Whom doth it serve...?

"But a great sorrow is befallen in the land of late through a young knight that was harboured in the hostel of the rich King Fisherman, for that the most Holy Graal appeared to him and the Lance whereof the point runneth of blood, yet never asked he to whom was served thereof nor whence it came, and for that he asked it not are all the lands commoved to war, nor no knight meeteth other in the forest but he runneth upon him and slayeth him and he may, and you yourself shall well perceive thereof or ever you shall depart of this launde."

"In the beginning there are the Damsels of the Wells, who are in some way connected to the Court of the Rich Fisher, but who are under the protection of King Amangons. Their sole task is to offer hospitality and food to weary travellers who, we are told, go out of their way to experience this. Then Amangons, having lusted after one of the damsels, casually rapes her and steals her golden cup, which he then displays daily as a trophy of his action. His followers follow suit until all the damsels are raped and their golden cups stolen. This, we are told, is the reason for the Waste Land, where "no tree is leafy" and where "the meadows and flowers are dried up". Also, in some way, the Court of the Rich Fisherman is no longer accessible, and with its withdrawal go the richness and plenty which once marked out the kingdom of Logres as the finest in the land. For, "they lost the voices of the wells and the damsels that were therein...""

The Grail, the Cauldron, the Cornucopia or "Horn of Plenty"... these are all mystical symbols representing a great Spiritual Truth that, even when not clearly recognised as such, resides at the very heart of many religions, and mystical and magical traditions.

At another level can be found therein an equivalence to the Philosopher's Stone of the spiritual alchemists' tradition, and one as elusive. Indeed, they may even be one and the same thing.

The Grail is arguably, of all spiritual mysteries, the hardest to penetrate and discern the full richness of its meaning yet, at the same time, it is also the simplest. Nor does it readily lend itself to being revealed or explained by another. The understanding thereof represents a journey that the Seeker themself must undertake, for it is in the journeying that the veils may eventually be drawn aside.

As Cauldron it is a key symbol in much ancient Celtic mythology. With the embracing of Christianity in the British Isles by the Celtic Druids, giving birth to the movement known as the Culdees, a vast body of Celtic mythology was translated into a "Christianised" form that can be easily recognised in, for example, the entire Arthurian mythos, from which springs the notion of the Quest of the Holy Grail.

The Grail as Chalice is the, albeit understated, central motif of the Fellowship's magical activities and initiations, and inspires all else.

"And then the king and all estates went home unto Camelot, and so went to evensong to the great minster, and so after upon that to supper, and every knight sat in his own place as they were toforehand.

Then anon they heard cracking and crying of thunder, that them thought the place should all to-drive. In the midst of this blast entered a sunbeam more clearer by seven times than ever they saw day, and all they were alighted of the grace of the Holy Ghost. Then began every knight to behold other, and either saw other, by their seeming, fairer than ever they saw afore. Notforthan there was no knight might speak one word a great while, and so they looked every man on other as they had been dumb.

The Shape of the Grail

The "Holy Grail" has in the past variously been described as a cup (chalice), dish, or platter. Sometimes as a stone, and even as a severed head. Other objects that have been commonly associated with (or even described as) the Grail have been a lance or a sword.

Over time, however, the most widely-accepted attribution has been that of the cup or chalice. Nevertheless, each of these different attributions lends an added dimension to our understanding of the significance of the Grail, such that the symbol as a whole can impart profound lessons upon the manner in which to live one's life, and represents a true Mystery in the classical sense.

Mastery in understanding the many-faceted nature of the Grail has been intrinsic to the work of the Fellowship.

Recent attempts in popular "literature" to equate the Grail with the actual vessel that supposedly received the blood of Jesus as he hung on the cross, or to equate it with the blood itself, or indeed the blood-line of Jesus are, in our view, misguided and reveal nothing other than the somewhat limited understanding and predominantly materialistic world-view of the advocates thereof.
Seeking to track down the Grail exclusively in the physical realm is a futile pursuit.

Then there entered into the hall the Holy Grail covered with white samite, but there was none might see it, nor who bare it. And there was all the hall fulfilled with good odours, and every knight had such meats and drinks as he best loved in this world. And when the Holy Grail had been borne through the hall, then the holy vessel departed suddenly, that they wist not where it became; then had they all breath to speak.

And then the king yielded thankings to God, of His good grace that he had sent them. 'Certes,' said the king, 'we ought to thank Our Lord Jesu greatly for that he hath showed us this day, at the reverence of this high feast of Pentecost.'

'Now,' said Sir Gawain, 'we have been served this day of what meats and drinks we thought on; but one thing beguiled us, we might not see the Holy Grail, it was so preciously covered. Wherefore I will make here avow, that tomorn, without longer abiding, I shall labour in the quest of the Sangrail, that I shall hold me out a twelvemonth and a day, or more if need be, and never shall I return again unto the court till I have seen it more openly than it hath been seen here; and if I may not speed I shall return again as he that may not be against the will of Our Lord Jesu Christ.'

When they of the Table Round heard Sir Gawain say so, they arose up the most part and made such avows as Sir Gawain had made. Anon as King Arthur heard this he was greatly displeased, for he wist well they might not again say their avows.

'Alas,' said King Arthur unto Sir Gawain, 'ye have nigh slain me with the avow and promise that ye have made; for through you ye have bereft me the fairest fellowship and the truest of knighthood that ever were seen together in any realm of the world; for when they depart from hence I am sure they all shall never meet more in this world, for they shall die many in the quest. And so it forthinketh me a little, for I have loved them as well as my life, wherefore it shall grieve me right sore, the departition of this fellowship; for I have had an old custom to have them in my fellowship.'"

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