Celtic Origins and Templars Connection in Grail Literature

the cauldron of abundance "from which no company ever departed ungrateful"; Lia Fáil or "Stone of Destiny" which emitted a cry when stepped upon by a future King of Ireland. If you notice, these 4 objects are also the 4 objects of the tarot, so they refer to an even more ancient aspect of the Celts. The references DON'T END HERE: as we have said, Nuada is a King wounded in one arm, the maiden bearing the Grail finds a parallel with the Sovereignty of Ireland, numerous Celtic stories and Irish folklore find a parallel with episodes or details of Parsifal's story. Then references were found in the west, east, north, south. Analogies with related cycles. To the point of claiming in an extreme way that this movement HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH CHRISTIANITY and was only a re-presentation of ancient pagan myths, a simple re-emergence of a royal-warrior-priestly tradition of pre-Christian origins. This in itself is absurd. It's clear that the authors used folkloric legends. This in itself, however, has no other implications except to highlight the universal roots of Grail symbols. This methodology therefore has some positive aspects, such as pointing to a Primordial or Archaic Tradition that progressively manifests itself on the world scene with new veils and symbols. On the other hand, it also has 2 NOTABLE LIMITS: The first limit is a METHODOLOGICAL LIMIT: it is not clear how a myth and symbols that are not understood when treated in writings culturally and temporally close to us, can be understood when inserted in writings culturally and temporally distant from us. The second limit is an ESSENTIAL LIMIT: Grail tales indeed have analogies with some Nordic or Oriental tales, but in their essence they are profoundly different and -however much one might try to say otherwise- strongly tied to the Christian tradition and background. The very recourse to King Arthur's court to set the myth and not to that of Aeneas, or Alexander the Great, or Charlemagne is significant. The Mystery set at that court and image of the virgin. These simple lines make it clear that the choice of King Arthur's court to set the Grail mystery hid a precise intention: the evocation of a mystery that occurred in the 5th century at Arthur's court that was meant to give impulse to the Knights of the Round Table to pass from earthly to heavenly chivalry. 4 NATURALISTIC THEORY - FERTILITY RITES Very close to this theory is also that relating to fertility rites proposed by Weston, but which periodically in a more or less structured way reappear in numerous neospiritualist movements. The thesis presented by Weston and which however can be traced back with some variants to numerous modern theories is that of the survival in the novels of some very ancient fertility rites. Already in Chretien de Troyes' text there is an element that will be taken up by subsequent novelists and that is the "Waste Lands". The wounding of the King is indeed connected to the devastation and desolation of the Lands under his reign and only the healing by the hero through asking questions about the Grail and the Lance will bring the lands to be healed. Weston in a rather reckless succession even for that era finds analogies between the Healing of the Wounded King in the Grail romances in the rites of Tammuz (Babylonian God of fertility) and Adonis (God wounded in a thigh) and the theme of Grail romances. With ever-increasing boldness she believes that such rites perpetuated in a Gnostic-Christian sect, that of the Naassenes and that from them they then reached the Templars. Let's say that this theory has now been abundantly refuted and overcome in almost every element, one of all is that in the texts especially in Perceval the land is desolate but not because it is not fertile: the Fisher King fishes a lot, the forests are full of game, in the same castle everything is served in abundance. The desolation is a spiritual desolation. VON ESCHENBACH (CA. 1200-1225) Very similar to Perceval is von Eschenbach's Parzival which however for some characteristics has shifted attention to a broader aspect of tradition not limiting itself to the Celtic one but opening it to the oriental aspect MORE OPEN TO THE EAST: It suffices to remember that Parzival is the son of a knight in service of the Islamic Baruc and that he has a brother (Feirefiz) black and white son of Belakane, a pagan. Feirefiz will marry the Grail maiden and will give origin in India to a son and a mysterious character: Prester John. DEFINITIVELY ASSOCIATES THE GRAIL WITH THE TEMPLARS: I know well that at Munsalvaesche, near the Grail, dwell many warlike men; always on horseback, on adventurous expeditions, the Templars, whether they win suffering or glory, bear everything to atone for sins: there resides, in fact, a warlike host. I want to tell you what their nourishment is: they live thanks to a stone of the purest kind! If you know nothing about it, I'll tell you its name: it's called lapsit exillis. THE GRAIL IS A STONE ASSOCIATED WITH REGENERATION AND RESURRECTION: The reference to the Stone is a very important element in Wolfram von Eschenbach. The Templars nourish themselves from the Grail and the Grail is a stone. The reference to Saint Paul's letter to the Corinthians is evident "all drank the same spiritual drink: