Crusade Against the Grail - Rennes-le-Chateau Research and ...

THE APOTHEOSIS OF THE GRAIL 189
remote valleys wanted to convince me that she was the last descendant of the
Cathars.
Six hundred years ago Occitan Catharism died. Its death took place in the caves of
Ornolac, the same place that was its cradle for thousands of years.
The Tabor, in other times the Parnassus of Occitania, became an important
necropolis, a tomb for one of the most illustrious civilizations of the western
world. Perhaps the chalky waters from the springs of the Sabarthes have occluded
the place where the mysterious celebration of the Cathar Manisola was held for the
last time. Perhaps the last Cathars lie there, dead through endura in defense of the
heretical treasure, whose mere contemplation gave their brothers sufficient
courage to advance smiling to their deaths and shout in the last moment, as the
flames of the pyre began to consume them, "God is Love!" If God is more benevo-
lent and understanding than mankind, shouldn't he concede to them in the
Hereafter what they had so ardently desired and pursued with total abstinence,
consequential strength, and unparalleled heroism? The divinization of the Spirit—
the apotheosis! This is what they wanted. The anxiety of mankind consists in
reaching the kingdom of the heavens, which is to say, to live on after death.
What happened to the Grail, the Occitan Mani? According to a Pyrenean
legend, the Grail moves farther away from this world, and upward toward the sky,
when humanity is no longer worthy of it. Perhaps the Pure Ones of Occitania keep
the Grail on one of those stars that circle Montsegur like a halo, that Golgotha of
Occitania. The Grail symbolized their desire for Paradise, where mankind is the
image, not the caricature, of God—an image that is revealed only when you love
your fellow man as yourself. Chivalrous knights, wandering poets, poetic priests,
and chaste women were in other times the keepers of this symbol.
Do not forget of whom they were worthy! Such scintillating stars
scattered them By nature through infinite space.
GOETHE