by Finbarr Ross, June 2012

I have just returned from France where I had some amazing experiences which I would like to share with you. For some years now I have been thinking that I should explore Mount Bugarach where the ancient Essenes had a community and this year at the beginning of June I had the opportunity to be in the area for a week so. Through my friend, Eugene, I was organized with a guide who’s name is Harvey to take me on this expedition as I wanted to visit the Cathedral Cave and anything else that he was willing to show me.

On the morning we met he said to me “So you want to visit the Cathedral Cave? And what else do you want to see?” I asked “What is there for me to experience?” Harvey asks me “Are you open to going into a cave for an Essene Initiation?,” and I say “Yes,” and we set off for Mt. Bugarach with our translator Tim.

Upon arrival we start to climb for about 45 minutes and just ahead of us we could see an opening to a cave, but Harvey stopped and pointed out to me a black snake. It was about 4 ft long and it looked very peaceful. After admiring the snake and watching it climb out on a branch we proceeded to the cave.

Then Harvey asks me to take all the metal off my body, my watch, etc. as we are going to be entering this cave in the dark and he asks me if I am OK with that. I said yes, not fully understanding what I was letting myself in for. He hands me a headband with a light on it to put around my head, but tells me we will not be putting on the light until we get all the way inside the cave, which is about 150 yards.

Next he gets down on his knees and starts to crawl in through a hole in the cave which is about 30 inches in diameter and Tim tells me to follow him. Now, I have to tell you, I was not prepared for this, so I got down on all fours and proceed to follow through the hole. Tim assures me he will be right behind me and for me to just follow Harvey. Off we go, but about 12 feet in I get claustrophobic and say I have got to get out. I start to back out and hit my head on a rock and get two gashes. Back out into the sunlight we go.

Harvey, through Tim, tells me I am perfectly safe that he is in front of me, Tim is behind me and I need to breath.  He says that when I go into fear allow a symbol to enter my head and continue to look at this until my breathing is under control again. I closed my eyes searching for a symbol and got a snake, so off we set again and this time I was much calmer.  We traveled back through the hole, into the dark, on all fours, which was not easy as pebbles, etc were not too kind to one’s knees. I was moving along nicely until I felt that I was going down an incline, and I stop and panic. I use my symbol and get my breathing back to level. Tim asks me what is wrong and I tell him it feels like there is a big drop before me and yes, indeed, there was. Tim spoke with Harvey and discovered that Harvey forgot to mention that in this section I needed to go feet first and then back to all fours.

Finally I get to a place where Harvey asks me to stand up. We are still in the dark and after about ten minutes he asks me to turn my light on, which I do, and find myself in a massive cave with what looks like a lake in it. Harvey asks me to take off my shoes and socks and roll up my pants as we are now going to walk through this water which is about ten to twelve inches deep and went around a corner through some rocks.

I followed Harvey through the water and boy was it cold!  But after going about 30 feet it no longer felt cold, so I continued on for at least another 100 feet and then we were in another large cave which was beautiful. As I stepped out of the water onto dry rock I had an amazing experience where I was greeted by several beings, one of which was Joseph of Arimathea, who informed me that I had just completed a major Essene Initiation. It was an amazing , mystical and magical experience which lasted quite a long time and all during this time Harvey and Tim just stood and watched me have my experience which as I have already said was magical and I was vibrating at an amazing rate with lots of energy.

After some time Harvey asks me am I ready to go back out and I say yes and then he tells me I am to go back out on my own with the light on and that he and Tim would follow me shortly but that this was something I had to do on my own for me so that I could fully understand all that had happened and it gave me some to time to process all that had happened.

I worked my way out to the cave entrance and was amazed at all that had transpired over the course of the morning. Shortly thereafter Harvey and Tim arrived and we made our way back down the mountain in silence. Then we had a break to have our picnic lunch.

After lunch we got back in Harvey’s car and drove to the other side of Mount Bugarach and we again started to climb, which we did for over an hour, finally reaching the Cathedral Cave which was a massive cave This was just an amazing experience! What a wonderful cave with so much energy, but I have to say it was nothing to match the experience at the initiation cave.

Having spent an hour in this wonderful cave we gingerly made our way back down the mountain as it was very steep in places and then drove back to my hotel to make our arrangement for my next day experience.

On the day I met Harvey and Tim, Harvey asked me did I want to have a Cathar experience as well as an Essene and of course I said yes. So he told me about a Cathar initiation cave and upon hearing all about it I said yes. At 8am the following morning I met Tim and we drove in my car to meet Harvey, who lived on our way to the Cathar caves. It took us about an hour to drive there and we stopped on the way to pick up a picnic lunch and get some tea and coffee.

Harvey first took me to the cave of the two churches one was much larger than the other, it was absolutely huge and it had a light coming in through the roof in one corner. We explored this cave for about an hour and came to a point that was sealed off. Harvey told me that the government had sealed it off to protect a large amount of wall painting within the cave until they decided how to let people view them and also protect them from vandalism.

We next explored the sister cave of the two churches which was much smaller and had a very sacred energy.  It was obvious that lots of rituals had been performed in this sacred place, whereas the larger cave one felt like this is where they had lived.

We climbed back down to the road and drove further along so that we could again start climbing up to the Cathar Initiation Cave. Upon reaching this cave Harvey tells me “Finbarr we are going to do the same as yesterday. We will enter the cave in the dark on all fours, but first we will have to walk some distance through the cave in the dark until we get to the entrance to the tunnel.” I say OK and he says just follow my voice so I follow his voice on foot for about a 50 yards and then he tells me to get down on all fours and follow him, follow his voice. I ask how far in I had to go on all fours and he says a little longer than yesterday. Harvey was a man of few words and into allowing one to have an experience and then discuss it with you, but giving you information beforehand? No, it was all about trust.

So off we set on all fours and I feel much calmer than yesterday so I am in a good place and after a while Harvey asks me to stand up and when he did I had an experience with a being which lasted for about what seemed like ten minutes and then Harvey asked me if I was ready to move on so off we went again, me following his voice with Tim bringing up the rear and then we would have another break where I would stand up again when asked by Harvey and I would have another experience with another being. This process went on for some time and finally Harvey asks me to switch on my light and we are in a most magnificent cave. I then asked him how many stops did we make and he said “Seven Finbarr, one for each chakra.” Now I understood why he would not tell me anything before we started. He wanted me to have my experience at each stop with the different beings and master that appeared. (This cave was a little easier and harder than the Essene cave in that floor was smoother but some of the openings in the tunnels were not as large and we were literally crawling on our belly on a few occasions to get through and opening.)

We explored the cave in all its mysticism and discovered some amazing symbols that had formed over thousands of years as drops fell from the room of the cave creating pillars, one with a beautiful Goddess and one of a triple Goddess with a phallic symbol next to it and then a castle. All were amazing. We spent a very long time in this cave as the energy was amazing and when you walked you had to look at your feet to make sure they were on the ground because you felt like you were floating. Finally we worked our way back out with lights on, having had an amazing experience.

When we get outside Harvey now tells me we need to go to the Bethlehem Cave and was I up for that?  The Cathar Initiations were always completed at the Bethlehem Cave, as it was a place of thanksgiving and rebirth. So off we travel to the cave and upon reaching it one knew they were in a very special place. Upon entering it I was immediately drawn to an amazing rock that was about eight feet in diameter and I walked over and asked for permission to lie on it. Harvey tells me that lying on that rock or altar was part of the Cathar initiation and while I am on the altar Harvey climbed the wall to about 4 feet above the floor and put himself on the wall in a cruciform position and stays up there and then he said to me after I finished on the altar “Do you want to put yourself on the wall?” This you could do by using the toes of your shoes on tiny stones that stuck out and the trick was turning yourself around to stretch your hands out as you held on to one side and balanced your body on one leg (toe) to swing your body around to get into position to put yourself with arms outstretched on the wall. This was an incredible experience and when I got down off the wall and walked around the cave a few times Harvey asked me if I was ready for the final part of the initiation.

Now I am standing in the center of the cave with its wide open expanse looking across the valley to another mountain and I am now wondering what he wants me to do next. He now tells me I need to go through the rebirthing process and takes me up to the end of the cave with the large opening with about a 500 ft drop and to the right of the opening is a small hole in the rock about two feet in diameter. He tell me I need to crawl through the hole and to be careful because the ledge is small and I need to enter the cave through the large opening (with the 500ft. drop). What he did not tell me was that as I went through this opening I was going to have a major experience of being rebirthed energetically. As I put my head through I felt I was in another dimension, light and feeling wonderful while the part of me still inside the cave felt very heavy, this process continued until my whole body was through the channel and then I felt so light and walked back in through the large opening feeling totally renewed and refreshed.

That brought to a close my experience with the Essenes and Cathars on this trip, but I did go on to ancient Druid site and some other ceremonial sites.

I am forever changed and transformed by my visit to Alet les baines,  Mount Bugarach and Ornolac. I had healing work done at the Angel Sanctuary www.angelart-sanctuary.com with meditating with the angels and a wonderful healing tool called Chiren the results of which were amazing, I had David of David’d Healing Piano play my soul song for me at the Angel Sanctuary and now I am looking at putting together a very special tour for a small group (maximum of 8 people) to go and experience what I experienced on the 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th of June 2013, but of a little longer duration so if you feel you would like to have the Essene/Cathar Initiation experience.  If you are interested, let me know and I will organize it.