Magdalene sacred journey in Provence and in Cathar Country : April 19 to 29, 2025
Mary Magdalene, remarkable woman at the heart of the Christian mysteries
Also called Mary of Magdala (a small Galilean town north of Jerusalem), Mary Magdalene was at the same time, teacher, healer, mystic, divine feminine archetype, apostle, and beloved companion of Jesus of Nazareth. First witness of the risen Christ, she was eventually maligned during centuries by the church as a sinner and prostitute. But her legend has always maintained a strong following.
Meet the many faces of the Sacred Feminine through the metamorphoses of Mary Magdalene during her life. Indeed, she was the converted sinner, the Loving Woman, the Healer Woman, the Spiritual Woman, the Apostle of the Apostles and above all Apostle of Love.
Magdalene sacred journey : Highlights of the itinerary
In Provence
– The tiny and picturesque fishing village of Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer in Camargue. It is a wild, rustic area of salty marches, pink flamingos, bulls and white horses. According to the Tradition, Mary Magdalene and her companions landed in this town. The fortified church shelters the relics of the Two Mary (Mary Jacobé and Mary Salomé) and those of Sara, the black Madonna and Patron Saint of the Gypsies.
– The legendary grotto in the Sainte-Baume Mountain, where Mary Magdalene retired to spend the rest of her life in prayer and contemplation.
A place of healing and transformation, the forest of La Sainte Baume has been a pilgrimage destination for thousands of years for crowned heads and anonymous.
– Optional and depending on the weather and your physical condition, possibility in the afternoon to hike to the Cave of the Eggs, an old grotto where Celtic women where practicing fertility rituals.
– Mary Magdalene Basilica, a masterpiece of Gothic art in Provence, sheltering her relics
– The Saint Michel du Var orthodox monastery: its crypt sheltering Magdalene’s relic and its church with its 700m2 of frescoes painted by the iconographer Vadim Garine
The Cathar region
We will follow the path of Mary Magdalene in the Cathar country.
How these people called Cathars lived. What was their connection with Magdalene and Jesus ?
By relying on historical facts, we will visit some sacred places :
– Minerve : Here, during the Inquisition, more than a hundred of Cathars died on the stake for refusing to renounce their beliefs, rooted in direct mystical contact with the Divine.
– The fortified medieval town of Carcassonne. Listed on UNESCO World Heritage site, it was once a Cathar fortress.
– Rennes-les-Bains, home to rejuvenating hot springs. There, we can also find a majestic stone throne known as the seat of Isis, very close to the Madeleine’s spring.
– The mysterious church of Rennes le Chateau and a meditation / concert in the cellar of the castle.
– We will re-connect to deep energies of our ancestors at a Dolmen located in the middle of a grove of pines. The largest wide-corridor dolmen in South of France built around 3,500 BCE by the people of Veraza culture who honored the Mother Goddess
– Galamus Hermitage and the Magdalene’s chapel buitl on powerful leylines
– The Black Madonna Our Lady of Marceille
Pilgrimage ends in Lourdes
In 1858, Mother Mary appeared 18 times to the young Bernadette Soubirous at the Massabielle cave.
A full day immersed in the gentle loving energies of Mother Mary, so powerfully felt within her basilica, grotto – the apparition site
For that tour, arrivals are at Marseille Airport and departures are from Toulouse Blagnac Airport.
