Hidden Church Of The Holy Grail

(Conspiracy Nation, 12/23/07) -- The Grail went away because the people were not worthy. Or, the Grail never went away, but the people, being unworthy, can no longer see it. The Quest for the Holy Grail, in the latter case, involves a series of adventures (tests) which the Knight must pass before he can see the Grail. This series of tests later found its way into Freemasonry and its levels of degrees. Today, it is doubtful whether even Freemasonry understands its own rituals. Arthur Edward Waite (1857-1942) was a prolific author. Influenced by his friend Arthur Machen, Waite studied the Grail legends. Comparing the various literatures, he saw a common root lurking beneath. He called it, "The Hidden Church Of The Holy Grail" (Published by Fredonia Books, reprint of 1909 edition. ISBN: 1-58963-905-7)

"Having passed through many initiations," wrote Waite, "I can say with the sincerity which comes of full knowledge that the Graal legend, ritually and ceremonially presented, is the greatest of all which lies beyond the known borders of the instituted mysteries. But it is exalted in a place of understanding of which no one can speak in public, not only because of certain seals placed upon the sanctuary, but more especially, in the last resource, because there are no listeners. I know, however, and can say that the Cup appears; I know that it is the Graal cup; and the wonders of its manifestation in romance are not so far removed from the high things which it symbolises, whence it follows that the same story is told everywhere. It is in this way that on these subjects we may make up our minds to say new things, but we say only those which are old, because it would seem that there are no others. If Guiot de Provence ever affirmed that the Graal legend was first written in the starry heavens, he testified to that which is the shadow of the truth, or more properly its bright reflection."

Guiot de Provence and a secret manuscript seen by him appears to be a major root, if not the key root, for later Grail stories. There are various what Waite calls "cycles" of these stories. The most heterodox is the German Parsifal, but it too shares commonalities with British, Celtic, Spanish, and other cycles. Guiot de Provence was "a man of curious learning." It "is supposed that he was a student at Toledo [Spain] in those days when the relations between Southern France and Northern Spain may be described as intimate." Guiot acquired a source written in the Arabic tongue. The original recipient had been Flegitanis, the Jew of Toledo, who may have divined more through his devout astronomical studies. The manuscript had been found "lying neglected and forgotten among the undemonstrable archives of Toledo." So say various murky sources.

Moorish Spain "was one place in the world where the Jews were not merely free from raging persecution but where worldly positions of importance were open to their competition." A "great light of Moslem learning shone forth in some Spanish academies." The "Arabian Academies of Spain became the resort of Christian scholars -- 'men of curious learning,' as one has said concerning them." Between Spain and southern France, ideas traveled. Provence is the area of the first Grail Quest: the Ideal Castle, Mont Salvatch, "had its abode unapproachable in the Pyrenees."

The Grail legend begins with "a short account of the chief incidents in the life of our Saviour and the conditions of Palestine at that period." Joseph of Arimathea carried the Holy Graal to the city of Sarras, on the confines of Egypt. (It is thought the word "Saracen" connects with Sarras.) Sarras is also called "the spiritual city" and may in fact be Mecca, location of the Kaaba. (See "Kaaba Is The Cornerstone?" http://www.shout.net/~bigred/KaabaCornerstone.html). England is the eventual Promised Land for Joseph. He was buried there, at the Abbey of the Cross in Scotland. His son, Joseph II, became the new keeper of the Grail. A dove, signifying the Holy Ghost, is typically found in depictions of the Holy Grail (e.g., see image above). Rather than the "gift of tongues," the dove communicated the gift of silence. Those who witnessed the Grail were awestruck and speech failed them. Joseph II was chosen as the pastor for a new flock. Pontifical supremacy is ascribed to Joseph II and his line, up to the time of Uther Pendragon, at which time the Grail began to be lost. Glimpses were seen, but increasingly the people were not worthy.

To bring back the Holy Grail, various Knights went on Quests. In the deeper sense, "the Quest is not pursued with horses or clothed in outward armour, but in the spirit along the via mystica." The purpose of the dangerous adventures was to prove the seeker was worthy. "There is a certain sense in which we can say that the knight of old was consecrated like the priest of old..." It is as if "the implied covenant of battle were that a man should be so prepared through all his days that no sudden and violent death should find him unfitted for his transit." The Knight on his Quest could die at any time. He therefore had to remain pure. By remaining pure, he hoped to bring back the Grail.

Joseph of Arimathea received an oral tradition from Christ. The Latin Church possessed only what had been written down. Secret and sacramental words were passed down orally in the Celtic Church, from Joseph of Arimathea to his son, and on down to their successors (Alain, son of Brons; Eminadap, son of Joshua and himself brother of Alain; Carceloys; Manuiel; Lambor; King Pelles). The Graal keepers thereby held a superior claim to apostolic succession. They had knowledge of a secret verbal formula in connection with the Eucharist which the Roman branch of Christianity did not. (This equates to the "Lost Word" of Masonry.) Corroboration is found in Gould's "Concise History Of Freemasonry." (Revised edition, 1920). According to one source, when the Essenes were driven from their ancient coenobium at Engaddi by Zoar, England became the new Engaddi. "When St. Augustine came to Britain in the sixth century, for the purpose of converting the natives to Christianity, he found the country already occupied by a body of priests and their disciples, who were distinguished for the pure and simple apostolical religion which they professed." (Gould, op. cit.).

Still claimed by the Celtic Church, according to Waite (1909), is that it has a title to existence independently of Rome. The "Graal Church" in its earlier stages contrasts with the Saxo-Roman. "It has been said that between 750 and 820 A.D. certain words in the Celtic Rite vanished from the consecration of the Eucharist.." This apparently corresponds with intervention by the Roman Rite. "The Celtic [Church] was abolished formally about 850, but is said to have survived to the period of the Graal literature." The vanishing of the Grail corresponds also to the subjugation of the British by the Saxons. The Roman and Saxon subjugations were "the coming of the heathens, the ruin of Britain, the flight of its king."

Mont Salvatch, the Ideal Castle, is connected by some to Mont Segur, the Albigensian (Cathar) stronghold. An alleged fusion between the Albigenses, the Knights Templar, and the Ghibellines, not a compact exactly but a hybrid of ideas, led to the creation of Freemasonry. The evidences of a Secret Tradition also are present in Alchemy. The great Eucharistic experiment is analogous to the doctrines and processes of alchemical transmutation. "The same exalted mystery which lies behind the symbols of Bread and Wine, behind the undeclared priesthood which is according to the Order of Melchisedech, was expressed by the alchemists under the guise of transmutation." The Grail Stone and the Grail Chalice have an affinity between them. The Lapis exilii, the Stone of Exile, is paralleled by the Divine Word withdrawn from the Holy Place, "and instead of the true Tetragram, the voice of the priest only pronounces now the name Adonai."

Christians believe in the Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. We still hear much about fearsome Jehovah, and not as much about gentle Jesus, called by Waite "the first true gentleman." But whatever happened to the Holy Ghost? "The mystery of the Graal is a word which came forth out of Galilee." But a horror -- an enchantment -- fell upon the Secret House of God. "The enchantments are the result of an evil which has fallen on the keeper for the time being of the Holy Graal." As enchantment fell upon Merlin, "so also it has fallen upon the Secret House and has entered into the Holy of Holies." Now, the places of enchantment are also places of sadness. The Holy Grail is "a secret thing, but it might have been manifested more openly, if the world had been worthy: the world, however, was so unworthy that the Palladium was taken still farther away."

(See also, "Footnotes To The Hidden Grail," http://www.shout.net/~bigred/FootnotesGrail.html)

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