Intrepid traveler Marie-Laure Valandro takes us through southern France and the Pyrenees (on her way to Spain) to explore the region that was once the center of the Cathar movement.
The Cathars, also known as Cathari from the Greek Katharoi for “pure ones,” flourished in the 12th and 13th centuries in Southern Europe. Challenging the authority of the Catholic Church, the Cathars were condemned as heretical and persecuted. By 1350 the Cathars had been eradicated.
Marie-Laure wanders among chateaux ruins and remainders of Cathar strongholds in wonder and awe at now-peaceful villages that have stood, perched on cliffs, for a thousand years. Among her narrative Marie-Laure has drawn upon the works of philosopher, anthroposophist, and Cathar historian Déodat Roché, other Cathar historians, and the insights from the works of Rudolph Steiner that we may understand how the Cathars, from their history, values, and beliefs, offer us clues to our own future.
About the Author
Marie-Laure Valandro was born in 1948 and spent her childhood in Bourgogne, Morocco, Algeria, and Bretagne. At fifteen, she moved with her family to Boston, where she received a B.A. in modern literature, romance languages, and education and taught in the Boston public school system. Later, she moved to Vermont, and obtained an M.A. in literature. At twenty-three, Marie-Laure returned to Paris to study at The Sorbonne, to teach and to travel around Europe to various Christian Holy sites. She later moved to Tehran to teach technical English and to tour throughout the Eastern world, studying Sufism, Zoroastrianism, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism as seen through the eyes of its believers and through visits to holy sites. Marie-Laure returned to the United States to care for her son. She lived in the community of Wilton, New Hampshire, where she first encountered Anthroposophy. She ended her school teaching to care for her daughter, son, and husband, a medical doctor. Meanwhile, she continued to travel and trek in South America, both alone and with her children. Later, she moved to Wisconsin and began the Liane Collot d’Herbois training in painting. On her family farm in Wisconsin, Marie-Laure uses biodynamic methods and has developed master gardens, vegetable gardens, herb gardens, and an orchard. She has also established a painting studio, where she creates large veil paintings. Recently, she moved from Wisconsin to a post-and-beam house built by her son in the Canadian Rockies of British Columbia. Her goal is to continue walking across this beautiful Earth, meeting people with love and sharing her journeys in meditative books, sprinkled with insights from Rudolf Steiner’s works and the many talented students of his teachings. She continues to make large veil paintings to “heal people and spaces.”
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