Chronos Apollonios' "Home on Olympus"
Seems quite a few people lately know the meaning of the Holy
Grail.
Here is my own story: I was watching one of Deepak Chopra's
programs and Robert Guilome was reading a story about Merlin
giving the young King Arthur a bitter taste of an herb, Gentian.
He then made of it a spiritual lesson, that spiritually, like
physically, after what is bitter, other things seem sweeter.
There was another anecdote about a man embittered at God for the
loss of a son.
Whether or not this was conciously intended on the part of
the author, these expressions may be highly evocative in old and
hopefully familiar ways. Bitter herbs or bitter tonics have quite
some meaning in the material sense as well.
Of bitter herbs perhaps the best known and most bitter is
Wormwood, a species of Artemisia. While what is more commonly
known as Wormwood now is Artemisia absinthum, and the Biblical
Wormwood is thought to be Artemisia judiaca or Artemisia
herba-alba, the properties seem consistent.
Simon Mills in "Dictionary of Modern Herbalism" gives one of the
better definitions of bitter tonic that I've seen, that just
tasting the herb is enough to impact changes in the
gastro-intestinal system which may relate to its tonic
properties; likewise many peoples have claimed to put leaves in
the shoe for stamina on a long journey. (In spite of these
medical virtues, cautions are given further down this page).
Of Artemis as numerous species of Artemisia- indeed, Donald
MacKenzie (Myths and Legends series (Senate pubs), "China and
Japan", pg 172) readily quotes Rendel Harris: "The plant
(mugwort) is Artemis, and Artemis is the plant. Artemis is a
woman's goddess and a maid's goddess because she was a woman's
medicine and a maid's medicine".
Thus we have cause to look on ANY myth and legend as potentially
illuminating herbs; in this light, the myth of Narcissus, another
god name surviving as a flower, that the Narcissus flower
(Daffodil) might avail in dealings with wild animals such as
might inhabit a cave just as Echo finally did. The cave dwelling
behavior, Narcissus bent over streams and the "Arcos" root of his
name all suggest bear (a cognate symbol of Artemis as well).
Understanding mythology to have the ecomonic botany essential to
life as a fundamental level of meaning has been known to
begin with the footnotes in Robert Graves' Greek mythological
work that refer to a balm being made out of an appropriate flower
used to treat deafness: Echo who only speaks the ends of
sentences tends to speak like the hard-of-hearing hear.
Phillip Carr-Gomm's Druid
Animal Oracle site gives rarer associatives between Artemis
and Arthur than simply the Celtic Bear Goddess, Artio.
Returning to the actual legend of the Grail itself, we find what
we would expect in this context: the grail appears at the Round
Table and all of the food and drink magically tastes like the
finest anyone has ever had.
Thus prepared, we might see golden Grails in the yellow,
goblet-shaped flowers of Artemisias.
And yet Artemisias are considered as dangerous, pregnant women
must avoid them to prevent miscarriage and possibly even avoid
the aromas and smoke from them; although finding many medical
uses, Artemisia absinthum is regarded as potentially poisonous.
Even though the agent in question, thujone, is found in smaller
amounts in sage, it bears this reputation and probably for a
reason.
It is possible that the recent attention to the etymology of
"Holy Grail", "San Greal", also renderable "Sang Real" or Royal
Blood, may overlook affections for herbs of more southern
climates; Blood takes on many possibilities in herbal terms, but
Artemisias such as A. vulgaris are among them for having reddish
stems. Dittany of Crete (an oregano) may be another.
In concord with its mythical reputation regarding Immortailty if
indeed one of the meanings of The Grail, however is the thujone
in Tansy, also called Ganymede, after the cupbearer of Greek
mythology.
Rather than presume the cruelest kind of jest being played on us
by the noble ancients, perhaps we might forego the thought of
ingesting the herbs in question, in favor of being urged on by
this disappointment toward deeper questions and deeper
understandings-as is the way.
To begin to address some of the surrounding atmosphere in this
context, Arthur's relationship with the land and it's fertility
are notable, recalling the mythical Fisher King. Perhaps we are
looking at a level of ancient knowledge where it is known not
only that fish provide nitrogen and thus are used as plant
fertilizer, but perhaps like has already been noted in Las
Pilitas Nursery's catalog and California plant handbook, that
Certain (serendipitously, Artemisia tridentata, Sagebrush) and
possibly many specie of Artemisia are capable of putting, or
"fixing", nitrogen into the soil.("A Manual of California Native
Plants". Bert Wilson. Edited by Celeste Wilson.
Las Pilitas Nursery BOx 23x Las pilitas Rd. Santa Margarita, CA
93453 (805) 438-5992.)
Many Artemisias are also noted for alleopathic properties,ie,
natural suppression of weeds. (Rice, Elroy. Alleopathy. Academic
Press, 1984)
Online Resources about Arthur and The Grail are being collected
at this site on the Magickal and
Mythological Resources page of this site. Please also see
pages on Materialization about the Grail, for
still we must also address the additional lore that surrounds the
Grail.
Even though the herbal and naturalistic concerns
of mythmakers must be addressed as we have begun to do here,
there is also the level of meaning in myth that is to illuminate
magick and science, for to be fair and optimisic we may as well
cooperate with the wealth of lore that attributes various
magickal happenings to the Sacred Cauldron, such as Regeneration
and Materialization of one's worldly needs.
Nowhere beyond the abilities of science to re-create, I am
presently looking at how smoothly the ideas of regauging energy
systems as Tom Bearden (see this site's Science Resources page,
link in index) and others refer to to help elaborate these feats;
perhaps the cauldron/Grail/cornucopia cluser act as
phase-conjugate reflectors or phase-conjugate resonators, cohering artificial singularities, recieving resonant cavities, or any combination, depending.
Each different tool may have somewhat different modes of
operation, in accorance with variation in ritual and lore.
Thus, whether the Grail, or cauldron, we are talking about is
that of the Dagda, that of Cernunnos, or another, we can expect
valuable guidance in both methods and the manner of working from
the myths.
Carefully working to make the most of the cultural fragments we
have, a drawing by an Ojibwe medicine man appearing in the
encyclopedic "Myths of All Races" volume devoted to Native
American lore, shows what may inform us to observe the presence
of Nitrogen in our inquiries into ectoplasm, likewise does the
giant figure thought to be Cernunnos have speculation that it has
been altered. Reconstructions show physical distortions that
along with the undulating shape of the club may indeed imply
ectoplasm, and in turn Nitrogen, which has been cited here in
explaining the Fisher King.
Some forms of magic hand in
"other" traditions have largely the same message as the Ojibwe
drawing.
We can perhaps consider this to indicate Quantum Matter, which
may explain everything from the availability to appearance of
component matter in a materialized object.
The explanation that Wormwood is involved in manifestations of
this type may be rested on it's reputation as a binding herb, for
operations of binding spirits. Thus matter may be bound to other
blueprints besides astral forms. Hence, whether using magick,
science, or both as our platform to understanding, we have the
good fortune that consistency seems with us.
Still, this is only the most superficial glimpse; such lavish legends would be, theoretically, as involved as such processes might be.
Another aspect of the Cauldron as a provider of food is determinance, various accounts give various decisive intellegence associated with this feat.
In the sense that a magickal item of
this kind should be able to "know" not to produce something in harmful excesses (the multiple meanings can pivot back to herbs which help curtail the drives toward excess here) we have the familiar theme of determinance of this kind in Meskwaki medcal divination (see "Medicine Without Mistakes" page at this site)
that can tell if a medicine is good for a patient or not. (One hopes determinance of dose to be included as well here also.)
For this meaning we would expect an element of immersion or submersion, which is quite readily available here as the Lady of the Lake, who is said by some to be a recycling of Cerridwen.
Or, because we would expect a Grail or Cauldron's artificial intellegence to be the same as an Oracular Skull or Head (see page on this site)
we may expect a severed head to replace the Grail in some stories.
Not that oddly in context, this too is upheld as the tradition.
Typical *brainstorming* at this point might include whether The Grail Wormwood helps bind the artifical intellegence patterns; this is not different than application of Mugwort or ferromagnetic materials
to various sophisticated divination devices (see page on Magic Mirrors and Time Cameras at this site.)
As is detailed on the page of this site devoted to elixirs of youth, "Many Fountains of Youth, Yet One", there is some reason to consider whether these legendary, or not-legendary but real, agents of rejuvenation may be exotic matter forms of human Growth Factor promotors, or perhaps whether they are contributors to form of human Growth Factors that display remarkable speed and power, which may also be due to the presence of exotic matter. Muons associated with magnetization of non-magnetic materials are considered as a possibly source of muons incorporated into molecules or atoms to make exotic matter.
But besides the intriguing magnetic behavior of mugwort both as a plant, and in it's Occult applications, there are other possibilities which may fall within the genus of Artemisia, those plants perhaps most sacred to Artemis...
Muons have also been associated with hydrogen peroxide, although it may not have been made clear whether they are the cause or the product of the energetic bond between the two oxygen atoms in the peroxide molecule.
Artemisia annua, a herb also known by its common name, "Sweet Annie", and rather heavily investigated by the US Army for possible anti-malarial properties, as many herb catalogs will now inform us, has also been noted for the appearance of molecular peroxides, molecules of far greater weights than hydrogen peroxide, but also possessing the same bond between two atoms of oxygen.
This single specie may by no means be the only Artemisia to contain such matter, and some stage in the biochemistry of mugwort, Artemisia vulgaris, may indeed allow an origin for mugwort's magnetic properties in such a fashion. Judging by it's applications in magick, the magnetization of non-magnetic materials, it may very well be a muon donor.
Muonization may also account for the magnetic properties of the near-magnetic matter that has occured in a great many magick mirrors over the ages.
Muons have also been put forward as a possible mechanism in theories of cold fusion, which involves trasmutation of elements. Residual muons may also account for the unusual properties of iron produced by Kushi in the laboratory, and may very well play a leading role in the Biological Transmutions described by Nobel nominee, Louis Kervran. They may even be proven to account for the unusual properties of magnetotactic materials.
Hence, they are debatably intrinsic to both alchemy, and longevity, just as it is often said of these two realted achievements in many occult and alchemic texts. Oriental texts often assure us that goldmaking is only incidental to the ability to create the elixir, it is a "by-product" of a process far more than a goal.
Further, it might be wondered if the unusual nitrogen-fixing properties of Sagebrush and quite likely many plants related both in botanical relationships and appearance and habits, are truly fixing the material or creating the nitrogen, possibly creating and yeilding donatable muons in the process.
One perhaps not so incidental note is that in a vast wealth of esoteric and ecclectic ideas that can be extracted from the signatures of the lowly Knotgrass, Polygonum aviculare, is that it too promises to perhaps yeild the alchemic iron that Kushi reports creating. A possible mechanism here is that chelation by a bis-antracene molecule allows a departing electron to become a muon in some way that allows drastic mass increase in a manner most likely but not necessarily relativistic.
Another possible mechanism is that the plant, which contains glutamine, has enough glutamine to serve as precursor to ATP so that a biological accelerator according to Goldfein's biotransmutation scheme can be achieved, perhaps causing the generation of muons by acceleration of muons, or as an energetic output of the high-energy phosphate bond.
It is interesting that the respectable James A. Duke includes in his "CRC Handbook--" a bit of trivia from the also respectable Varro E. Tyler in "Pharmacognosy", saying that in Traditional Oriental Medicine, it is regarded that Knotgrass root aged 100 years has the ability to cause the renewal of the tooth growing process, causing new teeth to appear after the permanent ones.
One wonders if this amazing feat of dental rejuvenation is only one amazing power of rejuvenation that such a botanical possesses.
At any rate, it appears quite commonplace in ancient ideograms that may represent muons, or heavy electrons as they are also known, that volume or weight are necessarily representative of mass, hence those animals which are large or heavy or both, would be used as animal symbols for this physical force, just as it is easily arguable that the serpent has represented electricity, the bird has represented magnetism, and the feathered serpent has represented the unifying concept of electro-magnetism, in one culture after another, on perhaps every continent on this earth, for at least thousand of years.
Update, 11/9/98
Still, the Grail haunts us as a lavish hypersymbol- a symbol which is richly layered with many correct and important meanings. All of these meanings may integrate well, but it’s quite likely that so far only a fraction of its message has been seen here.
The Grail and its medical, biological meanings alone may be quite voluminous. Also related to the role of the Grail as a symbol of alchemy, elixirs, and transmutation, as well as possibly embodying signs of Hindu influence, is a peculiar relationship related to the evolution and streamlining of certain mythical characters.
In the treatment of Arthur as a development of Artio, or a masculinization of Artemis, or as a streamlining of a larger Celtic pantheon, there are resemblances to Hercules. As a hunting Goddess, Orion can also be seen as such a male counterpart or masculinization of Artemis. Not ironically, Orion is well known as an occurance in Crete, where ancient murals seem to contain an earlier expression of the nebris-skin or the lion-skin on the arm that is characteristic of both depictions of preists and depictions of a number of deities, including Hercules: a large feline is seen literally biting the neck of a full grown man.
Such a figure is stirring and evocative. In the act of going for the throat, the animal recalls observations that can be made of some smaller, domesticated cats- they simply do not eat mice, but hunt them as prey and then chew and suck the neck until sometimes long after the animal is dead, as if they are literally vampires... and as if they are seeking some nourishment which is to be found in the area of the neck. It’s not the blood, which is quickly coagulated...
But the neck is the area of the thyroids.
Typical for the ancient universal culture, the concern of large cats going for the throat is not only found in ancient Cretan murals, but these ancient Peruvian works as well. Will we find clues to thyroid diseases in these works, or more importantly, would careful chemical analysis of residues in these ancient containers reveal what may have thousands of years ago been a treatment, or even a cure for thyroid disorders?
Likewise, and perhaps even more importantly, would such an honest examination of these artifacts also mark a new beginning in understanding that the characters that appear on these ancient vessals in all likelihood served as symbolic labels of their contents?
Compare then, if you will, the classic elements of oppression by vampires, with the symptoms of hypothyroidism. That it’s victims become drained of life and vitality isn’t as fanciful as it may sound. Or consider that some Hindu traditions symbolize the fifth chakra, the chakra connected to the thyroid gland as a Grail, as exemplified by Gunther’s “Energy Ecstasy”.
Or consider that the Greeks, whose vampire persisted long past the introduction of Christianity, was called Broucolacai, or Broucolac. The word is not a far cry from the name of Dracul, but it’s an even shorter stretch between this word, and the name of Hercules.
Indeed, to consider the elements which comprise thyroid hormones, and the logicistic roles of the food chain in this regard, may be revealing. Two of the most obvious dietary affections of cats are fowl and fish: animals that may either contain specific amino acids that suppliment these hormones, or because of their mobility and their ability to encounter the ocean’s iodine supply, the elements that comprise iodine if an impaired or repressed metabolism is unable to synthesize these elements through “alchemy” or biological transmutation. (Biological transmutation in microbes may account for numerous successful alchemic strategies, such as implied by the process stage of putrefaction.
Hence, bioalchemy may provide the basis for a third line of feline dietary preferences: for those animals which have high metabolic activity, whose components are more capable of biological transmutation. Mice, and certainly rabbits, may be among them- wiry, twitchy, high-strung, energetic creatures who, like the rabbit, have special enzymes involved in the metabolism of carbohydrates. The hummingbird, often a particular favorite among fowl, may possess such metabolic features as well.
The occult health specialist may observe Signature and Serendipity at work, as well. That the cat, who has special needs for the amino acid taurine, has special needs regarding the thyroid (the sign of Taurus rules the thyroid), may be another species of the “benevolent concidences” such as the role of lime-scented limonene in repelling Lyme disease’s carriers (limonene is an active constituent of fleabane), or the nomenclature of insulin, when a third, unregarded type of diabetes, related to insolation, may be common, or even rampant in the present day. Such things occur, and continue to occur. Taurine is very likely to yet be proven to play a role in the attraction of cats to catnip in spite of the prevailing conventional “wisdom”.
What is interesting, is that comparing the development of a patheon used as shamanic or folk-medicine symbols, the streamlining of the vast and complex Greek pantheon into the popular hero, Hercules, parallels the possible streamlining of medicine down to an equally singular model of cause and therapy: the thyroid. Dr. Broda Barnes , author of “Hypothyroidism: The Unsuspected Illness”, has captured the attention of respected health authors Langer & Scheer.
Barnes offers us a view of medicine that fits the description well. To generalize his work, if the thyroid isn’t operating correctly, anything else can happen. The role of the thyroid is both general, and critical.
The website, “The New Approach to Low Thyroid Conditions”, offers us this, which may be of particular importance to us: “Sometimes patients who are put on thyroid medication will find that after an initial improvement their symptoms either return or worsen. This is because thyroid medication may cause the thyroid gland to stop producing thyroxin on its own. Also, some people have an auto-immune problem where their own body is attacking the thyroid gland. It usually does this as a result of a viral or parasitic infection in the gland. Once the infection is eliminated the person must be very careful not to take anything too stimulating to the thyroid as this can cause the immune system to attack itself (i.e., the thyroid).
Another factor involved in thyroid function is diet. Diets low in protein and high in fats can interfere with thyroid function. Adequate protein is required to produce the thyroid hormone. Fat has been found to be antagonistic to thyroid function and it also lowers metabolism. Also, thiocyanate, a substance found in vegetables from the cabbage family, has an antagonistic effect on the thyroid. Excessive intake of thiocyanate foods can cause a disease called goiter. Goiter is an enlargement of the thyroid gland where it becomes slow and underactive.
The solution to all this is to be tested by a qualified nutritionist in order to detect any vitamin or mineral imbalances. As you probably already know, excesses of one vitamin or mineral can actually cause a deficiency in another. The key to a properly functioning thyroid is balance. The correct levels of nutrients can be achieved through proper testing and a specific nutritional program tailored to individual needs. As you can see, there are many factors involved with proper thyroid function. The good news is that there is hope to correct slow thyroid function in many people. Age is not a factor. As long as someone still has a portion of their thyroid gland undamaged, it is possible that it may begin to produce hormone again on its own.”
What should strike us here is the role of the cabbage family. One of our best known members of this family, also known as the Cruciferae, or the Brassicaceae, is broccoli. Broccoli. Broucolac. Here is one possible “vampire” for us, a repressor of the thryoid, a drainer of life. Granted, folk medicine knows that what can harm, can heal, and thus such vegetables could be altered to be helpful instead of harmful- but is broccoli named for this creature, for this very reason?
Within the powerful context we have seen evolving here, it’s very likely.
There is also more. Broucolaci, somehow, fit comfortably alongside Greek Christendom for a considerable time. One possible explanation is that the streamlining parallels elements of Christianity as an identical thing- a conciously regarded set of symbols embodying medical knowledge.
The ability to superimpose the cosmology of the Judeo-Christian universe onto the body- that is, to superimpose the macrocosm onto the microcosm of man, is not only possible, it was for centuries encouraged by Christianity, who often used this extremely modern, holographic world-view to underscore their acceptance of, and successes with, the Doctrine of Signatures. Virtually any substantial reference on the history of herbalism and human thought will refer to this, often in considerable detail.
What has been missing, however, is the set of direct correspondences between this cosmology and the body- the specific similarities as opposed to the general principle. In such a “biological Biblical cosmology”, “Hell” might be the intestinal tract, the “lake of fire” the stomach, and prevailing in the higher heavens just under “God” who may be the brain, are the thryoids, which are often referred to as ”wing-shaped”- they are, by way of this train of thought, the wings of angels.
So, too, was the Broucolac, or vampire, transformed into a winged creature, whose powerful mobility was as much as issue as the mobility of the cat’s prey, or our own mobility, is in our context. Any well-researched set of comparisons is liable to only bring out more and more connections and correspondences in this area. We could easily find justification from a folk-medicine point of view, why the plague, for example, was personified as a bat-winged figure of death- because there is some relevant connection between its cause, prevention or cure, and the generalist thyroid-center school of medicine that may have flourished with the assistance of both the symbols of the religious, and the supernatural... beginning with the observation that the carriers who brought it into households might have arrived there with the assistance of cats.
If there was a failure of such a thyroid-centered folk medicine that allowed the plague to prevail, it may have been the refusal of a multitude to embrace the intended message of the symbols. Such refusal or denial might also be met today, amongst Christians, and so too, our hoarde of modern self-professed vampires. One might expect, on attempting to inform them that they’re “not vampires, they’re simply expressing the fact that they have metabolic disorders through symbolism”, little more than rejection and denial, even if such a peculiar observation were absolute fact.
Ironically, the ability to conceptualize, the very key facility to unlocking symbols, and to grasp ideas by their general components, and to have faith in certain upstanding principles, or practice the devotion of granting a fair say to rightful authority, is linked, consistently, by classical occult systems, to this very chakra and its correspondent endocrine, the thyroid.
An additional note of congruity arises from the practice of many cats of taking the mangled but uneaten mouse and placing it before its owner, which numerous authorities seem to regard as a “symbolic gift”. While perhaps a serious error is being made, to presume the use of a symbol, and then to deny the complex possibilities that symbols may normally convey, the basic observation may be correct. Be this a symbolic gesture, or an act of devotion, or what you will, these are functions of the conciousness connected to the fifth chakra and the thyroid. They may only be possible because of the stimulating effects of substances on the domesticated cats which have succeeded in obtaining them.
(Ironically, there are a staggering number of authorities who seem unable themselves to conceptualize effectively, who rather prejudicially credit animals only with functions up to the fourth chakra. A little honest attention will easily demonstrate animals functioning well, up to the seventh chakra. Of course, that’s no surprise to people like Art Myers, author of “Communicating With Animals”, or the countless physics he’s talked to who give every indication of being able to converse with such higher functions of conciousness in animals.)
But can any of this, whether it is true or only marginally true, be sensibly connected to our original premises of the ancient mother Goddess?
To begin with, the role of the “Grail”, or of wormwood, in its traditional feat of causing the food and drink to seem to be the finest that those present had ever tasted, may also be related to the thyroids, and biological activities in the area. While not all systems of chakra correspondence associate the sense of taste and smell with the fifth chakra, it may most logically be so, for it is the chakra that is most physically proximal to these sense organs, an aspect that can be noted in the case of other chakras.
We may also consider the chemical relationships between the putrid aromatic molecules that comprise halitosis and compromise the sense of smell and taste, and the chemistry and medical herbalism in question, just as we can consider the relationships between these herbs and thyroid-centered medicine.
A significant role of thyroid hormone is to allow carbohyrates into the cell. Oxygen itself is considered to have this capability as are a number of other substances. One of the most fundamental features of the Artemisias that may account for so many of their magickal, mystical, and legendary values, is the consistency with which they are found to contain large-molecule peroxides; peroxides ultimately break down to give off oxygen.
So, too, do the bitter tonic properties of Artemisias likely depend on the alteration of the uptake of glucose in the gastrointestinal tract, by way of the sense of taste and the nervous system.
Likewise, if such incomparable feasts should be satisfying, and fufill the obligatory Christian perroguetive to be something other than divine providence squandering itself on nothing more than decadent gluttony, we are looking perhaps at the amino acids that not only serve as precursors to the synthesis of thyroid hormone in the body, but are thought to be quite relevant to controlling the sense of appetite and satiety.
Other factors requiring correspondence may fall into place far more easily; the role of understanding the appetites of animals and related factors which may precipitate lethal attacks on human beings or factors into the understanding of how diseases are spread quite readily and obviously falls into the concerns and categorization of the Goddess, Artemis, who is mistress of animals and protectoress of children. The surviving work which so readily links Artemis to Artio is the obvious one, a lone female encountering a wild bear, and offering him food.
What we have here, at the very least, are some powerful reasons that the old Gods, the old legends, should shine again as they may once have, and to take precendence over the shallow, disposable toy store legends that children are relentlessly bombarded with, and yet so rapidly outgrow. Even the possibility that our ancient stories, like the children’s stories used by Amerindian shaman to begin a child’s education as a doctor and healer at the earliest point possible, are enough to further distinguish their timeless value from the hideous exercises in planned cultural obsolence that defines the cultural vaccuum that is felt by so many vocal and creative spirits, although that void is constantly populated with even more colorful characters of little lasting consequence or substance.
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