Join us this fall as we journey together through the timeless beauty of ancient France, on a pilgrimage in search of the powerful hidden images of the Divine Feminine. Walk with us as we rediscover the truth behind the symbols that have survived centuries of persecution to emerge now at the advent of the new millennium. Our journey will also focus upon two historical female figures whose lives represented all of the values that we as women have come to recognize as being essential to the future survival of this troubled world. Mariam of Magdala and Jeanne D’Arc, in times of great struggle and adversity, demonstrated a brand of courage, power and determination that marks them in time and space as possible role models for the modern woman who seeks to rediscover the lost power of the Divine Feminine. |
For centuries, pilgrims have ascended the winding way to the abbey church of the Magdalene crowning the hill at Vezelay, often crawling on their hands and knees in penitence and petition. Construction on the basilica of La Madeleine began in 1096 and it very quickly became the fourth most popular of all sites of Christian pilgrimage, attesting to the enormous sway that the Magdalene still held over the hearts and minds of the population of that time, a thousand years after her death. Based on legends that she and her family had fled to Gaul as refugees before the first orthodox gospels were even written, the fascination and hold that Mary Magdalene held over this ancient land was both powerful and mystifying. What was the fascination that has held a whole nation in its thrall for nearly two millennia? Was Mary really the founder of the Celtic Church? Was there a connection... more > |
