Review:
THE SERPENT GRAIL
[To order
book click on image above]
By PHILIP GARDINER
&
GARY OSBORN
Watkins Publishing
336 Pages
Photographs & Graphics
UK
£16.99
US
$24.99
© 2005
Gardiner & Osborn
____________________________________________________
FROM THE
PUBLISHER: The quest for the meaning of
the Holy Grail has been one of those great open questions of history. By using
the most current historical and scientific research, THE SERPENT GRAIL by
Philip Gardiner and Gary Osborn untangles the truth behind the origins of the
Grail—a truth far removed from both received Christian beliefs and alternative
interpretations made popular by Dan Brown.
According to Gardiner
and Osborn, the origin of the grail legend has roots centuries before Parsifal,
King Arthur, Christ’s passion and even the Genesis story. Their account begins in
Sumer (3500BCE-2000BCE)—located at the southern tip of modern Iraq. This cult
both worshipped the serpent as a deity with awesome powers and drank a mixture
of its venom and blood from a ‘sacred’ ceremonial chalice. By drinking this
mixture the cult’s initiates were cured of disease and, it is claimed, their
lives were prolonged. In this highly readable argument with enormous
implications, THE SERPENT GRAIL links all three of these enigmatic symbols to
the same ancient which spread from Sumer to the West and beyond. Indeed, the
authors believe that this is the source not only of the Holy Grail, but the
Elixir of Life and the legend of the Philosopher’s stone.
____________________________________________________
[NOTE:
Most graphics link to related information]
Recently
we reviewed Philip Gardiner’s GNOSIS:
THE SECRETS OF KING SOLOMON’S TEMPLE.
In that
review we chose to focus on the fact that Gardiner’s legitimate
historical/mythic images of “The Shining Ones” and the “Holy Grail” were abused
and misused by the German National Socialists as well as by “New Age”
commercialists and others like the various cults centered around the mythical
St. Germaine and the so-called “Ascended Masters.” This commercialist and
propagandistic and deliberate twisting of esoteric/occult philosophy was not a
product of Philip Gardiner and it was not our intention to imply that it had
anything to do with his commendable work. Rather our review represented a
concern for the degrading by others of the sacred images Gardiner utilized in
order to explain their ancient and contemporary wisdom.
Fortunately
in this current work co-authored by Gary Osborn we have no need to politically
clarify anything—the authors have made their positions clear from the onset in
Chapter One, The Alpha-Omega. They distance their research from vulgarized
sources and do not identify with any bias be it scientific or theosophical.
Gardiner’s GNOSIS can be seen as primer logically leading up to THE SERPENT
GRAIL: The Truth Behind The Holy Grail, The Philosopher’s Stone & The
Elixir of Life.
THE
SERPENT GRAIL is akin to the translation of the Bible into the vernacular. In
the latter case the Bible in the West had only been copied in Latin, a language
the common person could not understand. Its seventeenth century translation
fueled the Protestant Revolution. THE SERPENT GRAIL makes the deepest levels of
occult lore accessible to people today who possess a sincere desire to delve
into their innermost Self & ancestral roots. Together Gardiner and
Osborn have created their own unique individual and collective version of THE
GREAT WORK.
____________________________________________________
The authors present their
insights within the framework of interconnected triads such as general chapter
series and triad subsections within chapters. The relevance of this approach
can be seen in its unification of body-mind/psyche-spirit philosophy
(Grail-Philosopher’s Stone-Elixir of Life), a form of self-initiation for the
reader. Within this framework they lucidly address such diverse issues as the
actual ingredients of the fabled Elixir of Life to Jungian psychology and
zero-point theory. It is an effective presentation—and a very enjoyable book to
just curl up with and let the imagination soar.
The
day following reading page 13 where the author’s describe the serpent Ouroboros and the Egyptian
Shen Ring,
I visited a shop that specialized in Egyptian art. I was immediately attracted
to a statue of the god Set.
In all other representations of this god I’ve seen he holds a staff in his
right hand and an ankh in his left. On a closer examination of this particular
statue I noticed that it depicted a representation of the god I had never
observed before. In place of the ankh, the god was holding the Shen Ring in his
left hand. The ring was knotted and looked very much like a coiled serpent
eating its tail. After researching this further I learned that at a time when
the veneration of Set had fallen into disrepute with the elevation of his
vanquisher Horus, a new myth evolved that claimed Set had protected the sun god
Atum-Re by striking a hole
through the serpent Apophis
or Apep
(The authors discuss Apophis on Pgs. 61, 110, 117.) According to the mythology,
the hole struck by Set allowed the Boat of the Sun to pass through the
underworld (night) into heaven (day.) This myth was a form of theological
“rehabilitation” of Set and regenerated his cult.
As well
as being a representation of the Shen Ring, the coiled rope could also
represent Set’s hold on the forces of Darkness & Chaos.
The fact
that people would worship a “god of evil” is not any more surprising than the
fact that millions of people today are dedicated to the blood goddess Kali.
Both deities provide a connection with universal or natural forces that in
reality are neither “good” nor “bad.” In this aspect Set can be viewed as a
form of Shiva, the Hindu deity of creation and destruction.
Set was
also a morphed form of the Mesopotamian (present day Iraq) Shaitain, later
degraded into Satan. He was also 
the prototype of the Hebrew Yahweh or
Jehovah, a sky thunder god (Gardiner and Osborn claim that Yahweh was originally
a volcano deity—certainly this god”s allegorical manifestations on Mt. Sinai
would support this contention.)
Also in
Chapter 2 the authors introduce their of neutral or neural (zero) point theory based
on spiral wave lengths of positive and negative energy that meet at the neural
point.
The
neural point or Transliminal Phase is crossed over twice, where each half of
the cycle crosses over into the other, and therefore the point at which both
opposites are momentarily united or cancelled out—that is, they are neutralized.
[Pgs.
14-15]
This theory is fundamental to the
author’s spiral (serpent) imagery as it appears in world mythology. Later they invoke
this theory as a reason to maintain total detachment from the temporal,
political world. The
Gnostic Pagan School sees in this idea an expression of the
Hegelian/Marxist theory of thesis-antithesis-synthesis. We derive inspiration
from The Bhagavad-Gita wherein Krishna (The Perfected Self) teaches Arjuna (The
Everyman) that one is in existence not to repudiate involvement on the temporal
plane. The text suggests that a person should be actively involved on the
social plane—even to extent of engaging in political warfare—but with an
attitude of inner detachment and devotion.
____________________________________________________
In Chapter 3 THE MIXING
OF OPPOSITES, Gardiner and Osborn focus on the alchemical image of the
Androgyny, or the Hermaphrodite and the three cosmic zones: The Underworld, The
Middleworld (earth), and the Heavenly Sphere symbolized by the branches of the
World Tree. (Pgs. 29-30).
Today
the realm of the Underworld is often linked with the unconscious mind or with
the collective unconscious, but because of the subjective nature of these we
would rather describe them as the ‘subconscious’, a realm that lies just
beneath the surface of everybody consciousness. What we would call the
‘collective unconscious’ lies at the center of the whole sphere of conscious,
being the ‘source-centre’ or ‘life-force’ of everything in existence. As such,
it contains all the energy-information which is spread out and stored in both
the subconscious and
conscious levels of the human psyche.
[P. 32]
This is
a definite improvement over Jung’s term “collective unconscious”—a term that
has fallen into wide disrepute among most psychiatrists.
However,
the above quoted material does go a long way in supporting Jung’s theory of
synchronicity and the process of forging both an individual and collective consciousness—and
the forces opposing harmonious individuation or collective integration.
Division/sectarianism
= conscious repression
&
Unconscious
suppression = world conflict
In
Chapter 3 THE MIXING BOWL the authors describe various interpretations of the
Grail’s physical aspects and the nature of the Elixir mixed in it. They also
expand on the idea of the fusion of opposites or male and female energy.
The feminine
principle is the healing element here in that the feminine-related subconscious
contains the meaning behind the seemingly random process observed by the
masculine-related conscious mind. This is why the Grail is also associated with
romance, chivalry and a moral code of conduct in which respect for the feminine
principle is not only paramount, but is also essential for the initiate. The
reintegration of the psyche is really only the first step in the Grail quest,
however, since the goal of the quest is the transcendence of duality.
[P. 45]
St.
Brigid (formerly a Celtic Fire Goddess)
holding
the Grail
____________________________________________________
Chapter
4 THE SEED AT THE CENTER raises the question does the mind have an independent
existence apart from the brain?
But how
can we look upon something that is within ourselves? Clearly, we are not meant
to take this literally. As Petrus Bonus, the fourteenth century writer of the
alchemical treatise The True Pearl of Great Price, says, “The ferment
may be invisible to the eye but it can be seen by the mind.”
[P. 54]
As the
late philosopher Krishnamurti
noted, the dichotomy ceases when the Observer and the Observed become One.
Gardiner
and Osborn relate this integration as the neutral points of consciousness.
…we are
usually ‘unconscious’ of and at these neutral points in the
cycle, and this extends to the high-frequency rapid wave-oscillations of the
brain, the mind and consciousness, whose patterns are recurring and repeating
many times a second. Because we are unconscious of the neutral point or third
force we are unconsciously perceiving the world in terms of division and duality.
We thus remain trapped in a series of patterns that we ourselves have created.
[P. 61]
We
suggest that the brain wave patterns are the mind and can be modified
through meditation, drugs, etc. When a person is medically brain-dead, that’s
it…the light is out.
Some say
the light goes on to another plane; others say when it’s gone…it’s gone.
____________________________________________________
Chapter
5 THE HIDDEN WISDOM IN ARTHUR’S GRAIL contains a wealth of information and
correspondences regarding the complex subject.
In the
case of the quote below, the author’s present an inner alchemical
interpretation that is lucidly explained to the novice reader.
Arthur’s
journey into the Underworld to find the cauldron of rebirth would…seem to be
connected with the Latin alchemical phrase Visita Interiora Rectificando
Invenies Occultum Lapidem. The phrase translates as: ‘Visit the interior of
the Earth and by purifying, you will find the secret stone, the true medicine’
and its initial letters produce the word ‘vitriol.’
The only
conclusion that seemed to make sense of this was that saying that one’s head
was the centre of the Earth…That is, the two centres could be superimposed to
become one.
[P. 69]
And of
special interest to our School:
Arthur
is the Celtic version of Horus, the reincarnated Osiris, and so both are the
same soul being reincarnated over and over again.
[P. 72]
This concept is emphasized
by the god Soker who represents the child Horus as a mummy.
To this
we add that during the current Aeon of Horus we are ALL potential incarnations
of the god in that he represents the root source of our collective Inner Self.
In the
subject THE GRAIL CASTLE we find:
…this
magical place where sparkling wine is taken, represents either the human head
or something important within the head. We suggest this is the activation of
the ‘third-eye’ trance state and enlightenment experience.
…However,
we are dealing with multiple meanings here, and with information that seems to
be arranged on several levels. Each becomes more meaningful the closer we get
to the truth. Like climbing the sacred mountain, we ascend until we reach the
apex.
[P. 75]
This brings to mind
dramatist August Strindberg (1849-1912)
considered to be the founder of the modern theatre. The playwright often
utilized the images of The Lovers, The Hermit, the purified air of The Mountain
and The Castle motif in his works. The Castle is of particular significance in
A DREAM PLAY and later in THE GHOST SONATA. In A DREAM PLAY the castle is
remote, empty and unobtainable until the liberation of Death. In THE GHOST
SONATA the castle is closer and can be clear seen through an open window. At
the end of the play the castle blooms into a heliotrope (Flower of The Sun.)
Strindberg was no stranger to alchemy and, in fact, severely burned his hands
with sulphur in misguided attempts to perform The Great Work.
From
subsection OMPHALOS: NAVEL AND AXIS OF THE UNIVERSE we find:
Caer
Sidi has been related etymologically to the “revolving castle; with arrows of
poison shooting from many holes. This is a clear allusion to the poisonous
venom of the snake and reveals that Stonehenge too could very well contain, or
even be, a real rendition of the ‘serpents head’. But what profound truth lies
behind the strange metaphor?
Like many other places
around the world, Stonehenge was called the Omphalos, suggesting Om Phallus,
the ever-enkindling (immortal) Light, the Zodiac, Axis or Elixir, and the
spores of the mighty Hueel (hu = ‘light’, eel = ‘snake’). So
Stonehenge, the mythical Temple of Apollo, is not only linked with serpents via
mythology, but also linked with ‘poison’ and is an ‘elixir’ in etymology. And,
as we have just seen, it is etymologically, astronomically and architecturally
linked with the snake or serpent in that it was referred to as the ‘serpent’s
head’.
[P. 82]
____________________________________________________
Chapter 6
THE CAULDRON OF THE HEAD OF THE UNDERWORLD contains two mythological images we
could find no historical reference to. For example, on page 88 the author’s
claim that the god Thoth has been depicted with a dog’s head. There is no
evidence for this—he has always been depicted with the head of an Ibis bird or
as a sacred Baboon and, as such, is associated with the element of Air or
Thought. On page 97 the authors speculate that the mythical Golden Calf could
be a representation of the Falcon god Horus.
There is no evidence for this either.
They would be closer to their
own perspective if they identified the Golden Calf with the 
Apis
Bull crowned with the Solar Disc and Uraeus (serpent.) The other most logical
interpretation would be that the goddess Hathor was implied as she represented
love, pleasure, music, dancing and singing—all joyous and healthy human actions
that were apparently highly so highly offensive to the egomaniacal Demiurge,
Jehovah.
Regarding
the various meanings and symbolisms various contemporary writers bestow upon
Mary Magdalene, the authors note:
…some
researchers and writers have recently been saying that the rather ambiguous
male figure of John the Evangelist was really Mary Magdalene. It is said that
Leonardo da Vinci alluded to this secret…especially in The Last Supper…this
would also mean that the Gospel of John could be attributed to Mary Magdalene.
However…the characters of John the Baptist and Mary Magdalene are really based
on opposites of the Janus image…they were…molded into the internal process of
the human psyche. John and Mary can…be equated with…Osiris and Isis, and Jesus
with Horus. All three members of this Triad symbolize the three forces of
consciousness known as the ‘Secret Combination’ in Masonic lore…
[Pgs.
100-101]
Gardiner and Osborn draw some
interesting analogies with the image of The Goat of Mendes/Baphomet.
Eliphas
Levi, a great exponent of magical rites, translated ‘Baphomet’ as a reversed composition
of three abbreviations—Tem. Oph. Ab.—which stand for Templi omnium hominum
pacis abhas (The God of the Temple of Peace Among All Men). Levi believed
this to be a reference to the Temple of Solomon.
[P. 102]
Taking
the word ‘Baphomet’ backwards…we get Tem, Oph (ohp), Ab. ‘Tem’ could come from
the root word for ‘time,’ or it could mean ‘to proclaim.’ ‘Ohp’ or ‘Oph’ is
‘winged serpent’ or dragon of the Ophites. ‘Ab’ means ‘father,’ ‘the Creator’
or ‘Great One’. It also means ‘wisdom’, ‘intelligence’ or will…If we turn ‘Ab”
back we get ‘Ba’, the soul…We also find…’Abzu’, the Sumerian name for the
Underworld…We also have ‘Abraham’,…’abbot’ and ‘abbey’, all of which were
associated with wisdom and the serpent.
[P. 103]
On pages
105-106 the authors discuss the fourteenth century skull of gilded silver
supposedly associated with the Templars and labeled ‘CAPUT (HEAD) LVIII M’.
As the
authors indicate the letter M stands for Virgo.
We
interpret the numbers this way:
LVIII =
58 = 5+8 = 13 = 1+3 = 4 = FOUNDATION = HEAD.
____________________________________________________
At the
beginning of Chapter 7 THE SERPENT IN CLASSICAL MYTH the authors assert that the
Zoroastrian religion may be 10,000 years old! This almost akin to those
Discovery Channel “archaeologists” who claim the Great Sphinx is over 15,000
years old—which is clearly ridiculous. We fear that Osborn and Gardiner are
falling into a symbolic labyrinth with little or no escape in order to prove
the global historical existence of a group Gardiner calls ‘The Shining Ones’
and their universal application of serpent mythology. They hammer in this
‘Shining Ones’ and attendant serpent mythology so repetitively that one wants
to scream, ‘Enough already—we get it!’ It’s like the idea of the collective
unconscious, just because similar patterns appear at different times in
different places, does not prove its biological existence—it merely signifies
that certain patterns repeat in nature, just as they may do in the human
psyche.
And we
are curious that the authors do not mention the religion of Voodoo,
particularly 
on page 114 where they discuss
the African Dogon people and their sacred serpent called Lebe.
In
Voodoo this serpent is the male Damballah Wedo, curled around the World Tree or
Axis Mundi, and the female Ayida Wedo curled around the World Egg, looking very
much like Ouroboros.
Every
Voodoo temple has a central single pillar to represent the World Tree—and the
use of serpentine metaphor plays a prominent role in Voodoo ritual.
[For
more on this subject refer to THE
NEW ORLEANS VOODOO TAROT by Louis Mastinié and Sallie Ann Glassman.]
Also in
Chapter 7 the author’s mention the Golden Fleece. To supplement their
discussion we can add that according to the Euripides play, Medea, the Fleece’s
high priestess stole it because the gods drove her to fall hopelessly in love
with Jason. One of her exploits to protect him was to tell his enemy that she
held the secret to the Elixir of Life. Upon her instructions a bath was made by
the king’s daughter and had them cut him to pieces and tossed in before his
resurrection. Needless to say Medea left an ingredient of the Elixir out. She
also poisoned the wedding gown of her rival and the girl burst into flame.
After murdering her own sons she flies away in a chariot drawn by
fire-breathing dragons. Medea made Betty Broderick look like a Guardian Angel.
According to the author Adolf
Erman, the Egyptians believed that ‘if the soul comes to Nut…She has pity on
him and offers him her breast that he may suck, and thus he lives and is once
more made a child. This is a perfect example of how the serpent god or goddess
was believed to…give ‘new life’…It also indicates that the ancient Egyptians
knew about the Elixir of Life.
The
image of Nut or Nuit suckling vegetation is an even more ancient image than
that of Isis engaged in the same behavior with Horus and lies at the center of
the Egyptian religion and rites of Thelema.
On page 117 the
death of Cleopatra is mentioned. It is generally accepted today that the queen
did NOT commit suicide by the bite of an asp or any other serpent indigenous to
Egypt. The site of Cleopatra’s mausoleum was a matter of yards from the main
palace where her archenemy Octavian had taken over & set-up camp. Cleopatra
had written him a suicide note that was delivered from the mausoleum by a
servant. Within a matter of minutes Octavian would have broken into the chamber
to find the queen and her servants dead. This would have taken a faster acting
poison than a snakebite —and Cleopatra was skilled in the use of fast acting,
nearly painless poisons—so why suffer unnecessarily? An asp or cobra bite would
have 
taken
over an hour to kill. It is possible that she allowed an asp to be found in her
death chamber as a symbol of her identification with Isis, but she would have
had to be suicidally-challenged to have chosen to die by snakebite when she had
so many more sophisticated means at her disposal. Whatever the actual cause of
death, when Octavian returned to Rome in triumph he brought, not Cleopatra in
gold chains, but rather a “poster” of her as a corpse with a serpent. Tricking
her enemy may have been Cleopatra’s final joke at his expense. As with the
other momentous events of her life, Cleopatra’s death was a carefully
stage-managed production by the most famous woman in history and the last of
the great pharaohs.
____________________________________________________
In
Chapter 8 ASIAN MYTHS we find,
The Chinese date
their dragons/serpents back to around 5000 BC and believe strongly that they
are descended from them. The goddess Nu Kua, like Fuxi, her male consort, was
half-mortal and half-dragon. Also referred to as a ‘water being’, she gave
birth to shape shifting human dragons from which the Chinese emperors were said
to descend. As in Korea and Japan, Chinese dragons were generally beneficent
and were held in the highest esteem…Why is the serpent/dragon always perceived
as the giver and taker of life? Why is the dragon in the bloodline of the
Chinese royal family, as in Egypt, Europe and elsewhere. The ‘blood’ of the
serpent simply must be symbolic of something greater. That ‘something
greater’ is immortality.
[P. 141]
It may
be appropriate to mention here that recent excavations in China have uncovered “natural”
mummies of obvious Caucasian—even possible Celtic—origin. Many have red hair
and intertwined symbols long associated with the Celts.
And regarding the Sumerians and
Isis:
In
Mesopotamia, the early Sumerians described themselves as being constantly
nourished by the milk of Ninkhursag, the great mother goddess who was also
known…as Ki or Ninti/Nintu…She has been linked with Ashtoreth (Asherah)..In
Egypt, Ninkhursag was called Isis, the ultimate mother of the messianic line.
[P. 153]
____________________________________________________
Chapter
10 AMERICAN MYTHS deals with correspondences with serpents in pre-Columbian S.
America regarding the featured serpent god, etc. Today in the backwoods of the
United States there are fundamentalist Christians who handle snakes, drink
their venom & strychnine. Their rituals are not pagan, of course, but based
on the bible. They are a mixture of religion, rock-a-billy, faith healing &
good ol’ American bunkum.
Speaking
of bunkum, we were really disappointed to find in Chapter 11 THE SERPENT IN
RELIGION, the passage below:
Since
Egyptian times there has been a group known as the Great White Brotherhood, who
are said to have founded many mystery schools and who emerge today as the
Masons. But before reaching our doorsteps in their modern guise they first founded
the mystery schools of Thoth…
[P. 213]
Says
who? Eccentric Madame Blavatsky? The sinister Elizabeth Clare Prophet and her Church
Universal & Triumphant cult with their “Ascended Masters”, Spirit Guides
and decrepit spiritualists? Or shall we look to egomaniacal Aleister
Crowley for an objective, historical documentation of the Great White
Brotherhood?
In the
United States they have been the initial inspiration for the most reactionary
secret societies of the Capitalist Oligarchy such as Skull & Bones,
Bohemian Grove and many, many others. No. The Great White Brotherhood is a
fraud and frankly we were amazed to find this reference to it in an otherwise
intelligible book.
As we
said before, occult symbolism can be a trap leading to the most backward and
unverifiable concepts that can prevent—rather than enhance—spiritual progression.
The
“Great White Brotherhood” is just such a trap.
____________________________________________________
In
Chapter 13 SERPENT ALCHEMY the authors state,
The real
secret of alchemy has always been the search for the Elixir of Life, the Philosopher’s
Stone. Indeed, the followers of the Eastern tradition…have always maintained
that alchemy is the search for eternal life, which is symbolized by gold and is
interlinked with the quest for the Holy Grail…the search for the Holy Grail,
the Philosopher’s Stone and the Elixir of Life are simply different ways of
looking for the same thing.
[P. 247]
And so
the search goes on, only today the work is done by chemists and for the
consumer the quest is for the ultimate cosmetic that will bring eternal youth.
Of
course those of us on the spiritual path know that The Great Work has nothing
to do with converting base metal into gold—or with the search for eternal youth
on the physical plane. Alchemy was the mother of chemistry and the knowledge of
herbs, including psychoactive substances that can lead to a direct experience
of divinity.
The
reader will find the author’s suggested version of the ancient occult
ingredients in THE SERPENT GRAIL.
____________________________________________________
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Review:
JEFarrow
Updated
12/06
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