14. Natural Magic: Recreating the Grail

1909 Rider-Waite Tarot card, Ace of Cups, the secret of the Grail in a single image for those with eyes to see.

14-1. The Grail

The Grail has had hundreds of books written about it, yet not one book, till now, could prove what the Grail really is, what it does, or show you how to make your own Grail.

The Grail, a most precious, highly desired object of Knightly Quests, the Holy chalice that held Christ’s Blood, and became magical as a result, a miraculous, mysterious, magical container of the Divine.

Legends and Stories of the Grail echo down through the Ages, whispering to us, of Power and Wisdom, living in a Cup! Stories of Wondrous Cauldrons and Magic Bowls whose drink of Healing, Poetry, and Inspiration never runs out! This is what this book is about.

The secret of the Grail is ancient, older than King Arthur, older than Christianity, far older than civilization itself. I had to follow the Grail into ancient prehistory to rediscover it’s lost secrets.

The Grail is mysterious, yet it is real, it can be understood. The Grail is magical, yet like all magic once the secret is understood, it’s very simple. The Grail is probably one of the oldest magic tricks known to man, but was absolutely baffling to early man when he performed it. This unexplainable Natural Magic astounded even the Wisest of Magicians.

The creation of a Grail involved the practice of the highest Magic known to early humanity. A Sacred, immortal, hallucinogenic plant was crushed and consumed as a beverage. Since the Plant is immortal it comes back to Life and lives in a suitable container, like your cup, perhaps forever. This is the technical magic of the Grail, plain, and simple. The real Natural Magic is the resulting symbiosis between all too mortal man and an immortal plant.

14-2. Soma, source of the Legends

Soma is just one of the many names for the Sacred Immortal plant used in creating the Grails, other ancient names are Ambrose (not-mortal) and Nek-tar (death-overcomer), names obviously based on the plant’s resurrection and immortality. Soma itself means the pressed one, from the crushing of the plant in the preparation of the magic drink, in the Soma ceremony. One other ancient name for this sacred plant that deserves special mention is Maga (the Great Gift) Maga is the root of the modern words magic, magi, and magician.

Two modern names in English for this fungus are its scientific name Amanita Muscaria and its common name the Fly Agaric; both names describe its power over flies. The Amanita Muscaria is a large red or gold capped white mushroom with white patches on the colored cap. This pretty mushroom is commonly used decoratively, and is constantly found in Fairy Tale book artwork.

The Amanita Muscaria is commonly found in temperate forests containing Pine, Spruce, Birch, Maple, and other tree species. Amanita Muscaria has a worldwide distribution and is found on all continents except Antarctica.

Amanita Muscaria varies in size from 3 to 8 inches diameter of the cap; it ranges in height from 3 to 10 inches, with up to 2 inches more stem below ground level.

The cap color can range from a brilliant golden yellow to a deep blood red. The cap is covered with small white or off white warts arranged in a circular pattern, these are the remains of its universal veil. The underside of the cap is white or off white and has gills arraigned in a radial pattern, like the spokes of a wheel. If you remove the stem, the underside of the cap resembles a giant eye leading to ancient names like, the Single Eye. The upper stem has the remnants of the partial veil clinging to it like a small collar; this veil originally protected the gills. The very bottom of the stem is bulbous and usually has concentric rings or steps wrapped around it at ground level; this is the remains of the universal and partial veils attachment points on the base.

Like all the higher fungus (mushrooms etc.) the Amanita Muscaria fungus occurs in two forms, the mushroom (the fruiting body) and the actual plant (the primal form) this primal form resembles common molds, such as bread mold. The primal form of Amanita Muscaria can be huge; a single plant can cover multiple acres and weigh many tons. When the plant was used in the Soma ceremony the dried mushroom was crushed and destroyed, but the plant fragments, spores, and the magic drink it produced are capable of resurrecting and growing in the primal form.

My research with this plant leads me to believe that it would be impossible to perform the Soma ceremony with wooden or earthenware vessels and not have the plant resurrect and continue to live in them. The magic of the Grail can now be easily understood as a natural result of performing the Soma ceremony. This is truly Natural Magic.

14-3. Celtic Cauldrons and Magic Cups

The Grail stories are now considered by many people to be Christian stories with the Grail being the cup that held the Last Suppers wine (a communion cup) or the cup that held Christ’s blood. The truth is that the ancient Grail stories predate Christianity, and are old Celtic myths that were adopted by the Church. The word Grail comes from the Celtic “Greal”, which means a brew of inspiration.

The Celtic origin of the Grail myths means that discovering Celtic beginnings may lead us to the Grails beginnings.

The people known to the modern world, as Celts are the Irish, Welch, Scots, and Bretons, all now living in or near the British Isles. Before the rise of the Roman Empire the Celts occupied a large part of Northern Europe, from Hungary through Germany and France to Ireland, Spain and Italy.

These Iron Age Celts are descended from a large group of Stone to Bronze Age cultures collectively known as the Corded Ware or Beaker People. This name was given to these people due to the earthenware drinking beakers and amphora found in male burials. These beakers are quite large (1.1 liter) and were impressed with cords before their firing. In the burials, the beaker was either in hand or close to it. Amphoras are large earthenware pots that are associated with the beakers. Other burial finds included flint and copper knifes, stone arrowheads, and wrist guards. One other item consistently found in these Warrior burials is perforated stone mace heads, hammerheads, and battle-axe heads. Leading some scholars to label them the Battle-axe people.

The Beaker culture extends back to 6,000 years before the present or 4,000 B. C. The Beaker people had horses, cattle, sheep, and goats and practiced agriculture, they possessed the wheel, plow and early metallurgy. By 2,000 BC they occupy all the territory the Celts are found in 1,500 years later. I believe the Beaker people are the source of the Grail myth and the ancestors of the Celtic and other European peoples.

Above area of the older Corded Ware culture.

Below area of the Bell Beaker people.

We will never know what language the Beaker people spoke, they are simply too far away in time, and left us no known writings. The Celtic languages are part of a large language family called Indo-European. Languages in the Indo-European family are all related to each other and share a common point of origin. Modern Indo- European languages include Irish, English, German, French, Italian, Greek, Kurdish, Armenian, Russian, Iranian, and Hindi. This is only a small sample of Indo-European languages. Indo-European languages are spoken over a broad band of Eurasia from Europe to India. Further spread of Indo-European speakers has

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distributed it over much of the globe

Since Indo-European has a point of origin, one can assume that at some early point, all the Indo-European speakers in the world were in one small area. If you find certain cultural traits and Legends common in the various descendents of the earliest Indo-European people those traits and Legends are from the original Indo-European speakers.

One such cultural trait and myth common to the early Indo-European peoples are Legends of a Divine Plant of Immortality which was processed into a Sacred Drink of Inspiration. This drink and the plant that produced it are known as Ambrose (ambrosia), Nectar, and Soma. Words found in both Greek and early Sanskrit (India). Our knowledge of the Soma ceremony is based on the Rig Veda (Praise-Wisdom) a book of Hymns composed by Seers and Sages. The Rig Veda is one of the largest and oldest texts in any Indo-European language; some of the Hymns may date back to 2,000 BC or older. Indo-European people expanding into Northern India in the Bronze Age composed the Rig Veda.

The Rig Veda has one overriding theme: Soma; one whole book #9 is completely about Soma and Soma is mentioned in almost every Hymn in the other books. Soma is obviously the source of the Wisdom, the ancient Seers and Sages were praising. Book 9 Hymns were sung as the Soma was being prepared and were an integral part of the Soma ceremony.

After the Soma was prepared it was poured into wooden cups to be consumed these wooden cups were owned by individuals who carried them to their grave. A man’s wooden Soma cup was placed in his burial within easy reach if the dead man ever needed it. This is strikingly similar to the Beaker burials. When burial was by cremation the wooden Soma cup was placed on the funeral pyre, to accompany him into the afterlife. Large wooden and earthenware bowls were used in the processing of the Soma; these would also have the Immortal Plant living in them, just like the smaller cups or beakers. The amphorae in the Beaker burials correspond to these large Soma bowls; both are representations of the Magic Cauldrons, Pots and Bowls, found in all Indo-European Myth.

Bell Beakers recovered from beaker burials.

Typical Beaker burial, this one is from England, 2000BC similar burials exist across Europe from Moscow to N. Africa all have elements in common, weapons, (in this case a copper dagger) male burial and the cord impressed Magic Beaker.

14-4. Proving the Theory

Ancient legends and archeology have given us a starting point, to attempt to recreate the Grail. In Science an unproven theory is just conjecture. To prove that any theory is true, evidence must be assembled from experiments. Experiments to be true must be repeatable by everyone and yield the same results, under the same conditions.

In the Resurrection Question (chapter 17) of The Sacred Secret, I detail my rediscovery of Amanita Muscaria’s fantastic ability to resurrect. This fundamental rediscovery completely changes our understanding of ancient Religion and Magic, and provided the basis to really understand the Grail Myths.

My experiments in the Resurrection Question were carried out in glass canning jars or glass bottles. Amanita Muscaria resurrected and lived in the glass no problem, but it didn’t seem to be happy in there. Glass is a cold material; small animals may die of hypothermia if kept in a glass jar in even a warm room, it is also very slick, the fungus could not attach itself to the glass. Glass provided no nutrition for the fungus; all the glass resurrections were fed a food source liquid like grape juice or honey water.

I began some preliminary experiments on earthenware using some small terra-cotta pots called muffin pots available at a local Craft store. These pots are made in the same clay and shape as a common flowerpot minus the drain hole and are 3” in diameter Terra-cotta is a source of mineral nutrients which is why potted green plants usually grow much better in terra-cotta than in plastic, porcelain, or stoneware planters. Terra cotta is also porous and can hold a liquid food in itself till the Amanita Muscaria uses it.

The fungus grew quite well in these small pots. These cups were used dozens of times and seemed to become more potent with each cycle of use. They did however have some major drawbacks; first they are tiny, holding only about 3 oz of fluid, second the wide-open mouth and shallow depth allowed them to dry out fast, placing one on top of the other, mouth-to-mouth helped compensate for this. Thirdly they were thin and fragile, and broke very easily. Lastly, the machine made inner surface was very smooth, it seemed that a more textured and porous surface, like ancient earthenware possessed, would be a much better surface for the fungus to grow on.

Tests on samples of stoneware and unglazed porcelain proved that the fungus would not grow well on these substances, the higher firing temperature leads to partial or complete vitrification, which resembles glass in its physical properties.

In summation if you place Amanita Muscaria in a suitable terra cotta pot with a source of food it will resurrect and continue to grow on the walls of the pot perhaps forever!

14-5. Creating Your Own Grail

Creating your own magic Grail is easier than baking bread or canning fruit, simply follow the directions below to create your own Grail. But first you must understand some basic chemistry concerning Amanita Muscaria. Amanita Muscaria must be dried to become psychoactive; this converts a chemical called Ibotenic Acid to muscimol, which is the desired agent. When Ibotenic Acid is dried the chemical loses a carbon dioxide molecule and a water molecule to produce Muscimol. This chemical change can be reversed with Carbonated water so do not consume dried Amanita Muscaria or the products of the Grail with Carbonated water (Beer, Soda, or bubbly wine like Champagne). To do so will at the very least nullify the mental effects and at the worst it can cause symptoms similar to fresh (undried) Amanita Muscaria poisoning. These symptoms include nausea, vomiting, stomach cramps and extreme sedation resulting in a coma like sleep with no hallucinogenic effects!

Once you have a functioning Grail it will be used in a basic cycle of being filled with a food source liquid (Grape juice, Honey water, etc.) that feeds the fungus and is what you will consume. This liquid will set in the Grail for 4 to 12 hours; it is then poured off and drunk. The Grail will then be allowed to set empty for a week or more to grow and dry and can then be reused, this cycle can be repeated indefinitely.

To create your Grail you first need a suitable terra cotta pot or bowl, the ancients Beakers ranged from a tall vase to shallow bowl shapes, so the shape doesn’t seem to matter, but a vessel you can see and reach into is very convenient. The terra cotta vessel should be at least 16oz (500ml) in capacity to make it worthwhile to use. Pottery shops or Garden supply stores are good places to look for a suitable pot, remember it must be terra cotta just like a clay flowerpot. Porcelain, stoneware, or any pot that’s glazed inside or out cannot be used. If you wish you could try to make your own terra cotta pot, just remember to fire it at the lowest temp (700 to 800 degrees Celsius) higher temperatures cause vitrification and make the pot useless for a Grail. Some Colleges, Craft Stores, or pottery supply stores offer classes in ceramics, for most people this is easier than doing it all themselves. The Pot must also have enough of a rim to secure your cloth cover described below

You will need a suitable thin cloth to cover the Grail whenever you are not pouring liquid into or out of the Grail. In the Grail legends the Grail was always covered with a cloth. In practice any cloth that is thick enough to keep fruit flies out of your Grail can be used. Cotton, or Linen works well but even polyesters can be used. The main requirements are that it keeps fruit flies out, easily lets oxygen in and helps keep the humidity level high for a couple of days to allow the fungus to grow. This cloth should be secured with a string or rubber band around the top of your Grail to keep it in place. It also helps to have two cloth covers for each Grail so that one can be washed and dried while the other is covering the Grail.

The next thing you need is the dried Amanita Muscaria; this can be found in the forests or can be ordered from suppliers listed in Supplies and Sources in the last chapter. Most people will find it much easier to purchase this plant than to hunt it on their own, and that is what I recommend. If you wish to hunt this plant you will need a good field guide to mushrooms and you should also read my book The Sacred Secret for instructions on how to handle Amanita Muscaria after its picked.

The last item you need is fungus food, this can be as simple as a store bought bottle of pasteurized Grape juice, Honey dissolved in boiling water, or any beer recipe without the yeast and hops. For most people the Grape juice will be the most convenient food to use since it is pasteurized before being bottled it is not likely to introduce any contamination into your Grail. Other bottled juices like Apple always seem to have other things added (corn syrup or chemicals) and I don’t use them. If you wish to use a fresh juice it should be brought to a temp of 190 deg F in a double boiler to pasteurize it and it should be filtered and cooled before using. If you wish to use honey or a beer recipe it must be brought to boiling and then allowed to cool while covered, let it cool to room temp before using it in your Grail, adding hot liquid can cook the Amanita Muscaria living in the Grail. The Honey or beer solution should also be filtered through a coffee filter to remove solids, or in the case of honey, any undissolved globs which if left on the fungus when it dries will kill it with sugar. All the food the fungus receives should be dissolved in solution or in microscopic pieces. This way it grows quickly, runs out of food quickly and enters its dormant state. While the plant is in its living phase it excretes Ibotenic Acid, which dries into muscimol on the surface of the fungus, it’s this muscimol, which is extracted, with the next feeding.

Once you have the 4 items listed above you can begin the creation of your GRAIL There are 2 easy ways to create your Grail.

#1 Fill your terra cotta pot with clean drinking water and determine the volume of the pot by pouring the water into a measuring cup. Rinse the inside of the pot and place upside down to drain; this step is common to both methods.

The simplest way is to place 14 to 28 grams (½ to 1oz) of dried Amanita Muscaria pieces per liter (quart) of the pots volume, into your rinsed out pot. To this add your chosen room temp liquid food, place on the cloth cover, and leave undisturbed for 6 to 12 hrs in a warm area. Now you pour off all the liquid leaving the pieces of mushroom in the pot. Arrange the pieces on the sides of the pot in an open pattern to prevent the pieces from compacting (in a tall vessel you may have to lay it on its side to do this), recover with your cloth cover. See the next chapter on using the Ambrosia you just poured off. Place in a warm dry area that has air movement. In 3 days the pieces of mushroom and the walls of the pot should start getting fuzzy as the Amanita Muscaria reverts to its primal form. This mycelium will be white or gray and continue to grow until it runs out of food and or water this can take several weeks. After the mycelium stops growing it will dry and shrink, the Grail will be ready to use again when the outside of the pot is warm and dry to the touch, the pieces of mushroom are hard, and the mycelium is shrunken back. Basically this is a two-week to one-month cycle, especially in a large pot.

The second method is to use the same ratio of Amanita Muscaria, 14 to 28 grams (½ to 1 oz) to 1 liter (1 quart) of your pot’s volume. This is ground to a powder and poured into the pot, then add the room temp liquid food, cover, and let it sit 6 to 12 hrs. Strain off the Ambrosia leaving the dregs and a small amount of liquid, return any filtered powder to the pot. Rotate the pot to evenly coat the inside of the pot with the now soggy powder. This powder will resurrect and create a thin layer of living Amanita Muscaria on the inside of the pot. Because its in a thin layer it can go through a complete cycle of use in 7 to 14 days and works very well in small pots of a liter or less.

No matter which method you choose to use; adding a small piece of mushroom or some ground powder to the Grail occasionally with the liquid food seems to boost the cultures growth and keep it healthy.

Drying the Grail is as easy as placing the Grail in front of a small fan in a dry room temp area for at least 3 days before using. A fan can’t over dry the Grail so it is the safest way to dry it. It is very important that the Grail be dry before using to produce the desired effects.

14-6. Using the GRAIL

Using your Grail is now a very simple procedure that any one can do! Place the dried Grail on a plate or other waterproof base, remove the cloth, and fill with your chosen liquid food. Recover the Grail with its cloth and let it set for 6 to 12 hrs after which time you uncover it and pour out the Ambrosia that the Grail has produced. Recover the Grail and let it sit in a warm room temp for the next 7 to 28 days at which time it is ready to use again.

The Ambrosia that you have poured off should be diluted with at least 2 parts water to 1 of Ambrosia before being consumed. As the Grail is used it will grow in thicker and thicker and become more potent with each cycle of use, dilute with more water as it becomes stronger. Eventually it can be diluted at a ratio of 3 or 4 parts water to 1 part Ambrosia. This dilution is very important to produce the desired effects; undiluted Ambrosia is actually less potent than the properly diluted Ambrosia. Remember do not consume any CARBONATED beverages (Soda, Beer, or bubbly wine) when consuming your Grail’s Ambrosia, or let anyone else do so!

The intoxication produced by drinking the diluted Ambrosia is very pleasant for most people; in small doses it is similar to alcohol while larger doses produces a psychedelic effect. Undiluted Ambrosia in large doses can produce a confused mental state that most people do not find as pleasant as properly diluted Ambrosia. (The best antidote to this condition is drinking water.)

As your Grail gets older it should eventually lose its white or gray fuzzy look and start looking similar to a lichen (a tough leathery fungus found on rocks and trees) it will usually be white, gray or black, sometimes all three of these colors are found simultaneously. Also as your Grail gets older it should develop a unique fragrance depending on its own genetics and the foods it has been fed, this fragrance is also mentioned in the Grail legends were the Grail has a spicy aroma. All of the ones I’ve created smell kind of like mint or flowers when they reach this stage.

The ambrosia produced by your Grail or dried Amanita Muscaria specimens is a living culture and will resurrect into the Primal form in 3 to 5 days. Because of this fact a Magic Grail can multiply and create another Grail, simply using a terra cotta vessel, as a drinking cup for Ambrosia will cause it to eventually become a Grail capable of creating its own Ambrosia; truly this is Magic.

You now posses a Magic Grail; it is possible that this Grail can live for many more years; properly taken care of it may last the rest of your life! Your Grail is however a Living organism and it must be treated as such. Do not expose your Grail to high temperatures, or let it freeze when it’s in its living state. Always check the condition of your Grail before using, if it smells bad do not use it. Check to see if it has other colors on it; yellow, green, red or blue, may be a sign of contamination especially if it also smells bad. Remember to always keep the Grail covered with its cloth and keep it were rodents cannot get into it. Do not leave your Grail full of liquid food for more than 12 hrs it will start to drown, it needs air just like you do.

Recipes

Notes on Water:

Like beer, coffee, and tea making, the quality of the water you start with has a large impact on the taste of the final result. Use the best water you can find. Do not use chlorinated water in your Grail; chlorine is a poison to funguses. Do not use “hard water” in your Grail; the chemical deposits it contains can be harmful to the Amanita Muscaria living in the Grail. Use fresh reverse- osmosis water or distilled water in all the recipes. (Remember not all bottled water is reverse-osmosis, some bottled spring water is very hard and should not be used.) If it is impossible to get these waters, well or city water may be boiled for 20 minutes to sterilize it, remove the chlorine, and leave the hard water deposits in the boiling pan rather than in your Grail. Cover the boiling pan and let cool to room temp filter though a coffee filter before using.

1. Bottled pasteurized grape juice in a quantity to fill the Grail should be purchased, always open a new bottle for each use to prevent contamination. This can have as much as 10% water added before being used. Use at room temperature. This creates the Wine of Dionysus.

2, Frozen concentrated Grape Juice can be used if mixed with good water. Mix according to the directions on the container.

3. Honey at the rate of up to 3 fluid oz. per quart (90 ml per liter) of water is dissolved in boiling water, remove from heat, cover and let cool to room temp. Stir before using to make sure the honey is completely dissolved, if it isn’t, it should be filtered through a coffee filter to remove any globs of honey. Honey has the widest range of flavors of any single food you can use. Ancient honey contained much more pollen than modern honey usually does; cooked pollen from certain plants could be a very nutritious food.

4. Barley, organic human food grade Barley is added to water at the rate of 4 fluid oz. (½ cup) per 5 cups=1.25 quart (1.25 liter) in a cooking pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer, cover and cook for 45 to 60 minutes, add water to replace volume, bring back to boiling. Remove from heat, leave covered till cool, and filter through a coffee filter to produce a clear fluid. This recipe can also be combined with the honey recipe to produce better tasting Ambrosia.

5. Any home brew beer recipe can be used in your Grail remember to delete the yeast and hops from the recipe, and to filter it before using at room temperature.

These recipes are all based on recipes found in the ancient texts such as the Rig Veda; other foods could be experimented with if you want to The most convenient food is the Pasteurized bottled Grape juice, you don’t need a stove and cooking pots to use it, just open the bottle and carefully pour it into your Grail. It is however a good idea to vary the foods you feed your Grail, so the Amanita Muscaria has a wide range of nutrition. Please note: any clear fluid extraction following a grape juice extraction may appear dark colored due to the previous grape juice; it is however harmless and the ambrosia is as good as ever.

14-7. Conclusions

The corded ware, beaker culture and the Grail religion lasted more than 2500 years, eventually spreading from east of Moscow to Scandinavia, Scotland, Ireland, England, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and North Africa, an ancestral culture of all of Europe and beyond.

The theme of the Beaker burials is echoed in the Grail myths the combination of warriors and Magic vessels are the two main elements common to both. Legends of Magic pots and cups producing a Magic drink are recorded by writing as soon as writing appears in Europe, continent wide ancient legends that last until today.

There are two ancient claims for the Grail of Legend that should be of special interest to modern people. First the Grail could reputedly heal any non-fatal wound and cure any illness! Second, those who possessed the ancient Gail had extremely long life spans. Attributes that the Gail shares with Amanita Muscaria in the ancient legends. As shown in The Sacred Secret, to be able to resurrect Amanita Muscaria must be producing exceptional antibiotics.

The Amanita Muscaria as the Ambrose, Amarta, Amrita, the Nek-tar of the Gods is an Indo-European heritage encoded in our languages, religions, myths, and folklore. This immortal plant and its accompanying Magic vessel are the source of ancient legend and Myth. It was called Maga, “the Great Gift,” the very root of our modern word magic! Those who carried the Great Gift were called “Gift bearers,” the root of the modern words Magi, Magus, and Magician. The Grail is one of Amanita Muscaria’s greatest Gifts to mankind, a magical never ending source of inspiration, enlightenment, healing, comfort, joy, and by it’s very existence, astonishment!

The Grail when recreated with Amanita Muscaria matches the Grail of ancient legends perfectly. From it being a never-ending source of wisdom and inspiration to having the spicy smell of the Grail of legend. I believe that the fantastic ability of Amanita Muscaria to resurrect and live in a wooden or terra cotta cup or bowl is the source of the Grail legends, and of all Eurasian stories of magic cups or bowls. It is very unlikely if there is any other explanation for these ancient legends except Amanita Muscaria and its natural ability to do the seemingly impossible. Amanita Muscaria is NATURAL MAGIC.

A photo of one of the Author’s Grails containing resurrected Amanita Muscaria. Now you can see why the Grail of legend could not serve a coward.