Being called to Cathar Country

In the past 5 months I have been a tour guide on quite a few group tours and private tours. Because of this work, I meet hundreds of people per year, and every year is different. All groups are different, and each and everyone of the participants experiences Cathar Country in an entirely unique way. Though everyone is blown away by the the history, the mystery and the raw beauty of this region, there is one peculiar curiosity that continues to draw my attention: at least 75% of the people I meet had been 'called' to Cathar Country.

Interesting times
It is true; we live in interesting times. We are worrying about the future of the planet and humankind, but although our world needs desperate attention for sure, it is known that the ancient Greeks and Romans used to be worried about the future as well, thousands of years ago. Every earthquake and every volcanic eruption was to them a sign of the Gods and signalling the end of days. I think we will always look into the future with worried eyes, especially when we are in a situation that is - or seems to be - troubling and beyond our control. We could actually get quite traumatized by seeing so much world news in the media, for the human brain is not really capable of absorbing so much more than what is going on in our own direct environment. We are literally overloaded by world news, by global problems, and many - especially young - people are suffering from suffocating peer-pressure. As if our souls are being stretched thin by too many negative impressions and too much unnecessary pressure. So what can we do about it?

According to the Cathars, the Essenes and early Christians, our spirits are born into a material world, while originally coming from a different state of being. At Birth we are being sucked into fragile, needy baby bodies, our souls are reincarnated into the flesh, locked into the material world. From day 1, babies need parents (biological or foster parents) to take care of them. We are a depending species, and our brains have developed a natural instinct we call our 'monkey-brain'; every day we wake up and lock into an automatic survival mode; food, water, shelter and companionship. We need others around us, as well as the security of a community. We need to work in that community to earn our food and find ourselves a safe place to live. From the moment we grow up from childhood into adulthood (some need to do this quicker than others), we experience several uncomfortable factors, such as pressure (the need to achieve) and responsibility (for yourself, for others and for your environment). Therefore, our main focus is outward.

Reconnecting with Self
In the days of the Cathars, people were still living in communities; clans, families and friends living together in a village-type structure, so everyone could look after one another. Like the Essenes and the early Christians before them, who also created social communities for the same purpose, they knew that people living alone could one day get into great personal trouble (old age, sickness, accidents, etc.) so living alone would be a courageous choice, if it was a choice. In ancient days the world was not yet overpopulated, like today, but - crazy enough - today we see more people living alone than in any other time period in history. Also, many people have become so absorbed in feeding their monkey brain, that they have forgotten the idea of caring for others, let alone the sensation of all of us being One and that we are all in the same proverbial boat. We seem to have totally forgotten our origin, our Self. Still, more and more people are on a spiritual Path, in a way a bit like the Cathars, pushing away religious systems and doctrines they cannot accept, although in this modern age it comes down to balancing the inner and outer Self in order to give life purpose and meaning. For those who are on this Path, the Art of Reflection might be the most interesting Hermetic Teaching to study.

Nowadays, many people are traveling all over the world on all kinds of different errands, but it does not surprise that Cathar Country has become a place where people who are on a certain Path are feeling drawn to. There is so much space here; vast and raw nature, fresh water coming from wells and sources, abundance and - depending on your religious background - there are those very special holy places, where certain information can be discovered that might reconnect us with Mother Earth, and with our inner Self. In this manner, Cathar Country has become a brilliant Power Point Presentation and a School for understanding important (often forgotten or forbidden) history, for studying higher natural science and the ancient Mystery School Teachings that have been brought here by those same early Christians and Essenes, who traveled around the ancient world in service of others and to spread the Gnosis of the Above and the Below. It is clear that, after seeing thousands of people coming in from the Holy Land to Occitania and Catalunya in the first centuries CE, Cathar Country has become - at least for them - the New Holy Land, and what they brought here is what we are searching for now.

Genetic footsteps
And then there are those in search of their family origins, who end up with ancient relatives in Occitania. I believe that we may not only be able to remember passed lives through our soul's memory; but that also our genes have memory. We are the children of our ancestors, we carry their DNA, and thus their DNA memory. Our bodies contain up to 75% water. If water has memory, then why wouldn't our genes have memory, too? Our Divine Nature is so difficult to comprehend; I think we hardly know anything yet. I have discovered ancient family connections to this region only after I had felt the magnet during my first visit in 1998. At that time I did not know anything of my family history, but I know that I am not the only one who has experienced this, who has felt that magnet... It is a fact that, at the times of the Religious Conflicts (the Cathar Crusades and the Religious Wars), many inhabitants of Occitania left their homes to settle in mid- and northern Europe, the British Isles and Ireland, South-Africa, and some of them would later leave again to start a new life in North-America, Australia or New Zealand. It is quite possible that certain people who live in Canada, for example, find out that their DNA is French.

I find it interesting to see how the people who are tracking down their DNA feel that, in spite of all the locations their ancestors may had lived, they too are being 'called' to Cathar Country... ♥

Anneke Koremans