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SCHOLAR ISLAND |
THE HOLY GRAIL
"Here is the Book of Thy Descent,
Here begins the Book of the Sangreal,
Here begin the terrors,
Here begin the Miracles."
Perlesvaus
"The theme of the Grail romance is that the land, the country, the whole territory of concern has been laid waste. It is called a wasteland. And what is the nature of the wasteland? It is a land where everybody is living an inauthentic life, doing as other people do, doing as you’re told, with no courage for your own life. That is the Wasteland. And that is what T.S. Eliot meant in his poem the Waste Land."
Joseph Campbell
The Power of Myth
"These stories (Medieval Grail Romances) tell us that the Grail was guarded by the Fisher King, a descendant of Joseph of Arimathea, whose successor is to prove his fitness for the office by asking a mysterious question. But the future Grail-Winner is unaware of his destiny and knows nothing of the Grail, so he fails to put the question, and thus involves the world in mysterious enchantments which cease only when the question is put correctly. Coupled with the Grail is the Holy Lance the Roman soldier used to pierce Jesus’ side on the Cross, which still reveals traces of his blood, and which in some versions is called the spear of vengeance."
Noel Currier-Briggs
The Shroud & the Grail
1. The Grail is closely linked with Christ’s passion.
2. It is a vessel containing traces of his blood and sweat.
3. It is a series of changing scenes or images relating to Jesus.
4. It is a dish, or platter, on which is seen a bleeding head.
5. It is some kind of magical stone.
6. It is intimately linked with Joseph of Arimathea.
7. It is used for special Celebration of the Mass.
8. It is housed in a mystical castle variously called CORBENIC and variants or Munsalvaesche.
9. It causes those who see it to tremble.
"The legends of the Grail have an enthralling atmosphere of mystery, of some tremendous secret which stays tantalizingly just outside the mind's grasp, in the shadows beyond the edge of conscious awareness. The outlines of the secret which stays tantalizingly just outside the mind's grasp, in the shadows beyond the edge of conscious awareness. The outlines of the secret become clearer as writer after writer takes up the theme and makes his own sense of it, but we are never told in plain language exactly what the Grail means....The inner mystery of the Grail cannot be explained, because it is "that which the heart of man cannot conceive nor the tongue relate..."
Richard Cavendish
King Arthur and the Grail: The Arthurian Legends and their Meaning
"….They were fair knights indeed, very young and high spirited, and they swore that they would go, and full of excitement they entered the castle. They stayed there for a long while. And when they left they lived as hermits, wearing hair shirts and wandering through the forests, eating only roots; it was a hard life, but it pleased them greatly, and when people asked them why they were living thus, they would only reply: ‘Go where we went, and you will know why."
N. Bryant
The High Book of the Holy Grail
"It is old Titurel’s daughter,
Carrier of the Grail, who ‘lives in eternal youth
By the fragrance of the apartment,
Until the daughter of a new King
Takes on the burden and the dignity.
She dies in the end, painlessly, is reborn
Instantly in another part of the earth,
And is called Beate or Renate,
Living by the lot of mortals; to love, to suffer
Without knowledge, yet mindful of her home
And the unicorn, and pure service."
Albrect Von Schaeffer
"Any student of magic who reaches beyond the superficial levels so profusely available in publications will have realized that magic is somehow concerned with ‘genetics’. Our ancestors, from whom we inherit our magic as well as our physical characteristics, were most concerned to perpetuate certain blood lines that held special abilities. If the Grail legends are considered in this light, they are found to be replete with indications of genetic magic, especially aimed at spiritual regeneration attuned to physical regeneration."
John Matthews
At the Table of the Grail
"In the myth of Parsifal's search for the Holy Grail we have such a spiritual prescription of our own time. The Grail myth arose in the l2th century; many people feel that our modern age began about then, that the ideas, attitudes and concepts we are living with today had their beginning in the days when the Grail myth took' form. "
Robert Johnson
HE
"The Grail myth speaks of masculine psychology."
Robert Johnson
"With this point, we have come full circle in our argument, and repeat that a great symbol, such as the Holy Grail, may manifest in several different modes simultaneously. The difference is actually in the perception or level of consciousness of the recipient, as is clearly shown at the conclusion of the ‘Quest’."
Bob Steward
At the Table of the Grail edited by John Matthews
"So in the deeper dynamics of the Arthurian and Grail legends are to be found in Celtic mythology. These concern Merlin’s attempt to establish a new dynasty by genetic engineering; aided by the Lady of the Lake, and magically hindered by Morgun Le Fay. The native aristocratic line, represented by Igraine who, according to tradition, was an atlantean princess who had found refuge as the wife of one of the chiefs of the Cornish peninsula-Gorlois of Tintagel. The old Atlantean line was based upon principles of inherited clairvoyance through a particular quality of the blood. This is the basis of the Sang Real….."
Gareth Knight
Merlin and the Grail
"The Holy Grail (covered with a cloth of white samite) entered through the great door, and at once the palace was filled with fragrance as though all the spices of the earth had been spilled abroad. It circled the Hall along the great tables, and each place was furnished in its wake with the food the occupants desired. When all were served, the Holy Grail vanished they knew not where nor whither; and those who had been mute regained their speech, and many gave thanks to our Lord for the honour he had done them in filling them with the Grace of the holy vessel."
Walter Map (1189 A.D.)
"Come forward, servant of Jesus Christ, and thou shalt behold what thou has desired to see.’ Then Galahad stepped forward and looked within the sacred Vessel. And when he looked in, he began to tremble violently, as soon as mortal flesh began to gaze on the things of the spirit. Then Galahad stretched forth his hand towards Heaven, and said: ‘Lord, I adore thee and thank thee that thou hast brought my desire to pass, for now I see clearly what tongue could not tell nor heart conceive. Here I behold the motive of courage and the inspiration of prowess; here I see the marvel of marvels."
Walter Map (1189 A.D.)
"We need not believe that the Glastonbury legends are records of facts; but the existence of these legends is a Very Great Fact."
E.A. Freeman
"Read a typical modern novel and you will find that it revolves around the subject of the lostness and the loneliness of the alienated man. It is, the great subject now, for we are all Fisher Kings. You have only to walk down the street and look at the faces to see the countenance of the Fisher King. We are all wounded, and it shows."
Robert Johnson
HE
"So it is important to understands this strange injunction that a man is not to have carnal relationship with any woman if he is to find the Grail. This is the most important thing in the whole Grail myth. If we can understand it, we will have a jewel in our hands.. again, please remember that this is a bit of instruction on how man shall manage or relate to his interior feminine woman, his 'anima' . It has nothing to do with how a man relates to a flesh and blood woman. People don't really know this. They don' t have this dimension available for thinking. Therefore they apply the injunction outwardly and the myth and the medieval ages and the whole movement of chivalry are largely misunderstood. One is no closer to happiness or the Grail by leaving flesh and blood woman alone. When we take this inner law and try to apply it outwardly, we end up being puritanical and guilt ridden, which practically all of us are, and we still have no laws for our inner conduct. There is little information in the grail myth about what to do with flesh and blood women , but there is a great deal about what to do with that inner woman. This is the information we need so badly."
Robert Johnson
HE!
"Unscrupulous opportunism, astuteness, cunning, brutality, and an every-wary perception into the weaknesses of others to be exploited to immediate advantage such can be the attitude of an aspirant to the Holy Gail who decides to substitute drugs in place of Christian morality."
"But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and
forthwith came there out blood and water."
St. John 19
"The quest for the Grail, as, set before us in Parsifal, brings man's evolutionary search for the secret of his own identity and his true goal in life right up to the present. It poses the crucial challenge that will determine the individual, social and ecological future. When rightly understood, this quest reveals to ran that in the deep consciousness of his soul he must kindle warmth and enthusiasm for his role on earth as a being of spirit, the servant and redeemer of nature rather than its exploiter. It requires him to see in himself Amfortas, as well as Parsifal. This last and greatest of Wagner' s operas calls upon modern man to overcome apathy and doubt, and to commit himself to the service of the good. As well that the men of today can rise above the narrow scientific thinking that now confuses and confines the human spirit, they can find truly creative solutions to the problems and sickness of our civilization. They may tap the source from which Wagner drew; for as Wagner once remarked to a friend,' I am convinced that there are universal currents of Divine Thought, and that anyone who can feel these vibrations is inspired, provided he is conscious of the process and possesses the knowledge and skill to realize them' . ."
M.G.H. Gilliam
Freedom Destined
Franz Winkler
We have to finish it. We have to carry it on. Even though we don't talk about grails and castles and enchanted maidens, still it is our myth to be completed in our lives. The myth has taken us to exactly the point where modern people are now. Collectively speaking we are stuck at the point where the French poem ends. So if you want a quest, if you want something meaningful for your life, pick up the grail myth where it now lies in you."
Robert Johnson
"Two forces face each other across the world of matter. One tends to draw the earth down into a cauldron of disintegration; the other has the power of transforming it upwards. Man, having wrested from the gods the spear of power, the knowledge must set the course he and his world are going to take. Whatever delusions we may still nurture about so-called progress, in the end science will serve only total good or total evil. It will either redeem the world or destroy it' depending on the source whence man receives his inspirations: Grail or Antigrail."
For Freedom Destined
Franz E. Winkler
"The Grail romances repose eventually, not upon a poet's imagination, but upon the ruins of an august and ancient ritual, a ritual which once claimed to the accredited guardian of the deepest secrets of life. 'Driven from its high estate by the relentless force of religious evolution-for after all Adonis , Attis, and their coveners, were but the 'half-gods' whose needs must yield place when 'the Gods' themselves arrive it yet lingered on; openly, in folk practice, in Fast and Feast, whereby the well-being of the land might be assured; secretly, in cave or mountain-fastness, or island isolation, where those who craved for a more sensible (not necessarily sensuous) contact with the unseen Spiritual forces of Life than the orthodox development of Christianity afforded, might, and did, find satisfaction. Were the Templars such? Had they, when in the East, come into touch with a survival of the Nazarene, or some kindred sect? It seems exceedingly probable. If it were so we could the Knights of the Grail, and the doom which fell upon them. That they were held to be Heretics is very generally admitted but in what their Heresy consisted no one really knows; little credence can be attached to the stories of idol worship often above, a Creed which struck at the very root and vitals of Christianity, we can understand at once the reason for punishment, and the necessity for secrecy. In the same way we can now understand why the Church knows nothing of the Grail; why the Vessel, surrounded as it, is with an atmosphere of reverence and awe, equated with the central Sacrament of the Christian Faith, yet appears in no Legendary, is figured in no picture, comes on the scene in no Passion play. ' The Church of the eleventh and twelfth centuries knew well what the Grail was, and we, when we realize its genesis and "true’ lineage, need no longer wonder why a theme; for some short space so famous and so fruitful a source of literary inspiration, vanished utterly and completely from the world of literature.
From Ritual to Romance
Jessie L. Weston
"Like most Arthurian cycle stories 'Parsival' is not set in "real" historical time. Facets of medieval life covering centuries are compressed into one semi-imaginary period. History is not the issue because Parsival's has always been (on one level) an initiatory tale, an adventure in spiritual alchemy. Parsival is the holy fool in the tarot deck moving with perfect innocence into the world of pain, edges, limitations, desire, pleasure. If he finds the Grail he keeps his innocence and puts on ultimate wisdom and power as well. The spiritual grail, then, is a benediction; a self-transforming enlightenment; a recognition of the total field in which the individual is an inseparable waveform,. and like a wave cannot be re- moved from the medium, the whole, and so is the whole. So no human being can seek and find the grail because there's no place to go and look. Rather, the nature of the self has to be revealed."
Parsival Or a Knights Tale
The adventure of the Grail--the, quest within for those creative values by which the Waste Land is redeemed--has become today for each the unavoidable task." ,
Joseph Campbell
Occidental Mythology
The famous Glastonbury Thorn, said to have been Joseph's staff, which he planted in the earth at Glastonbury where it took root and grew, blossoming forever after on Holy Night, was cut down by the Puritans in the l7th century; but offshoots of the original tree still grow there, beside the Blood Spring." We have not seen the end of the Holy Grail, nor of its avowed servitors."
Corinne Heline
"The Grail itself is a mysterious, other-worldly object associated with the Crucifixion. Usually it is the cup of the Last Supper but sometimes it is a large dish or platter or even a miraculous stone. The basic story has many variants according to who is telling it, but the essential ingredients are a castle, and ancient custodian, known as the Fisher-King, who is himself wounded in some way, a miraculous object associated with Christ's blood from the Crucifixion and a Knight Errant. Now as Edessa, from time immemorial, had been famous for its fish-ponds, the king who ruled over the city was in a very real sense a 'Fisher-King'. These kings had in the past mostly been called Abgar and this name, according to Professor Segal, means 'lame' in Syriac or "having an umbilical hernia' in Arabic. The Mandylion, for which Edesa was famous worldwide, was supposedly made 'by no human hands' but by Christ wiping his face on a towel. It was therefore believed to be impregnated with his blood. Not only that, but it was said to have cured the first Abgar of his lameness when first shown to him by the Apostle Thaddaeus. With all these close associations, the conclusion was inescapable: the Abgars were the Fisher-Kings, the Mandylion was the Grail and Edessa was its secret castle....."
Adrian G. Gilbert
Magi
"The omnipresence of the Grail motif in all civilizations, and as far back as there is any record, attests to its universal significance and promises the world-wide restoration of the Grail Mystery, probably in some not far-distant day."
Corinne Heline
Mysteries of the Holy Grail
"Wherever there is an occult or mystical group who are honest and sincere, who are working not to amass earthly treasure or to build up a powerful organization but to achieve the greatest good for the greatest number, to bring about the universal understanding that all men are brothers because they and children of the same Father-Mother God, there the Grail descends, and its nearness is known in ever-increasing measure in the benediction of love, peace and beauty, wisdom and strength."
Heline Corinne
Mystery of the Holy Grail
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Books: "The Glastonbury Zodiac" K.M. Maltwood
Book: "The Mighty Works of Britain" by K.M. Maltwood
Book: "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" by Michael Baigent et.al.
Book: "The Messianic Legacy"
Book: "The Marian Conspiracy" by Graham Phillips
Book: "Arthurian Legends" Ed. by Mike Ashley
Books: "The Cauldron and the Grail" by Hank Harrison 3 Vols
Book: "The Keys To Avalon: The True Location of Arthur's Kingdom Revealed" by Steve Blake et. al.
Book: King Arthur and the Grail Quest: Myth and Vision from Celtic Times to the Present: by John Matthews
Book: "Pendragon: The Definitive Account of the Origins of Arthur" by S. Blake & S. Lloyd