The Arcana of the Grail Angel
Article © John Barnwell Author of "The Arcana of the Grail
Angel: The Spiritual Science of the
Holy Blood and of the Holy Grail"
The Trial and Death of the Templars
The Neoplatonic philosopher Plotinus (205-270 A.D.) in his work entitled
the Ennead, used three words, 'the Good, the True, and the Beautiful', to refer
to the triune nature of the unity of the Godhead - which he called 'the One'.
Plotinus' trinitarian ideas have been very influential on Christian
philosophers' attempts to understand the nature of the Holy Trinity since the
Middle Ages. According to the teachings of Plotinus, evil was considered to be
a state of lack, or privation - that is, a non-participation in the Good, the
True, and the Beautiful. It is from this idea, that we can perhaps come to a
greater understanding of the trial, torture, and death of the Knights Templars.
On numerous occasions during the trials of the Templars, testimony was
given under torture that they had 'denied the cross' and 'venerated a head'.
This testimony was used against them by the Catholic Church to dissolve the
order, and put many of its members to death. Furthermore, this testimony has
led to all manner of confusion amongst historians' as to the nature and purpose
of the Templar order. In occult teachings, it is known that in order to achieve
a higher state of being, this state is naturally preceded by a period of
separation or isolation - a state of 'peregrination'; this is what is shown in
the biblical story of the Garden of Eden, and the subsequent 'fall' from the
state of grace. In alchemy, this principle is expressed by the formula, 'solve
et coagula' (solve = to separate, coagula = to unite); which means that in
order to achieve the higher unity of the 'transmutation' there must first be a
state of 'exile' - as in Wolfram's Parzival, where it says regarding the Grail,
'Lapis exillis is its name' (chapter IX: line 630); which, as mentioned
earlier, is the 'stone [lapis] the builders rejected'. This principle is
vividly portrayed in, 'The Gospel of St. Matthew' (16:13-23), in relation to
another 'stone' that is rejected - Peter (Latin, Petra = rock).
When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, He asked of his
disciples, saying; 'Whom do men say that I the Son of Man am?' And they said;
'Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or
one of the prophets.' He saith unto them; 'But whom say ye that I am?' And
Simon Peter answered and said; 'Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.'
And Jesus answered and said unto him; 'Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jo'na - for
flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in
Heaven. And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I
will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I
will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of Heaven; and whomsoever thou
shalt bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven.' Then charged He his disciples
that they should tell no man that He was Jesus the Christ. From that time forth
began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that He must go unto Jerusalem, and
suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed,
and be raised again the third day. Then Peter took him saying; 'Be it far from
thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.' But He turned, and said to Peter;
'Get thee behind me, Satan - thou art an offence unto me; for thou savourest
not the things that be of God, but those of men.'
These contradictory reactions of Christ to Peter, show that Peter had
not completed his transformation, and so, could not yet consistently act out of
his higher judgement (Manas). This represents Peter's 'exile' from 'the things
that be of God' to 'those that be of men.' This state that is 'of men' is
called 'doubt' in Wolfram's Parzival. When Christ spoke these words, Peter was
yet in a state of 'tumpheit' or dullness, which leads to doubt. As I have
mentioned before [see text], Rudolf Steiner has pointed out that the path of
the Grail passes from 'dullness through doubt to ''saelde'' or blessedness';
although one must first pass through the stage of doubt - 'the dark night of
the soul.' The future doubt and denial of Christ by Peter is predicted by
Christ in 'The Gospel of John' (13:37-38).
Peter said unto him; ''Lord, why cannot I follow thee now? I will lay
down my life for thy sake.'' Jesus answered him; ''Wilt thou lay down thy life
for my sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee. The cock shall not crow, till
thou has denied me thrice.''
As a result of his dullness and subsequent doubt, Peter was later to
fulfil the prophetic words of Christ, and deny Him three times before the cock
crowed at dawn. Christ said; 'Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build
my church...' when Peter was speaking out of his Higher-Self, or Manas, which
is a state of consciousness that is permeable to the influence of the higher
worlds, '...for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father
which is in Heaven.' On the other hand, when Peter was speaking out of his
impermeable Ordinary-Ego, Christ said; 'Get thee behind me, Satan - thou art an
offence unto me; for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those of
men.'
In the second of two lectures, 'Concerning the Lost Temple and How it is
to Be Restored', which are included in the lecture cycle entitled The Temple
Legend, Rudolf Steiner gives further indications regarding the significance of
St. Peter as related to the secret initiation rites of the Order of the Knights
Templars.
Moreover, the Templars said: Today we live at a point in time when men
are not yet ripe for understanding the great teachings; we still have to
prepare them for the Baptist, John who baptises with water. The cross was held
up before the would-be Templar and he was told: You must deny the cross now, so
as to understand it later; first become a Peter the Rock who denied the Lord.
That was imparted to the aspirant Templar as a preliminary training . . .
Rudolf Steiner gives the following further indications in the same lecture.
This struggle to raise oneself up to a proper understanding of Christ,
first passing through the stage of Peter [of denial and doubt] - none of the
Templars found it possible under torture, to make clear to the judges.
At the outset, the Templars put themselves in a position, as if they had
abjured the Cross. After all of this had been made clear to the Templar, he was
shown a symbolical figure of the Divine Being in the form of a venerable man
with a long beard (symbolising the Father). When men have developed themselves,
and have come to receive in the Master a leader from among themselves, when
those are there who are able to lead humanity, then, as the Word of the guiding
Father, there will stand before men the Master who leads men to the comprehension
of Christ.
And then it was said to the Templars: When you have understood all this,
you will be ripe for joining in building the great Temple of the Earth; you
must co-operate, so arrange everything, that this great 'building' becomes a
dwelling-place for our true deeper selves, for our inner Ark of the Covenant.
If we survey all this, we find images having great significance. And he
in whose soul these images come alive, will become more and more fit to become
a disciple of those great Masters who are preparing the 'building of the Temple
of Mankind.' For such great concepts work powerfully in our souls, so that we
undergo purification, so that we are led to abounding life in the spirit.
We find this same medieval tendency as manifested in the Knights Templars,
in two round tables as well, that of King Arthur, and that of the Holy Grail.
In King Arthur's Round Table can be found the ancient universality, whereas the
spirituality proper to the Christian knighthood had to be prepared in those who
guarded the Mystery of the Holy Grail. It is remarkable how calmly and
tranquilly medieval people contemplated the developing power (fruit) and
outward form of Christianity.
When you follow the teachings of the Templars, there at the heart of it
is a kind of reverence for something of a feminine nature. This femininity was
known as the Divine Sophia, the Heavenly Wisdom. Manas is the fifth principle,
the spiritual self of man [Spirit-Self, or Higher Self], that must be
developed, for which a 'temple' must be built. And just as the pentagon at the
entrance to Solomon's Temple characterises the five-fold human being, this
female principle similarly typifies the wisdom of the Middle Ages. This wisdom
is exactly what Dante sought to personify in his Beatrice. Only from this
viewpoint can Dante's Divine Comedy be understood. Hence you find Dante, too,
using the same symbols as those which find expression in the Templars, the
Christian knights, the Knights of the Grail, and so on. Everything which is
hidden [concerning the future evolution of mankind] was indeed long since
prepared for by the great initiates, who foretell future events, in the same
way as the 'Apocalypse', so that souls will be prepared for these events.
According to legend, we have two different currents when humanity came
to the Earth: the children of Cain, whom one of the Elohim begat through Eve,
the children of the Earth, in whom we find the great arts and external
sciences. That is one of the currents; it was banished, but is however to be
sanctified by Christianity, when the fifth principle [Manas] comes into the
world. The other current is that of the children of God, who have led man
towards an understanding of the fifth principle. They are the ones that Adam
created. Now the sons of Cain were called upon to create an outer sheath, to
contain what the sons of God, the Abel-Seth children created.
In the Ark of the Covenant lies concealed the Holy Name of Yahweh.
However, what is needed to transform the world, to create the sheath for the
Holy of Holies, must be accomplished again through the sons of Cain, God
created man's physical body, into which man's ego works, at first destroying
this 'temple.' Man can only rescue himself if he first builds the house to
carry him across the 'waters' of the emotions, if he builds Noah's Ark for
himself. This house must set man on his feet again. Now those who came into the
world as the children of Cain are building the outward part, and what the
children of God have given is building the inner part. These two streams were
already current when our race began . . .
Throughout history mankind has been confronted with the struggle between
the two streams of Cain and Abel, of science and religion. If mankind is ever
to resolve this struggle, it must be taken within and resolved internally
inside the individual consciousness of man. This comes about through the
harmonising of the 'waters of the emotions', and leads to the development of
the fifth principle of Manas, or the Spirit-Self. For what is this struggle? It
is none other that the struggle between the head (Cain) and the heart (Abel) -
between the nerves and the blood. And until we resolve this struggle within,
why should we expect this struggle to be resolved outside of us in the world?
The seed for this reconciliation was planted two thousand years ago upon
Golgotha - the place of the skull - through the spilling of Christ's Holy
Blood. And now it is up to mankind, acting in complete freedom, to find the
path of harmony through the Christ impulse by consciously embracing tolerance
and forgiveness through the power of spiritual love. As Christ said; 'Forgive
them for they know not what they do.'
'The Word of God is not a sounding but a piercing Word, not
pronounceable by the tongue but efficacious in the mind, not sensible to the
ear but fascinating to the affection. His face is not an object possessing
beauty of form; but rather, it is the source of all beauty and all form. It is
not visible to the bodily eyes, but rejoices the eyes of the heart. And it is
pleasing not because of the harmony of its color but by reason of the ardour of
the love it excites.' St. Bernard of Clairvaux, 1091-1153
'Vive Dieu Saint Amour'
(Long Live God's Holy Love, a battle-cry of the
Knights Templars)
Verticordia Press, Bloomfield Hills, MI 48304-1361
ISBN 0-9671503-0-2
