The Sixth Key (46 page)

‘Will I forget all that you’ve told me?’

‘It is likely that only a vague feeling will
remain in your heart. If you choose to follow it, you will find the right
course. If you forget everything else, remember this . . .’ He paused to look
at me and said, ‘The way to Heaven is always through Hell . . .’

Otto Rahn had fallen asleep on the bench waiting for the
vaporetto. He woke with a dry mouth and a crick in his neck that he was still
massaging when the boat pulled up at the Fondamente Nuove. He remembered dreaming
about a conversation with a man; something about being in a garden with many
paths that lead here and there, something related to a promise he’d made. As he
climbed aboard the vaporetto he wondered if the dream had anything to do with
his promise to the Countess P.

As the boat chugged lazily over the lagoon, he
leant in to ask the boatman about their destination, ‘Is that San Michele?’

‘Yes, that is the cemetery island of Venice,’
the man said, in a wonderful Italian voice.

The sun was rising, casting its golden hues
over the old lagoon and the island, bringing to his mind the Egyptian river of
souls and the boat of Isis in which one travelled to the realm of the dead.
Well, he thought to himself, why not place a clue in a cemetery island in the
middle of a lagoon? It all made a crazy sort of sense. It was something a man
like Cros would do!

The vaporetto now arrived at the landing stage
on the northwest corner of the island and Rahn climbed out, paid the boatman
and watched the vessel pull away. He had an unnerving sense that he was about
to walk into Hell again. After all, there was a monastery on the island, and a
church. His mouth was dry again, his hands were shaking and he could feel his
stomach churning. He seemed destined to find himself always at the gates of
Hell, but it had never prevented him from continuing, even into the flames.
Like his heroes Parzifal and Don Quixote, Jason, Hercules and Alexander, he
would have to take the Thief’s Path through Hell to reach Heaven.

‘Well then . . .’ he affirmed to himself, as
he climbed those steps. ‘I dare!’

For some years now the south of France, its
churches, its priests and its secrets, have captured the minds of writers and
readers alike. Hundreds of books and a very substantial number of web-sites and
blogs are dedicated to exploring and understanding every detail of the
multilayered, deeply veiled, enigmatic mystery behind the churches surrounding
Rennes-le-Château and its priest, Bérenger Saunière.

Likewise, Otto Rahn has been the subject of a
number of books and some believe he was even the inspiration for Steven
Spielberg’s Indiana Jones. The true Otto Rahn was indeed a philologist,
historian, explorer and amateur archaeologist, who found himself at the wrong
place at the wrong time, becoming an unwitting member of the SS.

In 2004 I visited Rennes-le-Château as part of
research for The Seal. I sensed something very sinister working there, in its
peculiarly renovated church, in its Villa Bethany, Tour Magdala, restless
cemetery and strange conservatory. The town filled me with a feeling of dread
and I had an urge to leave as soon as possible. This intrigued me, and when
many years later I began exploring the mystery of the churches in the area, I
discovered a story that was quite bizarre and more complicated than I had ever
imagined, a story that was tantalisingly stranger than fiction! I decided to
explore the connection between Otto Rahn and these mysteries. The Sixth Key is
a result of that exploration. The story is my own, but it is written around
historical facts.

In The Sixth Key I have remained faithful to
what is known about Rahn’s life during this period, taking only some liberties
with dates and leaving out events of lesser interest in order to focus on what
was integral. Rahn did work in the south of France; he did write two books,
Crusade Against the Grail and Lucifer’s Court; he was indeed searching for the
treasure of the Cathars; he did work for Himmler; and there is conjecture about
him being sent on a secret mission to the south of France. To this day there is
a question hanging over his official ‘suicide’ and as no efforts have been made
to exhume his body for DNA testing, the entire affair remains a mystery –
at least for those who haven’t met Rahn, that is!

As mentioned previously, all secret societies
and groups discussed in The Sixth Key are real. All rites that I have mentioned
– white, grey or black magic – have been drawn from real and
credible sources. All church artwork, including the magic squares, paintings,
etc., given as clues, can be found by anyone. All grimoires and books quoted do
exist, including the Grimoire of Pope Honorius III, which was indeed
purportedly written by a pope.

As far as the supporting characters go, Pierre
Plantard, as many of you may already know through books such as Holy Blood and
Holy Grail, did have much to do with the mystery of this area and has been the
focus of quite a lot of media attention over the years through his Priori de
Sion hoax. Bérenger Saunière, the curé of Rennes-le-Château, is almost a figure
of legend and myth but he is a true character and did renovate the church at
Rennes-le-Château, building the Villa Bethany, the Tour Magdala and the
conservatory, drawing from sources of wealth that were never explained. Madame
Dénarnaud, Bérenger Saunière’s housekeeper, is a true personality who survived
Saunière to inherit everything. Like him, she died incapacitated, never
divulging her secrets. The Abbé Gélis was actually murdered in the gruesome way
described in this novel and his murder has never been solved. He and Abbé
Boudet and Abbé Cros did all meet according to the diary kept by Saunière.
Similarly, Abbé Bigou, Jean-Louis Verger, Abbé Rivière and Abbé Grassaud are
all historical personalities, as were Paul Alexis Ladame, Rahn’s best friend,
the Countess Murat Pujol who was a member of the Polaires, and Deodat Roche,
who had close links with anthroposophy. Interestingly, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle,
the creator of Sherlock Holmes whom I quote a lot throughout The Sixth Key, was
involved in spiritualism and was known to have moved in the esoteric circles of
Antonin Gadal, one of Otto Rahn’s mentors.

The Book of the Seven Seals, the original
Apocalypse of Saint John, is believed to have formed a part of the treasure of
the Cathars. The sign of Sorat is real, as is the sign of the Lamb of Christ.

And the Seventh Key? To know more you will
need to follow me into the galleries and Rahn’s next adventure!

Some time ago my mother Rita introduced me to
Otto Rahn after watching a documentary about him. Without this introduction,
The Sixth Key would not be what it is and I thank her so much for that. I would
also like to thank my husband, James, for his patience and diligence in reading
and editing the manuscript in all its stages and for making many useful and
practical suggestions.

Finally, thanks must go to Otto Rahn himself,
whose enigmatic life was an endless source of inspiration and whose two books
were more of an insight into his soul and personality than any biography of his
life could have been.

See you in the galleries, Otto!