Nine Grail Ladies

Igraine

They dance, the nine korrigans,
Crowned with flowers, robed in white,
About the fountain, in moonlight.
The three Fates work their distaffs and spindles,
Twisting the thread through their fingers,
One to spin, one to weave, one to cut.
Who seeks the counsel of the fay?
Three times three is their power.
Throw some more wood on the hearth-fire,
And watch for visions in the smoke.
From the Queen’s castle the hero sets out,
The lost son, whose journeys will be arduous,
Whose fate will be the sufferings of a king.
Who but she holds my life in her hands?
My ship sets sail from the shores of her eye,
And disappears into the mists.
Three initiations await the seeker:
To be conceived of his mother’s womb;
To lie with a daughter of the moon;
To enter the enclosure of the Goddess.
In the great hall of the Castle of Maidens,
She sits enthroned, surrounded by her female court,
And wild unearthly music fills the air:
“Stranger, you are welcome for the night:
I ask only that you give me one night’s dreaming,
That I may send you vision and understanding…”



Guinevere

O joyful power that moves all wheels,
Beyond comprehension and control!
Ecstasy of rising,rising,crying the tears of an angel!
Lovers true and false converge from all directions
To court and win the sovereign soul.
The combat commences in the meadow,
The two knights clashing from opposite poles,
Watched by the summer sun and the winter moon,
Till the May Queen lifts her crowned head to the stars.
The gates of the Summer Country are open
For all acts of love and pleasure, without guilt;
Open for the visitations of the fairies,
Abductors of the beloved prize.
Beware the hidden thorns, drawing blood
Before you know it; and the devilment
Of the twin sisters in one body,
The false queen and the true.
Strife is her delight: setting one against the other,
Bringing her rival suitors to blows,
Skilled in cruel deceptions and torments.
Many tests are set, many blows are struck,
Judgment is pronounced in the courts of love,
And the hunters of the white hart spur their steeds,
Chasing their quarry through the forest.
Oh, the sound of pipes among the trees,
And the dancing of fools and jesters!
Hang your wishes on the hawthorn tree,
You, the cuckoo in the sun’s nest…



Morgan

She is the raven to the carrion,
The dark interrogator, pulling from her sleeves
Terrible questions, too long avoided.
In the apple orchard she appears to you,
Speaking strange words in your ear:
Beware when you pick these fruit,
For some are poisoned and deadly.
O, weaving waters, about the Island of Women,
Bless the voyager and the ship.
The hounds are baying:
Here is the ford where champions fight,
And lovers fall into embrace.
The severed head speaks from the tower,
The hag sits at table in the place of honour.
She who makes the wound can heal it,
Herbalist and astronomer, dark and slender,
Mistress of seduction, all her senses engaging,
Her sweetness and her anger equal in force.
What will come of these Enchanted Games?
Prepare yourself for the beheading.
The Lady of the Wheel must have a man in her power,
To which end she will use any spell.


Argante

Be fierce and tender, this is kindness to yourself
And goodness to the world:
The guardian of the doorway wants you for her own.
The jewel in the ring reveals a lake:
In this land there can be no guilt, only love,
Here lovers conjoin without sorrow or shame,
And the mother lets her son go forth without hindrance,
Well-fostered in courage and arms.
Through the deer forest, by the lake, she rides,
In a tunic of white samite and ermine mantle,
And a veil before her face,
Bearing the sword to the worthy one.
Her eyes are silver, catching the tints of the sky,
Leading you into the birch grove,
Where the trees dance around your head…
Look into the well, the water is cold ecstasy,
Myriads of shimmering droplets,
Sparking,glinting,alive with iridescent fire,
Dancing and changing so quickly, in such intricate patterns,
That your senses cannot grasp more than a fraction.



Nimuë

The doors will be opened, the ways will be opened,
New ways and new determinations.
The Lady will imprison you
Beneath a stone, in a sarcophagus, in a hawthorn bush,
In a prison of glass, a moulting cage,
Though you met her at the fountain
And conjured an enchanted orchard for her,
And summoned knights and ladies to dance for her,
And promised to share the stars with her.
Here I am, in the treetops, perching on branches,
Flying from tree to tree, in my cloak of feathers.
In the sunhouse of the glass castle,
The women weave and embroider,
Watching the centuries pass in silence,
Outside their windows, all the follies of men.
This is the triple death chosen:
To fall from your horse from a high place,
Catch yourself in a tree during the fall, and be hanged,
And drown with your head submerged in a river.
Here is the keeper of the forest:
The huntress in her chariot drawn by wild deer.
On with the venery,the sport of the brave!



Enid

Three robes she will wear,
The white, the red, and the black.
Her patience and forbearance
Will temper the fierceness of men.
She will not rest until you are delivered,
Until every burden is lifted, every grief effaced,
And you enter into boundless compassion,
Transfiguring all pain into rejoicing.
She has tasted the bitterest poison and survived,
She has suffered death’s lesson and triumphed,
Triumphant in vivacity and love.
Have you seen the white hart among the trees,
Stately and proud, alone of all his kind?
These lands are dangerous out of season:
What you learn here you must teach others,
And do not linger too long, lest you forget
Your mortality and humility,
And lose your way on the twisting forest paths.
Soon the horn will sound to summon you
Home, through brambles, nettles and thorns.




Kundry

Measure your destiny’s pattern, wise to the limits,
And learn from the circling of the hawk.
Loathsome in her hood of turtle-doves,
She speaks of the movements of the seven planets,
The Black maiden, wedded to her work.
The beauty of blackness is visible to those
Who know the true worth of the soul,
Who have ever sought the dark over the light.
Ah,see the Wheel of Fortune turning,
With the king on top and the beggar clinging
To the bottom, and the others scrambling
To reach the top and not fall to the bottom.
She comes with a riding whip for her mule,
Summoning knights to adventure,
Lamenting that she will never know joy
Until her mule’s lost bridle is returned to her,
And crying out for a champion to serve her,
To seek and find the bridle, and win her love.
Pas beneath the church’s western door,uder the relief
Of the sheela na gig, ugly hag squatting akimbo,
Opening her cavernous cunt for all to see and touch.
Friend, who would be wise, keep a snake at your table,
Feed it on morsels, and listen when it speaks.



Dindraine

Here is she who pursues her course
With dedication and aplomb,
In a country filled with terrors and distractions,
This land of thick forest, rivers and springs.
How many times must you venture to the river,
Before you dare to build a bridge?
No one told the water to flow freely,
No one had to teach the trees to be still.
In the cemetery is the sound of laughter,
And ghostly knights with flaming lances.
She sits on her throne, surrounded by beer and wine,
And asks: “For whom should I pour the cup?”
She offers her guest three draughts,
The white, the red and the black.
The brother and sister arrive together,
Standing on the prow of the ship,
Sailing down the river to the castle,
The White Queen and the Red King,
Opening the ways of grace,
Showing men how to navigate.
A flash of silver in the trees:
The unicorn swiftly passing,
It wants to help you but will not approach.
At the well you fill the golden cup:
Look into the water-what do you see there?
Pour it out to heal the wounds of the world.

Ragnell

Shape-changing is our human play,
The sport of the enchantress, of life on the hoof.
Comes a lady riding a beautiful palfrey, richly caparisoned,
Carrying a lute across her back,
Her face, when she turns towards you,hideous,inhuman,
Like the owl of evil omen, flitting across the moon:
“Place your life in my hands, and I will save you.
I alone can give you the answer to the question…”