At the time I came across these words, from Sacker's Introduction to Wolfram's Parzival, I was in sore need of words to their effect. As the reader is doubtless aware, the search for material on the origins of the Grail stories is much like the fabled search for the Grail itself, full of trails that either lead to inconclusive ends or double back on themselves. It is all too possible to get sidetracked into some area that appears ripe for the plucking of some arcane and tantalizing knowledge, only to find that there is no support, or worse, no bedrock logic, for the author's assertions. Many of the sources are mere recitations and lists of the various myths and stories connected to the Grail. Often these "sources" have built on each other and in some cases, even confirmed each other. The essential, and most formidable, task then, for the modern searcher after the mysteries of the Grail, would be to reconcile the few 'original" stories to each other. A way must be found utilizing the commonalties, leaving aside the unsupported, to somehow sort through the pathways hewn by previous researchers and arrive at a true map to the Grail.

How then to attack this subject without twisting one's mind and losing one's way amidst the volumes of material devoted to the subject? To discuss the form of the Grail is an exercise in futility, because in the various texts the Grail is depicted as a cup, a platter, a large dish like a basin, a large stone and even a severed head. While the powers of the Grail are intriguing, to say the least, they would constitute only a very short discussion. Succinctly, the Grail is able to feed multitudes, to insure the long life of its servers, to kill or heal, and to give courage in battle, both physical and spiritual. Further, all of these powers are available to the Grail's King, who is in consequence the richest man on earth. Finally, and this is the most seductive of the subjects surrounding the myths of the Grail, its origin is clouded by stories from numerous diverse sources. One would have it as a stone that sprang from Lucifer's forehead as he fell from heaven in the war of the angels and another holds that the Grail is a descendant of a horn of plenty wielded by the Celtic hero Bran . Yet a third theory declares the genesis of the Grail to be of some shrouded far Eastern origin.

There are, however, some elements of the Grail mysteries which do not, on the surface at least, seem to contradict each other. The most prominent of these elements is known popularly as the Company of the Grail, that is, the group of people, sometimes even referred to as a race, that surround the Grail. It is though these entities that a reasonable history of the Grail can be proposed, if not wholly satisfactory answers to its other mysteries.

The earliest tradition of the company of the Grail is related to one of the origin stories. In this theory, held by those seeking a pagan origin, the Grail was a precious jewel, almost always an emerald, which sprang from the forehead, or the crown, of Lucifer when he fell from heaven during the war between the angels. When Lucifer, whose name means Light Bringer, rebelled against the Trinity, there was a certain group of angels who did not take sides; these "neutral" angels were sent down to Earth to accompany the Grail. The function of these angels is never conclusively stated, although one is inclined to surmise that they were sent to guard the Grail, though from whom is not clear. After the departure of the angels, the Grail was left in the custody of a single family, that of Titurel and his descendants. This story was used to some degree by Wolfram Von Eschenbach in his Parzival by way of his most likely sources the Provencal poet Kyot and the troubadour Chretien de Troyes. The story goes on that those of the company were each called individually as children by God, their names and family appearing miraculously on the Grail itself.

The next appearance of the Grail, and the one most specifically associated with Christ brings in the character and family of Joseph of Arimathea. Joseph obtained the vessel from which Christ drank during the Last Supper. Having been entrusted with the body of Christ after His death, he was washing the corpse and caught in the vessel some of the blood flowing from the wounds. This vessel was the Grail. After its disappearance, Joseph was suspected of stealing the body and was jailed without food. In prison, a radiant Christ appeared to Joseph and left the cup in his care, revealing to him the mystery of the Mass and other secrets. A dove flew into the cell every day and brought a wafer to the cup, this nourishment keeping Joseph alive.

When Joseph of Arimathea was released from prison in 70 A.D., he lead a small group into exile overseas. They constructed the First Table of the Grail in memory of the Table of the Last Supper. Twelve spaces were allotted to this table. A thirteenth seat, the place of Judas, swallowed up the one who tried to sit in it, so it remained empty and was called the Perilous Seat. Joseph then sailed to England where he founded the first church at Glastonbury, which was dedicated to Christ's mother.

On the Mountain of Salvation, a place as mysterious as any in any lore, a temple was built to house the Grail, which was used as the chalice in the Mass. The Grail Keeper, who was called the Fisher King in recognition of one of the Grail miracles, was the priest for the mass. Soon afterwards, he received a spear wound, attributed variously to a loss of faith, the violation of a vow of chastity or a wrong done to a woman. The wound was allegedly dealt by the Spear of Longinius, which had pierced Christ's side on the Cross. The Fisher King then became known as the Maimed or Wounded King and the country he ruled became withered and lifeless and was known as the Waste Land.

At King Arthur's court, Merlin the Magician set up a Third Table, the famed Round Table. Following the rules of chivalry, Arthur met with his knights at this Table, where at Pentecost, the Grail appeared to the company in a beam of light. Pledging to find the Grail, each of the knights set out individually in quest for the prize. Among the knights were Lancelot, his son Galahad, Gawaine, Bors, and Parsifal, nicknamed the Perfect Fool for his innocence. It was Parsifal who became the most significant of the knights where the search for the Grail is concerned.

Parsifal seriously failed in his first attempt to grasp the Grail when it was relatively accessible to him. He was in the castle of the Fisher King and upon seeing the King, his innocence or perhaps his naiveté held him from asking the necessary question which would heal the King. Chastened because of his mistake, Parsifal wandered the Waste Land for five years undergoing various trials and adventures. He finally achieved again the castle of the Fisher King and having learned some lessons through his trials, healed the Maimed King by asking the prescribed ritual question. The question was either "Whom does the Grail serve?" or "What ails Thee?" Made whole at last, the King was permitted to die and the Waste Land flourished again.

The preceding narrative is the Christianized, romanticized and most well known of the Grail stories. But it is by no means the end of the Grail's appearances in history.

In its rich symbolic essence the place of the Grail is within the soul, but within the framework of the Grail stories there came to be a general agreement of an actual physical holding place for the Grail. Tradition held that this place was a fortress at the summit of a mountain, usually surrounded by water, a place named the Mountain of Salvation, or Montsalvach or Munsalvaesche. Almost inevitably, a place was found with a similar site and name, Montsegur in the Languedoc area of southern France. This place and its history served to cement in the medieval mind the reality of the Grail in two ways: the Grail castle gained a foothold in the real world, and, the Grail itself became associated with a heretical sect known as the Albigensians, who referred to themselves as Cathari, the Pure.

Principally, and for present purposes somewhat simplistically, the Cathars stood astride two popular ideas of love. On one side was agape, the divine love of God for man and man for God, which was represented by the doctrines of the Roman Church and dispensed by the various orders of monks. Opposite this was the view of love espoused by the Troubadours. This view of love was frank eros, a profane love of the flesh rather than the spirit. The Cathars balanced between these two viewpoints, believing that the flesh was evil and only by living a pure and spiritual life could the divine spark of humanity be reconciled with God. Due to their heretical beliefs and, more than probably, their burgeoning economic power, in 1208 Pope Innocent III raised a crusade against the Cathars.

There are several stories which seem to indicate the Cathars had more than a passing relationship with the Grail. Chief among these were the words of a Cathar Bishop named Girard of Montefiore. Shortly before he was to die in the fires of the Inquisition, he declared: "It is not I alone whom the Holy Spirit visits. I have a large family on earth, and it comprises a great number of men on whom, on certain days, and at certain times, the Spirit gives light." These words could have been spoken by the Grail King on any number of occasions and could very well have referred to the powers of the Grail, which was known not only as a source of physical sustenance, but also as a dispenser of the same spiritual fire that could be obtained on the altar at any given Mass.

In due course of the crusade, and after an impressive siege, Montsegur fell, but the story persisted that the night before the final collapse, four of the Cathar priests, or perfecti, escaped over the fortress walls and into the surrounding mountains. The story continues that the perfecti took with them certain Holy Books and other treasures, among which was a certain cup. In the larger scheme it is perhaps unimportant whether the escaping priests had possession of the Grail. What is important is that their ideas and secrets escaped and were scattered with them into Germany and France.

It is in that scattering that the path leading to the Grail is lost, at least to this writer in this time. There are, however, many leads yet to pursue, some of which lead from the Knights Templar to the Scottish Masonry and the Rosicrucians, considered by some to be the present day heirs to the Grail secrets. The end result in that time was that the concept of the Company of the Grail was firmly established in the hearts and minds of the medieval Grail seekers, a concept and belief that continues even today.

If indeed the Grail existed once and yet still in some form or place, as it would appear from research, then its Kings and attendant company exist just as surely. From the mists of time there are more than a few names which stand out in association with the Traditions of the Grail. Among them is Melchizadek, who offered the first sacrament of bread and wine long before the Last Supper established the rite for Christendom. Solomon, the richest and wisest man of his time, seems a likely candidate. Even Jesus himself who prayed that his cup of agony be removed from him might be numbered among the Company of the Grail.