In the Middle Ages the gnostic, christic spiritual thread was expressed in the myths and style of the times - royalty, castles, knights, quests, battles, chivalry, maidens…..
The people of the middle ages were living under a rather oppressive church structure and seeking deeper mystical and spiritual meaning and sustenance….
There was an intuition that the grail had been lost… that Christ’s teachings and lineage had been lost, to the land and the people’s great poverty….
And so the Arthurian and Holy Grail legends arose….. The great spiritual and mythic and mystical yearning of the people took the form of stories that gave a narrative and a story to their inner imagination….
It is Christian, but more gnostic and mystical Christian. And it incorporates in things that are older and weirder and more pagan, more occult….
The Hidden Church of the Holy Graal (1909), by A.E. Waite
Waite viewed the Holy Grail not as a physical object but as a powerful symbol of spiritual attainment and divine grace. He described the Grail as representing the soul’s quest for union with the divine. He connected it to:
- The Eucharist in Christian mysticism, seeing it as a vessel of divine presence.
- The "Great Work" in alchemy, likening the Grail to the philosopher’s stone or the elixir of life, symbolizing inner transformation and enlightenment.
Waite interpreted the Arthurian legends, including the tales of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, as allegories rich with moral and spiritual lessons. He believed these stories were not historical accounts but vehicles for esoteric wisdom, exploring:
- The human condition, including themes of good, evil, and personal growth.
- The soul’s journey, with characters and events symbolizing stages of spiritual development.
the idea that the quest for the Holy Grail symbolizes an individual’s spiritual journey. He portrayed it as a transformative process involving:
- Self-discovery and purification.
- Union with the divine, akin to the "Beatific Vision" in Christian mysticism or enlightenment in other traditions.
The Grail, in this context, represents the ultimate goal of the spiritual seeker—a state of higher consciousness and divine connection.
Perlesvaus
“Arriving at the chapel of the Grail, the king tethers his horse and goes to enter, but something prevents him, and all he can do is watch from outside (this is a typical event in the quest where those deemed unworthy are prevented from entering). What he sees is remarkable: …looking towards the altar…at the hermit’s right hand he could see the most beautiful child that ever a man beheld: he was dressed in an alb, with a golden crown on his head laden with precious stones, which shone with a brilliant light. To the left was a lady so beautiful that no beauty in the world could match hers. And…the lady took her son and sat on the right-hand side of the altar upon a huge, richly carven chair, setting her son on her knee and kissing him gently. “Sire,” she said, “you are my father, and my son, and my lord, and my guardian, and guardian of everyone…” And when the hermit began to sing mass, the king could hear the voices of angels answering; and when the holy Gospel was read, the king looked towards the altar and saw the lady take her child and offer him to the blessed hermit…And when the child was offered to him he placed him on the altar; then began the sacrament…it seemed to him that the hermit was holding in his arms a man, bleeding from his side, bleeding from his hands and feet and crowned with thorns; he could see him quite clearly.”
“Later in Perlesvaus the king visits the Grail Castle, along with Perceval, where we learn that at that time there was no chalice in the land of King Arthur. The Grail appeared at the consecration in five forms, but they should not be revealed, for the secrets of the sacrament none should tell save he who God has granted grace. But King Arthur saw all the transubstantiations, and last appeared the chalice; and the hermit who was conducting the mass found a memorandum upon the consecration cloth, and the letters declared that God wanted His body to be sacrificed in such a vessel in remembrance of Him.110 This is a clear reference to the central mystery of the Mass, but why was it felt necessary to set forth what reads as the origins of that mystery if it was available upon every altar in the land? 111 The only reasonable explanation seems to be that the Grail romances were indeed seen as offering an alternative spiritual path. The reference to the “secrets of the sacrament” also implies a body of secret teaching. Elsewhere, in the Vulgate quest, we get a further hint, where the author receives the story he is writing in a small book handed to him by Christ himself—perhaps even written by him. This implies a deeper awareness of the mysteries underlying Christianity and shows just how profoundly the authors of the romance tradition saw into the heart of the Arthurian Grail myths.”
- Arthurian Magic, John Matthews, Virginia Chandler
The Ritual/Ceremony of the Grail
Steven Greer’s book Hypothesized that there was a mystery school that had an initiatory ritualistic liturgy around the holy grail….
A a secret and sacred ceremony of initiation:
- the knight must find the grail castle
- Pray in the chapel perilous to prove courage and faith
- Meet the Fisher King
- Witnesses a procession of sacred objects
- Has to ask the right question in order to unlock the mystery
- If the question is not asked, they do not pass and the ceremony ends.