First Interactive Search for the Holy Grail
If you join our project, which could become the most exciting adventure in your life, you may want to start by asking why no one seems to know what a grail is? It is even questionable whether a Holy Grail or San Greal ever existed, because the three creators of grail romance refer to it simply as graal or grâl. The French poet Chrétien de Troyes coined the word in the 1180's and his grail is a shiny golden platter with precious stones. About a decade later Robert de Boron surprised his medieval audiences with a vessel from the Last Supper, which inspired the German poet Wolfram von Eschenbach to reduce it to a lapsit exillis, a mysterious stone.
That there are three different grails is significant because Chrétien and Wolfram were the greatest poets of the Middle Ages before Dante, yet their platter and stone are forgotten, while the vessel of Robert, a minor bard, became the Holy Grail. This "amnesia" began when other poets embellished his simplistic Judeo-Christian symbolism, because the Church promoted the transubstantiation treatise of Thomas Aquinas, and changed Robert's sacramental dish to the Cup of the Last Supper. It helped that the monks of Glastonbury claimed to have found King Arthur's tomb, which allowed the poets to relocate Robert's Avaron to English Avalon and fuse his "estoire" with the Matter of Britain and Celtic myth and magic.
Centuries later, because of the popularity of the English language and fame of Camelot and Hollywood, movie hero Indiana Jones didn't have to think twice when he picked a wooden cup -- and Dan Brown could make the "vessel" anything he wanted. Consequently, fans of grail lore flock to Glastonbury, Rosslyn Chapel, and Rennes-Le-Château to research the magical mystery of the Holy Blood. Like these adventurous tourists, unsuspecting readers of books about the Holy Grail continue to confuse fact with fiction, and their only reward is an escape to a world of fantasy.
You have an option!
If you are a sincere seeker of truth and the real grail, pun intended, you might enjoy this interactive adventure! Although some of our challenges are even more "heretical" than the usual fabrications, you'll be given access to every source and reference to make up your own mind. Having this choice is important, because you can only succeed if you take each step yourself, remain objective at all times, and arrive at your own conclusions! This has become necessary because layers upon layers of disinformation, conjecture, and speculation have covered up the grail secrets for centuries. One of the first activists was
Helinandus, a Flemish trouvère who converted around 1180 CE and became a Cistercian monk and scholar. The eloquent cleric was not only one of the most ardent preachers of the Albigensian Crusades, but he promoted the Matter of Britain with equal success. This is confirmed by the later Arthurian cycle -- and by the recent publications of disoriented seekers.Our approach differs from the above in one decisive aspect: We dismiss all later works as potentially hostile and honor only the originators of grail romance with the full respect they deserve: We regard them as highly sophisticated masters who knew exactly what they were doing! For the first time in their careers, they did not entertain audiences with the usual poetic fictions, but risked their lives with romans à clef or Schlüsselromane to document actual historical events. In full contradiction of contemporary scholarship, we intend to show that every word they utter has a higher meaning and that their multifaceted symbolism serves only one purpose: To preserve the grail secrets for posterity -- which allows us to identify them for the first time in history.
This controversial concept is supported by the research of Jeroni Pujades, a scholar from Barcelona in the early 17th century, whose historical work and rare documents were allegedly taken "by force of arms" and spirited off to France by a protégé of Richelieu and Mazarin. The manuscripts were rediscovered and published two centuries later, including quotes from Latin chronicles about 9th century grail events in Catalonia (Spain). They fully confirm the symbolic concept of the poets and contradict many leading scholars who base their conjectures on other sources, from Celtic mythology to Persian Zoroastrianism. Without knowledge of these Latin sources, they misinterpret grail romance because the diverse philosophies, religions, and myths are merely important elements of the "quest" -- and only a consequence of the historical events.
But before we pursue the lofty goal of uncovering the truth, we need to first find out if platter, vessel, and stone are valid symbols of the real grail, which should be a fusion of the three -- and quite different. Part of the process is a literary form of experimental alchemy and, if successful, the explosive mix of spirit and matter should expose a major treasure and cover-up at the roots of the enigma. Two sources suggest that it is the greatest treasure ever lost: Booty from the Sack of Rome and some artifacts from the Temple in Jerusalem.
On a higher level, we'll be following the grail myth all the way back to primordial times, to the stone that fell from heaven, which may be a metaphor for a meteor. We'll start with intelligent design and Johannes Kepler to search for a natural phenomenon that still eludes modern science. On this thorny path, the etymology of graal should lead us with the phoenix to the Greek krater -- Plato's divine mixing bowl of life (Timaeus).
There are, of course, the usual obstacles because many ancient texts are ambiguous and difficult to decipher. Are you up to the challenge? Are you ready to seek the light? Just open the grailgate -- and let the quest begin!