Sectarian aberrations, Irène* had not heard of them. The poster for the show “Tomorrow is today” promised meetings and workshops around “science”, “healthy eating” and “natural health”. All in the courtyard of a historic monument in Montpellier, the Château de Flaugergues. An elegant stone building, property of the descendants of Colbert. “It can’t hurt,” said this retirement home manager. The residence is located a short four-minute walk from the manor, why not bring your residents there?
Arrived in the shaded gardens, the small troop finds neither scientists nor doctors, even less the “luminaries” announced by the Energy Movement for Terrestrial Evolution (MEET) association, at the origin of the event, organized from May 19 to 21. In the middle of the sellers of organic soaps, essential oils or food supplements, wander doctors dismissed, documentary filmmakers for the media who no longer give the right to the press card, or even discoverers of conspiracies who would hold the hidden truth about the Covid-19, the pyramids of Giza or the white traces left in the sky by planes.
Presented as a “well-being” fair, the event is actually a summer university for the “complosphere”. Under the “alternative” banner, the association has brought together champions of alternative medicine and esoteric practices, but also notorious conspirators and representatives of the most radical extreme right. The meeting finally attracted only a few hundred participants instead of the expected 4,000 – the fault of the rain and the mobilization of organizations such as the League for Human Rights. But the program for these three days is a good illustration of the links that have been forged in recent years between lovers of “natural” therapies and much more disturbing small groups, quick to reject any form of rationality, whose ideas thus infuse little by little more widely.
“We are responsible for the diseases we develop”
Sitting on camping chairs between two rows of soaring pines, visitors discover the “healing power of water”, “spiritual radioactivity”, or learn about the “Sacred Feminine”, a doctrine in the viewfinder Interministerial mission for vigilance and the fight against sectarian aberrations (Miviludes). According to its promoters, the medical or psychological difficulties sometimes encountered by women in their lives come from a disagreement with their deep nature, and are therefore their fault.
Talking about her two cancers in remission during the lunch break, Laura* resigns herself: “Anyway, we are responsible for the diseases we develop”. His friends of the day acquiesce. Between two “natural energy burgers”, they talk about their favorite speakers: Eduard and Judith Van den Bogaert, a Belgian couple who claim to cure all kinds of pathologies by identifying the repressed traumas of our ancestors. Below, under a stone vault, gongs resound. A “quantum coach” explains, amulet around her neck, that beyond our unconscious lies an inner voice. Letting go would open a “portal” within us. “Go ahead, let your star speak,” encourages the mistress of ceremonies. Notes stand out from the hubbub, then they harmonize. Everyone then feels “reconnected”.
A little further on, about twenty people lie down on wood shavings, in the center of a tiny bamboo grove. A shaman rides her drum, to bring participants “luck, happiness, prosperity and relief”. Hair shaved on the sides, Emilie* has already made several “shamanic journeys”. But this Saturday, she only feels the rain falling on her face.
Homeopathy against AIDS
Sheltered from the drops, Marc*, 37, stamps his feet, dark glasses screwed on his head. This former driver, who dropped everything to become a magnetizer, awaits the arrival on stage of Jean-Pierre Willem. A former surgeon removed from the Order of Physicians since 1987. Since confinement, Marc * has not missed any appearance of his hero. On stage, he recites miracle recipes, against AIDS or heart problems. A few drops of essential oils, a few homeopathy capsules and that’s it! Excited, his audience asks for personalized advice. No question: everything is in his books, he says.
Antoine Duvivier and Angelo Berardi succeed him on stage. Square glasses from the 1970s and gilding on the shirt, the first is the former spokesman for the Brigandes. This group of singers with eloquent titles – Get the hell out of here, The great replacementor France, our land – performed with Jean-Marie Le Pen for his 90th birthday, before interrupting his career in 2021. The second co-founded the Community of the Rose and the Sword, behind which we find, as for the Brigandes, a certain Joël Labruyère, presented as a “guru” by Miviludes.
Seriously, Antoine Duvivier explains that “Darwin is wrong”: the theory of evolution would be wrong, he says. The duo then recounts that civilizations “would have existed more than 100,000 years ago, masked by manipulation and lies”. Jostled by such revelations, a couple widens their eyes, their ten-year-old son in their legs. A row further, a man begins to tremble with his mouth open, stunned too. Everyone takes notes.
The two speakers insist: according to them, the planets change alignment. What change our instincts, change our behavior, depress us or make us sick. To understand the world, it would be necessary to study everything through this prism, of which they would be the greatest experts. Their truth, made up of astrology and esotericism mixed with an identity discourse, would be much more enlightening than conventional science, which would only bring “containment, ChatGPT and transhumanism”. They explain that they want to “develop a new way of life, in a fraternal spirit”. And invite the spectators to join them.
Homosexuality accused of generating diseases
The same morning, alone in front of his paperboard, Antoine Duvivier, 28, had ventured into more political territory. According to him, “the change of astrological era” that we would experience would reinforce “socialist ideas, globalization, homosexuality, and gender issues in small children at school”. The room, almost exclusively middle-aged, astrology-loving women, nods. Several times during the weekend, homosexuality and gender issues will be accused of generating disease, or described as unnatural.
Most speakers use the codes of scientific conferences: PowerPoint and list of sources. Their favourites? Thierry Casasnovas, guru of raw food, indicted in March 2023 for breach of trust, illegal practice of medicine, and abuse of weakness, among other things. Or Irène Grosjean, a naturopath who recommends rubbing the sex of babies to cure them of their fevers. The number one thinker remains Rudolf Steiner, the father of anthroposophy, current according to which certain “human races” would have remained close to the animal kingdom, and would be “degenerate from the spiritual point of view”.
Asked about these words and these filiations, the organizer of the show, Hélène Labruyère, sweeps away: “All peoples, all races are free […] It’s up to people to show critical thinking”. And the casting? “I don’t dwell on the political parties of my speakers, nor on their criminal record. I had subjects to deal with, and I knew that they mastered them, that’s what mattered to me”. The 30-year-old is none other than the great-niece of Joël Labruyère. , but I created the association on my own. The two activities are different”, she assures, rejecting the idea that the top would actually be a stepping stone for the ideas of the embarrassing character.
“Protocols do not protect against errors”
In this case, why not invite any recognized specialist, if only for the richness of a contradictory exchange? Hélène Labruyère confesses not to have thought of it, and promises to study the question for a next edition, while retorting that “tests and scientific protocols do not protect against errors”. And to add: “Many people do not find an answer with modern medicine, and turn to alternative solutions. Our gathering allows them to have contacts and quality information, rather than having to search through them. themselves and that they risk putting themselves in danger”.
After delivering their speeches, the tribunes cross paths, smile and shake hands. Relatives of Joël Labruyère chat with Pierre Barnérias, the director of Hold-Up, a documentary which caused a scandal during the health crisis for its aberrations on vaccines. With Patrick Baronnet, also known in the “mainstream” media (France 3, Brut) for having built an autonomous house. Before passing through the castle gates, the latter exchanges his number with Jean-Marie Combel. He claims to restore his “healing power” to water… by shaking it. The little troop promises to stay in touch, “while waiting for everything to flare up”.