The origins of the Holy Grail,
Philosopher's Stone and Elixir of Life have been traced back 5,500 years
to a cult in Mesopotamia that worshipped snakes and drank their venom
and blood.
The Real Holy Grail Has Nothing To Do
With The Da Vinci Code or Jesus, Researchers Show
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The quest for the meaning of the Holy
Grail has been one of those great open questions of history. By using
the most current historical and scientific information, researchers
Philip Gardiner and Gary Osborn say they have untangled the truth behind
the origins of the Holy Grail, and it is far from traditional Christian
beliefs and the alternative interpretation made popular by Dan Brown in
The Da Vinci Code.
Could it be that the much maligned serpent ought to be venerated instead
of feared? Is it possible that the combination of snake venom and blood
creates a potent medicine? What if this concoction, the evidence for
which researchers Gardiner and Osborn discovered throughout the world,
is really what the ancients meant as the Holy Grail, the Elixir of Life
and the Philosopher's Stone?
Gardiner and Osborn believe they have found irrefutable evidence that
not only does snake venom have healing properties but is also a doorway
to spiritual enlightenment. Their findings, based on a wealth of
detailed research on three continents, are revealed in the book
The Serpent Grail: The truth behind the Holy Grail, the Philosopher's
Stone and the Elixir of Life.
According to Gardiner and Osborn, the origin of the grail legend has its
roots centuries before Parsifal, King Arthur, Christ's crucifixion and
even the story of Genesis. Their account begins in ancient Sumer,
located at the southern tip of what is now Iraq, in the era 3500 - 2000
BCE, with a seemingly bizarre cult. This cult both worshipped the
serpent as a deity with awesome powers and drank a mixture of its venom
and blood from a 'sacred' ceremonial chalice. By drinking this mixture
the cult's initiates were cured of disease and, it is claimed, their
lives were prolonged.
The authors of The Serpent Grail believe this ancient cult spread
from Sumer to the West and beyond, and that this is the root source not
only of the Holy Grail, but also of the Elixir of Life and the legend of
the Philosopher's Stone.
The Serpent Grail uncovers evidence -- often hidden in plain
sight -- to show the presence of a prehistoric serpent cult which spread
from Mesopotamia to Egypt, Greece, and China to the West and
demonstrates how legends borne out of serpent worship became absorbed
into Christianity, Judaism and Islam. The book draws on archaeological
sources from around the world as evidence to demonstrate that the
knowledge regarding the benefits of drinking a mix of snake venom and
blood was inculcated into the religious symbolism on both sides of the
Atlantic. One of the surprising yet important sites featured in the book
is the ancient city of Yaxchilan in Mexico where Gardiner discovered
ceremonial images with remarkable similarities to the Christian
Eucharist (The Serpent Grail pp 188-9.)
The Serpent Grail also offers a unifying theory regarding snake
imagery and symbolism that is present throughout the history and
religions of the world. It demonstrates an alternative reading of myths
and fables such as St. Patrick's driving the serpents from Ireland and
shows how the shadow of the serpent cult can still be seen in both
Christian architecture and the celebration of the Eucharist. As Philip
Gardiner said after a research trip to Italy, "Rome, and especially the
Vatican, is littered with serpent imagery. Inside the Vatican statues
and sculptures link the serpent to both the grail and the Ark of the
Covenant. Even the name Vatican bears the etymological imprint of the
serpent: Vati = place; can = serpent."
Finally, The Serpent Grail looks at modern scientific research to
provide the proof for its historical theories. Research scientists in
labs all over the world are discovering healing and life-extending
properties in the complex proteins that make up snake venom -- from
treatment for tumors and cancers to relief from high blood pressure.
Dr. Zoltan Takacs, a herpetologist at Yale University, discovered in a
research project of the Egyptian Cobra exactly why snakes are not
susceptible to their own venom when they eat their prey. Takacs has
discovered an amino acid present in the cobra's blood molecules that
prevents the venom from latching on to its target. Indeed this amino
acid is evident in the blood of most venomous snakes which prevents them
from poisoning themselves.
"It may be that the dilution of the venom with blood -- especially the
blood of the same snake, which itself acts as an antidote by protecting
the snake from its own venom -- produced a virtual cure-all for the
ancients. This would explain why the blood element in all the mythical
stories we looked at was so important, especially in those myths
involving the snake or serpent." (The Serpent Grail p 280.)
Philip Gardiner has spent sixteen years reading, researching and
re-evaluating the historical evidence of the history of mankind,
science, religion and philosophy. He believes much of orthodoxy is based
on propaganda in one form or another. He is also the author of
The Shining Ones.
Gary Osborn has been a writer on mysticism and esoteric traditions for
over ten years. His articles cover subjects related to ancient
mysteries, alchemy, mysticism, ancient shamanism, and the nature of
human consciousness.
The Serpent Grail by Philip Gardiner and Gary Osborn, ISBN:
1842931296 Distributed 2006 by Publishers Group West, Berkeley, CA.
For more details about The Serpent
Grail, visit New Age Web Works.
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