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The Lost Book of the Grail: The Sevenfold Path of the Grail and the Restoration of the Faery Accord
Reveals the long-forgotten prequel to the Grail mythos and how it has profound resonance with modern times
Includes the complete text of the Grail prequel, The Elucidation of the Grail, a 13th-century poem newly translated by Gareth Knight and Caitlín Matthews Examines the forgotten story of the Faery Wars and the role of Well Maidens in the Grail story Discusses the Seven Guardians of the Stories, the Grail Kings and Anti-Grail Kings, the Rich Company, the Courts of Joy, and the otherworldly Land of Women Unveiling the long-forgotten prequel to the Grail quest stories, Caitlín and John Matthews examine The Elucidation of the Grail, a forgotten 13th-century French text, and show how it offers the key to understanding the sevenfold path of the Grail and the deeper stories beneath the Christian Grail narrative.
Beginning with a new translation of The Elucidation by foremost esotericist Gareth Knight and Caitlín Matthews, the authors provide a complete commentary on the poem, revealing a startling alternative cause of the Wasteland and the Grail quest, one which has a profound resonance with our own times. They examine the forgotten story of the Faery Wars and explain the Faery Accord, an agreement that once existed between humans and the Faery and upon which the spiritual and physical health of the land depends. The offering of the Grail and its regenerative powers by the Maidens of the Wells - Faery women - was part of this Accord. King Amangons and his men violated the Accord, through their abuse of the Well Maidens and other evil actions, causing the wasting of the land. The Knights of King Arthur seek to avenge the Well Maidens and rebirth the Grail to restore access to the lost paradisiacal “Courts of Joy” held in ancestral memory. On their quest, they encounter the Rich Company whose greed keeps the Knights occupied in long wars of attrition, yet their quest to restore the generous hospitality of the Wells - the true Grail, the Faery Grail - continues.
In addition to the Faery Accord and Knights’ quest, the authors examine the Seven Guardians of the Stories, the Rich Fisher, the Courts of Joy and paradise lost, and the otherworldly Land of Women. They show how this lost book of the Grail reveals themes familiar to the modern world and offers hope of healing the rift between the worlds of Faery and human as well as restoration of our natural belonging to the land.
Includes the complete text of the Grail prequel, The Elucidation of the Grail, a 13th-century poem newly translated by Gareth Knight and Caitlín Matthews Examines the forgotten story of the Faery Wars and the role of Well Maidens in the Grail story Discusses the Seven Guardians of the Stories, the Grail Kings and Anti-Grail Kings, the Rich Company, the Courts of Joy, and the otherworldly Land of Women Unveiling the long-forgotten prequel to the Grail quest stories, Caitlín and John Matthews examine The Elucidation of the Grail, a forgotten 13th-century French text, and show how it offers the key to understanding the sevenfold path of the Grail and the deeper stories beneath the Christian Grail narrative.
Beginning with a new translation of The Elucidation by foremost esotericist Gareth Knight and Caitlín Matthews, the authors provide a complete commentary on the poem, revealing a startling alternative cause of the Wasteland and the Grail quest, one which has a profound resonance with our own times. They examine the forgotten story of the Faery Wars and explain the Faery Accord, an agreement that once existed between humans and the Faery and upon which the spiritual and physical health of the land depends. The offering of the Grail and its regenerative powers by the Maidens of the Wells - Faery women - was part of this Accord. King Amangons and his men violated the Accord, through their abuse of the Well Maidens and other evil actions, causing the wasting of the land. The Knights of King Arthur seek to avenge the Well Maidens and rebirth the Grail to restore access to the lost paradisiacal “Courts of Joy” held in ancestral memory. On their quest, they encounter the Rich Company whose greed keeps the Knights occupied in long wars of attrition, yet their quest to restore the generous hospitality of the Wells - the true Grail, the Faery Grail - continues.
In addition to the Faery Accord and Knights’ quest, the authors examine the Seven Guardians of the Stories, the Rich Fisher, the Courts of Joy and paradise lost, and the otherworldly Land of Women. They show how this lost book of the Grail reveals themes familiar to the modern world and offers hope of healing the rift between the worlds of Faery and human as well as restoration of our natural belonging to the land.
352 pages, Paperback
Published July 16, 2019
11 people are currently reading
59 people want to read
About the author
Caitlín Matthews
146 books190 followersCaitlín Matthews is a writer, singer and teacher whose ground-breaking work has introduced many to the riches of our western spiritual heritage.
She is acknowledged as a world authority on Celtic Wisdom, the Western Mysteries and the ancestral traditions of Britain and Europe. She is the author of over 50 books including Sophia: Goddess of Wisdom, a study of Divine Feminine in Gnostic, Jewish and Christian thought and King Arthur’s Raid on the Underworld, a new translation and study of the Welsh poet Taliesin’s extraordinary poem, itself a major cross-roads of British mythology.
Caitlín was trained in the esoteric mystery traditions through the schools founded by Dion Fortune, Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki and Gareth Knight. Her shamanic vocation emerged early in her ability to sing between the worlds and to embody spirits. She has worked in many of the western traditions with companions upon the path including R.J.Stewart. Like him, she teaches the many strands of the ancestral European traditions. She specializes in teaching traditional European spirit-consultation oracles where the diviner draws directly upon the spirits of nature for answers and in the use of the voice to sound the unseen. Caitlín has been instrumental in revealing the ancestral heritage of the Western traditions through practical exploration of the mysteries as well as through scholarly research. Her teachings are couched in a firm historical and linguistic framework, with respect to the original context of the teachings, but never loses sight of the living traditions of these teachings which can be explored through direct application to their spiritual sources.
Trained as an actress, Caitlín is in demand as a storyteller and singer. She appears frequently on international radio and television, and was the song-writer and Pictish language originator for the Jerry Bruckheimer film King Arthur. With John Matthews, her partner, who was historical consultant on the film, she shared in the 2004 BAFTA award given to Film Education for the best educational CD Rom: this project introduced school-children to the life and times of King Arthur. She and John are both concerned with the oral nature of storytelling and its ability to communicate the myth at a much deeper level than of the commercial booktrade. This is apparent in their forthcoming project, The Story Box. For Caitlín, her books are merely the tip of a much bigger oral iceberg which is her teaching.
With her partner, John Matthews, and with Felicity Wombwell , she is co-founder of The Foundation for Inspirational and Oracular Studies, which is dedicated to the sacred arts that are not written down. Their FíOS shamanic training programme teaches students the healing arts as well as hosting masterclasses with exemplars of living sacred traditions. Caitlín has a shamanic practice in Oxford dedicated to addressing soul sickness and ancestral fragmentation, as well as helping clients find vocational and spiritual direction. Her soul-singing and embodiment uniquely bring the ancient healing traditions to everyday life.
Caitlín’s other books include Singing the Soul Back Home, Mabon and the Guardians of Celtic Britain, The Psychic Protection Handbook, and Celtic Devotional. She is co-author, with John Matthews, of the Encyclopedia of Celtic Wisdom and Encyclopaedia of Celtic Myth and Legend. Her books have been translated into more than nineteen languages from Brazil to Japan.
The author lives in Oxford with her husband and son in a kind of book-cave or library, whichever you will. They share their home with a white cat and a black cat.
She is acknowledged as a world authority on Celtic Wisdom, the Western Mysteries and the ancestral traditions of Britain and Europe. She is the author of over 50 books including Sophia: Goddess of Wisdom, a study of Divine Feminine in Gnostic, Jewish and Christian thought and King Arthur’s Raid on the Underworld, a new translation and study of the Welsh poet Taliesin’s extraordinary poem, itself a major cross-roads of British mythology.
Caitlín was trained in the esoteric mystery traditions through the schools founded by Dion Fortune, Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki and Gareth Knight. Her shamanic vocation emerged early in her ability to sing between the worlds and to embody spirits. She has worked in many of the western traditions with companions upon the path including R.J.Stewart. Like him, she teaches the many strands of the ancestral European traditions. She specializes in teaching traditional European spirit-consultation oracles where the diviner draws directly upon the spirits of nature for answers and in the use of the voice to sound the unseen. Caitlín has been instrumental in revealing the ancestral heritage of the Western traditions through practical exploration of the mysteries as well as through scholarly research. Her teachings are couched in a firm historical and linguistic framework, with respect to the original context of the teachings, but never loses sight of the living traditions of these teachings which can be explored through direct application to their spiritual sources.
Trained as an actress, Caitlín is in demand as a storyteller and singer. She appears frequently on international radio and television, and was the song-writer and Pictish language originator for the Jerry Bruckheimer film King Arthur. With John Matthews, her partner, who was historical consultant on the film, she shared in the 2004 BAFTA award given to Film Education for the best educational CD Rom: this project introduced school-children to the life and times of King Arthur. She and John are both concerned with the oral nature of storytelling and its ability to communicate the myth at a much deeper level than of the commercial booktrade. This is apparent in their forthcoming project, The Story Box. For Caitlín, her books are merely the tip of a much bigger oral iceberg which is her teaching.
With her partner, John Matthews, and with Felicity Wombwell , she is co-founder of The Foundation for Inspirational and Oracular Studies, which is dedicated to the sacred arts that are not written down. Their FíOS shamanic training programme teaches students the healing arts as well as hosting masterclasses with exemplars of living sacred traditions. Caitlín has a shamanic practice in Oxford dedicated to addressing soul sickness and ancestral fragmentation, as well as helping clients find vocational and spiritual direction. Her soul-singing and embodiment uniquely bring the ancient healing traditions to everyday life.
Caitlín’s other books include Singing the Soul Back Home, Mabon and the Guardians of Celtic Britain, The Psychic Protection Handbook, and Celtic Devotional. She is co-author, with John Matthews, of the Encyclopedia of Celtic Wisdom and Encyclopaedia of Celtic Myth and Legend. Her books have been translated into more than nineteen languages from Brazil to Japan.
The author lives in Oxford with her husband and son in a kind of book-cave or library, whichever you will. They share their home with a white cat and a black cat.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
January 27, 2021
A very well-researched book that contains a lot of information on all the Grail myths. The book clearly fulfils its goal in prooving the significance of The Elucidation. For this alone the book is worth reading. I will definitely return to it many times. The greatest flaw of this work is the authors interpretations of the deepest meaning behind The Elucidation which often are quite silly. Their interpretations and reasoning are quite annoying at times.
July 15, 2019
My thanks to Inner Traditions for an eARC via NetGalley of Caitlin & John Matthews’ ‘The Lost Book of the Grail’ in exchange for an honest review.
The subtitle of this work is: ‘The Sevenfold Path of the Grail and the Restoration of the Faery Accord’. Over the years I have read a number of the books by the Matthews and have confidence in their scholarship and dedication to making materials linked to the Arthurian and Grail mythic traditions available and accessible. Their work is never dry.
Central to this work is a forgotten prequel to the better known Grail quest tales: The Elucidation of the Grail, a 13th-century French poem, newly translated by noted esotericist Gareth Knight and Caitlin Matthews. This poem is accompanied by commentary and analysis.
They make it clear that this book “is not about a quest to find such a historic relic or archaeological artifact, but about something much greater, since the Grail is not an object to be excavated and finally curated in a museum. It is rather about the ever-living hallow or sacred vessel that passes in and out of time and place, but which abides beyond both, in eternity and space. In this book we are concerned with the myth.” Powerful words!
Within they explore how the Elucidation relates to themes that have been informed their work within the Western Esoteric Tradition such as the Courts of Joy and the Maidens of the Wells as well as the connection with Faerie.
The way in which the mythology of the Grail has developed through texts and oral traditions is also explored stressing an awareness of the differences between the modern and medieval consciousness.
They confidently blend their scholarship with a style that is happy to relate the development of the Grail mythos within the Western tradition to more recent examples including J.R.R. Tolkien’s extensive writings on Middle Earth and the way that the original 1960s Star Trek series has expanded to create a modern mythos.
This is an intense work and as such is a book that is more suited to be referred to over time rather than a quick read. I felt that I had only grazed the surface with my initial reading.
I understand that an audiobook edition is being published in the near future narrated by Caitlin Matthews. This is certainly a format that I welcome.
The subtitle of this work is: ‘The Sevenfold Path of the Grail and the Restoration of the Faery Accord’. Over the years I have read a number of the books by the Matthews and have confidence in their scholarship and dedication to making materials linked to the Arthurian and Grail mythic traditions available and accessible. Their work is never dry.
Central to this work is a forgotten prequel to the better known Grail quest tales: The Elucidation of the Grail, a 13th-century French poem, newly translated by noted esotericist Gareth Knight and Caitlin Matthews. This poem is accompanied by commentary and analysis.
They make it clear that this book “is not about a quest to find such a historic relic or archaeological artifact, but about something much greater, since the Grail is not an object to be excavated and finally curated in a museum. It is rather about the ever-living hallow or sacred vessel that passes in and out of time and place, but which abides beyond both, in eternity and space. In this book we are concerned with the myth.” Powerful words!
Within they explore how the Elucidation relates to themes that have been informed their work within the Western Esoteric Tradition such as the Courts of Joy and the Maidens of the Wells as well as the connection with Faerie.
The way in which the mythology of the Grail has developed through texts and oral traditions is also explored stressing an awareness of the differences between the modern and medieval consciousness.
They confidently blend their scholarship with a style that is happy to relate the development of the Grail mythos within the Western tradition to more recent examples including J.R.R. Tolkien’s extensive writings on Middle Earth and the way that the original 1960s Star Trek series has expanded to create a modern mythos.
This is an intense work and as such is a book that is more suited to be referred to over time rather than a quick read. I felt that I had only grazed the surface with my initial reading.
I understand that an audiobook edition is being published in the near future narrated by Caitlin Matthews. This is certainly a format that I welcome.
July 25, 2019
I've long been a fan of John and Caitlin Matthews' writings on pagan topics (some 20 years). They have an excellent way of combining scholarship and spirituality that appeals to both my head and heart. This book is no exception. It is about a recently discovered text called the Elucidation, which is an early medieval version of the Grail myth. This version of the story shows the ties of the story to the pre-Christian world. The authors not only present the text itself, but give the context for it within the greater body of Grail literature. They analyze the text and also further look at the themes brought up within the text, giving insight into how its ideas can resonate with personal spiritual practice. This adds so much to what we think of as the Grail story. Another thought-provoking look at the Celtic roots of culture and spirituality by these authors.
I received a free copy of this book, but that did not affect my review.
Read my other reviews at https://www.readingfanaticreviews.com.
I received a free copy of this book, but that did not affect my review.
Read my other reviews at https://www.readingfanaticreviews.com.
December 20, 2020
It took me months to get through it. It is not for the uninitiated, it assumes the reader has knowledge of relevant context. I am genuinely interested in folklore and myth and how they have intertwined with monotheism over the centuries, so I really wanted to absorb this book and get more out of it than I did, but I often got lost or just bored.
April 18, 2022
As always, Caitlin and John Matthews bring a wealth of experience and erudition to their exploration of yet another facet of the Grail mythos -- but in this case, that's part of the reason why I didn't rate this book more than three stars.
Grail lore is incredibly complicated, encompassing dozens of sources ranging across time, culture, and language. There is no one authoritative canon. This means that exploring any piece of it requires some reference to a range of other pieces in order to contextualize it. The problem comes - for me, anyway - when the explanation of the other elements of the lore outweigh the examination of the single piece in question. That's what happens in this book.
I truly enjoyed the way the Matthews unpacked the relatively brief, enigmatic "Elucidation." But I got completely bogged down when they spent page after page comparing and contrasting with other works - often citing the same incidents multiple times. The repetition wore me down, and I did a lot of skimming in the last quarter of the book. I think this volume could have been significantly shorter without sacrificing any actual content.
That said: the exploration of "The Elucidation" is very valuable, and anyone interested in the Grail legends would probably get a lot out of reading this. Or at least parts of it.
Grail lore is incredibly complicated, encompassing dozens of sources ranging across time, culture, and language. There is no one authoritative canon. This means that exploring any piece of it requires some reference to a range of other pieces in order to contextualize it. The problem comes - for me, anyway - when the explanation of the other elements of the lore outweigh the examination of the single piece in question. That's what happens in this book.
I truly enjoyed the way the Matthews unpacked the relatively brief, enigmatic "Elucidation." But I got completely bogged down when they spent page after page comparing and contrasting with other works - often citing the same incidents multiple times. The repetition wore me down, and I did a lot of skimming in the last quarter of the book. I think this volume could have been significantly shorter without sacrificing any actual content.
That said: the exploration of "The Elucidation" is very valuable, and anyone interested in the Grail legends would probably get a lot out of reading this. Or at least parts of it.
March 1, 2020
Great book about everything Grail, not that I'm an expert, but it covers a lot. It's only fault is its intensity!
April 18, 2019
I liked this well researched book about a theme I'm really interested in.
I appreciated the style of writing, the clarity of exposition, and the book is organized.
I look forward to reading other books by this authors.
Recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.
I appreciated the style of writing, the clarity of exposition, and the book is organized.
I look forward to reading other books by this authors.
Recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews