We broke our fast with cold cakes, fruits and cereals. It was a sunny late summer morning, and the double grand cross was forming in the heavens. Under such awesome energies, the Pilgrims were led on a powerful journey. Each day and each moment we are weaving our own life’s tapestry, but here we got to experience a piece of destiny in mythological form that we could apply to our lives.

Early afternoon arrived swiftly. News spread through the city by an urchin boy and young girl that the noble knights of Carcasonne were jousting when the clock struck five. We were privileged to watch the chosen knights perform stunts and feats of remarkable equestrian control.

On the way back to the Dungeon, we stopped at the airy thirteenth century gothic church, Saint Nazaire, where the medieval choir sang like troubadours. As the mantle of evening descended, a colorful crowd gathered for a play at the amphitheater. In silence, the play began with horsemen coming into the arena bearing torches. It ended with the stars shining silently and the moon setting over the turrets in a midnight sky.

Day Twelve: Wednesday, August 18, 1999

A soothing day of playful activities followed the compelling play of the previous evening. We traveled to a small town known for its healing baths and its natural hot spring: Rennes les Bains.

The firewater poured from the side of the earth and fell the distance of a child’s height onto a round slab of stone. This column of sparkling fluid rained down on all who sat beneath its path. Warm pools were formed just downstream.

Pilgrims journeyed one by one to be blessed and purified by the sacred earth waters. The spirit of the living waters was delightful.

The Capt’n and the Queen increased the liquid merriment by divining a detour to Robert’s vineyard, where the wines were so special that it took forty laborers forty days to harvest the grapes from its many acres. Some of the Pilgrims plus the Keepers of the Sacred Secrets planned to celebrate the birth of the new millennium with sparkling wines bottled just for the year 2000.

Day Thirteen: Thursday, August 19, 1999

One more sunrise and the Pilgrims will say farewell to this magical, mystical land. They follow their own destinies on this day where the clouds are in hiding and the sun is in full glory. They have walked a blinding path of eclipsed light. This “wondrous voyage of discovery” initiated the Pilgrims into the “Age of Aquarius and took them into the inner realms of their kingdom of their soul and the outer reaches of the earth and the heavens.” “It is not what the experience does to you, but what you do with the experience.”

Our final gathering was held in the green garden courtyard. This circle will never be cast with the same characters again. Each Pilgrim enacted a personal piece of the myth. The Keepers of the Sacred Secrets were given a unicorn tapestry blessed by words of gratitude from the Pilgrims.

We dressed for our evening meal and crossed the street. Light conversation with savory French cuisine drew us late into the night. Winds of change were in the air. We were the last to exit the feasting hall.

Day Fourteen: Friday, August 20, 1999
(Farewell Journey to the New Land)

Though all might not have learned the alchemy that was taught—how to turn base metals into gold and dark into light—the impact of the journey will still resonate deeply within each Pilgrim’s life. It was a clear day and the sky welcomed our heavenly crossing.

As the sun symbolically dies, so too does this journey. But, like the phoenix rising, our souls are shining a little brighter. Maybe if we keep questing and walking as sacred Pilgrims we will find that grail within as we unite our male and female in the chamber of our hearts.

But in the meantime, go forth bearers of light and do not fear facing your shadow, for it is only that illusion of separation that keeps you from true oneness.

Only you, and you alone can make the choice of transformation each day as the sun rises and the sun dies, as this journey began and as this journey ends, as you breath in and as you breath out, and everything that you do in-between!

And so here ends the myth of the sacred millennial journey of the Total Solar Eclipse—the Marriage of the Sun and Moon—in honor of the Archangel Michael and the Holy Grail.