Thanks: Occult Goose and Priscillian associations

Wed Jan 2 17:12:33 PST 2002

Preston:   Thanks for taking the time for this information !  Extraordinary
details and something I will have to re-read with all the links

Thanks
Margot

Best Regards,

Margaret M. LaCugna
2790 Broadway    3G
New York, NY 10025
e-mail: mmlacugnaamsn.com
phone: 212.665.8847
----- Original Message -----
From: "Preston Pittman" <preston_pittmanaHOTMAIL.COM>
To: <GOCAMINOaPETE.URI.EDU>
Sent: Wednesday, January 02, 2002 5:14 PM
Subject: Occult Goose and Priscillian associations

> sorry it took so long to answer you, Elyn - Christmas Holy days, you
know...
>
> I first encountered the "occult" goose connections to the Camino in  the
> book "NORTHERN SPAIN" by Dana Facaros and Michael Pauls.  They, in turn,
> were relating material they had read in a French book on the Camino by
Louis
> Charpentier.
>
> Louis Charpentier believes that the medieval Christian Camino was predated
> by a pagan Celtic "spirit way" that led to the "Coast of the Dead" and
> Finisterra - where the known land mass of the old world ended.
> http://usuarios.maptel.es/eirik/iberos3.htm The Celts believed that this
was
> where the spirits of the dead sailed off into the other world.  They had
> many tales of "spirit paths" intersecting the main Camino, on which the
dead
> could be seen walking on certain nights of the year, usually accompanied
by
> a large black dog.  In Asturias, this group of ghosts walking the Camino
is
> called "La Houstia".  They are said to light their way with candles
mounted
> on human tibias.
>
> Charpentier said that one of the very unusual things he noticed about the
> medieval Camino was the preponderance of place names associated with
> Spanish, French and Latin words for goose (& gander).  He cites El Ganso,
> the Montes de Oca, Rio Oja, Puerto de la Oca, the River Anso, and the
Virgin
> de la Oca, just to name a few.
>
> There was also a group of people living in the Pyrenees called the agotes
> (in Spanish), and cagotes (in French) who were builders - possibly
> associated with the building of the Cathedrals, who were not allowed to
> marry with or associate with "normal" people and who were forced by law to
> wear an emblem of a goose's foot on their clothes.  In French, the
> expression "devider las jars" (to spin the ganders) meant to speak the
> secret argot of the cathedral builders.
>
> The alchemist Fulcanelli also wrote about the cagotes and the building of
> the Cathedrals along the Camino.  He wrote several books examining the
> Cathedrals for occult and alchemical references.  He also wrote about a
> strange monument near the Camino in the Basque town of Hendaya.
Fulcanelli
> thought that the monument predicted the Apocalypse date as 2012 AD (the
same
> year predicted by the Mayan calendar).  As many of the cathedral
> constructions (by the cagotes) were financed in whole or in part by the
> Templars, there seems to be an occult tie-in suggested by Louis
Charpentier
> in his books.  He points out, as archeologists have proven, that most
> important Christian sacred sites were "converted" from pagan Roman or
Celtic
> usage.  http://home1.swipnet.se/~w-59501/misc/fulcanelli.html
> http://sangraal.com/AMET
>
> In pagan Celtic legend the goose is associated with the goddess Epona who
is
> often depicted riding the back of a huge goose into the "spirit world".
> Epona is a goddes of healing and also associated with springs and
> underground streams.  The Germanic Holda is also associated with the
goose -
> which she also rides to the spirit world - and she is associated with
winter
> rites - especially Candlemas on February 2.
>
> http://www.thorshof.nildram.co.uk/holda.htm
> http://des.users.netlink.co.uk/winter.htm
> http://shadowdrake.tripod.com/mgoose.html
>
> There were also legends of Lamiak or Xanas - beautiful fairy maidens, who
> lived in natural springs or in caves with underground rivers, who were
> "goose-footed".  The legends say that if they catch men spying on them
while
> they are bathing, they will pull them into the "other world".  I believe
one
> of the other legends associated with them is that they will steal human
> babies and substitute their own "changling" babies to be raised by the
> humans, then take their own children back when they have been raised.  (I
> don't recall what happens to the real human babies.  Maybe they give them
to
> "el papon" who likes to eat human babies.)
>
> Charlemagne's mother, Queen Berthe and the Visigothic Queen Ranachile were
> also said to be "goose-footed", like the lamiak and Xanas.  Queen
Ranachile
> was known as "La Reine Pedaque" (the goose foot).  The legend about
> Charlemagne's mother, Berthe, is that she had "goose-feet" and loved to
tell
> stories to children while doing her spinning.  French fairy tales used to
> begin with the phrase "in the time when good Queen Berthe spun".  She is
> associated with "Mother Goose".
>
> In the very early middle ages a major heresy arose in Galicia around the
> mysterious figure Priscillian of Avila.  He was a Bishop accused of
allowing
> women equal opportunity and voice in the Church.  He even allowed women to
> participate in the liturgy.  When the conservative Church officials
couldn't
> get him to stop, they had him accused of magic and witchcraft and brought
> before a Council in Germany.  He was condemned as a heretic and was the
> first person the Church executed for heresy.  Before his execution, he
> appealed to St. Martin of Tours (his contemporary Bishop) for help.  St.
> Martin sent a letter to the Council pleading for mercy but the letter was
> "delayed" and arrived too late.  Priscillian was beheaded.  St. Martin's
> symbol is a goose.  Some think that the goose may have been associated
with
> Priscillian and some pre-Christian cult that he was syncretizing into the
> myths of the early Church - like many others did without loosing their
> heads.  The goose may have been "adopted" as a symbol by St. Martin after
> Priscillian's death.  Facaros and Pauls suggest that the "goose" may be a
> disguised ibis because it is often associated with the sites of the Black
> Virgin - which usually predate Christianity and refer to Isis.
>
> http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12429b.htm
> http://www.newadvent.org/saints/martintours.html
>
> From what I've read, the "Goose Game" that we know was "invented" by one
of
> the Medici and presented to King Philip II as a gift.
> http://www-cs.canisius.edu/~salley/Articles/goose.html  It became
enormously
> popular among the elite in Spain and survives today as a popular Spanish
> television show. http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/Set/4189/oca.html
> http://www.gamepuzzles.com/histfun.htm  Louis Charpentier thinks that it
is
> somehow an "initiatory" game and that the spiral path on the board relates
> to the Camino de Santiago - the "Tomb" space on the board is the Tomb of
> Santiago at the Cathedral - but it is not the goal of the game - it is a
> pitfall, because Priscillian of Avila is really buried there and the real
> goal of the game to initiates is Finisterra - following the Tomb.
> Charpentier suggests that if you "really" know the occult truth behind the
> symbols, the Royal Game of the Goose becomes a "game" dealing with higher
> states of consciousness.
>
> This is just a little beginning.  How all this interelates and applies to
> the Camino, I'm still not sure, but I think its fascinating.
>
> _________________________________________________________________
> Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at
http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp.
>