Rennes-le-Château My Take 2015

By Val Wineyard

Rennes-le-Château is a tiny village in the Languedoc region of south-west France that has become famous as an esoteric centre to people of all nationalities. Many have come live permanently nearby, others are fascinated and flock there every summer. "My Take" is a collection of articles by those "in the know" about Rennes-le-Château and they write passionately about their adventures there. Val Wineyard listened to their stories and collected them into a book.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Val Wineyard
• Release date: Jun 19, 2015
• ISBN: 9781311730831

Val Wineyard

Val lives permanently in the Languedoc region of the south of France and loves every minute of it. She has worked as a journalist, editor or writer all her life; she was writing before she went to school. Now she focuses on the histories and mysteries of the region which she loves to research in the sunshine. She also helps other authors realise their dreams.

Book preview

My Take 2015 at Rennes-le-Château

Rennes-le-Château

Those who know give their take on the mysterious village and its region

Collected and edited by Val Wineyard

Published by Val Wineyard Publishing at Smashwords

Copyright 2015 ValWineyard

www.valwineyardpublishing.com

Nowhere in the world like Rennes-le-Château! Some quotes from the book.

The Rennes-le-Château mystery is layered; what is original, what is added, true and false.

Every day here is a lifetime lived fully and majestically.

During the 4th and 5th centuries, evangelism spread throughout the Empire and Christian missionaries settled in Rhedae, a prominent Gaul cult site.

The Orbs carry messages for people on this earth.

I found myself thinking about a land and soil upon which I had never set foot, and a people I had never met.

We saw the Romans had built a temple and spa right where we were standing. Its baths were for the use of those who belonged to the cult of Isis.

My brother took the car keys from my hands. You are trembling, and road is very curvy down to Couiza. I cannot risk our lives.

I felt a powerful energy around me. It was as though the place itself was still alive with the old monks going about their daily routines.

The Pic of Bugarach is the highest point of the region. Many legends surround it, linked to the Rennes-le-Château, mentioning the Grail or a sacred tomb, but mostly to ancient civilizations.

The land was to me nothing less than the goddess herself.

Val Wineyard is a writer and publisher specialising in books about the Languedoc with emphasis on the major themes of Rennes-le-Château, the Cathars and Mary Magdalene.

How this book came about

I was writing an article for one of my blogs called Rennes Times Two about the Rennies - all the personalities that have helped to make Rennes-le-Château what it is today. They are all so different, but there is something about the quality of their passion for the region that is shared.

I have seen many magazine-style publications for French people at Rennes-le-Château but no magazine about our region for English-speakers. So I thought it would be interesting to ask everyone I knew to contribute something.

They say that if you want to get something done, ask a busy person to do it!

This is a result, a collection of views on Rennes-le-Château and the region around it that each reflect something different, and yet many writers - none of whom knew what other people had written - wrote impressions similar to others.

Several themes were echoed in the book.

This result was very satisfying for there is something about Rennes-le-Château which is unique in all the world, and many writers saw that something and expressed it elegantly in their own ways.

I must add that all the writers were given a free hand and their articles were only edited as regards grammar and lay-out. Their individual voices come through clearly and I was impressed by their variety. Of course I do not agree with everybody’s findings or theories, but here at HQ we are supporting free speech!

To edit this meant that my own ideas about Rennes-le-Château were clearly put on one side. I could not, however, resist adding my own article at the end, that might surprise you.

What amazed me the most was the sheer quality of writing. Writers as well as Rennes-le-Château fans will love this book. We have such talent in our midst.

And that talent come from around the world. Articles came in from from American, Belgian, Canadian, Dutch, French, Italian and Polish people.

The articles are in order of contributor’s first names.

They are;

Anaiya Sophia on Sacred France

Anneke Koremans on the Lost World of Occitania

Ben Hammott on the Priest's Secret

Bruce Marsh on Montségur

Cathie Welchman on Mary Magdalene at Rennes-le-Château

Elisa Shields on the Isis Chair

Chandini le Ray on Sacred Love

Cyndi Wallace-Murphy on the Holy Grail

Jaap Rameijer on Orbs

Jacek Gukzyncski on Meeting Henry Lincoln

Luigi Oliviero on the Grail Castle

Paul Saussez on Pagans and Christians at Rennes-le-Château

Roibeard McElroy on the Two Rennes

Susie Harrison on the land to which she came

Tim Wallace Murphy fell in love with Languedoc

Veronique Campion Vincent on treasures and secrets

Val Wineyard on Bérenger's Secret Wish

Anaiya Sophia is well-known in the region of Rennes-le-Château for her charisma and bubbling sense of humour. She is a natural healer specialising in healing through sexuality.

Abducted By Sacred France

I first came to Sacred France kicking and screaming way back in 1998 to co-run a yoga retreat in La Val Dieu at the bottom of Rennes les Chateau. The reason I arrived under duress was because I was so used to teaching yoga in exotic far-flung corners of the world, like Malaysia, Egypt and New Zealand that I felt Southern France was a little bit too close to home.

As I flew over the walled city of Carcassonne something inside of me shifted. An ache of quantum proportions filled my heart. A vague memory wafted through me, the memory of some kind of love gone by, the kind of love that leaves a scar, the kind that you are happy to endure.

The moment I stepped off the plane the subtle fragrance of Sacred France filled my nostrils, and again . . . something familiar.

By the time I had reached Alet-les-Bains I was spellbound. I was intoxicated with the beauty of the landscape and the feelings that this road was conjuring up inside of me. I could not believe that I had ‘missed’ this part of France, I was beyond understanding – How come I didn’t know about this place?

Well you do now, beloved . . .

A deep and rich woman’s voice filled my inner ears, a voice that had recently come to me on stone pebbles of Brighton Beach. It was during one of those phases of life, where you reach both inwards and outwards for some answers – deep, life-changing, irreversible answers. I was lost, in some kind of exile and called out to Mary Magdalene asking whether she could hear me. Since I was a small child I had prayed to Jesus, and as I became older, that worship turned to deep and devotional love. A love that was both human and divine.

As I approached my thirties I began to feel the need to connect with Mary, something was not complete, something was missing and now more than ever before I needed to connect to the feminine aspect of this lineage. And so on that fateful day I prayed and instantly there was an answer that brought tears to my eyes.

She told me to go to Sainte Baume in Provence and to pray, to really pray to meet the one that would become my Christed Tantric Beloved. And so within months I was there, and Sainte Baume led me to Rennes-le-Château and here I was hurtling along the D117 towards that very place.

This was the beginning of a very special journey, something that I later called the Grail Trail as one thing led to another. It was mystical, magical and so very memorable. I was filled with the spirit of Mary Magdalene and the living, throbbing presence of the Beloved. Every day was a lifetime lived fully and majestically. I explored the Isis Throne of Rennes les Bains, the Mary Magdalene Cave of Rennes-le-Château, the Isis stone above Alet les Bains, the Fountain of Love, the Angel Sanctuary, the Holy Mountain of Bugarach and The Venus Temple, the five-pointed star as mapped out by Henry Lincoln.

During the day I would gallivant and explore, during the night I would dream and travel deeper. By the time I had to leave I was heart broken, it was as if the land had become my lover. I felt so connected, so interwoven with the place that the only thing on my mind was when would I return?

As the years rolled by I continued to make my yearly pilgrimage to La Val Dieu to hold my yoga retreats, and every time the land would reveal more secrets and stories. I got to know most of the people in the area and soon realized that this region was attracting a whole tribe of colourful characters ranging from UFO enthusiasts, treasure hunters, esoteric researchers, mystic’s, various reincarnations of Mary Magdalene and of course a multitude of returning Cathars.

The more I stayed in the area, the more its influence began to have its way with me! My style of yoga began to shift – I found myself working more with the theme of Sacred Sexuality, Creativity and Expression. My work was changing, the feminine within me was awakening and the inner voice of Mary was becoming stronger. As life would have it – I entered a dark night of the soul, and of course I chose to receive sanctuary in the gentle, sacred valley of Rennes-les-Bains. I decided to go and stay with my dear friend Christina, who has a small hotel in the village called Maison Christina. For one month I stayed there nursing my broken heart and visiting all the sacred sites connected with Mary Magdalene.

Slowly, slowly I began to heal. I could feel her walking alongside me whispering of a similar initiation, the initiation of the Sacred Heart. To love beyond measure, to love again, over and over until there is no more resistance to what love has to teach