MY EXPERIENCE IN NOTRE DAME CATHREDRAL IN CHARTRES

Together with some like-minded souls, I went to the Notre Dame of Chartres in March 2004. This beautiful cathedral contains, apart from the numerous sculptures and stained glass windows, a very special 11 path labyrinth.

Because of her special Gothic appearance, the way she raises in front of you when you reach the town, and the universal story she tells, this cathedral is a true radiation of bonding and unity.

She truly is an encyclopaedia, written in stone and glass. The whole Universe is her subject, the sum of the total knowledge of the medieval spirit, not yet influenced by the splitting of the soul, mind and body, not yet estranged from Nature, Scientific method and Philosophical enlightenment.

In her representation of All That Is, all material is included. Nothing is excluded: Free art, astrology, the work of the Seasons, the tools of Alchemy, animals, plants and flowers, virtues and sins etc. etc. Everything is accepted and is a part of the whole.

Time and again we walk through the cycle of life, there is no beginning; there is no end.

The most beautiful stained glass window I have ever seen is the window of the “Dame de la belle verrière” (Madonna of the beautiful window):

Seen from the middle of the labyrinth, this window lies to right side of the Choir.

The Black Madonna (Notre Dame du Pilier) finds itself exactly at the opposite side of this window, to the left of the choir:

In the middle of the choir is the beautiful sculpture of Mary, ascending to heaven:

No wonder, there is a place full of energy, to be found in the middle of the choir. And it is more or less surrounded by the three Madonna´s. Here one can also find the head altar. Another altar stands between the Northern and Southern Rose stained glass Windows and from that spot one sees the Western Rose stained glass Window.

My experience in the middle of the labyrinth comprises both the Rose stained glass Windows and the three Madonna´s.

The first time walking the Labyrinth, it felt strange. I was walking and this one thought entered my mind: “back to zero”, let go. What is it that I have to let go?, I asked myself. The answer was: “everything”. At the same time I felt deeply touched and like crying. In the middle of the labyrinth I felt a deep silence.

When walking back, slowly but surely there was a feeling of acceptance, well, okay then, I will let go……..

The second walk was already more quiet. The feeling everything was alright and yet again that point that I had to cry, wanting it or not, still something I had not totally absorbed. In the end, when walking back, everything turned out alright again.

During the third walk, there clearly was contact, not only with myself, but also with others that walked the labyrinth. The first two walks I was not aware of this, but the third time I noticed how I reacted to others and how they reacted to me: Loving, making place, giving space. Radiation of acceptance. The feeling of totally belonging.

The fourth walk was a real happening. I saw a young man who was dancing the labyrinth. A kind of “quick,quick,slow” dance, two steps forwards, one step backwards. I started dancing behind him and we both came into the same rhythm dancing towards the middle. During this dance I forgot everything around me. In the middle, a feeling of gratitude totally overwhelmed me. Wow, this was great and I danced the whole labyrinth in the way back, out of it.

After this experience, we went back to the middle of the choir, standing in front of the Madonna going to heaven.

I did a Yoga exercise there, making a circle of light, spreading my arms in a wide circle around me. Later it occurred to me that I was standing in line with the other two Madonna´s to the left and right of me. I received a lot of energy there.

After this we went into the crypt of the Cathedral, where we found the fourth Madonna, the “Notre Dame Sous Terrre” (The lady under the ground), lost during the many times the cathedral was destroyed or burnt down during war. But her sculpture had been copied from a drawing and she really had the radiation of a “Celtic Madonna”:

The Celtic culture was the one preceding the Roman culture and the Romans integrated quite a lot of it into their culture.

During our last morning in Chartres (it was a lovely sunny day) we were all able to perform an age old Yoga exercise: greeting the Sun. At that moment I clearly perceived: “A new Spring had started, a new way, a new Beginning”.

Since that wonderful experience in Chartres, life to me has become a wonderful weaving of one creative experience after another and this goes on and on…..

Made a 3D virtual reality world of this experience as an everlasting memory: