France is one of the most visited countries in the world--and one of the least known. This book takes you beyond the superficial coverage of conventional guidebooks--history, architecture, etc.--in search of the deeper truths.
A Guide to Mystical France takes you deep under the psychic skin of France into the invisible dimensions that our materialistic world does its best to ignore. Science stops at the most interesting questions. To describe, say a painted prehistoric cave as a sacred space used for ritual is to beg more questions than it answers. It is impossible to fully appreciate the cathedral of Notre-Dame, Mont St Michel, or the alignments of Carnac if you do not understand the reasons these structures were built and they way they have been used over the centuries. The book makes no assumptions. The reader is not required to believe anything. He is merely pointed in the direction of the invisible and the hidden and left to judge for himself. You get much more out of a visit if you look for what isn't there as well as what is. Only by engaging with such enigmas in an open-minded, non-logical way can we begin to unravel them. This approach also makes sightseeing more satisfying and more meaningful. Covered here are a multitude of fascinating themes: the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela, Black Virgins, prehistoric cave paintings, labyrinths, ley-lines, symbolism and sacred geometry, the tarot, etc. The backdrops for the drama includes such legendary places as Chartres, Rennes-le-Chateau, churches carved out of the rock and mountain sanctuaries. The cast list, meanwhile, includes Templars, Cathars, mystics, Gurdjieff, King Arthur, Nostradamus and alchemists such as the enigmatic Fulcanelli (who is rumoured to be immortal).
A Guide to Mystical France : Secrets, Mysteries, Sacred Sites
Description
Table of Contents
Introduction: How Not to Get There - Welcome to an Invisible Country
1 Following the Stars: The Great Routes of Pilgrimage through France
Key Location: St-Jean-Pied-de-Port, Basque Country
2. Raw Landscapes: Tapping into the Transcendental Power of Nature
Key Location: Puy-de-Dome
3. Artists of the Underworld: Visions in the Darkness of the Painted Caves
Key Location: Grottes de Lascaux
4. Silent Stones: Approaching the Riddle of Megaliths
Key Location: Carnac, Brittany
5. Idols Unknown: The Evolution of the Perennial Gods of Old
Key Location: Rocamadour
6. Awake in Dreams: An Initiation to the Temples of the Romanesque
Key Location: Vézelay Abbey, Burgundy
7. Babel Revisited: The Grounding of the Gothic Enlightenment
Key Location: Chartres Cathedral
8. The Heresy of Perfection: The Doomed and Enduring Belief of the Cathars
Key Location: Montsaunes
9. Custodians of Ancient Knowledge: The Knights Templar and their Heirs
Key Location: Montsegur and Béziers
10. The Legendary Laboratory: Alchemists of the Past and Present
Key Location: Maison Jayet, Paray-le-Monial
11. Spirit in our Times: Finding Meaning in Modern France
Key Locations: the seafront of Le Havre at sunrise (birthplace to Impressionism, inception of modernism) and the Vallee de l’Homme, Dordogne at sunset (habitations of early man but now home to Buddhist communities)
Appendix
-- A practical guide to travelling the French pilgrimage routes (complementing chapter 1), all the variations of the Chemins de St Jacques and other long distance paths or tourist routes linking spiritual sites eg monasteries.
-- Gazetteer. Suggested sites to visit or itineraries in each region (the bigger regions broken up into departments). Preferably with maps.
-- Bibliography
Author Description
Nick Inman is a writer, a photographer, and a translator. He is the author, coauthor, and editor of more than 30 books, including Eyewitness Spain, The Optimist's Handbook, Who on Earth Are You? and The Road Less Traveled: Amazing Places Off the Tourist Trail. See his website for more info: www.nickinman.com