The Grail

The Lies. The Truth. The Answer.

BY TANISHKA

© All Rights Reserved 2021

Chapter 2. The Call to Adventure: Will You Seek the Grail?

So now we’ve acknowledged our immaturity and disempowerment that stems from our lack of initiation, it’s time to offer the cup of feminine wisdom to restore our birth right of sacred knowledge. Like a herbal healing elixir, the truth may be bitter and hard to swallow, but it is necessary to expose the toxic thinking that causes our wounds to fester.

Just as potent herbal medicines were imitated and replaced by petrochemical-based pharmaceuticals, the Grail has suffered a similar fate. It has been replaced with a poor imitation that’s done more harm than good. I am referring to the hierarchical, institutionalised religions created by the empires. I will explain the connection between The Grail and Christianity in greater detail later on. In this chapter, I start by revealing the truth about the Grail, an ancient mystic tradition that empowered individuals through the integration of the empowered feminine. The restoration of the true feminine is necessary if we are to dispel the societal enchantment that cast the mystic feminine as evil. A spell that still causes women to suffer from self-loathing and men to suppress their feminine traits for fear of being dominated. Both of which sabotage true love and enable tyrants to rule.

What is the Grail? Discerning Fact from Fiction

Considered the greatest mystery of all time, the Holy Grail has been surrounded with ongoing speculation down through the ages regarding its true origins and identity. Claims have been made the Grail is:

• A vial of precious blood
• A blinding white light
• The Celtic cauldron of plenty
• A secret book or gospel
• The philosopher’s stone
• The chalice Yeshua used in the last supper
• The blood of Yeshua collected while he was on the cross
• The bloodline of Yeshua and Mari signified by her womb

In this chapter, I explain the origins of these theories and share my understanding of the original sacred wisdom tradition known as the Grail. A tradition observed by Anglo-Saxons and Europeans before the rise of the Roman empire that outlawed the Grail. I will also reveal why the Grail was outlawed and subsequently shrouded with misinformation.

Celtic Versus Christian Grail Tales

What has been written about the Grail can be divided into two camps; that of Celtic legend detailing a mystical quest undertaken by noble knights and the later claims it was the blood of Christ.(1) When one considers both versions from the standpoint of sacred feminine mystery teachings, it’s transparent, which points us in the direction of truth, and which attempts to steer us away from it. Even more compelling are the lengths to which the deception has been perpetuated for thousands of years, indicating just how feared and ultimately powerful, the most secret teaching of the ancient mystic wisdom tradition really is.

The Original Grail Legends from Traditional Folklore

While the Grail was practiced long before antiquity, it enjoyed a resurgence during the 12th century when the first documentation of the Grail quest was recorded in two very similar tales. The most well known was a romantic tale written by Chretien de Troyes, titled Perceval Le Gallois. It is an Arthurian love poem that outlines a humble young man’s pursuit of truth and love. It conveys the tale of The Fisher King. This poem was never completed due to the untimely death of either the author or his source. Such a fate suggests foul play as four subsequent writers attempted to finish and embellish his poem during the 12th and 13th centuries.

Then there is the Welsh romance, Peredur, Son of Efrawg, part of the Mabinogi collection of Welsh prose handed down through the oral storytelling tradition of the Druidic bards who traveled from town to town, sharing the mystic lessons of the Celtic myths. The Mabinogi collection is regarded as the earliest literature of Great Britain. This traditional Welsh folktale bears many striking resemblances to the the Grail story written by Chretien de Troyes.

Both were published during the 12th century, and in each story, the young hero is raised solely by his mother in the forest due to his father’s premature death. This indicates both youths were raised with feminine values. As a result, both protagonists desire to find meaning through a noble cause and seek their missing father figure by serving a sacred king. Like Parsival, Peredur aspires to serve in King Arthur’s court after he meets a group of knights, indicating their isolation and yearning for true brotherhood.

Both young men meet a woman along the way whom they fall in love with and wish to marry, illustrating the Grail has always been synonymous with the quest for true love. But the similarities continue! Both meet an older man who challenges their world view, and both tales feature some kind of ceremony involving mystical women where the masculine is injured or killed, indicated by a drop of blood on the lance in the former tale and in the latter, by (2)the severed head of Peredur’s uncle, presented on a silver platter.

When reinterpreted from a patriarchal view, such occurrences may further incite fear of the feminine. However, this symbolism signifies the male initiation by the mystic feminine that is necessary for the immature masculine’s ego death. Why? A man who is mind dominant will never know his true heart and forever be destined to suffer.

The Original Philosopher’s Stone

Long before Harry Potter reawakened interest in the philosopher’s stone, the rendition of the Grail quest by medieval German knight and poet, Wolfram von Eschenbach, claimed the Grail was a ‘philosopher’s stone’ that fell from the sky and possessed powers to bring longevity and happiness. This version focused on the qualities a man must possess to procure true love and how love inspires a man to be chivalrous and do great deeds. (3)Again we see the Grail themes of nobility, love and mysticism recurring.

I suspect this version was inspired by the ancient Irish folktale, The Dagda’s Cauldron which features the sacred stone that once determined a High King’s right to rule. The possession of this sacred stone represented his spiritual connection and commitment to serve the land and her people. This quote from the Bible illustrates how much the Romans were opposed to this sacred tradition.

“Do not make idols or set up an image or a sacred stone for yourselves, and do not place a carved stone in your land to bow down before it.”

Leviticus 26:1(4)

The Appropriation of the Grail

In the 12th century, the French poet, Robert de Boron, wrote a poem titled Merlin, whom he claimed was the antichrist, a son of the devil and a virgin. It should be noted here that a virgin(5) was once a term used to describe a priestess of the Grail tradition. His slur clearly indicates his attitude towards mysticism and those who practiced it. De Boron was the first to reference the “sword in the stone” by claiming Arthur obtained the British throne by pulling a sword from an anvil that sat on a stone in a churchyard on Christmas Eve…four days after the Winter Solstice, when the annual Grail rite known as the Holy Grail was undertaken by noble men in the forest. (More about that later!)

Robert de Boron was the first to associate the Grail legend with Christ. His other published work, Joseph d’Arimathie asserts Joseph of Arimathea, the uncle of Christ, received a vision of Yeshua handing him the Grail. He claimed it was used in the Last Supper and later by Joseph of Arimathea to collect Christ’s last remaining drops of blood as he hung on the cross. While he may have received a vision indicating Yeshua’s connection with the Grail mysteries, I suspect it was influenced by his puritanical Christian convictions, associating the holy blood with the sacrifice of Christ by the Romans. However, if we consider the fact Yeshua’s mother was referred to as a virgin, the term once used to describe priestesses who served the Grail, we can see how fitting a vision associating the Grail with the Christ is, despite the patriarchal misinterpretation. Boron’s poem asserted Joseph’s family brought the Grail to the vaus d’Avaron, in the west of France, which later poets changed to the mystic isle of Avalon in the British Isles. It is interesting to note that after the crucifixion, there is evidence showing Joseph and Mari traveled through France en route to England, where it’s understood they established the Avalon Mystery school that seeded the Grail wisdom teachings and practices in the Goddess, Brigid’s Isles that were later renamed the British Isles, just as the Goddess, Europa was divided and conquered.

Bloody Hell!

Once this assertion was made linking Christ’s blood to the Grail, numerous claims followed from competing parties declaring they had the cup that had collected Christ’s blood. One of the most well-known came from the Vatican, who asserted the Grail was the Holy Chalice of Valencia, an ornate ceremonial goblet stored behind glass in the Monserrat cathedral in Spain. This artefact is now a tourist attraction, despite(6) the style of the cup not being congruent with first-century goblets, along with a convoluted backstory about how the cup ended up in Spain. Personally, I find it significant that Spain was home to the Catholic inquisitors who persecuted those who sought to uphold the sacred feminine wisdom tradition, and it was the apostle, Peter, who was said to have retrieved the cup. The disciple who openly opposed Mari, the Magdalene.(7)

Another well-known claim came in 1910 from a team of archeologists in Syria who discovered a silver chalice depicting Christ and his disciples. They claimed Christ used their cup in the Last Supper.(8) Still today, there are rewards offered to anyone who can locate the ‘missing’ cup from the Last Supper used by Christ, believed to be the Grail. All of these distractions simply create more confusion to conceal the truth about the Grail.

Personally, I don’t resonate with the notion that the Grail was a cup used to collect the blood of Christ while he was bleeding from wounds suffered during his crucifixion. The concept of gathering blood from a tortured man is as repugnant to me as treasuring blood borne of pain. I see this as a direct inversion of the original Grail that honored the sacred blood of the womb as the life-giving blood that had the power to heal. This sacred blood did not carry the lower vibrational signature of blood caused by the pain of wounds.

The Symbolic Cup of Death

I do believe the Grail was part of the Last Supper, the sacred act of communion Yeshua shared with his Beloved, Mari and his disciples before his crucifixion, just not in the way we’ve been led to believe. Why? His partner, Mari was a Magdalene. This was the title given to the priestess women who initiated both men and women into the Grail tradition. In this ancient tradition, the drinking from the sacred cup signified one’s willingness to humble their ego. The cup of the feminine mysteries was symbolic of the death and rebirth that takes place each month within the womb during menstruation, when a woman was said to be most internal and closest to God. To drink from the cup signified one’s willingness to surrender the ego to Divine will. This is a theme common to all shamanic traditions where ceremonial drinks alter the initiate’s consciousness, catalyzing an ego death. This is why Yeshua was reported to have said, the night before his crucifixion while praying in the Garden of Gethsemene, “Take this cup away from me. I don’t want to drink it’s poison”. This is an acknowledgment that the Grail is a cup of death. Not a physical death as was later interpreted, but a psycho-emotional one necessary for the maturing of the psyche.

This earlier symbolism of the Grail cup, was distorted in the Christian rite of the Eucharist, so that the cup signified the ingesting of sacrificial blood from a persecuted messiah. Today this pseudo blood rite is one children as young as seven are still indoctrinated into at an age when they lack the maturity and capacity to grant informed consent. Given the power of any ritual act, I see this as a form of ritual abuse, albeit unconscious and well-meaning.

My intention is not to condemn those indoctrinated into Catholicism, for when the concept of ego death is foreign, we view death as physical and final. In fact, it is the fear of death that keeps us in an immature state. Once we undergo an ego-death we become more afraid of not living fully by embodying our potential. The fear of death is, therefore, a powerful means of manipulation on a populace who is immature.

This literal interpretation of the mythic is why we see violence constantly suggested as the answer to external opposition, rather than personal transformation. The portrayals of heroes anchor the expectation one must resort to violence to succeed. And it isn’t just brute force by males. Immature women and emasculated men are often passive aggressive, such as those who poison their spouse with a literal cup of death rather than drinking a metaphorical one to liberate themselves from their own patterns of dysfunction. Even more common are those who slowly drink themselves to death rather than transmute their pain into wisdom. Whether the violence is enacted on ourselves or others, or is overt or covert, it stems from a lack of empowerment and self-love…both of which the true Grail addresses.

The Grail Prepares Us For True Love

The Grail often appears as a call to adventure via the unexpected arrival of a new love interest. In fact, the meeting with the Goddess is one of the universal stages on the archetypal hero’s journey. In all Grail myths, the questing heroes meet a fateful woman who challenges them to grow beyond their existing self-perception and worldview. The cup of love the magical woman offers the hero is the Grail. By accepting the offer to journey with her, one who cycles, he will be initiated directly into the circle of life through her highs and lows. Her womb and its cycles will initiate them both in a constant yin/yang cycle of life and death, via light and dark experiences, evoking strengths and shadow as sure as night follows day. That neither men or women are taught how to navigate this ongoing challenge in intimate relationships is why we see relationship breakdown so prevalent today.

The Grail is the cup of initiation into the world of the feminine. Love always requires a sacrifice, this is why the word, sacrifice once meant to make sacred. This originally referred to the sacrifice of the ego through one’s ability to let go of their childish ways and dedicate oneself to something more noble…not a blood sacrifice of a physical life. This is the distortion that has occurred with the wisdom of the Grail to guide us. When immature, we perceive opposition as the enemy to be defeated and stubbornly cling to our old ways, scapegoating those who beckon us to grow, thereby refusing our hero’s call to adventure.

While those who run from love may experience a sense of temporary safety, those unwilling to surrender their ego to love are destined to be consumed by their own unresolved psycho-emotional issues. This is due to their inability to open their heart and be loving and accepting of themselves. Without psycho-emotional maturity, we lack self-love. This is evidenced by The Fisher King’s wound, indicating his lack of self-care. Without an internal foundation of self-love, The Fisher King cannot form a lasting bond with another without self-love. So when an outpouring of love is offered, symbolized by the Grail chalice, he is unable to participate in the act of communion. We see this in those who avoid emotional entanglement due to the fear-based doubts of the mind. Irrational fears, such as fear of change, fear of the unknown and fear of intimacy.

The Deception of Dynastic Bloodlines

More recently, there have been claims that the Grail refers to the genetic bloodline of Yeshua and Mari. Claims made popular by the best-selling book, The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, a novel that sourced inspiration from the book, Holy Blood, Holy Grail, written twenty years earlier by Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh. While I don’t disagree, it’s entirely plausible secret societies sought to track their bloodline, given the emphasis dynastic families place upon their genetics. I assert this has nothing to do with the true origins of the Grail. It is yet another distortion that’s succeeded in creating greater confusion by associating the Grail with a quest for power and status based on genetic rights of claim.

So What are the True Origins of the Grail?

Before the advent of patriarchy, traditional cultures honored women as sacred vessels whose wombs shed life-giving blood. It is from the word, Sangraal, meaning sacred vessel, that the origins of the Grail or Graal are derived. The Grail didn’t simply refer to the womb of Mari, the Magdalene as claimed in the book, The Da Vinci Code, but to every woman initiated into the Grail tradition. This is because the ancients understood the power of a woman’s womb as a receptacle for creation. Not just physical children but also manifestation intentions seeded in alignment with the Cosmic womb at our Galactic Centre.

This is why the Grail was represented in sacred ceremony as a cup, bowl or receptacle. The mythic cupbearer, Ganymede, was reduced to a servant boy who poured wine for the Olympiad Gods who used him to satisfy their sexual urges. Before this distortion, the cup bearer was an earnest young man who sought to serve the Grail tradition of feminine wisdom by seeking truth, embodying love and serving the Earth Mother, while upholding an honor code. While the Grail is most closely associated with the Celtic tradition, the motif of the Grail cup featured in ancient Sumer as the Gra-al, the cup of the waters, as the Rosi-Crucis, meaning dew-cup in Egypt and in the ancient Hebrew tradition.

Distillation of the Cyclic Wisdom

The Grail didn’t just refer to the physical womb, but the accumulated wisdom contained within the womb of an initiated Grail maiden. When someone sought the Grail, they were seeking feminine wisdom. So while the ultimate aim of the Grail quest is to awaken the understanding of the feminine mystic within, each hero needs a guide. It stands to reason the best mentors are women who have accrued and distilled feminine wisdom within their wombs by consciously journeying their cycles and the cycles of nature. Such a woman can help a seeker make sense of inner terrain they’ll encounter when consciously exploring the mystery of life. This role of the spiritual guide was stripped from women and appropriated by male clergy such as priests, rabbis and gurus until relatively recently when women were permitted to hold these  positions but they were confined to the patriarchal constructs of religion.

In the ancient world everyone was initiated into the Grail tradition. For women, this occurred when they began cycling with the moon. Grail maidens were taught how to revere the wisdom of their cycle and the cycles of nature as a path to grow wise. For men, this began when they reached the age of twenty-one and were invited to join the annual rite of passage known as the Holy Grail. This was a rite held over the Winter Solstice to assist men through their annual psychological death and rebirth during the darkest day, the most feminine time of year…essentially men’s annual period! This is why traditionally, men received a symbolic key on their twenty-first birthday. It signified them receiving a key to the mysteries of life. This was later appropriated and distorted to represent them receiving a key to the city, the world of men.

Seekers of the Grail

Down through the ages, we have heard how elusive the search for the Grail has been, especially by men who took up the search in earnest. This is because the Grail represents feminine wisdom. Information that is received intuitively, also known as gnosis. For fertile women, intuition is most easily accessed during their menses, when they are psychically expanded and open. Post-menopausal women have even greater access to their intuition, due to their increased sensitivity as they age. Since the masculine psyche is rationally dominant, the search for the Grail was considered more arduous for men and therefore required a more significant commitment and dedication.

For a man to receive divine insight, he first needed to become receptive, an empty vessel. In other words, he needed to develop his feminine side. Contrary to popular belief, this is not simply achieved through mastering domestic chores, an indictment of what patriarchy associates with femininity. Rather it was through awakening the inner mystic, as seen in Star Wars, Avatar and The Karate Kid, where the male hero learns to perceive and receive information through their subtle senses. To prepare men for the mystic experience of gnosis; receiving intuitive truth, men in the ancient world were initiated into sacred feminine practices, including ceremonial sharing circles that aligned with the greater cycles to tame their dominant rational minds.

Since men weren’t initiated directly through the life / death / rebirth cycle via their bodies, as women are each month, women initiated men into the Grail mysteries. Men would gather each month in a circle to prepare for the annual rite of the Holy Grail. This preparation assisted men to descend consciously to face their fears evoked by the darker months of Autumn and Winter, the most inward, feminine seasons. This preparatory training ensured men developed the strengths of their inner feminine so they could consciously traverse the dark night of the soul evoked by the Winter Solstice. The Winter Solstice, known in the Celtic tradition as Yule, is the longest night of the solar year. It was understood to be the most perilous time for the male psyche, when not balanced by an empowered and integrated feminine side. Since the sun is the natural power source for the male psyche, as the solar light wanes, masculine strengths like confidence and optimism wane like Superman’s strength when exposed to kryptonite. It is the weakening solar light that catalyses the psychological ‘dark night’. This is why men who are uninitiated into the wisdom teachings of the feminine are more at risk of depression, illness, injury and suicide during mid-Winter, especially those residing closer to the poles who experience more extreme polarised psycho-emotional states. This is why so many immature men chase the sun, residing in tropical climates to avoid Winter.

Fight With the Dragon

The Yuletide initiation of the Holy Grail was also referred to as ‘the fight with the dragon’. The dragon symbolized a man’s dark side. This annual initiation for men of all ages was considered the holiest of holies, as it demanded a complete humbling of the male ego through a confrontation with their greatest fears. The local Magdalene presided over this sacred rite. She was the High Priestess who taught the Grail mysteries to both men and women to ensure they lived in right relationship with themselves, others and the Earth.

The Grail tradition and the rite of passage known as the Holy Grail were central to the ancient Earth-based religion of our Anglo-European ancestors. Their survival depended on their symbiotic relationship with the Earth. So much so, men would take vows to serve the Earth Mother when they were initiated during their initial Holy Grail rite to ensure their actions honored the circle of life. Only after a man wedded himself to the Earth, the original rite of matrimony, was he considered mature enough to enter into sacred union with a woman. This is when women were revered as a microcosm of the Earth Mother. Hence all the tales that feature a king who sent potential suitors for their daughter’s hand in marriage, away to slay the dragon to prove themselves worthy. It’s little wonder that without the Grail tradition, we see many men ill-equipped for the rigours of partnership and family life. This results in many lashing out or running away, creating endemic trauma as perpetrators of domestic violence, pedophilia or absentee fathers.

The Taming of the Shrew

Patriarchy turned this earlier tradition that sought to tame the male ego on its head by insisting the wild, soulful nature of the feminine should instead be tamed by the ego-dominant masculine. They believed this would create order. Hence the patriarchal marriage vow that saw women pledge to love, honor and obey was never asked of men. We see this same pattern in the macrocosm with Earth-worshipping peoples expected to bow down to the might of rationally-dominant cultures who exploited their resources and labor. While in the microcosm of human relationships, wild-spirited women had their spirit broken with persistent programming using role models of domestic compliance. This was illustrated as the societal ideal with plays such as The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare, Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw, films like My Fair Lady and Pretty Woman and most ads on television.

This deep-seated conditioning is why we will not create true equality through external measures, such as gender equality legislation or initiatives, if we fail to comprehend and address the root cause. That being, the fear of the feminine by those who are immature and ego dominant. Put simply, the true feminine is a force of nature that instigates change. The Goddess is the embodiment of chaos and transformation. That is the role of the feminine. To the immature ego, change and the unknown is terrifying, so every effort is made to control and dominate the feminine, the force of nature that induces it. This fear of the feminine – the textbook definition of misogyny, requires the submission of the feminine to the will of the immature ego for it to be temporarily appeased. It’s worth noting that a man or a woman who subjugates the feminine part of themselves will seek to oppress this aspect in others. We have all been conditioned to think and act in misogynistic ways, and both men and women are guilty of misogyny, both internally and externally. Acknowledging this is essential to our healing process.

The Grail doesn’t just liberate the feminine in men and women. It celebrates and honors the role of the feminine. This is why I believe the Grail tradition was perceived as a direct threat to the empires and oppressed so vigorously with mass persecutions that resulted in the genocide of millions of women from 1300-1600CE. These campaigns served the political purposes of both the church and the medical establishment who forbade women from practicing herbalism or studying medicine, despite medical science being founded on women’s herb lore. Today we see big pharma continue their witch hunt, oppressing natural medicine and the healing arts through political lobbying that influences funding and legislation, all at a cost to public health.

As with all oppressive regimes, the stripping of intrinsic rights only has to be done to one generation until it becomes accepted as the norm. Without the Grail to guide our approach to healing our psyche with wisdom and soul-based practices, we see many modern medical practitioners doing more harm than good, despite taking the hippocratic oath, to harm none. This is because the inner realms of the psyche, (meaning soul) require a mystic approach rather than a clinical, biological approach. Despite good intentions, the rational mind, when not balanced by the intuitive counsel of the higher mind will exacerbate mental illness and emotional dysfunction with its myopic focus on alleviating symptoms.

The Essence of the Grail

The ancients understood love was the most powerful force in existence. A force that was the essential ingredient for health, healing and the prevailing of all life. They understood there was no capacity for love without maturity and wisdom, as those who are immature are focused purely on their own gains, like a child or teenager. So humbling the ego, through observing the wisdom teachings of the natural cycles that govern us, is essential if we are to avoid dis-aster, which means to go against the stars…the cosmic cycles that initiate our soul.

I know the Grail as the ancient religion of love. A mystic tradition that taught people how to develop the capacity for love; not just romantic, courtly love, which the Grail has become synonymous with, but all forms of love. This includes self-love, brotherly love, sisterly love, romantic love, erotic love and devotional love, expressed as acts of service. All of these initiatory paths to embody love, in all its forms, were once undertaken by Grail initiates in alignment with the corresponding solar, lunar and seasonal cycles that evoked our universal lessons.

The Grail taught both men and women how to increase their capacity for love. This was done incrementally, as it was understood that one could not master romantic love before awakening self-love and an embodied understanding of brotherly / sisterly love. Each initiatory path involved an inner descent to meet disowned aspects within the psyche and integrate them. The initiate would become more self-aware with each subsequent descent, resulting in more wise, empowered and loving choices. 

Today we see many remnants of the Grail tradition in our modern lives, although the connection is unrecognizable since the meaning has become so diluted or distorted. This is because the Grail was central to life in the ancient world, so it had to be incorporated. It is my understanding that the mystic tradition of the Grail formed the basis for the Christian festivals of Easter and Christmas, just as the mystic traditions of Sufism and the Kabbalah were the foundations for the patriarchal religions of Islam and Judaism, respectively. The mystic traditions contained the essence and true power of the Divine, potency that was lost when they were appropriated into political vehicles.

All of the earlier mystic traditions were feminine in their approach. They instructed initiates to experience union with the Divine directly through personal experience. The emphasis was on awakening the soul to temper the traits of the ego. This was achieved through greater awareness rather than through imposing rules to be obeyed under threat of punishment. The power of the rites lay in the act of participation. So rather than watching rituals performed by clergy (men in feminine attire) as was the custom in the religions that followed, the Grail required active involvement, even from prisoners who were released to attend specific rites to ensure their maturity!

This ensured the collective consciousness continued to evolve with the divine design of the greater cycles; the Fibonacci spiral sequence, also known as the Golden Mean. The Grail was essentially a complex web of social structures that together, created a framework to promote social sustainability. This, in turn, ensured the sustainability of the land. This makes sense, unlike the propaganda I was told in religious education as a young child in a secular school that dismissed the Earth-worshipping people as superstitious pagans who performed rituals to please and appease the Gods. Social sustainability is a term we’re starting to hear more often heralding a return to this understanding that social sustainability is essential for ecological sustainability. Although we still see a distinct divide between eco villages that strive to sustain the Earth and ashrams that strive to sustain one’s connection to Spirit, we shall soon start to see intentional communities that seek to combine the two realms by incorporating the ancient Grail practices to effectively marry Heaven and Earth. Essentially the Grail is a framework for social permaculture, a gardening philosophy that seeks to create a culture of permanence to combat the impact of our consumerism.

The Loss of Culture, Identity and Sovereignty

In 392 CE, the Roman Empire passed legislation to outlaw all forms of Earth-based worship. Those who dared keep the old religion alive were tortured and killed. So we can see the persecution of mystic women started long before the 500-year European witch hunt that then spread to the colonies.

This legislation is why those of us of Anglo/European descent lost access to our ancient birth right of sacred knowledge and customs. This is a loss the vast majority are completely oblivious to since this is not the history we are taught in schools. The colonization of our ancestors disconnected us from our indigenous lands and traditions. As a result, many of us don’t perceive ourselves as indigenous to any part of the Earth. This sense of separation has contributed to the demise of both our health and the health of the Earth Mother. Ultimately it is this loss of connection and culture that broke the wild spirit of the Celts and Europeans.

The loss of native culture is a travesty many of us acknowledge concerning indigenous cultures in our land of residence, but don’t apply to ourselves and our own ancestry. This lack of appreciation for our own cultural loss makes us susceptible to ongoing manipulation due to our sense of ‘white guilt’ and endemic shame. This further compounds our collective disempowerment. For without strong cultural roots, we lack a greater sense of identity, dignity and self-respect. Without a clear cultural identity, we are more likely to adopt a way of life that offers us a new identity found through accumulating status symbols that reward our compliance with an ideology that offers no real fulfillment.

It is worth noting that the significant contribution of culture to the psyche of both individuals and the collective is why the mantle of keeping culture alive was once bestowed upon the priests and priestesses as a sacred charge of utmost importance. This is why I believe wholeheartedly that we will not restore our human rights without reinstating our original sacred rites, as they form the basis of our birth right as sovereign beings.

The Roman Empire’s oppression of the Grail tradition resulted in severing ancestral cultural practices on a scale never seen before. It was these lineages that had previously ensured each subsequent generation received their sacred birth right. That being, the rites of passage deemed necessary to fulfill one’s potential as a man or woman. Without these sacred ceremonies and teachings to initiate young men and women into adulthood and through all their life transitions, each subsequent generation became more disconnected from their roots and unstable. They also became more reliant on the dominant cultural ideology being perpetuated by the empires run by dynastic families that control industry and the media that drives their industries. This mind programming has created social pressure to conform with patriarchal gender roles, resulting in a dualistic view of gender that causes polarisation and conflict, both internally and externally.

Without sufficient understanding of the multi-faceted aspects of feminine and masculine expression within the soul of both men and women, we have experienced an escalation of gender politics. That is, viewing gender from the perspective of the mind rather than the soul. Today we are witnessing the endgame of this trajectory with many of our youth generation aspiring to be ‘gender neutral’, rejecting the concept of gender altogether. They are refusing to comply with the disempowered gender representations perpetuated by our distorted mythos. However, they are rebelling without any clear idea of what it truly means to be authentic, empowered and multi-faceted men and women. Only by taking up the inner quest to truly know ourselves can we heal the gender war internally and externally. (More about that later).

When we don’t know who we are, it’s understandable we struggle to create soul-fulfilling lives of purpose and meaning. For without direct initiation into the mysteries of life, we remain disconnected from the essence of life and what gives our lives meaning. Without meaning, we are lost, lacking direction, so our lives feel empty and insignificant. It is this inner dilemma that often results in reckless and destructive choices. The Grail once provided clear guidelines for youths to embark on a life of chivalry, truth, purpose and meaning, along with ongoing practical support to fulfill one’s soul potential in a spirit of dedication to serving the Earth and the greater good. Without the Grail, it’s understandable that many people of all ages live lives of quiet desperation and perpetual distraction while wondering, “What’s it all for?” When our lives lack true meaning, we are less inclined to value ourselves, others and our environment. This inner desolation puts many at risk personally of depression, suicide, interpersonal dysfunction and violence which is then enacted on the Earth.

Ending the Paradigm of War

In 2020 the US spent or committed to spend $6.4 trillion on war.(9) Look at your annual income tax return, and you’ll see how much your government takes out of your earnings to fund the military without your explicit consent. War is the biggest business there is, which is why those with the most wealth and power invest in both sides of a conflict. To see who profits from the Industrial Military Complex, check out these links:

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2021/04/bill-sardi/who-runs-the-world-blackrock-and-vanguard/

http://themillenniumreport.com/2016/03/who-owns-and-controls-the-military-industrial-complex/

Without mystic wisdom traditions like the Grail to guide us into maturity and sovereignty, we have accepted war as an inevitable part of life. This is because we are groomed for war from the moment we enter educational institutions. Like soldiers we assemble on parade, we line up for class, we wear uniforms, ranks are assigned to those who excel, we may even have to swear a pledge of allegiance. We are assigned a house team and encouraged to compete to defeat the enemy and win. To show our school spirit we have one of three options, play on the field using our brute force to dominate our opponent, cheer them on from the sidelines or sound the battle alarm by marching in military style formations in a marching band. This conditioning repeatedly provokes a ‘winner takes all’ mentality that plays out as compulsive competition rather than creation through cooperation. By way of contrast, the Grail tradition anchors feminine values, through regular community-based practices that strengthen a spirit of brotherhood and sisterhood. Just what we need to rebuild a cohesive society once the despots are removed from their ivory towers and held accountable.

So foreign is the concept of brotherly love. If you search online for images of brotherhood, the results are currently limited to pictures of men in combat or ritual combat, aka team sports. We even see the Grail appropriated as the prize in the World Cup with soccer players drinking from a shared chalice. This is because we have been conditioned to associate brotherhood with war, conflict and competition rather than a concept synonymous with cooperation, harmony and peace.

Why? The Grail once met a primal need, initiating young men with a sacred blood rite when they came of age. Without this, men unconsciously seek out a destructive blood rite to prove their manhood in the form of bloodshed so they may bond as blood brothers through inflicting wounds. This is the subconscious conditioning that perpetuates war and ritualized war. Bloodsports like football, that satisfies the bloodlust of bloodthirsty voyeurs in gladiatorial arenas during the darker months of the year. This culture that seeks violence as a bonding ritual hurts our young men by placing an expectation they sacrifice their wellbeing for glory. 28% of NFL footballers experience brain injury since the human skull has no shock absorbers, unlike animals who have adapted to head impact like the woodpecker. The doctor who exposed this was silenced until the number of suicides of ex-footballers struggling with the long-term effects of head trauma demanded it be acknowledged. Meanwhile the game continues in all educational institutions, grooming young men to sacrifice themselves for short-term reward, while glorifying violence as entertainment.

What’s the connection? History reveals the cultures that denied the sacred power of the holy blood became the most bloodthirsty.(10) Only when the sacred blood is understood and honored for its sacred power, will our world become less violent and bloodthirsty. When men can publicly show affection and enjoy the support of brotherhood without first engaging in acts of violence to prove their masculinity, will we see our society transform from a war-based culture to one of peace that values a brotherhood of man. Similarly, when women are taught to revere and honor their wombs and sangraal as sacred, gathering in Red Tents and Moon lodges to support each other through their monthly descent, we will restore a culture of sisterhood amongst women.

“When the women give their blood back to the earth, man will come home from war and earth shall find peace.”

Hopi Indian prophecy

(1)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Grail
(2)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peredur_son_of_Efrawg
(3)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parzival
(4)https://www.gotquestions.org/sacred-stone.html
(5)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_de_Boron
(6)https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/holy-chalice-of-valencia
(7)http://time.com/5210705/mary-magdalene-controversial/
(8)https://prophecyinthenews.com/articles/legend-of-the-holy-grail/
(9)https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/costs/economic
(10)Blood, Bread and Roses by Judy Grahn