esson 42: Investiture of the Grail
(cont'd)esson 42: Investiture of the Grail
(cont'd)
eturning
to the mainland, I visit Anne, the Grail
Queen. It's so restful and comforting in her presence and I relax
with her until Pinky moves and she can feel it. It's our way of
saying thank you and that everything will be fine. She gives me a
container of dried seaweed, containing the essence of the healing
salt sea.
She walks with me to
Grail Six as I tell her about my
As night approaches, I am tempted to pass by the Grail Seven castle of empty illusion. Beside the lake lies a silver string, which I follow up to the entrance, and then inside. The string leads me to the southwest tower, where I find the end attached to a bottle of what looks like liquid fire. In fact, it's about the same color orange as that fire I see across the lake right now. It gives off the warmth of a fire as well, so I lie down beside it and sleep.
Oh, the arms! The long white arms, the ripple of muscle, the long slender fingers! They grab me and pull me up. Large eyes fill my field of vision. I feel like I'm spinning. There's a bonfire on the hill, twinkling like a fallen star. Now you see it, now you don't! I continue to rise. No clouds block me. I see the curvature of the breast of Earth. I see not only stars above, but also stars below. And everything round goes round and round, constant, only appears to wax, wane, eclipse or be eclipsed. Geocentric illusion yet human reality. And the Great Clock ticks off another second, fraction of a degree. A voice in my ear: "If you keep this vision, you will be blessed with a unique and grand perspective. Remember the question: 'What difference will it make 10,000 years from now?'"
And now I awaken, as dawn creeps over the grassy knoll where I find myself. I rise and go down to the stream, wash my face, then walk along wondering how long the trees' lives are compared to mine. And after?
I come to Tom's place, but I'm too restless now
to sit and commune with the Grail King.
"You know the difference between being driven by love and being
driven by fear," he says. "Ambition and anxiety are more or less the
same thing. Let yourself be motivated by your own will to accomplish
a thing, rather than your anxiety about not accomplishing it. You are
always examining others' motivations. Make sure to always take a god
look at your own!"
I think about what a large portion of my life has
been spent doing things motivated by the wishes and feeling other
others. (i.e. he'll be mad; She'll be upset; he will/won't like it)
How much of it is love, and how much submission? What's the
difference?
I wonder it it's really true, what I tell people,
that the difference between American and Swiss people is that the
Swiss do things because they *should* and Americans do things because
they *can.* Am I becoming more Swiss, or have I always had more
"should" in me than I thought? Nah.
Tom gives me coin which he says will help to
show me whether I am being motivated by love for others or love for
self. On one side, it shows my own face and the words "One Love." On
the other side its the Grail and "All Love."
"What about love of God?" I ask him.
"It's there," he replies. "Love of God manifests
through doing for self, or for your own relationship with Him, or
through doing for and relationship with others."
"What about things that are both, such as respect
for Creation?"
"You already know that is both, so you won't need
to flip a coin to figure it out! I never said it was all-inclusive.
It's a coin with only two sides, not the key to the mystery of human
beings!"
"Okay, okay, I get the point. Sorry."
I thank him and take my leave. Moving through
the forest as the wind picks up, I seek shelter and come to the
chapel of Grail Eight. The wind has blown
over a vial and some of the red liquid has spilled on the ground. I
pick it up and recap it, seeing that there is still some of the
wine/blood inside.
The altar is gone, and in its place is a large
throne-like chair, with big cushions and a padded footstool. I lower
myself into its comfort thinking with a healthy egoism that I am now
the )
Before I doze off, I get up and get out into the fresh air again. It gets dark so early now, but I can follow the smell of cooking to find Grail Nine. The cauldron reminds me of the "Römertopf" (clay cooking pot) I've been eating out of for the past three days. I enjoy some of the chicken soup and, since I haven't collected any tears in the vial the Wounded King gave me, I fill that up with chicken soup to go.
The exertions of the day catch up with me and, warm and fed, I sleep by the fire. I have a funky dream about DNA, the "Sleeping Lord" in all of us. It gives us a double immortality, as one could be reconstructed/cloned/resurrected from it, and also because we pass it on to our descendants (blood of my blood, flesh of my flesh). Birth, rebirth. When the Sleeping Lord awakens, does he once again become the Seeker? He doesn't wake now, or give any special blessing. He just sleeps, waiting for spring.
But I do wake, and find myself once again by the
side of the lovely Guinevere. She asks
about my journeying and I tell her about the past few days. She knows
about the generosity of the Greater Powers, and wants to see what
gifts they have bestowed upon me. I explain to her that I have
received gifts of wisdom, understanding, perception and compassion.
As I explain my insights to her in more detail, the trees seem to
part, revealing the sandy path to the Grail
Castle. I kneel on the ground before Guinevere, put my forehead
on her knee, and say "I dedicate myself in loving service to the
Proceeding solemnly with the
Grail Hallow before me, I walk the path
and enter the castle. The altar, displaced from Grail Eight, is here
now. I place the Grail Hallow upon it, then empty all the vials of
liquid from the Grail Realm into it. The seven rainbow colors, plus
the chicken soup, combine in a potion of glowing white intensity. I
take up the cup again and walk back to the cave behind the castle.
The cup is glowing enough to light my way, as I come to the well. I
pour the potion into the well, from which it spreads into all the
water of the earth. I place the Grail Hallow on a ledge, and the
water rises and covers it, *not* to hide it, but to keep it connected
to the waters forever. The well glows with its power. I look up and
see the outline of the well 'beamed' onto the ceiling of the
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