Minor Arcana & Major Arcana
“Within Tradition two stages must be distinguished: the Lesser Mysteries and the Greater Mysteries. The Lesser Mysteries concern the realization of the perfect human condition, the Primordial State. They correspond to self-mastery, purification, and victory over the passions. In the Grail cycle, the earthly trials of the knights belong to this level. Their combats and tests measure loyalty, steadfastness, and heroic virtue. The Greater Mysteries begin where the human limit ends. Not every knight who sets out in search of the Grail is called to this second threshold. The true quest commences only when a Grail Messenger, a supernatural envoy, anoints the chosen one(s) and confirms his worthiness. Those few are then taken to the heavenly Grail Castle. Here a principle common to all traditions becomes visible. No one reaches the superworld by his own movement. One is taken or led. Dante is led through the heavens by Beatrice, and later Saint Bernard… To be carried to the Grail Castle is to cross into the supra-personal domain and to enter the Greater Mysteries. The obtaining of the Grail signifies the supreme unconditioned state and the completion of the Greater Mysteries. In the Arthurian cycle this attainment is rarely immediate. Parzival must return again and again before he is able to behold the Grail in truth, just as Dante must pass through the planetary spheres before reaching the Empyrean. The knight who finally wins the Grail becomes the visible bearer of a kingship whose true seat lies beyond the world. He stands at the head of an initiatic order whose authentic center is no longer earthly. His task is to found or restore a kingdom below that reflects the kingdom above, binding the visible realm to the invisible center. From this perspective, the meaning of the Grail becomes clear. It is the spiritual key to the formation of medieval kingship and, ultimately, to the idea of Empire itself.” -
