Sounds interesting. Tell us more.
For a 'quick and dirty' introduction, the WIki provides a decent starting point. (
SOURCE)
For a more in-depth look at Cathar practices, one may look at "Cathars and Cathar Beliefs in the Languedoc" (
SOURCE) and a broader overview within the Gnostic framework may be found in the Gnostic Society Library under "Cathar Texts and Rituals" (
SOURCE)
A book I have found that has been very helpful is
The Lost Teachings of the Cathars by Andrew Smith (
SOURCE)
More or less, without going in to huge detail, the Cathars tried to keep the spirit and practice of the Early Church alive- but those Christian practices were accompanied by the Manichaean/Gnostic ideas of God AND Satan (Good and Evil) being the principal spiritual forces in existence. Long story short, Satan warred against God, was defeated, and he created the physical realm (our universe and our world) in order to escape. Satan also took with him a number of spirits he captured from God as well as those he had seduced to his cause. He eventually created Man but in order to make him 'work' he had to place one of those spirits in him (which became our soul) at conception. In time powerful souls appeared in the mix (the
Christ- the soul that resided in the body of Jesus of Nazareth- being the greatest of these) and they awoke us to our spiritual nature. Obviously, it is Satan's plan to discourage us and deceive us and lay traps in our path so he can remain in power. It is now upon us to reject the world of Satan and purify and strengthen our souls so they may escape the physical realm and return to God. If our soul is not redeemed- or 'saved' in common parlance- upon our death it awaits a new body and the cycle of purification/redemption begins again. When the number of redeemed souls equals the number of those remaining unredeemed, the physical realm will cease to exist, Satan will be forced back into the spiritual realm to await God's pleasure, and those unredeemed souls will either be destroyed or otherwise utterly separated from God's grace. So, it's in our best interest to get with the program and 'get right' so we get off this rock and back to God as soon as possible (you probably don't want to miss that last bus to Heaven).
How does this purifying and strengthening occur? At its most basic, it's recognizing that while we are IN this world we should not be OF it. Living a simple life, rejection of material things, being of service to others, devoting ourselves to God, and showing contempt for Satan and his works is a good start. These are largely taken from the example of the Apostles, and are now continued (after the Church saw its effectiveness with the Cathars) in the monastic Orders. (One might- and quite accurately- see the Cathars, at least the Elders, as 'monks without a monastery'. This includes Sisters as well, as the Cathars were famously equal-opportunity with regard to women being the equal of men, which absolutely scandalized the Church!)
The Cathars were a feature of medieval Europe, located primarily in the south of France, between the mid-12th to the mid-13th centuries. The Church, seeing the Cathars as a threat to their power (and rightly so) deemed them to be heretics and in 1208 the Pope launched the Albigensian Crusade during which thousands- if not millions- of Cathars were slaughteres along with any Christian who dared to help them. During the Crusade (and later with the Inquisition) the Church took great delight in offering its view of God's love and mercy to the Cathars by burning them alive, hundreds at a time. To their credit, few of the lower-ranked Believers recanted, and almost none of the Elders recanted- preferring to happily walk into the flames secure in the belief that their souls would be safe with God.
Obviously, there is much more to it than this poor attempt at a concise explanation- I invite you to visit those links I posted previously for a better (and much more scholarly) rendition of Cathar belief. As for myself, I am not trying to 'recreate' the Medieval Cathars- that would be impossible- but rather trying to adapt its teachings and world-view into the world of today as best I may.
