Some additional support for our claim that the
sources of the grail mystery are found
In Empuries (Ampurdan, Emporium), where this new (old) Venusberg has been found, had been a Greeks settlement in the 9th century BCE. It was located at the foot of the mountain an called Armen Roda. Nothing seems to remain of it, but other Greek excavations are open to tourists in the Golf of Roses. Below the fortress San Salvador and near the monastery can still be seen the ruins of a village where its builders lived. Its unusual name Santa Creu de Roses (Holy Cross of Roses) is a combination of Roses and the Cape of the Cross, because the village is located between them. This suggests a new explanation for the name Rosicrucians, the most ancient one, and could mean that its builders started the esoteric order. Based on this hypothesis, the Catalan historian and philosopher Alexndre Deulofeu* proposed that they eventually traveled North to build other cathedrals (see Deulofeu), and it is conceivable that some English apprentices learned to master the craft and eventually founded the Freemasons.
If we imagine what the first secret symbol might have been, by which the initiates identified each other, the "skull and crossbones" comes to mind. How else would you display Peter's skull with his right arm, which consists of two long bones? It was first depicted in Templar churches, which implies that they were also searching for the lost cave. Some scholars claim that its reappearance as the "Jolly Roger" in the Caribbean was of Masonic origins. An interesting idea, although it has been reduced to a generic symbol of death today, for example as warning sign on poison containers.
It seems that nothing has been published about this mystery, nor anything new about the ancient foundations of the monastery. Please comment if you have found anything! The official guide book merely mentions unexplored foundations with huge blocks in the far east of the monastery that seems to be from "before the 7th century". Such an early structure confirms what your gatekeeper suspects for decades, and which is supported by Pujades: That the relics were really lost before 603 CE. If the foundations included stones from the temple, nothing of this information has been released. One could almost think that the Vatican is involved, or that an ambitious scholar is secretly preparing for a major, sensational news release and publication. If this happens, you'll know where you read it first!
Although there are rumors that sculptures from Antiquity have been found near the site, some experts favor the mountain peak for the site of the temple, others the cape, and even Port Vendres, ca. 30 miles to the north. According to most opinions, Venus-Aphrodite was venerated on mountain tops, but Chrétien's grail castle seems to be in a valley. But also this is ambiguous: Perceval meets the Fisherking at the shores of a river, which could be the Tet or Muga, and later rides upwards until he reaches a mountain peak, from where he sees the tower of the castle below him. This would identify Sant Pere, and not San Salvador. Wolfram's version fits the location quite well because Parzival finds Anfortas fishing on a lake, from where he rides to the top of the mountain.
We mentioned the spectacular view from San Salvador to the far-away town Olot in the West, and that Llanca (Lance) gives us Lance-Olot – Lancelot. The valley from Llanca to Vilajuiga (or vice versa) could designate the way to the grail castle by per - ce - val, old Catalan or Provencal vernacular for "through this valley", and could certainly be an option to the Val d'Aran, the valley of valleys. If you stand on the flat farmland where the lake used to be, the mountains that are topped by San Salvador. This confirms what Anfortas told Parzival: "There, where the rock ends, turn right". The slope begins at the valley that leads from Vilajuiga down to "Lanciano" (Llanca) at the shores of the Med. Wolfram describes the slope up to the grail castle as eine Halde, die war lang, "a slope, that was long", which properly describes the mountain chain. That the castle is on a mountain is also indicated when he says: it could not be taken by storm if it were on the ground .
These are odd coincidences, to say the least. Something only a fool like us would think of. All those years in the 1970's, while sailing out of Llanca and nearby "Kadaquers" (Cadaques), your young and dumb gatekeeper never saw the above ruins of the monastery. Although it depends on the weather conditions, they are often clearly visible – but how often do sailors study the shady slopes below mountain tops? Their concern are the clouds, because when they get streaky is the Tramuntana about to start and warrants a quick return to a safe harbor. This was different in the Middle Ages – when the structures were fully hidden, confirming grail romance. As the name Selva says, the mountains were covered by a vast rain forest. That’s why our mountain is named Verdera – green Mountain – it's the green pillow on which Wolfram has Repanse de Schoye carry the grail! We owe it to the discovery of the Americas that these trees were cut down for lumber to build ships. First for the exploration, then for the armadas to conquer the New World and bring back the treasure, and finally to ship immigrants and merchandise, the African slaves were included in the latter.
* Alejandro Deulofeu, El Ampurdan, cuna del arte romanico, Graficas Diamant, (Barcelona, 1062)
