Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris is on fire. Known as the "heart of France" this is incredibly symbolic and significant. Notre Dame de Paris known as Our Lady, is considered to be one of the most beautiful buildings in the world, I am watching a France newsfeed on network TV as the spire just collapsed.
Spires are symbols and conduits between man and God and Notre Dame's has tumbled in flames.
As an incredible icon and meaniful to those of all faiths but especially Roman Catholics.
Thoughts, intuituons or tie-ins to patterns or predictions? Anyone ever visit it? Impressions?
Sending light for the sheer destruction and pathos that has now been ignited in a holy place and symbol right before Good Friday and Easter
Prayers for all of Paris and in France and those throughout the world who feel and mourn this devastation.
I feel and hear sobbing and tears flow from not only our eyes but senstive hearts who understand what this means for this country and our world in times to come.
Even the newscasters are crying.
Michele, this is so heartbreaking. Do you know when the fire started? I was on my way to an appointment and was suddenly overcome with deep sadness and anxiety, that seemingly came out of the blue. I felt like I wanted to jump out of my skin. Also had a hard time regulating my body temperature. I said to my husband, "I hope I'm wrong, but I think something is going to happen." When I arrived home, I saw it on the news.
I've never been there, but studied about Notre Dame and other cathedrals back in college. I agree about the significance of spires. The symbolism doesn't escape me.
Let us not lose hope, and stay strong for ourselves and one another. We will get through this dark time.
Hi Michelle,
I saw the news about the fire too and felt incredible sadness. I have been there. It is/was an incredible church - full of history and the prayers and feelings of worshipers over hundreds of years. It is a horrible loss for for both the people of Paris and the world.
My first feeling after seeing the news was that it is symbolically significant. One possibility is that it is symbolic of death and rebirth. The timing right before Christian and Jewish holy days and the current times and happenings in the world and in France, the Catholic Church in particular are part of what this means.
I heard that there are people outside praying. I join you, Michele in sending the people of France light.
C'est terrible... I've been to Notre Dame many times, I have even been up on the roof and stood next to the gargoyles...
My feeling is that this was a construction accident that got out of hand. The cathedral had been suffering the effects of pollution and rain for hundreds of years, and the French had done a good job keeping the exterior in good shape, but apparently this past year they were working on really restoring it. The stone it's made out of was crumbling.
I saw the central spire fall...so sad. Send some protective light to the first responders and those who were on the premises when the fire began. And brace yourselves, I suspect that the walls will implode soon. As sad as this is, remember, all is impermanent.
I went to Notre Dame when I was 18 in 1985. I was awestruck.
This is very concerning on multiple fronts.
First, this horrible event it happened during Holy Week, the day after Palm Sunday.
Second, it was a stunning church, simply stunning. It was as much a part of Paris as St. Paul's or Westminster Abby are London. More so perhaps.
Third, while it MAY have been caused by a refurbishment accident, there is something else to consider. France had 10-12 acts of desecration and vandalism including fire against catholic churches in February of this year. These acts were largely unreported by the MSM in the US ( Newsweek and later the Washington Post only from what I have see reported on this). The Catholic church didn't report on how widespread this was becoming until late March in one of their news organizations. A famous church St. Sulpice, the second-largest church in Paris, after Notre Dame Cathedral and where the The Da Vinci Code was filmed, had the large wooden door on its southern transept set ablaze March 17. Other churches were smashed ( statues), the monastery of Saint Jean des Balmes in Aveyron was sacked and in early February, in the Church of Notre-Dame-des-Enfants in Nimes, near the Spanish border, vandals created a cross on a wall with excrement then stuck consecrated hosts to it.
This is all quite disturbing. I truly hope this was not a nefarious act.
Notre Dame. Shocking.
Can we add the people of France and the world to our meditation night Jeanne? It seems to be getting dark everywhere right now,
It is
I've been working from home all day and so I've had the newscasts on continuously since the news broke. I do feel it is symbolic.
But I will say this... at around lunchtime for me (Pacific), an official announcement came through that the firefighters may not be able to save the cathedral at all, and the broadcasters started crying. Since then, the latest news seems to be that they will be able to save the structure and the towers after all.
So personally, I am taking it as yes, it is devastating and there were be significant damage, but the foundations and structure will be saved, and they can be built upon again. It will take time, but it is not lost.
Thank you one and all for these thoughts, stories, and sharings about visiting Paris and Notre Dame.
I am amazed by your opportunities to go abroad and your opportinities at so many ages and life stages and your wonderful experiences. Just to have visited and seen this beautiful cathedral and then the other beautiful icons of this city. Lovely and wonderful!
It will be challenging to rebuild as just the current rennovation costs and time frame for them were huge. But nothing is impossible and we never know how modern technologies or new techniques will come about just from these very challenges and the deep, driving passions to bring it and the heart of "our lady" to Paris and the wider world.
And I cannot help but believe that there will be many donations of money, time and labor from all over the world to restore its magesty.
Please continue to add your stories, impressions of your visits there or additional updates over time.
Let us hope that it will be the beginning of a new symbolic example of the very essence of the mythological phoenix rising up from the ashes with new beauty, meaning and symbolism of community working together as hearts contine to open into unity and love for the beauty of our world, natural or manmade combined with the energies of the divine over centuries of our universal histories.
It may take a long time and many of us may not be here to see it as it takes form but perhaps someday it can stand as a beacon of hope, a new more inclusive and open hearted form of faith, and sense of unity in a much better world.
May love, light, and divine energies surround the city of Paris and all of France and its people and create a new and very different path of hope for all.
My God. Breathe, breathe, breathe - wipe tears from face - shudder breath - deep breath - center.
So grateful the core structure appears to have been saved.
There is so much symbolism going on with this fire I'm not sure I can touch all of it.
I can't think of a more physical representation of the Tower card from the Tarot. Jeanne and many others here will have a better in depth analysis of what the Tower card represents in a reading. And of course placement matters to the reading, and I'll let the experts extrapolate that.
My understanding is that this is a warning. There will be upheaval on the way to great change. The old is not working, and the new will be ushered in. So it's about the chaos of sweeping change.
The timing ( the start of Holy week) and the fact that it is a Catholic Church cannot be overlooked. This is sure to be seen as a Holy event to reinforce the concepts of death and resurrection because it can be rebuilt.
It should also not be overlooked that the Al-Aqsa mosque caught fire at the same time as Notre Dame. This is part of the Dome of the Rock which the community has discussed as a potential lightning rod for a Holy war. To be clear, I don't see this evolving into a keystone for war yet.
I feel Spirit here issuing a strong call of retribution against abuse - a strong call for humanity to unify.
This hit me exceptionally hard - I'm ashamed, but unafraid to say that my emotional response to this was more hurtful than to the repeated mass shootings we see on an almost daily basis. And I believe it hit me so hard because I have become desensitized to the violence we visit on ourselves and even to the escalation of that violence. This is a huge signal from Spirit that we must realign with our humanity.
Prayers for all. There will be much fearful spin on this in the coming days I believe. I will be praying for a clear and centered view of the events and for a return to a more compassionate and unified humanity moving forward.
Much Love to all!
Oh, my heart breaks. I have been fortunate to visit Notre Dame many times and it is such a powerful, moving place and such a powerful symbol of western civilization. Every time I walked inside, I always thought of the generations of men who worked to build this architectural celebration of God, the sublime highest power. These men (and maybe women) worked their entire lives without seeing the completion of their work, yet they had this vision of creating a space to glorify God, a place where all people could experience a celebration of the mystical power of love, transformation and comfort.
After I wept for the loss, I realized that Notre Dame will rise again from the ashes, maybe better than before with the melding of medieval with the modern and our spirits will soar again.