Nexus - 0605 - New Times Magazine-pages

Page Content (OCR)

Charlemagne. But legend had it that, after many great victories, King of the Fairies. Such was the translatory nature of all Charlemagne was doomed to defeat from the moment he lost the — Rosicrucian symbology, whether portrayed in stories, artwork, magical weapon. And so it was that on 30 April 1945—the very watermarks or the Tarot. day when the American 7th Army, under General Patton, seized Some time earlier, in 1408, Edward de Vere's ancestor, Richard the lance from Nuremberg Castle—Adolf Hitler accepted his (Lord Chamberlain and 11th Earl of Oxford), had been invested defeat and [apparently] shot himself. as a Knight of the Garter by King Henry IV at Windsor Castle. Whether applied in fact or fantasy, the concept of the Ring and Also invested at the same time was King Sigismund of Hungary, the Grail was such that it inspired hope for the social and natural who had revived the ancient Egyptian Order of the Dragon— environments. The Grail Hallows (the Sword, Chalice, within which Richard de Vere held the hereditary distinction of Ouroboros and Spear) were traditionally regarded as tools of Lord Draconis. princely service but, when presumed to be weapons of power, One way or another, the nursery tales which emanated from the they would always, one way or another, destroy the wielder from "underground stream" were stories of lost brides and usurped within. These Hallows were represented in the four suits of the kingship—based upon the subjugation of the Grail Bloodline by Tarot's Minor Arcana as the Swords, Cups, Pentacles and the Church of Rome and, in later times, by the sectarian Puritans Wands—subsequently to become the Spades, Hearts, Diamonds of the Protestant movement. The Catholics had their Dominican and Clubs that we know today. Grand Inquisitor, Tomas de Torquemada, and the Puritans had Throughout the best part of this millennium, no organisation their equivalent in Matthew Hopkins, the Witchfinder-General. has misused the Grail Chalice symbolism to greater effect than the Favoured executions, in each case, were hanging, drowning or Christian Church establishment. From the earliest times, the burning at the stake, and the common command was: "Kill them Rosi-crucis (the chalice and wine of the Grail sacrament) was a all—God will know his own!" prerogative of the Albi-gens, being emblematic of the Blood The fairy tale concept was essentially geared to stories relating Royal in the womb of the Dragon to these persecutions: allegorical Queen. However, the Church has accounts of the predicament of the long misappropriated this aspect of true Royal Family—the Ring Lords the Hallows ceremony to become its of the Sangréal, whose fairies and Eucharistic power-weapon, suppos- Whether applied in fact or elves (having been manoeuvred from edly to bind its followers into com- the mortal plane of orthodoxy and munion with ecclesiastical dogma. fantasy, the concept of the Ring status quo) were confined to a seem- But, as time goes by, this very power and the Grail was such that it ingly Otherworld existence. is being seen to subside as the con- . . . They were tales of Grail Princes gregations diminish in the quest for inspired hope for the social and who were turned into frogs, of Swan orate truths and more su stantial natural environments. Knights who roamed the wasteland, enlightenment from legitimate and of Dragon Princesses locked in sources. towers or put to sleep for hundreds of years. In the course of their persecu- [ William Shakespeare's A tion, the Elf Maidens were pricked Midsummer Night's Dream, the with bodkins, fed with poisoned Queen of the Fairies is Titania, whose name represents the pre- apples or condemned to servitude—while their champions swam Olympian god-race of the Titans. In particular, she is the Moon __ great lakes, battled through thickets and scaled mighty towers to Goddess Diana. Their king, Oberon, however, had an historical secure and protect the matrilinear heritage of the Albi-gens. They base, being inspired by an ancestor of Shakespeare's colleague include such well-known stories as Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford. He was a founding mem- Snow White and Rapunzel. ber of Elizabeth Tudor's 16th-century Court Poetry and Magic In all cases, the underlying theme is the same, with the Syndicate—along with Francis Bacon, John Dee, Edmund Bloodline Princess kept (through drugging, imprisonment or some Spenser and others of the Rosicrucian "underground stream" who _ form of restraint) out of reach of the Grail Prince who has to find aided and guided much of Shakespeare's work. and release her in order to preserve the dynasty and perpetuate the Edward de Vere was, at that time, Lord Chancellor of line. For the most part, the establishment of the "Mother Church" England—as had been many generations of his forebears, includ- was symbolised by a malevolent stepmother, an evil witch or ing Albrey, the 12th-century Prince of Anjou and Guisnes, whose some other jealous female with an opposing vested interest. titular name, Albe-Righ, meant Elf King. What the Syndicate Always, the stories are reminiscent of the Lost Bride of the King knew full well, despite their loyalty to Elizabeth, was that the in the Old Testament's Song of Solomon. Their content also House of Tudor had no prior right to the English throne, having embodies the forlorn aspect of Mary Magdalene, the bride of simply taken it, by might of the sword, from the preceding House —_ Jesus, whose royal heritage and maternal legacy were so thor- of Plantagenet. oughly undermined by the Christian bishops. That apart, the Plantagenets themselves were a junior branch of An interesting feature of many classic fairy tales is that they the House of Anjou, whose senior branch was the House of Vere. truly are very old stories. Take Cinderella, for example. If asked Indeed, in 1861, the noted royal historian Baron Thomas who wrote Cinderella, many people would answer that it was the Babington Macaulay described the Veres as "the longest and most Brothers Grimm, while others would say it was Charles Perrault. illustrious line of nobles that England has ever seen". Their However, these men were not actually writers of fairy tales, as is ancestry was jointly Pictish and Merovingian, descending from commonly thought. They were collectors, compilers and inter- the ancient Grail House of Scythia. Here was a true kingly line of _preters of the tales. The story of Cinderella can be traced back to the Elven Race, and it was for this reason that Oberon (a variant —_ the Carolingian era, with its first known version appearing in the of Aubrey/Albrey, the historical Elf King) became Shakespeare's year 850. Perrault published his well-known edition in 1697 in fantasy, the concept of the Ring _and the Grail was such that it | inspired hope for the social and natural environments. NEXUS - 59 Whether applied in fact or AUGUST — SEPTEMBER 1999