I had only just gotten back from a trip to see family in Yorkshire, when we were out again to go visit Munich, Germany. Frater Acher kindly hosted us to go to Munich for a few days and run around Bavaria with a small gaggle of German magicians. And what an adventure that turned out to be – if you have not been to Bavaria, and are able to get there, it is well worth it: it is one of my favourite places in the world.

On the first day we went to visit a large rambling reclamation/antique place that was housed in an old farm. (All images by Frater Acher (C) 2019)

We wandered around the various barns and rooms, finding astonishing old and interesting objects, statues, and furniture.

Peering in dark corners and abandoned yards, we came across all manner of goodies, and were surrounded by the whispers of people’s memories.

Various creatures said hello, and I got to ride on Sobek.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we went to lake Chiemsee and visited one of the islands there,  Fraueninsel, or Women’s Island. On that island is an 8th century Benedictine convent, Frauenwörth, which is still in use to this day. The nuns make various crafts and marzipans to sell, and also run retreats. The complex has an impressive gothic bell tower, and the church is truly beautiful.

The church walls and ceilings are elaborately decorated and it has been tended sensitively and intelligently enough that some of the very old wall paintings survive.

Each successive age added to the paintings so that you can see the history of the church in its art.

The history of the church is fascinating, and here is a clip of the founding history:

According to tradition, the Benedictine abbey of Frauenwörth was founded by the Duke of Bavaria, Tassilo III (746-788), around 772 AD.

Bishop Virgil of Salzburg consecrated the church on 1st September 782.

Around 850, Blessed Irmengard (831/33-866) served the abbey as the first abbess known by name.

She was a daughter of King Ludwig the German and the great-granddaughter of Charlemagne.

This period of Carolingian rule was interrupted abruptly by the Hungarian invasions in the first half of the 10th century.

A further religious upheaval occurred at the end of the 10th century with the introduction of the Benedictine Rule due to the influence of the nearby, newly-founded Seeon Abbey (994-1803).

https://www.frauenwoerth.de/english/the-abbey/

The Blessed Irmengard is buried in the church along with some of the other abbesses. Behind the main Baroque altar is a smaller more highly tuned chapel and within its altar is the head of Irmengard.

I spent a while in meditation in the small chapel, and found layer upon layer of female consciousness/collective that had somehow become like a hive: they were all buried there, and joined together in death as they had in life. There was no heavy religious overlay to the contact, it was more one of spiritual union, healing and compassion for all beings. It was a truly beautiful experience.

 

The lake is also where the Chiemsee Cauldron was found in 2001. The cauldron looks like an ancient Celtic cauldron made of pure gold, but is now thought to have been made by an expert Jeweller for the Nazi’s during the 1930’s.

The lake itself is beautiful, calm, and a very nourishing lake. We came away from the visit feeling peaceful, clean, and harbouring a deep stillness: the island’s reputation for healing is certainly correct!

The following day we went into Munich and met up with other magicians. The city was in total chaos: there were armed police everywhere on every single corner and kept stopping the traffic to let long convoys of limos through.

The police seemed very jumpy and were constantly on the lookout, watching everyone… so of course a bunch of odd-looking magicians stood out a fair bit! It turned out that it was the yearly world security council being held in Munich and we had dropped straight into the middle of it… we were surrounded on all streets by world leaders and their security details – hmmm….. magical crossings of paths!

We went to the Lenbachhaus art museum in the middle of Munich to visit the exhibition of art by Georgiana Houghton, Hilma Af Klint and Emma Kunz. It was truly a magical feast for the eyes and soul.

While the work of Klint and Kunz was really interesting, a collection of magical geometric symbolism, it was the work of Houghton that truly punched me between the eyes.

Georgiana was a mid 19th century English spiritualist/medium and while she got entangled in controversy with  fraudulent spirit photographer Frederick Hudson, her actual contacted paintings are truly powerful and mystical. I had seen her paintings in print fairly recently and thought they were interesting, but being in the physical presence of them was something different entirely.

The paintings are an abstract weave of lines and colour, and are her depictions of how she saw angels, spirits, God and power. Just in artistic terms, her work in the 1860’s was way ahead of the abstract movement.

The technical detail is astonishing, and we needed magnifying glasses (handed out to us) to see the incredible detail of fine hairs, swirls and spirals that can only be seen under magnification.

On the back of each painting is a description of what she was painting, and the inner contact who bridged the images through her.

The paintings pack their own punch: they are living patterns of power and consciousness, and it is like walking into the presence of the being itself as you stand before a painting. My forehead began to hurt from the power, and one of the magicians with us had to back away from them – they were just too full of raw power. But the beauty and soul within them was breath taking: they brought me to tears. It was a very humbling experience.

We finished the day back at the home of Frater Acher who cooked dinner… what can this man not do!! Not only is he a kick ass magician, a mind boggling intellect and a serious professional in his daily life, he is also a brilliant cook and a supreme artist in his own right. He also gave me some much needed training in people management skills in order to move the Quareia school into its next phase of development. It was a truly inspiring time!

On the final day we went for a walk in an ancient yew forest that lies about an hour outside Munich.

Some of the trees are more than two thousand years old, and crunching through the patches of frozen snow while feeling the immense silent power of these ancient trees was yet another humbling experience.

 

We were brought back down to earth the following day when we reached the check in desk at the airport – the airline we had flown in on (BMI) had gone bankrupt over the weekend, and our return tickets were useless. Thus began the odyssey of trying to get home. I had my aging phone with me that has a habit of dying after one or two calls, and the defunct airline was not picking up the phone.

Frater Acher once again came to the rescue and sorted us out tickets to get us to London. Our car was in Bristol airport so then we had to get across the country from east to west with a cab driver who knew little English, couldn’t read the road signs properly, and who thought Bristol was Brighton (wrong direction!). After yet another panic, much pointing of directions and explanations we were going in the right direction. I felt really bad for the driver as we were tried, stressed and cranky, and he was in full panic mode.

But the chaos did not end there… curtesy of the full moon…. When we got to Bristol airport, our car was not in its designated lot. The parking attendants had to move the car and had written down the lot number wrong. So after some frantic clicking of keys and watching for flashing lights, and guess work from the attendant, we finally got the car. End of story? Not quite….. when we got near to home, the main road to our area was closed off – someone had thrown themselves off a bridge.

After dodging around back roads we finally got to our little hidden valley, only to find that the valley road was also closed – there had been a landslip that covered the road (often occurs around here). It was dark, we were tired, and stressed and enough was enough!! We finally managed to get home, tired, thankful, and supremely inspired by a crazy, wonderful, friendship filled weekend in the ancient land of Bavaria.

And finally here is my favourite photo from the trip…. my handsome beloved – Stuart !

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Frater Achers blog can be seen here, and it is well worth the visit if you have not already been there: he is a rare magical treasure indeed.

All images (c) Frater Acher 2019