The Grail: The Celtic Origins of the Sacred Icon [Paperback]

Jean Markale (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1999

A comprehensive look at the Grail that reveals its fundamentally Celtic nature beneath layers of Christian interpretations

• Emphasizes the significance of the Quest as an archetype of spiritual seeking

• By the world's preeminent authority on Celtic civilization

The Grail has long excited the imaginations of those seeking to see beyond the world of appearances. No other sacred object has inspired such longing or such dread. The Grail is the archetype of the marvelous object in which each individual can enclose the goal of his own personal quest. For some the goal of this quest has been divine grace or the Philosophers' Stone, for others it is simply a treasure that connects various episodes of the King Arthur legend.

Yet the Grail, as an object that is both close and unapproachable, was not the original focus of these stories. The Celtic tales on which the Grail legend is based emphasize the theme of the Quest. Through his exploration of several versions of this myth that appeared in the Middle Ages, Jean Markale digs deep beneath the Christian veneer of these tales, allowing us to penetrate to the true meaning of the Grail and its Quest, legacies of a rich Celtic spirituality that has nourished the Western psyche for centuries. He also examines how these myths were later used by the Knights Templar, as well as how their links with Alchemy and Catharism played a decisive role in the shaping of Western Hermetic thought. 

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

French poet and historian Markale, who has written more than 40 books on pre-Christian societies, associates the grail of Arthurian myth with the cauldron of old Welsh tales. Unfortunately, this particular theory has been explored much more thoroughly by R.S. Loomis in The Grail: From Celtic Myth to Christian Symbol (1963), and it is a theory that has since been discounted by most reputable Arthurian scholars. Markales work is more interesting in its survey of the grail portions of Arthurian mythology, looking at the grail as it appears in the works of influential Arthurian authors such as Chretien de Troyes, Wolfram von Eschenbach, and others. But this work should not be considered the final word on the history of the grail. For public and academic libraries.John J. Doherty, Northern Arizona Univ. Lib., Flagstaff
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

The Matter of Britain, as the Arthurian legends are called, holds as much power for the contemporary reader as it did for medieval lords and ladies. In this book, French scholar Markale looks at the various extant written forms of one of the key constituents of the Matter of Britain, the story of the Holy Grail. His specific project is to separate the legend's various elements and determine which parts are pagan in origin and which are Christian overlays on an ancient template. In Markale's hands this is no mere academic exercise, for he believes that the more ancient story, which deals with the healing of a wounded king whose land suffers because of that wound, has great relevance today. The later and mostly sex-denying Christian interpolations are part of the wounding of today's analogs to the Grail knights, Markale argues. Once again, this great sequence of tales proves itself meaningful to another changing age. Patricia Monaghan

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Inner Traditions; 1 edition (April 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0892817143
• ISBN-13: 978-0892817146
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,673,197 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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