When I, in January 2006, asked my friend Dr Karen Ralls, if she would be interested in holding a talk for The Temple Conferences, Karen to my delight said she would be very happy to hold a talk although she had a very busy schedule this year. What’s more, she asked if I knew Philip Gardiner and said that he might be an excellent speaker for the event as well. At that time I did not know Philip, but I e-mailed him, and the very same day he replied and said he would be delighted to make the journey to Wells and speak at the event. Furthermore, Philip very generously continued, “would I like a copy of his new book, The Serpent Grail – The truth behind the Holy Grail, the Philosopher’s Stone and the Elixir of Life?” Well, of course I would be interested in reading his new book. Only a couple of days later my copy arrived in the post and my journey with Philip and Gary Osborn (who he wrote the book with) began. I read their 336 pages book in a few days, and being of a questioning spirit, I decided to pen Philip some questions…
Greetings
Philip, I am delighted that you could find the time to give The Temple readers
further insight into your research
·
To start with Philip, would you tell us about your earlier books, Gnosis
and the Shining Once please?
Hi Oddvar, thanks for the invite to the conference, I am truly humbled. Now, my very first book was The Shining Ones, which amazingly sold very well. It was something that struck me after years of reading about history and secret societies, religion and belief, that there seemed to be a thread running through almost all of them and once pulled it seemed to lead me back in time to the ancient Shining Ones of Mesopotamia. These, it seems were the progenitors of the beliefs (stellar, solar and lunar - hence shining) that spread across the world.
Gnosis on the
otherhand takes a look at the so-called literal places, people and events
surrounding the Temple of Solomon and re-interprets them from a gnostic
perspective.
·
You have recently published a new edition of ‘Proof, does God exist?’
is there much new information in this edition?
Yes it's about
twice the size and asks many more questions, including those surrounding the Da
Vinci Code. One of my new publishers in the States (Reality-entertainment.com)
insisted that it be re-released over there, as it had never been seen on their
shelves. However I insisted that I re-write it!
·
Without giving too much away, in ‘The Serpent Grail’, you mention
that snake venom has certain medicinal properties. I recently read an article in
The Times, which spoke about the benefits of Tarantula venom – did you find
any similarities with those two poisons in your research?
Actually I
went through dozens of natural poisons, from the tarantula to scorpions and bee
stings. The fact is that these poisons or venom's contain huge quantities of
proteins, which allow them to do their job. Many ancient cultures used these for
medicines, but be warned it took them a long time to work out the right mixes!
·
And how about poisonous (hallucinogenic) plants that have been used in
rituals since time immemorial, did you find any similarity with them and snake
venom?
Well of course
Graham Hancock has now helped out with this research with his Supernatural book
where he uses these drugs and found visions of serpents to be extremely
prevalent! There's the link, that our "other state" sees these visions
of snakes. Doesn't mean that we are all shape-shifting reptiles or aliens, it
just means that we see DNA or the waveform and our mind fills in the gaps, using
the beast of the field. This area in the mind was deemed to be the place of
wisdom and so the serpent became wise. But it was also often dangerous and
caused mental problems - hence the bad serpent. Heaven and hell indeed.
·
There are also some that believe skulls have been used as ritualistic
drinking vessels, what is your view on this?
It is a stark
fact that skulls have been used as sacred drinking vessels for thousands of
years. The Tantric skull cups and the many so-called grails or chalices of
Saints skulls are testament to this today. It makes perfect sense in the first
place to use an animal’s skull for drinking before we had a potter’s wheel.
It is a progression of this into a spiritual and highly charged world of the
energised mind.
·
In the ‘The Serpent Grail’ you claim that the Templars were ‘proficient
in the art of poisoning’ – would you elaborate on this please?
Whilst in the
Middle East the Templars and other Orders became friendly with the locals. These
locals were obviously Muslim in many areas and many of these were proficient in
medicine. There are several texts, which point this out, and that the obverse of
medicine is poison. The Brothers in the Hospitaliers were also adepts at this as
were most monastic orders of the day - it being their trade. Poisoning was part
and parcel of medieval life for status individuals and they protected themselves
against it as much as possible.
·
You seem to be quite certain that the Templars, Cathars and Islamic
sects, such as the Assassins, had a ‘direct linkage in belief’ would you
tell us about this please?
Well, this
assertion comes from the underlying concepts. The mystical elements of Islam,
such as the Sufi orders were very much in contact with the Templars and other
Orders and this "mystical" effect is a common system around the world
because it is archetypal - in all of us. The concepts of oneself being God or
the access to the divine was simply heresy of the highest order because you
would no longer require a priest. The Templars show their linkages to this
esoteric and gnostic ideology again and again. The worship of the head, the
baphomet, is the submersion in this wisdom.
·
Would you say the Templars shared their beliefs with the Nazareans as
well?
Today we spend
our entire lives breaking things and people down into little boxes, giving them
names that they almost never gave themselves. The Cathars for instance had a
great many names and stretched across the whole of Europe, surviving in many
places. Like the Nazareans, their creeds "seem" to vary across land
and time, and yet often I have found this to be a lack of understanding on the
historian's part. The difference perceived is often that of our own, because we
do not understand what our ancestors meant. Our problem is that we try to see
our past in a literal fashion that things did happen, and yet they may never
have happened at all - this is two ways of seeing things all of a sudden.
Literal, or esoteric, and if esoteric, then what exactly does it mean? Yes I do
think that the Templars derived many of their beliefs (if that's what we want to
call them) from the Nazarean gnostic cultus. Question is why?
·
Today everybody talks about The Knights Templar, but what about if books
such as The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, Foucault’s Pendulum and The Da
Vinci Code had never been published - do you think the Templars would still live
on, and why?
Yes I do think
their legacy would live on because the Templars have never really gone out of
fashion. We have been fascinated by them for centuries and will carry on being
so. They disappeared and they are a mystery - we love that.
·
And what is your opinion on these three books?
The Holy Blood
and the Holy Grail was the book that got me sparked, like so many others, so I
can't really say it was bad. It seemed at the time to be well researched and
answered so many questions, as did Foucault’s Pendulum - a book I could read
again and again. As for the Da Vinci Code, well to be honest, I am now so weary
of it, having done 600 odd radio interviews this year alone, that I could almost
cry. That said, Brown hit all the targets well, but it was a fiction and nobody
expects you to run off to Star Wars church do they?
·
To conclude this session, three of the most sought after magical objects
throughout history are the Holy Grail, The Philosopher’s Stone and the Elixir
of Life, which are much of the subjects of your new book, what would be your
advice to the modern-day Grail Knight?
My advice is
simple. Seek not these objects in the material world, for they truly lay within
ourselves.
Many thanks
for that Philip, I am delighted that you could find the time for this and I am
very much looking forward to your talk in July and your forthcoming book.
***
If you have any questions for Philip, Philip will gladly answer any questions from the audience after his talk in Wells 06th July 2006. Details of the talk by Philip and Dr Karen Ralls’ may be viewed HERE. To be redirected to Philip’s website, go HERE, or to read a review of Philip and Gary’s new book, please click HERE. Philip contributed with an article called ‘The King Arthur Code’ for issue 8 of The Temple, which you can find further information on HERE.