Jaap Rameijer's Blog

Just as in the east, the west has also much to offer. So we better take two days. First to Esperaza, then the inner road to Fa and Rouvenac and from there to the castle of Puivert. The castle of the troubadours and courtly love. From Puivert to Belesta with the ND du Val d’Amour and its Black Madonna. Then south. We pass the strange Fontaine the Fontestorbes where the water rises and falls every half hour. But our main objective is Montsegur. The famous Cathar castle. An awesome sight. The village is also pretty. It has a museum and a lovely church with  two Black Madonna’s.

By Writer Val Wineyard, a close friend of mine and professional writer. 

The priest at Rennes-le-Château had many secrets but for a long time people thought he had only one - what was the treasure he discovered?

It all began for the French in the early 50's, when the newly-opened restaurant in Rennes-le-Château attracted its customers with stories of Blanche of Castille, who hid the ransom, to release her son the king from captivity, in the region near Rennes.  It was easy to confuse people with this tale for there were two Blanches; the mother of Saint Louis and the other Blanche who stayed at Rennes-les-Bains for a while to take a cure, around 1362.  The town was named after her.

Articles with immense estimations of the value of Bérenger Saunière's treasure appeared in local and national newspapers.  A young man called Pierre Plantard, on holiday with his family in Rennes-les-Bains, founded "The Priory of Sion", a secret society which proclaimed the secret was the survival today of the Merovingian bloodline - descended from Jesus himself!  It was not a hoax exactly, more an entertaining fantasy game.

Val Wineyard has worked all her life as a freelance writer and editor; meanwhile she moved to the south of France in 1995 where she started writing books.  Titles include;  "Mysterious France,"  "Life and Past Lives in Languedoc," "The Visigothic Inheritance", "Mary Jesus and the Charismatic Priest" and her latest;  "Looking for Mary M - The Mary Magdalene Research Kit."

Val's research is unusual in that she has studied French sources and so her books contain much information not included in the others.  She is a member of "L'Association Via Aquitana" and "Société d'Études Scientifique de l'Aude."

Val's "Carnet intime". as the French say;  she adores this region of France, the incredible emotional and spiritual richness of this our land of Occitania.  She is red-haired and brown eyed.  She is a socialist (all for one and one for all) and detests affectation.  She lives alone but surrounded by friends, and has never been so happy, in all her life in rainy England, as she is now since she came to live here in the land of passion and sunshine.

My Latest Book ~ Looking for Mary M ~ The Mary Magdalene Research Kit

Testimonial by Jaap Rameijer

"This is more than a research kit.  It is a beauty.  A very special book.  What you have written here is, there is no other word for it, "great stuff."  A wonderful book, based on good, solid research.  And on true empathy.  You have an amazing feeling for what people would have thought and said and done in those years and in those particular circumstances.  It is a book written with a lovely dry send of humour.  And full of new information, some of it mind boggling information.  Presented in a gentle and relaxed way.  A priceless book for all who love Mary Magdalene."

Great news, my friends, great news. My dear friend Abraham Tol has done it again. This master of the Internet has created another masterpiece. My new website. Or rather my renewed website.

Have a look. have a look and browse my site: www.jaap-adventures.com. And most of all enjoy!

Enjoy the pictures, enjoy the newsletters, enjoy the books and articles. You know, just looking at my website makes me happy. It is so beautiful.

My dear friend Abraham has advised me to change the technology behind my website for more security and also to be able to communicate in a friendlier manner on mobile devices, it is call responsive I believe. It means that my site will be rendered on mobile devices, wide screens, laptops and desktops in a manner of the sizing of the screen of my friends and visitors. Also we have decided on a new bloggin engine to which on can subscribe for all my entries or a specific category, if you do so you will receive an email from me in case there is a new publication on my site.