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It was the Archangel Michael whose flaming sword first struck the stone from Lucifer’s crown. I hear the sound of it - iron against emerald struck from silver! This stone of the greatest beauty and purity, preserved from the fall shines - like an angel! Unlike those angels who sought to ensnare men, this angel did not follow Adam, but took the path from the heights to the depths to shape a vessel of flesh; by whose power it is said that the phoenix burns to ashes and the ashes give him life again; upon sight of which no man can die but waxes youthful if daily he beholds it – the stone all men call The Grail.

Now hearken to the wisdom of this Grail and the two ways that the knowledge of it passed into the world.

Firstly it came into the hands of one of Israel’s race who was able through blood to see the future in the stars. His name was Flegitanis and in the city of Hiram he did give this knowledge to a queen, Sheba, who bore it to her groom Solomon. With this knowledge Solomon then built a mighty temple that observed the maxim as above so it is below; for Solomon’s temple foretold the vessel, the Grail born from a virgin, destined to be present at the cenacle on the night of the Last Supper and to stand before Pilate and hang upon a cross of black wood. This Grail the stars foretold, a Roman soldier would pierce so that the God’s blood - His Sang Real - could fall into the clefts of the earth to redeem the sin of Cain.

This intelligence of the Grail was to Joseph of Arithmathea given, and it found a way to England and by way of St Columba to Spain, where in Toledo, that place of learning, it was made into a book that by chance was brought to France by a man who became my master - Guyot of Provence.

This is the first way...Hearken to the second...