The Holy Grail

14th Apr 2021

We’ve all seen the movie where Indiana Jones desperately searches for the Holy Grail. Ever since Jesus walked the Earth, people have been drawn to this quest. This much sought-after item appears to have been the cup used by Christ at the Last Supper. Supposedly Joseph of Arimathea, Jesus’s alleged uncle, is said to have retrieved the sacred cup to collect the blood of Christ as he lay dying on the Cross, and then took it to Britain as a sacred talisman for the Church.

In time, the cup was buried or went missing near Glastonbury, the oldest Christian location in Britain, and became the focus of pursuits that lasted several centuries.

According to legend, King Arthur’s knights mysteriously discovered the cup, which, by then, was considered, not only a Christian relic, but a magical receptacle too, carrying clues to an ancient and secret wisdom.
As mysteriously as it had emerged, the Grail then strangely vanished again, becoming a catalyst for fervent seekers once more.

But how true is all this? Did the Holy Grail really ever exist? According to the Gospels, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus were given permission by Pontius Pilate to bury Jesus Christ’s body, granted chiefly because of Joseph’s wealth.

St Matthew informs us that the uncle, Joseph, was indeed wealthy and made money trading tin. The route that he apparently took to transport the Holy Grail to Britain, coincides extraordinarily well with the trade route for tin illustrated by the Greek writer Diodorus Siculus at that time.

According to some local British legend, Jesus may have actually travelled to Britain with his uncle Joseph throughout the ages of 12 and 30, a time in his life when nothing was essentially recorded about him. At the small village of Priddy, near Glastonbury, there is a tale about a cave underneath a church, from where an uncanny energy radiates. The legend claims Jesus was there as a boy.

There are substantial clues that link the Holy Land and Britain, reinforced equally by historical and archaeological evidence, which prove Christianity was established in Britain as early as the 1st century AD.

Robert de Boron’s book on the subject is the earliest work in existence. In his writings, he expresses a cryptic and occult interpretation of the Grail, whereby a powerful pagan god, called Bran from ancient Celtic myth, owned a magic cauldron capable of bringing people back to life.

In old Christian archives, the mysterious Grail was also represented as a large dish which held a host. It was believed to hold mystical secrets, and it is thought Sir Percival from King Arthur’s court endured many tests and tribulations to uncover them.

Later accounts portray the dish as the one used by Jesus to perform the rites at the Last Supper.

In fact, there are many other folklore tales mirroring the Christian story of the Holy Grail – such as the legend of Bran, whose cup also had the power of restoring a sick man to perfect health, the king of Rhydderch who claimed his receptacle provided whatever food one wished for, the ‘horn of Bran the Niggard from the North’ and the ‘Crock and Dish of Rhygenydd the Cleric’.
In each of these legends, there is an exact replica account of the knights witnessing the arrival of the Grail at King Arthur’s court.

Needless to say, all these tales originating from different sources all clearly stem from one definite story. There is even a part of Bran’s legend that alludes to a miraculous child who possessed a secret doctrine – boy Jesus?

Meanwhile, during the early part of the 12th century, a new situation was taking place – the emergence of a strong and occult organisation unquestionably linked to the Holy Grail - the Knights Templar.
The Templars were of the belief that there was a line of descendants directly from Jesus Christ - the Sang Real or Holy Grail. The Priory of Sion was formed to protect the sacred bloodline of Jesus Christ from the Catholic church.

The latter were terrified of the threat to their power, and the disclosure of the appalling truth would, invariably, compromise the papacy’s control and astonishing opulence. Past members of the Priory included eminent personages like Leonardo da Vinci and Isaac Newton.

Subsequently, the Priory settled in Jerusalem, after it had been seized in the First Crusade in 1099, and later established the Knights Templar. Their objective was to safeguard the Holy Grail and to establish a Christian theocracy over Europe ruled by the descendants of Jesus, although it appears that this wasn’t the “raison d’etre” provided officially, of course.

An ensuing secret conflict evolved between major players such as the Priory, the Templars, the Church and the Freemasons – they all wanted exclusive control of the Holy Grail. But the question is – was the Holy Grail a sacred object utilised at the Last Supper, or are we talking about the descendants of Jesus Christ, the Sang Real?

Rennes-le-Chateau, an ancient village in France, features quite prominently in this cryptic adventure. The book “The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail” indicates that the ancestral home of Bertrand de Blanchefort, fourth Grand Master of the Knights Templar, was situated relatively close to Rennes-le-Chateau. In the book, the authors speculate on the idea that Blanchefort may have buried Templar treasure in the area.
It is also possible that German soldiers excavated there during WWII as they had learnt of Richard Wagner’s (composer) stay in Rennes-le-Chateau.

It looks like his spell in the village inspired him to write the famous opera “Parsifal”, the story of a quest set in the middle ages. Wagner recognised that Rennes-le-Chateau was shrouding a Holy Grail mystery.

Francois-Berenger Sauniere, a late 19th century priest, was sent to manage a church in Rennes-le-Chateau. It appears that Sauniere ordered the altar stone to be removed in 1891. Within one of the two Visigothic pillars holding it, he found four parchments inside sealed tubes, originating from mid 1200s to late 1700s.
The parchments from the 1780s, scripted by a priest called Antoine Bigou, were particularly compelling. Although they resembled texts from the New Testament in Latin, they were documented somewhat strangely, and evidently carried coded messages.
To quote some of the cryptic messages :-
“To Dagobert II, king, and to Sion belongs this treasure and he is there dead.” (referring to the last king descended directly from the Sacred bloodline)
“Shepherdess, no temptation. That Poussin, Teniers hold the key. Peace 681. By the cross and this horse of God. I complete this daemon of the guardian at noon. Blue apples.”

Appreciating the significance of the parchments, the bishop of Carcassone dispatched Sauniere to Paris immediately, where he called on clerics and society people. Whilst there, he also visited the Louvre, where he familiarised himself with the Poussin painting “The Shepherds of Arcadia”, long considered to contain a Templar secret message.

Enigmatic in Neon Lights and Capital Letters!

So, if the Knights Templar were the ones guarding the precious Holy Grail, they would have made sure they found a safe sanctuary for it.
Rosslyn Chapel has regularly been suggested as the final resting place of the Sacred Chalice. Rosslyn Chapel hails from the 15th century and is located in the village of Roslin in Midlothian, Scotland.

It is thought that the Apprentice Pillar inside the chapel was built with a hollow segment, where the Holy Grail could be concealed. Another secret hiding location put forward was the vault underneath the chapel, where it appears the Templar Knights lie in perpetuity with their treasures.

If one considers that the gargoyle on the chapel wall, representing a Templar Knight, is holding what looks like the Holy Grail, are we to assume that the Grail, is therefore, within the chapel after all?

When “The Da Vince Code” movie featured this mysterious and mystical chapel in its finale, was it a reflection of the truth?

When one strolls through Rosslyn Chapel and contemplates the elaborate stonework, it is clear that the Holy Grail could have been positioned in plain sight. However, if it is there, the Chapel is unwilling to yield its secret … so far.

Strangely, in 1546, Mary of Guise (Mary Queen of Scots’ mother) wrote to Lord William Sinclair alluding to a tremendous secret concealed within the walls of Rosslyn Chapel. Whatever she may have been referring to died with her … Perhaps she was indicating the Holy Grail?

Astoundingly, the Sacred Chalice seems to have had its origins in another religion well before Christianity. This religion is rumoured to date back to megalithic times and was never fully extinguished when Christianity emerged.
Hence the Templars may even have been working under the guise of the Catholic church, but protecting or propagating an element rejected by this same church!

Through the ages, there were tales and legends of this sacred relic, all very similar to each other.
For the Celtic Bards who masked the shrouded message with their embroidered tales in the courts, the Grail symbolised eternal life and renewed health, just as it had been for the ancient Gods and priests, their monuments on the slopes of Western Europe unaffected by Christianity.

Is it purely coincidental that the line of May Day sunrise spread across southern Britain and popularly believed to have derived in prehistoric times, commences at the site where Jesus presumably arrived in Britain at St. Michael’s Mount? This line travels directly to the undisputed consecrated centre of Glastonbury.

The echoes of a distant past are still discernible in the mists of yesterday, and the secret of the Holy Grail remains impregnable and out of reach ….