The Last Supper is Da Vinci’s legendary painting. It portrays Jesus and His disciples at the moment that Jesus announced one of them would betray Him.
The Last Supper is one of the most astonishing tributes to the sacred feminine you will ever see.
Where is the Holy Grail?
The legend says that after dinner, Jesus took the cup of wine, sharing it with His disciples. One cup, the chalice… the Cup of Christ… the Holy Grail… Jesus passed a single chalice of wine, just as modern Christians do at communion.
Let us see the painting again.
Jesus is sitting in the centre. He and His disciples are breaking and eating bread and drinking wine. Everyone at the table had a glass of wine, including Christ. Thirteen cups. Moreover, the cups were tiny, stemless, and made of glass. There was no chalice in the painting. No Holy Grail.
Both the Bible and our standard Grail legend celebrate this moment as the definitive arrival of the Holy Grail. Oddly, Da Vinci appears to have forgotten to paint the Cup of Christ.
What anomalies Da Vinci included here that most scholars either do not see or simply choose to ignore. This fresco, in fact, is the entire key to the Holy Grail mystery. Da Vinci lays it all out in the open in The Last Supper: the Holy Grail is not a thing. It is, in fact… a person.
Thirteen Men?
The Last Supper is a painting of thirteen men. Is it? Take a closer look at the picture.
Scan the thirteen figures - Jesus Christ in the middle, six disciples on His left, and six on His right.
How about the one seated in the place of honor, at the right hand of the Lord?
The individual had flowing red hair, delicate folded hands, and the hint of a bosom. It was, without a doubt… female.
That’s a woman!
Believe me, it’s no mistake. Leonardo was skilled at painting the difference between the sexes.
The Last Supper is supposed to be thirteen men. Who is this woman?
Who is this woman?
Everyone misses it. Our preconceived notions of this scene are so powerful that our mind blocks out the incongruity and overrides our eyes.
It’s known as skitoma - the brain does it sometimes with powerful symbols.
Another reason you might have missed the woman is that many of the photographs in art books were taken before 1954, when the details were still hidden beneath layers of grime and several restorative repainting done by clumsy hands in the eighteenth century. Now, at last, the fresco has been cleaned down to Da Vinci’s original layer of paint.
The woman to Jesus’ right was young and pious-looking, with a demure face, beautiful red hair, and hands folded quietly. This is the woman who single-handedly could crumble the Church?
Who is she?
That, my dear, is Mary Magdalene. (More about her in the next issue)
Symbols of male and female
Are you familiar with the modern icons for male and female? These are not the original symbols for male and female. Many people incorrectly assume the male symbol is derived from a shield and spear, while the female symbol represents a mirror reflecting beauty. In fact, the symbols originated as ancient astronomical symbols for the planet-god Mars and planet-goddess Venus. The original symbols are far simpler.
This icon is formally known as the blade, and it represents aggression and manhood. In fact, this exact phallus symbol is still used today on modern military uniforms to denote rank. The more penises you have, the higher your rank. Boys will be boys.
Moving on, the female symbol, as you might imagine, is the exact opposite. This is called the chalice. The chalice resembles a cup or vessel, and more important, it resembles the shape of a woman’s womb. This symbol communicates femininity, womanhood, and fertility.
Real meaning of Holy Grail
Legend tells us the Holy Grail is a chalice - a cup. But the Grail’s description as a chalice is actually an allegory to protect the true nature of the Holy Grail. That is to say, the legend uses the chalice as a metaphor for something far more important.
The Grail is literally the ancient symbol for womanhood, and the Holy Grail represents the sacred feminine and the goddess, which of course has now been lost, virtually eliminated by the Church. The power of the female and her ability to produce life was once very sacred, but it posed a threat to the rise of the predominantly male Church, and so the sacred feminine was demonized and called unclean. It was man, not God, who created the concept of ‘original sin,’ whereby Eve tasted of the apple and caused the downfall of the human race. Woman, once the sacred giver of life, was now the enemy.
Man the creator?
This concept of woman as life-bringer was the foundation of ancient religion. Childbirth was mystical and powerful. Sadly, Christian philosophy decided to embezzle the female’s creative power by ignoring biological truth and making man the Creator. Genesis tells us that Eve was created from Adam’s rib. Woman became an offshoot of man. And a sinful one at that. Genesis was the beginning of the end for the goddess.
Lost Goddess
The Grail is symbolic of the lost goddess. When Christianity came along, the old pagan religions did not die easily. Legends of chivalric quests for the lost Grail were in fact stories of forbidden quests to find the lost sacred feminine. Knights who claimed to be “searching for the chalice” were speaking in code as a way to protect themselves from a Church that had subjugated women, banished the Goddess, burned nonbelievers, and forbidden the pagan reverence for the sacred feminine.
Holy Grail was a person. And not just any person. A woman who carried with her a secret so powerful that, if revealed, it threatened to devastate the very foundation of Christianity!
[The Series continues]
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