Welcome to my Mission Statement
When I was young I was given the CS Lewis books to read. I was transported to the magical world of Narnia - where there lived mythical beasts and talking animals such as centaurs, fauns and horses. Good was pitted against evil and souls were fought for, won and lost. The most important reason for this fight was to protect Narnia from evil & restore its throne to the rightful line.
The stories freely borrowed characters and ideas from Greek, Turkish and Roman mythology and legends - as well as British and Irish fairy tales. These tales were essentially archetypal. That is they could refer to "collectively inherited unconscious ideas and perhaps pattern's of thought and image's". Years later I studied Evolutionary Biology and Anthropology along with Archaeology and the idea of human cultural 'memes' had been advanced - which seemed to me to be the very same concept of the archetype idea.
The 'memes' are suggested to be present universally in all individual psyches, so perhaps i was tapping into something i was totally unaware of as a child when i read about Narnia. Perhaps the archetypal death and sacrifice of something or someone to save the rest of a community (as some think the basis of the Christian religion is) which Lewis had presented in a childlike form (the Narnia books) resonated with me even at my young age because it was a powerful 'meme' or archetype. It was only years later that i realised what Lewis actually meant. And so i found myself with an interest in religious history and thought.
In 1992 after studying at a local theology class - my friend who attended with me asked - 'Have you read 'Holy Blood Holy Grail'? She told me it was a book which hinted at a 'huge secret' – a secret related to religion. A priest in Southern France had suddenly become immensely rich and had decorated his Church in a strange manner. Of course I went out and bought the book and found myself hooked just like I was when I read those magical books about Narnia.
Some might say that the story of Abbé Saunière and buried treasure is about as real as the Narnia tales. But the story of Saunière appeared to have something different. For a start it was supposed to be real & the events around him had happened relatively recently. If you were diligent enough surely one could uncover the truth? The history of the area of Rhedae, where Saunière lived and worked, was set against a fascinating backdrop of archaeological mystery. Where indeed was the colossal ancient treasure of the Visigoths finally laid to rest?
The backdrop also featured mysterious medieval knights, persecuted religious sects as well as a more recent history which encompassed the aftermath of the French Revolution. In our modern times the backdrop consisted of the machinations of a bizarre and not so secret Secret Society. This so called Priory of Sion - had mainly consisted of two steering characters - Pierre Plantard and Philippe de Cherisey. They had, between them, added much more to the Saunière drama. Did they do this because they knew inside information about the affair or did they make up all sorts of fake stories and added it to the existing mystery? After all, Cherisey had confirmed in interviews that this is pretty much what he had done.
Plantard and Cherisey - early on - had met Noel Corbu, the person who inherited the Saunière estate directly from Marie Denarnaud. It was Denarnaud who was Saunière's lifelong companion and confidante. It was she who was by his side when he made his 'discoveries', it was she by his side when he was digging in the cemetery and upturning graves well into the night, it was she who covered for him by sending out pre-prepared fake letters posted in reply to communications for Saunière while he was away from the village. She also [allegedly] said in later life that she knew a secret pertaining to religion. She had promised Corbu that one day she would tell him about an incredible secret that would make him very rich.
Did Plantard and Cherisey try to find out this 'secret' from Corbu? Did they really 'know' things or was it a game of theirs, a modern day ludibrium? A ludibrium which was a trivial game to them - a chance to create something for fun, scorn and derision? Were we having the collective fun poked at us? Were they only out to make money and so concocted a 'new' story about the 'priest with billions'? Even if this could be considered to be partly true it would seem that making money was not the main object of their supposed ludibrium.
In his Peregrini in Patria errores (1618) Andreae compared the world to an amphitheatre where no one was seen in their true light. Frances Yates, the great scholar of the Enlightenment took Andreae at his word [when discussing his Rosicrucian Manifesto's] and suggested that when Andreae talked of his own ludibrium he had implied something more akin to a sort of "Divine Comedy", a dramatic allegory played out in a political domain. Is this what Plantard and Cherisey were doing? Leading us through their own ludibrium to show us that there was indeed more to the 'story' of Saunière and that the events surrounding him had not yet been seen in their 'true light'? I certainly can believe this to be an objective of Cherisey! There seem to be two 'stories' about Rennes-le-Chateau - the 'real' events of Sauniere's life (which are most notably and ably shown for us by Paul Saussez) and then there are the 'fantasies' added by the 'Priory of Sion'.
Recently the magic of research and learning and discovering in relation to Rennes-le-Château has left some of us jaded and disappointed. The genre has become littered with charlatans and money makers. Being directly associated with the worst charlatan of all - under these circumstances i decided that it was now best to work alone - hence this website and creation of the Society. And as one fellow researcher told me, during this particularly horrific time, i might be 'redeemed' [ i.e do something that compensates for a poor judgement in the past] through the website and Journal.
French researcher Jérôme Choloux said of his website that it was created out of a passion for Rennes-le-Chateau research. And so to is this Rhedesium site created out of a passion for research into Abbé Saunière and his 'mystery'. It is a passion for the area of Rennes-le-Chateau and its history and also a passion for the wider area and aspects that the 'enigma' can be said to encompass. Just like those Narnia books and their stories borrowed from Greek, Turkish and Roman mythology I am interested in the same themes of mythology associated with France and of course Septimania. This interest is coupled with the real history of the area which is just as fascinating. My over-riding interest is with the 'lost Visigothic treasure'. Is it just a local mystery or does the enigma have the potential to upset history as we know it - like some claim?
Rhedesium.com is unpretentious. It does not purport to have solved anything but only reveals the work of mine and research of those who have the same passion and who have something interesting to say. As a researcher I am not interested in some imagined T.V. stars' ego, or another researchers' ego or people who claim to be in the 'know'. Because these claims are invariably always empty and hollow and shallow. Pretty much like the people who make the claims!
I just want the truth about Rennes-le-Chateau to be told. I do not subscribe to the elitist attitude that any religious or holy mystery is not 'for the dogs'. I say religious or holy mystery because the 'modern' mystery starts with a priest. I believe that in 2014 nothing within this mystery has a right to be kept secret, whatever it may turn out to be and regardless of how others might view it based on their own religious or political views.
Reading Holy Blood, Holy Grail gave me my lifelong passion for archaeology and history, and yes, religious history and religious thought too. This has so far lasted for 21 years and shows no sign of slowing. Therefore this website and the Journal and indeed the Society have been created to reflect that fact. All the information on here is given freely – because any information given to me was also given freely. Any cost for the magazine will be a token to help with printing costs. I do not know if the information will be useful to others but all I can do is share, and also share the research (with their permission) of other's across the whole gamut of those studies that encompass Rennes-le-Chateau as detailed on the Home page.
Sandy Hamblett
The stories freely borrowed characters and ideas from Greek, Turkish and Roman mythology and legends - as well as British and Irish fairy tales. These tales were essentially archetypal. That is they could refer to "collectively inherited unconscious ideas and perhaps pattern's of thought and image's". Years later I studied Evolutionary Biology and Anthropology along with Archaeology and the idea of human cultural 'memes' had been advanced - which seemed to me to be the very same concept of the archetype idea.
The 'memes' are suggested to be present universally in all individual psyches, so perhaps i was tapping into something i was totally unaware of as a child when i read about Narnia. Perhaps the archetypal death and sacrifice of something or someone to save the rest of a community (as some think the basis of the Christian religion is) which Lewis had presented in a childlike form (the Narnia books) resonated with me even at my young age because it was a powerful 'meme' or archetype. It was only years later that i realised what Lewis actually meant. And so i found myself with an interest in religious history and thought.
In 1992 after studying at a local theology class - my friend who attended with me asked - 'Have you read 'Holy Blood Holy Grail'? She told me it was a book which hinted at a 'huge secret' – a secret related to religion. A priest in Southern France had suddenly become immensely rich and had decorated his Church in a strange manner. Of course I went out and bought the book and found myself hooked just like I was when I read those magical books about Narnia.
Some might say that the story of Abbé Saunière and buried treasure is about as real as the Narnia tales. But the story of Saunière appeared to have something different. For a start it was supposed to be real & the events around him had happened relatively recently. If you were diligent enough surely one could uncover the truth? The history of the area of Rhedae, where Saunière lived and worked, was set against a fascinating backdrop of archaeological mystery. Where indeed was the colossal ancient treasure of the Visigoths finally laid to rest?
The backdrop also featured mysterious medieval knights, persecuted religious sects as well as a more recent history which encompassed the aftermath of the French Revolution. In our modern times the backdrop consisted of the machinations of a bizarre and not so secret Secret Society. This so called Priory of Sion - had mainly consisted of two steering characters - Pierre Plantard and Philippe de Cherisey. They had, between them, added much more to the Saunière drama. Did they do this because they knew inside information about the affair or did they make up all sorts of fake stories and added it to the existing mystery? After all, Cherisey had confirmed in interviews that this is pretty much what he had done.
Plantard and Cherisey - early on - had met Noel Corbu, the person who inherited the Saunière estate directly from Marie Denarnaud. It was Denarnaud who was Saunière's lifelong companion and confidante. It was she who was by his side when he made his 'discoveries', it was she by his side when he was digging in the cemetery and upturning graves well into the night, it was she who covered for him by sending out pre-prepared fake letters posted in reply to communications for Saunière while he was away from the village. She also [allegedly] said in later life that she knew a secret pertaining to religion. She had promised Corbu that one day she would tell him about an incredible secret that would make him very rich.
Did Plantard and Cherisey try to find out this 'secret' from Corbu? Did they really 'know' things or was it a game of theirs, a modern day ludibrium? A ludibrium which was a trivial game to them - a chance to create something for fun, scorn and derision? Were we having the collective fun poked at us? Were they only out to make money and so concocted a 'new' story about the 'priest with billions'? Even if this could be considered to be partly true it would seem that making money was not the main object of their supposed ludibrium.
In his Peregrini in Patria errores (1618) Andreae compared the world to an amphitheatre where no one was seen in their true light. Frances Yates, the great scholar of the Enlightenment took Andreae at his word [when discussing his Rosicrucian Manifesto's] and suggested that when Andreae talked of his own ludibrium he had implied something more akin to a sort of "Divine Comedy", a dramatic allegory played out in a political domain. Is this what Plantard and Cherisey were doing? Leading us through their own ludibrium to show us that there was indeed more to the 'story' of Saunière and that the events surrounding him had not yet been seen in their 'true light'? I certainly can believe this to be an objective of Cherisey! There seem to be two 'stories' about Rennes-le-Chateau - the 'real' events of Sauniere's life (which are most notably and ably shown for us by Paul Saussez) and then there are the 'fantasies' added by the 'Priory of Sion'.
Recently the magic of research and learning and discovering in relation to Rennes-le-Château has left some of us jaded and disappointed. The genre has become littered with charlatans and money makers. Being directly associated with the worst charlatan of all - under these circumstances i decided that it was now best to work alone - hence this website and creation of the Society. And as one fellow researcher told me, during this particularly horrific time, i might be 'redeemed' [ i.e do something that compensates for a poor judgement in the past] through the website and Journal.
French researcher Jérôme Choloux said of his website that it was created out of a passion for Rennes-le-Chateau research. And so to is this Rhedesium site created out of a passion for research into Abbé Saunière and his 'mystery'. It is a passion for the area of Rennes-le-Chateau and its history and also a passion for the wider area and aspects that the 'enigma' can be said to encompass. Just like those Narnia books and their stories borrowed from Greek, Turkish and Roman mythology I am interested in the same themes of mythology associated with France and of course Septimania. This interest is coupled with the real history of the area which is just as fascinating. My over-riding interest is with the 'lost Visigothic treasure'. Is it just a local mystery or does the enigma have the potential to upset history as we know it - like some claim?
Rhedesium.com is unpretentious. It does not purport to have solved anything but only reveals the work of mine and research of those who have the same passion and who have something interesting to say. As a researcher I am not interested in some imagined T.V. stars' ego, or another researchers' ego or people who claim to be in the 'know'. Because these claims are invariably always empty and hollow and shallow. Pretty much like the people who make the claims!
I just want the truth about Rennes-le-Chateau to be told. I do not subscribe to the elitist attitude that any religious or holy mystery is not 'for the dogs'. I say religious or holy mystery because the 'modern' mystery starts with a priest. I believe that in 2014 nothing within this mystery has a right to be kept secret, whatever it may turn out to be and regardless of how others might view it based on their own religious or political views.
Reading Holy Blood, Holy Grail gave me my lifelong passion for archaeology and history, and yes, religious history and religious thought too. This has so far lasted for 21 years and shows no sign of slowing. Therefore this website and the Journal and indeed the Society have been created to reflect that fact. All the information on here is given freely – because any information given to me was also given freely. Any cost for the magazine will be a token to help with printing costs. I do not know if the information will be useful to others but all I can do is share, and also share the research (with their permission) of other's across the whole gamut of those studies that encompass Rennes-le-Chateau as detailed on the Home page.
Sandy Hamblett
This marble sepulchre is said to have been built by the priest at Esperaza after he learned something from Berenger Sauniere on his death bed. For those of you who have found this sepulchre and seen it - it is disconcerting in the least, when you see through the dark flickering candlelight that the Jesus depicted here is still alive.
"Marie, after the death of Bérenger, used to teach Catholicism in Sunday school, and once after an hour of class, once she had finished, she closed the book, looked at them and said, ‘my poor kids, if you only knew’ . (Quote reported by Jean Luc Robin)
