Mary in Lourdes

Pointing on a missing puzzle piece

Coming back to the Plasmafield treatment in Perpignan … After the session I have a break for lunch before my bus takes me back to the camping site at the beach. I am looking for a cool space to rest in these hot hours of the day. It’s necessary since the temperature rises up to 97 °F almost every day. The church of “St. John the baptist” looks inviting. Right next to entrance there is a small side altar with a very well known statue and some benches to sit down: it’s the Mary of Lourdes.

© wernermarkus.com

© wernermarkus.com

In her presence there is a feeling of trust. It would take me further two days driving with my camper car to overcome the distance between Perpignan and Lourdes. Taking my condition into account still suffering from dizziness there is a risk of not making it at all. Sitting before the altar praying to this lady of Lourdes all thoughts dissolve. I don’t need to know at them moment. It’s enough to come to peace with my mind.

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I recognize in the last weeks of being in South France how there is a big interest in balancing the male and female aspects in paintings everywhere in the churches. Even Jesus and Mary (Magdalene) are presented with the same size next to each other showing equality.

There is an even deeper feeling of trust and knowing – a kind of truth inside of me. I realize that they represent an archetypical symbol: the holy couple. There is a Tarot card called the “Lovers”.

Source: By Robert M. Place – The Tarot: History, Symbolism and Divination, GFDL

Looking at this card one can easily find a certain constellation specific to a holy couple. There is a third power over them blessing the lovers from above a cloud. Is it the holy spirit?

Source: By Pamela Coleman Smith – a 1909 card scanned by Holly Voley

Going back to one of the earliest Tarot decks printed in Paris around 1650 we even see a third figure standing between the lovers which changes the whole context completely.
We see a forth figure standing right between the man and the woman. Later on this figure has been replaced by a mountain. Let’s have a short look at the movie of Mary Magdalene:

There is a conversation between Jesus and Mary in the Gospel of Mary Magdalene. Mary has seen the Lord in a vision. John introduces us into the story:

Saying this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing but did not know it was Jesus. Jesus said to her “Women, why are you weeping? Whom do you seek? Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned to him and said to him in Hebrew, “Rab bo’ni!”

John 20:14

In the Gospel of Mary Magdelene we hear her asking:

…I said to him:
“Lord, I see you now
in this vision.”
And he answered:
“You are blessed, for the sight of me does not disturb you.
There where is the Nous lies the treasure.”
–
Then I said to him:
“Lord, when someone meets you
In a Moment of vision,
Is it through the soul (psyche) that they see,
or is it through the Spirit (Pneuma)?”
The Teacher answered:
“It is neither through the soul nor the Spirit,
but the nous in between the two
which sees the vision…”

[Page 10:17]

In the church of St.Maximine where the bones of Mary Magdalene are burried nowadays the two biblical figures are not far from each other.

Both figues show a very inviting attitude with their hand gestures. Jesus points on a heart. It seems for me as if they would like to invite normal people into the mystery of God’s paradise. Isn’t it said in the bible:

“I am the way, the truth and the life”.

John 14:6

The Gnostics in the early ages of Christianity did belief in a very private and personal experience of Jesus within them. In their communities women had an equal position in society together with the men.

I am deeply inspired by something that finally draws me to a Catholic place in the west of France once more. There is no doubt to follow this track any longer.

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Along the Pyrenees I drive towards Lourdes. I already know this place from my first visit in 2008. In those days I was healthy. Now I’ll arrive with a sickness. Now I am looking for healing. I already know a camping site to go to and I already know that being around this strong healing place will have an effect on my body. So it’s no surprise when I had to lay down the moment I’ve arrived. I usually feel this energy field already in a 50km distance. I’ve got to sleep and there is no way out of my camper car even when trying to do a little walk only.

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It’s difficult to describe what I feel in Lourdes. It’s definitely a kind of coming home. But doesn’t this sensation arise only because I do enter a know place? I promise myself to be open for whatever wants to happen. I again see people acting differently here. They care for each other and they care for the dying and the sick. There are hundreds who arrive here every day. Being of service is the main motif of many young women who are dressed with the clothes of nurses and nuns. There are few places where I’ve found this way of living – an energy of real interest and a devotion towards the one next to me.

I decide to take a cleansing bath to purify my energetic body. I light a candle sponsored by my partner. And at last … there is nothing more to do. I pray. I sit in silence. I feel the power of a loving presence that I cannot find in any other church. I look at the big mosaic image in front of me and look into the eyes of Mary Magdalene. She is smiling at me with the deepest and most touching smile I’ve ever found in the whole universe. In this moment she is sharing the secret that she was sharing with Jesus as well. It’s a secret of how to be human and divine in life and beyond. And she invites me …

THROUGH MARY TO JESUS!

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