With what stillness at last you appear in the valley, your first sunlight reaching down to touch the tips of a few high leaves that do not stir, as though they had not noticed and did not know you at all. Then the voice of a dove calls from far away, in itself, to the hush of the morning.  So this is the sound of you, here and now, whether or not anyone hears it.  This is where we have come with our age, our knowledge, such as it is, and our hopes, such as they are, invisible before us, untouched and still possible.

W. S. Merwin

Margestau, Gers

Every year we start out with a set of resolutions, either consciously or unconsciously.  We begin with good intentions and end in defeat because we don’t have a plan.  Having a plan is the first step in making your dreams comes true. This year re-create your life, write a new narrative for yourself and hold it in your heart and mind.

Aux Arbeils, Ayzieu

Windows are perfect metaphors for insight and perception, from the painted windows of Vermeer to the stained glass windows of Chartres Catherdral.  They are the portals thorough which we make the unknown, known.  The world we see through an open window is a reflection of our world within.  Thackeray said, the world is a looking glass and gives back to everyone the reflection of his own thoughts.

Sacre Coeur from Musée d’Orsay

A few weeks ago I was at a bookstore and came across a book called The Secret of the Ages written by Robert Collier in 1926.  It is the book from which the popular sensation, The Secret, and all of the other Law of Attraction books sprung from.  I bought it, read it and realized that there were some simple, common sense truths to be gained from within its covers which mirrored my own conviction that we are each responsible for the quality of our own lives

Alhambra, Spain

Tonight, before you go to sleep, see yourself through your mind’s eye. Concentrate on the one thing you want most out of life, what you want to change or what you want to re-create.  Visualize it and have faith in your creative powers. In the morning make it tangible.  Put it on paper, draw it, write it, collage it, photograph it, paint it.  Then plan how you will achieve your goal.  Analyze the steps involved. Do one thing, every day, towards that goal. Keep going. Don’t procrastinate.  Just one step, every day.  There will be no limit to what you can create.

Maya Angelou

People will especially never forget how you made them feel when inside your home. Regardless of their outward appearances our homes can make all who enter feel welcomed.

Winter months can be a time for self reflection and home improvement.  You can use simple design mantras for creating a comfortable ambiance for guests: don’t plan everything, be flexible, try anything that appeals to you, make sure you like everything because you have to look at it every day, if you can’t find what you want or can’t afford it – wait, and if your house doesn’t make you feel good when you walk in, chances are it won’t make anyone else feel good either.  Remember, your house is a reflection of your self.

Ask yourself what is expected of each room. Who will be occupying it and when? When will it be used and how? What will the room be inheriting from past rooms and past lives?  Look at the bones of your rooms: the walls, floors, and ceilings.  Do all of the spaces need to be used as originally planned?  Can a dining room, for example, be used for a library,  a media center or an office? Observe the way the light moves through each room at different times of the day.

Creating an inviting atmosphere in your home can be as easy as choosing colors that are soothing, like blues and greens, using aromatherapy candles with scents of lavender and vanilla, or having peaceful sounds like running water, wind chimes or tranquil music in the background.

Rearranging your furniture and using what you have will make the most of limitations. Unearthing treasures from closets, eating off your best dishes rather than saving them for special occasions and making sure you’re able to look at what you love the most will make all who enter your home feel special because you’ve made yourself feel special.

Make your home a place of comfort and you will feel nurtured whenever you are there and your guests will feel bonhomie.  Soyez le bienvenu!

Rodney Smith

Citrouille de Nerac

The fourth law of attraction is the law of sufficiency, plenty and abundance and what better time of the year to celebrate than the Thanksgiving holiday.  Thanksgiving is a time to be grateful for what we have: love, health, family, friends, and our natural environment. Daniel Webster thought that the cultivation of the land was the most important labor and in Plato’s Republic, the Greek philosopher, Socrates, recommended a vegetarian diet because he thought it would allow a country to make the most intelligent use of its’ agricultural resources

Aprés le vendage dans le Gers.

Almost everyone looks forward to the Thanksgiving celebration when we share a moment of reflection and gratitude for the bounty we have.  We also need to pay our respects to the Earth and mother nature, our collective hostess, for what good is this life if we don’t have a decent planet to live on?

Qui approche Larée

Francis Moore Lappé, author of Diet for a Small Planet, said long ago that Americans are hooked on a grain fed, meat centered diet because of the illusion of cheap grain. During the writing of her book she discovered that over 90% of grain produced in America is used for feeding cows,pigs, lambs and chickens.  A diet of of vegetables, beans and whole grains would be healthier and support twenty times more people than a diet of grain fed meat.

Une assiette de figues.

Each year approximately 158 million mammals and over 9 billion birds are killed for food in America, but few people make any connection between these statistics and the food on their plates.  We can harvest good karma and sustain human life by eating nourishing food that feeds the soul. The growing of food used to be an alchemical mystery.  We transformed water into wine and grain into bread and partook of the divine mystery of life when food was sacred. In some cultures certain foods are still considered sacred: coconut to the Hindus, bread to the Catholics, Challah to the Jews, coca leaf to the Andeans and maize to the Native Americans, among many others.

Estang fenêtre

My mother was the worst cook in the world.  She managed to burn everything she cooked, and my father made me sit at the table until I finished my meal because all the starving kids in China only had white rice to eat.   Becoming a vegetarian was an easy segue.  I invite you to try a Thanksgiving meal without the turkey as the focal point and if not this year, maybe next.  After all, we are what we eat.

Pain de Citrouille (pumpkin bread)

2/3 cup organic butter at room temperature

1+3/4 cups organic sugar

4 organic eggs

2 cups cooked organic pumpkin purée

2/3 cup organic milk

2 teaspoons organic cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon organic nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon organic ground gnger

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

3 teaspoons organic baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1+1/2 cups chopped organic pecans (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease and lightly flour 2, 9+1/2 x 5+1/2 loaf pans or 6, 5+3/4 x 3+1/2 loaf pans.

Mix all of the dry ingredients, then all of the wet ingredients in separate bowls and gradually mix together.

Turn into pans and bake for 1 hour or 1 hour + 15 minutes for the large loaves or 50 minutes to 1 hour for the small loaves.

Cool 5 minutes in the pan then turn out on a wire rack.  Slice and spread with butter or soft cream cheese.

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Paul Coelho

The ancient Greeks were fascinated by the number 5 and recognized it as the perfect symbol to represent the senses and the elements.  Five is the number of balance. Now that it’s autumn and the year is slowly coming to a close, it’s a perfect opportunity for reflection, a time to create balance within our hearts and minds, our work and our homes.

Isabella’s Pear, Nerac

The sense of TASTE corresponds to the element of FIRE.

Sunset, Mauvezin d”Armagnac

Their colors are red, yellow and orange and they represent rebirth, ascendance ,vitality, prosperity and courage.

Urz Karpatz, Camargue

The sense of HEARING corresponds to the element of WATER.

Summer downpour, Bordeaux

Their colors are blue and black. and they represent movement, creativity, clearing, protection and spirituality.

Bleu de Lectoure, Gers

The sense of TOUCH corresponds to the element of EARTH.

Harvest horizon, Ayzieu

The colors are pale yellow and tawny brown and they represent nourishing, friendship,  learning and memory.

Le Matin, Dordogne

The sense of SIGHT corresponds to the the element of WOOD. The colors are green and brown and represent harmony and flexibility.

Door study, Bergerac

The sense of SMELL corresponds to the element of METAL.

Lavander, Marguestau

The colors are white and gray and they represent strength, communication, purity and peace.

Bicyclette, Labastide d’Armagnac

We express ourselves by using various symbols from our style of dress to the words we speak.  We can mindfully create the images we put forth either of ourselves, our workplaces or our homes. By using the 5 senses and/or the 5 elements in our daily lives we can attune to the natural world and add beauty and meaning wherever we are.

Roger de Piles – Cours de Pientre par Principles – 1676

Jean Claude Dutertre knew he wanted to be an artist when he was 12 years old.  As a child he was often around painters and sculptors and in and out of museums. For his birthday his mother bought him a set of oil paints  and a large pad of paper. He loved it so much he took it back to boarding school with him.  During study hall he took the paper and paints out.  All the other kids gathered around him.  The first painting he made was of a dragon because he was fascinated by the story of St. George and the Dragon.  He used all the paint he had until the paper became very heavy.  After school he asked some boys to help him take his painting outside and they tacked it to a tree. With the paint dripping all over them they danced around singing and laughing.  He was so impressed by the reactions he received that he knew this would be his life path.

Jean Claude moved to Paris from the country and continued to study painting.  His first show was with Picasso.  He continues to paint in the small village of Mauvezin d’Armagnac.  The entire top floor attic of his house is his studio.  He is inspired by music and often paints according to what he hears, orchestrating the drama, and even though his canvases are alive with movement, he is very precise when he puts paint to linen.

Art is a metaphor.  The artist touches something divine that leaves us silent and immediately contemplative. I think what moves us so deeply is the beauty expressed which transcends the craft.   Sometimes, when I feel unmoved  by a piece of artwork I if the artist was unmoved by the making of the art.  Andrew Wyeth said, “One’s art goes only as far and as deep as one’s love goes. And, it is only in that love, that obsession, that focused attention that the artist will care enough to overcome all the personal, technical and conceptual problems that stand in the way of the ability to create something worthwhile.”

Peggy Kluck has been painting for as long as she can remember.  She was born in the Netherlands, but has lived in the Gers for almost 40 years.  If you go over the bridge to grandma’s house in Cravencères, you’ll most likely find Peggy in her atelier with her dogs. Though she often travels by herself to exotic places like Morocco and Corsica, sometimes she goes no further than her backyard.  Peggy has grown a flower garden to rival Giverny.  She says art is about poetry, it’s about seeing the ordinary as poetic.

Art is difficult to market in the rural countryside of France.  Most farmer’s houses have little adornment.  Instead, they find beauty in the natural landscape that surrounds them daily.  Undaunted, Peggy continues to paint, draw and sketch because she can’t help herself.  She feels as Ian Robert says, “Art is a wonderful medium for personal growth.  When the artist truly engages and pays attention to the insights that come, they can overcome unconscious obstacles to their expression.”

In order to see beauty in this world we must carry it within us.

Marcel Proust

There has been a lot of research devoted to the subject of happiness.  The Oxford Dictionary defines it as “feeling or showing contentment or pleasure.”  Sociologists define it as “the overall quality of one’s life.”  For Saint Augustine happiness is “a rejoicing in the truth.”  To me, happiness is being in harmony with myself and the world.  It is a state of grace and inner peace.  It has to be cultivated so as not to be fleeting.  It is living an authentic and meaningful life and in the words of Joseph Campbell it is “following one’s bliss.”

Yesterday I took a drive to the village of Le Fréchou.  I had seen a poster announcing a pastel exhibition and wanted to see it before it closed.  Along winding roads I traveled until reaching the 13th century, Chateau du Fréchou, in the Pays de Albret, an area some 45 minutes away from the gite (self catering rooms) I had rented in the village of Mauvezin d’Arnagnac.

The owners of the chateau, Monsieur and Madame Poupault,  have followed their bliss, alone and together, for the last 40 years after purchasing the property which was in a state of utter decay.

He has painstakingly restored the chateau, stone by stone, while also following his passion for collecting rare, historic textiles.  She has been a pastel artist since she was 15, training under Ferdinand David of the Barbizon school of painting, L’Ecole d’Harpignies, in the Haute Provence.

Trompe l’oeil doorway.

Second floor hallway.

Second floor still life.

Third floor bedroom.

Hallway niches.

Fourth floor great room and textile studio.

Our lives are precious.  We know they will not last forever.  Ask yourself what you want out of life.  Do what you love to do. Cultivate happiness.

Paul Valéry

Who would have thought that the last living relative of the family who started the perfume business in Grasse, France, and whose company created Chanel No. 5, is alive and well and living in the southeast corner of the Gers?

I had no idea whom my husband and I were going to meet that sunny summer’s day.  I’d heard anecdotally the story of his family’s visit many years ago to a perfume factory in Grasse, and about the young perfumer there who had dated his sister a few years before. Now, I was seated at an umbrella-shaded table in the courtyard of a stone farmhouse in the tiny village of Endoufielle, across from one of the most charming men I’d ever met and his chic, impeccably dressed wife, being served pink champagne and sumptuous hors d’oeuvres.  Over a lunch that lasted more than 4 hours my husband and I were regaled with incredible stories of a family empire that stretched from the shores of the Mediterranean to the distant reaches of China, and would remain the preeminent force in the perfume industry for more than two centuries…

Tucked off a road behind a tall laurel hedge and surrounded by sunflower fields in July, Yves and Kiki de Chiris enjoy a life enhanced with richly textured memories. Born in 1937, Yves is the epitome of style – immensely affable, cultivated, erudite and debonair, He was educated in French lyceés and English prep schools.  Yves is the 5th generation of the Chriris dynasty that began with his great great grandfather, Antoine Chiris, in 1768.

Antoine Chiris grew up in the Provençal village of Grasse, surrounded by the scents of rose, mimosa, violet, tuberose, orange blossom and jasmine. The mild climate of the region spurred the economic development of perfumery into a flourishing industry. At the beginning of the eighteenth century, Antoine was sent to Paris by his father to open a shop. While other merchants sold a little bit of everything from charcuterie to chocolates, Antoine had the foresight to sell only perfume.  He frequented Parisian society and became part of the entourage of Louis XV.  By chance he was introduced to the directors of France’s equivalent of The East India Trading Company, La Compagnie des Indes. His imagination was sparked by conversations of exotic spices and essences that were being gathered in distant lands and with shrewd business acumen, Antione realized their potential market.

Returning to Grasse shortly thereafter, he commissioned the manufacture of ten stills, each one twelve times the standard size, and bought all of the flower production from the surrounding countryside.  He created the Antoine Chiris Company, and overnight became the major fragrance supplier to all the courts and court perfumers of Europe. By the end of the nineteenth century, the Chiris family owned between 600 and 800 hectares of flower plantations in and around Grasse.

With an eye to the future,  Antoine and his son, Anselme, traveled the world continuously in search of raw materials that were more exotic and intense in odor and taste than the current fashion.  Eventually, they decided it was no longer efficient to buy essential oils from distant lands, and began developing their own flower plantations all over the world.  Tired of a lifetime of travel,  Anselme passed the family business to his son, Leon. After he became Senator of the Alpes-Maritime, he further solidified the future direction of the company by building an extraordinary network of relationships with German, American, English and French companies. He hosted Queen Victoria at his villa and became friends with Sadi Carnot, future President of the French Republic.  The children of the Chiris and Carnot families inter-married and they participated in all of the French colonial expansions of the time — Algeria, Central Africa, the Congo, the Comoro Archipelago, Madagascar and Indochina.

What made the Chiris colonial dynasty uniquely different were their radical socialist attitudes. They re-distributed part of their earnings to the countries where they were doing business, and focused on social programs. They installed electricity, built businesses, schools, houses and hospitals. Under their guidance, doctors and nurses treated people for free and salaries were paid to pregnant women. Retirement homes were created for their workers and, in fact, The Antoine Chiris Company opened the first retirement home for old pensioners in Grasse. ” There is a wonderful statue of my great grandfather in Grasse, of which I am very proud.” Yves said. “It’s a bronze bust set on a pillar and next to it is an old peasant woman. She is holding a little girl by the hand and pointing at the bust. I believe it shows the appreciation of the people of Grasse for what he did.”

Many historic events conspired around this time to further ensure the company’s viability.  The Industrial Revolution created profound changes in the perfume industry, among them the invention of the process of reproducing natural scents in the form of aroma chemicals. Showing business savvy once again, the Chiris company bought the patents for this invention which allowed them to treat a far greater quantity of flowers for less money…”  Single-handedly, the company democratized the perfume industry. Up to this point in time, perfume was reserved exclusively for the aristocracy; now it could be purchased by anyone. “Contemporary perfume would not exist without aroma chemicals,” Yves explained to us. “If we had to use nature’s products for everything that we perfume today, we would have defoliated the planet years ago. Violets, for example, have to be harvested by hand. Over a million blossoms are needed to make one ounce of pure perfume!”

Kiki et Yves de Chiris

At the beginning of the 20th century, Yves’ grandfather, George, who inherited the company from his father Leon, was introduced to a Corsican man who wanted to become a perfumer. His name was Francois Coty. Coty became a trainee at the Chiris factory in Grasse. He and George became fast friends and in 1904, George gave Coty seed money to start his own business, introducing him to Paris aristocracy and the burgeoning American market. “Coty…“ as Yves described him, …” was an autodidact who had a nose that revolutionized the perfume industry in yet another way.  He had a little success selling scents to barbershops and department stores, but at the Grand Magazin du Louvre, he accidentally spilled a bottle of  ‘La Rose Jacqueminot’ on the counter. Women suddenly  swarmed to the counter  and bought his entire stock in a few minutes. Thereafter, Coty scents and cosmetics seduced the entire world.”

Around the same time, George bought a Russian company called Rallet. He re-patriated the entire French staff of Rallet back to the Chiris factory in Grasse. It was in this lab that Ernest Beaux, a perfumer with a French mother and Russian father, created Chanel No.5  With a twinkle in his eye, Yves repeats what I imagine is more than a twice told tale.  “Coco Chanel, who frequented the Cote d’Azur in those days, was very close friends with a Russian prince, and through him was introduced to a perfumer formerly from Moscow who was working in Grasse. He was none other then Ernest Beaux. The perfume he created for her boasted a very rich, beautiful fragrance, but it lacked the dynamism and modernity that typified Chanel’s taste in fashion at the time. Following her response, he decided to incorporate a new series of aroma chemicals into the samples called aldehydes, which smell like freshly crushed coriander. Beaux sent Madame Chanel 22 different trials.  Frustrated that none were what she was looking for, she asked for trial Number 5 to be resubmitted to her.  In recreating the solution, Beaux’s lab assistant inadvertently made a mistake and  overdosed the aldehyde blend and the sample was sent off without being checked.  When Chanel smelled it, she exclaimed, ‘At last, this is what I’ve been looking for!’ Coco Chanel broke all of the rules, not only because she was the first person to envisage a signature scent, but  because she had the marketing genius to package the perfume in replicas of the rough, rectangular lab bottle it originally came in with just No. 5 printed on its label.”

After running the company successfully for more than 30 years, George passed the helm to Yves’ father, Leon. WWII was declared and Leon fled Provence via Spain to join the Gaullist French movement in the UK.  En route, he was captured (though Yves prefers the word “seduced”) by members of the American secret service, who pressed him to return to his factory in Grasse and set up a resistance movement to provide information to the allies. Leon agreed and reorganized the company. During this time, however, the company suffered unprecedented damage.  For five years they were cut off from their sources of supply, their personnel were conscripted, and they lost control of all of their floral plantations due to de-colonialization, throughout the world.  The only flower plantation to survive was their lavender plantation in Puberclaire, near Moustiers. It was there, where the lavender grows in the lower Alps, that Yardley of London sourced their iconic Yardley’s Lavender Soap.

In 1961,  at the age of 24, Yves returned from active duty in the Algerian War and settled into the family business. He learned about growing, harvesting, production and fragrance creation. But, by then, the hazards of history and the evolution of even newer manufacturing processes took their toll on the Chiris empire and all of French perfumery. A whole new palette of synthetic ingredients was developed and the world market changed.  In 1966 Leon Charis decided to sell the Antoine Chiris Perfume Company to an American company, Universal Oil Products, based in Chicago. It was the first French company to sell to a foreign group. Yves went on to become Director of UOP in the UK for six years, then Director of UOP in the US for 5 years. Universal Oil Products was sold to Naarden, and they in turn were sold to Unilever . Subsequently, while working for Unilever, Yves created, amongst many others, such fragrances as Angel, Palais Royale and J’Adore.  He retired in 2003 and spends his time lecturing world-wide, teaching at The Grand Institute of Perfumery in Grasse, creating perfumes for clients and friends, and occasionally consults with Chanel at their headquarters in Paris.

…The light was slowly beginning to wane and we retired to the comfort of Yves and Kiki’s beautifully decorated living room. My husband and Kiki stop in front of the fireplace, over which hangs  a photograph of Queen Victoria and her staff posed in front of The Antoine Chiris factory in Grasse. Yves suggested I follow him into his office. There, I watched him work his magic, pulling one different colored glass vial after another from a rack of meticulously labeled scents. He mixed them into a perfume for me, conjured from his imagination and what he has sensed from  our short time together. Yves smiled as he worked….”A fragrance is to a perfume as a color is to a painting, a note to a musical chord, a special ingredient to a dish.”  When the scent was finished and diffused in the air around me, I closed my eyes and was instantly transported to the hills of Provence at dawn, embraced by a dream.

     St. Augustine                                                                                                  I have returned to the other side of the world, to Gascony, the Gers, southwest France, 2 hours west of Toulouse, 2 hours south of Bordeaux, and 2 hours north of the Pyrenees. While driving through the countryside one Sunday afternoon, I came upon a vision through the trees. Camelot? Brigadoon?

I followed the sign for Pardailhan, a castle I had read about in a guide book of the area, but I was not at all prepared for the magical beauty that lay before me. Driving up a winding road I passed an old farm house with a deserted air and parked behind it.  The only sign of life was a clothesline, the few clothes blowing slightly in a humid breeze.

A fine rain was beginning to fall as I walked to the castle doors.  An old, faded sign from 1943 had a message in marking pen written on it in French – Do not let the horse out!…The horse?

In the distance a chestnut horse grazed.  A mirage?  I had walked into a place of enchanted fables larger than a football field, or so it seemed.

In this remote, untraveled French countryside I had entered the 12th century.  If place is a character in a novel, then this place was palpable and tangible.

The Gers alone  has over 200 castles – castlenau – the product of the year 1,000 which paved the way for the economically and culturally rich medieval period.

“We chase dreams and embrace shadows.”

  Anatole France

Especially when considered in isolation, a detail can be a discreet part of a painting, a decorative flourish or a shadow cast against a white wall.  It can be an elaborated element of a design or a single moment in an ordinary day.  We may think in generalities, but we often live in the messy, voluptuous crevasses of details.

Paying attention to details requires awareness and a practice of awareness challenges us to take time each day to simply be alone and listen to the inner voice of our authentic selves. When the intuitive mind is allowed to roam free, it produces an extraordinary awareness without the filters of conceptual thinking.  Suddenly, our secret yearnings and dreams rise to the surface, our forgotten joys remembered.

Focused attention to the present moment is at the heart of Buddhism.  It is called mindfulness. Mindfulness helps us not only smell the flowers, but see the flowers.  If you were to visit Thich Nhat Hanh’s Plum Village Mediation Center in the Dordogne region of southwestern France, you’d observe and hear throughout the day, mindfulness bells ringing to remind everyone to slow down and be aware of the present moment.  Everyone stops what they are doing to fully experience their experiences.

A student comes to a Zen master and asks for his most secret teaching. With one deft move the master picks up a brush, dips it in some ink and writes the word ‘Attention.’ Dissatisfied by the answer, the student presses for another, deeper teaching.  The master takes up the brush again and writes, ‘Attention, Attention.’ The student is still unimpressed.  He says, “If you are a master you should be able to give me more than that.”  So, the master sighs and then writes, ‘Attention, Attention, Attention’.

Christopher Hitchens

Rennes le Château is a tiny, hilltop village of 92 in the Languedoc region of southern France, encircled by the Cevennes and Pyrenees mountains. It has an intricately knotty history spanning prehistoric, Roman, Visigoth, Medieval and modern times.

Rennes le Château is on the Route of the Cathars which runs 220 kilometers or 136 miles through some of the most spectacular scenery in southern France. Fascinated by the Cathars, I couldn’t resist driving the route past the mystical castles I’d read about in history books, perched atop craggy precipices.

The Cathars were a religious group of people that lived in southern France during the 11th century who held some very decidedly eastern views.  They lived an ascetic life, believed in reincarnation, were vegetarians, practiced birth control and regarded men and women as equals.  They owned valuable land and would not pay tithes to the Catholic Church.  As their popularity grew, the Cathars became a threat to the Catholic Church. Pope Innocent III waged what became known as the Albigensian Crusade against them, killing every last, man,woman and child.

During the 1950′s, a local restaurant owner started a rumor about a hidden treasure discovered by a 19th century priest, l’Abbé Bérenger Saunière in Rennes le Château.   Saunière reputedly found a cache of riches which he used to rebuild the Church of Mary Magdalene and 2 parchments proving the existence of a secret society known as the Priory of Sion.  This secret society supposedly safeguarded an alternative religious history concerning the descendants of the bloodline of Jesus and Mary. The story caught on like wildfire and spread rapidly throughout Europe and the rest of the world, inspiring the BBC to produce  a series called Holy Blood, Holy Grail and later, Dan Brown’s bestselling book, The Da Vinci Code, which still brings over 100,000 visitors a year to this jagged mountaintop. Upon entering the church I was instantly taken aback by the carved, grotesquely colored devil holding up the holy water stoup, a rare addition to an otherwise tranquil French chapel, but I felt nothing supernatural.

Above the door to the cemetery, a skull and crossbones, as well as a strong lock, keep nosy tourists at bay, but I had no intention of disturbing the dead.  I wandered through the village in awe of the uncanny ability of merchandisers to turn this peaceful village into a shopping experience.  The hair on the back of my neck didn’t stand up because of the mysteries surrounding Rennes le Château, but because of the profound reaffirmation that organized religion makes people behave worse, not better.