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Merlin: Difference between revisions
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He explained to the astonished Vortigern that the portent of these two dragons fighting meant that the British (the red dragon) would be hard-pressed by the Saxons (the white dragon) until the coming of the Boar of Cornwall (the Boar of Cornwall would be none other than King Arthur), who would trample the Saxons beneath his feet. Merlin went on to deliver a long string of prophecies in obscure symbolic language, and Vortigern was vastly impressed. | He explained to the astonished Vortigern that the portent of these two dragons fighting meant that the British (the red dragon) would be hard-pressed by the Saxons (the white dragon) until the coming of the Boar of Cornwall (the Boar of Cornwall would be none other than King Arthur), who would trample the Saxons beneath his feet. Merlin went on to deliver a long string of prophecies in obscure symbolic language, and Vortigern was vastly impressed. | ||
[[File:Arthurbirth.jpg|thumb|Merlin | [[File:Arthurbirth.jpg|thumb|upright|''The Wizard Merlin Taking Away the Infant Arthur'', illustration by N. C. Wyeth from ''The Boy’s King Arthur'', by Sidney Lanier (1917)]] | ||
== Merlin and Arthur == | == Merlin and Arthur == | ||
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Merlin revealed the mystery of the blessed Sangreal ([[Holy Grail]]) to king and queen, knights and ladies at Camelot and, early in Arthur’s reign, prophesied the day of the “great battle beside Salisbury and Modred his own son would be against him.” | Merlin revealed the mystery of the blessed Sangreal ([[Holy Grail]]) to king and queen, knights and ladies at Camelot and, early in Arthur’s reign, prophesied the day of the “great battle beside Salisbury and Modred his own son would be against him.” | ||
[[File:Merlin and Vivien resting in the forest Gustave Dore.jpg|thumb|upright|''Merlin and Vivien Resting in the Forest'', Gustave Dore]] | |||
== Merlin’s passing == | == Merlin’s passing == | ||
There are a number of accounts of Merlin’s demise. One story says that he disappeared into the House of Glass on Bardsey Island off the coast of Wales—having taken the Thirteen Treasures of Britain with him. It is said that he is there to this day, unseen by human eyes. | |||
One 13th-century legend says Merlin survived Arthur and his knights. When Arthur was defeated in battle by Mordred, he retreated into a bird cage. | |||
The most popular version of the story of Merlin’s demise is that a beautiful maiden named Vivien, Niviene, Nimue, or a variation thereof—who is in some legends identified as the Lady of the Lake—uses the magic she learned from Merlin himself to imprison him for life. | |||
Finally, another story of Merlin’s mysterious disappearance from Arthur’s court is told in ''The High History of the Holy Grail'', an Arthurian romance written by an unknown author in old French prose somewhere around 1200: One day, Arthur, Launcelot, and Gawain come across the ruined castle of Tintagel with a chapel next to it. The priest tells the three about the sepulchre inside the chapel: | |||
“Lords, in this sepulchre was placed the body of Merlin, but never mought it be set inside the chapel, wherefore perforce it remained outside. | |||
“And know of a very truth that the body lieth not within the sepulchre; for, so soon as it was set therein, it was taken out and snatched away—either on God’s behalf or the Enemy’s, but which we know not.” | |||
So one can consider this to be the resurrection or the drawing up into this Cloud of the Law of the disciple, taken up by God almost as a babe in arms at that final moment prior to being reborn in the Spirit. | |||
== See also == | == See also == | ||
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Elizabeth Clare Prophet, April 21, 1984. | Elizabeth Clare Prophet, April 21, 1984. | ||
{{SGP}} | |||
<references /> | <references /> | ||