Mitologia celta - O mito do Rei Arthur

No Introduction needed. Most of you I've had opportunity to meet, to speak on some other occasion, My name is Lúcia, I am a professor of philosophy at the new acropolis. Our proposal today is to talk about the myth of King Arthur. This is an interesting subject because it was one of the causes that brought me to the new acropolis. In fact, I always liked this myth a lot, it was one of my first lectures, I always found this story of King Arthur very interesting. even though, nowadays, we don't have a training very specific to understand

what a myth is, you know that realization that there must be something else behind it? That it should be more than a simple little story? And really, myths are much more than a simple story. This is the fundamental message of this talk. The myth of King Arthur is a demonstration for you to understand that mythical language is not a bedtime story, it is a very deep language, transmits knowledge directly linked to our life. So we're going to talk a little bit about how this myth was born. Quickly, because that's not the tenor. A bit of

what becomes a myth and, basically, the symbolism of the myth, which is what interests us. Do you know that today, I mean, more than ever, this subject is in vogue. Recently, another film was made within a huge series, where they try to recompose the story of King Arthur, address the historical aspect of King Arthur. To this day, it is still debated: did Arthur exist or did he not exist? Was there an actual Arthur in the story or was there not? And there's still a whole discussion about it and a lot of data that is raised.

From a philosophical point of view, whether or not there was Arthur as a historical character is irrelevant. It is not as important as we thought at first. when we value too much the descriptive aspect of the story. What is fundamental is the message that this mythical cycle brings to man, the language with which this mythical cycle expresses itself and what he has to say to us. Well, basically, how did this whole story start? It is said that it all begins when Rome withdraws from Britain. You know that Rome, with all its standards of civilization, with

all its standards, which, for the time, were very high, a very large organizational level, when Rome colonizes that region of England to the south and forms its Breton colony, makes it an island of wealth, structure, of organization in the midst of a barbaric world, surrounded by barbarians on all sides. The Scots, Saxons, together, and that crowd without much condition to defend itself, without Rome, without any condition. When Rome, by a process of historical decay, that we know very well, already in the 5th century, does not have conditions to support a colony so far away, because

the defense of the city of Rome itself becomes very difficult, Emperor Honorius orders the withdrawn troops to withdraw that he had in Brittany, orders the withdrawal of the Roman legions guarding Britain, and leaves her to her fate. So who are the Britons? The Britons, were Celtic, Romanized, highly civilized, cultured, accustomed to an urban life, within the Roman molds, surrounded by barbarians on all sides. When you retire to Rome, these people are in a tremendously difficult situation. There's no way to defend yourself. The neighbors really were much more powerful militarily than they were, and a whole

sequence of attacks and defenses begins, until a certain king, who until then is a historical element, a Breton king named Vortigan, resolves to make an alliance with one of the barbarian peoples to try to avoid the imminent invasion of the others. He makes an alliance with the Saxons. And these Saxons, on entering Britain, realize that there were many riches there and that, instead of being allies of the Britons, it was much more interesting to dominate them and annex that territory. Then, a whole process of fights begins and clashes, especially with Saxons. A curious and interesting

story because it makes a hook for the myth. The story is interesting because at a certain point you don't know how to say where the story goes, and where the mythical part has already begun. Because when Vortigan makes what is considered a serious political mistake, The entire population of Britain turns against him, because he had handed over his people without even giving them the right to fight, puts the Saxons indoors and that makes him go down in history as a weak king, a weak king. And then, the Druids, who were Celtic priests, they had a

whole very interesting policy towards kings. Interestingly, druids were much more powerful than kings. They believed that the king espoused the earth: "Thou and the earth are one." So when the king marries the land and he is not worthy of his wife, the land begins to wither. It begins not to bear fruit, not to bear flowers, Hunger begins to come, the whole process of withdrawing the Earth begins to come. So what did they do? The only solution was to make Earth a widow. Because then a more worthy husband is given to her, and she flourishes again.

So they executed kings who were unworthy, for you to see the power level of these druids. Hence it is said that Celtic societies were more theocratic than properly monarchical, because the Druid had more power than anyone else. When Vortigan, knowledgeable of law, realizes that things were heading in that direction, that he would be executed, he gathers his court and flees. And flees far to the north, to a region close to what we have today, like Wales, where he considers himself safe, where he would not be reached. And in this region there already enters a part

that is more myth. Because it is said that he wants to build a fortress let it be so secure that the Britons cannot come in and tear it off by force. And every time he starts to lay the foundations of this Fortress, Everything falls, the Earth shakes, it collapses, everything falls and he doesn't understand why that happens. So he calls all those magicians who accompanied him so that they could make auguries and discover the cause of it. And these wizards say it was necessary that a blood sacrifice be made. That it was necessary to sacrifice

an orphaned child on the foundations of that Fortress. And then, they will look for who would be the victim. Interestingly, close to this region there was a small village where there lived a boy who was tremendously unwanted and feared by all. It is said that there was a very powerful landlord in this region, that he had a very beautiful daughter and that he wanted to marry her very well. And for that, isolate that daughter in an ivory tower, where she has no contact with anyone until he found the ideal suitor. She doesn't even see anyone,

so that no one is lusting after her. And this young woman, very beautiful, is said to enter a kind of elemental, an angel, enters through the window of the tower. And unites with her and begets a son. When the girl appears pregnant, the father is in that consternation and dies of grief, because he never saw it coming. I didn't know how it could have happened. And she is judged in the city for the treachery she has committed against her father, etc. What happens is that this child is born speaking, defends mother in court and terrifies

everyone, because she was born speaking and is born with the mental ability of an adult. She is a half-Divine, half-human being, named after Merlin. When her mother passes away, nobody wants to take over that child. She becomes a child who is thrown around the city, around the corners, half feared. Everyone thinking and everyone saying that she was the devil's daughter. Imagine you what a favorable situation. When the Vortigan Guards appear in the city looking for a child to be sacrificed. If you live in this city, who would you recommend? Obviously, this solution came at a

good time. Everyone unanimously points to Merlin. And Merlin is taken. Interestingly, he goes very calmly and knowing what would happen, when he arrives before Vortigan and says: "Look, those wizards of yours don't know anything!" "okay, you're going to sacrifice me, but you will precariously irrigate the land with little blood I have" "and it won't build anything because that's not the problem." "The problem is that under this land two dragons fight, which is the Dragon of your royal house and the Dragon of the Pendragon's royal house." "A black dragon against a red dragon." "And as they

fight, they hit each other and the Earth shakes." "I can make you a spell may the Earth stop shaking, but I cannot change fate." "The pendragon will come here and kill you, sooner or later, that nobody can change," "because that's the point of the story." And Vortigan is very impressed with a child speaking all those things, knowing all that. And then, he takes the boy as his advisor. He doesn't execute him, he takes the boy as his adviser. He, in fact, casts an enchantment that makes it possible for the Earth to stop shaking. And the

Fortress is built, but exactly as the boy predicted. It doesn't take long, the pendragon brothers arrive there and kill Vortigan, sent to the tender land and then come back to fight for the domain of the Earth that was already all fractioned, taking with him Merlin, at that time, already an adult, who then becomes the adviser, the tutor who will see to the unification of the Land of Brittany. "One Earth, One King". This was taken by Merlin, according to the myth, as a mission. And he will then make all his attempts to con that Britain would

be unified under a single worthy king. And then we're going to get into the myth. We will continue this story in a moment. But this is a hook between the historical part and the mythical part, because Vortigan is a historical character, Merlin is no longer known. Merlin, Myrddin, or the Bard. This is another curiosity, because within the Celtic structure there was a priestly hierarchy. The first thing you were, you were a bard. As it exists, for example, within the hierarchy of the Catholic Church. Between cardinals, bishops, archbishops, and so on. You started out as a

bard, who was a singer. It was like a minstrel. He sang his teachings. He turned his teachings into music. When passing this phase, it became a "Vate", who was still a priest with medical gifts, healing and, finally, the apex of this druid trajectory, was the druid itself, from "dru-wid", to see far. He was the one with a vision of the future, a mastery of the mysteries of nature out of the ordinary. So it is said that at first Merlin, or Myrddin, was a bard. And this mysterious character who is woven throughout the story, there is

no historical proof of its existence, just as there is no Arthur. There are countless chances for all tastes, whatever you want. Some say that Arthur was Ambrosius Aurelianus, that he was a Romanized Breton, a general. There are those who say no, that he was really a Breton general. Some say he didn't exist at all. It has even been historically proven, it exists today in tintagel, in Cornwall, England a piece of stone written "Artorius" in that Fortress, where Arthur is said to have been born. At Glastonbury a tomb was found with the name of Arthur and

Gwynevere, empty. It is not known to what extent this was done. already at a later time, in reference to the myth. Anyway, many things are said, but historical proof, there are none. Until this moment there is no certainty that the historical character Arthur existed, or the historical character Merlin, who are the essence of our myth. However, as I told you, from a philosophical point of view, this great discussion, this search to know if there was whether or not there was Arthur is irrelevant. The myth is an enormous symbolic wealth and it concerns our life, it

concerns what we are, the human path. It does not depend on whether or not there is a historical facet behind it. There is always some kind of historical facet, even if it's not the way we imagine. Including because it is extremely unlikely that Arthur was a king. There was no Kingdom there at that point. Most likely, if he existed, he was a military leader, he was a general. And it wasn't as elaborate a Kingdom as we imagine Camelot, right? Well, the structure of a myth, folks, The etymology of the word "myth" comes from "mutus", is

the one who is silent. It is the same etymology of the word dumb. It is the one that is hidden behind the story. The story would have a descriptive body and would have a mythical soul, which is the essence. History tells how things happened, myth tells why. The myth gives the essence of the facts of the why. It is a timeless language, because it speaks of certain Ideas, for certain reasons, of an essence that is behind human action, at any moment of time and space. Ancient traditions said that the myth would be the world of

human ideals. The myth would be the ideal form of action. Some call it an archetype. Archetype is nothing more than a word a little more sophisticated to talk about a model, of an ideal. The myth is just that, a model of perfect conduct. So you imagine a model of an object. I always tell my students, for example, to imagine a model of a piece of sewing, a pair of long pants Those who are already my students know this example well. You buy a fashion magazine. You see something like that, don't you? This is a model

of a long pants. Model is different from object, you don't wear that, this is just an idea. When you put the substance in there, cloth, zipper, button, then it becomes this object you are wearing. A model is not like a fact, it is just an idea. And when you fill it with substance it becomes a fact. Do you understand that? So, imagine, a seamstress to arrive at this model, she had to search, search, search throughout history. By the way, it is a curiosity, because it is said that whoever starts to wear long pants are exactly

the Celts. So, imagine that they must have sought an ideal model to generate this garment. And they reached this model, and then it stabilized. Because this model has been used for a long time. He is ideal to generate this result. If we stop wearing long pants and in 500 years wear them again, the seamstresses will probably look and look and beat him again. Will come to this model because it was an ideal model to generate this result. Well, are there only models for objects? Or could there also be models for events? What do these ancient

traditions say is that there can and should be a model for everything. There may be models for events, yes. That is, models of how to face the difficulties of human life and will make you evolve as a human being. Could there be a model for this? It is said that it can. It is considered that a human being, he is an evolving being who has a trajectory, a starting point. And the point of arrival of the human journey. That starting point would be almost that limit, that Boundary between man and beast, and the point of

arrival, which is called the ideal. It would be the greatest perfection you can comprehend in human form. It would be the apex of values, virtues and wisdom. This here would be the human trajectory. Now, between this and that, there are several steps, of course. Nature does not jump. And these stages, is there not an ideal way to face them? Each difficulty like this, each step along the way, does it not have a model that could teach us how to face each of these things perfectly, wisely and generate the best result? It is said that there

are models for events, models for actions, models for life. The myth is a model of how man can access to another evolutionary stage, another stage of consciousness and another rung, a model of an event, a model of life and therefore he is above any time or any space. He is timeless. Because the Roman man, the Greek man, we, the men of the future, the stages that we will have to face to get from here to there are the same: deal with life, deal with death, deal with loss, deal with desire, deal with frustration. Is this

different or is it going to be different at some point? It's always the same thing. Valuing what is real, running away from illusions, knowing how to deal with our choices, knowing how to control our temper: it's always the same thing, at any time, in any space. The basic human question is the same, therefore, the models to have a optimal and ideal behavior in the face of this, are always the same. The myth is the myth of humanity. Therefore, we simplify when we say: "Celtic myths" or "the Egyptian myths", or "the Greek myths", because myths belong

to humanity. Myths are models, they are abstractions. Now, at a certain moment, these models descend to Earth in symbols that are specific to each of these civilizations. So, I take the classic example that is used for this, what is the hero myth, which is the ideal way for man to face extreme situations, of fear and desire, this is the hero myth. It teaches how man must face extreme situations. This myth is timeless and belongs to humanity. Now, when he descends, when he incarnates in Egypt, he takes an Egyptian form, when he incarnates in Greece another.

For example, in Greece, the hero is Hercules. Or is it Achilles. In India it is Arjuna, among the Celts it is Arthur. There among the Incas there is Pachacuti, and there are others. But if you look, their conduct follows exactly the same scheme, the same script. So this is a symbol. A symbol is a moment when the myth takes on an image. within time and space, suited to the civilization in which you live. Why that? Well, for a pretty obvious reason, because it's much easier for you to pull an image in the face of difficulty

than an abstraction, because myth is very abstract, and faced with an extreme situation, a difficult situation, what the myth was the hero would say now? And the lion there, roaring at you: "wait a minute, I'm remembering the hero myth" It doesn't work, right people? You need something fast! So what do you remember? From the symbol! The symbol tells you: what would Arthur do? What would Hercules do? What would Achilles do? And quickly comes the answer. That is why Plato said that every human being there should be a hero close to your heart, because it is

a symbol that he evokes in extreme situations. Someone you look up to, someone whose story you know deeply. Someone, for you, who is a symbol of life. Faced with an extreme situation, you ask, "What would so-and-so do?" It clearly appears to you, doesn't it? Would do it"! Well, whether you'll be able to do it or not is another thing. But you'll see what "So-and-so" would do, go ahead. So, there we come down to a second aspect of the question. This is interesting because it is a scheme that we are going to use a lot during

the lecture, so it's good that I already draw soon. It is the scheme of the three worlds that the Greeks had. They said that man is composed of three worlds, a spiritual part, which they called "Nous", a psychological part that is made of mind and emotions which they called "Psyche", and a physical part which is called "Soma". Man would be the union of these three worlds, according to the Greek tradition. We can use this same scheme of the three worlds to understand the scheme of the myth. So you would have it here, the myth, in

the spirit world. An extract in the world of Ideas. You would have here, already on the psychological plane, the symbol. Because it is what you evoke and gives you an immediate response: "well, what would so-and-so do?" And down there, already on the physical plane, what would it be? Imagine that you have great esteem, great admiration for the figure of Achilles. You know everything, you know the whole Iliad, every detail. As was Achilles, the choice he made for a short and glorious life, everything he did in Batalha. You have a great admiration for this figure. Well,

the moment a question arises. When an element appears, a decision, you think, "what would Achilles do here?" It is usually very clear to you. We hardly have doubts, because, of course, "well, a hero of that stature would have no doubts. That would be his attitude" But as I told you, the fact that you came to that conclusion, doesn't necessarily give you the conditions to do so. It may be that at this moment you are not able to give that same answer, but you'll know that's what you should have done. That, folks, is the essence of

philosophy. Philosophy tells you, gives you tools so that you realize what would be ideal. And that will be within your conscience. "Well, what I could do was this, but I know that was the ideal", and you're going to have to live with that. Do you think you will bear stay your whole life knowing that this would be right, and that what you can do was much less? Do you think you will bear to live with and accept passively this conscious mediocrity? The greatest ally of our inertia is unconsciousness. When we don't know what we should

have done, we can stay like this our whole life. But when we know, our conscience will charge us. "Look, you didn't manage to do it, but that was it." "Look, at some point you're going to have to find a way to do that, because you know that would be the direction." So you have a division there, a duality that your conscience will charge you, and at a certain point you will get ready and you will get the tools to act exactly as Achilles would act. That is, a symbolically identical difficulty will arise, with the same

symbolic content, And you, at that moment: "Now, I'll take this opportunity!" It does exactly what Achilles would do. Do you realize that in that moment you were Achilles? He descended into the world through you. You "mythologized" this moment in your life. That was what was traditionally called the rite. The rite was the sacralization of life. The Greeks used to say that there are only two things you can do in life, or you trivialize life: you live according to any model, or you sanctify life when you live according to myths. That is, at that moment you

embodied Arthur, you incarnated Achilles, he came into the world, he became flesh and blood through you. In Rome they used to call it In Illo Tempore: Out of time. It's the moment you stole from time to eternity. Greek mythology also talks about this. Man's great activity is stealing moments from Kronos to Zeus. Stealing moments of time for eternity. In that moment of yours, you were more than a simple human being. You were Ulysses, you were Achilles, you were Arthur. This is a moment out of time, this is a moment of eternity It was sacred, it

was the sacralization of life. And then.... This question of the rite would be the moment when the myth descends into the world, take flesh and blood, take life. So the idea would be this. Myths go to the world through symbols, they are experienced, and then generate a practical transformation in the lives of men. This is a curiosity that we could evoke. Ours is a society that works with borrowed symbols. Have you seen this? We do not generate symbols, we have lost sight of the importance of generating proper symbols. We work with borrowed symbols. Not that

there aren't human beings capable of doing this. Not that there aren't examples that can be used. But it is because this is not valued within our society. So when we need symbols we have to borrow to the Greeks, to the Egyptians, to the Hindus, to the Celts. We do not generate our own symbols. Plato said that a society without heroes it is a society that is doomed to remain in mediocrity. Because man forgets how great he can become. He loses perspective on how big he can become. So it's all level underneath and believes that what

the average is, is the maximum that can be. You lose perspective of your horizon of possibilities. So this is the first element for us to understand. Now let's get into the myth itself. Well, the story, as I told you, it is told by several authors and there are several versions. There are some names that are very well known. His first is a bishop named Geoffrey of Monmouth Who is the first who writes, shall we say, with historical intentionality. He says, that he would have found a book written by Britons, that would tell the story of

Arthur. The fact is, no one has ever found this book, nobody knows if he invented this story or not, but he will narrate for the first time, with historical pretensions, with many details. Speaking of Arthur, speaking of Merlin, speaking of Mordred, the story more or less as we know it, quoting Morgana. So Geoffrey, in the 12th century, it would be, let's say, the last kick in the sense of a certain historicity. From there, it enters the field of literature itself, the novel. Afterwards, we will have a Frenchman, who is Chrétien de Troyes, who is going

to write a bit about the myth of King Arthur. Let's have a German who is, Wolfram von Eschenbach. He is interesting, because it is based on his work that Wagner will write his Parcifal. Which is a beautiful version of Parcifal, written by Wolfram von Eschenbach.. Incidentally, it is one of Wagner's masterpieces. And we have Thomas Malory. And Robert de Boron, also the Frenchman, and Thomas Malory, who writes Arthur's death, which is a version on which we are going to work a lot. Now, countless other possibilities exist. In fact, the story of King Arthur turned into

a cycle, that has peripheral stories that have nothing to do what's going on downtown. We have Tristan and Isolde, Balin and Balan... A lot of things that if we were to count them all, we would spend the whole night here. So, evidently, we had to select a history line and we're working with Malory: "The Death of Arthur." For example, from the movies we have, this recommendation is interesting: watch "Excalibur". Of all that was filmed in this regard, As far as I know, there's nothing better. Nothing that so respects the atmosphere of the myth, nothing so

faithful and nothing so well put together. And it's made exactly on top of that version too, which is "The Death of Arthur" by Thomas Malory. And you, watching the film after this lecture, will have the opportunity to perceive other elements that we look at at first glance and do not see. Has everyone here seen it? Ever wanted to watch "Excalibur"? Did anyone not watch? Watch. You will see that, after this lecture, even those who have watched it will be able to perceive a series of other details. So we're going to use more or less the

same narrative line as "Excalibur", which is Thomas Malory's book. Since in some moments I will add things that the film does not have. Malory's story begins at a time when Arthur... Sorry, Arthur wasn't even born yet. By the time Uther Pendragon who will be Arthur's father, is fighting for the unification of the lands of Brittany. Merlin, who returns with him from Vortigan Keep, says to him: "look, right now Brittany is all torn to pieces," "but there are easier enemies and harder enemies." "I will set for you the following quest:" "There is a certain river that

separates the Keep from Tintagel..." "...which was where the Duke of Cornwall reigned." "That Duke of Cornwall is a very powerful enemy." "It's the last one you'll ever face, because at that moment you wouldn't be able to face him." "Now, on this side of the river, there is a set of lesser lords," "and those you can handle." "You have to face everyone, and unify everyone, and make everyone accept you as King." "If you get this, I'll give you a precious piece..." "...so that you can carry out your mission," "which is the sword of power, Excalibur, that

was forged when the world was made." "I will give you this sword, which is the sword of will." "Before her, the Duke of Cornwall can bow to you and accept you as king." "Without her you don't stand a chance." "But first you're going to have to unify all the people on this side of the river." "Then you go there, and face the Duke of Cornwall with Excalibur in hand." And Uther takes it as a mission. He was a great warrior, just a warrior of a temper totally wild, untamed. Great warrior, very good warrior, but not

with enough virtues to be a King. But he fights and conquers all those lands beyond the river. Can you make all the warriors, all lords of lands, accept him as King. So the story begins exactly like this: Uther Pendragon seeking Merlin to keep his word, and hand him the sword of power, hand him Excalibur. And then Merlin appears, as he had promised, delivering Excalibur. And he, in possession of Excalibur, goes to the banks of the river, where the Duke was already waiting for him on the other side, already aware of that. And he says, "Accept

me as king, because I own Excalibur." And in the face of this argument, they enter into an agreement on divisions of power and land, and the Duke of Cornwall accepts him as king. And then they cross the river to have a big party and celebrate the final unification that Merlin dreamed of, the unification of Britain under a single king. Well, let's stop here. Let's cross a little bit into the symbolic terrain to understand what is going on. Well, several things, people. A different way of saying the same thing here: The Hindu tradition... ... will say

that man is composed of a spiritual part and a material part. This spiritual part, in many traditions, in many places it is associated with the number three. You must have already noticed this. As the number three is present in religious symbolisms from all over the place. They are the triads: father, son, Holy Spirit; Brahma, visnu, shiva; Isis, Osiris and Horus, and so on. "Three" has always been closely associated with the sacred for several reasons. It is a symbolic number. And not only the "three", but also the geometric shapes that reflect the "three". A flat geometric

shape, which is the triangle, which is used by the Hindus. A spatial geometric form, which is the pyramid, which is used by the Egyptians. Or the cone that is used by the Celts. But always with the same symbolism related to the sacred. So for Hindus there is a spiritual sacred part in man which is: The triangle. And there is a material, mortal part of man which is associated with the symbolic number as well, which is the "4" of the 4 elements: Earth, water, air and fire. It would be the mortal square of man, which the

Greeks later called personality, of persona, of the mask with which man comes into the world. And that personality, that mortal part, would be divided into 4 elements that, speaking in a very simple way, it would consist of a physical body, an energetic body, an emotional body, And a lower mental or mental body, we won't go into too much detail here. They are basically the elements that make up the personality. What is the great human drama? May these elements, physical body, energetic body, emotional body, mental body they are not unified. Each of them has desires that

are their own and they fight each other, that is, the astral, emotional, want passions. The physicist wants the law of least effort. The energy person wants the greatest possible energy savings. The mental wants to speculate. That is, there is a contradiction between the desires of these material vehicles of man. This makes man very difficult to reach the achievement of its objectives, it's like every part of your body wants to go in a different direction. As if your arm wanted to go in one direction, the leg in another, the torso in another. It is very difficult

to reconcile. So that part, when the man managed to reconcile it, he would have access to make the crossing and enter this spiritual plane, which is called the triad or "Ego", or the spiritual element in man. Now let's do a little transformation on this here. The triad, the triangle of the Hindus, becomes the cone of Cornwall. Cornwall is exactly the Land of the horn, of the cone that was sacred to the Celts. The cornucopia is a tradition that has Celtic origins. Cernunnos, who is the god of horns, cones, was the holiest of the Celtic gods,

because the cone for them represented the spiritual. So, the same symbology of the triangle for the Hindus. Do not be surprised, they are both peoples, although so geographically distant, both Celtic and Hindu, of Indo-European origin. So there are similar symbolic traits. So the cone has for Hindus the same symbolism of the triangle for the... Forgiveness. The cone for the Celts, it has the same symbolism as the triangle for the Hindus. And there was down here where a river flows, And down here there was a Britain all divided, all fractional. What does Merlin tell Uther to

do? Unify those lands. "If you unify the lands beyond the river, I will give you Excalibur," "and you may then enter the Duke of Cornwall's lands." Do you realize what's going on here? Exactly the same saga that we see in all traditions. "Dominate it here." "Put your will ruling over the 4 elements," "So, you can cross the river and rule Cornwall." It is the entry of human consciousness into that immortal and divine part. That's what it's about. And why is Excalibur needed? Excalibur is the sword of will, the human will. Some here take the philosophy

course, they know that. It is said to be the greatest power, the most Divine power that man has. When, indeed, Uther manages to win and unify all this here, means that he has already conquered the will, because only a man of great power, with a lot of determination he manages to control himself. For anyone who has seen that Buddhist tradition, the Dhamappada says: "more victorious than he who wins a thousand external battles... ...It is what conquers itself." This man who beat himself and managed to unify these vehicles, he holds the will. Uther, when he succeeds

in doing this, he already has the will, the power, the determination. Excalibur is just a symbol that indicates that he has indeed conquered. It is the sword of power that indicates he has won enough will and therefore this mastery of oneself allows him to dare to want to cross the river and enter that spiritual plane, enter Cornwall. And, in possession of Excalibur, the sword of will, Uther stands before the river, on the other side with the Duke of Cornwall and says: "accept me because I have Excalibur". The Duke asks what he proposes, and he proposes

a deal. It appears to be quite flexible. If he accepted him as king, the lands from there to the sea would be his, Duke of Cornwall. And under these conditions, the Duke accepts and invites him so that the unification was celebrated in his castle, the castle of Tintagel. So all of Uther's army crosses the river and go very festively to Tintagel's castle commemorate "one earth, and one king". However, arriving there, the Duke of Cornwall, who has an exceptionally beautiful wife named Igraine, decides to show off in front of her guests, and asks his beautiful wife

to do a dance. Igraine then begins to perform a beautiful dance before the guests, Uther who was a warrior without much control of his instincts, falls madly in love with this lady. And, losing my mind with love for her, with passion for her, decides to put everything to waste, in such a way that he becomes maddened, wants to own Igraine for himself anyway. What happens? He puts to lose everything. I had already unified everything, everything was already at peace, everything was already calm. Merlin goes crazy. He simply declares war on the Duke of Cornwall for

his wife, for Igraine. Merlin is maddened by it, but realizes there's no use investing in Uther, Realizes that Uther was not "the" man, that Uther would have to undergo a very deep transmutation to be worthy of being a king. With an attitude like that, he would lose credit before all the lords of the Earth, would have no morals to reign. So there was no point in "messing around" with Uther. Something would have to be done, created another king. Meanwhile, Uther looks for Merlin and says: "look, I'd do anything to have a night with Igraine." -

Anything? - Yeah, anything! Merlin says, "okay, I'll make you have that night with Igraine." "However, the fruit of this union that will be generated in this meeting is mine." "When the child is born, you give it to me and leave it to me." "I will raise the child. That is the condition." And Uther, crazed with passion, makes this deal with Merlin. Agreed, as long as there's a way for him to possess Igraine. So, Merlin... With all the enchantments, with all the spells I knew, there was something more powerful than all, and that was the spell

of transmutation. He invokes, then, the spell of transmutation, summons the breath of the dragon. It is curious how this symbolism of the dragon, which is so present in China, it is also very present in Celtic mythology. The manifested Universe is the Dragon. Remember the Chinese Dragon, with a ball in his hand? It is the logos, it is the manifested universe. Celtic tradition has the same idea. The Dragon is the manifested universe. To invoke the breath of the dragon is to invoke the powers of the universe. He invokes these powers and transmutes for Uther to take

on the appearance of the Duke of Cornwall and could enter the castle and spend a night with Igraine, the way he intended, because Igraine was tremendously virtuous and faithful to her husband. She wouldn't spend a night with any man other than her husband. Then he takes the form of the Duke of Cornwall, enters the castle. The Duke had gone out to fight, and he spends a night with Igraine and begets Arthur. But meanwhile the Duke, in battle, had been slain. The next day, Igraine discovers that her husband had been killed earlier in the night, but

at the same time, her husband had spent the night with her. And he didn't understand what had happened. When the Duke is dead, Uther unites with her, and when that child is born, Merlin appears, as agreed, to take the baby. There, take little Arthur, born in Tintagel, newborn, takes the mother's arms and disappears with the child. And in that, Uther regrets the pact he had made, and runs after Merlin trying to get the child back. And he is caught in an ambush and murdered. But before being murdered, he takes the sword of power, Excalibur, and

plunges it into a Stone. And there it appears on that stone, magically written, that whoever manages to remove it, will be the new King of England. And nobody can. Uther is slain, and that sword remains there for a long time, without anyone being able to pull the sword out of the stone. Well, moving to a symbolic side: What does it mean? You will see that it is common in several traditions the idea that man can enter the spiritual plane. Human consciousness, to enter a spiritual plane, it will have to be profoundly transmuted. Change values, change

your perception of life, change your achievement success patterns. It is as if man were reborn purified to reign on that plane. Remember? Several traditions talking about this, the bible itself: "Truly I say to you, no one will enter the kingdom of heaven, unless you are born again." Remember Jesus Christ to Nicodemus? All traditions more or less have this. "It is by dying that one is born to eternal life." Saint Francis of Assisi. "Abandon your life if you want to live". This is Tibetan 'The Voice of the Silence'. What did medieval alchemists say? "Solves and coagulates".

It dissolves as a mortal being and coagulates, it is reborn as a spiritual being. That is, to enter this world man is practically born again. He goes through the spell of transmutation, where he is reborn, purified in this world. The spell of transmutation, which Uther undergoes, it is the unity of love and beauty that is represented by Igraine. United with Igraine, it is as if he undergoes a transmutation and be reborn purified in Arthur. Interestingly, there is an interesting element that Plato talks about. It's not just religions that have triads, philosophies too. Plato has a

triad. He says they are the attributes of the sacred par excellence: which are the Good, the Beautiful and the Just. He will say that, of these three attributes, the easiest thing for a man to perceive is Beauty. At the banquet, for example, he talks about it. Through the pursuit of Beauty, man can reach God. Because Beauty is an attribute of the Divine that is more noticeable on the material plane. For example, if a person enters at this moment here. 5 minutes ago she walked in. How do we know if it's fair? Is she good? But

if she's Belle, we know right away, don't we? Beauty, for the material plane, is the most perceptible Divine attribute. I even talked about it this month, let's have this lecture here, I'm going to talk about platonic love here at the national theater. He said that when human beings, even if moved by instinct, run after beautiful bodies, unconsciously he is seeking an attribute of the Divine, because an animal does not seek another only when it is beautiful. There is no such thing. Even on the physical plane, even when moved by the most instinctual, the need for

beautiful bodies it is an unconscious need for eternity. Then, carried away by the beauty of Igraine, carried away by the transmutation of love to beauty. Uther is reborn purified in Arthur. It's himself. You will see that this happens twice in this myth. Lancelot will also Reborn purified. The first instance of the transmutation spell is the birth of Arthur. It is Uther purified through the action of love and beauty. He enters that spiritual plane and is reborn worthy to reign. So it's like Arthur is a new Uther that purifies itself through love and beauty. Right? Well,

continuing our story, you will see that this baby is taken by Merlin, and is raised by a peasant, at first, out of fear of Merlin, then because it becomes attached to the child. He was a fair enough peasant, quite noble, who raises a boy as if he were her own. But this peasant had an eldest son, Kay, that his dream was to be a knight. In fact, in this region, everyone's dream was to be a knight, because the idea is immortalized that someone has to get that sword out of the Stone. Start holding tournaments where

knights vie for the right to try to draw the sword from the Stone and no one had ever made it. So the younger ones start, from boys, to receive training for squires, and the older ones, after a certain age, become knights and they will compete in tournaments for the right to try to get the sword out of the Stone. Arthur as a teenager, boy, page. The first time he's going to be his brother's squire, in his first tournament. There they all go into battle. Within these traditions, One of the most sacred things a knight has

is the sword. The sword is a symbol of your own determination, of your bond with God. For them it is a powerful and sacred element. So the blessed squire's main occupation was taking care of the sword. It turns out that the boy Arthur, when you go to town for Kay's first tournament, and it was the first time he had known a city, a town. And he is dazzled by it, becomes inattentive and they steal Kay's sword. In the first tournament! Look what a failure at the beginning of the squire's profession. Losing the knight's sword in

the first tournament was "the end of the sting"! That was the end of his career, it couldn't happen. He realizes that Kay's sword has been stolen, and his brother is about to enter the line of combat. Where's the sword? It has no sword. He goes off like a madman, looking for a sword. Of course, I wouldn't find it. because a sword wasn't something that nobody left like that, loose for nothing. And at some point, he moves away from the region a little where the tournaments were being played, and sees a sword stuck in the stone,

there for nothing, with no one looking. "Giving the biggest fool", as it is popularly said. "Well, what if I borrow a little bit? No one will see it." "After Kay plays in the tournament, I'll put it back there." "It's an innocent thing. It's just a loan." He looks to one side, no one is watching. Look at the other, no one is watching, go there and draw the sword with the greatest of ease. But this story that no one is seeing it is one of the greatest lies of mankind. There's always someone watching. It always has,

it's impressive! Have you seen how funny it is? There's always an amateur filmmaker filming everything that happens. There's always someone watching, it's amazing. And at that moment, too. And then the alarm sounds: "They took the sword from the Stone". Everyone stops everything and runs there. When Kay arrives, her father arrives, everyone arrives, they ask: "who drew that sword from the stone?" "It was me!" says Arthur. "How were you, my son?" And then everyone is scandalized, it couldn't be that boy. Comes to the champion of the previous tournament, put the sword to the Stone again, his

father asks that it be put back on, and they put it on. Then the champion of the previous year goes there, and thinks that now it will be easier. Someone already took it, now it comes out easy. Go there, concentrate, use all your strength, but don't even move your sword. Then the father says, "go there Arthur again and try". He goes there one-handed and takes it off. And everybody thinks, "No, this is magic. This is spell." "Merlin must have something to do with this." Merlin was gone from the time of conception, from the time he

took Arthur Merlin was missing, nobody saw. Then Merlin appears, and says: "no, that's not a spell, that's a fact," this boy is the son of Uther Pendragon, he's entitled to the crown, he's predestined. Now imagine the confusion. Because the boy was not even a knight, he was a squire, a little page, boy, boy. And the knights of Earth, mighty, great warriors, would they accept a boy like that as king? Most of them don't accept they get angry and think that this is all a trap set up by Merlin and they do not accept and revolt.

One of them, which is Leodegrance, says: "no!" "I saw what I saw, if that boy is the son of Uther, if he drew the sword from the stone, he is king." So this is a curious thing. The interesting thing about it, folks, you will see that the round table with the 12 knights, has a direct astrological connection. This is not a coincidence. Leodegrance is said to be the sign of Leo. And each of these knights behaves according to what is expected of each of these signs. It has a clear symbolic key. We'll talk about that

a little bit later. There is a connection between the 12 knights of the round table and the zodiacal circle. So, Leodegrance is the only one who accepts Arthur as king. And in that, Merlin collects the boy Arthur, takes it to the Forest and starts training it. The boy is perplexed. "What is this? Am I going to become king overnight?" He doesn't understand anything. And in that, a war begins to settle down, between Leodegrance, who was the knight who had accepted, and all the others who had set themselves against it. Right? And after receiving some instructions

from Merlin, Arthur engages in this Battle. For those who watched the movie, and remember it very well, this part where Arthur enters Batalha is very beautiful, boy yet. Begins to fight valiantly to defend the Fortress of Leodegrance it is the most beautiful part, including one of the most beautiful in the film, when he's fighting, he realizes that down in the pit, there is a knight who was one of those most opposed to him. One of the most opposed warriors... ...to Arthur's leadership. Who else objected to Arthur reigning. And he, when he sees him, throws himself

from the castle wall into the moat, falls on top of that Knight, manages to disarm him and says: "Accept me that I may spare you and be your king. I don't want to sacrifice, I need men like you." And this warrior is revolted. "I prefer to die! I will never submit to the will of a squire who is not even a knight." Then, at that moment, Arthur stops and says: "you're right." Give the sword to him, your enemy, and kneels before him, disarmed, and says: "Consecrate me a knight, so that I can forgive you, and

be your king." "Consecrate me a knight, that I may pardon you, and accept you as my vassal, as my subject." And he kneels unarmed before the knight who was his enemy. Everyone, the entire war stops to watch this scene. It is a demonstration of self-confidence, of Arthur's safety and wisdom. And this man clearly sees this. The level of courage above that of an ordinary human being what was in that boy, and consecrates him as a knight and places himself at his service, and there ends the battle. And then begins the structure of the round table.

He selects the great knights that there were, go out in all directions to pacify the wars and the invasions that there were. This is an interesting thing, because, as they say, if there was any historicity in it, would have happened around the 5th to 6th centuries after Christ. It is curious, because it is said that for 50 years the Saxons did not advance, This is proven. From the Battle of Mount Badon, which no one knows who led, for 50 years, Saxons could not advance on Brittany. This is the period of the so-called Arthurian cycle. So,

at the moment in the myth when Arthur is accepted as king, he goes out leading his horsemen, fighting all barbarian invaders, all the barbarian hordes, pacifying the Earth under a single king. They all come together, which is also one of the most beautiful parts of the story, in which they gather on top of a Mountain around Arthur. Merlin comes to the center of that circle and says, "Remember this night." "Tell your children and your grandchildren. That night I was with Arthur." "Because man's greatest evil is forgetfulness." Indeed it is. The man forgets that he was

ever with Arthur. That is, he forgets what is most Divine and most sacred he possesses, which is the meaning of your life. And from there, then, Camelot is constituted. A great castle with the 12 knights seated, a great Kingdom. A curiosity of this Kingdom, which was prosperous from its beginnings, just, prosperous, and well governed. Camelot's code is that every knight to sit down at Camelot's table, would have his sword at the service of just causes, whether they were in or out of the Kingdom, they were committed. It is not a territorial compromise, it was an

ideal compromise, it was a commitment to justice. Where there was just cause, the sword of the knights of the round table would be required to serve. Under the weight of, if he didn't accept it, he would lose his knighthood. So, they were knights in the service of justice, goodness, nobility. And they gathered at a great table, which didn't have 12 places as we imagine, but had thirteen since the beginning. It was an instruction given by Merlin. He instructs all of Camelot's construction. It has to have thirteen seats. Arthur gathers all the great knights there were,

and only manages eleven, counting himself. There are two vacant seats. One of them being the thirteenth, became known as the dangerous chair, because every time someone dared to find who was worthy to sit there, the chair opened, and made the citizen fall to the ground. There was no one to sit there. In the dangerous chair no one could sit down. But let's see that these two locations, they are already booked. Its occupants are already prepared, they are about to come. The twelfth location is Lancelot's. Who is Lancelet of the Lake? Lancelote, very important to understand

the continuity of the story. Arthur takes Leodegrance's daughter Gwynevere as his wife. Join her. And in those surroundings where marriage is being prepared, which was a necessity. For those who know a little about the honor codes of medieval knights, the lady represented the knight's soul. By the way, the symbolism of the lady, of the woman, in the myths, when it is a high symbolism, it is related to the soul, when it is a lower symbolism, it is related to the personality. This is the case, for example, of Isolde. It represents the knight's soul. This is

the case of Snow White who unifies the seven vehicles, the seven dwarfs. It's the soul. Now, in the case of personality, it's an Eve, it's a Medea, they are those beings who represent temptation. When the woman occupies the character that represents the personality. In this case, of the medieval knights, no one went to war if not with a lady's handkerchief. Ideal love, chivalrous love, involved nothing physical, it was a love for what the lady represented, her own soul. So the king could not reign without having a lady, because the lady was the inspiration of all

great knights, and he takes Leodegrance's young daughter, Gwynevere. But in the vicinity of the wedding ceremony, this boy appears, this citizen, who nobody knew where he came from. Lancelet of the Lake, who was the son of a distant king, King Ban of Benoic, and that it had been created by the Lady of the Lake. It's a long story, and I won't go into detail here. The fact is that a curse weighed on this warrior, because he had no way to put his sword, which was the highest honor for a knight, he had no means of

placing his sword in the service of any king. He could not. He could only put his sword in the service of some king, on the day he was overcome, and he was invincible. I had never gotten anyone I beat. He fought extremely loyally and cleanly in his matches, but nobody could beat him. That was a curse. He didn't take it as pride, or as vanity. He took it like a curse, and he wandered through the world looking for that king whom his sword could serve. But he needed to be beaten. And in that, Lancelet of

the Lake, approached Camelot, and went to the field, there on the banks of a bridge. And the knights of the round table hear of the story, they feel wounded in their pride, and they all go there to dispute with Lancelot. He is winning one by one, the ten. Wins all. They all go back to Camelot, defeated. The best riders in the world. Have you thought, what demoralization? And in that, Arthur was forced to react, himself. "No, I have to save Camelot's honor. I'm going there myself and I'm going to fight with this warrior." And he

goes with his sword, Excalibur, and fights with Lancelot. And it's a very tough fight because Lancelot really was invincible, it was of a power raem battle, which was an amazing thing. And when Arthur starts to get outnumbered, when you feel that you are going to be defeated, you feel your pride hurt, and invokes the powers of Excalibur. to help him defeat that man, because he could not, as a king, be vanquished. He feels flattered, he is offended in his pride. And he manages to land a blow with Excalibur on Lancelot, who falls unconscious. Arthur wins

the Battle, however, Excalibur breaks. This is a very interesting thing, very symbolic. What is Excalibur's symbol if it breaks. And it's interesting, because if you see Excalibur, as I told you, it is associated with the will, to the highest element that exists in that spiritual part of man, the will, human determination. And the human will, it is said, that it can work to the elements here below, of personality, and it can work for the elements up here, of the Self, of the Divine. When you use the will to work down here, it becomes desire. And

desires are different according to the plane you are on. We talked about it a little while ago, right? The desires of the physical body are the least effort possible. Because he is related to the Mineral Kingdom, he wants maximum inertia. And the desires of the energy plan: the greatest possible energy, greed, the desire for profits. The desires of the emotional plane: as many emotions as possible, because he feeds on it. Pure adrenaline. All the energy he takes from emotions. What about the desires of the mental plane? Constant mental speculation. So these desires are contradictory to

each other. When the will falls on this material plane, it splits, it becomes different desires. Because every vehicle down here has a different desire. Now, when the will is used for spiritual purposes, for honour, for valor, for virtues, she is always One. The objectives above are one and the same: is to work for the good of humanity, there is no other. Will, when applied up here, is One. When it is applied down here, it divides. Why did Excalibur split? Because at that moment, Arthur used it here, for pride, for and vanity, for not wanting to

be vanquished as a man. Not to go through humiliation to recognize that there was a better knight than he. He uses it for the interests of the personality, and in the personality, the will is divided, it becomes desire. She breaks. And this is literally what happens, Excalibur breaks apart. When he looks, as wise as he was, as a righteous king, recognizes: "Wow, what a crazy thing I did! I used Excalibur for something that couldn't be used. I broke what could not be broken. I utilized that which should exclusively work for the good of men, for

my personal and selfish good. I lost everything." And he falls into a state of consciousness, into such a great pain of conscience, that Excalibur falls into the waters of the lake where they were fighting, and the lady of the lake resurfaces with her forged anew, unified. Due to the profound awareness he makes, to realize the mistake he had made, he reunifies Excalibur. He puts his pieces back together, and takes back Excalibur. Good, but Lancelot had been vanquished. And therefore Lancelet, vanquished, is overjoyed, because now he had a king to serve. His curse had ended. And

is taken to the table and becomes the twelfth warrior. And as twelfth warrior, best of all, the inspiration of the table, he would have to be the queen's knight. That was it. The best knight was the guardian, he was the queen's knight. And he is sent then to get Gwynevere at the Fortress of Leodegrance, for the marriage ceremony. That's when things start to get complicated. Because when Lancelot comes to get Gwynevere, falls madly in love with her and she with him. Take Gwynevere, as agreed, respecting the king, respecting all the covenants he had made, but

he can no longer think of anything else. He is madly in love with her and she with him. The wedding takes place, but this drama begins. In which Lancelot begins to flee Camelot in order not to see Gwynevere. She is tremendously distressed because she burns with love for Lancelet. This, of course, will have a predictable outcome. Sooner or later, both do not control this passion, and end up uniting and celebrating the betrayal, which is going to be the whole crumbling of Camelot as a kingdom. Very interesting, a passage from history which shows Lancelot at the

moment when he... The film even has this passage. ... in which he, very anguished, imagines how he could extirpate that forbidden love, that love that put everything to waste and feels like he's in a fight with himself. He, sleeping by a Lake, sees himself, fully armed, coming towards him. And he hurts himself. He enters into dream combat with himself. He sees himself clad in armor, with a sword, come and smite him. And this wound that is caused in him, never heals. And he will die from this wound. You will see that it is very curious.

There at the end of the story, in the last battle fought against Mordred, he fights fiercely, but he dies from this wound that never heals. That wound that he inflicted on himself, the wound of desire. And it is curious because it is said that man is just that, he is an immortal being, a divine being. And he condemns himself to mortality, by desire. Because he desires things that are deadly, and therefore, he is trapped in this mortal plane by his desires. I commented to those who were in the lecture on the symbolism of fairy tales.

When the Witch comes to Snow White and offers her the apple, she says "no i don't thank you." There, the Witch resorts to the fatal recourse: "don't you have something you want?" He had. She wanted that Prince Charming. And then it bites the apple, falls asleep in matter. The apple, universally, is the symbol of the heart. It means that Snow White had a desire in her heart, of material things, therefore, fell asleep in matter. It is this desire that wounds Lancelot that makes him mortal, because otherwise it would be eternal. He dies from the wound

he inflicts on himself, which is the wound of desire. This is very interesting. Therefore, this betrayal will end up being consummated. The two will end up meeting and staying together, and this is discovered by Arthur. This brings about the outcome of the dismantling of Camelot. Arthur falls into a tremendous dejection, into tremendous suffering. and Camelot where it starts to wither, remember? "You and the Earth are one". Therefore, Arthur, when he falls into deep despondency, all Camelot begins to wither, the land begins to wither. He assembles his knights, and says: "There is only one way for

you to reestablish Camelot. Just a way for us to restore Camelot's vigor." People start to starve. The Earth withers, everything becomes barren. He says, "There's only one way. Go out, walk around the world and find the grail. Whoever finds the Grail and brings it to me to restore Camelot. That sounds crazy, doesn't it? What does one thing have to do with another? What is the Grail? The Grail Chalice that Jesus Christ used at the Last Supper. That chalice that was later used by Joseph of Arimathea to collect drops of his blood on the Cross. That's

the grail. But what does that have to do with the story? He was betrayed by his wife, and who will solve the problem is the Grail? What is the key to this story, what is behind it? This is the most symbolic and fundamental element of the story. If you consider that same drawing that we did, which is the design of Mercury's caduceus. You'll see, that Arthur typically represents the spiritual principle. Arthur is the spiritual principle. He is the king who was, is, and will be. He who reigns eternally. Gwynevere is the psychic principle, she is

the soul. And who is Lancelet? It is the physical body. It's the perfect "Soma". Does he have a more perfect body than Lancelet? Brave, courageous, with high dominance, with endurance. He is the symbol of the perfect body, of the "Soma", of the perfect physical part. And when these three are united, it's a wonder, because they are perfect and they are invincible, establish an invincible Kingdom in models over the world. These three are within us. The three are working for the same cause. Camelot exists, Camelot becomes viable. Now, what is the denouement of history that is

the doom of humanity? Gwynevere who is the soul, looks at the body and says: "Oh! How beautiful he is, how wonderful he is. I love him", and betrays Arthur. This is the beginning of what we call materialism as a meaning of life. The human being to spare his physical body, betrays spiritual principles. "Ah, but if I'm very honest, I won't have such a comfortable life, My poor body is going to suffer so much." So betray Arthur's principles, betray integrity, betray honesty, betrays effort, betrays selfless service, because it is not profitable. It betrays spiritual principles to

annul the physical body. It commits the fundamental betrayal. The fundamental betrayal is the betrayal of the human psyche. When you fall in love with the body, you identify with it here. Remember Narcissus looking into the waters? This is psyche, looking at its reflection on the material plane. And falling in love with her. What happens to Narcissus? Turn to stone, that's materialism. That's the human psyche. Looking at your reflection in the material world, saying, "how beautiful, I love it." And by loving him, he destroys. Lancelot was great, because through Gwynevere he served Arthur. When you take

away Arthur's principles, Lancelot becomes a beggar, becomes a madman, loses all his strength. When we want to protect our body and we did not subject it to spiritual principles, we destroyed it, for various vices, by various manias, by various weaknesses, we destroy our bodies when we do not subject them to spiritual principles. We think we are doing good for him and we destroy him by inertia, manias, vices, weaknesses, countless. When you don't subject the body to spiritual principles. And Lancelot, not obeying Arthur, becomes a beggar, a hermit. Break your caduceus. Here comes Arthur and says,

"Look, there's only one way to get Camelot back, you have to find the grail." That Grail which was the chalice of the Holy Supper, which was the mythical element, sacred, present in various traditions. That is, it represented the union of the three worlds. What was the Grail? If you go see it, it's a curious thing, because at the beginning of the Arthurian tradition there was no Grail. This is already a process of Christianization of the myth. Well, the chalice of the Lord's Supper, that's Christianity. At first it was a cauldron. That Druid cauldron, the cauldron

of the Tuatha Dé Danann. He had a very interesting thing, because it is very similar to those medieval eucharistic chalices which is still used in certain ceremonies today. Because he had a feature. the cup, the base, and a bulge here, which is like a host, isn't it? This is the chalice. Do you remember this chalice model? What is there in the middle of the road, like a host? This is the Grail, it is always represented this way. The union of the three worlds. Retrieving the Grail meant gathering the spiritual principle again, with the psychological principle,

with the material, physical, under a single law. The Grail is the sacred chalice of the pact between the Divine and the human. It is the pact between our Divine and what is human in us, represents the coming together of the three worlds around a single law again. Only by drinking from the Grail can man restore Camelot. Do you understand? So when he says "retrieve the Grail", what does it mean? When a human being restores the Grail within himself, again, Camelot will stand a chance. Good, and then the knights leave, in search of the Grail. As

you remember, in the movie, everyone is being defeated everyone is being defeated by the spells that are engendered by Morgana, and they are being defeated one by one, always caught up in your weaknesses, due to their weaknesses and are being defeated and do not find the Grail. Morgana, who in this version of Malory, is said to be very ambitious. She yearns to enjoy the fact that Arthur was alone, takes the form of Gwynevere, casts a spell, takes the form of Gwynevere, unites with Arthur and begets a son with him, a bastard child that is Mordred.

This Mordred has a dream to take the Kingdom of Arthur. And Morgana then casts a series of spells and spells, causing one by one, these knights of the round table are being defeated without finding the Grail. Only there was one who was predestined, who was Parcifal, Parcifal or Galahad. It's interesting, what the original story has and what the movie Excalibur doesn't. They simplify. Parcifal or Galahad, who will be very well described in Wagner's work, was a young man who was the son of Lancelot. This is a very beautiful story, very interesting. He was the thirteenth

of that perilous chair That chair that had never been sat down was his. It is said that Lancelet, in those days when he walked the world, everywhere, fleeing the table, so as not to see Gwynevere, in order not to fall into temptation, he approaches a Kingdom, where a very wise king reigned, a Magus, who was King Peres. But this Kingdom, it had a curse. Every seven years there came a serpent, a dragon, a horrible animal, super destructive, and devoured everything and went around killing a lot of people. And there was in that kingdom a prophecy.

Only when passing by, a tremendously brave and noble knight, he would be able to slay that dragon. However, this knight, when he defeated the Dragon, would have to join the Princess, to generate the noblest and purest knight that had ever walked the Earth. That's what the prophecy said. And at that time King Perez reigned then and his daughter was Elaine. Elaine was a young woman who is said to have among the young women who inhabited the Earth, she was one of the most beautiful, one of the most virtuous, most gifted people there was to get

an excellent match. However, the prophecy falls on her. It was she who had to unite with Lancelot to bear a child, she had to bond with a man she would never love. So when Lancelet passes through that region, the Dragon was in full action, and people see a knight of the round table, everyone knew that their pact, their sword, was always at the service of justice, so he could not refuse to act. And they go there and call Lancelot. Lancelot goes, attends and fights a Battle with this Dragon, a terrible battle, where he manages to

beat him, but it is the hardest Battle of his life. He is taken to the castle exhausted. And when he arrives at the castle, the king looks and says: "Our Lady!" "Our lady" he didn't say because it's a current expression. But he said something similar. That won't do, because that citizen is Lancelot. The king had a whole magical power, clairvoyance, and he says "Lancelot, you will never want to join my daughter, because he is madly in love with Queen Gwynevere. He has a soul pact, he will never join another woman. And then he calls Elaine,

his daughter, and tells the story, explains the situation. "Look, daughter, part of the prophecy has already been fulfilled, the rider is there. There's only one detail, he will never love you. That knight over there, you don't stand a chance. So, there's only one way for us to make the prophecy come true. I do a spell, an enchantment, where he will join you for one night, just one night. Will conceive the warrior that is predicted in prophecy, but the next morning, he won't even care that you exist. You accept? If you don't accept it, I respect

it, because that means your whole destiny." Because for a young woman, imagine, conceiving a child, in a time like that, conceiving a child, unmarried, by someone who didn't love her, her whole destiny was compromised. There was her life. And she accepts. Elaine agrees to give her life to fulfill the prophecy. So, King Perez prepares a magic potion, and when Lancelot drinks, seeing Elaine, he sees Gwynevere. And spends a night with her and conceives Galahad. Only the next morning he realizes it was a spell, and disappears. Go away, and Elaine is waiting for this baby. She

conceives the baby, gives it to her father, King Perez, and immediately dies. Elaine, dead, then. Her father decides to grant her last request: he puts her on a boat, driven only by a single man, a mute oarsman, that silently crosses the entire river that crosses Brittany, carrying the body of the dead Princess. This part is very curious, very beautiful, because it is said that everyone on the banks of the river came to see the body, Elaine's silent funeral procession passes. And everyone wept, not for her, who lost nothing because she wanted nothing, but for themselves

that they no longer had her among them. This is a very beautiful passage, which is worth reflecting on. They did not cry for her, who lost nothing, since she desired nothing, they wept for themselves, who no longer had her among themselves. If we stop to think, that same passage, when Uther, united with Igraine, is reborn transformed into Arthur, purified in Arthur, the same transmutation spell will take place there, because Lancelot is a perfect, virtuous knight, endowed with many virtues, however, who possessed a tremendous desire. Elaine is a beautiful Princess whose fundamental virtue is, the beauty

of the soul, the capacity for renunciation. She renounces all her privileges to give birth to this perfect knight. Therefore, Lancelet's heroism, coupled with Elaine's resignation, causes Galahad to be born. This knight who has all of his father's hero qualities, and his mother's renunciation, and that he will be predestined to find the Grail. On one occasion, then, when Lancelot returned to Camelot, after many of his travels, he meets Gwynevere, he does not resist charms, he does not resist his passion, and finally ends up joining the queen. This union causes all of Camelot to fall into disgrace.

It is the breaking of the union of the three worlds. It's Camelot's breaking of the pact, and this means that, when Arthur realizes this betrayal, he thrusts the sword Excalibur between the two, and Camelot goes into decline. Arthur begins to fall into a deep sadness, you start to lose all your motivation. He weakens as a king and at the same time, the Kingdom of Camelot also begins to decline. There is a very important point within the Arthurian tradition, within the Celtic tradition as a whole, which is the king's union with the earth, "thou and the

earth are one." When the king begins to lose his attributes, the Earth withers along with the king. So, the crops no longer grow, there is hunger, there is misery everywhere. And Camelot enters a great decay. Taking advantage of this situation, Arthur's half sister who dreamed of power, who was Morgana, also takes a form, makes the king drink a magic potion and believe to be her, Gwyneveree, and beget, with her own brother, a bastard son, Mordred, that will represent bastard humanity itself who turns against his own father. So Arthur, in the face of all these difficulties,

all these setbacks, is deeply saddened. And he calls all his knights and asks them to go out into the world, in search of the Grail. The Grail would be the only way for Camelot to recover. And its riders go out into the world, but none of them succeed. This passage is very interesting, because each of Arthur's knights is linked to a zodiacal key, and each one of them starts to be defeated precisely because of its weakness, its weakness. And one after another they fall and none manages to conquer the Grail. And Arthur had already given

up hope, when, on a beautiful day, a young man, almost a teenager, appears accompanied by the grandfather. And this young man, when he enters Camelot, automatically your name appears written on the backrest, on the back of the thirteenth chair, the so-called dangerous chair. This young man was Galahad, the predestined one. He was destined to conquer the Grail, he was the pure knight. He then sets out on the quest for the Grail, and after many situations, after many trials, he who had enough purity for that, manages to conquer the Grail. Bringing Arthur, he causes Arthur, by

drinking from the cup, regain your strength, your spirit. And go out along with those that are left of your knights, with those who are left of your warriors, to face Mordred's army. It is very important that we understand the symbology of this passage, because it is the central point of the Arthurian myth. Gwynevere's betrayal, which is often misunderstood. We can see that in many traditions of the past, man is considered the conjugation of three elements. In the spiritual aspect, which is called "Nous", in the psychic aspect, which is called "Psyche", and the physical aspect, which

is called "Soma". The union of these three worlds, according to a single principle, according to a single law, would conform the wise man, it would form a pact between the spiritual principles and the material principle. We can see in this myth, as in many others, is that Arthur represents the spiritual principle. Gwynevere is "Psyche". It is very common that in several myths, the woman occupies this role of "Psyche". And, Lancelot, you are the perfect Soma, the ideal knight. When the three are working according to the same principles, along the same line, this union of the

three worlds is established. Camelot then is a symbol of the ideal man, where the three worlds work according to the same law, according to the same direction. What happens when Gwynevere falls in love with Lancelet and cheats on Arthur to be with him? It's the human drama, it's the fall into materialism. It is when man looks at his body, Lancelet, and finds him so handsome, so attractive, so interesting and says: "Wow, how beautiful this is, how I love him, I am this", and betrays his spiritual principles. Turn your back on your spiritual principles to spare

your body, and ends up weakening it. It ends up breaking this union of the three worlds, that is, when man, by attachment to personality, betrays his Being, he is occupying the role of this fundamental betrayal. Gwynevere's betrayal of Arthur. Then this union of the three worlds breaks down. When Arthur asks Galahad and all his knights let them go in search of the Grail, in fact, the Grail is a very ancient symbol, which originally wasn't even a cup, it was a cauldron, a druid cauldron that exactly represented the union between these three worlds. Then it became

and was widely used in the middle ages, in the shape of that Eucharistic cup which contained the host in the middle. In other words, it exactly represents the union of these three worlds. When Arthur proposes this, what is he asking? That a single human being regains the union of these three worlds within itself. This symbolizes finding the Grail. If a man does it, means Camelot has a chance to be reinstated. That is, Arthur, Gwynevere, Lancelet, were a model, now it is necessary for a human being to conquer this model within himself. Conquer the Grail, be

worthy. And who will do it? Galahad, the Thirteenth Horseman. It is interesting to realize this, because, in fact, the twelve knights of the round table have a zodiacal key, that is, there would be no thirteenth. There are twelve signs of the zodiac. Who then is Galahad? Galahad would be the center, it would be the union of the virtues of the twelve in a single point. He would be the culmination of all human virtues, the one who manages to conquer himself again and unite all your principles, spirit, soul and body, according to a single law. Galahad

is the ideal man, he is the hero, he is the one who crosses that path and reconquers himself. So the fact of restoring Camelot from Galahad, it's a promise that Camelot is a possibility that can be earned for each and every human being who proposes to do so. Returning to the story, so Arthur goes to Battle, he is wounded, he does not die, but he also mortally wounds Mordred. Already dying, he calls one of his knights, hand over Excalibur, and ask him to throw the sword into a lake. And when humanity has the chance to

carry it again, it will rise again. That knight then took the spear, just as Arthur had asked, the sword disappears under the waters of the lake, carried by the lady of the lake. Vertically, it disappears. This is very interesting, because the waters, universally, are the symbol of the material world, then human will, human power, sinks under materialism, under the waters of materialism. It will rise again when men are worthy of it again, and that men, again, are worthy to have Arthur before them, spiritual principles. And he, the king who was, is and will be, is

the only one in this entire saga who does not die. It is carried by the ladies of Avalon and rests, waiting for humanity to be prepared for his return. And here comes the Beauty part of the myth, which is said to occur every year, I think that once a year, during the festivities of the month of May, Arthur awakens in Avalon and his knights gather around him. And he asks: "Is humanity ready for my return yet?" And his knights say: "No, sir, give us one more year". And again, he goes back to sleep, and its

knights go around the world spreading the Good News, and trying to get us back to that historic moment when Arthur can return, when Camelot can be reestablished. When mankind conquers Camelot itself, when humanity recognizes that the best destiny of mankind is to be guided by Arthur, this spiritual Arthur that every human being carries within himself. Well, that's it.