Why Do You Seek the Grail?

"You see, he was going for the Holy Grail. The boys all took a flier at the Holy Grail now and then. It was a several years' cruise. They always put in the long absence snooping around, in the most conscientious way, though none of them had any idea where the Holy Grail really was, and I don't think any of them actually expected to find it, or would have known what to do with it if he had run across it."
Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

My long time friend, Charlie Millson has always been supportive of the work here at Grail Seekers. He’s one of those friends that much of the topics I cover in the blog interests him, but has not plumbed the depths of the underground stream very much. Charlie was a history teacher for a number of years, so he is naturally attracted to the crypto-history Grail studies brings up.

As such, Charlie asks questions and brings a point of view that is much different than those I have regular correspondence with. I received an email this week with the following in it, “Taking the Shakespearean meaning of ‘wherefore’ as ‘why’, I didn’t see any link or commentary on why people seek the grail. Why do you? A standing editorial, perhaps, might be a good starting point.”

You’re exactly right Chuckles. Often I get caught up in the hunt and forget the “why” portion of the equation. I think that it is much easier to take action than it is to take stock of one’s motivations. My trip to New York for the Bloodline press conference is a prime example. Taking the steps to make that trip happen was difficult, but a much simpler task than asking myself what possessed me to do so.

Percival had the same issue that I am now realizing I have. For him, the action of the quest was the simple part. Answering the question of, “Whom does the Grail serve?” was his stumbling block. I decided to look within myself to answer Charlie’s original question, “Why do you?”

The answer I came up with wasn’t earth shattering or particularly insightful, although it turned out to be instructive to me. I seek the Grail because it is the ultimate end point. I realized that I have turned the Grail into an Ayn Rand knot of selfishness. No matter what your vision of the Grail is, by finding it all of one’s questions would have to be answered. It’s not the world changing power that the Grail might hold I wish to hold. The usefulness of such things is better left up to others I think. But my desire to simply have the questions answered on the myriad of topics that hit on the Grail, is why I seek.

Now this doesn’t help in making me the sort of pure of heart character that is worthy enough to answer, “Whom does the Grail serve?” As my wife Laura can tell you, I’m much too cranky and temperamental to fit any type of Joseph Campbell heroic mold. However, I do have an answer to the original question. That’s a start.

This also got me thinking about some of the correspondence I’ve gotten in the two years I’ve been writing the blog. From time to time I receive e-mails from readers that allude to why they are searching for the Grail. After writing the Nanteos Cup article, I got an e-mail from a woman that wanted to know if I had contact information for the Mirylees family. She had a sick family member and wanted to be able to use the Nanteos Cup for its legendary healing purpose. On the other end of the spectrum, I’ve received e-mails from folks that believe they are the end point of the Bloodline, those who know where the Ark of the Covenant is at, and have seen evidence of the Grail floating in the sky.

So why do you seek the Grail? If you're willing to share your thoughts with the rest of the group, e-mail me your answers. It might help others out there to see some of the "whys"out there to answer their own questions.

Bloodline Press Conference

I wasn’t quite prepared for what I walked into at Monday morning’s Bloodline press conference. Set up around the Jewish Museum’s Scheuer Auditorium were TV cameras and reporters from AP and Reuters milling about drinking coffee. I was definitly the little fish in the big media pond.

Running around the auditorium was producer Rene Barnett making last minute arrangements and jolly-glad-handing the media heavy hitters. Requests from reporters were flying past Rene, and from a distance sounded like adults talking in a Peanuts cartoon. I had to just sit back and observe the spectacle of the pre-event simply as an exercise in people watching.

Standing on the stage, next to the box found at the Cave of the Magdalene, in Rennes-le-Chateau, was an imposing figure of a man dressed in black with a Templar crest sewn onto his suit coat. I came to find out this man was a modern day Templar named Victor. He and his cousin Gloria Amendola had been tasked by the film’s crew to be the security detail for the relics that were about to be presented to the world.

Chest found in the Cave of the Magdalene

In making my way to introduce myself to Rene, I caught tid-bits from the media moguls gad-flying about the room. Their timbre was less than excited about what might be presented. One local reporter was grousing about having to be there. “Yea, I’ve got this to do then I go to the Met for the Superhero as art exhibit. But that kind of ties in, Jesus was the original superhero wasn’t he?”

Finally I got over to Rene and introduced myself. The rather gracious, if not harried native Oklahoman, thanked me for coming and offered to spend some time with me after the event was over. Almost before I could accept, she was drawn over to the stage for requests to take pictures of the relics.

Reverently, Victor took the chest from the panel’s table and laid it open for everyone to see. This slightly larger than a shoe box sized chest was opened and contained: 29 coins ranging in date from 100 BC to the Crusades (30 were found in the chest originally, but only 29 were on display), a small cup, an alabastra phial, a rolled parchment and long necked jar. Could I really be looking at the Holy Grail was all I could muster in my thoughts in observing the contents of the chest.

Shortly thereafter, the press conference began. Below is the video of Bruce Burgess’ presentation. I would urge you to go to the Bloodlines web site and check out the other video clips from the news conference. I’ve looked at them all and they give a good representation of what was presented.

I was impressed with the tone of Burgess’ message. The subtext to everything was that this is a beginning point. Burgess made clear that the finds need to have further examination. He is quite sure that the relics that were presented at the conference were from the marriage of Jesus and Mary Magdalene because of the Bérenger Saunière documents found by Ben Hammott. As to the Templar Tomb, Burgess believes that someone of importance is buried there. Is it Mary Magdalene? Burgess believes it could be, but is waiting for further excavations to make a claim of the identity of the corpse.

I asked the question in the conference what was to become of the relics and the stance of the French Government on the finds. Burgess’s answer was that everything has been done with the full knowledge of the French authorities and he would like to see all the relics on display for full public access.

After the conference was over, I ended up having lunch with producer Rene Barnett. In between phone interviews Barnett and I talked about everything from the process of “birthing” the film to the Priory of Sion. It was clear from our conversation that she and Burgess had sunk every last dime they had in getting this story out. “There were times Bruce was flying to Europe and we didn’t have the money for a hotel room for him.” she said. “Somehow we would mange to scrape together the money to put in the account for him on each trip”.

On the film’s detractors, Barnett was not too worried. In recent articles, the veracity of the film’s claims and the authenticity of the finds have come into question. Not batting an eyelash, Barnett said they had e-mails, pictures, and video to document each part of their story. Her tone was one of a person that would not associate her name with an elaborate hoax. “The film is dedicated to my daughter that passed away as filming began. Do you think I would dedicate this film to her if this were a hoax”, she said.

I then asked her about the Priory of Sion and the allusions in the trailers to their lives being in danger during the filming. “Oh, Ben’s brake lines were cut on his rental car at one point and film was stolen out of his camera. Not the camera itself, just the film.” Barnett said. I then ask if she thought they were in danger in New York. With a wistful grin, Barnett said, “If we were a little smarter we probably should be.”

I parted with Rene heading to another interview and I was left with the feeling I had just talked to a true believer. With the rest of the day on my hands, I made my way to play country come to town in the Big Apple. During my sightseeing, I was contacted by Erika Jones from the production company inviting me to dinner with Barnett, Burgess and a majority of the panel from the press conference. Well, who was I to say no?

I made my way to Harlem and Patsy’s Pizzeria for the engagement. Present was Dr. Gabriel Barkay and wife from Bar Ilan University in Jerusalem, retired Scotland Yard Homicide Detective Colin Taylor; Reverend Lionel Fanthorpe and his wife. The talk throughout dinner was of the finds, their importance, and the press conference. There wasn’t anything conspiratorial about the meeting. Everyone’s conversation was more of old friends chatting about a day at the office.

Which brings me to my conclusions about everything I had seen that day. I have no doubt that everyone I came in contact with, that had anything to do with the film, are open and honest. Everyone had the air of acting on the good faith of the evidence that had been presented to them and what they had found and examined. Now the possibility exists that Burgess and Barnett have been duped by outside forces. Then again, that’s always a possibility when dealing with anything in the underground stream. Never once did my spider sense tingle that I was being led down the primrose path by Burgess or Barnett.

So I will take the same approach that Burgess did in the press conference. Bloodlines should be a beginning point and not the final solution to the Rennes-le-Chateau mysteries. The Templar tomb, when excavated might very well be that ending point. But for now, I will wait with the rest of the world to see what the next chapter in the Bloodline story holds.

Grail Seekers to Cover Bloodlines Press Conference

I just got finished making my final travel arraignments for a very quick visit to New York on Monday and Tuesday of next week. My avowed purpose for making this quick jaunt is to cover the Bloodlines Documentary press conference at the Jewish Museum on the 5^th.

Now why would I take the time, effort, and energy required to make such a trip? You see fellow Grail Seekers, the producers of the film are making the claim that they will be showing the Grail on Monday.

According to the press invite I received, “Among the relics are a simple pottery drinking cup and a small ointment vase that were said to have been used at the wedding of Jesus and Mary Magdalene over 2000 years ago. According to the priest who hid them away a century ago, they have been passed down from generation to generation as sacred relics - the true Holy Grail - which symbolized this secret wedding.”

I will not speculate on the validity of this claim at this time. In truth, it still up to the individual to recognize what they believe the Grail is, and I have no wish to influence your views. However, if everything is on the level, this is big…

I’m planning on dropping audio blogs about the press conference so everyone can get the first news about the event. For those of you who follow on the My Space feed, the audio blogs will only be available on my Blogger page and on the Grail Seekers web site feed page. I’m using the Utterz service for the audio blogs. As I post the audio blogs, they might not show up with a title or any text. Simply hit the play button on the post and the audio should magically spring forth.

Keep checking back on Monday for any other developments as they unfold. With 48 hours in New York, there’s no telling what adventures I’ll find myself getting into…

A Visit to Rosslyn Chapel

My first time visiting Rosslyn Chapel was in 1999. Remember the pre Da Vinci Code days when you were reading Born in Blood and people were perplexed when you told them the book was about Templars and Freemasons? Those were the heady days when I visited Rosslyn.

There was no one in the Chapel except myself, my buddy Craig Bryant, and maybe two other folks. The Chapel was a quite place of reflection on the mysteries the Sinclairs left for us. It was almost like the stones talked to you in the silence. Possibly the voices we heard was from the hangover from the copious amounts of Scotch we’d drank the night before. No matter the reason, it was like stepping into the Holy of Holies when entering the Chapel in those days.

Another Biblical scene entered my mind when visiting this go around. The money changers had entered Temple when Laura and I visited Rosslyn this Monday. There were at least 150 people roaming around the tiny Chapel and the grounds when we arrived early Monday. Loud, plodding tourists had invaded one of the world’s most enigmatic structures. One had to literally step over the other visitors just go get a decent picture of anything in the Chapel. The up side to the increased traffic to the Chapel is additional funds for conservation and research. I just hope the additional funding is going to the right places.

However, this trip wasn’t without a few new insights and revelations into the Sinclair’s masterpiece. The first being a cordoned off area right behind the Apprentice’s Pillar. There was a 4’x3’ area enclosed with yellow and black caution tape around a thick piece of plywood sitting on the Chapel’s floor. I had asked one of the Chapel’s employees what was going on in the cordoned off space. Their answer was that it was, “Repairs or some such work going on over there.” There is a slight step behind the Apprentice’s Pillar that could have been damaged by increased foot traffic.

Is the cordoned off space keeping visitor’s safe or is it keeping the public from seeing something else that’s going on behind the pillar? Whatever is happening behind the Apprentice’s Pillar happened sometime between the middle of September and the first of October. I searched back through my Google alerts on “Rosslyn Chapel” and found some bloggers that had taken pictures in the Chapel in the last few weeks. This image on Fickr uploaded on 22 Sept 07 does not show the barrier. The picture in this blog dated 3 Oct 07, with almost the same perspective as the first photo, shows the barrier up. I had one picture turn out with the barrier shown, and in the slide show below. The other pictures I took of the barrier were on a bad memory card. I’ll be searching though the video we took to see if I have some better shots today and will post when, and if I can find them.

With everything that’s been transpiring in the news and the anniversary, it makes one wonder if the folks at Rosslyn aren’t trying to find something behind the Pillar. It is long been thought that the secrets of Rosslyn are hidden in the Apprentice’s Pillar. Could this be a small shaft to look at what’s inside the Pillar from below? Once again, Occam’s Razor and wishful thinking usually get the best of me.

Since Rosslyn is also the working Saint Matthew’s Church, we had happened on a ten minute prayer service. Laura and I decided to descend into the crypt area of the Chapel to explore while the short service was happening. The crypt area was much as I remembered it with one exception. In the first two niches in the wall, as you walked down the stairs, were sprays of flowers. A bouquet of red roses in the left niche and one of white in the right niche were present. Both sets of flowers looked like they were a few days old. Evidently, someone had the same idea about placing flowers at Templar related sites at Rosslyn and Paris on the 13^th.

Going back up to the main floor after the service was over, I had an errant thought. There is little dispute that the Chapel was designed to teach or show a story. This would make the entire Chapel a type of Masonic Tracing Board in the form of an actual building. Possibly, each set of windows in the Chapel represent a lesson that would be taught to an initiate. If this was the case, there is one thing missing that would be the key to deciphering the whole meaning of the Chapel, the original stained glass. There is not a single piece of the original stained glass in the entire building. I began to fear that the mysteries of the Chapel would never be found without that information. The Sinclairs had frustrated me yet again…

Laura and I left the Chapel shortly thereafter and headed over to the Grail Restaurant (I’m a sucker, what can I say?) for a lunch. With haggis, neeps, and taddies fortifying our souls we headed over to the bus stop to return to Edinburgh. We realized that I had misread the times on the bus schedule and had another 45 minutes to kill in the village. Wandering around, we found the Rosslyn-Sinclair Masonic Lodge just down the village’s main road. Tucked away behind the main buildings of the burg, it was nice to see where my Brothers meet in this village of mystery. Maybe next visit, I’ll arrange to set Lodge there. Those guys must have some stories to tell…

Making our way back to the bus stop we ran into a couple of interesting travelers. They were two down on their luck gents who were obviously backpacking around the country looking for a home. One of the fellows had a very loyal dog with him who rarely left his side. The dog’s owner had a number of tattoos on his right forearm of various esoteric symbols. One was of the Eye of Horus between his left thumb and index finger. Both men sat very quietly waiting for the bus and did not seem to be your usual down on your luck types. Maybe the lads had some other purpose in being there that day. Pushing my penchant for the fantastical out of my head we waited for the bus to continue back to Edinburgh.

Below is a sideshow of some of the things we saw that day. Due to the restrictions on flash photography, some of the photos didn’t come out as well as I would have wished them to. I’ve also thrown in a not-so-good picture of the Stone of Destiny where it sits in Edinburgh Castle. The photo was taken outside the vault where it rests. I had to take this one on the sly since photos were not allowed inside the vault. However, no one said I couldn’t take a picture of the Stone from outside the vault looking in…

700th Anniversary of the Knights Templar Arrest in Paris

There is an unmistakable power in the first rays of sunlight peaking over the horizon. The renewal of daybreak vanquishing the darkness and despair of night is not only an esoteric metaphor, but in some cases a physical reality. Soldiers, parents of sick children, and disheartened souls have but a single prayer in the darkness, “Please God, just let me make it through this one night. Everything will be fine in the morning. Just help me make it through until morning.”

The journey from darkness into the light is all part of life’s natural progression. That was until the dawn broke on 13 October 1307. French sheriffs broke the seals on their orders at dawn, those that could read saw the words, “By order of Phillip the Fair; arrest all Templars.” The prayers of all Templars that day would turn the natural progression into, “God, just let me make it thought this one day.”

At 8:07 AM this October 13^th, my wife Laura and I made our way to the site Jacque DeMolay was burned at the stake. Paris was barely alive as we started out that Saturday morning. Drunken revelers from the night before and those unlucky enough to be on their way to work were all that rode the Metro that morning. Each stop that got us closer to the Ile de la cité made me a little antsier about what we might find at dawn’s break.

For years, I had planed this trip. For the last eight years, I had wanted to be at this place at sunrise on this day. It wasn’t the type of Richard Dreyfuss’ obsession in Close Encounters of the Third Kind to get to Devil’s Tower, but a nagging in the back of my mind. I had told myself that no romantic notions of shadowy figures handing me documents clouded my vision. Just a simple wish to connect with an important part of history drove the though on.

The train stopped at Cité station around 7:40, a quick ten minute walk and we were at the Pont Neuf bridge. We hustled down a long staircase from the bridge to the park below. Before breaking the bottom stair, I looked back at my wife and gave her a secret smile. Prematurely thanking her for following me on my quixotic vision half way around the world for some unknown payoff.

At the bottom of the staircase we found the plaque that marks the place Jacque DeMolay was burned at the stake in 1314. In a city of ornate and larger than life monuments, the plaque is much too simple a marker for the injustice that happened at that spot. Below the marker we found a spray of long stemmed white roses with a ribbon that read, “Geoffrey de Charney” and burned out votive candle. A simple memorial left to the man that followed DeMolay into the flames.

Sitting a few feet below where the flowers were located was a man that could have been Johnny Depp’s younger brother. There was nothing else there that morning. No grand group of those that wished to remember, no messages left to honor those who had gone before us, just my wife, I and Johnny Depp. We didn’t speak to Johnny, but it was obvious he was there for the same reason we were. Digital camera in hand, Johnny gauged us in the same way we looked at him. Somehow, we must have thought it irreverent to have spoken in that predawn moment.

Laura and I stood there until the sun rose over the Pont Neuf bridge and I wondered how horrible this day must have been 700 years ago. From this point then, one could have seen both Notre Dame and the Temple’s headquarters. One can only imagine what extra bit of punishment it must have been for DeMolay and de Charney.

After a few pictures and my silent vigil, we decided to catch some breakfast and head to Temple Square. All that is left of the Templar’s headquarters has been made into a playground and garden. In the park is also a small pond that was possibly built with some of the foundation stones from Templar’s keep.

When Laura and I got to the park, we found the same thing Phillip the Fair’s men found that morning. There was a hint of the Templars, but none of the Knight’s treasures. Behind a low railing and close to the pond, there was another floral arraignment. This time it was red roses in the shape of a cross in a field of white roses. Having Laura play lookout, I jumped the barrier to get a closer look. At the head of the arraignment was a small flag with a red cross, the Templar motto “Non Nobis Domine Non Nobis Sed Nomini Tuo Da Gloriam” and the dates 1118, 1307, 1312, and 1314.

That was all that was evident of the Knights Templar in Paris that day. Someone had traveled to the same places we did for the same reasons, but no more. There were no organized remembrances or grand “happening” in Paris that day I was aware of. As Laura and I walked away from Temple Square, I turned to her and told her that I thought I was on a fool’s errant. Secretly I had hoped something would happen, someone would be at those places, and some part of the mystery would be swept away.

Laura looked at me almost angrily and reminded me that I should never think that. I was scolded into remembering what I’ve said so many times over, that our quests are our own and for that I had succeeded. God love her, she’s much wiser than me. In my slight shame for doubting my purpose, I remembered that the pilgrimage was to honor those that had been such a fascination for me for so long. In that I had succeeded. At that, I took Laura’s hand and we set out to explore more of Paris and to remember why I had came.

Mirror Image Overlay of Poussin's Shepherds at Arcadia

It would seem that my OCD knows no end. I’ve been e-mailing back and forth the last few days with Derek Bair about his book Discovering Da Vinci’s Daughter. Hopefully, I’ll be able to chat with Derek later this week about how he was the actual discoverer of the Da Vinci mirror images, and not Slavisa Pesci.

In thinking about conducting this interview, my inner muse must have been working overtime. The mirror image of artwork theory set does have its problems as well as the intriguing results many of us have seen. The basic problem with the mirror over lay theory is that of technology. How Da Vinci or anyone else could, create such a complex hidden message on a fresco or canvas without the aid of transparent overlays or Photoshop?

Well I don’t really have a good answer for this. I have a half-baked-untested first come to mind answer. The use of a two-way mirror comes to mind. Given the right lighting conditions, one can get a visual feedback on a two way mirror. Could Da Vinci have set a two way mirror in front of the works in question and created a ghostly overlay image on the back of the mirror? Thus giving him a way to paint the hidden information in, and a way to for an initiate to extract said hidden images?

It sounds far fetched, but like I said it’s a first come to mind answer. The biggest problem with this theory is that I haven’t been able to recreate it and the first known two-way mirror was patented in 1903 by Emil Bloch. By the time I had done some digging on this end of the theory, something else rattled loose in the back of my head.

The litany of “mirror-image, paintings, mirror image, paintings” soon turned into a thought of a very famous Grail mystery related painting that does have a mirror image related to it. I almost smacked myself for not thinking of it before now. I’m sure that given some of the comments this article might foster, I will smack myself for going on this particular limb.

At Shugborough Hall in Staffordshire, England rests a monument depicting Poussin’s Shepherds at Arcadia painting in mirror image. The common theory is that the monument’s image was produced in mirror image because it was copied from an engraving. What if that isn’t the reason at all, and it’s yet another clue to deciphering the paintings secrets? What if the monument alludes to this business of looking at Shepherd’s at Arcadia with the mirror image overlay?

Here’s the original painting(click to enlarge)

Here’s the mirror image overlay using a mirror image overlay with the mirror image’s transparency being reduced by 50%. (click to enlarge)

Here’s what I’m seeing. A heart in the center of the tomb, with possibly wings and a chalice at the top. (click to enlarge)

Is it something or is it nothing? Is it the resolution and wishful thinking that have produced something that looks like a heart at the tomb’s center? I didn't even mention the Green Man I saw peaking out of the trees above the tomb. Or could there be something to mirror image overlay theory? As in all things, I’ll let you be the judge.

More Da Vinci Mirror Image Fun

Since I evidently don't know that I need to get some sleep, I thought I'd try a few other Da Vinci painting's overlay mirror images. Sadly to say I got nothing on the first few tries, including the Mona Lisa. However, I'm almost ashamed to say what this looks like to me in the famous Da Vinci red chalk self portrait. Original Image, click on the image to enlarge.

Mirror Image overlay

Is that an "All Seeing Eye" that forms in the center, or do I just need to go to bed?

The Stone of Destiny

There is one common thread that holds most monarchies together. Bloodlines, royal jewels, ceremonies, and associated pomp all boil down to a feeling of tradition that monarchies bring to their subjects. Often one, or more, of these elements become as important as the monarch themselves.

The Stone of Scone, sometimes called the Stone of Destiny, can certainly be placed in this class. The Stone has been a part of the Scottish and English coronation ceremonies since at least 847. From looking at the Stone, one could not discern there was any importance to it at all. There is nothing physically remarkable about the stone, it is not jewel encrusted nor is it of any unusual material. As it appears today, it is a sandstone block measuring 26 inches long by 16 inches wide, and 10 1/2 inches deep.

However from the humble outward appearance, the Stone has a remarkable history. The first Scottish King Kenneth Mac Alpin was seated on the Stone of Scone during his coronation. The Stone helped crown all Scottish Kings, and John Balliol, until it was stolen by the English Army in 1296. There it rested in Westminster Abbey nearly tucked under Saint Edward’s chair. With the exception of Queen Mary II, all English sovereigns have used the Stone and Chair in their coronation ceremony. The Stone was finally returned to Scotland in 1996 and presently resides in Edinburgh Castle.

No one knows exactly why this particular stone should have been used in any coronation ceremony. History does not document the reasons behind the use of the Stone. One possible reason might be a connection to the veneration of stones seen throughout the UK. One has to go no further than Stonehenge or any of the other smaller stone circles that dot the country to draw this conclusion. However since no one has an exact answer to why these sites were important and to exactly whom, we’re back at square one.

That’s where tradition and lore come in. The prevalent tradition is that the Stone was used by the Biblical figure Jacob, as a pillow, on the night of his ladder dream. In Jewish tradition, Jacob’s pillow was used as the pedestal for the Ark of the Covenant in Solomon’s Temple. How the Stone got to Scotland isn’t very clear. Some have theorized that the Lost Tribe of Israel ended up in Scotland and brought it with them. Others think the Stone ended up in Ireland and was blessed by Saint Patrick. It was then used in Irish Kingdom of Dalriada from roughly 400 AD until 850 AD, when Kenneth I, the 36th King of Dalriada, moved his capital of his empire to Scone in Scotland.

To further muck up the crypto-history of the Stone are the assertions that the Stone that rests in Edinburgh Castle today is a fake. In 1296, Edward I of England led an army into Scotland to crush the rebellion. After sacking Edinburgh Castle and stealing the Scottish Crown Jewels, Edward made no attempt to hide that his next target was to procure the Stone of Scone. From the beginning of the campaign, Edward took three months to make the way to Scone. This was more than enough time to hide the original stone.

As lore would have it, the monks at Scone Palace did just that. When Edward’s army plundered the Palace at Scone they recovered a Stone, but was it the right one? One legend presented in a recent Scotsman article asserts that, “The stone is not the original as the original was marble. It was actually the septic tank cover at Aborath Abbey…Generations of English kings have since been crowned while sitting on the medieval equivalent of a lavy pan lid.” It wouldn’t be the first time the religious men of Scotland hid items of importance from the invading English. Bishop Wishart hid the coronation vestments in his treasury until Robert the Bruce was crowned King in 1306.

Supposedly, the monks of Scone hid the real Stone in the River Tay or buried it on Dunsinane Hill. Another tales says that Angus Og Macdonald was given the Stone and hid it either on Skye or in the Hibrides. A descendant of Macdonald’s, Iain Alasdair Macdonald, contacted Scottish historian Nigel Tranter claiming that he was in possession of the true Stone. Add in a few stories of farmers finding a washed out caves that were the hiding place of the true Stone, and you have no discernible proof any of the stories are accurate.

The other twist to the story of the Stone is that it might be a double fake. In 1950, a group of four Scottish college students broke into Westminster Abby to steal the Stone and bring it back to Scotland. The students belonged to a group called the Scottish Covenant Association, whose ultimate goal was to gain public support for Scottish independence from England. On Christmas Day, the three of the group entered the Abbey and removed the Stone. The liberators conducted a near perfect crime; aside from breaking the Stone in half and crushing two toes of one unlucky student.

The group eventually made their way out of England and returned it to Scotland. It remained hidden until April of the following year. The Stone was left on the altar in the Aborath Abbey, fully repaired. Police investigations found that stonemason Robert Gray had repaired the Stone taken from Westminster in the intervening months. Some think that Gray switched the Westminster Stone and helped return a forgery. In the 1930’s Gray had produced a number of replicas of the Stone to sell as a kitsch item.

Now enter the Knights Templar. One knows by now that there can’t be any tale of any historical medieval mystery that doesn’t include the Templars. In 1999 a curious offer was made to the Scottish Parliament. A group of modern day Knights Templar claimed they were in possession of the Stone and would return it if Parliament wished. A 33 pound stone, decorated with a single Latin Cross, had been in the care of Rev Dr John MacKay Nimmo for decades before the Stone’s return to Scotland. Nimmo was a Chevalier of the Knights Templar of Scotland and a Church of Scotland minister and died in 1999. According to his Nimmo’s wife, it was his wish the Stone be returned to the Scottish Parliament. The Templars made the request on her behalf. Where the Nimmo’s stone came from is not quite clear. Nimmo’s Stone was then given over to the Church in Dull, Perthshire for safe keeping.

So the possibility exists that the Stone in Edinburgh Castle is a forgery of the Westminster Stone, which was a forgery of the original Stone. Anecdotal evidence can sway the argument to any of these points of view. There are some early references to the stone being marble and having “strange carvings” across its body. This of course fits with none of the versions of the Stone story thus presented and would lead one to believe the true Stone is tucked away somewhere. And there’s the near dying declaration of Margaret Pearl Cook, one of the founders of the Scottish Nationalist Party, that she knew the Westminster Stone was a fake. Cook also asserted to a nephew that she knew the location of the true Stone, but supposedly never told the whereabouts of it before she passed away.

Interest in the Stone never quite seems to fade away. This month there is an archeological study being preformed at Scone Palace. It will be interesting to see if they find anything that will clear up any of the questions that are out there about the Stone’s history. And if you thought this article was too long, there will be a movie released sometime in the next year about the 1950 liberation of the Westminster Stone.

One thing is a certainty; the Stone of Scone has become a Holy Grail in its own right. Men and women have fought to possess it or to obscure it from those unworthy to lay claim to the Stone. In the end, what could follow the basic theme behind the Grail than that?

Thoughts on the Grail at the Last Supper

With Easter coming up, I thought it might be beneficial to look into the most persistent of all theories of the Holy Grail. The most common theory is that the Grail is the cup Jesus used at the Last Supper. Given that Biblical accounts of the Last Supper describe historical events, Jesus did use some sort of vessel to drink from. Therefore, this cup or cups did at one time exist.

The implication here is something that is not talked about in modern day Grail studies. Today the Grail means something different to different people. The Cup of Jesus, Jesus’ blood line, the Ark of the Covenant, a Druidic Artifact, and The Philosopher’s Stone top the list. Differing interpretations of the Grail’s nature have existed since the time of the first Grail romances. The trouble is that groups would attach their own meaning to what the Grail was and muddy the waters for the modern day Seeker. Because of the antiquity of Grail legends, there could be some validity to each theory.

For example, in the early 1600’s the Rosicrucians have a stone they believe to be the Philosopher’s Stone. They attach the moniker of Holy Grail to it, and base an esoteric system around the Stone being the Grail. The metaphors the Rosicrucians use for the Grail are the same Grail Romance metaphors used by the Priory of Sion to describe the Grail as the blood line of Jesus. Both views are that of the Holy Grail, but of two different Grails. Looking at Grail studies in this light now aren’t popular because everyone wants to have a definitive answer as to what and where the Grail is. You can’t sell books telling your theory or show up on a History Channel special if you view Grail studies with this type of diversity.

In order to limit the scope of the discussion, I have stuck to a Socratic method of looking at a primarily Christian tradition. Please don’t e-mail me and shout that my views are limited and I’m not being opened minded. The attempt here is to look at one facet of this Grail theory. This article is also part of my “diversification” of Grail mysteries. There might be more that one cup used at the Last Supper, which explains why there are a host of Grail Cups out there. With that out of the way, let’s begin.

Would anyone have thought to venerate that particular cup?

According the Matthew, Jesus did predict his crucifixion (Matthew 26:2) and say that he would drink with them from that cup until the “Kingdom of God will come”(Luke 22:17-18). That’s a point in the Apostle’s favor in viewing the cup as a potentially sacred object worth holding on to. However, the Apostles weren’t always so attentive to Jesus’ teachings. The Apostles fell asleep when Jesus told them not to, they didn’t understand parables, and they tried to casting out demons when Jesus told them not to. The Apostle’s list of follies goes on and on. So, would one of them have the presence of mind to preserve the cup? At the time of the Crucifixion, I’m not so sure.

Two days later when your Rabbi is said to have risen from the dead, that’s a different story. I would like to think that I would be saving items that were linked to someone that had just walked out of his tomb. Given a tradition of Holy Jewish objects, it’s plausible that at least one of the Apostles would have thought the cup used at the Last Supper would have had been at very least a sacred object.

Could there be multiple Grail Cups?

The Haggadah (translated from Hebrew as “telling”) is a text that describes Passover ceremony and etiquette that has been around since at least 200 AD. Some scholars believe the traditions and some of the Haggadah texts go back to the time of the Second Temple Period (560 BC to 70 AD). The text describes using four different cups to perform the Passover ritual. Each of the cups is used to symbolically express the redemption and exodus from Egypt and Israel’s birth as a nation. (Exodus 6:6-7) Were all Passover rituals done the same in the first century? No, just as not all Passover ritual is exactly the same today. They vary from family to family and Jewish Sect to Jewish Sect.

The Gospels refer to “the cup” in Matthew 26:27. This is the Greek word , and according to Strong’s Concordance it is a singular noun. Then again, this refers to the cup that Jesus used to establish the New Covenant. In that sense there was only the one cup that was used for that activity.

Why would the Cup used at the Last Supper have miraculous powers?

Mark 6:56 tells of the sick and infirm being laid on the roadside just for the chance to touch Jesus’ garment to be healed. The text goes on to say that those who did touch Jesus were healed. Given your views on the divinity of Jesus, there are a couple of routes to go on this point.

1. The cup used for the first sacrament transubstantiated the wine in the cup to Jesus’ blood. Thus imbuing the cup with Jesus’ powers.
2. If that cup was used at the Crucifixion to catch Jesus’ blood by Joseph of Arimathea, then the same holds true as above
3. The Cup has no powers what so ever and by faith alone its miraculous powers are seen
4. The Cup has no powers and it’s all a fairy tale.

Could the cup have survived to present day?

Sure why not? If I can go on E-Bay and find a cup that dates from 2500 BC that was found in the Indus River valley, then it is very possible. Besides that, for whoever was the steward of that cup, it was a sacred relic. Holy objects generally aren’t put in a chest and forgotten about. Unless of course the person that put that item in the chest never tells anyone what the significance of that cup. Thinking they will pass the cup on to someone on their death bed, fate snatches them before the secret can be told.

Could the Grail, as a cup, have a longer history than the Last Supper?

There is a tradition in the Languedoc region of France, that states the Grail cup has a much longer history that the Last Supper. This tradition states that Adam was the craftsman of a wooden Grail. Supposedly the wooden cup was the only legacy Adam left his descendants. Adam’s cup was passed down the Davidic line and eventually inherited by Jesus. What better cup to use at the Last Supper than one crafted by the first man? This legend has the added bonus of sounding like the Nanteos Cup.

So if the Grail is the Cup Jesus used at the Last Supper, what happened to it?
This is the fun part. If there were multiple cups used tat the Last Supper, then might this explain the multiple Grail Cups that can be found today? A number of these contenders for the title of “Holy Grail” all have very similar characteristics. The Valencia Chalice, The Marian (or Hawkstone Park) Cup, Chalice of the Abbot Suger of Saint-Denis, The Sacro Catino, and Rocco Zingaro's Cup have laid claim to be the Grail and have some physical similarities. Maybe all, some, or none of these cups were present at the Last Supper and their legends grew from simply being there.

What’s the Point?

The point to all of this is not to pin-point what the Grail is or if the Grail is the cup used at the Last Supper. I hope I’ve demonstrated that there is a general fallacy in the way most of us think about the Grail being one particular object or idea. For most of us who look for the Grail through research, I think it’s a lesson well learned. One can spend copious amounts of time going down blind alleys if one tries to mismatch their research with their personal vision of the Grail.

A Visit with the Shepherds at Arcadia

Early this week, I took Laura and my 6 year old son, Robert, to Atlanta for little man’s first official “vacation”. Our agenda was nothing other than to play tourist and visit some family. I was in the hotel lobby perusing the gaggle of poorly designed flyers, when the words “Louvre Atlanta” caught my eye. I then had a moment of serendipity when I realized this exhibit’s star offering was Poussin’s Les Bergers d’Arcadie (Shepherds at Arcadia). I hate to rat myself out, but I had no idea that the painting was a short 4 hours from my home.

What fascinates me is that the painting has become a modern-day Grail artifact. The mystique that has grown up around this painting has sucked me in as much as the possibility that there are hints about the Grail hidden in plain sight. Being the good Grail Seeker, I had to see the painting for myself, and review what I knew of its history.

I will not take your time and retell what has already been written about the painting or Poussin. Concise histories and fun facts of both can be found at the following site links: Wikipedia, Art Cyclopedia, and New Advent.

The painting took to the underground stream in 1982 with the publishing of Holy Blood, Holy Grail . The book put forth the theory that Poussin was involved with the Prior of Zion and painted Shepherds as a hint to the Priory’s secret knowledge. The authors point out that Shepherds bears an inscription on the tomb that reads “Et in Arcadia Ego”. The authors make a claim that this is an anagram and also point out it was family motto of Pierre Plantard. Another claim was made by Richard Andrews and Paul Schellenberger in their book, the Tomb of God. These gentlemen claimed that the painting was an actual scene around Rennes-le-Château, and geometric relationships in the painting formed a sort of treasure map.

In the last few years, the painting itself has not been in the news. However, there a mirror image sculpture of Shepherds at Shugborough Hall in Staffordshire, England that has. This sculpture has the inscription of :

    O•U•O•S•V•A•V•V

D•                   M•

The meaning of this inscription has never fully been understood. In 2004, Bletchley Park set an open contest to make sense of the inscription. On 25 Nov 04, the Bletchley Park web site announced the code was: Jesus (As Deity) Defy. The BBC website reported on the announcement here. The article also promised that in the near future many of the methods and solutions would be made public on their site. That has never happened and there is nothing that I can find, on the Bletchley Park web site that refers to Shugborough Hall. I even tried to contact an official at Bletchley in early 2006 for an explanation. My e-mail was never responded to. Sadly enough, the attention to the sculpture had an unintended consequence. On 14 May 04, the BBC reported that vandals smashed ornamental shells at the top of the monument.

Shepherds is being shown at the High Museum of Art as part of a loan from the Louvre until 2 Sept 07. Overall the Louvre Atlanta exhibit had a number of great pieces. I wasn’t impressed with the size or presentation of the works shown at the High. There was no attempt by the staff to connect the pieces to either history or a shared human experience. So if you’re headed to Atlanta thinking you’re going to get the Louvre in miniature, you’ll be disappointed.

However, one thing the High did get right was security. Art theft is a much more prevalent crime than most people realize. So much so the FBI actually has a full time art theft unit. I made the nice security guards quite nervous by viewing the painting much longer than the average tourist. No one has ever told me that I fit the profile of an art thief. (Maybe it’s my striking resemblance to Pierce Brosnan) With this type of security in mind, leave your cameras in the car. There is no photography of any kind in the Louvre exhibit.

I did leave the exhibit with a couple of observations about the painting itself. The first thing that struck me about the Shepherds is a matter of color. The pictures you’ve seen on line and in art books doesn’t quite get the color right. The colors are much more subdued that one would be lead to believe by photographic representations. The other thing that stuck out was the brush strokes. In the upper right hand corner of the painting the brush strokes are more prevalent than in any other place in the painting. I’d lay better odds that there is something “hidden” in the brush strokes than in the geometric layout of the painting’s elements. It would be rather easy to embed a short string of letters or numbers in a dark blue field using simple brush strokes. Then again, I tend to be simple in my musings…

If you find yourself in Atlanta, by all means put the High on your list of places to see. Even with all the petty whining I’ve done, Shepherds at Arcadia is something to behold. The work is a piece of modern day Grail history, and to see it felt like a small victory to this Grail Seeker.

Post Script on the Hertfordshire Mysteries

I appreciate all of the positive feedback I've gotten on the Hertfordshire Grail Mystery Reexamined piece. The predominate response I received was after Tim Acheson's well being. I am happy to say that I contacted Tim after the piece was posted and he seems to be doing just fine. He even gave a thumbs up about the article. I'm sure Tim would appreciate everyone’s concern. The world is a much more interesting place with Tim and Ben around.

BK

Hertfordshire Grail Mystery Reexamined

2004 passed with many of you not knowing the names of Tim and Ben Acheson. This is not surprising to my American audience since the story was chronicled in newspapers, magazines, and a TV special in the United Kingdom. For our UK Grail Seekers, you might recall that the Achesons made a splash in the underground steam with an announcement to a reporter from the Hertfordshire Mercury. The Acheson brothers asserted that there are tunnels under Hertford, a small town 20 miles north of London, which are still in use.

What’s so surprising about that? If I were to tell you that the tunnels were used by modern-day Templars and members of the Illuminati, what would you think? What if there was an immense treasure that might be the Holy Grail, under Hertfordshire? Those are the questions the world had to answer after Raymond Brown’s article about the Acheson brothers appeared in the 8 October 2004 issue of the Hertfordshire Mercury.

If you’re not familiar with the Achesons, I’ve listed links to all the relevant articles at the bottom of the page. I would highly recommend reading these articles.

The Acheson’s story is that they are descendants of a Templars family. While they will not confirm their role within any modern-day Templar organization, they seem to know quite a bit about the group’s goals. Tim Acheson was interviewed by the Guardian in January of 2005 and gives some hints about the importance of Hertfordshire and the Grail mystery. Tim claims that groups of Templars came to Hertfordshire after Black Friday in 1307 and made it a base of operations. He believes that the passages below ground in Hertfordshire may hold the answer to many of the questions about the Grail and the Templars.

Acheson even took a couple of reporters on tours of these underground passages. According to Acheson the whole city is honeycombed with tunnels that are used by the Templars and the Illuminati as a meeting site. Through out the articles on Acheson, he is rather hidden about what he knows, or suspects, is going on in Hertfordshire. He makes references to revelations that could be forth coming due to a new generation of Templars wanting to be more open. If one takes a closer look at the facts presented in the press; a few interesting possibilities open up.

In May of 2005, the Hertfordshire Mercury reported that a Vernon Gifkins was identified as one of the first people to enter Hitler’s bunker in May of 1945. Tim Acheson was also identified and quoted as being Gifkins' grandson. We come to find out that Gifkins was also an MI5 agent and according to Tim, “"He was a real character, hunting man-eating lions in Africa and also a lot of real James Bond work. He took some very interesting documents from the bunker." Given Hitler’s penchant for the occult, one wonders what might have been taken from that bunker.

One has to dig a little to see what the relevance of Gifkins is to the claims the Achesons have made. The article mentions that the Gifkins “live in Bayley Hall, which his family owned, and the Old Vicarage in Church Street.” If we go back to the first article about the Achesons, there is a picture of a map that shows a1898 map of Bayley Hall. The map marks a subterranean passageway on the property that would link up with the other passages the Achesons claimed to be running under Hertfordshire. One can imagine the Achesons as teenagers exploring the tunnel systems against the warnings of their grandfather.

Tim’s interest in the tunnel system and the Hertfordshire treasure might not be a passive one. In March of 2005, the Hertfordshire Templars requested to undergo excavations on an undisclosed property in the town. The property in question is said to have been a Templar holding in 1253. The landowner denied the group’s requests. Tim is quoted as saying, “If the whereabouts of these items is still known after all this time, and they are still wanted, one can only conclude that they must have some intrinsic value.” The timing of the request leads one to believe that the Templar might be looking for hard evidence to present to the world.

I tend to think that this property is on the Brickendonbury estate in the village of Brickendon, which lies a few miles south of Hertfordshire. The estate was once owned by Sir Thomas Clarke, who built the present manor house there in the 1690’s. Clarke was also responsible for building Bayley Hall. The March 2005 article mentions that “items claimed to be "secreted beneath the surrounding fields, outbuildings, moat and house have been there for 700 years.” This loosely fits with the description of Brickendonbury.

The possible Grail and Acheson connections don’t end there. Located in Brickendon is the Chapel of the Holy Cross and St Alban, which was the chapel Brickendonbury estate. On the grounds of the chapel are a number of different types of trees. One of which is reported to be part of the Glastonbury Thorn. Also, during World War II, the Brickendonbury house was used by British intelligence to train agents in industrial sabotage. Perhaps Vernon Gifkins received some training there. It would fit with what we know of Gifkins.

Of course all of this is pure conjecture on my part. In hoping to satisfy my own theories, I tried to track Tim Acheson down. Through some sleuth work and good luck I was able to do so. We traded correspondence through October and November. Tim even agreed to do the interview with me. After sending him a list of questions, poof, he was gone. I have not heard from Tim since. Also, know that I will not disclose my method of contact with Tim. So please don’t waste your time emailing me asking for the particulars.

I do hope everything is well with him. No matter what you think of the validity of Acheson’s claims, he does live in a shadowy world. Since the Grail world is filled with those who run the gambit between reality and pure fiction, the possibilities of their actions are equally as broad. I wish Tim and Ben all the luck in the world, and more over I hope they’re on to something.

The major articles that recount the story of the Achesons can be found in the following places. Note: some of the articles are reprinted in other forums, after their links have become dead at the original source. I copied the articles from their respective original sources and can vouch that I have seen no evidence of rewrites. One can never be too careful with info on the web. Any quotes that I have made in this piece can be directly attributed to the following sources.

Secret tunnels used by Knights Templar and Illuminati in Hertford
Hertford, home of the Holy Grail
Pope was investigating Knights Templar before his election
Hertford Grail trail hits Aussie headlines
Michael Jackson checks in with tribute to historic Hertford Templar
Landowner Blocks Hunt for Templar Treasure
Revealed: Hertford's man in Hitler's bunker

Japan, Jesus, and the Grail

MSN Mainichi via Playboy Weekly (thus proving that, if not truth, fodder for the Grail Seeker’s hunt is truly scattered…) reported on 9 Jun 06 on Japan’s bid for a Grail tradition. The full article can be found HERE. The bad thing is there is no real substance to article. Lore of a lost treasure, a second coming of a messiah, and banners showing the cup of Jesus are interesting; but not the stuff of Grail tradition. When one links this information with other Christian traditions in Japan, an unusual pattern emerges.

Japan has a long standing Christian community that calls itself the Kakure Kirishitan, or Hidden Christians. According to history, Christianity was first introduced in 1549 by missionary Frances Xavier. ( If you’re looking for the Cliff’s Notes version of how Christianity came to Japan, the New York Times did a good piece in 1997 that can be found HERE ) It would seem that the Hidden Christians were persecuted by the country’s Buddhist and Shinto, lost their revolt, and went further underground. End of story… I would have thoughts to if it were not for this. There are some traditions that link Japan with early Judeo-Christian persons and events.

The first two are that the Ark of the Covenant resides now in Japan and the lost tribe of Israel settled there. For purposes of this article, I’m not going to delve into these theories. (If you’re interested the above links will take you to articles that illuminate the subjects.) However, the traditions do exist and lend an amount of plausibility to the Grail side of the story.

Grail Seeker point of logic: Where traditions exist, there is one of these reasons for their existence.

1. The tradition is as true to the situations/conditions described as possible. Oddly enough this is the hardest to prove. In most instances this is hard to believe that any tradition, in any social group, does not mutate some. Tiny deviances in a tradition’s factual basis can sometimes cast a shadow over its’ validity. The other issue with totally true traditions is that why should evidence be preserved to verify a story that a society knows is “true”? The best example here is one most of us have seen in real life. You walk into a bar one night and talk to someone expounding on their military service record. Most of what this person says is basically true. The person did serve in the military and all of his basic facts are correct. But, the introduction of alcohol into the situation creates variations in otherwise true events.
2. The tradition is totally false and was invented by someone with an agenda. . Whether the reason was to sell a bill of goods to social group or for the “greater good”, it doesn’t matter. The only good thing about totally false tradition is that it may be able to be totally disproved, and thus discarded for any logical considerations. Take the case of George Washington cutting down the cherry tree. Every school child in America would tell you that this story is totally true. The truth is that Mason Locke Weems invented this story for a biography of Washington. Since there was no reason to doubt Weems account, the story has stood almost to this day as a valid American tradition.
3. The tradition is a mixture of the above statements. This one really stinks for us looking to the past for answers. Oral traditions get muddled, names change spellings, authors own prejudices obscure some facts and shine on others, and are all reasons for fact and error to mix. It is then a most difficult job to pull apart the fact from the errors. This is especially true when two groups of people merge. Either through misunderstanding of the other’s language or culture, or divergent evolution the groups tales get interwoven.

The Japanese Christian tradition that dovetails on the 9 June 06 MSN Mainichi article is that Jesus actually resided in Japan. The village of Shingo claims that Jesus, and his brother, are entombed there. According to village tradition, at the age of 21 Jesus traveled to Japan and returned to Judea 12 years later. Events then unfolded as per the Gospel accounts, with the exception that he escaped crucifixion. Jesus’ brother Isukuri took his place on the cross in Jerusalem. Jesus then fled back to Japan, married there and eventually died there at the age of 106.

In 1935, Sajiro Sawaguchi, a native Shingoite claimed to be a descendant of Jesus. (For a complete article on this topic visit HERE.) Supposedly, Mr. Sawaguchi had documents proving that his blood line claim was factual. These documents were destroyed in WWII and exist only in second hand form. There is a copy of this document in Shingo today. The tradition of Jesus living in Japan is long standing and should be far removed from the influences of Western Traditions. I have seen references on the web that link Kakure Kirishitan oral history to the above story. I am hesitant to even mention this because I can in no way verify this fact. I do know that there is a Hidden Christian holy text: The Beginning Heaven and Earth. Having to keep their faith underground, their sacred thoughts were not in writing until recently. These links exist between Shingo and the Hidden Christians exist, could the “treasure” of the Hidden Christians have a Grail implication?

It is interesting that the Shingo legends have the ring of some of the Gnostic Gospels. Those that subscribe to the “Underground Stream of Knowledge” being the Grail this raises questions of how was the Gnostic influence introduced into early Japanese Christianity? Was it through a source prior to the 1549 missionary trip of Frances Xavier, or was it through one of Xavier’s party for their own ends? Or is there no link at all to Gnostic thought and the similarities are due to divergent evolution?

Those of you out there that lean towards the Holy Blood, Holy Grail line of thinking have just to transpose Japan with the south of France for all of your questions this raises.

As usual, there are no answers. Just a pile of questions and abstract Grail thoughts.

The Nanteos Cup

The story of the Nanteos Cup begins during the reign of King Henry VIII. In the late 1520’s, Henry began making steps to separate England from the spiritual authority of the Catholic Church. The disagreement between the Church and King centered round Henry’s desire to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragorn. Catherine had not produced a male heir for Henry and he wished to marry Anne Boleyn in hopes of producing a son. Henry bantered with the Catholic Church for a number of years. Henry exchanged letters and delegates with the Holy See in hopes of winning his annulment. The Catholic position was not only one of Church doctrine, but of politics. The Pope, not wishing to alienate England

In 1533, Henry took matters into his own hands and secretly married the pregnant Boleyn. Parliament then passed an act that dissolved Papal authority in England. This act made an English Court’s decision that Henry’s marriage to Catherine was legally annulled, and therefore his marriage to Boleyn valid. The Parliament’s actions also proscribed placing Henry as the spiritual leader of the newly formed Church of England. The doctrine of the Church of England was the same as Catholic doctrine with the exception of the Pope’s authority in matter of faith. By 1536, all public and ecclesial officials had to publicly denounce the authority of Rome in accordance with the Reformation Parliaments acts.

There was no public outcry for the loss of Papal authority. Most commoners saw the Catholic Church as a spiritual protection racket. The Church charged to perform weddings, baptisms, or funeral services. Without these services, the Church’s stance was that entry into heaven could not be obtained. To Henry, the Catholic Abbeys and Monasteries represented pockets of resistance to his reign. Pragmatically, they also represented a stream of income to the crown. Most Abbeys had large tracks of farmable land and other material assets that could be put to the King’s use. To insure that the monasteries were conforming to the law, Thomas Cromwell organized groups of commissioners to perform ecclesial spot checks. This turned out to be a rather lucrative job for the commissioners. Who had the honor of looting the monasteries where the monks were found to be in violation of the law.

It is during this time the Nanteos Cup surfaces. In 1539, the King’s commissioners were sent to check on the Abbey of Glastonbury. The Abbot of Glastonbury had evidently never denounced Papal authority. Some loyal Catholic had tipped the Abbot off that the commissioners were in the area. Upon hearing this, the Abbot made plans to hide the Abbey’s most prized possession. Along with what ever gold and silver wares the Abbey possessed, an olive wood cup measuring about five by three inches was hidden. One legend says the Abbot sent seven monks to the Strata Florida to safe guard the cup. The Abbot stayed at Glastonbury to cover the monk’s escape. For the Abbot’s devotion to his faith and the cup, the old priest was hung and Glastonbury Abbey was sacked. A second, more likely version, is that the Abbot accompanied the monks and barely escaped the commissioner’s ravages of Glastonbury.

At the Abbey Strata Florida in Cardiganshire, the monks found momentary refuge. Supposedly, they hid their treasure under a loose floor board in the main chapel. It wasn’t long before the commissioners picked up the monk’s trail. For a second time, the former Glastonbury Monks were informed that their position was in jeopardy. The group of seven could not go to ground forever. They had to find a patron to shield them from the King’s agents or leave the country.

The monks then made contact with the Powell family. It was also rumored that the Powell family was partners with the neighboring Stedman family in a rather extensive smuggling operation. There was said to be a tunnel running nearly a mile from the coast to the Powell’s manor. The local tavern talk was that the Powell’s loyalties to the King were bought with bribes to the local magistrates. Possibly it was the smuggler nature to turn a profit or secret Catholic ties that connected Lord Powell with the monks. For whatever reason Powell’s reasons, the seven monks were directed to fleet to the Powell estate of Nanteos.

When the monks reached Nanteos, the terms of their safe haven was struck with Lord Powell. In exchange for sanctuary, the Abbot would become personal chaplain to the family and the remaining monks would become servants around the estate. Lord Powell agreed and let the monks remain at the estate for as long as they liked. This arraignment went along for years. The monks lived their days with little difference than they had at Glastonbury. The only exception being, hiding in the costal tunnel when prying eyes came to the estate. The monks kept their part of the bargain for a number of years. All the while, keeping the secret of the cup they had spirited away from Glastonbury.

The ravages of age or disease began taking their toll on the monks, until only one remained. On his death bed, the lone Glastonbury monk called for Lord Powell. It was there he entrusted Powell with the olive wood cup and it’s secret. Lord Powell was told that this was the cup used at the Last Supper. It had been brought to Brittan by Joseph of Arimathea after the crucifixion. It must have been with some trepidation he took the cup from the dying monk. Viewing what he had been told was the Holy Grail. The monk charged the Powell Family to guard the cup, until the “Church shall claim her own.”

Lord Powell must have taken his charge seriously, because it stayed in the family for nearly 400 years. In 1739, the Nanteos House was rebuilt by Thomas Powell. The cup was housed in a glass container of an upstairs room. Visitors to Nanteos were even told the generations old tale of how this cup came into the family’s possession. The cup stayed there for another 200 years, attracting pilgrims hoping to receive miraculous healing from the cup. Water that had rested in the cup was sent to serious ill friends and family members all over the world. Richard Wagner made a trip to Nanteos in 1855 to see the cup while writing Parsifal, at the invitation of George Powell. George recounted tales of the cups healing powers to Wagner. It even convinced Tom Mac Donald of Western Mail and South Wales News to write an article on the cup. On 5 July 1934 he recounted the story of an 80 year old man who was healed of some unnamed sickness after drinking from the cup.

The pilgrims that traveled to Nanteos House to drink from the cup have taken a physical toll on the artifact. Those desperate enough to receive the blessings of the cup took to taking bites out of it. Hoping that by ingesting some of the cup, they would be made well again. At some point after the 1934 article was written, a silver ring was placed around the rim to hold the cup’s cracked pieces together. Some say that it was then the miraculous benefits of the cup ceased.

When the last of the Powell family passed away in 1952, the Nanteos House was sold to a Major Mirylees. The Mirylees were somewhat private about the cup. They no longer publicizing the fact they were the owners of the “Holy Grail”. The family did allow a few interviews regarding the cup. One was a 1997 BBC Television documentary and another was an interview granted to the Martinist Review in 1959. In the Martinist Review article, Marjory Mirylees hinted that the cup was still being used to some extent to heal the sick. She also mentioned that sometimes the water that was poured in the remaining portion of the cup turned a yellowish color, and tasted almost like wine. Mrs. Mirylees also assured the reporters that experts had told her the wood had absolutely nothing to do with the color change.

The present Mirylees have moved from Nanteos House. The once proud House has turned into a run down bed and breakfast. Choosing to preserve both the cup and their privacy they moved to Herefordshire and deposited this contender for the true Grail in a Lloyd’s Bank safety deposit box. The only time the Nanteos Cup has been displayed was in 2001, at the launching of a book Nanteos and their Families. At the time, Miss Mirylees said that she still sent water out from the cup.