Vision of the Grail (1974)

Vision of the Grail
From HanMariepedia, the spiritual encyclopedia

In 1974 two years after my Parzival prophecy, I went to rest a little. It was broad daylight. Suddenly, I perceived a Presence in and around me, something I never "experienced" before. It was timeless and limitless. On the white wall in front of me yellow little flowers with in their centre red dots appeared. They had green branches, the whole embedded in a radiating context. The Presence "in me" watched it with intensity and awe. No thoughts in between, whatsoever. The branches became more outspoken, slowly, slowly transforming into half circles. On top the flowers had become flames. The slow motion didn't stop with it. The arms of the chandler started growing towards each other, eventually  turning into something solid, a golden chalice. "I" was totally fascinated, at the same time detached from what "I" saw. The chalice started bending to the side (right). It was a moment of greatest expectation. First a drop of red fluid dripped over the edge, subsequently another one, then two drops, eight drops......until a stream of red fluid poured out. Suddenly I "grasped" it. What was coming out was blood. I was moved to the "depth of my soul". After that the stream slowly subsided.

Ever since the Vision has become my guideline for life. Obviously, I was very much driven to know its inner meaning. Intuitively I knew it, but my mind needed many years to really apprehend it. The flowers appears to be St.John's Wort, the chandler the original Canaanite "Tree of Life" (later becoming the Jewish symbol), while the chalice symbolizes the Grail Cup. Spiritually, the meaning became clear: "Strive for Awakening, restructure your life, and serve others". The surprise in later years: my personal life would exactly correspond with it. First there were my Great Experiences, followed with decades of "personal integration". Eventually, the meaning of the Grail became clear to me. It is the Cosmic Womb, indeed, the Vessel of Abundance, of ongoing Renewal. The last stage of my life, therefore, in continuously returning to the Origin, in order to share the outpouring Wisdom with all and everybody.  

Wholeness of Life

Spirituality, as we know it, the way it has been experienced in the last decades, was mainly focussed on "personal salvation". Theoretically, it should be a first step, only, to be extended to wider areas after awakening is realized. In practice, however, it rarely happened that way. A whole industry started using (abusing) spirituality for the purpose of "feeling-better". The social-cultural-political dimensions were simply ignored. Today, inner and outer cannot be separated anymore, though. What we see in the world is a manifestation of our hopeless inner confusion. It can be characterized by "having as the inability to Be". Our "successes" are ego-achievements, brought about by greed. The result is accumulations on the one hand and deficiencies on the other. Limitless growth is responsible for personal stress, burn-out and illness, the falling apart of communities, the destruction of nature, pollution, the hunger in the world, violence and wars, migration and epidemics. To use spirituality for your own well-being-only therefore is a triple "sin": against spirituality, against yourself and against the earth. The spirituality you see in magazines, on TV, in books and in the internet have very little to do with the real thing, anymore. Not that it is all total nonsense what they say, but because it violates  its supreme command: it's all me, me, and me, instead of compassion towards all "living and non-living beings".

Modern Grail Quest

"For Wagner Parzival is a Celebration of Regeneration, like the Greek Dionysiaka. It is not the Christian Redemption, but a pagan Ritus becoming a Celebration, to which both public and singers participate - and this experience renews life in the community"

Carlus Padrissa (La Fura des Bauls) about Wagner's Parzival

The Legend of the Grail is the last pre-patriarchal account of deep Cosmic Wisdom. It acknowledges "death and rebirth" as the two Powers that are ruling the Universe. These Powers don't exist on their own, but originate in the Bottomless Vacuum of the Cosmos. Because it is through birth and returning, in ancient times the Vacuum was called "Cosmic Womb".  In the beginning the "Mother" was the alpha and the omega, in somewhat later times "dying and resurrection" were delegated to men. There were called "Vegetation Gods", "Priest/Kings" or "Green Men". For one year, they embodied the coming and going of the seasons, thus emphasizing optimal balance. Since their existence e.g. function was derived from the "Mother", they ruled "in Her Name, emphasizing the "trinity" of Mother and Her two Cosmic Forces of Creation and Destruction. In much later times "death and rebirth" was transferred to the spiritual realm. It symbolized the death and rebirth of the ego. Both in Egypt, Sumeria and Greece the link with the Mother was still cherished. Especially in the Isis, Tammuz and Dionysos Mysteries. Then Christianity came. It destroyed all memory of the old times, while replacing it through the "Christ-mystery", claiming that the latter was a direct interference of God in history, and therefore, new, unique and absolute. Many centuries of oppression followed. The people, however, kept the old Tradition secret. Until Celtic, Templar, Lady Courts, "heretical movents, Meister Eckhart, Cathars all potentiated each other. A breakthrough of the Truth took place, something that the Church could not prevent. The leading Myth, the one that tried to revive the Cosmic Mother together with Her Son/Lovers was the Grail, the latter symbolizing Mother's overflowing Cosmic Womb.

Parzival, a boy of royal descent is raised by his Mother Herzeloyde. His father is absent. It stresses the underlying ultimate principle of the Legend: the Cosmic Mother. The mother wants to keep him, symbolizing the effort to raise him according to the old (pre-patriarchal) Tradition. In vain. Fascinated by knights, he identifies with his ego-ambition for power and success. It is corresponding with the current obsession for capitalist career, technology and the virtual world. So he joins the "big world". Countless adventures - ego-successes - are crossing his path. He meets a formidable adversary: the Red Knight. The latter belongs to the elite, the same usurpators, who once overthrowed the Mother-oriented society. In order to reach the top, to also become a CEO, Parzival has to defeat the Red Knight. He succeeds. In between he meets several women. He accepts their wise advice. It indicates that his anima - his inner female part is budding. His uncle - brother of his mother - is a hermit, living in the woods. He initiates Parzival into the secrets of the Old Religion (in the Legend he teaches him Christianity, this in order to prevent persecution by the Church). Spiritual teaching is essential to education, painfully absent today!  From that moment on Parzival begins to understand something of his future mission. One night! he "accidentally" arrives at the "Perilous Chapel", a small building lit by candles. Suddenly a big Black Hand extinguishes them all. It is a frightening night, in which Parzival learns about the Cosmic Force of Destruction. Sooner or later every youth will be confronted by death! Some time after he meets the "Fisher King" Amfortas, - also a brother to his mother, emphasizing matrilineage - who invites him at his Castle. The Castle mourns, because the King is old and sick. Because of that the land has turned into wasteland. The people intensely long for a new King, who will renew the earth. This hopeful could be Parzival. A damsel, in fact a royal Princess, brings in the Grail, the mystical Stone (Chalice) that provides Healing, Abundance and Eternal Life to all those, who are devoting themselves to it. Parzival enjoys the event, but fails to ask for the meaning. He therefore misses insight into his own role. The consequences are grave. He is put back to the triviality of a wandering knight. During many years he experiences the "Dark Night of the Soul", in which he has to restructure his life. Through suffering he gradually becomes more mature. His relationships with women, in particular with his beloved Conduwinamur are stable now. It is based on loyalty, equality and love. After being exposed to the Destructive Mother, who scolds him for a last residue of vanity, Prazival enters the Grail Castle for a second time. Again the Grail is shown to him. This time he got insight into his true mission: to be Servant to the Grail. Through expressing his compassion to the world - people still suffering through deprivation - he embodies rebirth, thus becoming the New King.

The Big Surprise
Goethe's Faust = The Legend of the Grail (Part 2, Act I)
http://web.eecs.utk.edu/~mclennan/Classes/UH348/remarks-2-I.html

See also:
Harold Jantz "The Mothers in Faust"
1969 John Hopkins Press

As indicated above, the Grail Legend is the Way of Initiation to our modern times. Isn't that amazing? J.W.Goethe understood it, since he postulated the Eternal Feminine as the Ultimate Reality with the Green Men (Faust) as Her Son/Lover. In order to be saved, Faust has to become part of Her Cosmic Law of "death and rebirth" ("Stirb und Werde"), once again. In order to become fruitful we have to extend its insights to society, though. It is quite similar to "The Great Learning" of ancient China (400 BCE). The emperors, by the way, are the Eastern variant to the Green Men. The former are called "Sons of Heaven and Earth", which is the patriarchal continuation of the ancient "Son of the Mother" (Xiwangmu). This tradition is still recognizable in the Chinese Pao Chüan literature, where Maitreya Buddha is the Son/Servant of the Eternal Mother (Wushenglaomu). The Great Learning brings this all to a common denominator. Freely translated it says: "In order to rule the Kingdom, your first have to manage your own affairs; to manage your own affairs, you have to know yourself first". Our process today is equal to it. In fact it is the foundation of leadership of all times. The difference is our critical situation. So where to find guidance? As said earlier, there are countless spiritual systems, nowadays. But do they provide solutions to the crisis we are in? They all get stuck, because of the addiction to personal well-being. They all are ego-centric, despite their "impressive" presentations. The Grail Legend, on the other hand, follows a logical, very consistent line. It connects individual healing to healing of the world. To link its wisdom to social awareness, we have to create cultural-socio-poilitical structures, through which these insights become fruitful. Because it is all about a new beginning, education is at the centre of all considerations. So, let's once again start the Grail Quest, this time focussing on the necessary social structures, in order to "let our dream come true".

Community Democracy

To secure the future, mothers and children are central. In a mad world like ours, this basic principle has become corrupted, though. Humans are sacrified on the altar of profit, "progess" and exploitation. Women play an ever important role in it. They understandibly want to catch up for millennia of social oppression. It coincides with the awakening of the animus, their inner masculinity. They go for the promise of independency, freedom and power. The slogan is "job above motherhood". In practice, the latter is at the expense of the former. What is lacking is insight into dynamics of renewal, through which both aspects of life are in harmony with each other. Nowadays, "society" struggles desperately with gender roles. Benefit here is damage there, though. One of the main factors is the alienated monogamic family. Second is our capitalist system, that ruthlessly exploits women (men) in order to maximize its profits. It has already led to irreparable damage to the health of children. These damages are so grave, that individual parents (let alone single parents!) can't cope with the situation, anymore. Very soon the whole social framework will collapse! When it happens, mothers and children are the most vulnerable ones. Therefore, the only way out is to transform the structure of society. Unconventional, may be, but do you have another option? The Grail teaches us that the entire Cosmos rests on the Maternal Pinciple. This has to (once again) reflect our earthly situation. The irony, it is the emanicipated female world, that opposes this most. To them it is "mothers to the workplace", no matter the consequences....I have a better proposal. In order to protect the "capital" of society - mothers and children - mothers have to solidarize with each other. They form "modern tribes" of which they themseves become the leaders. It starts with establishing networks in the streets, the neighborhood, the commune, starting with sharing all kinds of activities, to begin with educational matters. These mothers invite their female and male partners/friends to join them. The task of the latter is to support the central nucleus. It is the beginning of the restoration of the community. 

To give up their power base IN EXCHANGE for a job in the crisis-ridden capitalist system, is a big mistake. The "rat race" is ruthless, eventually leaving behind suffering and a collective burn-out. Massive unemployment will destroy countless jobs.  Women will soon experience, that in the end they will stand with empty hands, both their family lives AND their careers lost. The Grail warns for the echec of ego-ambition. Even Enlightenment cannot change this. In our materialistic society, the Grail is something to have, like Parzival did in his first encounter. The only meaning of the Grail is to SERVE it, something Parzival only discovered at the end of long suffering. It is a matter of "death and rebirth" (not of "life and death", like the common saying), determining whether (wo)mankind will still have a future. My model is about a "win-win" strategy (I hate that concept, when used in a capitalist context, but here it is okay), whereby both home and work are reconciled. It is brought about by extending our "tribes". By doing so, the entire street, the neighborhood, the commune will become a community. It is called CommunityDemocracy. Its principle is called "subsidiairity" (accepted as one of the foundations of the EU.....), which says, that individuals contribute to the well-being of all. They do, what is within their power e.g. range. What exceeds their abilities is delegated to the family (or group, see above). The family does what it can, what is beyond their capacities, is delegated to the street. The street community does its utmost, what is not within their ability, is delegated to the neighborhood. The neighborhood does what is in their power.......eventually including the commune, the county, the state and the "commonwealth" (EU f.i.). Crucial is, that everything is organized "bottom-up", the lower "echelons" deciding freely about their commitment, not being interfered by the "higher" ones. The pyramid is organically linked in that representatives of families are members of the street council, those of the streets constitute the neighborhood council, those of the neighborhood constituting the commune and further up. The representatives of the country's parlement are thus not elected by political parties (now obsolete) anymore, but directly by the organically ("wholistically") chosen representatives of the people themselves.

Work to Live

Once a dynamic structure is established, - I call it the "Natural Socio-Political Order" - people can go on to further develop their activities to the well-being of all.  It is the core mission of Parzival (as a King). "Work" is considered an extension of "home". It is all about enlarging your powerbase, instead of giving it up, in favor of a dream (nightmare). The base consists of core groups of mothers and children, together with their supporters. Reality has proven, that women are most practical e.g. skilled in managing the household. In this new concept they extend their power to their "extended families", their "tribes" and their communities. The proposal is that THEY make all the decisions with regard to income, money, possessions, investments and everything related. The ultimate power lies with the "Grandmother" delegating functions to her daughters and other dedicated women. All other enterprises are done by men and women alike. They cooperate in a spirit of gender equality, solidarity and love. In time, more and more work will be produced by the community. Embedded in the structure of CommunityDemocracy a new (in the beginning parallel) society is created. The old structures will be still there, but slowly everything is "taken over". Obviously, not without first transforming them. Mutual support e.g. cooperation instead of competition will prevail. It is an environment in which all human talents would bloom. The ambitions of women will be fully met, since all activities reflect those in the "big world". Unlike in capitalism, women do have equal chance to "reaching the top".  As a mother-oriented community women represent the Whole, the Web of Life, while men serve it. The innermost drive of men is to serve (Parzival)!. In order to re-establish balance in society, limitless growth has to be stopped. Just like our CommunityDemocracy is a reflection of the Cosmic Web of Life, economic activities should mirror its dynamic balance. Accumulations are disturbing balance. Therefore, inevitably, economics have to be transformed too. Through working half the week as a volunteer for the community, half the week for your self, the community will regenerate and nature restored. In exchange for us being a volunteer, everybody will receive a basic income. This income is meant for financing basic needs: housing, energy, food, health care, education, transportation. Obviously, in order to achieve that, basic needs have to be taken out of "privatization", while adjusting them to the level of basic income. Everybody has the RIGHT to live in basic security. Basic needs should never become exploited, they should NEVER be part of the profit-making machine anymore.

Epilogue

I could go on further. However, I have written about this topic earlier. I hope, this sketch will give you a definitive flash of inspiration. I retire into my hermitage once again. Instead of writing I will spend my time in supporting you through my meditations. I would be very grateful, if you consider me to be your friend. I will recommend you to the Cosmic Mother through ongoing dedication. It is a very small contribution to your well-being. The Cosmic Mother, on the other hand, is uninterruptedly embracing you. She invites you to continuous giving back ("dying") your ego to Her. By surrendering to Her Bottomlessness, your inner Divine Spark will be born e.g. will be actualized. Light is born out of Darkness! If this Quest resonates with your innermost Core, and you would need some guidance in pursueing your Path, then, of course, you always will be welcome to visit me in my hermitage. The next page tells you where to find me.

The Parzival Project
Han Marie Stiekema
Servant/Messenger ("Sermes") to the Cosmic Mother

2013 Copyright©Han Marie Stiekema
All rights reserved.