I always knew this trip would be special, was destined and divine timing would play its part. Finally, I landed in Carcassone in southern France, with my family, disembarking the plane from Dublin as my body tried to adjust suddenly to the 36-degrees heatwave on 18th July, 2023.
My original trip departure had been planned for Friday, 20th March, 2020, on a retreat with a small group of women led by author and angel expert, Chrissie Astell, with the intention of us visiting some sacred sites and healing the land from the Cathar massacre that had occurred at Montsegur in 1244. But the first lockdown due to Coronavirus began three days before. Several attempts to reschedule my trip with the group failed and, despite my frustration, I settled into a sense of acceptance that the universe needed to adjust my plans for a reason.
I was longing to visit the Caves of Mary Magdalene in the Rennes-le-Château area, which wasn’t even part of the original itinerary with that group. On Sunday, 4th June, 2023, at the final gathering of a 12-month women’s wellness circle in Omagh that I was co-facilitating, I became aware of the presence of Archangel Gabriel and Archangel Ariel surrounding me with an overwhelmingly deep, loving presence. The message I received was: ‘You must get to the Caves of Mary Magdalene, even if you have to go alone.’ Archangel Gabriel has been guiding me for many years, which is very fitting since he is the angel of communication and assists people who work in the field of communication, including writers, speakers and artists.
My husband knew how much I had wanted to visit Carcassone, so he said we would make it a family holiday in France in July, incorporating the places I wanted to see. I was ecstatic. I kept wondering if I should get in touch with a tour guide in France to show us the sacred sites, but something wasn’t sitting right with me about bringing a stranger into my family group. I still sometimes doubted I would be able to find the caves in Rennes-le-Château without a guide, however, a couple of weeks before our departure from Ireland, I turned over a card that stated: “Let faith be your guide”. I was being called to trust in the plan the universe had in store and, in divine timing, I connected through social media with an American author, Becky Prater, who supplied me with the directions to the caves.
At the start of our trip, we visited the beautiful, medieval city of Carcassone, wandering along the narrow streets, enjoying delicious crêpes, followed by a walk along the high walls. I was compelled to look at the time when I was at Carcassone Castle and it was 14:44pm. The number 144 has been shown to me repeatedly at synchronistic times since 2012. (I had to laugh as I glanced at the time on the clock when I typed this as it was 14:44.)
On the morning of 21st July, the day before Mary Magdalene’s official feast day, my family and I visited the peaceful Rennes-le-Château commune and I was amazed to see a sign at the entrance to the area consisting of a large blue and gold shield-shaped sign with the words Rennes-le-Château on it because it was so similar in design and colour to the vintage chain belt I had felt compelled to buy a few months earlier with a blue shield with gold border. The shield on my chain belt had a knight depicted on it, which made me think of Rennes-le-Château, where I had never been, and the Knights Templar, who had been some of the keepers of the secret of the Holy Grail, connected with Mary Magdalene and the Cathars. (The synchronicities I have experienced with Mary Magdalene over the past seven years are boundless and only increase when I try to ignore them.) Amazingly, I later found out that the priest Bérenger Saunière, who renovated the Church of Mary Magdalene at Rennes-le-Château, discovered a stone with a carving of a knight on it, known as the “Dalle des Chevaliers” or “Knight’s Stone”, which is reputed to have been the cover stone of the crypt beneath the church at Rennes-le-Château.
We had quite some time to ourselves in the Church of Mary Magdalene at Rennes-le-Château, which I thought was unusual as it’s usually thronged with visitors in peak season. I found a clue – hidden in plain sight – in the artwork in there, which seemed to confirm some unusual information I had gleaned about what happened around the time of the crucifixion of Jesus.
When I climbed the Magdala Tower at Rennes-le-Château, I looked out of a small window in a turret and was convinced I was looking at the Caves of Mary Magdalene in the distance. Afterwards, I asked the museum manager how to get to the caves. She did not give me directions and I wondered why. She replied: ‘It’s tricky and quite far. You can see them from the tower.’ I was glad I already had been given directions by Becky that I hoped would lead me there. I had previously asked some other people on social media that I had seen had been to the caves how to get there, but they were not forthcoming. This only served to prove that no obstacle or challenge, including unhelpful people, will thwart my destiny.
My intuition that I had been looking across to the caves from the turret window was correct. As I approached the entrance of the cave, my eyes were drawn to a small, white, heart-shaped stone at my feet and I understood the symbolism and significance of it for me. We had that special place of three magical caves – representing the womb, the heart and the star/heavenly connection with the cosmos – all to ourselves, which I thought was unusual. We all felt deeply connected to nature as we explored the area and there was a strong sense of serenity. In the womb cave, I closed my eyes and meditated and had visions of many hearts and colourful, shifting, geometric shapes. I also had a vision of a womb cross (a circle with two intersecting lines through the middle) made of gold with a red gemstone in the middle. (I remembered my first shamanic drum meditation journey during my shamanic training in 2021, when we asked to be shown our personal symbol and I was given the womb cross.) Then, a vision of a blindingly bright gold angel appeared, moving towards me, its head bowed, carrying a gold book of wisdom to me on its back. (I was given this gold book of wisdom on the back of a swan in a shamanic journey a couple of years ago too).
The next day, I had been planning to visit a forest before heading onto Montsegur, but I had been having strong reservations about going to this forest; a gut feeling that something was very off. Although it looked beautiful and magical in the pictures on the Internet and many tourists are taken there by guides, I felt something eerie and sinister about it and didn’t quite know what to make of these mixed feelings as I love forest walks. At 5am the following morning, I was woken by a vision of people in that forest wearing gas masks and I was filled with a sense of fear as I realised I was seeing Nazi soldiers with some local people they had imprisoned in that forest during WWII. It was clear to me that while there are good elemental energies in that forest trying to heal the area from this wartime atrocity, there is a lot of unpleasant energy still there and my family and I were being protected from it. In research I conducted after my trip, I discovered there are the remains of a Nazi army base close to the forest entrance, so this confirmed my vision.
Instead of the forest walk, we looked at a road map, saw a lake marked on it and and decided to see what was in that area. When we arrived, we thought we had reached paradise. It was a beautiful place where we swam and basked in the sunshine before eating a delicious lunch in a fabulous restaurant. It seemed to be an idyllic holiday spot that the locals wanted to keep to themselves.
After this, we visited the ancient hilltop fortress known as Montsegur. It was a steep climb and especially challenging in the heatwave, but the breathtaking views at the top across the Alps were worth it. Even though this was my first visit, it felt very familiar. In 1244, the Christian church mercilessly burned alive the last Cathars, who were also known as the Perfecti or “Shining Ones” (said to be the keepers of the secret of the Holy Grail) who refused to renounce their faith, which was based on following “The Way” of Jesus to have unconditional love, forgiveness, compassion, understanding, a direct relationship with God with no need for any intermediary and equality among women and men while not succumbing to the evils of a dualistic world. I felt nothing but peace on this mountain-top fortress because, although the Cathars did everything in their power to survive this European genocide, they made peace with their ending because of their belief that the soul is eternal. The Cathars vowed to return in 700 years (2021) to restore “The Way of Love”. In research I undertook after my trip, I found a report and photos showing Nazi soldiers all over the fortress and area at Montsegur searching for the Holy Grail as they believed that if it was in their possession they would have the power to enact world domination. They never found it because they didn’t know what it actually is.
I was shocked by the sight of the stone monument at the base of Montsegur in the “burning field” erected in memory of the murdered Cathars because the top part of it bears a womb cross with the exact shape, design and dimensions that I saw in my vision of the gold one in the womb Cave of Mary Magdalene the previous day.
Another day, we visited a church in Limoux, which was also not on the original 2020 itinerary. Interestingly, my accommodation, which was booked last-minute, was only two minutes from here and I realised that my head, while sleeping in my bed, was directly in line with the end of that church, which features a stained glass window depicting Jesus and Mary Magdalene. After my trip, I discovered that there is an ancient, secret vault underneath this church, supposedly connecting it underground with the Church of Mary Magdalene at Rennes-le-Château and the priest Bérenger Saunière, who is rumoured to have discovered the secret of the Holy Grail that the Cathars and Knights Templar tried to preserve. He was supposedly paid off by the Church to keep it quiet because it would rock the foundation of Christianity. It is this mystery that inspired the Dan Brown books.
I also wanted to visit the Seat of Isis located in a forest in the Rennes-les-Bains area. The seat is a large chair carved out of stone. I was not sure we would find it, but we did, thanks to the directions of a kind-hearted café owner. Again, we had the place to ourselves, which was unusual, as many guided groups visit this site.
We enjoyed swimming in the natural hot pools at Rennes-les-Bains, reputed to have healing properties, and we also found the beautiful, cool oasis of the Fountain of Love, which is a beautiful natural pool set amid the trees and we swam there. This stunning place is where Mary Magdalene is said to have baptised people after fleeing to France to continue to spread the teachings of Jesus following the crucifixion.
There is so much beauty and history to be found in this region. We had an amazing trip, with so many special moments and magical synchronicities. This holiday highlighted many things such as having trust, believing you will get to where you are meant to be when you are meant to be there and that in order to find the way, simply follow your heart and let faith be your guide.