kind of travel guide that starts with commonly-agreed
reality but goes for beyond the geographical and
physical to explore realms of the invisible, intangible and
ephemeral.
The subject of my mystical guide book is France,
where I live. This may be the country that gave the
world anti-clerical revolution and Cartesian thinking but
choose your
destination carefully,
humble yourself
it is thick with things of esoteric interest. I have found it
impossible to go anywhere without coming across some
knowledge is not easy to put into words but it doesn't
little curiosity or mystery crying out for investigation
need to be put into words. It is assimilated in an intuitive,
To begin with, there are the prehistoric cave paintings
non-verbal way.
of the Dordogne and Pyrenees and the enormous number
Initiated people of old knew how to code this
of megalithic monuments (particularly in Brittany).
knowledge into building and how to gain access to it when
Between them they represent thousands of years about
needed but we have forgotten these skills because we
which we know very little. The art and the stones are
have invested so heavily in consumerism and materialism.
open to any interpretation you want to give them.
Worse, we no longer consider such perennial, esoteric
The middle ages, too, left many riddles. Most
obviously there are the various routes of pilgrimage
wisdom important because it does not make us richer or
supply us with electronic gadgets.
that head across central and southwest France towards
But we have great need of this other way of
Santiago de Compostela on the Atlantic coast of Spain.
perceiving reality and travel is the perfect way to access
Why would pilgrims have wanted to go west when the
it. Itinerant mysticism leads you to a missing part of
focus of Christianity was to the east. One theory is that
yourself not normally active in your routine life. Every
the route was originally one of esoteric initiation rather
time you go away from home you effectively set out on
than devotion.
a pilgrimage and this automatically leads you towards a
Then there are the Cathars – a heretical sect that
different mental state.
flourished in the Languedoc in the 13th C, suppressed with
This doesn't have to mean that a holiday becomes
ferocity by the Catholic Church – and the Templars –
hard work. But you will get far more out of it if you
created by French knights and eventually suppressed by
approach it not as a search for sensation but for meaning.
the king of France, leaving behind them stories of secrets
Any trip is an opportunity not to wallow in the shallows
and treasure.
but seek out the depths of human experience; not to
At the same time, an extraordinary number of
empty your head of meaning but to fill it up.
Romanesque churches were being built, many of them
If you choose your destination carefully, humble
covered with inscrutable carvings. Next came Gothic –
yourself, make sure to be fully in the present and not
born in the north of France, around Paris and reaching its
pressed for time, who knows what transcendental truths
apogee in Chartres cathedral, a symbol-hunter's delight.
you may perceive?
In the Renaissance, astrology was rediscovered,
the tarot came into its own as a tool of divination and
alchemy flourished. Several chateaux have been dubbed
'philosophical residences' for their alchemical decorations.
The more I looked about me, the more I saw. It was
A Guide to Mystical France shows you how to travel
geographically and psychically to a wide variety of places
– some ordinary-looking, others with extraordinary stories
to tell – all of which promise
access to other dimensions. O
as if I was seeing into parallel dimension, a wider and
deeper reality, that is largely ignored or even feared by
academia but deserves to be explored.
Sometimes I found myself heading for the famous
sights – Carnac, Notre-Dame in Paris, Mont St Michel,
Lourdes, Rennes le Chateau – but I also found plenty of
less well-known places with intriguing stories to tell.
Always I was aware of a semi-hidden knowledge
or wisdom within reach if I tune my mind to it. This
ODYSSEY 70
•
DIGIMAG
A Guide to Mystical
France: Secrets,
Mysteries, Sacred Sites by
Nick Inman is published
by Findhorn Press. Visit
Mystical-travel.com for
more, and to buy the book
click here.