​PREVIOUS RESEARCH THAT INSPIRED THIS PILGRIMAGE

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• Cathedrals were often built over existing pagan shrines – places where folk gathered to celebrate nature and annual festivals as well as commune with their ancestors. Places where the veil between the realms is thin, so that connection to Spirit was easy and the land still carries that energy. Sometimes they were marked with a menhir or standing stone many of which still exist today as part of the cathedral.

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• Water is very important as an element incorporated into the placing of a cathedral. It brings a special energy. Many are built over sacred springs or on underground water tables (Salisbury, Winchester and Wells are prime examples) and Notre Dame is on Ile de Cite and Strasbourg Cathedral is also on an island, so they are surrounded by water. Or they may be built on top of a hill. Supposedly, so that they can be seen from surrounding countryside but when a hill is created there is a burst of powerful earth energy which is still held within the land bringing powerful energies. (Lincoln Cathedral).

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• They are normally orientated East / West. The apse is in the east and usually has small chapels around it with appropriate stained glass windows to catch the morning light.  The west side is an ornate façade often featuring a massive rose window and very grand decorated doorways or portals which have figures carved into them. East west orientation has been used by indigenous and ancient peoples for temples and sacred structures for thousands of years. It also means that the huge stained glass windows of the nave receive the brightest southern light.

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• And of course, there is the geometry of their architecture the measurements and sacred ratios which create a ‘container’ for power and incredible acoustics.

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• I’ve also studied very alternative theories that suggest cathedrals are generators of energy and have the facility to store that energy but I won’t discuss that here.

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MY OWN INSIGHTS

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I’ve loved the cathedrals in France – each has its own particular energy and are very different to UK or Spanish cathedrals. There is an authenticity here. A holy silence. There is no entry fee and a tangible veneration even with huge crowds wandering around. Any guided tourist groups are obliged to use headsets unlike UK cathedrals where any silence is eclipsed by loud flag waving tour groups.  

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I enter any cathedral with reverence and openness to experience what it may bring. There is a hushed peace and calmness within the spacious dimensions. I wander slowly among the magnificent marble statues, the glorious religious art and the massive ornate shrines and the beauty these add to the interiors is overwhelming.

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But it’s only when the mighty organ plays that one’s spirit soars. Add to that the frankincense smoke, the pure voices of the choristers, the adornments and the colours coming in through the stained glass and it can be a truly divine experience.  Each of these aspects ALONE can promote a form of awe or healing but, combined TOGETHER, I am moved into what can only be described as ecstatic bliss.

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In these times, we have reintroduced sound therapy, colour therapy, smudging for energy clearing and vocal toning as healing modalities but people were experiencing this eight hundred years ago in these cathedrals!!

 

And something else I realised is that one can listen to recorded organ music but to be in the presence of the organ in the cathedral dimensions and acoustics is wondrous. When the bass foot keyboard and swell pedal are activated, I really feel the vibrations in my body. It’s the same with gong! Listening to gong frequencies on headphones brings a relaxed state through pyscho-acoustics but being in the presence of the gong brings you a physical experience known as vibro-acoustics. 

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Perhaps my conclusions have little to do with religion and yet, that is said to be the main purpose of any cathedral. Ancient peoples honoured and worshipped on the land so why did it feel essential to build these might edifices?  I hesitate to state a conclusion here except to say that a cathedral might create a ‘magic box’ in which anything can happen depending on the intent or faith of the worshipper. Perhaps it creates a channel or vessel through which prayers can be heard? My own belief might be that the alchemy of sacred space, sacred sound and sacred colour can together create alchemy raising one’s personal frequency? And reaching that high frequency brings ease of prayer, healing and manifesting.

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However further integration might be needed and more exploration perhaps?