CHANGE TO PLANS


The Cathars – persecuted for truth?


In medieval times, the Cathars, a spiritual faith in southern France that practised hands-on healing, pacifism and the equality of women, were severely persecuted for their beliefs. Their principles, many now believe, were part of an underground river of teachings, the ‘Way of love’.


by Jacqui Bushell


IMAGINE THIS… Montsegur 1244 The winter sky hangs low and grey. The wind is freezing, biting through your thin clothes. You ignore your hunger and try to comfort the others, your community, here on the heights of this mountain in southern France. You’ve been held here in siege, a few hundred souls, over an interminable nine months. The valley below your fortress refuge is overflowing with 10,000 soldiers and churchmen. They call you all heretics and sentence you to burn. The children and the others who do not choose to make the same shocking stand as you do, escaped over the past few weeks, making their way down the steep cliff sides. You, who know this land so well, could also have made the same choice. Even last night, a final three left, taking with them your daughter and sacred texts. Nothing remains now except your final preparation and to help the others.


48 MARCH | APRIL 2018


You offer the Consolamentum, a healing transmission of light to all those who request it, then you and the remaining 224 Cathars begin singing as the soldiers break down the door. You all sing, an act of faith and love, as you are pushed down the steep path. You sing as you walk into the barricade. You sing as the fire is lit. You sing in love. Always.


WHO WERE THE CATHARS? The ruined walls of the great stone fortress of Montsegur in southern France, loom above me as I lay on the soft grass surrounded by wildflowers and spring breezes. I gaze down the impossibly steep cliffs into the beautiful valleys of the Languedoc region. How on earth did the Cathars escape down there, I wonder? Curving ridges of mountains like the spine of a great dragon, snake across the land. Rivers shaded by green trees and medieval villages are dotted through the valleys.


//CATHARISM WAS A PEACEFUL, EGALITARIAN, SPIRITUAL MOVEMENT THAT SPREAD THROUGH THE SOUTH OF FRANCE ON A WAVE OF IMMENSE POPULARITY THROUGH THE BETWEEN THE 12TH AND 13TH CENTURIES. //


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