The Fisher King

The Fisher King has a wound in his genitals - that is, his creativity is wounded. I wrote in my journal:

The Fisher King has wounded creativity, rules over a wasteland, has a treasure in his midst, and is trapped without a compassionate witness who's willing to be made a fool.

The first question the Fisher King needs to be asked is, what is wrong here? Asking this question is the beginning of healing.

Why can't you stand? How were you hurt? Where is your castle? Why is the land barren? What happened here? What is this pageant? Where did the grail come from? Why is that woman carrying it? Can it not heal you?

And so on.

The second question the Fisher King needs to be asked is, what is sacred? Whom or what does the grail serve?

The experience of the sacred is the experience of the grail. Do you remember your grail experiences? What is sacred to you? When you receive these moments of grace, what will you do? Will you walk away from the grail? Or will you struggle to hold on?

In every version of the Fisher King story, the chalice or grail is carried by a woman. Before it was a Christ symbol, it was a goddess symbol, this chalice filled with sacred blood. The grail disappeared into the forest that is the collective unconscious. It is up to women to recognize the loss and carry the grail out of the forest. In other words, it is up to women to reclaim the sacred feminine.

In the Catholic church, only men are permitted to bear the chalice. If the chalice can be a symbol for the womb, then how fitting that the all-male Church hierarchy decrees its power over the chalice - that is, over women's wombs. It's simply a matter of power.