The Arthurian legend is one of the greatest mysteries, as far as my studies go, and in my understanding, from history, esoteric and occult philosophies. The Arthurian legend at its essence is rooted in the Hero Mythos more specifically the solar cult mythos of Osiris. Without looking into the Grail legend as well which is undoubtedly an enormous task, we would only find but remnants of its original meaning.
The main difficulty with the Arthurian and grail legend in our research the lies in the fact that the legends consist of congeries widely differing elements, which at first sight appears hopelessly incongruous, if not completely contradictory, yet at the same time our present to the extent, and in form, which no honest critic can’t afford to ignore.
If we take a look at some of the amazing research that has already been done we can really see that there is a battle between the undeniable Celtic and Christian elements preponderant in certain versions, to maintain the thesis that the Grail legend is ab initio a Christian, the ecclesiastical, legend, and to analyze literature on that base alone.
The Christians usually rely upon the written literature more so than the Celtics versions are strongly pointing at the folklore features preserved in the tales and Rites, to which kinship with other themes, mainly of Celtic provenance, and have argued that, while the later version of the cycle have been worked over by the ecclesiastical writers in the interest of edification, the story itself is non-Christian, and folklore in origins.
Both groups have a basis of truth for their arguments, which they rely upon are, and each case, undeniable present, yet at the same time each line of argument is faced with certain inscrutable difficulties.
Thus, the theory of Christian origins breaks down when faced with the awkward fact that there is no proof of the legend concerning Joseph of Arimathea and the Grail. Neither in legendary, nor in arts, is there any trace of the story, it has no existence outside the Grail literature, it is the creation of romance, and no genuine tradition.
Most people in this area of research do not have enough accurate information to come to a firm understanding of how old the legend really is and where it takes roots from.
A prototype, containing the main features of the Arthurian story can be found in legend such as the wasteland, the Fisher King, the hidden castle with its solemn feast etc..
I highly recommend that you watch my uncle’s presentation because he speaks deeply on the hero myth, other sources for good information would be Joseph Campbells The hero with 1000 faces and Jessie L. Weston’s book from ritual to romance. A good study of JG Frazer’s work the Golden Bough would be recommended as well.
Most of these legends have to do with the way that we preserve the knowledge of nature’s ways in anthropomorphic story’s, symbol and lore.
The Arthurian legend is rooted in nature cults and solar cults. Further, we can show that between these mystery cults there exist at one time a close and intimate union, such a union as of itself involved with the practice of simulation of the central rites, in each case a ‘ Eucharistic’ feast, in which the worshipers partook of the food of life from the sacred vessel.
Embedded within the story there is a huge amount of esoteric occult and historical information, the correlations are undeniable. One of the sciences preserved in this knowledge is the science of agriculture. Esoterically the legend can correlate back to the four suits of the tarot- the grail being the cops, the sword pulled from the stone being the swords, The Lancer-spear relating to the Wands, and the dish that they feast off of relating to the pentacles. This is also alchemically represented by the four elements of Earth, Air, Water, and Fire. You do not have to take my word for this there is enough written text and evidence out there that you can readily find this with an easy google search.
In most hero legends the king’s Health is directly related to the health of the land and the crops, as the King’s health declines, the kingdom and the crops start to decline as well. Giving way for the call to the hero so that fertility may be brought back onto the land through acquiring the Grail or other such symbolic references. The hero must complete his quest to bring health back to the land, in some cases he does fail. The most common symbol of this would be the holy grail with its powers of “immortality.”
First, King Arthur, like Apollo, Dionysus, Jesus Christ, Bacchus, Mithras, Cyrus, Almun Ra, And Horus is obviously a metaphor and avatar or stand-in for the sun and its annual travels monks the houses of the zodiac base of the earth’s orbit around it. He has been claimed by certain authors of the character of King Arthur is based upon the real-life Christian emperor Charlemagne’s or even his grandfather.
Let’s take a look at a Greek corresponds to the Arthurian legend, The Hellenistic Sage Hermes, is the messenger of wisdom, he is the planet Mercury which is the closest planet to the sun who symbolizes wisdom gnosis or enlightenment. And in Arthurian myth, he is Merlin the great wizard, who possesses God-like hermetic wisdom and magic. Hermes is a collaboration of many symbols, Greek, Roman, and Egyptian. There are many hero stories that depict Hermes, some of the ones that we might recognize would be Gandolf in Lord of the rings, and Morpheus in the matrix. Hermes is the one who sends the hero on his quest with his higher-level wisdom and insight.
When we study Joseph Campbell’s understanding of the hero myth, we can readily see how this all fits perfectly. The Native Americans also carried this myth in symbolic an oral tradition, but it is much harder to depict because of their unique ways of preserving knowledge and Sciences gwhich also came from the Egyptians.
If one wants to see the idea of the Jungian collective unconscious at work in film, look no further than Monty Python and the holy grail.
So to summarize what I’m saying is that ultimately be Arthurian legend is dated back to predynastic Egypt and it was away preserving the annual cycles of elemental powers through metaphorical, and allegorical form. Whether the Celtic’s were the origins of it or the Christian tale, they both derive their traditions from the ancient Egyptian knowledge in the solar mythology that took place in Khemet.
There is so much more to this curious and wonderfully mysterious tale that we all should be inspired to take a deeper look into. In essence, the story of Arthur and his counterparts are laying metaphorical and allegorical elements about the commencement and recommencement of the cycles. This is about how the ancients preserve their knowledge of science within a symbolic form. The nature of the task which awaits the Hero, the symbols and their significance in the one and all, while finding their counterparts in prehistoric records, present remarkable parallels to the extant practicing belief in a country so widely separated as the British Isles, Russia, and Central Africa.
At the outset it would be well to understand that the central doctrine of all these mysteries is what Reitzendstein sums up as “The doctrine of the man, the heavenly man, the son of God, who descends and becomes a slave of the fates sphere: The man who, through originally endowed with all power, decisions and to weakness and bondage, and has two when his own freedom, and regain his original state.” This doctrine is taking its roots from the Chaldean mystery traditions and was widely spread in Hellenistic circles.
The Hellenistic period was flooded with anthropomorphic elemental powers, and when we start to dig deeper we understand that these metaphors were ways of explaining the laws of nature and their cycles relating back to this psyche and behaviors of men including the life and death process. Since the king is related to being the son of God, it is indubitably speaking in an archetypal language. This is about the evolution of our technology as well as our understanding of ourselves in nature.
It seems to me that there are such elements in the Bewildering complex, by which the theory can be thus definitely tested, that it is the personality of the central figure in the title by which he is known. If we can prove that the fisherman cooking is an integral part of the ritual and can be satisfactory explain alike by its intention, and it’s inherent symbolism, we shall, I think, I have taken the final step which will establish our theory upon a sure basis.
We have already seen that the personality of the king, the nature of the disability under which he is suffering, and the reflex effect exercise upon his focus on his land, correspond in the most striking manner, to the intimate relation at one time held to exist between the ruler and his land; A reflection mainly dependent upon the identification of the king with the divine principle of life and fertility. This relation, as we have seen above, existed today amongst the Australians, Native Americans, and central African tribes.
On the whole, I am of opinion that the treasure of the Tuatha De Danann any symbols of the Grail Castle go back to common origins, but they have developed on different lines; in the process of this development one “life” symbol has been exchanged for another.
But the Lanson cup was in truth connected together in a symbolic relation long and just before the institution of Christianity or the birth of Celtic traditions. They are sex/fertility symbols of immemorial antiquity and worldwide the fusion, the Lance or the spear, representing the male, being piercing thrusting, or an active principle, the cup or the vase or chalice, representing the female, being holistic and reproductive energies.
We can correlate this back to the Arthurian legend with Lancelot and Guinevere’s betrayal of Arthur, and their sexual union.
Some of the most remarkable and significant use of the symbols is found in the ceremonies of the samurai, and noble warrior cast of Japan. The aspirate was admitted into the castle and at age 14, when he was given over to the care of the Guardian at least 15 years his senior, to whom he took an oath of obedience, which was sworn upon the spear. He remains celibate during the period covered by the oath. When the samurai was held to have a attained the degree of responsibility, which would fit him for full duties of a citizen, a second Solemn ceremony was held, which he was released from the previous vows, and presented with the cup; he was henceforth free to marry, but intercourse with women previously to the ceremony was that time punishable with death.
But the Lanson cup, through the most prominent of symbols, does not always appear alone but is associated with other objects, the significance of which is not always apparent. The late Mr. Alford Nutt, confirms that before treasures of the Tuatha De Danann correspond generally with the groups of symbols found in the grail romances; The correspondence becomes the more interesting in view of the fact that these mysteries beings are now recognized as like demons of fertility and lords of life. As Mr.Nutt, subsequently pointed out, The treasures may well be, sword and cauldron certainly are, life symbols.
We do have evidence that these for objects do, in fact, for a special group entirely independent of any appearances in folklore or romance. They exist today as the four suits of the tarot and playing cards.
The cups, chalice, or goblet represents hearts. The lance, wand or scepter represent diamonds. The sword represents spades. Dish, circles or pentacles represents clubs.
The original use of the tarot was to preserve ancient sciences just like most of these allegorical tales, it was a more advanced form of dividing the knowledge into subcategories so that it may be preserved over long periods of time. Most people only think of the ab-use of these instruments which would be things like Divinations. One who practices this art with these instruments normally did not have a true understanding of its origins nor its purpose. This is why we have fortunetellers, because the fortune is the life that you have lived, and it is stored within symbolic form correlating back to this hero Myth.
There is some truth though in the idea that in the king Arthur legend the part about “he who can draw the sword from the stone shall be king” could be a metaphor for whoever could resurrect the mining technology of the recently departed Romans in order to supply an army with weapons to help defend Britain from the rebelling Jutes, Angles and Saxons after the Roman withdrawal. Which is about the advancements of the implements of military tactics and weapons.
But this goes much farther than just this once we understand the Osirus mythos and the Hero cult of Egypt.
By Brandon Martin (2017)