Customer Reviews

The Serpent Grail: The Truth Behind the Holy Grail, the Philosopher's Stone and the Elixir of Life

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

The authors ignore respected sources that apply very directly to their work, and the various observations regarding the serpent icon, meaning and myth.
By not including Marija Gimbutas various archeolgical books ("The Language of the Goddess: Unearthing the Hidden Symbols of Western Civilization" for one), nor Barbara G. Walker's "The Woman's Dictionary of Symbols and Sacred Objects" as well as "The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets" Serpent Grail authors rob their arguments of strong investigators of relevant subject matter. Further, they do not seem to know of Jeremy Narby's "Cosmic Serpent" which offers much insight into an intriguing indigenous and shamanic interpretaion of serpent, life force, and what we call DNA.
Worse, in my opinion all too often the authors ramble on and in sudden "deus ex machina" fashion include "And so it is obvious that...."
What follows is a conclusion unsupported by reasoned presentation based on facts. Rather, a string of events, and suppositions are offered, and quickly summed up as clearly proving whatever the authors are selling.
I wanted this book to be so much better than it is. I think it a shame Gimbutas and Walker are not included as their work is so very relevant to this book and its premises. Further, with more rigorous scholarship and intellectual discipline the case the authors are making would be much better served.

I bought this book at a B&N as a remainder. I'd like my $5 back...

I could only read about 1/3 of it before putting in down. For a "scholarly" work it was just plain bad. The authors tried very hard to link disparate belief systems from around the world to continue their previous works, particularly Phillip Gardiner's "the Shining Ones"

I was turned off by the constant attempts to link similarly pronounced words as having 'hidden' relationships to one another. It's like saying 'red' and 'read' must have similar meanings and etymologies since they are - gasp - pronounced the same.

Another thing which turned me off was the constant attempts to link things without citations. The last straw was when the authors said that Jehovah was originally a volcano god and yet provided nothing in the notes to back up this claim.

As I said at the start - I'd like my $5 back.

the authors need to learn what etymology means before they pretend to use it
they are obviously wiccan and make subtle and unnecessary jabs that do not add any depth to their claims
they really should realize that history's "manipulation" is done precisely by the people who researched and wrote with intention and their "understanding" progressively throughout history and inadvertently distorted fact... just like they have done in this book
i have never written a review before, but this book was so bad that it's the only one i've ever stopped reading and felt compelled to share just how bad it is

This is a book which aims to appeal to people's prejudices and fantasies. Lack of proof and quantum leaps to dubious conclusions mark its arguments. It is a singularly unscholarly work where the diving line between fact and fiction is difficult if not impossible to discern. As a serious work it has little merit as a work pandering to people's superstitions and assumptions it may succeed.

Throughout recorded history, human males have had trouble using their sexuality to benefit themselves and others. Sexual energy and territorial rights have continually been the basis for most wars and human problems, individually and collectively. This book deals with the societies that have learned special ways to sublimate sexual energy.

Little boys always have to learn how, what and when to deal with their penis when sexual energy begins to arise and throughout life this is a problem and has always been a problem with all human males--and consequently females.

This book is easy to read with few technical terms and the terms are explained. Well written, plain and simple with explanations of events following in logical order. Both writers are personally interested in the topic from a layman's approach. I suspect that both authors at some point in their research, perhaps before then, and joined some branch of one of the secret societies. The authors do not deal with the dark side of secret societies nor do they hint of this anywhere in the book.

The Shining Ones refers to those that have gone through an initiation process in which they have learned how to deal with their sexual energies: how to sublimate these energies for social purposes--usually. If the methods are successful, the initiate then becomes an "enlightened or illuminated one"--a Shining One. The Shining One refers mostly to the initiate's inner feeling of energy and enlightenment--a new way of life that was spoken of by Christ and others. The initiate then feels illuminated with new energy; Shining inside, often referred to as the inner light or illumination.

Both writers collaborated also on another book, The Shining Ones, which is about some of the members of these secret societies. This book is about how humans have dealt with their sexual energies: how they have sublimated these energies via special, secret methods. The serpent or snake became a model for the human penis and how special methods allowed these initiates to use their sexual energies to help themselves and others.

Both of these books are well written and present the concepts that are the origins of all secret societies: how humans, particularly men, learn to harness their sexual energy for social purposes (usually social).

Choc-a-bloc with esoteric tidbits. There's something for everyone here.
The problem lies within the book's central premise - that the gigantic serpent phenomena is all about snakes. So the cosmic ramifications of serpent symbolism, rites and mythology can be reduced to ancient man's appreciation of the medicinal or healing qualities of snake venom and snakeskin. If one can get past this notion, there really is some excellent research here.

Another of the genre, "truth behind everything". The title alone is enough to draw one in, yes? Why not say it is a "secret" revealed and sell a few more? From the beginning of the "secret" of the grail it was said that unless "adventure" asked, one should not speak, or in the nascent case, write about the grail. However, when you have missed the proverbial boat by as far as this work does, it makes no difference. The truth is so simple-and that is the only way it can survive. Be entertained, but don't be fooled, as the dog clips your heal, from beginning to end, it would seem....

Regardless of the previous reviewers feminine angle I found this book to be amazingly concise and covering all the aspects, indeed even those supposedly left out. I have also just read Gardiner's new book Secrets of the Serpent, which goes into much more depth. The Serpent Grail is about the Grail and it's links to the serpent worshippers of the past. It reveals the elixir of life and therefore is not a mythological encyclopedia as desired by the previous reviewer. Secrets of the Serpent reveals much more than any other mythological book of the serpent and even comes up against the Da Vinci Code. The Serpent Grail is an amazing new angle on the Grail lore and one that many scholars have reviewed glowingly, so it has to be worth a look.

I loved it! Mr. Gardiner has done a great job of of explaining complex concepts in a very managable way. I highly recommend it.