Ganganda greida

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The cosmic symbol of the Holy Grail: the luminous crescent moon with the dark moon dimly illuminated by earth light.

Ganganda greiða (Nordic, also gangandi greiði, "the wandering nourishment", "the wandering provisions", from gangada "going, wandering, moving", and greida, meaning literally “things” and in this context “provisions” or “nourishment”), the food or nourishment for spiritual travellers, is the name given to the Holy Grail, from which emanates a shining light that outshines everything, in the Norse Saga of Parzival, which has come down to us in a parchment manuscript from the end of the 14th or the beginning of the 15th century and in three paper copies[1] and is based on the Roman de Perceval (c. 1190) by Chrétien de Troyes.

„Served by young men, he arrives in a splendidly furnished hall, where he sees a venerable old man seated, who apologises for not having gone to meet his guest as a result of his illness. A sword sent to the old man by a relative is given to Parzival as a gift. Then a young man appears, carrying a bleeding spear, the meaning of which Parzival, mindful of Gormanz's warning, does not dare to ask. Then two beautiful youths come in, carrying in their hands candlesticks of pure gold, and they are followed by a beautiful maiden carrying in her hands something called þvi likast sem textus vœri, in Norse gangandi greiði, from which such a brilliant light shines that it outshines everything else. She is followed by another maiden. Here, too, Parzival does not dare to ask what it means. After the evening meal, a bed is made for him and he sleeps until daybreak, when he is astonished to find himself alone. After riding a distance, he meets a wailing wife holding her dead husband in her arms[2].“ (Lit.: Kölbing, p. 9)

According to Rudolf Steiner, the "wandering nourishment" reveals the cosmic meaning of the Holy Grail, on which the name of Parzival is inscribed.

„So where is the Grail, which must be found today in such a way that the name of Parzival is inscribed on it, where is it to be found? Well, you see, in the course of my research it has become clear to me that it must be sought in the stellar script - first of all the name -. And then it came to me one day, which I must regard as a particularly significant one for me, where the shining golden bowl is to be found in its reality; at first in such a way that through it - where it expresses itself through its stellar script symbol - we are led to the secret of the Grail. And there I saw in the stellar script that which everyone can see - only at first he does not find the secret of the thing. For one day, when I was looking inwardly at the golden crescent moon, when it appears in the sky in such a way that the dark moon is faintly visible in it like a large disc, so that one sees outwardly-physically the golden shining moon - Ganganda greida, the wandering wayfaring - and in it the great host, the dark disc, that which one does not see of the moon when one looks only superficially, what one sees when one looks more closely. For then one sees the dark disc, and in wonderful letters of the occult script on the crescent moon - the name Parzival! That, my dear friends, was at first the stellar script. For indeed, seen in the right light, this reading of the stellar script yields for our heart and sense something - though perhaps not yet all - of the Parzival mystery, of the mystery of the Holy Grail.“ (Lit.:GA 149, p. 91f)

„That which appears here as the golden shining crescent arises from the fact that the physical rays of the sun strike the moon. Because the sun shines from here, it illuminates the moon on this side, and the illuminated part appears as the golden shining bowl. In it rests the dark host: physically, the unlit part, the part that remains dark, where the sun's rays cannot penetrate; spiritually, something else. If the rays of the sun fall on one part of the moon and are reflected back shining like gold, still something passes through the physical matter. That which passes through is the spiritual living in the rays of the sun. The spiritual power of the sun is not stopped and reflected back in the same way as the physical power of the sun. It passes through, and in that it is stopped by the power of the moon, we see precisely in what rests here in the gold bowl, in reality, the spiritual power of the sun. So that we can say: In the dark part of the moon which we see there, we see the spiritual power of the sun. In the golden shining part, in the bowl part, we see the physical power of the sun, which is reflected back as radiant power. The spirit of the sun rests in the shell of the physical power of the sun, when we thus look at the sun. So that the spirit of the sun rests in truth in the bowl of the moon. And now we take together all that we have ever spoken about this Sun-Spirit and its relation to the Christ, and it will appear to us as an important symbolism what the moon does physically. By throwing back the rays of the sun and thus producing the golden shining shell, it appears to us as the bearer of the Sun-Spirit: this is within in the form of the host-like disc.

And now let us remember that in the Parzival legend it is emphasised that on every Good Friday, that is, on Easter, the host comes down from heaven, is sunk into the Grail, is renewed, like rejuvenating food is sunk into the Grail on Easter, where Parzival is also pointed anew to the Grail through the hermit, - on Easter, the significance of which for the Grail has again been made clear to humanity through Wagner's Parzival.

Now let us remember that in accordance with an ancient tradition, one of those traditions which belong to what I indicated yesterday: to the continuing work of the Christ-impulse in the depths of the soul, - that in accordance with this tradition the feast of Easter is fixed. On what day is the feast of Easter fixed? When the spring sun, that is, the sun that increases in its power - our symbol for the Christ - has its day, its Sunday, after the full moon of spring. What is the position of the spring full moon in the sky at Easter? How must it always be in the sky at Easter? Well, it must begin to become a crescent, at least a little, if it was a full moon. Something of this dark part must become visible, something of the sun's spirit, which has received its spring power, must be inside. That means: according to an old tradition, this image of the Holy Grail must appear in the sky at Easter. That is how it must be. So everyone can see the image of the Holy Grail on Easter. For this purpose, according to an ancient tradition, the feast of Easter is appropriately instituted.“ (Lit.:GA 149, p. 94ff)

Symbolically, this connection finds its expression in the host that is offered at the Sacrifice of the Mass:

„[...] the transubstantiation consists in symbolically representing that consciousness which develops in man when the divine substance is felt in him, when he feels the divine substance in his own soul. For the Christian, this transformation is nothing other than the expression of the Pauline word: Not I, but the Christ in me. - He not only sacrifices himself, he becomes aware that the supersensible lives in himself. That is what we encounter in the image of transubstantiation. And it always remains a beautiful, significant concomitant of transubstantiation that, while the sanctum is being raised, lifted above the chalice, the faithful actually have to close their eyes, that is, they have to turn their consciousness inwards, so that they experience transubstantiation not through external observation but in their innermost consciousness. It is also significant that the sanctum actually consists of the bread and the bread holder, which has a lunar shape, so that in fact in the sacramental symbolism which encloses the sanctum (see drawing, p. 100), the sun and the moon are present in the image, which clearly indicates that in the times in which the Sacrifice of the Mass was formed in its original form, there was a consciousness of the connection between the Christ and the sun and between Yahweh and the moon.

Drawing from GA 342, p. 100
Drawing from GA 342, p. 100

That which the world has received in Christianity and which has been built up on the lunar religion of Jahve, is expressed in this sitting of the Host on the lunar form, and it is really a symbol of the confluence of the mortal in man with the immortal.“ (Lit.:GA 342, p. 99f)

In the crescent moon illuminated by the reflected sunlight, an image of Lucifer appears at the same time to the occult gaze.

„The light reflected back to us from the moon, and of which Lucifer is the bearer, Lucifer, Phosphorus, announces to us that this light is excluded from the moon. That which is Lucifer can only appear in an image, in a maya from the moon, by sunlight being reflected back. If, for example, the crescent moon reflects back sunlight, there is nothing on the moon itself of Luciferic Spirits of Wisdom, but that which flows from the sun, from the Luciferic Spirits of Wisdom, is reflected back as light. If one now directs the occult gaze up to the moon, then what the physical eye sees disappears, then the luminous crescent moon disappears, for it is only there for physical eyes; but at the place where the crescent moon is, there the real being, which underlies the light shining in the cosmos, shows itself to the occult gaze, the image of Lucifer, though like a mirror image. If, therefore, you imagine the image of Lucifer placed in the place of the crescent moon for the occult gaze, then you must say: This moon owes its origin to the circumstance that normal Spirits of Wisdom have renounced their abode on the sun, have set up their abode on this colony and there subdue what radiates from the Luciferic spirits. Therefore, to the occult eye, the Spirit of Wisdom appears here above the crescent moon, subduing the Luciferic principle. Like a good Spirit of Wisdom taming the Luciferic principle below, the occult fact shows itself symbolically before the imagination.

The occultists have therefore represented a figure which is usually taken to be an Arch- Messenger of the higher Spirit of Wisdom, who tames Lucifer, and in place of the crescent moon is represented Lucifer, who is bound, who is subdued. This is an occult image. You will also find among our occult pictures one which represents how the Arch-Messenger tames Lucifer.“ (Lit.:GA 136, p. 196f)

Literature
References to the work of Rudolf Steiner follow Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works (CW or GA), Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach/Switzerland, unless otherwise stated.
Email: verlag@steinerverlag.com URL: www.steinerverlag.com.
Index to the Complete Works of Rudolf Steiner - Aelzina Books
A complete list by Volume Number and a full list of known English translations you may also find at Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works
Rudolf Steiner Archive - The largest online collection of Rudolf Steiner's books, lectures and articles in English.
Rudolf Steiner Audio - Recorded and Read by Dale Brunsvold
steinerbooks.org - Anthroposophic Press Inc. (USA)
Rudolf Steiner Handbook - Christian Karl's proven standard work for orientation in Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works for free download as PDF.

References

  1. ↑ Kölbing, S. 1
  2. ↑ In Wolfram von Eschenbach's Grail narrative they are called Sigune and Schionatulander.
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