Tales of the Grail on Night Vision Radio

I just got a call from Rene Barnett of Night Vision Radio to be her guest this evening. We'll be discussing Grail lore and stories of different Grail Cups. There are dozens of different cups throughout the world that lay the claim to being the Holy Grail.  No matter if the Grail is actually the cup used at the Last Supper or some other object or idea, the stories behind the cups are fascinating on their own. So tune in tonight at 10PM CST to get in the discussion!

Does Poussin's Ideal Landscape Painting Hold A Templar "Easter Egg"?

A number of years ago I was lucky enough to catch the Louvre exhibit at Atlanta's High Museum of Art.   The High had imported an number of pieces from the Louvre and the centerpiece, for myself, was Poussin's Shepherds of Arcadia painting. (For more about that visit click here) The exhibit also included a number of other paintings by Poussin that I was familiar with, but were not seemingly connected with any of the esoterica that  Shepherds of Arcadia had been linked. One of the "secondary" works of Poussin caught my attention that day and for the last few years my observations has been in the "I really should write about..." file.

Poussin's Ideal Landscape (click image to enlarge)

Known as Ideal Landscape, this Poussin circa 1650 painting has virtually escaped the scrutiny of those interested in connecting Poussin to the Rennes-le-Chateau mysteries. On the surface, Ideal Landscape appears to be little more than just that. (If the image that appears here is too small to pick out fine details of this painting, a larger image may be found at this link.) The focal points of the central village and the lonely mountain almost draw one's eye away from the understated activity going on in the painting. At the bottom center, Poussin has included what appears to be two shepherd-like travelers asking directions from a supine figure. Up and to the right of that, are figures watering horses that reinforce the notion that the central village is some sort of way-point. Smaller still are the figures walking towards the buildings on the rise above the stream/river. Once again, there are hints of motion in the minutia of Poussin's work.

There's one of these nearly imperceptible figures that caught my attention when viewing the original.  Slightly above the heads of the two shepherd-like travelers asking for directions is a horse with two riders. The two riders on a single horse is of course reminiscent of the seal of the Knights Templar. The symbol was used to exemplify the vow of poverty that each Templar Knight took. The symbol also evokes the notion of sacrifice for one's brother and therefore for the order. 

Two Riders on a Single Horse Highlighted (click image to enlarge)

Seal of the Knights Templar

The larger question is why did Poussin include two riders on the same horse in this painting?  Is Ideal Landscape yet another Easter egg in the Gordian knot that Rennes-le-Chateau mysteries have become?  If Poussin did indeed mean for the riders to be a reference to the Templars, what purpose does that serve?  Could the sub-textual traveling theme in this painting give clues to a real geographic location that should be searched for?  I personally have little doubt that Poussin was either making a visual reference to the Templars, but what is the deeper message here? As in all things, I will leave that to your own thoughts.

Skullduggery: 45 True Tales of Disturbing the Dead

As many of you who regularly check out Grail Seekers, I haven't been posting too much over the last couple of months.  That's because I've been working on a book that has finally made it's way into print.  Skullduggery: 45 True Tales of Disturbing the Dead is a slight departure from the subject matter I cover here on Grail Seekers, but there is some common ground.  The write-up for the book on Amazon is as follows:

One of humanity's greatest unspoken fears is having our mortal remains desecrated in the grave. These fears reach as far back as the ancient Egyptians and are as close at hand as today's headlines. Skullduggery examines 45 real life tales of those who would disturb the dead's eternal slumber. Discover the post-mortem histories of Elvis, Groucho Marx, Charlie Chaplin, Thomas Paine, Alexander the Great, Eva Peron, Graham Parsons, Che Guevara, Albert Einstein, The Skull and Bones Society, and others who were not allowed to rest in peace. The motivations for these ghoulish crimes range from greed and avarice to pure affection. Once you step into the world of Skullduggery, you will never pass by a cemetery at night without considering what forces are at work in the dark.

You can find out more about Skullduggery and check out samples at the book's web site.

Skull and Bones Video Leaked?

On paper, it sounds too good to be true.  A video from a Yale Freshman was released on You Tube with a caption of a "look inside the courtyard of Yale's oldest secret society".  According to the Yale Daily News, the You Tube user name Dauphinish, left Yale in 2007 due to a medical condition and has since transferred to Branford College.  Since being at Branford, Dauphinish has been receiving death threats and was involved in a hit and run accident.  All of this transpired after Dauphinish bragged to friends that he had broken into the headquarters of the Skull and Bones Society, known as The Tomb, and filmed a video.

At the end of this page is the video supposedly filmed at The Tomb by Dauphinish.  There's some creepy scenes of Dauphinish entering a dark passageway. There's a coffin at the end of the passageway and what looks like bones scattered on a dirt floor.  Spooky as the You Tube piece is, is it worth death threats and a hit and run?

I've always been of the opinion that all powerful secret societies don't mess around with dime store tactics such as death threats and hit and runs.  If you've hacked off the masters of the universe, you're going to pay the price.  If the Skull and Bones Society is capable of stealing the skulls of Pancho Villa and Geronimo, placing Presidents on the throne, and any other conspiracy linked to the group; they are capable of successfully knocking off a college Freshman. After viewing the video, judge for yourself what price might be exacted from the uber-secret society for wandering on to their turf.

In my new book Skullduggery: 45 True Tales of Disturbing the Dead, I've included a chapter that looks into some of the alleged skull thefts of the Skull and Bones.