Dayle in Limoux – Day #68
September 11, 2022
I’ll share my explorations about Joan and Rouen tomorrow. Today is the 9/11 anniversary. Every moment of that day, indelible. Coronado, California.
From former CBS news anchor and author Dan Rather.
‘We tend to mark major anniversaries. But why should this year be less important?
It isn’t.And yet I wonder: Is this still a day that stops us in our tracks?
We will never forget where we were when we heard, when we saw, when we cried.
But so much has passed between then and now.
9/11 changed our nation forever.
But so too have events that followed.
History marches in only one direction — forward — in lockstep with our lives.Still, I am drawn back. I know that it will be so for as long as I am here.
That bright, sunny morning — a postcard of a New York day that turned hopelessly dark.
I smell the smoke.
I hear the screams.
I see the faces of the perpetually missing in walls of photographs.
I touch the void.I think of the mistakes that preceded 9/11.
And the mistakes that followed.I think of our national goodwill
and how it was squandered.I wonder at a unity
that has dissipated to acrimony.I mourn for those who died that day.
And those who perished in the wars that followed.
One of which was a misguided war of choice. The folly of Iraq still haunts us.What if?
What if?
What if?The questions accumulate. We ask despite knowing there are no answers.
Fate can be cruel. And on that day the cruelty left us all altered.
I think especially of those who lost friends and loved ones.
The personal emptiness they have had to face is greater than our collective grief.
Let us never forget that.For the rest of us, we lost a sense of invulnerability.
How could our mighty nation be thus attacked?Today the vulnerability of terrorism remains.
But it is crowded with a long list of others.
Our country is precarious.
We feel exposed.
At risk.And it is not only for us as individuals.
Our national freedoms,
Our constitutional rights,
Our public health,
and the very mechanisms of democratic governance are under threat.We yearn for stability
knowing it will be ever elusive.But strength and resilience are possible.
We saw that then.
And we can see it now.For those of us who were lucky enough to emerge from the tragedy, steady we must be.
Steady.
Steady.
Steady.To carry on the memory of those who perished
into the challenges ahead.’
From Father Richard Rohr:
‘When all is said and done, the gospel comes down to forgiveness. I’d say it’s the whole gospel. It’s the beginning, the middle, and the end. People who know how to forgive have known how good it feels to be forgiven, not when they deserved it, but precisely when they didn’t deserve it.’
Enya
Attack on America Radio Mix from 2001–Remembering 9/11
We played this on KyXy radio in San Diego.
Bonne nuit.
☮︎
Dayle in Limoux – Day #67
R
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F R A N C E
Jeanne d’Arc
Early train from Limoux to Carcassonne to make the connection to Marseilles and then on to Rouen, France, where Joan of Arc was tried and convicted, betrayed by her king and her country, and burned at the stake for being a heretic, that is, a w i t c h. The guys also didn’t like the fact that she wore armor and men’s clothing, which she donned, especially when in prison, to protect herself against sexual assault. (There’s a new play in London called ‘I, Joan’ about a gender non-conforming hero who uses them/they pronouns. It’s playing at Shakespeare’s Globe. Hard pass. I revere her history, and this isn’t it. She is sacred. Leave her be.)
Very long day of train travel to get to Rouen, which I loved. Train travel is the best; and it’s so doable in this country. And not very expensive. Taking the bus is basically a euro in the region of Languedoc.
Waiting for the train in Limoux.
Waiting for the train in Carcassonne.
And the bread of life.
Pain au chocolate. ღ
The Mediterranean heading into Marseilles, where Mary Magdalene landed in Gaul (France) to begin her apostleship to the villagers in the region. (Read, ‘The Manuscript!’)
Marseilles found my stress threshold. B i g station. Had no idea what I was doing; our train was delayed in Carcassonne which put us late into the station. I couldn’t find the right platform, or a screen to tell me which platform it should be. I had 15 minutes to figure it out. A woman with a child was asking people for €’s, as I was hurrying past I gave her the 4 €’s I had in my pocket. Then she started following me. She wanted 10. Impressive. I finally found the platform with minutes to spare…and lots of perspiration.
Another great thing about France, they even grow trees inside.
🌳 🌳 🌳 💚
The first thing I saw when I disembarked from the train…
I have no idea what it is, no markings…I just love it. So old. And the air smelled like flowers. Seriously! It really did. So fresh. Maybe because I was finally able to remove my mask after five hours. :)
[Train station in Rouen.]
When the taxi dropped me at my hotel, I thought I was in a fever dream.
WHAT. IS. HAPPENING.
The Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Rouen was awash in bright colors and pulsating music. It was incredible. My hotel is right across from the Cathedral. So when it was over, I grabbed my bag to go check in. Door locked with a note in English. I think for me. Finally the proprietor comes downstairs to inform me the hotel is overbooked…staff error…and found me another hotel. Drag. So tired. So, I trekked to find it. Got lost. A sweet young Norwegian couple who spoke English (!), helped me find it. It’s a trip. I can only possibly explain it by suggesting you think 60’s, Batman, Pop Tarts, and Bowling.
Oh, and fluorescent orange and blue lighting. The whole night feels like a fever dream. Toto, we’re not in Limoux anymore. Only have to stay one night and then I can return back to the Hotel Cardinal for the rest of my stay.
On the way to find the other hotel found this tower/obelisk structure…ancient…no markings…and not really cared for. It almost looks like it was burnt at one time.
And the full la lune in Rouen. Here’s what Power Path has to say about this month’s full corn/harvest moon.
This is a good window to focus on spiritual and emotional wellness, what that means to you, and how you can better support it in your life. Any spiritual searching and intention in this area will bring good results. This is also a time for gratitude for what is ending or changing in your life. Completions can be powerful catalysts for driving much needed resets. If a recent crisis has opened up the field of flexibility and creative problem solving, see it as a gift instead of an obstacle.
Almost full before I left Limoux.
Tomorrow, exploring!
I traveled to Rouen to be with Joan. I had thought about this journey so much while still in the states. I so wanted to be here, and here I am! I had hoped to visit the town where she was born and where she first heard the voices instructing her what she needed to do for France; she was only 13/14. The town is called Domrémy-la-Pucelleyet, it’s another five hours and about five transfers. Very remote. I think another time. Folks can visit the church where she worshiped, as well as the home where she lived.
She was only 19 when tried, convicted, and burnt at the stake as a heretic, or as the men liked to call women they didn’t like (and still do), a witch.
I read Mark Twain’s book about Joan of Arc while deep in our COVID isolation, so surprised to learn he had written about her.
It’s excellent. Deep research and reverence for her passion and loyalty for France and her king. Johanne listened to the guidance of her angel spirits, Archangel Michael, Saint Margaret, and Saint Catherine of Alexandria. (St. Catherine of favorite of mine, too.)
Twain wrote:
“It furnished me seven times the pleasure afforded me by any of the others; twelve years of preparation, and two years of writing.”
[https://www.worldcat.org]
[https://www.gender.ed.ac.uk/witches-of-scotland-a-campaign-to-right-the-historic-wrongs-done-to-women/]
More on witches about an original text:
The Malleus Maleficarum, first published in 1486–7, is the standard medieval text on witchcraft and it remained in print throughout the early modern period. Its descriptions of the evil acts of witches and the ways to exterminate them continue to contribute to our knowledge of early modern law, religion and society. Mackay’s highly acclaimed translation, based on his extensive research and detailed analysis of the Latin text, is the only complete English version available, and the most reliable. Now available in a single volume, this key text is at last accessible to students and scholars of medieval history and literature. With detailed explanatory notes and a guide to further reading, this volume offers a unique insight into the fifteenth-century mind and its sense of sin, punishment and retribution.
Found a great short podcast about the thousands of women who were persecuted, tortured and killed after being accused of witchcraft. The Scottish Parliament is set to clear their names. The host, Annette Young, meets the two women who are behind the campaign to get Scottish authorities to pardon the accused.
“At a time when women were not even allowed to speak as witnesses in a courtroom, they were accused and killed because they were poor, different, vulnerable, or in many cases just because they were women … I extend a formal, posthumour apology to all those accused, convicted, vilified or executed under the Witchcraft Act of 1563.”
On the 9th of March 2022, First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon formally apologised for the persecution of people accused of witchcraft in Scotland, calling it an “injustice on a collosal scale.” The persecution started in the 1500s and lasted over two centuries, during which nearly 4,000 – the vast majority of whom were women – were accused of witchcraft. And this same brutality caused tens of thousands to be persecuted and murdered in Languedoc in the 11th and 12 centuries.
FRANCE 24
Exorcising the ills of the past: Scotland set to vote on pardoning ‘witches.’
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-51/id1055024600?i=1000578178243
Plus demain! (More tomorrow.) 🗡 __________________________________________________________________________________________________________
💭 “It should have been my mum.”
💭 “It should have been my mum.”