Graal

Occult groups of one hew or other have stood the test of time for many years. The calamitous thirty year war in 17th century Europe wrought untold havoc, with many refugees from the disaster looking to England for safety. Among their number were several members of various Rosicrucian lodges, with one group in particular bringing with them a curious chalice that had been created from a skull and which had once belonged to the Knights Templar. Over the years this chalice, had acquired various legends about it, one claimed that it had been created from the skull of John the Baptist after he had been beheaded on the orders of Herod. The Templars, so the legends claimed, worshipped the head as the source of their wealth and power. After their demise in 1307, the chalice was taken to England where it was eventually hidden in a forlorn church on the welsh border. When the Glyndwr rebellion swept through the area in the 15th century, the church was sacked and the chalice was found, and eventually it became the property of an inn keeper. Many years later Edward Kelley and Paul Waring are searching for the chalice and they come across it by chance when they are travelling through Wales. During their stay at the inn the opportunity arises to steal the chalice and flee back to England. Kelley uses the chalice as a means to gain entry into the Rosicrucian societies which had survived. Thus the chalice, after many years, is back with its owners and this time it is again hidden in a welsh border church, but one that is in the centre of pentagram which is marked out in the locality by five churches and is part of a solar temple in the landscape. Here it stays until the church, where it is hidden, is renovated in the late 19th century. The reverend Warner being perturbed by its presence calls upon his old friend and fellow cleric William Ayton for help. Ayton with the help of fellow mason and occultist Frederick Hockley and other occult practitioners, re-entomb the chalice in the church until its time should come. When searching through a Glastonbury bookshop, two travellers find an account that had been written about the chalice that arouses their curiousity and they decide to embark upon their own graal quest. But unknown to them they were about to become embroiled with two modern day occult groups, both whom had links with the original Rosicrucian group who owned the chalice previously, and were now seeking for it. Caradog Ap Tewdur, a man who brooks no interference with his will, is eaten with the desperation to claim the chalice for himself and is frantically hunting everywhere for it. Having summoned the shade of Jacques de Molay, the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar, in the Templar church at Garway in Herefordshire, he picks up several clues that aid him in his search. As further evocations are performed and goetic spirits are evoked to aid in the hunt for the treasure the ultimate consequences are not what everyone expected. The two travellers quickly realise that the occult is far more than a New Age experience - as they become out of their depth with the magic and its practitioners who will stop at nothing to fulfil their destiny.....