By Mercedes Kirkel

I’ve just returned from my travels in the Languedoc and Provence regions of southern France, visiting many sites that are associated with Mary Magdalene. Though I’m still integrating all that happened, I feel strongly moved to share about my experiences because so many of you have communicated your support, blessings, and connection with me throughout my journey. I’m very grateful for feeling you “with me” on my pilgrimage and now I want to pass on the fruits of what I received.

As soon as we (myself and my three traveling companions) arrived in the Languedoc, I was struck by the beauty of the countryside, with its peaceful rivers, low mountains at the beginning of the Pyrenees, and tiny medieval villages sprinkled throughout. We stopped at an old church with stained glass windows that depicted Mary Magdalene and I felt I was stepping into another world that resonated deeply with my soul.

I received a message the next day from Mary Magdalene. We were searching for a spring that was the source of one of the rivers, because we’d been told that many people felt a connection to Isis there. We weren’t having success finding the path and decided to stop and all check in with our guidance. My message was: “It’s foolish to limit Spirit to any particular site.” What that meant to me was that we didn’t have to “work” to find Spirit. If we were meant to receive something from Spirit, we would be guided to it. And indeed, that happened many times.

The message also had a deeper meaning for me. I had started to wonder why it was necessary for me to come to France, when I already felt so connected to Mary wherever I was. I heard her saying in this brief message that it wasn’t necessary in terms of me connecting with her. I found that somewhat disconcerting, wondering if I had made the trip unnecessarily. In fact, I was so perplexed by this question that I asked Mary about it directly midway through the trip. In her highly skillful way, Mary helped me to see that I already understood a lot of the reasons I was drawn to France and the gifts I was receiving through being there. These included a great healing I was experiencing in my physical body and an opening to greater expression of my Femininity. (You can read Mary’s full response in the previous blog post, “Why I Was Drawn to France.”) And there was to be more.

I felt a peacefulness and beauty in the region that fed me on such a deep level. I was able to eat foods I normally react to in the U.S.—bread, cheese, yogurt, wine, decaf coffee—and I enjoyed them thoroughly. I loved all the stone and stucco buildings and the more natural, Earth-connected lifestyle. Yet there was another side that was very disturbing to me, which was the violence of so much of the history. I was connecting with souls that seemed to be “stuck” from violent deaths, along with feeling the disturbance of the Earth in certain places. Others I was traveling with experienced similar things in their own ways. We all brought our own form of blessing and healing to the land and beings we encountered.

In general, I didn’t find the churches had much spiritual potency for me, including the ones that had a reputation of being connected with Mary Magdalene. I mostly felt sad about the history of Christianity in terms of what had been changed, hidden, and lost in Yeshua’s and Mary Magdalene’s teaching, as well as the harm that had been done to so many in the name of religion. However, there were several exceptions. In the church at Rennes le Chateau, I felt Mary Magdalene’s presence very strongly the first time I was there, though I didn’t feel it the second time. I believe this had more to do with the Temple of Isis that the church was built upon, which I believe Mary and Yeshua visited.

In the church at Sainte Baume, which claims to be the cave where Mary spent the last thirty years of her life, I didn’t feel her presence at all, except for a statue behind the altar that depicted a very full, sensual Mary Magdalene in a reclining position. This area was dedicated to penitence, which seemed ironic to me because the depiction of Mary in the statue didn’t seem the least bit penitent. Here I picked up a small feeling of Mary that felt humorous, as though she were saying, “OK—whatever! If this is the way people choose to relate to me, it doesn’t really matter. I’m still willing to be in relationship with them.”

The other church in which I felt a connection to Mary Magdalene was the church at Sainte Maries de la Mer. This church claims to be the place where a boat carrying Mary Jacobe and Mary Salome, along with other followers of Yeshua, landed in France after the crucifixion. There’s a famous statue of a dark-skinned Saint Sara in the church, with varying stories of who she was. Again, the church felt empty of spiritual energy to me until one of my traveling companions pointed out a picture that’s fairly hard to see, being very high up in a floor-to-ceiling display case of many pictures and partially hidden by the wood framing in the glass doors of the case. It’s a painting of a dark-skinned woman who my friend said looked very much like a vision of Mary Magdalene he was given in a cave in the region several years before. I felt Mary’s energy very strongly in the painting, and then saw two other paintings on the opposite wall that also seemed to depict Mary, even though none of the paintings were described in the church materials. In fact, there’s no reference to Mary Magdalene at all in the church. But after seeing those three pictures, I felt her presence in a subtle, hidden form. It also suggested to me that Saint Sara is indeed Mary Magdalene’s and Yeshua’s daughter, but the church doesn’t want to communicate that openly. I saw great sadness in the statue of Saint Sara, which I associated with sadness about all that’s not being revealed openly through that particular church and Christianity in general.

Yet there were other, natural sites that were extremely potent for me. I felt Isis very strongly at the stone Seat of Isis and received a powerful message from her there. The Fountain of Lovers carried a transmission of love that reminded me of Mary and Yeshua’s love-energy. I became completely ecstatic at a water site where some believe Mary performed baptisms. And I experienced profound energy at a small, undeveloped cave associated with Mary Magdalene.

On the last day of the trip, I realized I’d been given something else I totally hadn’t anticipated, which had to do with my traveling companions. I saw that the way we had interacted consistently throughout the trip had been a model of spiritual companionship, cooperation, and support. That’s not to say that everything went smoothly and easily 100% of the time—we definitely had our moments. Yet even in those times, we embraced what was arising and let it open us to a place of greater heart-connection with ourselves and each other. By the end of the trip I felt like I’d been given a taste of what it’s like to live the principles of Mary’s teaching with others, and I didn’t want to stop. My guidance on that last day was to create a structure for continuing this with others on an ongoing basis. I’m not exactly sure the form that will take, but I’ll keep you posted.

I definitely fell in love with this unique part of France and look forward to returning, hopefully with others who want to share in the treasures of this region.