I Write about Mary Magdalene

First published 7th May 2015  Second edition April 2018

     
Front and back covers

 It's a quote from the song, "Witchy Woman." Have you ever had the feeling;  "I can feel her but she's nowhere in sight?"  I have sensed this so many times when visiting off-the-beaten-track places in the Corbières and Ariège regions of southern France.  She was here, she was here!

   Who were the White Ladies of legend in the remote mountain strongholds?  We sometimes have glimpses of them, when we find for example, echos of a matriarchal past, or ancient folk legends of ladies dressed in white, or ghosts on castle ramparts, howling into the wild wind.

  Were these stories just pagan nonsense of an illiterate people?  Or was there something else, deeper and more mysterious?

  I researched for nearly three years and there was so much to uncover that many friends joined me and sent their stories and pictures. Those distant valleys behind the mountains truly hide the secrets of a spiritual past little dreamed of.  In those days women were rarely downtrodden by a patriarchal society and where goddess worship reigned supreme.  It was a time when religion was not a thing apart from everyday life, but a time when all was one and there was no difference between the world of the visible and the world of the invisible . . .

   The White Ladies live near water, the energy and spirit of water being deeply feminine or, less frequently, they lived underground, because the caves and grottos represent the eternally safe mother's womb.  Water and earth, both deep, both profound, both the basis of a fascinating countryside where mysticism is only a step away.

  "La dame blanche" they say, the white lady, or "Notre Dame" which means Our Lady.  The old legend had changed into a new one . . . and so I explored the Our Lady churches of Languedoc.  Many people have seen "Our Lady" and many have sensed her presence.  Mary Magdalene, especially at Rennes-les-Bains, was a white lady.

  About the book

It's 196 pages, beautifully illustrated in colour, size 16cm by 23 cm.  Each chapter is a story that stands on its own, so you can chose where you want to visit, and detailed directions are given, and there's a outline of Celtic Spirituality and how the White Ladies were commandeered into Christianity.  

  The price in the shops at Rennes-le-Château is 14€95 but of course you can buy directly from us for a price that includes postage.