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For Antoine Gadal, it was imperative that his intuition concerning the existence of the Cathar initiation riches be confirmed by materially visible signs or traces. He spent most of his life roaming the mountains of the Sabarthes, probing abysses, scrutinising caves, creeping along, a candle in one hand, like a treasure hunter. He brought back a series of curious objects, magic and cult symbols, indicating that, since ancient times, the Sabarthes had never stopped being, for many, a sacred land, a spiritual refuge.
‘The path of initiation is not only an image’, he liked to say.
He followed, down to its last traces, each clue to the truth concerning the Cathars, to discover the golden thread that linked them to their original spiritual source: the Gnosis. He immersed himself in the study of ancient texts in obscure libraries, never hesitating to copy long excerpts, confronting all points of view. Helped by a priest who had a passion for research, he was able to have access to the Inquisition archives, in which he consulted thick registers. Most of the available historical source material came from the enemies of the Cathars, the Catholic clergy, monks and inquisitors, vassals of the French crown. He thus assembled precious notes.
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He had to recognize how much the original concepts of Christianity, founded on purity, love, the rebirth of the soul, sanctification and the Spirit, had been slowly perverted, adapted to the desire for power of the Church and conformed to the world.
Gadal very quickly understood that everything had been done to prevent discovery of these things. The original sources had been destroyed or mutilated; others were out of reach; the historical data obscured. Legends and fables had been developed, making everything even more unrecognisable. Only a few clues survived, which Gadal immediately followed. |
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