When in France Pt 1 - A Magical Pilgrimage
This is the first part of three journals covering a most magical pilgrimage to the South of France I undertook with Soror O.F. at the end of May. Look out for the others to come!
Reaching out across the Planes
A month ago I was contacted by an old friend from America, whose magical practice involves travelling the world seeking arcane and mystical experiences within a realm of synchromysticism and psychogeography - you can find his blog here. I was fortunate enough to catch him in Bristol last year and introduce him to some sites within the city, and this year he asked about our plans for the summer solstice and I'm delighted that he'll be a key part of our Sol Invictus ritual this month.
He explained that his wonderful wizardly wandering will take him to France and Poland before coming to Britain, and I enquired about the French leg. The intention was to visit Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer for the annual Feast of Saint Sara-la-Kâli, or Black Sara, the patron Saint of the Roma. In her legend she was a Priestess of Ishtar who foresaw and welcomed the Holy Grail carried by Mary Magdalene, and will be the subject of the next blog - for a sneak preview check out our Instagram and our companion’s Insta story. Due to unforeseen circumstances he had a spare room in his accommodation, so did I know anyone who fancied coming to France on short notice? As you might imagine I leapt at the opportunity, divinely appointed as it appeared, and so with a flurry of logistical bookings Star Club went on tour to the Continent!
Flying away on our Zephyr
Some of the plans were tempered by the short notice, and there was no way to book a train to the South Coast from Paris (and flights elsewhere were way over budget), so I booked a car for the week. Our flight went well after a bleary-eyed and much-appreciated lift at 5.30am, and probably the most cliché and cool moment of my professional sorcery career followed. I was directed by an app to a parking garage at the airport, strode confidently towards a particular bay in a sub-level, and instead of a hatchback as expected used my phone to open a sleek black 4x4 vehicle waiting for me in the dark. Yes I felt like a secret agent and I don’t care who knows it. The drive from Paris to the Mediterranean was somewhat confusing at first - what should have been a 6-8 hour drive initially came up on my SatNav as 11 hours on unexpectedly small roads, so off we set at pace.
Neuro-Gnostic Travels
Landscapes appearing painted by Lorrain himself
I want to talk about the magical process of being abroad and the Neuro-Gnostic implications of immersing yourself in another country's language and culture, so please enjoy my mystical-whimsical take on my vacation. It's quite a British complaint to say I had to learn to drive on the other side of the road, but I took it as an immediate ordeal of neuroplasticity to quickly relearn decades-old skills in a new fashion. Similarly, while I studied French at school, it had been sitting rusty on the mental shelf until last year when I idly began to pick up my Spanish and French - with merely two weeks notice there’s only so much you can cram! During the Star Club Cycle we mention neuro-linguistic programming and investigate the way our behaviours can influence our cognition and magic. Learning to check mirrors placed in new areas on opposites sides from where I’m used to activated and integrated my brain’s hemispheres, and while I found myself having greater than normal neural load, it came with a much more vibrant experience of the drive; similarly, the more easily I could read and speak French throughout the trip, the more comfortable I felt with the sense of place and the energy of the land. Soror O.F. and I both connected with France and after the initial psychogeographic shock wore off we hugely enjoyed being on the continent - the sun and sea helped too!
Back to the journey, and we were taken through congested roads out of the South of Paris, and suddenly found ourselves out in the country. Now the scenery was absolutely gorgeous with stunning views and pastoral architecture, abandoned buildings with painted facades crumbled into languid distress; but why were we taking such a circuitous route?
After a pit-stop for supplies in a hamlet near Orleans, we carried on for an hour or so on the road through idyllic countryside and I finally realised that my SatNav was set to avoid tolls - all of the motorways in France are paid. An ordeal of my own making indeed! Having adjusted that, we were on the fast track to Côte d'Azur. We made a brief stop in Rouenne for a fantastic steak (and a waiter who thankfully wanted to practice his English), then entered the most stupendously huge thunderstorm on the way to Lyon. Sheet lightning lit up the whole sky, so prayers to Jupiter were offered and we captured some amazing light shows.
“There’s nothing more romantic than a dark, chill vehicle in a thunderstorm.”
The holy symbol leading us to rest at journey’s end
Finally, at 2.00am we rolled into Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer and were greeted by the great glyph of the event, the Cross of Camargue, at the crossroads which would become so important for the rest of the festival. We found our villa and settled in to catch up with our companion whose own logistical story will be told in his blog, and went to bed 24 hours after we woke up.
Rituals of Place
Over the next few days we performed a series of important rituals and took part in the Festival - stay tuned! - and then we returned to Paris via the Alps for a romantic evening by the Eiffel Tower. Our final day in France was devoted to visiting a Gothic palace positively humming with the power of the Saints - Sainte Chappelle. Once home to the Crown of Thorns and fragments of the True Cross along with other relics, this beautiful chapel is crowned with a statue of St. Michael in its spire and boasts 13th Century stained glass depictions of the grandest of grimoires, the Bible - with scenes from Genesis right through to the breathtaking Apocalypse Rose of St. John. Tucked away in the corners of this West-facing feat of engineering were Our Lady Babalon and the Beast on which She rideth, a fitting end to our pilgrimage considering our labours for the Red Goddess, which you can read about when the story continues.
The next chapter will follow our most recent Open Ritual report, and you can join us for our next events here, or sign up below for our monthly newsletter to be the first to hear about Open Rituals, courses, and our Membership.
Until next time.