Cathars, White Eagle and St John

Colum's grandmother, Grace Cooke, was an early visitor to the Cathar region in 1931, where she had a visionary experience at the castle of Lordat five years before she founded the White Eagle Lodge. This book consists of a number of articles and talks connected with the Lodge and the publication of the book The Cathar View previously reviewed in these pages. It is well-known that Cathar initiates (parfaits and parfaites) carried the Gospel of John on them at all times, so it is fitting that the first article is entitled St John - the First Cathar? Much of his imagery refers to light and darkness, and Colum is convinced that one of the essential characteristics of the Cathars is an inner awareness of the light and living from it. He also discusses other non-canonical sources connected with John and the Gnostic element in Catharism.

There is good evidence, explained in the excellent book The Treasure of Montsegur by Walter Birks and R.A. Gilbert that Cathar Christianity was a separate transmission going back to the early Church, as particularly evidenced by of their central sacrament, the consolamentum, which served as an initiation to become a parfait or extreme unction for the dying. Colum focuses on the evidence of living power of 13th century Cathars as much as on their beliefs. He writes about the transfiguration as a parallel to the shining light seen by his grandmother. He also mentions the connection between the Bulgarian Bogomils and their contemporary manifestation in the work of Peter Deunov - we were together in the camp in the Rila mountains in the summer. This short book brings the spirit of Catharism to life and shows how it can still be applied today.