KING ARTHUR AND THE SWORD OF POWER

‘Whoso pulleth out this sword of this stone and anvil,

is rightwise King born of all England.’

Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte d’Arthur (ca 1469), Book I, chapter 5.

On a recent trip to Great Britain with my wife I had an opportunity to refresh myself with the ancient legends and folklore pertaining to King Arthur, the once and future King of England.

My wife and I visited a number of places in England that are said to be associated with King Arthur—places including:

●  Tintagel Castle, perched high on a majestic headland in Cornwall, where according to at least one account Arthur was born, and where in 1998 was found a 1,500 year old piece of slate with two Latin inscriptions one of which seems to link Arthur with Tintagel,

The author at Tintagel Castle, Tintagel, Cornwall

where King Arthur is said to have been born.
Was it also Camelot, Arthur's castle and court?

● Glastonbury Abbey, in the very heart of Glastonbury, Somerset, where King Arthur and his wife Guinevere were said to have been buried, with the tomb surving until the dissolution of the Abbey in 1539, the Abbey itself supposedly having been built on the site where Joseph of Arimathea and his companions settled at Glastonbury and founded the church,

Glastonbury Abbey, Glastonbury, Somerset

●  the nearby Glastonbury Tor, which is believed by some to be the Isle of Avalon of Arthurian legend under which Joseph is supposed to have buried the Holy Grail, the cup from which Christ drank at the Last Supper, and which Joseph used to collect his blood at the Crucifixion, the myth of the Holy Grail probably having been evolved from earlier Celtic myths about magical life-restoring objects, 

Glastonbury Tor, Somerset -- Isle of Avalon?

(Avalon is the purported place where the sword Excalibur was forged
and later where Arthur was taken to recover after the Battle of Camlann.)

●  Chalice Well, at Glastonbury, Somerset, which supposedly marks the site where Joseph placed the holy chalice, and which has a spring from which perenially flows water with a distinctive orange-red colour, supposedly 'blood-stained' as a result of the buried chalice, and 

Chalice Well, Glastonbury, Somerset -- a place where

Arthurian legend and the Joseph of Arimathea
tradition are inextricably mixed

●  the Iron Age hill fort known as Cadbury Castle, at South Cadbury, also in Somerset, which is said by some to have been the site of the picturesque castle Camelot. 

Cadbury Castle, South Cadbury, Somerset -- Camelot?

(According to tradition King Arthur sleeps in Cadbury Castle and every
Midsummer’s Eve leads a troop of mounted knights down the slopes of the hill.)

Almost every place we visited was said to have some connection with the Arthurian legends. Take Tekels Park, Camberley, Surrey, for instance, which is owned by the Theosophical Society in England. It is on the grounds of the Tekels Park estate that The Order of the Round Table in England holds its camps. The Order of the Round Table uses ceremonial activities, particularly ceremonies pertaining to the legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, to communicate the ideas and ideals of the ancient wisdom and thus promote the moral, spiritual, intuitive and social development of children and young people. I think it's quite a noble organisation, and there are branches of the organisation in a number of countries including Australia where I live.

Tekels Park, Camberley, Surrey ...

for modern day 'Knights of the Round Table'

Now, we can be pretty certain that Arthur was not a medieval king in Britain between the years 400 and 600 who lived in Wales or in the west of England in Somerset or Cornwall with a council of knights in shining armour, and we can be very certain that there was never a place such as Camelot. However, there is some historical evidence that a person called Arthur or Uther was a king or leader in Cornwall, northern Britain or Wales who led the Britons against the Anglo-Saxons from the London area in the 5th century CE. We also have a couple of records [see here and here] of a King Arthur winning the Battle of Mans Badonicus in 516 CE, although a different account gives the date as 500 CE and doesn't mention Arthur at all. There is also a record of the death of someone called Arthur at the Battle of Camlann ('Camelot'?) in 537. 

Tintagel Castle, Tintagel, Cornwall

So, it is not unreasonable to suppose that Arthur was probably a 5th and early 6th century Romano-Celtic warrior chief -- a Briton and not English -- who for a time protected his peoples from the Saxon invaders from countries in the north of Europe. Either that or a composite of several individuals later uprooted from the Dark Ages and thrust into medieval times to become a romantic legendary and literary figure of lasting renown.

The author at Tintagel Castle

Fact, legend or a mixture of both, the story of King Arthur is not not true. You see, a myth or legend, as well as a character of folklore and literary invention, when seen as such, can never be said to be false. Myths, legends and folklore, having their roots in human experience, are about eternal verities and they can have great transformative power if they are approached with the right mindset and intent. King Arthur, as a symbol of every person in the pursuit of truth, knowledge and power, is very real. Actually, there are two Arthurs in Arthurian legend and literature. One is the flawless epic hero and the other is much more human, imperfect and fallible. In truth, both are real, for both are true of each one of us. 

Site of the alleged tomb of King Arthur,

Glastonbury Abbey, Glastonbury, Somerset

Now, there are two legends explaining how Arthur purportedly received his sword Excalibur. In one of them, young Arthur pulls the sword out of a stone. His ability to pull the sword from the stone gave him ascendance to the throne. A second legend describes how Arthur and the wizard Merlin, Arthur’s guide and counsellor, meet a woman at a lake. Merlin asks the woman to approach. Excalibur emerges from the lake, held by a mysterious hand. The woman takes the sword, the hand disappears, and she delivers the sword to Arthur. I love these lines from Tennyson’s Idylls of the King:

   There likewise I beheld Excalibur

Before him at his crowning borne, the sword

That rose from out the bosom of the lake,

And Arthur rowed across and took it—rich

With jewels, elfin Urim, on the hilt,

Bewildering heart and eye—the blade so bright

That men are blinded by it—on one side,

Graven in the oldest tongue of all this world,

‘Take me,’ but turn the blade and ye shall see,

And written in the speech ye speak yourself,

‘Cast me away!’ And sad was Arthur’s face

Taking it, but old Merlin counselled him,

‘Take thou and strike! the time to cast away

Is yet far-off.’ So this great brand the king

Took, and by this will beat his foemen down.

When Arthur was born, he was taken by Merlin and cut from any family bonds. This symbolizes that in order to pursue the spiritual path -- that is, to come to know truth (or see things-as-they-really-are) – we must detach ourselves from worldly attachments (that is, things that stand in the way from our coming to know truth). That does not mean we must follow an ascetic life but the fact remains that if we would travel far along the path of truth and wisdom we must travel light. 

Merlin symbolizes Arthur’s spiritual guide or teacher as well as the means by which the Round Table is created, a table symbolical not just of equality and brotherhood but also of the whole universe as well as life and death (with no beginning and no end). In later stories, Merlin is also responsible for building Excalibur. It is also through the assistance of Merlin that Arthur is born. He guides Arthur to withdraw Excalibur from the stone. Merlin is also the prophet of the Holy Grail and he assists Arthur to achieve many of his goals. In short, Merlin represents the creative power and principle in our lives -- the one presence and power active in our lives and in the universe as well. Call it the life force if you wish. In truth, we must all be our own Merlin, that is, our own guide, master and teacher – and our own pupil. Enlightenment or salvation occurs when we---wake up!

Glastonbury Tor, Somerset

Overcoming the bondage of self is never easy, and it takes time to free ourselves from that bondage, the main reason being that there are, within each one of us, literally hundreds of false selves (in the form of our likes, dislikes, attachments, opinions, views, beliefs and misbeliefs). There is, for example, in many of us the angry false self (‘I am angry’), the jealous false self (‘I am jealous’), the fearful false self (‘I am fearful’), the unworthy self (‘I am a miserable sinner’), and so on. These selves—lots and lots of psychological ‘I's’ and ‘me's’ that collectively manifest as our ego-consciousness) are called false because they are not the real person each one of us is, but we mistakenly believe that one or more of these false selves---which are nothing more than self-images in our mind---are the real person that we are. In truth, all of these 'I's' and 'me's' have been created by thought. Indeed, they are thought -- thought images, if you like.

Chalice Well, Glastonbury, Somerset

Now, these false selves are illusory, not because they do not exist--for they do indeed exist as images in our mind--but because they have no separate, distinct, permanent identity from the person that we are, the latter being a mind-body complex that is ontologically real (the 'physical "I"'). Only the person that you are---a person among persons---is ontologically real. The good news is that each one of us can be relieved of the bondage of self -- the Holy Grail, so to speak -- but first we must come to understand that we need no longer be a slave to self.

Cadbury Castle, South Cadbury, Somerset

Arthur eventually overcomes the bondage of self but it took some time, as it does with all of us. This is symbolized in the Arthurian stories by taking the two-edged sword of the truth -- Excalibur -- from either the stone or the lake of the false ego, the lake being a reference to the fabled Lady of the Lake. 

I like both images. A stone is hard and the false selves that we hold in our mind can be as hard as stone. It is not easy to extricate the sword of truth from something as hard as that but it can and must be done. The image of a lake is also rich in symbolic power, for water suggests the movement of thought and consciousness (always feminine in ancient symbology), and our false selves are just that – thoughts waxing and waning in our consciousness. Still, they can be damn persistent for all that.

Tekels Park, Camberley, Surrey

The sword Excalibur is a symbol of power and authority, and represents the truth about ourselves, namely, that each one of us is a person among persons. When we come to know the truth about ourselves, we are set free from our false selves. Our task is to destroy our false selves with the sword of knowledge, power and truth. The Knights of the Round Table represent our multifarious attributes and qualities that characterise the real person that we are. We need all those attributes and qualities, and we need to use them wisely, if we are to escape the bondage of self and become a fully functioning human being.

Now, that's where the regular practice of mindfulness comes in. Mindfulness enables us to see our false selves at work in our minds and lives, that is, to see ourselves as we really are. And mindfulness empowers us to let go of those false selves and become the real person we are destined to be and which in truth we really are. You see, mindfulness itself is a power-not-oneself.

View from Glastonbury Tor

'Don't let it be forgot. That once there was a spot ...'

Only the king can take the sword from the stone. Who is the king? You are, when you are living authentically as a person among persons and not as one or more of the many false selves which you mistakenly believe are the real you. So, take the sword in your hand -- and pull!

Yes, you and I are King Arthur as well as Merlin, and we have the power within to be victorious -- and to reign forever.

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