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Everything on the Grail, Graal, Holy Grail quest and knowledge related to the Maier files series. A cumulative deposit of knowledge, beliefs, values, attitudes, meanings

Jehan’s Last Steps – a remarkable mysterious story

In 1934 the Berliner Illustrirte Zeitung published in Issue 48 an article by Otto Rahn entitled: Jehans Letzer Gang (Jehan’s Last Steps). The piece told the story of one Jehan Tessenre, a young family man moments away from his execution by Hugeunot troops in reprisal for the death of sixty—two of their brethren. They had been betrayed by Jehan to the townsfolk of Tarascon who lost no time in tossing...
Gral Relic

The mysterious relic — The Gral

The mysterious relic —which could be at one and the same time a chalice, a book, a stone, or a person— was seen as existing both on the earth and at a remove from it. In the poem The Later Titurel, it hovers above the world, untouched by human hands and supported by angels. In the Perceval of Chrétien de Troyes and the Parzival of Wolfram von Eschenbach, it is...

The Arabic Idris and the Alchemical Mercury

The name of Hermes, whether or not qualified as Trismegistus, henceforth served as guarantee or signature for a host of esoteric books on magic, astrology, medicine, etc., throughout the Middle Ages, and this despite the fact that, with the exception of the Asclepius, the Corpus Hermeticum was unknown. Picatrix At the same time, an inspired imagery unfolded in both Latin and Arabic literature in a succession of “visionary recitals” (as Henry Corbin calls them), constellated around this key figure. The […]...

Where’s the Grail Temple?

In search for the Grail and Grail Temple … Now, we have heard how Lancelot fared when he entered the chapel of the Grail to help the “man dressed like a priest” who was serving at the Mass. Even though his intention is good, he is not permitted to touch or look upon the mystery. So, too, in the story of the Ark’s journey from Gebaa, described in the biblical...
knight of the Grail

Who are the guardians of the Grail?

The mysterious guardians of the Grail. If the Grail had a home, wherein it was preserved for people who could come in search of it, that home needed guardians. This seems to have been a given from the very earliest grail testimonies, and when we look at the work of Chrétien de Troyes and Robert de Boron, Wolfram von Eschenbach or the writer of Sone, we are able to see...
arthur saga

Malory’s Death of King Arthur – Le Morte d’Arthur

Sir Thomas Malory came from a family steeped in the values and traditions of the chivalric code. His ancestors were ‘gentlemen that bear old arms’, and their blood relationship with both the Normans and the Vikings suggests that they were sufficiently robust to do so. They had settled at Newbold Revell, in Warwickshire, and had managed to acquire vast estates throughout that county. As the inheritor of a name and domain, Malory himself was ineluctably drawn into the contests of […]...

The Rose of the World

The Rose of the world Who dreamed that beauty passes like a dream? For these red lips, with all their mournful pride, Mournful that no new wonder may betide, Troy passed away in one high funeral gleam, And Usna’s children died. We and the labouring world are passing by: Amid men’s souls, that waver and give place Like the pale waters in their wintry race, Under the passing stars, foam...

The Holy Grail Secret finally deciphered?

The Grail secret and Wolfram von Eschenbach’s Secret of the Holy Grail. The most significant of all the Grail romances is “Parzival”. The Bavarian knight, Wolfram von Eschenbach composed this master piece between 1195 and 1216. In his version, the Grail is uniquely a stone. And referencing a stone or rock is the key to finding illuminating Biblical passages. Especially of a “rejected stone.” Von Eschenbach claims he based his...
Sidh-Chailleann

Clues to unlock the Otherworld mysteries of Scotland

In Celtic Scotland there exist plenty traditions of sacred locations, places and folklore about people crossing into the Otherworld, a number of which are identified with sorcha (pronounced “sahkhaa”). This is an ancient phrase that means both ‘paradise’ and ‘illuminated being.’ Once again there’s a similarity with Egypt. Because the syllable ka is their word for ‘risen soul or awareness.’ Sidh Chailleann is the core of Scottish Otherworld tradition. This mountain marks the geodetic center of the country. The name […]...

The Cauldron of the Otherworld

If we take into account the Celtic tradition of the descent to the underworld, we also have another level of our quest: the Great Prisoner. As in the labyrinthine journey of the Grail quest, the hero who enters into the faery fortress of Caer Sidi to gain the cauldron is indentured to continue in its service until he is released. He becomes “the Great Prisoner.” For the Celtic peoples, realms...
Graal Stone

Wolfram Eschenbach’s Grail Stone

Wolfram Eschenbach’s notioned that the Grail is a stone. Even though his Parzival was one of the most popular and spiritually challenging tales of medieval Germania—as Albrecht Classen notes, “this courtly romance might be one of the most intriguing literary works of its time in terms of intellectual and spiritual epistemology” —still Wolfram’s view on the nature of the Grail as a stone is nowadays treated by critics with mystified...
Eternal Chalice

The Enduring Legend of the Holy Grail

The story of the Holy Grail is a rich and complex narrative set in the context of Arthurian tradition and the medieval world of knighthood and chivalry. These romances reflected the lifestyle and aspirations of an elite, the men and women who dominated the feudal world. The narratives produced during this relatively brief period have a universal appeal, and subsequent readers have interpreted them in different ways. Whatever conclusions, they are all rooted in the texts of the medieval romances. […]...
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