The Lance of Longinus
"...out of a room came a youth holding a white lance grasped by the middle; and
he passed by between the fire and those seated on the couch. And everyone present could see the
white lance with its shining head; and from the tip of the lance-head oozed a drop of blood, a
crimson drop that ran down right to the lad's hand."
The Spear leads the procession to the mysteries of the Grail
carried by a pure youth. Just as the Grail has made a
transition from the Celtic Otherworld cauldrons to the cup of Christ, the Spear has transformed
from the Spear of Lugh to the Lance of Longinus.
Lugh's magical spear was said to be alive and to thirst for the blood of battle.
It's head was kept plunged into a cauldron. Once drawn out, it roared and lightening flashed
as it strained against its leash. In battle, it slashed through the enemy until drenched in their
blood. From similar descriptions, there is a common thread to the grail possession and the four
treasures of the de Danaan - the sword, the spear (wands), the cup, and the platter or paten
(disk). In the transformation into Christian relics, the spear has become the lance of Longinus.
Longinus was a Roman centurion present at Jeshua's crucifixion. At the crucifixion,
he was the centurion responsible for the wound in Jeshua's side. In some of the stories, he
was blind. As Jeshua's blood drops from the wound, his eyes are splattered and he is cured
and converted. Joseph of Arimathea was also supposed to have collected some of Jeshua's blood
in the cup that was to become the grail. Thus the blood lust of battle has been converted into
the healing blood of the Christ.
In the grail stories, just as the spear maims
the king creating the wasted land, the spear must also be used to heal him. The image
above by Franz Stassen shows Parsifal healing the Fisher King Amfortas with the spear.
The legend of the lance of Longinus is so powerful that there are even occult tales
from the Nazi archives that Hitler sought the lance and had traced its history back through many
great military geniuses all the way to Constantine the Great. The belief was similar to the Ark,
that whoever possessed it and understood its power could conquer the world.
