Phoenix and Grail
(under construction)
Chrétien opens his Contes du Gral with the microcosmic symbolism of the "seed" from Matthew (14:4-23) in the first lines of the prologue. Later, when he first mentions the grail, his symbolism invokes the macrocosm. After the white lance with a drop of blood is displayed, two squires pass with candelabra of "at least 10 candles" each, which might symbolize two Pythagorean triangles (1+2+3+4=10). Then, a virgin carries the grail:
…and such brilliant light radiates from it that the light of the candles fades like the stars when the sun or moon are rising.
The symbolism culminates in the description of the grail itself, which is of purest gold and precious stones of such splendor and value that they surpass all those in the oceans and in the earth (3224-39) which mirrors the sun and stars above. Next, a silver platter is carried past Perceval, which could symbolize the moon.
Over eight hundred years later, we are limited to speculation about Chrétien's cosmic concept, but we have the adaptation of Wolfram (ca. 1215) where the planetary movements become an important part of the story. Even our findings regarding the lifespan of the phoenix, according to Plutarch are supported, because Wolfram makes clear references to the phoenix and its numbers. It probably is not a coincidence that each folio of the St. Gallen, one of the oldest manuscripts, is written in two columns of 54 lines, adding up to 108 per page. The translators, Mustard and Passage, quote an article by Otto Springer who discovered a hidden "mathematical precision” in the structure of the poem: "Discounting the first 108 sections... (i.e. the story of Gahmuret) there are 324 sections (109-432) before and 324 sections (503-826) after Book IX, which itself numbers exactly 70 sections." (1)
Let's first note that the balance of three groups of 108 times 30 lines before Book IX, which is exclusively about the grail, and three groups after it can already be seen as a symbol of the hexagram. The first group in the beginning is the story of Gachmuret, Parzival's father, which is added by Wolfram and independent of Chrétien. But why would he use such precision to divide his work into invisible units of 108 and claim he could neither read nor write -- unless he had a good reason? In view of the astronomical 854-year cycles, the seven groups of 108 seem to allude to the phoenix riddle. The numbers are derived from Plato's Timaeus, which was widely discussed by the medieval clergy, and his calculation of the Generations of the Soul (1 + (1x2) + (1x3) +4 +9 + 8 + 27 = 54). Contrary to Plutarch, who gives 972 as the tentative solution for the lifespan of the phoenix in de defectu oraculorum, Wolfram falls short of our 854 with a total of 826, which is derived from 7 x 108 = 756 + 70.
Wolfram relates to these numbers in a puzzling scene: In P.770-1, Parzival and Feirefiz list their victories and name opponents and their countries in a strange code. The names sound familiar, but are some kind of fusions. The 54 names (and 54 places) are divided by "those of Azagouc and Zazamanc", a probable play with Z in "Aragon" and "Salamanca" in the north and south of Spain. Of great importance for our study is the fact that the first half of 27 names and 27 places contain only one decoded name: Zoroaster. This may be a challenge to consider the key name in the second half, which is not decoded it seems -- or is it? "Jovedast von Arl ein Provenzal", suggests a man from Arles in the Provence. With the help of Zoroaster (and the planetary hexagram), the name implies the "proven number" (proven zal) of Jupiter's (Jove) and Saturn's (Jaweh's) branch (d'ast) of the "Aar" (archaic and poetic German for large bird).
Your gatekeeper went out on a limb again with this one, because no one has ever thought of it. Our interpretation of Wolfram’s hidden code would make a lot more sense once we identify "Kyot". The mysterious informant of Wolfram is also described as a “Provenzal”, but scholars have tried for centuries and always came up with the wrong man. Their most common error is the troubadour Guiot, author of the satire “La Bible” who was from Province, not from the Provence.
Our starting point are the numbers 54, 108, and 10 from Plutarch's riddle and Plato's "Timaeus”, which helped us find the Phoenix. Wolfram worked from Chrétien's poem, but he uses the phoenix to represent the macrocosm in his first introduction of the grail (P.469):
“These templers...live from a stone (i.e. grail) of the purest kind. If you do not know it, it shall here be named to you. It is called `lapsit exillis'. By the power of that stone the phoenix burns to ashes, but the ashes give him life again. Thus does the phoenix molt and change its plumage, which afterwards is bright and shining and as lovely as before."
Mustard/Passage (2) add in a footnote that the variation "lapis elixir" (as used in one text) "would correspond to the philosopher's stone". The legendary talisman of metallic transmutation is, as we know, linked to the planets and often symbolized by a hexagram. If grail and Sun are one, a "stone from heaven" of the purest kind, and if the planetary triangles announce Parzival's succession, this symbolism should also appear in the poem.
Already the prologue mentions a faith that vanishes like fire in a well or morning dew in the Sun. The most dramatic fusion of the hexagram occurs after the death of Gachmuret's brother, when a knight expresses his sorrow by turning the point of his shield upward, thus converting a watery into a fiery triangle. This shield, the shield of Zeus, David, and Pythagoras, as we know, is probably what Wolfram meant when he said the service to the shield is my vocation. It led our scholars to the assumption that he was a knight, even a poor knight, because he also claimed that he was so poor not even the mice had enough to eat. They overlooked that he praised Pythagoras as the most learned man since Adam.
Consequently, they also overlooked that according to the Universal Jewish Encyclopaedia (under Magen David),
hexagrams were used on tavern signs in Southern Germany during the Middle Ages, reputedly because Pythagorean beggar-monks used it to signal their comrades with secret marks where they had a hospitable reception. The example at left is from Rothenburg-ob-der-Tauber. Let's remember that Wolfram claimed himself that he was a Bavarian from Southern Germany. Now that we know that Wolfram not a knight, but a poor Pythagorean beggar monk, we understand one of the most enchanting scenes in the poem: When Parzival discovers the three drops of blood in the snow, he falls into a trance and dreams about his beloved. The idea is taken from Chrétien, where it is a fusion of the "girl in the tent" and Blanchefleur. He points out that it was the fresh blood of a goose which felt no pain, because it is only symbolic. As a contrast to the blood-thirsty Middle ages, this microcosm is a most poetic metaphor of the familiar "fusion" -- where a triangle of warm blood melts the snow.
The clearest reference to the macrocosmic hexagram, next to the sun, is offered by Wolfram when the sorceress Kundrie prophecies Parzival's call to the grail. The scene is well prepared in cosmological terms: Throughout the poem, Wolfram mentions the planetary positions (489,24-27, 493,1, 789,5-7, etc.), their powers (454,17-23, 518,5), and the suffering of the grail king because of Saturn (489,24-28, 492,25-3O, 493,1-8). Finally, with the approach of Mars and Jupiter, the sorceress appears at Arthur's court and falls to her knees (3), prostrating as Balaam requested:
To Parzival then she said: `Show restraint in your joy!
Blessed are you in your high lot, O crown of man's salvation!
The inscription has been read: you shall be Lord of the Grail...
Seven stars then she named in the heathen language...
She said: Mark now, Parzival: The highest of the planets, Zval,
And the swiftly moving Almustri, Almaret, and the bright Samsi,
All show good fortune for you here. The fifth is named Alligafir.
Under these the sixth is Alkiter, the nearest to us is Alkamer.'
I do not speak this out of any dream. These are the bridle of the
firmament and they check its speed; their opposition has ever
contended its sweep. For you, Care is now an orphan.
Whatever the planets' orbits bound, upon whatever their light
is shed, that is destined as your goal to reach and to achieve...
In a note, Mustard and Passage (following Stapel et al.) offer the translation of the Arabic names. Hence, the highest planet Saturn, the swifter Jupiter, Mars, and the bright sun all signal the "good fortune" of Parzival. Only then are Venus, Mercury, and the Moon added. This is a clear reference to St. Cyprian's "great conjunction" and Plato's "fullness of time". Earlier, when Kundrie had damned Parzival because of his failure at the grail castle, Wolfram (P.312) features her knowledge of many languages, of Trivium and Quadrivium (Astronomy). It is already here (P.313) , where he connects to Balaam: Her message is "a bridge which brings sorrow over the river of joy".
Parzival as "crown of man's salvation" and the allusions to the planetary hexagram could be understood as an allegory of 6 BC, as if Parzival were symbolically connected to Christ. But in view of the phoenix and the repetition of the hexagram in AD 849, Wolfram seems to disprove our hypothesis by falling short of the 854-year cycles. Or is it another riddle?
His "mathematical precision" of 7 groups of 108 times 30 lines, and the short book IX about the grail itself (70 times 30 lines) lets the poem end after 827. Could it be a key to AD 828, suggesting a renewal or new beginning with the conjunction of AD 828, which was followed by a single triangle in Leo? This could be a hidden clue to the date when his story begins, the book of Gahmuret, when Parzival is still unborn.
Twenty years later (two Pythagorean triangles of 10 dots), the conjunction of May 848 follows, and nine months later the planetary hexagram. This could indicate the date of Parzival's birth. A few examples, which support this hypothesis, because Wolfram tells us clearly (4) that Parzival was conceived in May:
April had now passed, and thereafter had come the short,
small, green grass - the field was green from end to end –
this makes faint hearts bold and gives them high spirits.
Many a tree stood in blossom from the sweet air of the
May time... Lady Herzeloyde the Queen there surrendered
her maidenhood."
We have seen elsewhere that the first conjunction of Saturn of Jupiter was on May 15, 848, and the planetary hexagram followed nine months later, in 849. When we begin a detailed analysis of Wolfram's hidden numbers, we see that the first group ends with Gachmuret's death and epitaph, and 109 opens with Parzival's first sign of life (P.109,3) in his mother's womb. The solution may be that we are invited to overlay the first group over others to find the answers,
If we review another famous clue, Wolframs "eilfte span" (P.128, 29) and consider that he may have reworked this part of the poem in ca. 1215, we could subtract "eleven generations" of 33.33 years to reach 848. From Christmas 1214, we actually reach May (1215 - 366.63 = 848.37). Hence, Parzival may have been born nine months after the first conjunction in early February 849, when the planetary triangles appeared in the sky.
If we apply this to the birth of Christ, 854 years earlier, it would seem that he was conceived on May 27, 7 BC and born as early as December 24/25, 7 BCE, as held by Epiphanius (312-402 CE) who was convinced that Jesus was only in the womb for seven months, or as late as March 21, 6 BC (vernal equinox), as held by Hippolytus according to St.Cyprian.
The last quotes are from the astronomer David Hughes (5) who follows Ferrari d'Occhieppo (6) by connecting the birth of Christ to the planetary “massings” between 7 and 6 BC. Their focus is the symbolism of Saturn (Jaweh) and Jupiter (Marduk) and the three conjunctions, but neither Mars nor the planetary triangles are considered. It is amazing that we have another two astronomers, who have either never bothered to study Kepler’s esoteric texts, or simply fallen for Burke-Gaffney’s attack. It is unfortunate that Kepler seems to have stressed in vain the great conjunction when Mars joins the two highest planets, because it is, according to Cyprian's law, a most perfect great conjunction (7).
The parallels indicate that "Perceval" was born in early 849 and that he is a candidate for the Elijah/John or the Elisah/Jesus successions. As this would mean that the long-awaited "Second Coming" was overlooked by Christianity, we need to spend more time with these riddles. Unfortunately, the only way to identify such a Messianic personage, if there ever was one, is to penetrate the complex allegorical maze of grail romance and solve its riddles. A matter of great controversy, because few scholars consider that grail romance is based on actual events and continue their "wild goose chase" to find the historical King Arthur. They believe that Arthur was real and that the poets added their fictitious grail romances, but we shall see that the opposite is probably true!
Bibliography
1. Wolfram von Eschenbach, PARZIVAL, Helen M. Mustard and Charles E. Passage, Vintage Books, New York, 1961, p. ix
2. Ibid, pp. 251/2
3. Ibid, p.406, also note 5, p.435
4. Ibid, pp. 54,57
5. David Hughes, The Star of Bethlehem: An Astronomer's Confirmation, Walker and Co., New York, 1979, pp. 86/7
6. Konradin Ferrari d'Occhieppo, The Star of Bethlehem, Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society, Oxford, Dec. 1978, pp.517-20
7. Johannes Kepler, Gesammelte Werke, Max Caspar, Bericht vom neuen Stern, Beck'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1938, Vol. 1, p.395