The Secret of the Grail (1)

The Mysteries

The Grail regarded as an object of awe. Danger of speaking of Grail
or revealing Its secrets. Passages in illustration. Why, if survival
of Nature cults, popular, and openly performed? A two-fold element in
these cults, Exoteric, Esoteric. The Mysteries. Their influence on
Christianity to be sought in the Hellenized rather than the Hellenic
cults. Cumont. Rohde. Radical difference between Greek and Oriental
conceptions. Lack of evidence as regards Mysteries on the whole.
Best attested form that connected with Nature cults. Attis-Adonis.
Popularity of the Phrygian cult in Rome. Evidence as to Attis
Mysteries. Utilized by Neo-Platonists as vehicle for teaching. Close
connection with Mithraism. The Taurobolium. Details of Attis
Mysteries. Parallels with the Grail romances.


CHAPTER XI

The Secret of the Grail (2)

The Naassene Document

Relations between early Christianity, and pre-Christian cults. Early
Heresies. Hippolytus, and The Refutation of all Heresies. Character
of the work. The Naassene Document. Mr Mead's analysis of
text. A synthesis of Mysteries. Identification of Life Principle
with the Logos. Connection between Drama and Mysteries of Attis.
Importance of the Phrygian Mysteries. Naassene claim to be sole