Meaning of the Grail & My Podcast Interview

The Mysterious Grail

There’s a mystery in Western mysticism that has endured for nearly a thousand years. Yet its ambiguity still fuels much curiosity and discussion. In fact, it has come to represent the ultimate achievement in our modern world. Of course I’m talking about the Grail.

The concept of the Grail was first introduced into Arthurian legend back in the 12th century in Chrétien de Troyes’ unfinished romance, Perceval, the Story of the Grail. It is described as a beautiful golden serving dish or platter, studded with jewels. Its beauty is so dazzling that the eyes of all those present are drawn to it and it has the unique ability to sustain the life of the wounded Fisher King.

The Grail first appeared as part of a mystical procession at the Fisher King’s castle, carried by a maiden (obviously a faery for those who know what to look for). It is described in terms of its physical beauty but not in elaborate detail.

It Wasn’t a Holy Grail—Just “The Grail”

Subsequent Christian writers brought in the concept of the Holy Grail and connected it with the chalice used by Jesus at the Last Supper. However, that interpretation was not part of the original story.

Fascinating as the revised story may be, I am more interested in getting to the roots of the lore, before the church people added their interpretation. I have nothing against the Christianized versions of our myths and lore, because they do reflect the changing perceptions of their times, but they have lost a lot of the magic, the faeries and the connection with Earth and Nature that are so important in the earlier versions—and so important for us to rekindle now, if we are to change the course of our history.

Renewing Our Modern Wasteland

The kingdom of the Fisher King reflected his wound and is described as a wasteland. Was this a dire foreshadowing of our modern plight?

We have all heard about climate change, widespread pollution and a seemingly endless list of woes that threaten the viability of life on Earth, most or all of which are the result of human activity.

In fact, it is all beginning to sound a lot like the wasteland described in the Fisher King’s kingdom!

Asking the Right Question

The Perceval story is all about asking the right question—or any question—when he witnesses the strange procession of the Grail and the ailment of the Fisher King. The fact that he fails to ask a question about it causes the entire kingdom to vanish from his awareness.

The question would have healed the king and restored the land to fertility, but because of Perceval’s failure, the king is not healed and the land remains desolated. Perceval then spends the rest of the story seeking to return to the Fisher King’s castle so he can rectify his mistake.

The question—the only question that seems worth asking at this point—is how can we draw upon the Grail to restore balance and harmony to our lives and our world?

How can we save life on Earth as we know it? And I don’t mean the rampant human consumerism part of it. I mean life as in diverse species thriving together on a healthy harmonious planet.

Our Unfinished Story

Unfortunately, Chrétien de Troyes died before the manuscript was finished and it was left to other writers to imagine the outcome. But isn’t that fitting?

Here we are, you and I, in a similar situation. We are confronted by the wasteland that humans are spreading over our planet. We don’t yet know how our story with unfold.

What is the question we need to ask that can save the land and the metaphorical wounded king? It would require a whole book to explore that question, but in this short blog post, I encourage you to think about it.

Could it be (as I suspect more and more) that the early writers of Arthurian lore were inspired to plant seeds in human consciousness that were meant to sprout in our time?

Healing the Wasteland

Here we are in a potential wasteland. Our “kings” (government leaders) are indeed wounded and seemingly incapable of ruling wisely. Those of us who venture into the Otherworlds, as Perceval did, may encounter the archetypal wounded king, or even the Grail itself.

Then what? Will we ask the necessary question?

The implication of the story is that the proper understanding of the Grail can lead to the healing of the King and the restoration of the land. So it may be imperative that we learn all we can about it and what it means for us today.

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