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Until recently, the only way to get to Batu from the resorts of Tretes and Pacet, aside from walking over the mountains, was via Malang, a distance of some 70 km or more. Now there is a new route, giving direct access to Batu from Pacet. The village of Pacet is not far from Trawas and the site of Reco Lanang. The road winds up steeply through primeval forest in the foothills of Mt Welirang, eventually emerging at Cangar, an isolated hamlet renowned for its hot mineral pools and streams.

From here, the road descends to Batu, passing through a patchwork of fertile hill plantations. The mountain panorama is breathtaking, especially to the east, where the Bromo/Semeru massif dominates the horizon.The scenic beauty of Batu is almost alpine in appearance and the resort is sometimes even referred to as Java's 'little Switzerland'.Of course, there are differences. Bamboo grows in abundance, the wood being split to create a maze of fences surrounding the fruit and vegetable plantations.

The cool climate and fertile soil are ideal for growing fruits like apples, for which Batu is well known all over the island. The town is just 20 km from Malang and offers a good selection of hotels, shops and recreation facilities.There are a number of interesting places to visit in the immediate vicinity, among them the hot mineral pools and ancient Hindu temple at Songgoriti, Coban Rondo waterfall on the road to Pujon, as well as the attractive lake at Selorejo. Interesting day trips from Batu can include Coban Rondo, Selorejo and, further down the hill towards Pare, the 14th century temple ruins of Surawana and Tigowangi.

Source : http://www.eastjava.com/

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Montségur

Following the recommendation from a friend in South America, I found myself at a fallen castle known as Montségur. Montségur is a destroyed yet standing Cathar castle in the Ariège-Pyrénées region of southern France. I drove there, driving through storm after storm of lightning, thunder, and hail. Some rain was falling so strong, the possibility of being completely submerged in a great flood seemed imminent. The twilit skies of Southern France are simply sublime – painted with incredible colors: hues of bright red, deep purple, and dark emerald – magical skies second only to the Aurora. The distant rain was once glowing with vibrant and fiery red. Fields of impossibly bright yellow flowers, deep green forests and rocky mountains covered the landscape, preparing the entrance to the once Cathar dominated region.

The castle of Montségur stands atop a rocky and green summit full of life, is surrounded by the majestic French Alps, and above a small town inhabited by joyful Alpine folk. The castle was overcome by the pope's army and the king of France in 1244. Just below the castle is where more than 200 captured Cathars, who refused to renounce their faith and convert to Catholicism, were burned alive. A few had escaped with a mysterious treasure, believed to be the Grail by Otto Rahn and Miguel Serrano.

"During the time when the walls of Montségur were still standing, the Cathars kept the Holy Grail there. Montségur was in danger. The armies of Lucifer had besieged it. They wanted the Grail, to restore it to their Prince's diadem from which it had fallen during the fall of his angels. Then, at the most critical moment, there came down from heaven a white dove, which, with its beak, split Tabor [Montségur] in two. Esclarmonde, who was keeper of the Grail, threw the sacred jewel into the depths of the mountain. The mountain closed up again, and in this manner was the Grail saved. When the devils entered the fortress, they were too late. Enraged, they put to death by fire all of the Pures, not far from the rock on which the castle stands in the Field of the Stake. All of the Pures perished on the pyre except Esclarmonde de Foix. When she knew the Grail to be safe, she climbed to the summit of Mount Tabor, changed into a white dove and flew off toward the mountains of Asia."
Otto Rahn – record of a Languedoc shepard's tale written in: Crusade Against the Grail: The Struggle between the Cathars, the Templars, and the Church of Rome

“In Plato's 'Critias and Timeo' there is a story of three sisters who guarded the Garden of the Hesperides. One was Black, one was White, and one was Red. This garden was located in Atlantis. The colors of black, white and red are used in Alchemy. Alchemy was used in Atlantis. In 'Timothy' the phrase is used: "One, two, three. Where is the fourth?" Also in 'Montségur' four knights escaped with the treasure of the Grail, but only the names of three knights are known. Where is the fourth? In the process of Alchemy the color yellow appears between white and red and in reality it is actually white or red in a state of indecision. Therefore the fourth element is actually the third. What we must look for is not the fourth but the fifth, the Philosopher's Stone, the Holy Grail.”
Miguel Serrano, El Cordon Dorado

The event of the Cathars choosing death by fire over conversion is remarkably beautiful to me – such a tale leaves an unforgettable impression on the soul. Being there, it was clear that the energy imprints left behind will never fade, as the flora grows from blood soaked soil, and the very traditional Alpine folk below attach all that is there to their collective Self. What perfect inspiration they have, as they are also protecting their pure, rural and anti-urban way of life, unseen in most major European cities. Another note on Cathars, their name comes from the Greek word Katharoi which in Greek means “pure ones”, “pure” derived from Katharsis meaning “purification.”

“It is then that with great intensity Wotan's Wind-Mill, called Grotti, begins to work, first in the firmament, where its grains are the God's stars and, then, in Gerda, its product, like wheat flour, already not as blue nor as white, will be the 'I' of the Heroes, something Wotan has not pretended intentionally, since the blessed Gods 'feel nothing on their own', as Hölderlin used to say. And it is the Walkirias, Fenja and Menja, who make the Asen's and Vanir's Wind-Mill Wheel, in contrary direction to the Wind of Satan-Saturn-Kronos, the Left-revolving Swastika, which the Bauhülte Masons would call the 'Wheel of Katherina', with a strange resemblance to the Kathar (Cathar) name, and which in Greek means 'Pure'.”
Miguel Serrano, Manu: Por el Hombre que Vendra

The Cathars may have been a gnostic sect of Christianity, nonetheless they adhered to their name demonstrating the purity of their faith through decisive action, their unyielding resistance to the Holy Roman Empire and the will power to hold their faith supreme in the face of death. Through such a grand sacrifice and beautiful demonstration of faith, the Cathars who died at Montségur live forever to tell us, Wer Glauben im Herzen hat, der hat die stärkste Kraft der Welt (He who has faith in his heart, possesses the strongest power in the world).

“My ancient forbears were heathens, and my ancestors were heretics. For their exoneration I collect the pieces that Rome left over."
Otto Rahn, Lucifer's Court

"When we talk about the religion of love of the troubadours, of the initiated knights of the Grail, of the true Rosicrucians, we must try to discover what lies behind their language. In those days, love did not mean the same thing as it does in our day. The word Amor (Love) was a cipher, it was a code word. Amor spelt backwards is Roma. That is, the word indicated, in the way in which it was written, the opposite to Roma, to all that Rome represented. Also Amor broke down into 'a' and 'mor', meaning Without-Death. That is, to become immortal, eternal, thanks to the way of initiation of A-Mor. A way of initiation totally opposed to the way of Rome. An esoteric, solar Kristianity. The Gnostic Kristianity of Meister Eckhart. And mine. Because I have tried to teach western man to resurrect Kristos in his soul. Because Kristos is the Self for western man. This is why Roma destroyed Amor, the Cathars, the Templars, the Lords of the Grail, the Minnesänger, everything which may have originated in the 'Hyperborean Blood Memory' and which may have had a polar, solar origin.”

"The love talked and written about so much in novels, poetry and magazines, the love of one's neighbour, the universal love of the churches, love of humanity, has nothing whatsoever to do with 'loveless love' (A-Mor, Without-Death), which is a harsh discipline, as cold as ice, as cutting as a sword, and which aspires to overcome the human condition in order to reach the Kingdom of the Immortals, Ultima Thule."
Miguel Serrano, NOS: Book of the Resurrection

On the Way