albigens mystical tradition

8/13/2019 Albigens Mystical Tradition

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The Albigenses: Bearers of a Bygone Wisdom-Tradition

By Arne Wettermark

Part One

In the early part of the 13th century, the sunny south of France was beginning to slip out of theembrace of the church. The latter's power was seriously threatened. From Bordeaux to arseilles,

from the !yrenees to "u#ergne, heretics were acti#e in different sects and beliefs $$ %false

prophets,% described by their antagonists as follows&

They claim to lead apostolic li#es ... They preach without ceasing, go barefoot . . . They

will not accept money, eat no meat and drin no wine, content with the simplest food.

They consider alms of no #alue, since no one should possess anything. They refuse the

holy sacraments, consider di#ine ser#ices unnecessary, and declare themsel#es ready to

suffer and die for their beliefs. They pretend to do miracles . . . $$ Histoire de

l'Inquisition au moyen age, ( #ols., )ean *uiraud

"lready in the middle of the 1(th century the holy Bernard of +lair#aux had deplored the progress

of the heretics, and somewhat later aymond -, +ount of Toulouse, had complained& %eresy has

penetrated e#erywhere. It has sown discord in the homes, di#iding man and wife, father and son,

mother$in$law and daughter$in$law. /#en the priests ha#e been infected. The churches stand idle

and fall into ruins. The foremost men of the country ha#e been dragged in. The masses ha#e

followed their example0 I neither dare nor can halt the e#il.%

The reason that the church had lost its grip on the souls was bound in with the deplorable moral

condition of the priests0 and that all of this should tae place in the south of France was hardly

surprising. This area had long been the fertile soil of many cultures& ruid, oman, "rabian,

)ewish, +hristian, each of which had set its seal on the land and brought about an extraordinary

recepti#ity to spiritual impulses.

It is no coincidence that the swastia, a symbol rich in occult meaning, may be found here in many

places car#ed on road marers and rocs. In Toulouse there was still to be seen at the end of the

12th century and may perhaps still be seen today4 the remains of a ruidic temple. . !. Bla#atsy

writes that the ruids %were connected, in their esoteric teachings, with the uni#ersal 5isdom

eligion% The Secret Doctrine, II, 6784 and that their priests were %initiated masons.% 9ntil the year

7:6, the 5estern *oths had their capital in Toulouse after the fall in ;12 of the oman /mpire.

They held an "rianism steeped in anichaeism, i.e. they denied the *odhood of +hrist and rewing to the subse?uent crusades, the numerous pilgrimages to the oly =epulcher and theFranish ingdom founded 1:22 in )erusalem, the editerranean countries were in constant contact

with the >rient. These factors, as well as the 5est$*oths' "rianism and also the spiritual influences

stemming from the =aracen period, should be taen into account when we trace the roots of the

heresy in the south of France at the beginning of the 13th century.

uring succeeding centuries, the political, economic and social conditions in southern France, its

geographic position, the crusades and the acti#e trade relations with foreign lands, all this had

broadened the perspecti#e and created a fa#orable atmosphere for the exchange of both thought and

goods. ighways built by the omans lined the cities, and along these roads contact was made

with anti$+atholic northern Italy and also rich oslem =pain. " mystical brotherhood, the so$called

Bridge$builders, was acti#e in impro#ing the communications system. The editerranean coastcities @arbonne, ontpellier, arseilles, and their branches in widely separate parts of the world,

carried on a farflung commerce. The )ews especially distinguished themsel#es in this field, for they


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constituted a lin between the "rabs and the +hristians. From the >rient came costly goods, spices,

precious stones, perfumes, rugs, musical instruments. 5ithin the country were produced soaps,

cloth and perfumes. Trade and industry created a high degree of prosperity. The guilds were

powerful and the burghers in the cities enrient on sundry business $$ crusaders,

pilgrims, merchants $$ and who now returned home either o#er the Balans or northern Italy, or bysea #ia the ports of the editerranean.

!eople were used to thining freely. /ach one might practice his religion without interference from

the authorities. The synagogue stood peaceably beside the +hristian church and in some areas, if we

may belie#e *uiraud op. cit., p. ;14, heretics and +atholics used the same building for their

meetings.

There were great possibilities for those who wanted to ac?uire inner nowledge. In the larger cities

there was access to the wors of "ristotle and !lato, translated from the "rabic. They could read the

@ew Testament in their own language, and it contained non$+atholic commentaries, or buy little

pamphlets called schedulae, containing extracts from oly 5rit. In Toulouse they could study

medicine from )ews and philosophy from "rabs or attend public meetings where +atholic andheretical teachings confronted each other.

"mong the heretics who were at this time scattered o#er the south of France, the +athars, %the pure%

the word no doubt adapted from the *ree catharsis4, nown to the common people as %bougres%

Bulgars4 were by far the most influential. The appellations anichaeans, !aulines, !ublicans,

!atarenes, Texerantes wea#ers4 and later "lbigenses are also found in the records. 9nder these

names, especially the last named, were also comprised other sects incompatible with the papal

church, among them the 5aldenses, whose beliefs rested on the original +hristian fundamentals.

5hen referring to the "lbigenses, howe#er, we ha#e in mind only the so$called +athars specifically.

The +athars' /astern teachings appear to ha#e come mainly from the Bulgarian Bogomils, although

some of their ideas also reached southern France from =pain, where anichaeism had penetrated#ia @orth "frica and found a recepti#e soil under the tolerant


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long blac robes and with the @ew Testament tuced into a leather pouch, they wandered about

with the sole purpose of awaening the Inner *od in those they met and easing the pain of both soul

and body among highborn and lowly alie. They were recei#ed e#erywhere, had access to all strata

of society. Aiewise esteemed as healers and spiritual guides, they were often called to deathbeds

and, by #irtue of the spiritual force they radiated, they helped many in their last moments. erein

lay one of the causes of their influence not least among the poor.

"nother was their pure life, admitted e#en by their opponents. They were looed up to and peoplewere drawn to them, nowing well that they embodied an ideal that to most people was

unattainable. " third cause was undoubtedly their teachings. For example, they declared& %There is

no hell, no other purgatory but on earth, no e#erlasting damnation.% =uch words must, indeed, ha#e

been sweet music to the ears of those who had li#ed in terror of the doomsday preachments of the

papal church.

The +athars combined an inner religiosity with a sense of the demands of practical life. The

realistic burghers were their allies0 not only did they win admission to the guilds, which in all ages

were channels for theosophic thought, but they also opened numerous worshops where they taught

the youth the teachings of +atharism, along with the secrets of the trade. *uiraud says p. ;4 that

most of the guilds gradually attached to themsel#es these teachings and points out that in theAanguedoc dialects of that area at the beginning of the 13th century the terms %tisserand% wea#er4

and +ather were interchangeable, %for so great was the number of masters and apprentices under the

leadership of the +athars.% They were also called !atarenes, mainly in northern Italy. It has been

supposed that this word stems from the elphic %pates,% rags, one of their items of merchandise.

From rags paper is made, as is well nown. There are grounds here for tracing a connection

between these !atarenes and the flourishing paper industry in the south of France, which according

to . Bayley A New Light on the Renaissance, Aondon, 12::4 was in the hands of the +athars.

Bayley also shows how the symbols of +atharism were spread after the days of the persecution by

means of watermars impressed in different types of paper.

The +athar teachings were disseminated in other ways as well. In the cities they operated so$calledheretic$houses, a sort of combination school and hostel, where meetings were held and where

#isitors to the city might put up. They founded numerous con#ents for both men and women,

actually seminaries where children and adults were recei#ed and prepared for consolamentum, the

+athar initiation. They were on good terms with the Benedictine con#ent at =oreCe, which should

be noted inasmuch as certain +atholic con#ents ser#ed during the iddle "ges as culture centers

where the ancient wisdom bloomed in secret.

The connection between the +athars and the troubadours is a ?uestion which we can only surmise.

5e do now that among the troubadours there was an inner circle which possessed profound

nowledge. The +athars seem to ha#e belonged to this circle.

The influence of the +athars grew with time and they could by degrees organiCe their own churchesin different towns such as Toulouse, +arcasonne and "lbi, probably according to the patterns of the

Bogomil mother church in the @ear /ast, thereby creating a firm organiCation which naturally

simplified their further progress.

In 1186 they called a church meeting at =. Felix de +araman, a suburb of Toulouse, the home of

hereticism. It was held under the leadership of a Bulgar named @icetas, bishop of the church in

+onstantinople. "ccording to aurice agre (agiciens et Illumines, p. 7(4, @icetas left for =icily

in connection with his stay in Toulouse. agre mentions that after his #isit to the island a group was

formed there whose members were called!ides d'amour and whose teachings were strongly

reminiscent of +atharism, and he adds that one of the masters of this group was *uido +a#alcanti,

ante's friend and teacher. 9nfortunately the source of this information is not gi#en, but if it is

correct, it may be taen to confirm the connection between troubadours and +athars.

"t the head of the different +athar churches stood a bishop assisted by two men, the so$called filius


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ma


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#iew&

These heretics recogniCe two gods . . . the one good, the creator of the in#isible spiritual

world, the other e#il, the creator of the #isible world of the senses. They state that the

material world did not arise through *od, the hea#enly Father, or the Aord )esus, but

through the e#il *od whom they call de#il, =atan, the *od of cycle, the uler of this

world. $$ )ean +uiraud,Histoire de l'Inquisition au moyen age1&;3

In other records ?uoted by *uiraud there is no direct mention of an e#il principle creating an e#il

matter, but rather of a being, a emiurge, which gi#es shape to chaotic prime#al matter. To the

+athars, )eho#ah, =atan and the emiurge were identical, the synthesis of a number of creators

which brought osmos out of chaos. In The Secret Doctrine, . !. Bla#atsy postulates a %Aogos or

a collecti#e '+reator' of the 9ni#erse0 aDemiurgos in the sense implied when one speas of an

'"rchitect' as the '+reator' of an edifice . . .% 1&(624. It is against the bacground of such a

emiurge that we must regard the dualism of the +athars. "ll dualism is exoteric, and all so$called

dualistic religion$philosophies are based on an esoteric teaching of the unity of the fundamental

osmic being.

In the cosmogony of the +athars we find the well$nown myths of =atan's in#asion of hea#en, ofthe angels' rebellion and 'fall,' and of the part played by the sense$desires. The world created by the

emiurge was to them an illusion, an appearance, but still a world wherein the %fallen angels,% %the

di#ine monads...... the human egos% were destined to be born and reborn according to the laws of

in#olution and e#olution, until matter will ha#e become permeated with spirit. The teaching of

reincarnation was thus a reality to them.

an's tas during his earth life, while the monad is imprisoned in the body, is to light and inflame

the di#ine spar within himself and in others, by clean thoughts, a noble life, self$sacrifice and

altruism, and thus to speed the cyclic chain of e#ents and attain godhood more swiftly. There is no

e#erlasting damnation0 nor any purgatory. ell is the earth, wherein we atone for our misdeeds, now

or in a future life. There is no #icarious atonement. +hrist, the son of man, came as a teacher, whosetas was to impart to us the nowledge of our di#ine origin so that we might self$consciously

achie#e the liberation of spirit from matter. +hrist, as such, must not be confused with each one's

inner *od, i.e. the +hristos, as !aul used the word in his /pistles to the *alatians ;&124 and to the

/phesians 3&164.

To the +athars +hrist, the son of man, did indeed sacrifice himself and was 'crucified,' but not in the

sense of physically ha#ing died on the cross. This interpretation of +hrist's suffering was liewise

held by certain sects among the early +hristians, who considered that it was not the real )esus who

died on the cross but an illusory body.

There is a certain danger in directing the attention to the outer, the #isible, that which belongs to the

form and sense. ereby we easily lose sight of the spiritual. The +athars understood this and hencefought the tendency to anthropomorphiCe. They re


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in their opposition to capital punishment. They held that to tae the life of a human being who had

not purified himself was wrong, because he would only be confronted with further trials in the after$

life state. It was important for each one to prepare himself for death0 in fact, all life should be


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!aris, the peace was signed by Hueen Blanche of France and aymond -II, +ount of Toulouse,

twenty years after the sac of the city of BeCiers. This peace pa#ed the way for France's unification

and the subse?uent effects on her political, cultural, linguistic and religious history. The southern

barons lost their position of power and had to submit to the French ingship. The flowering of the

!ro#encal literature was o#er, and the +atholic church triumphed. In the peace treaty aymond had

to undertae to continue to pursue heretics in a manner specified in the document. This laid the

groundwor for the In?uisition as an institution.The peace in !aris sees the end of the actual crusade against the "lbigenses. But e#en if the political

opposition of the south is broen, hereticism is far from exterminated. There begins the

underground opposition and the infernal wor of the In?uisition. @ow the +athars face greater trials

than e#er. The prisons of Toulouse are filled to o#erflowing. >n the gallows, corpses swing in the

wind. @o one is safe. >ne after another disappears without trace, perhaps denounced by his best

friend. Thousands are burnt at the stae or buried ali#e in underground ca#es. But the "lbigenses

remain firm.

" few lines of aurice agre may be ?uoted&

It was then that *uilhabert de +astres, the holy man, translated himself with

incredible speed to gi#e consolamentum, the last anointing of the +athar

religion. . . . isguised as now a beggar, now a pilgrim, he stands at the entrance

to the ca#es, he defies the guards of the In?uisition, . . . his steps sound in the

cities' streets when the hour tolls for his comrades. 5hen the pyres burn, the

dying need but to see a glimpse of a perfectus hidden among the onlooers,

maing the mystic sign of sal#ation, to die without pain and with consolation in

his heart. . . .

. . . These perfecti could through consolamentum gi#e the dying the in#isible aid,

. . . that opened to them the spiritual world. +onsolamentum was only the

outward symbol. The "lbigensian perfecti were heirs to a lost secret, a secretcome from the >rient, nown to the *nostics and the early +hristians. $$

agiciens et Illumines,p. 2

The epilogue of the "lbigensian war too place at ontsegur around the middle of the thirteenth

century. igh in the !yrenees at "riege, (::: meters abo#e sea le#el, surrounded by thic pine

forests, rushing torrents and #ertiginous cliffs, there stands the castle of ontsegur, whose ruins still

today are silhouetted against the sy. ere had been brought the "lbigensian riches, their holy

boos, and, according to legend, the sacred cup or *rail. This castle became a last sanctuary from

the In?uisition for the +athar men and women& feudal lords who had been hunted from their castles0

artisans and farmers, who preferred to lea#e hearth and home rather than deny their faith0 "er!ecti,

who were not in the thic of battle gi#ing consolamentum. ontsegur was armed, and there wasfood and grain for years to come in subterranean chambers. Two long years the siege lasted, and

would ha#e lasted longer had not treachery entered the game. 9nder co#er of night, soldiers

in#aded the fortress. agre has related the fall of ontsegur with epic breadth, how the two

hundred"er!ecti of the fort were burned at the stae&

=o red was the flame that rose toward the sy, so high and pillarlie the smoe, that

those Toulousains, Aauraguais and "lbigeois, who raised their eyes toward "riege,

new by this sign that their heroic brethren had been annihilated and that the last hope

of the south had died.

It may be ?uestioned whether the wind of the spirit e#er before in the annals of France had blown sostrongly as in Aanguedoc and !ro#ence during the half$century preceding this tragic war.

From =unrise magaCine, >ctober, @o#ember 12630 copyright 1263 Theosophical 9ni#ersity !r

albigens mystical tradition

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