SHAKESPEARE'S HOLY GRAIL, Volume 1, The Poisoned Chalice

This remarkable book takes the reader on an extraordinary journey into the inner dimensions of the plays of Shakespeare. The work of Peter Dawkins already establishes the principle of encryption in the plays, and he characterises their role in relation to Bacon work on science and Rosicrucianism as a study of human emotions (not that Paul explicitly identifies Shakespeare as Bacon). Paul explains the positioning of the last play, The Tempest, at the front of the folio in the context that the 32/37 plays are in fact one play with multiple iterations where the characters represent archetypes in relation to each other. Given that ‘something is rotten in the state of Denmark’ signified by corruption and tyranny of Church and Crown, Paul asks if the subversive intent of the plays was in fact to ‘reveal the truth those in power do not wish us to know.’

This truth is gnosis as direct knowledge that frees us from the tyranny of authority, an initiation that embodies peace, love, forgiveness and the spirit – the essence of Jesus’s (Essene) message – but has always been classed as heresy by those in power. The Albigensian crusade against the Cathars is a case in point. Ultimately, the primacy of love and freedom is incompatible with power, and (political) power is incompatible with love. The supreme irony is that Jesus came to liberate us from sin, the letter and the law, while the Church established in his name reinstates them as central planks! Paul interprets the Holy Grail not as the chalice or the bloodline, but rather as an initiation and the blood that seals the New Testament and reopens access to the Tree of Life, reconnecting us to the Source. Grace and forgiveness are ever-present, but they need to be recognised and claimed. Sin is fundamentally cutting ourselves off from God and from soul-awareness. The bold premise of Paul’s book is that ‘encrypted throughout the drama and poetry of William Shakespeare’s works is the forbidden, universal knowledge about Jesus Christ’s mission on Earth.’ (p. xxi)

The plays can be read on both outer and inner levels, and here Paul introduces three core polar opposite archetypes: God-Satan; Adam-Eve as the true self; and Cain-Abel as the ego-personality. He explains this in a diagram (p. 8) where the I AM/Soul is in the middle of concentric circles, applying this first to King Lear, and subsequently to the central characters in three plays examined – Macbeth as the Passion of Satan (p. 30), Hamlet as the Passion of Christ (p. 91), and The Tempest as Shakespeare’s Revelation (p. 189). Then, in relation to each of these plays, he lists and analyses detailed and revealing biblical motifs coded in the text (pp. 36, 96, 192). The poisoned chalice in Macbeth is equated with the cup in the Last Supper, and the need for the deed to be done quickly (p. 54). A further dimension is what he calls ‘NameAlchemy’, for instance Caliban (Cain-Abel), and Prospero – Pro Spero (hope) or even Pro-Eros (love). However, as Jesus himself said, we need ears to hear and eyes to see (p. 92).

The last play examined is The Tempest, which Paul sees as an umbrella title for all the plays, where the Spirit as wind is most explicitly present. The Tempest is both outer and inner, and the main thesis is recapped on p. 177, with Jesus as the Fisher King, the wounded healer of the Grail. We can all travel the way home to what Paul symbolically calls Eden Central. Astonishingly, he finds all the mystical sounds presented in The Tempest; the dynamics of the play are represented in the three circles and the three archetypes of God Circle, Satan Circle, and False Self Circle. (p. 190) This play also contains encoded biblical motifs, which readers can assess for themselves.

In the epilogue, Paul weaves the strands together into our own process of individuation where ‘Satan is a metaphor for both good and evil, the duality, the original sin, the seven seals and the constant inner and outer conflict we all have with the false-good and the false-evil of our ego-selves. (p. 235) Significantly, in the Old Testament, Yahweh and Satan are in league in the Book of Job, whereas the New Testament God is a God of love. Jesus unseals the Old Testament Law of Moses through shedding his blood (sang graal) and correspondingly seals the New Testament promise that ‘if we show love, forgiveness, and mercy to ourselves and each other, we may live in grace.’ (p. 241) Relating back to Hamlet, Paul writes that our purpose in life is simple: ‘To be or not to be. To be who we really are as a soul, or not to be.’ (p. 242) This profound study sheds new light on the inner plays and their meaning for our own human journey.