THE DISCOVERY OF THE GRAIL
by Andrew Sinclair
Century, #16.99
AN ESOTERIC symbol for the past 800 years or so for the attainment of salvation through personal quest has been the Holy Grail - variously described as the receptacle which held the blood of the crucified Christ or the cup used at the Last Supper.
Many may seek this Holy Chalice, but only those who are spiritually worthy will find it.
Andrew Sinclair's quest for the Grail has taken him back to the ancient mystery religions, through to Celtic ritual, Arthurian legends, the Crusades, the Knights Templar, Freemasonry, and the late twentieth-century search for ''oneness'' with the universe through the use of psychedelic drugs and New Age religion.
The Grail theme, Sinclair observes, will always carry its essential pagan elements. This theme has roots in the Celtic magic cauldron of plenty and of judgment and the sacrificial cauldron of death and rebirth. To some the Grail is a stone fallen from heaven - with Scotland's Stone of Destiny perceived as imbued with Grail elements.
Sinclair is suitably qualified to research the Grail, owing to his descent from the ancient St Clair, or Sancto Claro (Holy Light) family. It is this family, builders of the mysterious Rosslyn Chapel in Midlothian, who for centuries were believed to be custodians of Grail secrets. Traditionally, the Sinclairs of Rosslyn are also Hereditary Grand Masters of Scottish Freemasonry.
The Grail takes many forms. It is what one believes it to be - but its discovery will come only through arduous quest. Sinclair follows the ancient Grail ''trails'' - which still exist - the trails of Saint Mary Magdalene, which pilgrims followed through France, Spain, and to Glastonbury, and the Crusader trail from France to Santiago de Compostela in Spain.
Examining what he calls the perversion of the Grail, Sinclair relates how the Nazis were obsessed with its legends. Deputy Nazi leader Rudolf Hess believed the Grail was hidden in the Apprentice Pillar of Rossyln Chapel, while the Nazi's Ancestral Heritage Organisation (Ahnenherbe) sent teams into Vichy France to search for the Grail in the area of the old Cathar stronghold of Montsegur.
The Grail as a source of destruction - echoing back to roots as the Celtic cauldron of destruction - was symbolised in the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Sinclair contends.
The resultant ''mushroom clouds'' from the atomic explosions took the form of ''incendiary chalices''. For this particular ''Grail'', Sinclair says, ''instant and slow dying was its only giving''.
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