In the 13th century, the Church came down hard on the Cathars, who had settled in the French Pyrenees. The Cathars' practices had some similarities with ancient Egyptian belief systems: 'dying consciously' was at heart of both, and both the Egyptians and the Cathars felt they had to break the cycle of reincarnation (the cycle of evil), and ascend to the world of light. In the 20th century, German Nazis such as Otto Rahn became interested in Catharism and sent investigators to the region to search for the Holy Grail. They uncovered the ancient sanctuaries of the Cathars -- often caves in perilous locations -- and found statues of Egyptian gods. Was the Grail perhaps a sacred Egyptian artifact?

WANDERINGS OF THE GRAIL: The Cathars, the Search for the Grail and the Discovery of Egyptian Relics in the French Pyrenees, by Andre Douzet. 152 pages. 6x9 Paperback. Illustrated. Bibliography.