Other Mystical Sites
Chartres Cathedral
The old town is as evocative and as charmant as any of Vielle France but it is the Cathedral that is Chartres. Massive, towering over all below yet somehow as light as a fading dream - that is Chartres.
The darkness that greets the visitor who enters through the West Door is almost tangible. It is made so by memory. For over a thousand years, this place has been sacred. The well in the crypt is deep, as if connected with secrets hidden in the Earth. They are guarded by the Past.
Mass is celebrated, probably with the same well-ordered ritual that a devout peasant might have seen in the Middle Ages. The light illuminates the chalice, gleaming in the cupped hands of the priest. If there was no magic an instant before, now it is impossible to deny.
Notre Dame de Piler, the Sacred Veil, the Black Madonna, all are in majesty here. It is as if the Goddess knows the power she owns and is content to bless all with it. To kneel before her is to be wrapped in the holiest of robes, protected from all hurt unto eternity.
As the wanderers circle the nave, all manner of form and every hue imaginable are there in the great windows above. To walk this ground is be bathed in glory - a privilege indeed.
To follow the Labyrinth is to play a part in an allegory of life. Children scamper, the old march slowly. Faces stir recollections, ancient passes modern in a divine rhythm. Time becomes a presence that may be recalled only if it is so wished. The journey continues until it ends, then begins again.
All the world is here, as if a splash of clear water in a pilgrim’s shell. This is Chartres, the kingdom where devotion does not cease.
Carnac
Brittany has an air of mysterious calm, the landscape seeming as if it ought to play host to some incredible manifestation. The traveller and the pilgrim are not to be disappointed.
Les alignements, beginning with Le Menec, are impressive, not just for the extent of the site with its endless rows of menhirs, but for the individual presence of the stones themselves. The area known as Kermario plays host to a group of lively characters, imposing yet protective. When lit by a full moon they are giants, just as alive as those who stand in awe before them.
Quadrangles not circles abound. The stone rows at Le Manio perhaps mark the extent of a once great tumulus. Guarded by Le Geant, this monolith has watched over its stony brothers for many millennia. Le Quadrilair du Knonen is a temple where all nature worships beneath the skies. It invites meditation like many of these sacred sites and is a place where animals and birds shadow unseen spirits.
Le Moustoir was undoubtedly the most sublime of all the tumuli we saw. Welcomed by a great golden hound that echoed the colour of the stone slabs within, we loved this warm and womb-like place.
The tumulus of Saint Michel is crowned by a chapel. More pleasing was the fountain some distance away where the waters gently flow and the only sound is bird song. Carnac is truly a monument to the wisdom of the ancestors.
