Some fifty years before Chrétien de Troyes wrote what is probably the first and certainly the most influential story of the Holy Grail, images of the Virgin Mary with a simple but radiant bowl (called a “grail” in local dialect) appeared in churches in the Spanish Pyrenees. In this fascinating book, Joseph Goering explores the links between these sacred images and the origins of one of the West’s most enduring legends. While tracing the early history of the grail, Goering looks back to the Pyrenean religious paintings and argues that they were the original inspiration of the grail legend. He explains how storytellers in northern France could have learned of these paintings and how the enigmatic “grail” in the hands of the Virgin came to form the centerpiece of a story about a knight in King Arthur’s court. Part of the allure of the grail, Goering argues, was that neither Chrétien nor his audience knew exactly what it represented or why it was so important. And out of the attempts to answer those questions the literature of the Holy Grail was born.

Some fifty years before Chrétien de Troyes wrote what is probably the first and certainly the most influential story of the Holy Grail, images of the Virgin Mary with a simple but radiant bowl (called a “grail” in local dialect) appeared in churches in the Spanish Pyrenees. In this fascinating book, Joseph Goering explores the links between these sacred images and the origins of one of the West’s most enduring legends. While tracing the early history of the grail, Goering looks back to the Pyrenean religious paintings and argues that they were the original inspiration of the grail legend. He explains how storytellers in northern France could have learned of these paintings and how the enigmatic “grail” in the hands of the Virgin came to form the centerpiece of a story about a knight in King Arthur’s court. Part of the allure of the grail, Goering argues, was that neither Chrétien nor his audience knew exactly what it represented or why it was so important. And out of the attempts to answer those questions the literature of the Holy Grail was born.

In 1929 the Holy Inquisition seized a secret communique from a senior bishop to the Roman emperor when Christianity became the state religion of the Roman Empire in 325AD, and hid it in the Vatican`s most sealed files. Graham Phillips` research in linking together the pieces of this puzzle at the heart of Western civilization has not only uncovered an extraordinary conspiracy, but also a wealth of new evidence pointing to the Jesus who did exist, and what became of his mother and early followers. Further, by identifying who the earliest Christians really were, he has possibly uncovered the resting place of Mary. This powerful story, which knits together historical analysis, archaeology, science and documentary evidence as never before, has opened up a whole new door of historical exploration.

Writing in a clear and readable style, two leading women of the Jungian school of psychology present this legend as a living myth that is profoundly relevant to modern life. 17 illustrations.

Presenting the story of 'Parzival' that was intended as an argument against continued efforts by Latin Christians to regain the Holy Land by force, the author reveals the secrets of the altar stone that inspired Wolfram's work in the diocesan museum of the German city of Bamberg.

The secrets of Scotland's Rosslyn Chapel have remained hidden for hundreds of years. After a decade of extensive research, two Scottish historians have pieced together the real story of Rosslyn and reveal all in this book.

A convincing and cogent argument refuting the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in Church dogma and revealing the true father of Jesus • Provides historical and archaeological evidence of a tomb of the Virgin Mary • Introduces the theory that Jesus's father was Antipater, son of Herod What became of the Virgin Mary after the Crucifixion is one of the greatest mysteries of the Bible. Although it appears nowhere in the Bible, the belief in the Assumption-Mary's bodily ascension into heaven-is accepted by many Christians as historical fact. Some, however, believe that Mary died naturally and was buried in a tomb in Jerusalem's Valley of Jehosaphat. Others say that her final resting place was in the Roman ruins of Ephesus in Asia Minor. In 1950 Giovanni Benedetti, an archaeologist attached to the Vatican museum, found a fourth-century manuscript indicating that Mary had been smuggled out of Palestine to an island off the west coast of Britain. According to Benedetti's findings, England's first Bishop, St. Augustine, discovered Mary's tomb there in A.D. 597. The reigning pope, Gregory the Great, forbade St. Augustine to speak of this, initiating a conspiracy of silence that lasted 1,400 years. Similarly, as Benedetti was about to publish his findings, he was instructed by the Vatican to discontinue his research. Soon after, the Roman Catholic Church declared the Assumption dogma. In The Virgin Mary Conspiracy Graham Phillips unravels the truth behind this centuries-old ecclesiastical cover-up and discovers what may be Mary's final resting place. During his extensive research Phillips also discovered another controversial theory revealing that Jesus was the son of Antipater, the son of Herod, and therefore the true heir to Herod's throne, thus explaining his title of "King of the Jews."