August Newsletter
Hello Beautiful Souls!
Happy Lughnasadh! Also named ‘Lammas’, this Pagan feast was usually celebrated on August 1st and corresponded to the midpoint between the Summer solstice and the Autumn Equinox and the beginning of the harvest season, when the first crops would traditionally be reaped. This ‘holiday’ is celebrated by singing, feasting and playing games.
It honors Lugh, the Celtic god of light, and his mythical foster mother Tailtiu, who is said to have cleared the lands of Ireland to make way for the planting of crops. *
This feast is a timely reminder to think about the seeds that you planted at the beginning of the year, what you feel is ready to be harvested and what is not.
The magic of Grace
I have just returned from my Mary Magdalene Pilgrimage in the South West of France, otherwise known as ‘Occitanie’ or Languedoc. A pilgrimage is a deeply personal and internal experience which is still percolating in me.
One thing I do feel called to share about is the amount of Grace that we experienced during our trip.
According to the Cambridge dictionary, Grace is a religious term that is defined as ‘approval or kindness, especially that is freely given by God to all humans.’ **
I describe myself as spiritual (not religious) because I adhere to the Native American notion of ‘Great Spirit- a benevolent and all encompassing energy that intercedes in our favor.
For me, Grace is ‘Spirit in action’: where there is Grace, there is also flow and synchronicities.
I was first called to do this pilgrimage in 2017 during a plant medicine ceremony, and then called again in 2018 and in 2019. Our pilgrimage was definitely destined as I kept getting pulled towards a part of France I wasn’t familiar with at all and kept having visions about the Knight Templars and the Cathars in my Holotropic Breathwork.
I finally stopped resisting the call and planned it for the summer of 2020, which was postponed due to Covid. As soon as we could, I rescheduled the plane tickets and prepared our itinerary.
Due to the nature of our family business, there was a likely chance that my husband wouldn’t be able to join me. Yet I remained convinced that his presence was necessary. So I just held the vision and let go of my expectations. Great Spirit’s will over my will. And he got on that plane with me.
On the morning of the departure of the pilgrimage itself, we took the family car to run some errands for my mother and get the family car checked and ready for our trek around France. The car’s gear shift pedal broke and we were left stranded on the side of the road for most of the morning. I wasn’t sure we were going to be able to leave at all. Once again, I just held the vision and surrendered. Maybe the timing wasn’t right. Maybe we weren’t ready yet.
Fast forward a few hours, we managed to rent a small car (it is peak tourist season in the South of France) and head off on our pilgrimage. We could have broken down a 1000 kms away, which would have been a logistical nightmare, but it happened right before we left. A real blessing in disguise. Grace in action!
Grace interceded again later that evening when we reached our first destination, the Basilica of St Maximin-la Ste Baume: Mary Magdalene’s skull, a piece of her skin that the Christ supposedly touched and her hair is venerated in a rather ostentatious reliquary. This huge derelict Basilica is in the middle of nowhere and its energy was patriarchal, dark and oppressive. Not at all the way I experience Mary Magdalene’s loving and nourishing energy.
Mary Magdalene reliquary in the Basilique de St Maximin-la-Ste Baume.
There was a man standing in front of the reliquary, who generously shared his remarkable historical knowledge of the village, Mary Magdalene and the Basilica. Funnily enough, one moment he was there and the next he was gone. We were never able to thank him or find out who he was. But we left the Basilica full of gratitude and hope, seeing his intercession as a good omen.
We continued our pilgrimage through Cathar Country, experiencing Grace at every turn: people literally stepping in to support us without us even asking: everywhere we went, we were overwhelmed with openness and kindness.
We spent a whole day in Rennes-le-Chateau, a tiny village in Languedoc, which is known thanks to l’Abbe Sauniere, a mysterious and eccentric man who built the MagdalaTower and the Mary Magdalene Church. Since being mentioned in the Da Vinci Code, the village has become a new age destination for treasure hunters and spiritual seekers.
Magdala Tower, Rennes-le-Chateau
Whilst in Rennes-le Chateau, our guides surprised us with an invitation to a private concert with the renowned Harpist Ani Williams, who has a special affinity with Mary Magdalene and dedicates many of her songs to her.
Ani is from Sedona, Arizona but loves this part of France. She told me she had a dream that someone would give her a harp when she was 36 years old. When it happened in real life, she heeded the call to master the instrument.
However, the biggest serendipity I experienced was to meet Kathleen McGowan in person on July 22nd, Mary Magdalene’s day!
Kathleen McGowan is an American author, who has written a trilogy of books that I just adore and can’t recommend enough. The first book, called ‘The Expected One’, is all about Mary Magdalene.
Kathleen’s talent is to weave history, art and mysticism in her books. I had a total ‘mid-life fangirl’ moment and she was gracious enough to indulge me.
We concluded our pilgrimage where we started, in Ste Baume: we visited the Grotto of Ste Baume, where Mary Magdalene is rumored to have spent 30 years living as a hermit after being thrown out of Marseille. The Grotto is reached after a grueling 45 min hike up a mountain, which felt like a rite of passage in itself. The energy in the Grotto was really exceptional and we spent time in meditation, absorbing all the prayers and good intentions spread by the pilgrims.
Mary Magdalene’s presence is so strong in these parts of the country that I personally believe, contrary to local beliefs that she lived as a recluse, that she travelled to spread her teachings around the Southern part of France. The land is clearly imbued with her soul.
Since my return, many questions have surfaced about this state of Grace: Was it because we committed to the pilgrimage that it flowed through us? Was it Mary Magdalene’s spiritual presence that guided it? Was it because we were open, curious and flexible that things just aligned for us? And more importantly, how could I channel more of this Grace in my normal day-to-day life?
Cathar Memorial, Minerve.
I wish you all a beautiful month of August full of Grace, Flow and Serendipity.
Celia