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Mysteries surrounding another Cathar Country ‘Pic’: a new ‘SousLePic’ quest.....

 

Mysteries surrounding another Cathar Country ‘Pic’: a new ‘SousLePic’ quest.....

 

 

St.-Barthlemy1Perhaps with the stimulus presented by the ‘face’ which I saw on the Pic Grosse of Bugarach, http://tinyurl.com/7ygazc2 and then that mountain’s possible topographic relationship to da Vinci’s ‘Vitruvian Man’, http://tinyurl.com/7ct6ujr my attention was somehow drawn to another distinctive Cathar Country ‘peak’: Not that this particular one stands, like ‘Bugarach’, in splendid isolation; on the contrary, it forms but a part of the huge Tabe Massif – perhaps better known to walkers and skiers as ‘le Mont d’Olmes’. The ‘Pic’ in question?:   le Pic de St.-Barthélemy.

 

Apart from being able to see it from my Ariège home, this majestic mountain has long held some unfathomed attraction for ‘SousLePic’: I’m neither mountaineer nor skier, but this distinctive ‘point’ stands out amongst the main Tabe range: apart from the more diminutive Pic du Han, ‘Barthélemy’ (I’ll use this shortened title for brevity) is the only almost ‘smooth’, almost pyramidal, shape of the seven: the ‘Pic de Soularac’, ‘Pic Galinat’ and the ‘Sommet de l’Estagnol’ are ‘rough-and-tumble’ masses, as is the Carte de Randonée-unnamed 2169 metre ‘ridge’ between Barthélemy and Galinat; and splendid 2,001m Mount Fourcat, whilst a sort of rounded pyramid, isn’t a ‘peak’ as such.

 

Yet apart from being - to me - the most notable prominence of the Montagne de Tabe, something else about Barthélemy has long said “look further at this majestic mountain; are not pyramids natural focuses of terrestrial energy? ”

 

And the surprises I received when doing so have prompted this piece, which is in essence a request for further information from a relative newcomer to the Ariège, to those he feels must know much more about le Pic de St.-Barthélemy and its fascinating history and legends. Much more than can be unearthed merely through Google searches and Wikipedia sources.......?

 

Which researches have produced tantalising suggestions

-        of Barthélemy having an aura (perhaps a ‘telluric’ energy ?) which radiates far and wide across what has come to be known as Cathar Country; (‘SousLePic’ wonders if this might be down to the Tabe massif’s overall metamorphic geology, and some primeval Energy effect this produces through Barthélemy’s huge pyramidal central mass? The ‘Pic’ apparently has ancient renown as a progenitor of thunder and lightning!)

-        about it being thought in some quarters to have been the centre of an very ancient sun-worshipping cult;

-        of it possibly being the subject of ancient ‘druidical’ interests; and

-        of the presence on its flanks of megalithic monuments - cromlechs, menhirs and dolmens, some thought to date back to c.5,000 years BP.

 

Other information which came to hand included Barthélemy only coming to be known by that name in the early 1700’s; in early medieval times, it appears to have been known, amongst several other titles, as ‘Abriscola’ and was even then regarded as a ‘mystic’ mountain. ‘SousLePic’ understands that ‘Abriscola’ – I’ve not yet fathomed the etymology - had early Christian associations, including a legend of one St. Anastase spending several years in the C.11 as a hermit high on the mountain; and that somewhere up there may be the remains of his cell, or a later chapel erected in his memory.

 

Sources also suggest the Montagne de Tabe as a whole as having a peculiar attraction to the Cathares......... Perhaps they chose Montsegur - also a ‘geo-pyramid’ (and thus an Energy focus) for their refuge; but one much more readily accessible, at half the height of the 2,348 metre winter-snow-entombed Abriscola – and certainly more hospitable climate-wise! ?

 

But perhaps most fascinating from SousLePic’s viewpoint are the legends surrounding its relevance to an ancient sun-worship cult: At http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pic de Saint-Barthélemy I found the following reference – seemingly paraphrased from http://www.saint-barthelemy.pyreneus.fr :

 

« Bien que second sommet du massif par l'altitude, le pic de Saint-Barthélemy en est le plus célèbre, notamment pour des raisons historiques : ce sommet fut en effet le cadre d'un culte solaire depuis des temps immémoriaux, et donnait lieu à des célébrations annuelles, où se rassemblaient les habitants des vallées voisines. Les cérémonies, solaires puis païennes, liées au commencement de l'automne, débutaient le soir, se poursuivaient dans la nuit et s'achevaient le lendemain matin, au lever du soleil, par des rites spécifiques. »

 

« Ces cérémonies cultuelles païennes furent ensuite christianisées en un pèlerinage ayant lieu le jour de la Saint-Barthélemy (24 août) et une chapelle (probablement non couverte, et maintenant ruinée) fut érigée au sommet. On note, fait assez inhabituel, que ce pèlerinage chrétien comprenait lui aussi le fait de passer la nuit au sommet, d'assister au lever du soleil, et ce n'est qu'ensuite que se déroulait la messe matinale du 24, avec, là encore, une survivance de certains rites païens (voir Astruc, 1737) »

 

SousLePic understands that these rites would have taken place at the time the ancients regarded as the solar ‘changeover point’ from Summer to Autumn – in our modern western calendar, 23-24th August; and can only conclude that the mountain came to be known by its present name because that 24th also happens to be the very day that the Christian church – well known for ‘appropriating’ ancient religious rites! – commemorated/commemorates Saint...... Barthélemy.

 

So does that make our present Pic de St.-Barthélemy a significant feature in some global calendric solar/light ‘cycle’? Although 23/24 August don’t figure in the actual solar cycle of solstices and equinoxes, or even quarter-days, what about connections with other ancient human computations of the seasons (eg the essentially Celtic May festival of ‘Beltane’?); and even with astrological associations: after all, 23 August marks the zodiacal change from Leo to Virgo – an Earth sign. And Pic Barthélemy is if nothing else a significant ‘chunk’ of the Earth – at least in Cathar Country topographic terms!

 

And are the rites of the aforementioned ancient ‘culte solaire’ still practised on this splendid ‘Pic’?

SousLePic has no idea, but would be most interested to know..............

 

And if not, perhaps the introduction in recent years of the summer use of the chair lifts from the Mont St.-Barthlemyd’Olmes ski station, giving easier foot access to the high Tabe peaks (for the less humanly energetic!) could perhaps facilitate the return of gatherings of Seekers of Higher Energies?

 

Meanwhile, for those who might also have such perhaps obscure and esoteric interests, SouslePic’s recent online researches have included the following fascinating and informative web sites/pages:

 

http://www.saint-barthelemy.pyreneus.fr/solaire.htm

http://www.saint-barthelemy.pyreneus.fr/legendes.htm

http://www.saint-barthelemy.pyreneus.fr/anastase.htm

 

Finally, my thanks & acknowledgements to the, to me, unknown author(s) of the above - French language - pages of le Site Officiel du Pic de Saint-Barthélemy, whose invaluable content has made my quest so fascinating, and produced a determination to look further.

 

SousLePic’ awaits feedback with interest!

 

© 2012SouslePic’, Ariege, France

Edition date: 05 March 2012

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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