“Know thyself and thou shalt know all the mysteries of the gods and the universe.”

The innoscription on the Ancient Greek Temple of Apollo at Delphi

Some artworks stand the test of time while others fade into obscurity. Why? Well, Socrates said that the the top priority of a sculptor is to express the soul. In this short 10 min video, I'll unpack the exact kind of art that will be both everlasting and appreciated by people of all walks of life.

I will explain the importance of using art as an extension of himself and not a means to cover up who he is. What’s required is a congruency that makes a direct line from the depths of one's soul all the way to tip of the paintbrush. And from the tip of the paintbrush to the depths of the soul of the entire world.

Proudly presented by Ex Non Grata:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pzf9ONpiTTs

"In the Queste du Graal, Galahad, upon seeing the Grail, shivers and says: 'Now I can clearly see what a tongue could never express and the heart fail to realize. Here I see the beginning of all great deeds and the reason behind courageous feats; behold, the wonder of wonders.' In Le Morte D'Arthur the manifestation of the Grail is accompanied by the sound of thunder and by a 'ray of sun seven times brighter than the light of day'; at that time 'they were all enlightened by the grace of the Holy Spirit:'
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In the Lorengel the Grail appears as a 'stone of victory' with which Percival pushes back Attila and his hordes of Huns at the moment in which they are about to overcome Christianity. Wolfram says about him who passes the test of the Grail: 'At this point there is no one in the whole wide world who can excel you in nobility and honor. You are the lord of all creatures. Supreme power will be given unto you.' "

- Julius Evola, The Mystery of the Grail

"War and courage have done more great things than charity. Not your sympathy, but your bravery has saved the unfortunate."
-Zoroaster

As we've established, it was a spiritual power that unified Europe in order to counter the Huns. It is no coincidence then that in legend the Grail appears to Percival and allows him to push back the Huns. It is said to bestow the powers of the Holy Spirit and reveal 'the beginning of all great deeds and the reason behind courageous feats,' or what can identified as inner awakening, purification of the self. Like alchemical fire it is a test, and terrible things fall upon the weak man who sets out to take it but fails. The Grail symbolizes victory in the inner war. Victory in battle, from the Catalaunian Plains to Las Navas de Tolosa to the Seige of Vienna, comes to those who first pass the test of the Grail. Those who fail the test, lose.

The Grail means more than a symbol of the inner war of course; it is also a romantic symbol. The full significance of the Grail is in the combined relation of both war and romance to spiritual fulfillment. As in war, outer love comes to those who first pass the test of inner love. As in war, it is a spiritual force that unites and empowers lovers and brings them true love, 'what a tongue could never express and the heart fail to realize.'

There is an idea that constantly recurs, in one form or another, in the traditions of many peoples: that of a mighty “Lord of the World” and of a mysterious realm above any visible one, a residence serving as a pole or axis, in the higher sense; an immutable center, depicted as a terra firma in the middle of the ocean of life, a sacred and intangible country, a land of light, or a solar land.

Metaphysical meanings, symbols, and obscure memories are inextricably mixed here. A central motif is the idea of Olympian regality and the “mandate from heaven.” Confucius says: “He who rules through the Virtue (of Heaven) resembles the pole star. He remains immobile while all things turn around him.” The idea of the “King of the World” as cakravartī dominates a series of secondary themes: the cakravartī—King of kings—turns the wheel, the wheel of the Regnum, of the “Law,” while he himself is unmoving. Invisible as the wind, his action has the irresistibility of natural forces.

…“Prester John” is not a name, but a noscript: there is mention of a dynasty of “Prester Johns” who, like the descendants of David, held both the kingly and the priestly office. The realm of Prester John often has traits of the “primordial place” and the “earthly paradise.” It is there that the Tree grows, which in some versions of the legend appears as the Tree of Life, in others as the Tree of Victory and universal dominion. There too is found the Luminous Stone, a stone that has the power to resuscitate the imperial bird, the Eagle. John subdues the peoples of Gog and Magog—the elementary forces, the demons of the collective. Various legends tell of symbolic journeys to Prester John’s country or to lands of similar meaning, taken by the greatest leaders of history in order to receive a kind of supranatural sanction for their power. For his part, Prester John is said to have sent symbolic gifts to emperors such as “Frederick,” which had the significance of a “divine mandate.” One of the heroes supposed to have reached the legendary land was Ogier the Dane. But in Ogier’s legend Prester John’s realm is identified with Avalon, hence with the Hyperborean island, the solar land, and the “white island.”

It was to Avalon that King Arthur retired. Tragic events, variously described in the sources, forced him to seek refuge there. This retirement of Arthur’s really means that a principle or a function became latent. According to legend, Arthur has never died, but lives on in Avalon and will come again. In the figure of King Arthur we have one of the many versions of the “polar ruler,” the “king of the world.” The historical element here is charged with a suprahistorical one. The old etymology already derived Arthur’s name from arkthos, meaning “bear,” which brings us back to the idea of the “center” via the astronomical symbolism of the polar constellation. The symbolism of the Round Table, of whose knightly order King Arthur is the supreme head, is both “solar” and “polar.”

…Those who consider the story of the Grail solely as a Christian legend, or an expression of “pagan Celtic folklore,” or the creation of high chivalric literature, will only grasp its most external, accidental, and insignificant aspects. Every attempt to trace the themes of the Grail to the spirit of a particular people is equally mistaken. For example, one may well claim that the Grail is a Nordic “mystery,” but only on condition that by “Nordic” one means something far more profound and comprehensive than “German” or even “Indo-Germanic”: something identical with the Hyperborean tradition itself, which is one with the primordial tradition of the present cycle. It is in fact from that tradition that all the chief motifs of the Grail legends derive.

…Moreover, the old Grail king has become impotent and unable to reign, due to a fatal wound from a poisoned lance while he was in the service of Orgeluse. It is obvious enough that this Orgeluse is a female personification of the principle of “pride.” However, other Grail knights such as Gawan (Gawain) are tested in Orgeluse’s own castle, but they do not succumb. They win and marry—“possess”—her. The meaning of this trial is the realization of a pure force, a spiritual virility; it transposes the heroic qualification onto a plane aloof from everything chaotic and violent. “The earthly chivalry must become a heavenly chivalry,” says the Quêste du Graal. This is the condition for opening the path to the Grail, for occupying the Siege Perilous without being thunderstruck—as the titans were struck by the Olympian god.

However, the fundamental theme of the whole Grail cycle is as follows: the hero of all these trials is given a final and decisive task. Once admitted to the Grail castle, he must feel the tragedy of the wounded Grail King, paralyzed or only seemingly alive, and he must take the initiative for an action of absolute restoration. The texts express this in various enigmatic forms: the Grail hero must “ask the question.” What question? It seems that the authors have chosen to remain silent. One has the impression that something prevents them from speaking, and that a banal explanation would hide the true one. But if we follow the inner logic of them all, it is not hard to understand what is really at stake: the question to be asked is the question of the Empire. It is not a matter of knowing —reading the texts literally—what certain objects in the Grail castle mean, but a matter of understanding the tragedy of decadence, and, having “seen” the Grail, to pose the problem of restoration. Only on that basis can the miraculous virtue of this enigmatic question become comprehensible: since the hero has not been indifferent and has “asked the question,” he thereby redeems the realm. He who only seemed to be alive dies; he who was wounded is healed. In every case the hero becomes the new and true king of the Grail, succeeding the last one. A new cycle begins.

According to some texts, the dead knight who seems to summon the hero to his mission and to vengeance appears in a coffin drawn on the sea by swans. Now, the swan is the bird of Apollo in the land of the Hyperboreans, in the primordial Nordic land. Drawn by swans, the knights depart from the supreme center, in which Arthur is king: from Avalon.

In other sources the Grail hero is called the knight of the two swords. In the theological-political literature of the time, especially on the Ghibelline side, the two swords signify no less than the double power, temporal and supranatural. In one Grail text the sword that is reforged has a guardian, whose name is memoria del sangue (memory of the blood).

The inaccessible and intangible realm of the Grail is also a reality in its form, in that it is not bound to any one place, to any visible organization, or to any earthly realm. It represents a native land to which one belongs in a different way from physical birth, by having the sense of a spiritual and initiatic dignity. This land unites, in an unbreakable chain, men who may seem scattered in the world, in space, in time, in nations, to the point of appearing isolated and unknown to each other. In this sense the realm of the Grail—like that of Arthur and Prester John, like Thule, Midgard, Avalon, and so on—is ever present. Following its “polar” nature, it is immobile. Consequently, it is not sometimes closer and sometimes further from the current of history; it is rather the current of history itself, which men and their realms may approach more or less closely.