The Magic Sword

(still under heavy construction)

        Before we attempt to seriously "grasp" the magic sword by its hilt to strike the first blow, let's pause a moment and think about what we have learned so far. When you are ready to read on and something is unfamiliar, you have reached this page too early and are spoiling your own adventure! Click away, or you'll be side-tracked and you'll surely get lost! Please be wise -- your reward will be a return with a full understanding. 

        We should know at this point that Chrétien's etymological keys took us to the Counts of Barcelona, and their founding father Guifre Pilosus. Like Sunifred of Urgell, his father, he did not venerate the "holy images", which makes him an Iconoclast and an Adoptionist like Bishop Felix of Urgel, a "heresy" that influenced the Cathars and Albigenses. Guifre was born in the middle of the 9th century, which coincides with the return of the phoenix, as we have shown. Our claim is supported by Hesiod's riddle, Wolfram's scenario, Michael Scot, and Johannes Kepler.

        We have also heard from the old Greeks that this amazing bird flies from Arabia to Heliopolis, where it burns to ashes and later revives. Wolfram told us that it is the grail that gives the phoenix the power of rebirth. Or better said, the phoenix is a "flying allegory", an ancient omen, which tells us when certain individuals supposedly return in the flesh, are reincarnated. It is this mysterious power of the grail that we are trying to understand.

        Wolfram led us from the hare to "ups and downs", from one flying allegory to another, until "three drops of blood" melted in the snow and took us back up to the fusion of the planetary triangle, Christmas Star, or Phoenix. It is in the "fullness of time", when all planets start out again from Aries, that the sorceress Kundrie proclaims Parzival's good fortune and call to the grail. This is based on Master Chrétien, who opened with the parable of the seed to bring us to a grail of cosmic dimensions, to a golden platter with precious stones, more valuable than any on Earth and in the seas, and that shines so brightly, the candlelight fades like stars when the sun or moon rise.

        Consequently, we have painted ourselves into a corner, or find ourselves on a "wild goose chase",  because it is absurd that Guifre would belong to the Elisa-Jesus incarnations. We seem to have fallen into one of those dark dungeons of medieval superstition and are in need of some magic to get us out. It is here where our revered masters step forward: Wolfram provided us with the magic shield of Zeus, Pythagoras and David, and Chrétien hands us the Magic Sword to cut fact from fiction, truth from superstition:

The hilt of the sword is made of the finest gold from Arabia or Greece.

Its blade is of steel and has an inscription where it is made,

but it is covered by a scabbard of fancy Venetian gold-brocade.

        This means that we can only "grasp" the sword if we understand the Arabian or Greek ornaments of its hilt. Does this not mean that either gold can lead to our lofty goal? Yes, these are hidden allusions to the phoenix, something Wolfram had understood and verbalized, but there should be more to this. The seed opened Chrétien's poem, and the grail is it's highest purpose. Warm blood melts snow, planets fuse above, and our understanding came from Greek and Arabian sources. From Hesiod, the Greek, via Plato, Plutarch and Ptolemy to the Arabian Flegetanis. All supported by Kepler. We are obviously confronted by the medieval concept of microcosm and macrocosm, the belief that whatever happens above also happens below.  But it is more complicated than that:

1. According to Chrétien, Perceval uses his own sword to fight Orilus to restore the honor of the "girl in the tent". In a later addition, which is by another poet, the battle is much longer and the magic sword is used as soon as they are off their horses. When it breaks, Perceval throws the hilt away and draws his other sword. As the fight continues, the pieces of the magic sword are retrieved secretly by a knave and taken back to the grail castle. 

 

2. When Wolfram's Parzival fights the knight, he also uses his own sword, but new ornaments come into play: A hundred dragons, that seem alive, are on the shield of Orilus, on his armor, and even on his helmet. This reminds us of the "sternenblic", when his mother dreams before his birth about a dragon in the sky. To our surprise, the hermit Trevrizent tells Parzival later that he himself is that dragon. Are we to believe that Parzival fights and wins this battle against himself?

         Wolfram's second opinion offers lots of other interesting changes, some of which are complementary.  In his version, the battle explodes like a light show or "Star Wars". Each time swords connect, sparks flash and fly like lightening, often far across the scene. Parzival cuts into the precious rubies of the armor and wounds dragons as if they were alive, spreading red blood all over the scene.  Why did Wolfram add those evil dragons to Chrétien's scenario? We may have to study Geoffrey of Monmouth, because Utherpendragon wore this dragon on his helmet, as did King Arthur. But why would Geoffrey write this kind of heretic stuff, a Bishop elect and ordained priest? After all, the Church made the dragon a satanic symbol, derived from the snake. Could it be a confrontation of good and evil, of dualism, and all that? Wolfram's first flying allegory is the magpie, a black and white bird. Isn't it what the philosophers of Athens accused St. Paul to be, a magpie, because of his Zoroastrian ideas?

        This makes us wonder if Geoffrey had some king of religious agenda? According to Catalan legends, there is an enchanted cave in the mountains of San Lorenzo, near Barcelona, where a fiery dragon used to live and consume people and large animals, until it "died at the hands of count Guifre of Barcelona." (2). Very interesting, and in all probability part of the cover-up!

Or is the solution as simple as suggested?  Is Wolfram is trying to make sure we get his symbolism, that everything that happens above, in the Macrocosm, is mirrored below, in the Microcosm? Or is it just another dark mirror image as suggested in his prologue? The Dominican Francisco Diago, Spanish Inquisitor, not only supports the lies about Guifre's life, but he also provides his coat of arms on the cover of his pretentious Historia de los victorissimos antiguos Condes de Barcelona. It shows four red stripes on a shield that symbolize Guifre's blood, and a dragon on his helmet. The close-up (right) is from the Anales de la Corona de Aragon by Geronimo Curita. Yes, that's another bloody mess we'll have to check! Good thing, Dan Brown didn't find these bloody lines to add to the confusion!

        Back to the magic sword for now: According to Chrétien, the sword is hanging from the neck of a knave who tells Perceval: "It is a gift from your niece, the fair virgin, who is so exceptionally beautiful". Perceval pulls it from its scabbard, he sees where it was made and that it is of the finest steel. It would never break, except in one unknown danger, and only three of these swords exist! Later, after his failure at the grail castle, he learns that the sword was made by Trebuchet, that it was never used in an emergency, and that it has never spilled any blood.  Perceval is warned never to use it in battle, because it would break into pieces after the first blow.

        Wolfram does not mention the gold of the hilt, but he adds a shiny ruby, and remains silent about the scabbard.  But he also features the blade as symbol of truth. Familiar with the addition to Chrétien's version, where the sword breaks, he offers an excellent solution: The pieces can be fused in the waters of an underground spring (i.e. where the source lies in darkness), by Trebuchet, the wise man and black-smith. He tells us that the blade will become whole again, like magic, along with its inscription. Wolfram does not repeat that there are three of these swords, perhaps because the number is contained in "Trebuchet". It is an odd word that is easily misunderstood today, and deserves some serious study. It is also known as a formidable weapon to sling objects, but could also be a creative fusion of other meanings: With some imagination, which is more important than knowledge (Einstein),  we look at the word itself and identify the "Tre" (trois, tres) as number 3, and "buchet" (German: bücher) as books, to conclude that we should, like Master Kyot, search for three books, Latin chronicles, perhaps?  And, of course,  you are challenged by these flimsy arguments to come up with better ideas! Good luck!

        Your gatekeeper has spent several decades on this specific adventure. Aside from studying ancient parchments at the Bibliothèque Nationale (Paris), by special permit, he has lived in Guifre's region for many years, which was once the Carolingian "Spanish March". Naturally, he has also visited Ripoll, where Guifre is buried, and Cuixà, where his legendary vita was concocted. And it is precisely here, were we found the basis for Chrétien's "meillor conte".  Only when we fused the ancient chronicle,  known as gesta comitum Barcinonensium,  with contemporary historical fact were we able separate fact from fiction to find the truth, to identify Chrétien's "meillor conte".

According to Pujades (1), the Cistercian monastery St. Michel de Cuixà, where the false Latin document originated, was named originally Exalada.  It was destroyed in the early 8th century by a flooding of the river Tet, and only five monks survived the disaster. It was rebuilt farther from the river in 776 CE as Corán , then renamed Coxan, and then became Cuixà.  It may have been cleansed from heresy by St. Michael, the archangel and dragon slayer, but it also connects to Guifre/Orilus. This picture of Arabian arches at Cuixà that still betrays its origins.   There is additional support for Chrétien's "Arabesques". When scholars realized that the Gesta falsified the vita of Guifre, they had to turn to Arabian scholars . According to d'Abadal, Blasi, Solsona , et al., their only reliable source is Abenhayan (Ibd Hayyan) who used the Arabian name Ancadir for Guifre, and Almondir (the Extraordinary) for his father. They were patrons of Cuixà and had Muslim alliances since "Bara", the unsung hero of Barcelona!

        Hence, we "used" the magic sword for the first time and "grasped" its hilt of the Arabian gold:  Without having to strike a blow, we have corrected the first Latin chronicle along with Master Chrétien, to identify the "meillor conte". Because Chrétien says that the hilt is of Arabian or Greek gold,  both may need to be pulled from the scabbard to expose the truth.  St. Michel de Cuixà,  by the way, is also a good match for Chrétien's grail castle, which is down in a valley, and near a river where Perceval meets the Rich Fisherman. T

        Please remember, that you can only achieve this quest by making up your own mind! Your gatekeeper is promoting the concept that this medieval symbolism applies to both spheres, the macrocosm and the microcosm. For the macrocosm, the Greeks (Hesiod, Plato, Plutarch) provided the Greek ornaments by which the sword can be "grasped", and the science of the Arabs (Flegetanis, Tables of Toledo, and Sphaere, as translated by Michael Scot) gave us the "Arabesques"  Let's call it an odd coincidence, at least for now, because the search for the microcosmic "Greek connection" leads us to another Latin chronicle, and to another monastery in the realm of the Counts of Barcelona! Based on our experience with the Gesta, and Chrétien's good advice, also this Latin chronicle may be nothing but a cover-up of the truth.

        But this requires some major "fissions" of fact and fiction as well, so that we can make a "fusion" to extract the historical truth. We'll see that the location fits Wolfram's description of the grail castle in almost every detail and it is quite obvious that the German poet has spent some time there. It seems that it is Wolfram's other "Wildenberg" or Munsalwaesche, today San Salvador, after which the famous local painter Dali was named. Chrétien's other clue, the fancy scabbard, appears to combine two Venetian cover-ups: The famous "Peace of Venice" (1177), and an earlier attempt by a Doge of Venice who retired in the region to recover the lost relics. Once we solve the secrets of the second chronicle, we'll take on the magical mystery of the third. Again, we will be checking incredible legends and elaborate "cover ups" to extract the truth. The third document is not fully developed in Chrétien's symbolism, and is probably the inscription on the blade that the scabbard covers up.

        If you have read this far with interest, you understood the fancy gold of the hilt, Arabian and Greek, and are ready for the first fusion where the source lies in darkness, where the dark waters pollute everything. Just find the first fusion and help us with some experimental alchemy! Once we have achieved it, the ups and downs continue because we'll have to behave more and more like Wolfram's "startled hare". This time, we are hopping all the way up to a third monastery, to look for the third Latin chronicle. And again, some amazing legends need to be taken apart, measured by historical fact, and exposed as lies. Something that's fairly easy for us today, having done it twice already, and thanks to the "Information Age" we live in. We don't even risk our lives anymore when we deal with such mysteries, as long as we remain true to the spirit of the grail, which requires love, compassion and understanding. Yes, that's necessary because we'll have to visit one of the most tragic events of our quest! It's all about the rape that was implied with Perceval and Guifre, but also about a horrible murder! The only good part is that the poor lady is miraculously revived, reported in great detail by a pious monk, and supported by Antonio Yepes, a famous historian of the Benedictine order.

        This is a good place to mention another controversy, because few critical scholars have read this far, having been stopped by too many challenges of the academic consensus -- and rules. You will have noticed that our researches and findings are largely based on the work of the Catalan historian Dr. Jeroni Pujades. In a Baroque intrigue of epic proportions, his historical work and all documents were taken during the Catalan revolution in the 1640's to France and were forgotten for 200 years. They were first in the hands of Pierre de Marca, a protégé of Richelieu and Mazarin, and after his death in 1668 inherited by his secretary Etienne Baluze. The latter published the Marca Hispanica of de Marca posthumously, and not only eliminated Pujades as a major informant for the historical work, but also slandered him as "ignorant".  In the same work, he published the Gesta comitum Barcinonensium, but only the definite edition and not the original version. Furthermore, he deceived fellow scholars with a typo, giving them the choice of dating the document in the late 12th or 13th century. Among other rare documents from Pujades, he had the famous Manuel de Dhuoda, and the testaments from Urgell that allowed du Cange to support the etymology of Chretien's graal. This is documented by Catholic Encyclopedias that praise Baluze for having been a member of the savants of Paris that met Sundays at vespers at the Benedictine monastery of St. Germain-des-Pres, including du Cange, and by the fact that all these documents are registered today at the Bibliothèque Nationale under "Baluze". This cunning scholar got caught in another web of falsified documents and spent the last part of his life in exile. Quite obviously, the vast collection of documents went after the death of Baluze in 1720 to the French crown.

        When the historical work of Pujades was finally recovered and published in the 1830's, the reputation of Pujades had suffered greatly. His Catalan works had been published earlier in incorrect translations, and because the major portion of his work was published in Spanish, the Catalans could not forgive him for not using his native tongue. (See Pujades Affair for the details!) This is an important aspect of our findings, because we have learned from Pujades how the grail legend got started. In reality, the quest for the lost relics of Sant Pere de Rodes took decades, and probably centuries. And all this time, these seekers did not stop thinking until they finally realized that  spiritual ideals are more important that material things, and abandoned the search for the treasure. They sought the wisdom of all religions and philosophies, and this important part of their "quest" is also reflected in the poems of Chretien and Wolfram.

        If we are correct in our assumption, the consequences are quite serious. It would mean that centuries of grail research by some of the finest scholars were wasted because they literally put the cart before the horse. From the "inspired" interpretations of A.E. Waite, Walter Johannes Stein and Emma Jung, to the "academic" evaluations of Loomis, Frappier, and Richard Barber, they searched for the origins of grail romance in the poems, from Celtic to Zoroastrian, without realizing that these were added to describe the quest itself -- not its origins!

         Until this controversy is resolved, please keep checking everything out, especially the Greek connection and Robert de Boron, and very soon, after the first fusion, you should be ready to for some really heavy stuff. We'll be fusing all three pieces of the Magic Sword ! That's possible, because it is not a sword in the usual sense -- but much more --  the ultimate weapon of truth! It should expose all three Latin chronicles as nothing but lies that some poor monks were under orders to put down in writing 800 years ago. We'll finally "cut" fact from fiction to resolve the grail mystery, the greatest mystery of all.

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Notes:

1. Geronimo Pujades, Cronica Universal del Principado de Cataluna, Vol. 4, tome V, Barcelona, 1829, Jose Torner, p. 45

    (see also Vol. VI, p.276, where it is mentioned as "S. Miguel de Coran")

2. Pujades, op. cit. tome VII, p.89