Still Running Off at the Keyboard

The Christ and the Craft
from Chapter 4 of The Crafted Cup by Shadwynn

Not long ago, one of the fledgling groves within our Order underwent a drastic upheaval resulting in the exodus of a majority of those novices and students who were considering becoming affiliated with our tradition. The reason for this frenzied flight from the group was their exposure to the celebration of the liturgy of the Grail Mass, the most potent and exalted liturgy of the Ordo Arcanorum Gradalis; but a liturgy nevertheless which includes three references to the Christ: once as “The Cosmic Christ”, once as “Jesu, the Suffering Servant”, and once as “The Crucified God.” [1] For them, any reference to Jesus or the Christ sent chills of fear and apprehension down their spines. Never mind that these references to the Christ were always interspersed among the names of the other dying and rising gods of ancient Paganism, Jesus simply being included in the liturgy as the culmination and ultimate synthesis of all that these gods represented in their highest attributes and mythic foreshadowings.

This underscores one thing unique to this tradition of the Grail Quest; we have not been afraid to incorporate within our rituals certain mystic aspects of the mythic Christ. The Ordo Arcanorum Gradalis is not anti-Christ or anti-Christian because we understand that in its proper esoteric context, Christianity is a relevant and valid path of the mysteries. (We are, however, totally at odds with the traditional, guilt-ridden shackles of the institutional Church and its narrow-minded dogmas.) This is one reason we have little difficulty in using the Grail mythos directly, despite its many over Christian trappings.

Modern Neo-Pagans generally seem to be very adept in assimilating pantheons, rituals and concepts from nearly every Western religious path except Christianity.

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