ESSENTIAL LESSONS FROM ANCESTRAL WOMEN

Mythical phantoms have plagued women needlessly for the past 2000 years. Only by confronting these fabricated specters can the world finally break free and regain inclusivity, with prosperity open for all

THE BIG PROBLEM WITH BEING A CHURCH-STATE

Fairness comes from fact-based, inclusive governance. What is diametrically opposed to free, fair, and open culture? A belief system that glorifies white males while denigrating everyone else. Even the Founding white-male Fathers mandated the separation of church and state. The ancient past lights the path forward.

LIBERTY FOR ALL

Lest freedom slip away while the world deals with pestilence, earnings, and survival, please spend a brief moment with us to consider the high cost of losing it. Liberty for All looks at the forces driving the quest for liberty in France and America and hears the voices from both sides of the Atlantic that led up to the two revolutions. Uncovered with the help of archaeology, France’s Gallic roots reveal a tradition of inclusive liberty for both men and women, an organic version of freedom from the ground up. In culmination, the urgency of a 20th-century French warrior's poetry that raised the rallying cry for freedom resounds to the present day.

THE RICHES OF INCLUSIVITY

As an antidote to exclusivity and intolerance, the riches of inclusivity summon like a familiar mirage. Fully embracing a fair society means confronting the vagaries of the past square-on, without turning away. Though far from an easy task, the gains to be won can bring prosperity and freedom for all.

12 KEYS TO A FULLY PROSPEROUS WORLD

Why settle for an inefficient, lop-sided world where greed and lasciviousness reign supreme? Let's reinstate a balanced, equitable world where everyone matters, and not just the elite white males. Here are a few glimpses of Europe in the 15th century, before the Hapsburg Empire reasserted an empire onto Europe's Celtic populations. It's the Europe we see by tracing Celtic threads from the pre-Christian Iron Age. 

The Très Rich Heures du Duc de Berry is part of the library collection of the Dukes of Burgundy which was hidden away for centuries to protect it from destruction by imperial forces. All 12 photos come from there, from a time when Duchies formed the defense units for European family networks.

One Marvelous Day in Le Mans and Doué

Tribute, lineage and a safe cave – all three thread through Europe’s fabric. Escape networks are as crucial as ever when invaders strike, as apparent from Russia’s excruciating attack on Ukraine. And survivors following in long tradition pay homage to their fallen defenders, often with portrayals in highly unlikely places. Intriguingly well-known names might hold deep secrets about family lineage. Subterranean systems, that for centuries kept the persecuted safe from the villain’s sword, reveal surprisingly advanced skills in cave tunnelers and dwellers.

Spend a moment with us in Le Mans and Doué to peer into a darkened past and perhaps recognize some beautifully familiar lights.

Why Magdalena?

Magdalena's story necessarily begins with the human journey like everyone else's does. While chock-full of invention and discovery, the saga is also fraught with unfairness, unachieved goals, and intended confusions. Multiple variations of Magdalena - like La Madeleine - aptly illustrate the last point.

A convincing amount of evidence suggests that some intrepid migrants made their way to La Madeleine in France's Périgord after the last Ice Age. These people were no "cavemen," though. They tamed wolves into dogs. They built free-standing shelters. Perhaps most notably, though, they etched female forms onto the walls of their caves - and their very name suggests that women were among their leaders.

Come with us as we explore Magdalena’s significance across Europe. Though Caesars and the later Christian conquest may have tried to erase all traces of an extraordinary heritage, it’s time to reclaim this illustrious legacy as our own.

CHARLEMAGNE FROM PARIS TO PRAGUE

This 7-stop journey visits important places in Charlemagne’s world, especially some of the secular centers of learning and production that he and his family founded all across Europe. Along the way, we consider a mystifying Carolingian carved-ivory book cover that may portray Charlemagne's abbey-founding family.

Explore with us the beauty and achievements of Charlemagne's times that still shine into the current era.

MILLY-LA-FORÊT

A favored place for millennia, Milly-la-Forêt memorializes its past by preserving historic edifices and maintaining a flourishing commerce in medicinal and culinary plants. Neighboring Fontainebleau became the first National Forest in the world thanks to artists who successfully petitioned Napoléon III with their painted tributes to its natural beauty. These south-of-Paris woodlands also give rare views into Europe’s hidden past.