I took a small stop at some medieval watering hole on the way to Versauce, where the nice people lived that I met 5 years ago. They have this beautiful old farm setup that was impressive then, when they only resided there just a couple of months, but turned even more beautiful in the last 5 years. 
As I walked up to the house, I could already see the friendly face of Josiane in the kitchen, waving at me. I walked upstairs and Roland also came into the hallway.

Amazing, 5 years have gone by and these people have not aged one single bit, like nothing. I remember them then being very spiritual and this time, now that I myself have looked more into the esoteric, I could recognize a lot more purpose in the way they designed the place. As above, so below..Duality in all things forms the whole. 

I gave them some tobacco seeds that I brought, along with some sunflower seeds. What a perfect thing to take with me to give to people. They were very happy and friendly and welcoming and it was really good seeing them again.

My plan was to visit friends further down south near a town some 200km away, called Ambert and because they were all heading out for Christmas, I decided to travel their by other means than foot. Roland and Josiane said that the whole country was on strike and that either Blablacar or hitchhiking were my only options, public transport was completely out of the question, our conversation diverged a bit into the state of the world. The whole world is on fire at the moment, new shifts in balance are happening all the time and it is my personal belief that we are currently living at the end of an empire. One that was under caucasian control for the longest time but has since long ago peaked. All the signs of a collapsing system are there, the money being worthless, corruption in the upper echelons, weird ass leaders that pop-up, even the deification of TV Chefs is something that shares similarities with the end of the Roman Empire (and thats only the most recent empire that we see).

We ate a beautiful light dinner in contrast to our conversations, all from their own garden, all fresh and I could see a glimpse of why these people hadnt aged a bit during the last 5 years. I agreed to earn my stay tomorrow by helping Roland with some stuff around the house. The guy was building a palace and when thats the case, theres always some more work.

After dinner, Roland started talking about the world and alchemy. All of a sudden I realized that I watched a DvD with him 5 years ago about the way of Saint James (El camino de Santiago/the camino/St. Jacques de Compostelle) and how it influenced how I looked at the entire journey. I have no idea why the contrast became so apparent all of a sudden but now it was crystal clear to me that meeting him and his wife, staying with them and watching that movie 5 years ago actually changed everything for me. No longer was I just on some Christian pilgrimage but I sank into this new perception, with him as my guide, that Christians stole this route from whomever owned it first, rooted deep inside ancient pagan rituals and standards. My visit to them was more extended now however and I gladly accepted his sage advice. We watched another part of the DvD after dinner and even though it was full of matrix music to hype it up, there was still some very good information about it. One part of the movie also touched on the subject of sticking your hands into the lion mouths in the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela itself, a picture that I already chose to put on my contact page.

“If one knows how to make gold, one does not need to make it anymore” is a quote from the movie and I cant agree more. The movie this time around focussed more on the idea behind placement of buildings and certain symbolism. As well as the opportunity on improving oneself instead of the world around him. Transmutation is a big thing in alchemy, at least in the mainstream, where the focus or the goal of the alchemist is to find the philosophers stone and with that the secret of transforming other metals into gold. The movie went through different places that I visited along the way, either 5 years ago or now and added an extra layer to my understanding of these places.

The purpose of alchemy is maybe not to be able to transform the physical world around you but rather transmute your own soul into something thats more precious. If taken all allegorically then its maybe not about gold at all but rather just a metaphor for something valuable. I felt excited by the whole thing and it was very good to sort of touch base with these kind souls, all the while etching and grooving deeper into my own sense of reality. Also the fact that now Im doing it in winter is a very important part for me. It may be harder and it might be cold but last time around it was warm and things were plenty. It was still hard back then but I already mentioned my transformation of a boy into (what I think) a man and this was by and large due to the Camino. Hell my own grandmother didnt even see the old me in me and I believe her one of the wisest persons in my life, at least on an life experience scale.

I fell into a deep slumber, breakfast was at 0800h the next day and I better get my ass in line so I did make morning service this time.

I overslept a little bit but this was not bad at all, breakfast consisted of a salad of fruit with avocado, different seeds, a piece of full grain bread and some more fruit. No bullshit and I could see why these people havent aged a bit. I still have no idea how old they are or what they did in life before retiring. Roland and me went to the basement of the palace after breakfast and he lend me some clothes while his wife ran all my clothes through the laundry, blessed be they who wash others their clothes!

Roland showed me some wood that needed chopping and fuck me sideways, Im such a meek city slicker. I thought I’d knew my way around an axe and some firewood but Im nothing but a suckling, still relying so much on the teat of technological progress. As Im contemplating this I hit the axe the wrong way and mess it up on a big chunk of wood. Roland smiled and he still had 6 more laying around so it was fine, but I wasnt all too pleased with myself mind you. We fixed a door together and wauw, this man has everything in his house to be fully self sufficient. A big industrial wood heater in the basement that heated the entire house, a whole workshop that he knew his way around and when I asked him what he did in life prior to this he could only answer that he did many things.

Well alright mr. Renaissance man, lets leave it at that then..

After work Josiane had prepared a kings meal again, a little bit heavier than the breakfast or the dinner, some pheasant with vegetables and some nice mashed potatoes. Fresh spinach that I only tasted as good with my grandmother and yea, Im not even surprised at this point anymore. Roland a magician outside the house, Josiane a magician inside the house. As above, so below.

Josiane had an appointment in the only place that the train did drive through (if it normally drove) and I remember it being a little bit of a bigger town. I gladly accepted riding with her that afternoon, and Roland, the sly wizard that he is put on another episode of the alchemy dvd collection. I was just in time to take a shower and collect my bag to go with Josiane. Roland and me said our goodbye’s and the bowing at each other sort of came natural. Pretty fucking legend..

At the end of the final episode there was a mention of the magical island of Avalon, a hidden island literally meaning the island of fruit (or apple) and wouldnt you know it, thats also the place where Josiane had an appointment and took me too. Cant help but feel this is all related somehow, Vezelay being one stop over / all the duality inside the church and meeting with Roland and Josiane for a 2^ndtime that almost didnt come to pass entirely. First I couldnt find their house, then my parents barely found the paper with their address on it and them inviting me over, is not something to take lightly on such small notice. Easily missed but some things in this life youre not supposed to miss.