Priory of Sion

When the Rennes-le-Château affair was first uncovered and came into the public domain, it was assumed that Saunière was working alone when he made the much talked about disscovery, and that he stumbled across either a great treasure, artifact or secret purely by accident. However, it has been suggested since that he was just one of a group of priests who were all up to all sorts-much speculation surrounds this premise.
According to some, one of the supporting theories is that Saunière was deliberately assigned to Rennes-le-Château for some purpose in the fact his father was the estate manager for the Marquis de Cazemajou, who was related to the Hautpouls of Rennes-le-Château. Which at first glance may seem an impresive connection but, in a smallish rural area it’s not unheared of for it to be common place to find many such ‘connections’.

A whole cottage industry (speakers,books etcetera) pertaining to ‘The Priory of Sion’ sprung up determined to provide a mine of information regarding ‘The Priory of Sion’ link.  It seems a ‘Priory Of Sion’ did exist at some time, but no connection with Rennes-le-Châteaua fair is provable  However a link to Merovingians and The Priory of Sion is said to have been proven false. Gerard De Sed wrote a book denouncing it saying instead it was a scheme designed by the Priory’s spokesperson Pierre Plantard to give creedence to his belief that he was decsended from the Merovingians.

In Christianity, the Holy Grail was the dish, plate, or cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper, said to possess miraculous powers. The connection of Joseph of Arimathea with the Grail legend dates from Robert de Boron’s Joseph d’Arimathie (late 12th century) in which Joseph receives the Grail from an apparition of Jesus and sends it with his followers to Great Britain; building upon this theme, later writers recounted how Joseph used the Grail to catch Christ’s blood while interring him and that in Britain he founded a line of guardians to keep it safe. The quest for the Holy Grail makes up an important segment of the Arthurian cycle, appearing first in works by Chrétien de Troyes.[1] The legend may combine Christian lore with a Celtic myth of a cauldron endowed with special powers. Source Wiki

It has been proposed that the Holy Grail instead of being an object, was actually Mary Magdalene, the vessel that carried Christ blood….by way of being pregnant, maybe? Was the group of devoted followers charged with ‘it’s’ safe keeping ‘The Knights Templars’?

There are also other groups and places associated with the ‘Grail’ history such as the Cathars and the Templars which people are more readily willing to except assotiations with- to do with Rennes-le-Château and other places are linked such as Rosslyn Chapel (thats a whole other story of it’s own right there) in Scotland where Mary Magdalene is thought to be buried.

• Coming To America!

  Wouldnt you prefer a nice game of chess? British UFO Hacker Gary McKinnon has lost his appeal to the European Court of Human Rights against his extradition to the United States, which will now most likely occur in the next two weeks: His solicitor Karen Todner said this had been her clients “last chance” and appealed to Home Secretary Jacqui Smith to intervene. “He is absolutely devastated by the decision,” she said. “He and his family are distraught. “They are completely beside themselves. He is terrified by the prospect of going to America.” She added Mr McKinnon had recently been diagnosed with Asperger syndrome and would ask for the case to be tried in this country. “The offences for which our clients extradition is sought were committed on British soil and we maintain that any prosecution ought to be carried out by the appropriate British authorities,” she added. “Our client now faces the prospect of prosecution and imprisonment thousands of miles away from his family in a country in which he has never set foot.” Mr McKinnon, from Wood Green, north London, was arrested in 2002 but never charged in the UK. For more detailed examination of this case, see my post from a few weeks back here on TDG, which includes links to the full text of the House of Lords judgement.

• Last Call!

  This story stickied for the next few days regular updates continue beneath This coming Monday is the Daily Grails 10th birthday! As mentioned previously, were celebrating this feat by asking for voluntary subscriptions to the site, in order to help the site grow and continue on for years to come. With more than 10,000 readers per day, that should be a simple matter of asking everyone to chip in just a dollar or two not bad value youd have to say, for 10 years of TDG. Unfortunately, the apathy monster generally has a pretty firm grip on everyone out there but you might just be that freespirited exception, willing to support independent news and commentary! So, one more time, this is how you can help out: You can donate using Paypal, credit card, or via selected debit cards, using the PayPal donation button beneath: Alternately, for cheques/money orders via the post only for amounts over 50 please, due to the expenses involved, or simply great wads of cash bundled in envelopes really, really big envelopes: Greg TaylorP.O. Box 28Petrie, QLD, 4502AUSTRALIA As mentioned previously, there will be prizes distributed to lucky subscribers so throw in a few dollars and give yourself a chance. Trust me, youll be kicking yourself when your neighbour proudly shows off his newly won special TDG merchandise… For those numbercrunchers out there of the 232 voluntary subscribers so far, European and UK readers are currently the majority contributors over the USA barely, with Scandinavian countries in particular making up a huge proportion, given the percent of readers we have from there versus the US. We definitely need to post more Viking stories here on TDG… Sincere thanks to all those who have contributed thus far hopefully youll enjoy watching TDG evolve and grow over the coming years, on the back of your wonderful support. For those expecting fireworks and celebrations for our birthday, please note that currently Im barely able to stay upright due to a severe dose of flu. Sorry!