Aerin
The Land of Logres Speaks: "I am the promise of the land that will be restored. Behold! the waters run once more, each bough is in bud or blosson, the sacred grain is ripening. You who dance out the seedtime of your soul's journey under my broad meadows, I bid you find the rainbow's end and your true treasury."
Every age has to solve the problem of evil, find people who will go on quest in service of the Grail. The Grail is an ongoing cycle. To help see the current pattern of events, look at the Grail's manifestation:
1. The Dolorous blow (D.B.) afflicts the land. Usually by a publically responsible person acting in a privately personal/ selfish way. Or when a Hallow is misused e.g. Balin striking Pelles with the Spear in self defence. The analogue of this blow is when Gwenhwyfar has a cup of wine thrown in her lap, an insult to the representative of Sovreignty.
2. The D.B. afflicts King and Land with infertility and wasting. The land is overun by foes who waste resources and terrrorize the weak. The kingdom becomes anarchistic, society breaks down.
3. The Grail appears symbolically or actually to those who have dedicated themselves to resoring Sovereign and Wasteland to rights.
4. The Grail's healing is sought by a quest, a journey of personal danger, prayer, seership, by the formation of a dedicated followers of seekers. (The Grail Family)
5. One seeker has greater affinity with the Grail, often less well educated/ weaker/ less able/ 'foolish'. The foolishness is the result of the non-duality of innocent perception, it is the youngest who can perceive and attain the Grail.
6. The Grail winner heals Land and King by being open to the Grail's grace. Land becomes fertile, old king dies or retires, Grail-Winner and companions become the new Guardians of the Grail which is no longer symbolic but manifest everywhere.
This template can be used at all times and all cultures. It is endlessly repeated in history of your land and age. It is an act of seership to recognise the patterns and protagonists of the Grail in your time and place. This is true alchemy, where the Great Work is the perfecting of the times.
Restoring the Likeness: The card represents restoration to essential perfection, you may suspect 'things fall apart, the centre cannot hold' and you are right. We may achieve our quest for a little space only, the Grail-vision erased from our hearts. What does this mean and what can we do?
Loss of realisations and empowerments is a regular feature of life e.g. when we change our inner myth, when seasonal esoteric tides change. This is normal and natural, remember our emptiness will be filled again in a while.
Most spiritual training upholds a wholistic raison d'etre, we live in a dualistic world right/ wrong good/ bad etc. The Piscean perspective aims at a final perfected end in our spiritual lives, the Aquarian that we discover our spiritual trajectory by encountering the challenges and rewards of life sharing the fruits of our experience with all beings.
In the ancient world the initiate was no longer subject to the cyclability and mutability of life: most of us do not attain this except in brief flashes of comprehension when we look to the heart of things and know ourselves part of them. Most of us alternate carefree abandon or anxious suspicion: this card bids us find more balance. Looking on life as a spiral may help us, the wheel of the year spins and we are different people at the end of it. Other experiences are available in successive cycles. Keeping a journal is good, we can look back and realise what we have forgotten.
The perfection in this card is restoration of holy likeness, rediscovery of intrinsic sacred quality of creation. Taking the rainbow path in perfect love and trust means the grace of Divine Spirit (however you call it) leads us to the centre of our quest. The experience of the Restoration of the Hallows cannot be taken from us, whatever happens.
The quest in not for the faint hearted, also those who set out with selfish intentions do not get far. The Seeker is impelled by the Grail Vision to restore what is lost, in every generation there are those who follow the path. You satnd at the beginning of your quest, to achieve the Flowering of Logres - restoration of wholeness of self, the land, the earth.
Tasks:
1. Make a list of what you would like to chieve: tomorrow, next week, month, year, 2-3 yrs
2. Look at long cherished ideals and hopes. Are you still resolved to fulfil them? Have ideals become stale, without motion? If still cherished, how will you fulfil them? Out loud, rescind old unwanted ideals that may be clogging your pathway, also speak your present ideals and wishes.
3. Do a Mabon's Gateway spread for a cherished project not coming to fruition. Record it and findings in your diary.
Questions:
1. How does the Wasteland manifest in your personal life and surroundings? What are you doing/ can be done about it?
2. What is your secret dream?
Meditation:
1. Set the FoL before you, study it. Without looking at meaning, what impression do you receive?
2. Enter the scene as an observer - what is it like to be in this landscape? Describe what you see, hear, smell, feel.
3. Enter the card and stand as one of the children or as the Seeker. What made the Wasteland flower? What legacy of wisdom would you leave to the children? What do the bee and butterfly say? What are the uses of the Hallows?
Visualisation: Intended to give you a sense of over-view of the quest for the Hallows.(you may want to tape this or have someone read it to you) (NB: H means 'pause' giving you time to experience for yourself.)
Let us enter the realms of the Grail by exploring the landscape within. Close your eyes and see the scenes described . As the pictures form, enter and become part of the scene as an active participant.
It is day-time and you are approaching a castle. It is a large and busy place and no-one notices you. You enter and find your way to the Great Hall. Here is the Round Table at which many people can sit. You walk around the table and see that there are names written on the back of each chair. Walk around and find a chair with your name written on it. H You find it and sit down. You realize that you are seated at the Round Table in Camelot and that the court have met to discuss matters of importance and that you are here to represent your own country. Each person reports their news. Soon it will be your turn. You turn your mind to your own country and the events of the world: what is happening there right now - what is the world's need? H You tell your own news to those seated at the table. H Now everyone has spoken. Suddenly a shaft of light comes through a high window onto the table. You see the Grail shimmering within the light. Its beauty speaks to your heart - you know that if the Grail can be found, all the problems of your world will be eased. Make your own dedication now to find the Grail and help heal the world's pain. H From this moment you are called to the quest. You rise and get ready to search. You leave the Castle of Camelot and pass out into the countryside on your quest. You may go on foot or take a horse from the stables.
You follow the path before you and soon find yourself in a dense forest. Your quest does not seem so important, now that the vision has begun to fade. You come to a place where the path splits into four - which one shall you follow? H As you think, a White Stag appears on one of the paths and you follow it. You realise that you are in the Forest of Adventure where many extraordinary things can happen if you are true to your quest. The White Stag leads you into a clearing - a place of tranquility where you can sit and think about your quest. You set out in high hopes and with strong ideals, but a part of you is lazy and wants to rest - you ask yourself the question: what aspect of myself prevents me from finding the Grail? H You know the answer deep inside yourself. The birds sing encouragingly to you in the Forest and you continue your quest.
Still following the path, you emerge from the Forest and see before you a Castle which would look better if it were not situated next to a dark and stagnant lake. Still, the sight of the habiltation cheers you and you approach it. Within, there is a fire and a table spread with food. You recognize some of the people here. They are those who despise and look down on you, the people who weaken and disempower you. They do not understand your quest and they mock your determination with questions which raise doubts in you: 'Why are you so special that you thinik you are good enough to go on quest?' - 'What do you think you will gain - one person alone?' H But even as you consider the answers to these questions, you hear the harsh cry of the White Stag. You realise that you have accidentally come to the Castle of Case which is dangerous to questers who are not firmly resolved. You face your challengers and tell them just who you are and what you intend to do. H Without more argument, you turn and leave.
(one third of the visualisation typed in, 2/3 to go....UPDATE: kaz has the book! kaz has the book! kaz has the book! (say the typing fingers, happy for kaz). Anyone reading this thread without the book will now just have to wonder - what happens next after the leaving of Castle of Case. A mystery forever hidden from the Bookless)
Aerin
Every age has to solve the problem of evil, find people who will go on quest in service of the Grail. The Grail is an ongoing cycle. To help see the current pattern of events, look at the Grail's manifestation:
1. The Dolorous blow (D.B.) afflicts the land. Usually by a publically responsible person acting in a privately personal/ selfish way. Or when a Hallow is misused e.g. Balin striking Pelles with the Spear in self defence. The analogue of this blow is when Gwenhwyfar has a cup of wine thrown in her lap, an insult to the representative of Sovreignty.
2. The D.B. afflicts King and Land with infertility and wasting. The land is overun by foes who waste resources and terrrorize the weak. The kingdom becomes anarchistic, society breaks down.
3. The Grail appears symbolically or actually to those who have dedicated themselves to resoring Sovereign and Wasteland to rights.
4. The Grail's healing is sought by a quest, a journey of personal danger, prayer, seership, by the formation of a dedicated followers of seekers. (The Grail Family)
5. One seeker has greater affinity with the Grail, often less well educated/ weaker/ less able/ 'foolish'. The foolishness is the result of the non-duality of innocent perception, it is the youngest who can perceive and attain the Grail.
6. The Grail winner heals Land and King by being open to the Grail's grace. Land becomes fertile, old king dies or retires, Grail-Winner and companions become the new Guardians of the Grail which is no longer symbolic but manifest everywhere.
This template can be used at all times and all cultures. It is endlessly repeated in history of your land and age. It is an act of seership to recognise the patterns and protagonists of the Grail in your time and place. This is true alchemy, where the Great Work is the perfecting of the times.
Restoring the Likeness: The card represents restoration to essential perfection, you may suspect 'things fall apart, the centre cannot hold' and you are right. We may achieve our quest for a little space only, the Grail-vision erased from our hearts. What does this mean and what can we do?
Loss of realisations and empowerments is a regular feature of life e.g. when we change our inner myth, when seasonal esoteric tides change. This is normal and natural, remember our emptiness will be filled again in a while.
Most spiritual training upholds a wholistic raison d'etre, we live in a dualistic world right/ wrong good/ bad etc. The Piscean perspective aims at a final perfected end in our spiritual lives, the Aquarian that we discover our spiritual trajectory by encountering the challenges and rewards of life sharing the fruits of our experience with all beings.
In the ancient world the initiate was no longer subject to the cyclability and mutability of life: most of us do not attain this except in brief flashes of comprehension when we look to the heart of things and know ourselves part of them. Most of us alternate carefree abandon or anxious suspicion: this card bids us find more balance. Looking on life as a spiral may help us, the wheel of the year spins and we are different people at the end of it. Other experiences are available in successive cycles. Keeping a journal is good, we can look back and realise what we have forgotten.
The perfection in this card is restoration of holy likeness, rediscovery of intrinsic sacred quality of creation. Taking the rainbow path in perfect love and trust means the grace of Divine Spirit (however you call it) leads us to the centre of our quest. The experience of the Restoration of the Hallows cannot be taken from us, whatever happens.
The quest in not for the faint hearted, also those who set out with selfish intentions do not get far. The Seeker is impelled by the Grail Vision to restore what is lost, in every generation there are those who follow the path. You satnd at the beginning of your quest, to achieve the Flowering of Logres - restoration of wholeness of self, the land, the earth.
Tasks:
1. Make a list of what you would like to chieve: tomorrow, next week, month, year, 2-3 yrs
2. Look at long cherished ideals and hopes. Are you still resolved to fulfil them? Have ideals become stale, without motion? If still cherished, how will you fulfil them? Out loud, rescind old unwanted ideals that may be clogging your pathway, also speak your present ideals and wishes.
3. Do a Mabon's Gateway spread for a cherished project not coming to fruition. Record it and findings in your diary.
Questions:
1. How does the Wasteland manifest in your personal life and surroundings? What are you doing/ can be done about it?
2. What is your secret dream?
Meditation:
1. Set the FoL before you, study it. Without looking at meaning, what impression do you receive?
2. Enter the scene as an observer - what is it like to be in this landscape? Describe what you see, hear, smell, feel.
3. Enter the card and stand as one of the children or as the Seeker. What made the Wasteland flower? What legacy of wisdom would you leave to the children? What do the bee and butterfly say? What are the uses of the Hallows?
Visualisation: Intended to give you a sense of over-view of the quest for the Hallows.(you may want to tape this or have someone read it to you) (NB: H means 'pause' giving you time to experience for yourself.)
Let us enter the realms of the Grail by exploring the landscape within. Close your eyes and see the scenes described . As the pictures form, enter and become part of the scene as an active participant.
It is day-time and you are approaching a castle. It is a large and busy place and no-one notices you. You enter and find your way to the Great Hall. Here is the Round Table at which many people can sit. You walk around the table and see that there are names written on the back of each chair. Walk around and find a chair with your name written on it. H You find it and sit down. You realize that you are seated at the Round Table in Camelot and that the court have met to discuss matters of importance and that you are here to represent your own country. Each person reports their news. Soon it will be your turn. You turn your mind to your own country and the events of the world: what is happening there right now - what is the world's need? H You tell your own news to those seated at the table. H Now everyone has spoken. Suddenly a shaft of light comes through a high window onto the table. You see the Grail shimmering within the light. Its beauty speaks to your heart - you know that if the Grail can be found, all the problems of your world will be eased. Make your own dedication now to find the Grail and help heal the world's pain. H From this moment you are called to the quest. You rise and get ready to search. You leave the Castle of Camelot and pass out into the countryside on your quest. You may go on foot or take a horse from the stables.
You follow the path before you and soon find yourself in a dense forest. Your quest does not seem so important, now that the vision has begun to fade. You come to a place where the path splits into four - which one shall you follow? H As you think, a White Stag appears on one of the paths and you follow it. You realise that you are in the Forest of Adventure where many extraordinary things can happen if you are true to your quest. The White Stag leads you into a clearing - a place of tranquility where you can sit and think about your quest. You set out in high hopes and with strong ideals, but a part of you is lazy and wants to rest - you ask yourself the question: what aspect of myself prevents me from finding the Grail? H You know the answer deep inside yourself. The birds sing encouragingly to you in the Forest and you continue your quest.
Still following the path, you emerge from the Forest and see before you a Castle which would look better if it were not situated next to a dark and stagnant lake. Still, the sight of the habiltation cheers you and you approach it. Within, there is a fire and a table spread with food. You recognize some of the people here. They are those who despise and look down on you, the people who weaken and disempower you. They do not understand your quest and they mock your determination with questions which raise doubts in you: 'Why are you so special that you thinik you are good enough to go on quest?' - 'What do you think you will gain - one person alone?' H But even as you consider the answers to these questions, you hear the harsh cry of the White Stag. You realise that you have accidentally come to the Castle of Case which is dangerous to questers who are not firmly resolved. You face your challengers and tell them just who you are and what you intend to do. H Without more argument, you turn and leave.
(one third of the visualisation typed in, 2/3 to go....UPDATE: kaz has the book! kaz has the book! kaz has the book! (say the typing fingers, happy for kaz). Anyone reading this thread without the book will now just have to wonder - what happens next after the leaving of Castle of Case. A mystery forever hidden from the Bookless)
Aerin