All travel stories for the most part have mystery. That’s what makes you want to turn the page, but this particular story, at its heart, has a quest. 

I started reading The Portal, a true-life memoir of Patrice Chaplin that began in City of Secrets, the story of her spiritual initiation into the Kabbalistic tradition. And I couldn’t put it down. I learned that an ecstatic Kabbalah tradition has been preserved in Girona, Spain since the Middle Ages by a secret society. Salvador Dalí was a member of that society. So was the renowned author Umberto Eco, the filmmaker Jean Cocteau, and Jancint Verdeguer, one of the most celebrated Catalan poets. Adding to the mystery is Berenger Sauniere, the priest who in the late 1800s built Rennes-le-Château in southern France, with the Tour Magdala, a tower that is twin to the neo-gothic tower in Girona. 

Chaplin is led through a series of initiatory stages which correspond to the magical square of Venus, containing the constellation of the Great Bear.

 

A mystical city of Kabbalah…

Between the eleventh and fifteenth centuries, more than one hundred and twenty Jewish authors devoted themselves to the study of philosophy, theology, exegesis, literature, astronomy, astrology and medicine. 

From the 13th century onwards, Kabbalistic literature had prolific production of texts, especially in the Languedoc, and Catalonia, where Girona played an important role. The ideas of the first Kabbalists of Provence were first spread to Catalonia. Kabbalist circles were founded in Barcelona and Girona, by Azriel de Girona and his disciple, Moshe Ben Nahman, Nahmanides, who both explored these esoteric mysteries.

Nahmanides wrote approximately fifty books, giving us his vision of the destiny of the soul after death.

 For a more detailed history of how Kabbalah developed  in Girona, watch this video about Abraham Abulafia & Ecstatic Kabbalah by Let’s Talk Religion.    

 

 In the footsteps of Patrice Chaplin’s City of Secrets

Patrice Chaplin is a fascinating woman. I see so much of myself in her. Traveler, author, adventurer, philosopher, occultist, initatte, portal keeper, bohemian, lover and partner. 

In her many books, City of Secrets, The Portal and Cradle of Stone, she explores the connection of Girona and Rennes Le Chatau through the secrets of its Kabbalistic and Grail connections, specifically the French priest Sauniere. 

 In Cradle of Stone she says,

“Girona had been an Iberian trading centre dating from 3000 years BC and the Pheonicians landed on the coast and then the Greeks in 2000 BC. The Romans left their mark, building much of what is the old quarter and Charlemagne marched into the city. Left his influence as did Napoleon III. Gorina won the Moorish contest but lost centuries later to Franco in the 1930s Civil War. Every  invader left his imprint. Situated between the frontier with France and Barcelona to the south Girona had always been a city of passage. Anonymous travellers passing through left little trace making it a good place to hide what must never show its name.” 

Girona would only be the beginning for Patrice Chaplin. She would come to discover that Girona was one portal of many energy points and portals that formed an energetic gateway in Catalanoia beneath the constellation of the Great Bear. This is where initiates went. Over the years, Howard Hughes, Salvador Dali and Jon Cocteau would also come to Girona to discover the city of secrets.  

The Kabbalah traditions and the rituals practiced by the secret society of Girona, used chant and sacred sound for raising one’s energy and opening ‘the portal’. 

Over her many journeys to Girona, Patrice was told of numerous appearances there of a Lady of Light with a cup, thought to be Mary Magdalene. She was pulled into a strange series of experiences regarding ancient Kabbalistic grail traditions by her associations with her Spanish lover, Jose Torres, a member of a local secret mystical sect.

 

Where I’m going

My first stop in Girona is one of the most iconic areas. A maze of narrow cobbled streets, stairs, patios and archways. Located within the Força Vella, the mighty Roman fortress built in the 1st century BC, Girona‘s Jewish Quarter, also known as El Call.

Museum of Jewish History

To begin my visit, learn all about the area and its significance at the Museum of Jewish History. The museum is housed in an old synagogue, and provides visitors an in-depth look at Jewish culture in Catalonia, and in Girona itself. Objects and relics on view include medieval tombstones from the Montjuïc Jewish cemetery in Barcelona and a reconstruction of the figure of the famous Rabbi Moshe Ben Nachman.

I’m excited to walk through the haunted alleyways, crumbling cobblestone and ancient courtyards, where I’ll be guided by the voices of stones and the haunting chants of Kabbalists who know long-lost secrets. Secrets they wish to share with me. 

The French Woman’s House

I will also learn about a rattle of Isis found in the French woman’s garden…

Why a rattle and why do so many secrets abound in the French Woman’s house? Who was she? 

In the late 1800s, the French woman became the first resident in this quarter and attracted an unobvious French suitor, a priest named Sauniere, who would visit her from his district in southern France. His friendly visits soon became a passionate affair and soon after strange people from Girona came to visit as well, meeting in secret and conducting sacred rituals and chants from a lost time. 

The events I imagine having taken place there reveal a pattern as old as the travelers who left their imprints of knowledge, wisdom and sacred sound in Girona.

The group who had gathered at the French woman’s house had meditated enough and aroused enough energy to open the portal to the secrets once again. In their ceremony, the continuity was kept. In the darkness, they gave birth to a new era of Kabbalah’s teachings. They connected this mysterious energy through the French woman in Girona and Sauniere in Rennes-le-Château by building two towers called the Torre Magdala. barriers.

Their work had been fruitful because they were able to build both towers on the sacred ley lines and open the portal in between on Mt. Canigou in the Pyrennes (also claimed to be the ancient mountains of Atlantis). 

So now, those seeking answers to an age-long grail quest can come here to Girona to penetrate the mysteries of its previous lives. But for that we must go deeper into the city itself and find access to another dimension, a flow of memories, and especially a descent into the unknown. 

Andrew Gough, author and traveler, had also taken a keen interest in this topic. On his quest to Girona, he says,

“The Torre Magdala had been in the far left corner of the garden (pictured above). To its right, along the ruined wall was the French woman’s house that Patrice had visited in her youth. The barren gravel landing on the lower level is where a large palm tree once stood. This is where José dug up the Sun Stone; an artefact of considerable importance to the Society’s Grail rituals.

The Sun Stone, which Patrice has seen on multiple occasions, has since been moved to Perpignan, France. I had my theories about what it was doing there, but more work was required before I could say with any certainty.” 

~ Questing in Girona, Andrew Gough  

When he walked around the French woman’s house, Chaplin guided him to the Black Cemetery, where the priests of Girona were buried for hundreds of years and the very reason why the Society had chosen the spot to gather in ceremony. It was energetically charged.

Gough makes his way into the Old Town and discovers a history of towers as I will too..

“Towers clouded my head and deferred my pain as I trekked up the exhausting cathedral steps yet again. I continued past the French woman’s house and up the hill to the shrine commemorating the 1975 apparition of Jesus and the Virgin Mary. The midday sun was steamy and the uphill hike made feel spent. I broke into a sweat.

The apparition had been reported by a local woman named Maria Mesa. Countless others are said to have witnessed it that night, too. Some merely sensed it. Others smelled its perfume.

The shrine is located on a hill of medieval ruins called the Torre Gironella. The apparition occurred on the 4th of February 1975, and reappeared on the same day, each month for a year, only to reappear on Good Friday, 1982.

The significance of the apparition lies in its proximity to the French woman’s house, where Grail rituals were allegedly conducted with some regularity. Apparitions are quite common in Catalan and have been recorded in and around Girona for hundreds of years. Could they be related to Grail rituals conducted by the Society all across Catalan? The place had an unsettling feel to it, it must be said.”

~ Questing in Girona, Andrew Gough  

According to Chaplin, there is another portal site, twelve in fact. Collioure is the portal site representing transformation. People say that it has a very strange magnetism and draws artists, filmmakers and mystics. 

Patrice Chaplin’s books: (from left to right) City of Secrets, The Portal and The Stone Cradle (courtesy of Amazon)

And what of the rattle? 

The rattle was most likely a sistrum of Isis used during the society’s rituals. The sistrum is an ancient musical instrument that was used by priestesses in the Temple of Isis. And the Temples of Isis abound in Spain.

 

Empuries and the cult of Isis

 If I continue from Girona on the Mediterranean coast of Catalonia, there is a site now called Empuries. There once existed a group of ancient temples dedicated to Isis, Artemis, Hygeia and Asklepius. And nearby was a beautiful temple on the cliffs overlooking the sea dedicated to Venus-Aphrodite.

 There are ancient Roman and Greek ruins at Empuries on the Costa Brava.The cult of Isis was brought here, so it is likely that the chapel there could have been used by those worshipping Isis. 

It is here that I want to explore the ancient Mediterranean temple traditions – from Aphrodite’s Sea temples to the healing temple of Hygeia and the dragon rocks that sing an ancient song. 

This entire area was once a cult of Isis and so it makes sense why Kabbalah made its way here as well. Isis is the Greek name for the Egyptian Auset who comes from the land of Khemet or Al Khemia, Land of Alchemy, which is where mystical Kabbalah originates. Studies of the Kemetic Tree of Life span back millions of years and have roots in Atlantean alchemy, specifically, the balance of feminine and masculine consciousness in the high priests and high priestesses, solar religious cults and working energetically with portals. 

The Temples Of Isis were mystery schools teaching Divine Love and how to master various levels of initiation through energetic breathwork, aligning kundalini, transmutation, alchemy and sacred geometry. 

In ancient Egypt, initiates received Venus’ rays of light and resonance into their third eye centers. Sounds and chanting were known to open portals and deepen the ceremonial experience. 

Initiates receiving the transmissions from Venus, Tutankamun Shrine from Heaven’s Mirror by Graham Hancock

Venus was a favorite planet worshipped by the ancient Egyptians, Hindus, Sumerians and Mayan as her astronomical pattern in the sky revealed esoteric secrets of harmony, wisdom, unconditional love and wholeness, through Venus’s descent as the Morning Star and her re-emergence or ascent as the Evening Star. This mythical drama was one of the earliest ancient teachings on the mysteries of Descent and Ascent, in other words, rebirth. 

The importance of Venus and the grail was expressed in Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code as well.

“The pentacle became a symbol that relates to nature worship. Early religion was based on the divine order of Nature. The goddess Venus and the planet Venus were one and the same. The goddess had a place in the nightime sky and was known by many names–Venus, the Eastern Star, Ishtar, Astarte–all of them powerful female concepts with ties to Nature and Mother Earth.” 

~ The Da Vinci Code p. 36

 

Venus Mystery Schools taught how to awaken the consciousness of love. The cycle of Venus was observed famously in Sumer through mythology of the Divine Feminine and in the mythic Descent of Inanna. Through advanced studies and methods, initiates learned how to use sound, music, chanting and toning to raise the vibration of their bodies, transmit higher frequencies and open portals to other dimensions. 

The Isis Temple Complex in Philae (image credit Original Travel)

The Venus transit was also honored ritually at ancient sites like Rosslyn, Scotland and in Italy during the 15th. A Venus transit occurs approximately every 120 years. It is considered an alchemical birthing of the light of the Sun radiating through Venus and illuminating the Venusian principles of love, harmony, perfection.

According to Chaplin, Venus would activate the portal sites to higher than normal levels. (Venus transits come in pairs, 8 years apart.)

So at this point in my research: the Venus transmissions of wisdom, the cult worship of Isis in Spain and ancient Kabbalistic ceremonies were prevalent in both Spain.

Temples of Isis continued to spread across the Mediterranean, along with the teachings of Venus, as her temples were built in ancient Rome and Greece. Her cult worshiped the great Goddess and her teachings in Costa Brava. 

Why Scotland though? 

Is Scotland also connected to Venus?

Yes!

 

The Scotland connection 

The esoteric teachings of Venus traveled from ancient Sumer and the Temples of Inanna to Egypt and the Temples of Isis where many initiations and adepts came to learn of the mystical knowledge offered here. Initiates included Essenes, Ethiopians, Greeks and Jews. This is also where Jesus, Mary Magdalene, Mary and Joseph of Arimathea and Anna, the grandmother of Jesus studied. The ancient teachings of higher truth eventually spread to Jerusalem along with the rich treasures, sacred objects and ceremonial artifacts. 

At some point, the Temple of Solomon was built as an ancient observatory of Venus, mystery school and guardian of ancient treasures. 

The temple continued the royal bloodline as well as the priest-king lineage and priest-warrior lineage through the Knights Templar. When they rose in power and wealth by aiding pilgrims to the holy land and fighting in the Crusades, they became very rich and had access to ancient writings, teachings, treasures, blueprints to architecture, sacred geometry and stone masonry.  

But the secret they kept closest to protect was the teaching of Higher Truth. That truth was higher than religion and that all humans could access God without an intermediary or church. This was obviously a threat to the rising new religion: Christianty. 

Ultimately, the Knights templar were betrayed by the very Church that asked them to fight for them in the Crusades. These Knights were hunted, tortured and persected for teaching any views that did not follow their Christian view. The Knights gathered much of their treasure and traveled to France, where they were protected and safe until the Church followed them there as well. 

The Cathar community was extinguished were continuing to teach the mystery school teachings of truth. And from here, the Knights templar continued their journey to Scotland where they had allies who were tied to Normandy and even Mary Magdalene.

Robert the Bruce had recently been excommunicated and welcomed many Knights to Scotland where they brought their wisdom, ancient teachings and treasures.

 

Venus and Freemasonry 

What is the link between Venus, freemasonry, the Temple of Solomon and Rosslyn Chapel? 

Megalithic observatories were created at Newgrange in Ireland some 5,500 years ago to accurately measure the Venus cycle and mark the Winter solstice. This was an important measurement tool for these ancient astronomers because when viewed from Earth, Venus was the most accurate indicator of the time of year, in the solar system.

The study of Phoenician gods revealed three goddesses to be different aspects of the planet Venus. It is believed that the Phoenicians, or Canaanites carried their beliefs with them when working on the Temple for Solomon and may have affected its ultimate design. 

The family of William St. Clair of Roslyn fame, hereditary Grand Masters in early Scottish Masonry include both Jewish and Norse ancestors, so it is possible that Venus became involved in early Masonic ceremonies via Scottish Freemasonry.

It is said that the first known name for the city of Jerusalem was Urushalim, “Uru’ founded by “Shalem”, the name of the Canaanite god of Venus in its evening setting, but Solomon’s Temple was facing in the opposite direction, towards Venus rising in its role as morning star. We can be certain that King Solomon’s Temple was built by Canaanites who were known to worship Venus.

Venus was worshiped by Solomon  as Astarte, the Queen of Heaven continued in the Kingdom of Judah until circa 600 BCE.

Moses created Princes of the Tabernacle and the initiations took place when the Pentagram, or blazing star was to be seen in the east. It is suggested that when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple in year 70 of the Christian Era, a number of the Princes of the Tabernacle managed to escape to locations across Europe. It was from these families that the men came, who went on to found the Knights Templar.

Here are some interesting facts about Venus and the Temple of Solomon:

• The modern Masonic Temple is designed along the same astronomical lines as the Temple at Jerusalem, with the free standing pillars of B and J marking the extremities of the rising sun at the summer solstice in the North, and the winter solstice in the South. 

• The layout of every Masonic Temple is said to be a model of Solomon’s Temple. 

• The rising of Venus was central to Canaanite theology and was associated with resurrection, as it is in Freemasonry in our third degree.

• Cyclical appearances of the planet Venus, in a pre-dawn rising against a particular part of the sky were important in the early period of Jewish Kings. 

• Saul, David and Solomon, all ruled for forty years, a full Venusian cycle. 

• Freemasonic ritual aligns with the astral cultic practices of the royal lineage of Jerusalem, the city of Venus.

The authors Knight and Lomas are Freemasons and conclude that after 14 years of research and four books culminating in The Book of Hiram, they have found the missing link between Judaism and Christianity on the one hand and the secret Masonic tradition on the other. Freemasonry is a major untapped source of information about our past that is in danger of being lost, forever because of lack of knowledge of the rituals. To lose the information buried within in its rituals, before it is properly understood would be throwing away one of the true treasures of the western world.

 

Conclusion 

These mysteries began singing to me like a mermaid calling me home in January 2022. My guides told me it was time to go on this journey and remember my truth and this would be an important year of receiving the Royal Grail Codes. I have an idea of what this means but I am not told everything or allowed to see too far ahead or else it would ruin the mystery of it all.

 2022 is Magdalene coded year, a year of sacred lineage work and sacred partnerships. It is a year of rebirthing the temples of isis and recovering the lost teachings of the Feminine Christ, the lost bride of Jesus.

2022 is also a year where Venus will be revealed as playing a crucial role in the evolution of Mother Earth’s ascension into a planet of light and mystery school.

The Divine Feminine and her mystery schools have been hidden all these centuries and her teachings will come more online this year than any other year. From buried temples in Egypt, lost cities in the Grand Canyon linking to Egypt and ancient mystery schools of Venus will reveal themselves to us once again. 

Venus teaches us of love, wholeness, joy, music, unity and how to achieve the balance of our inner darkness and light. This will help Earth and her citizens take the evolutionary leap into an awakened consciousness of love. 

Spain was also a medieval center of Kabbalah but Kabbalah existed in Egypt and long before in Atlantis and most likely the land held the energy and the portals. 

We know that Girona and Renne-le-Chateau have a sacred connection through the Ley lines but what if Rosslyn and Girona also have a sacred connection to the Magdalene and through the Ley lines. Alison McCaren Founder of Sovereign Woman discusses this in her YouTube series, Conversations with Mary. 

I have so many questions…

• Had the Atlanteans left portals open for us to find? 
• Did Mary Magdalene, as an initiate in the Temples of Isis, know about the various portals in Spain and Scotland where the worship of Isis once flourished from Girona to Iona?
• Were Atlantis and Egypt the secret origins of the Tree of Life? Was the Kabbalah their gift to awaken humanity? Was this secret mystical teaching that gave every man and woman access to inner power a threat to religious institutions that wanted absolute power?
• Were the ancient Juadic Kabbalists the modern gate keepers of this secret teaching?

My hypothesis is, there were a great many Mystery Schools that flourished from the megalithic period to the Bronze Age up until the iron Age when the Mystery Schools were being destroyed by the new religion, at which point higher truth threatened institutional power.

These ancient Mystery Schools that taught Higher Truth originated from Lemuria, Atlantis then spread to Egypt and Greece and eventually into Spain, Portugal and Scotland. The teachings within the Emerald Tablet by Heremes Trsimestgus became the foundational education for initiates of the flame. The Tree of Life, ankh, Kabbalah, grail lineage, King Solomun’s Temple, sacred geometry, masonry and Knights Templar all learned from these hermetic philosophies that traveled to different lands and spread through different languages.  

Many of these temples remain destroyed and in ruins but the teachings and treasured objects were continuously moved in secret and hidden in new sacred sites and churches that would reveal their secrets to the worthy seeker. 

This has all been in my head until now. Thank goodness for the internet and the fact I have a blog where someone, even if it’s just me, can read this from time to time and make some sense of it. 

No matter how far I travel, the journey is always a pilgrimage within the heart, to discover the great love and power that resides there. We all come from this sacredness, we all come from the Goddess.

We all come from Love.   

Until next time and until Part 2…keep the fire burning in your heart! 

 

References 

Quabbalah, Masonic and Hermetic philosophy  

The Secret Teachings of All Ages: An Encyclopedic Outline of Masonic, Hermetic, Qabbalistic and Rosicrucian Symbolical Philosophy by Manly P. Hall  

 

Girona

Culture trip: Girona

Practical Atlantean Magick by Murray Hope

Ani Williams interview of the Portal 

Cradle of Stone by Patrice Chaplin

City of Secrets by Patrice Chaplin

Questing in Girona by Andrew Gough: June 2007

 

Atlantis 

Discovering Atlantis by Diana Cooper

 

Scotland and Rosslyn Chapel

The Path of Freemasonry: The Craft as a Spiritual Practice Paperback by Mark Stavish 

Rosslyn Chapel Decoded

Conversations with Mary: YouTube video series by Alison McLean Founder of Sovereign Woman 

Conversations With Mary Series Session One

Conversations With Mary Series Session Two

Conversations With Mary Session Three

Rosslyn Chapel… Hidden History Lesson with Jim Marrs

Rosslyn Chapel… The Temple of Solomon, The Grail and The Garden of Eden

An ancient family. Secret, hidden knowledge 

 

Egypt

The Temples of Light: An Initiatory Journey into the Heart Teachings of the Egyptian Mystery Schools by Daneille Rama Hoffman 

Book of Life by Elizabeth Beckett

The Tablets of Light: The Teachings of Thoth on Unity Consciousness by Daneille Rama Hoffman 

The Isis Temple Complex in Philae