He by Robert A. Johnson

Author:Robert A. Johnson [Johnson, Robert A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins e-books
Published: 2009-07-02T00:00:00+00:00

The Grail Castle

Our story goes on.

Parsifal has traveled all day in his heroic quest and at nightfall asks someone if there is a lodge or tavern anywhere nearby where he can spend the night. He is informed that there is no habitation within thirty miles.

A little later Parsifal finds a man in a boat fishing on a lake. He asks the man if there is any place to stay the night. The fisherman, who is the Fisher King, invites him to his humble abode, “Just go down the road a little way, turn left, cross the drawbridge.” Parsifal does this and the drawbridge snaps shut just as he crosses it and ticks the back hooves of his horse. It is very dangerous to enter into the Grail castle, for that is the Fisher King’s home, and many a youth is unhorsed as he makes the transition from our ordinary world into the imaginary, symbolic world of the Grail castle.

Parsifal finds himself in the keep of a great castle where four youths take his horse, bath him, give him fresh clothing, and lead him to the master of the castle, the Fisher King. The King apologizes for being unable to rise from his litter and greet Parsifal properly due to his wound. The whole court of the castle—four hundred knights and ladies—is there to greet Parsifal, and a wonderful ceremony takes place.

In a setting of such grandeur one knows that Parsifal has blundered into the inner world, the place of the spirit, the place of transformation. Especially when the number four is accentuated—four hundred knights and ladies, four youths, the great fireplace with four faces showing the cardinal directions—one expects the splendor of the inner world. It is indeed the Grail castle where the Holy Grail from the last supper is kept.

There is a great ceremony in progress. The Fisher King lies groaning in agony on his litter, one fair maiden carries in the lance that pierced the side of Christ, another fair maiden brings the paten from which the last supper was served, and, finally, a third fair maiden brings in the Holy Grail itself.5

A great banquet is held and everyone is given what they wish from the Grail or the paten even before they formulate a wish. Everyone, that is, except the Fisher King. Because of his wound he is unable to drink from the Grail, and his suffering is the worse because of this deprivation.

The Fisher King’s niece brings a sword which the King straps to Parsifal’s waist. This sword is to be Parsifal’s for the rest of his life. It is here that a youth gains his mature masculinity and his power to accomplish the remaining tasks of his life.

Another gift is available at the Grail castle but Parsifal does not pass the test required for this. Gournamond instructed Parsifal during his training that when he found the Grail he was to ask a specific question, “Whom does the Grail serve?” If this question is asked the blessings of that great cornucopia of life, the Grail, will pour out its blessings.

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