mountain. The surrounding countryside in many parts of the ancient world was organized into twelve districts for governing purposes and to create both a numerological/mystical rhythm and a giant zodiac. Presently, the best known of these zodiacs was rediscovered at Glastonbury by Katherine Maltwood in 1929, who believed the secret of its zodiac had been transmitted by the Druids to the Glastonbury monks and then eventually to the Knights Templar.(36)
Underlying much of sacred geometry is a vescia pisces, two equal interlocking circles where the centre of each circle is a point on the circumference of the other. Once the vescia pisces is constructed, it is possible to recreate mathematical models on the ground which involve not only much of the knowledge in sacred geometry, but also to mathematically reproduce many dimensions and features of the Great Pyramid.(30) Similarly, once a such circle has been established, it is relatively easy to divide the circle into twelve parts - the twelve treasure chests described by Abbe Boudet in his book.
Abbe Boudet believed the Rennes-le-Château/Rennes-les-Bains area was a religious centre for the ancient Gauls.(31) Commentators from Caesar onwards have opted for the explanation that the Druids all seemed to derive their knowledge from a common school,(32) perhaps even of Pythagorean origin.(33) Curiously, in keeping with the ideas in Pythagorean training, Druids all wore a special cord, a rope of 13 sections marked with 12 knots, so that its bearer could lay out a right angle and the seventh part of a circle (34) in keeping with the knowledge in sacred geometry. And the valley of Rennes-les-Bains was known as the "Valley of the Cross" until the middle of the last century,(35) entirely in line with the concept of the Celtic Holy City.
Many of the religious sites of the ancient Greeks were similarly organized around a sacred mountain. The surrounding countryside in many parts of the ancient world was organized into twelve districts for governing purposes and to create both a numerological/mystical rhythm and a giant zodiac. Presently, the best known of these zodiacs was rediscovered at Glastonbury by Katherine Maltwood in 1929, who believed the secret of its zodiac had been transmitted by the Druids to the Glastonbury monks and then eventually to the Knights Templar.(36)
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The Glastonbury zodiac embodies,
"the scale on which the ancients applied the emblems of esoteric science to the sanctification of entire landscapes."(37)
Such mystical districts became the basis
for the recurrence throughout the ancient world of the number twelve
in nations which supposedly had their origins in twelve tribes. The
purpose in creating these societies and districts structured around
the concept of twelve was,
"to create and maintain a perfectly balanced human order in harmony with the heavenly order, where life is experienced on a high level of human intensity, as traditionally follows the discovery of the Grail."(38)
Glastonbury zodiac
Traces of this objective remain
scattered through Europe and the Middle East and resurface
periodically in modern religions. For example, a meridian, or
ley,
has been identified as connecting many of the old religious sites in
England. Similarly, meridians, or leys, have been found to stretch
far across the landscape, connecting a string of sites associated
with ancient traditions and relabelled as St. Michael’s, whether
locally across southern England from St. Michael’s Mount to Bury St.
Edmund’s, or from Skillig Michael in western Ireland to
Mount Carmel
in Lebanon.
In the Middle East, running down through Lebanon, from Mt. Lebanon onward south through Jerusalem and Bethlehem, is a corridor-like axis that aligns most of the key sites in both the Old and New Testament.(39) In Jerusalem itself, Dr. Asher Kaufman has discovered a ley which realigns the holy places.(40) His discovery, in turn, has led authors John Michell and Christine Rhone to rediscover the pentagonal/pentagram ground plan of a geometric Temple which is created by the alignment of many sites in Jerusalem.
In the Middle East, running down through Lebanon, from Mt. Lebanon onward south through Jerusalem and Bethlehem, is a corridor-like axis that aligns most of the key sites in both the Old and New Testament.(39) In Jerusalem itself, Dr. Asher Kaufman has discovered a ley which realigns the holy places.(40) His discovery, in turn, has led authors John Michell and Christine Rhone to rediscover the pentagonal/pentagram ground plan of a geometric Temple which is created by the alignment of many sites in Jerusalem.
This alignment was one of the ancient
keys to maintaining order and harmony, and it transcends and at the
same time unities all western religions. Its secret reassemblage was
one of the key missions of the Knights Templar.(41)
Perhaps not coincidentally, many researchers have found pentagons
and pentagrams are created by linking many of the sites in the area
around Rennes-le-Château and Rennes-les-Bains.
The humble French priests who struggled to preserve the ancient ground plan at Rennes-le-Château knew the importance of their obscure efforts. Men, as usual, have misinterpreted their meaning. Their efforts were directed at maintaining the ancient spiritual traditions which both undergrid and transcend all religions. Those traces were preserved in ancient temples, and more recently in gothic cathedrals. Increasingly, man has distanced himself from them and forgotten their use and importance. Perhaps in the future the value of the humble priests’ efforts will be appreciated.
The humble French priests who struggled to preserve the ancient ground plan at Rennes-le-Château knew the importance of their obscure efforts. Men, as usual, have misinterpreted their meaning. Their efforts were directed at maintaining the ancient spiritual traditions which both undergrid and transcend all religions. Those traces were preserved in ancient temples, and more recently in gothic cathedrals. Increasingly, man has distanced himself from them and forgotten their use and importance. Perhaps in the future the value of the humble priests’ efforts will be appreciated.
But until the layers of fictions created
about Rennes-le-Château are finally stripped away, time will not
yield its evidence - just as time will eventually prove or disprove
the accusation of the Jesuit, Father Gautier, writing in the 17th
century, who attributed some of the Rosicrucian works to a group
headquartered in the labyrinth in the Pyreenes.(42)
NOTES
NOTES
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