American drama

Glastonbury Archive UK and Studio Editions USA present

A Twentieth Century Trilogy
The Chalice
by

Martha Keltz

Characters:
Scott Forbes, archaeologist
Emlynn Bourne, illustrator
John Jay Durham, journalist
Wellesley Tudor Pole
Three Men and Three Women
Three Japanese Women
Two Indian Men and Two Indian Women
The First Herald
Two Angels
The New King Cepheus
The Atlantean Initiate

Time:
Spring, 1975; winter, 1998; spring, 2000.

Place:
Chaco Canyon, New Mexico; the Pajarito Plateau; the Spiritual World; the Garden of Gethsemane, Tucson, Arisona; the Southwest Temple.

Scene:
The set is the same as for the first two dramas, but the opening scene is at Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, and the stage colours are warm gold, sandy ochre, red, brown and violet.

At Rise:
Scott Forbes, Lynn Bourne and Jay Durham enter from the left. They are dressed for hiking and are wearing backpacks. Lynn has a reflex camera on a leather strap. They are all in their early thirties.



SCOTT
Let’s take a break here before looking at Casa Rinconada.

LYNN
We can still see the moon, though it looks transparent. And those colossal rocks, like massive golden giants, watching us, waiting.

They remove their packs and sit down on the left platform, Jay in the centre.

JAY
What are they waiting for, Lynn?

LYNN
Just as we’ve been saying - they’re waiting for humanity to wake up.

JAY
Patient entities, all.

SCOTT
Let’s see that map you were talking about, Jay.

Jay removes a paper from his pack and unfolds it.

JAY
It’s not the best photocopy, but clear enough. This is called the Piri Reis Map, after Admiral Piri Reis who copied it in 1513. As we know, Antarctica was not discovered until 1818, and yet it’s depicted accurately on this map – except – the coastline was mapped before it was covered by the ice-cap.

LYNN
How could it be?

JAY
That’s the mystery, and it goes deeper. It’s believed the Admiral copied his map from an earlier source, at the Imperial Library of Constantinople. So your question is, how could the sub-glacial topography of the Antarctica be accurately depicted, whether 1513 or far earlier?

SCOTT
It’s against the academic consensus.

JAY
Scott can tell us all about his own special farewell to academia.

SCOTT
Never mind that. You were telling us a bit about the circumstances of your remarkable discovery. Please continue.

LYNN
I would like to hear more also; my interest was piqued even as we were exploring the rooms of Pueblo Bonito.

JAY
Can I keep going back to that time, with the wind blowing through the canyon and the sun intensifying every second by degrees?

Scott and Lynn nod. Jay rises and crosses to centre.

What is it about Casa Rinconada and the grandeur of the canyon that makes me want to pray? To the sun, for the earth, for humanity... This great canyon is sacred. It must have been abandoned with unspeakable sorrow... Well, I told you I was in Mexico City, in the fall of 1968, and had bought some paperbacks, one about an old map. I was twenty-three at the time, covering the Olympic games for the Arizona Republic, and on cloud nine. Taking a stroll just before the games opened, I noticed that some demonstrations had started up at the Plaza of the Three Cultures, so I stayed to watch. The aim of the students was to attract the attention of the many international correspondents in the city, myself included. The rest is history. The police and soldiers arrived and the conflict became combative, then violent. The students were shot down – right before my eyes. I got away and I was lucky, but there was no escaping the memory, the sorrow that remained with me for months afterwards.

LYNN
So many protests started in the late sixties – students and other groups – against wars and weapons, against government corruptions.

JAY
I know, it wasn’t just Mexico, it wasn’t endemic, and it continues today. I stayed for the games but am best remembered for my reporting of what became known as The Night of Tlatelolco. Somehow the tragic spectacle and the message of the book melded in my soul. Could the students really have been demonstrating for a political concept, such as democracy, or had something much deeper been stirring in their collective soul? If I recognised the book as true and factual, then our entire educational system was teaching the wrong view of ancient civilisations. I believe the students sensed they had been misled and were crying for change, hope and enlightenment. I set out on the quest...

SCOTT
Let's see... he started at Teotihuacan and Monte Alban, visited Chichen Itza and Palenque; there was a brief but overwhelming trip to Egypt, then a lengthy one to South America. Finally, he began to consider the United States, where I’ve joined him as a guide –

LYNN
And I as an illustrator.

JAY
And the familiar United States are not so familiar after all. Scott can tell us.

SCOTT
I’m grateful to get work.

JAY
And speaking of work, back to the agenda, which is?...

SCOTT
(He stands and Lynn follows) Casa Rinconada first, right where we are, then we’ll retrace our steps a bit in a northerly direction, all the way to Peñasco Blanco, where we’ll take a look at the petroglyph thought to represent the 1050 supernova.

JAY
Fajada Butte tomorrow morning?

SCOTT
We’ll climb that tomorrow, yes, in time to see the equinoctial sun pierce the two spiral carvings with daggers of light.

JAY
One of the most important and dramatic discoveries ever!

SCOTT
It changed my life... The butte won’t be an easy climb – we’ll have to brave rattlers on the way – but it will be well worth it.

LYNN
I’ll want pictures of the sun daggers.

SCOTT
I suspect Fajada will be off-limits soon, so we’d better climb while we can. Now, Casa Rinconada...

They cross downstage, left of centre, and gaze downwards.

We know this kiva is aligned precisely with celestial north, but I believe there’s also an east-west alignment in one pair of those niches. I also have some ideas about the hole in the floor – called a sipapu – and believe it can be compared to the Hindu garbha griha, a dark centre, a sort of neutral or silent centre which by its neutrality balances the whole edifice. This garbha griha was always at the heart of every temple. If we could go inside the sipapu in imagination, where would we be? With God, at a crossing point? Also at the point of birth and death? The Pueblos believed that souls at birth rose up out of the sipapu. Perhaps there were burial ceremonies here, too. Now, it’s believed the roof or dome of the kiva represented the celestial sphere. In this area of the country, the constellation Cepheus has great significance.

There is a pause as Jay and Lynn absorb all the new information. At the opening at upstage-centre, Wellesley Tudor Pole enters. He appears to be about fifty years old, is dressed as a hiker and is using the Guide’s hooked stick as a walking stick. He pauses on the upstage platform.

LYNN
What can be the meaning of the t-shaped doorways? I first noticed them at Pueblo Bonito and they’re quite remarkable here, too.

SCOTT
No one knows, and I haven’t given it much thought either.

LYNN
T... Perhaps it refers to Tao.

JAY
Tao? Meaning?

LYNN
I am.

JAY
I am?... Wherever did you get such an idea?

LYNN
Long ago I was reading a book, but don't recall the title or author. Tao was understood simply as "I am." It stayed with me for some reason – I never forgot it.

SCOTT
It’s new to me.

LYNN
As I don’t recall the source book, perhaps my memory doesn’t serve me very well.

TUDOR POLE
Your memory doesn’t serve you well, but your essential Self does.

All turn to see who has spoken and Tudor Pole descends from the platform.

Excuse me, I hope I’m not intruding, but I’ve overheard some of your conversation. It may be that the Pueblos who built these doorways had forgotten the meaning of the symbol T – it dated to a much earlier time – but they knew it was important. I daresay some remembered. The Egyptians placed a small circle or disk at the top of this T, and it represented a fourth and higher factor emerging from the three. Indeed it was the "I am," and men in prehistoric times heard the "I am" spoken everywhere in the world around them. They heard it in the wind and in the sunbeams and from the small white flowers and massive ochre rocks of this canyon. I was recently discussing this with a friend – it was, in fact, during the winter solstice. The T is connected with wintertime, with the hearth, with drawing inward, and so it came to be used in doorways.

Scott, Jay and Lynn exchange glances.

SCOTT
What an extraordinary meeting this is... You are connecting the Pueblo cultures, then, with those of the ancient Egyptians?

TUDOR POLE
Yes, but very ancient. And not only Egypt, but China, India, Africa and Europe, to name a few. Now our modern "Indians" don't like to hear this, yet will admit that some of their habitats were built on much older sites, the origins and purposes of which were completely unknown to them.

SCOTT
Such as the Aztalan and Cahokian pyramids in Wisconsin and Illinois.

TUDOR POLE
Yes, those pyramids originated in Atlantean times, and they are still marking sacred sites today, places of special Earth energies. Ah, Earth, she suffers here in this country so greatly, suffers for the materialistic destiny of America. Do you know that if you align certain ancient sites in the United States, a vast square will emerge? A bit off due to precession and the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, but a square nonetheless. Here, Earth needs the Triad, the Trinity again, and the fourth factor, the Cup, but all in a higher form than that of the past, the Tao. The lower "I am," which manifested horribly for the Indian peoples in the European incursion – this will pass away.

He glances upwards and listens.

I must be on my way now.

He turns and ascends the upstage platform.

They do not wish me to reveal too much, to make matters too easy. Far be it from me... My advice to you is this: take care of the Earth, and cleanse and re-light her sacred centres. Overcome the lower ego, otherwise there can be no working together....

He exits through the centre opening.

JAY
Who was that?

Scott and Lynn are likewise stunned.

SCOTT
Let’s get our gear and start to explore Casa Rinconada.

They gather their packs, and at the same time their selves, the triad, together.

They exit left and the lights fade out.

After an interval, the lights fade up to depict the deepening shadows of early evening. Jay (without the backpack) emerges by climbing over the left platform and descending to centre, where he gazes out toward the front. A few days have passed since the first scene.

JAY
Tao... over the mountaintops and through the forests, deflected from the red-tinged clouds, then bounding along on the cascading river. The promise of the future, though still in imperfect form, and bringing agonies for those who cannot fully understand or receive.

Scott also emerges, climbing and descending the left platform.

SCOTT
Here you are, and you’ve found a beautiful spot. Look at that view of the river!

JAY
And listen... The Rio Grande is singing... (A pause) Where’s Lynn?

SCOTT
Back at camp, exhausted. No more hiking for her today, thank you.

JAY
We’re all tired, but as the expression goes, it’s a nice tired.

SCOTT
Chaco and Fajada Butte, the Aztec Ruins, the Jemez Mountains, the upper Rio Grande Valley, and now the Pajarito Plateau and Bandelier.

JAY
There is something magical about this country; it does seem enchanted... by enchanted I mean as though held in a spell, unable to free itself. Yet, nature is not enchanted, we are, so long as we see and experience with our outer senses alone. Imagine, the splendour that we see is but a slither of the whole, like the small slither of a new moon. Even a full moon is but a globe; what if we could see the entire moon...

SCOTT
Or the entire Earth.

Scott crosses and rests on the right platform.

JAY
Who was that hiker we met at Chaco? He was certainly British.

SCOTT
I searched for him later, after lunch. He should have been easy to spot, with that strange walking stick he carried. Not a sign of him, though.

JAY
I’ve been thinking about the Egyptian ansate cross he mentioned, and another symbol keeps floating before me, that of the alate, or winged circle. This symbol was not only Egyptian, it was universal. Did you know the Druids made earth mounds in the form of the winged circle?

SCOTT
From William Stukely, yes.

JAY
And I’m recalling medieval paintings of saints being glorified, with winged angels placing halos on their heads.

SCOTT
What do you believe the symbol represents?

JAY
Well, I believe it must represent the head, to which something new is being brought, something of cosmic origin. This would first have been the lower "I am," which, as the stranger implied, disrupted the harmony of the prehistoric civilisations. Later – in our time – the winged disk reappears as a higher form of the "I am."

SCOTT
I suppose he did say all that.

JAY
He was answering the question: "Why did the Puebloan peoples abandon the canyon – why did so many other peoples abandon or forget their homes and sacred sites?" There were numerous material reasons, droughts and so forth, and the archaeologists have determined all of these quite accurately. But they’ve missed the real reasons, though reluctantly admit to many mysteries.

SCOTT
You refer to the academic archaeologists, of course, to whom the "I am" – and Atlantis! – are anathema.

Lynn has quietly entered onto the left platform and sits down upon it, listening to Jay and Scott.

JAY
Still, the Atlantean initiates left their huge monuments as reminders of the former glory, and they knew that when the time came – when humankind could read them accurately again – they knew that would signal another golden age, even more glorious than the first, for the individualised higher Self would manifest then, whereas in the past, this higher Self was a collective possession. But the point is, while the original "I am" was given, this new winged circle must be developed from its lower form by each individual; it is not guaranteed. Certainly it exists as model or archetype.

SCOTT
(To Lynn) He’s heard the silences as well as the words of the stranger, a sort of mental garbha griha.

JAY
Yes... How to awaken and nurture the new winged disk...

LYNN
Earth wakens and nurtures, but she has been wounded and poisoned. How does the river keep rushing by, bringing life to the valleys?

JAY
I can see a writing, read a cosmic script... Golden rays of myriad sunrises and deep, cooling thunderclouds have carved out the mountains, valleys and riverbeds; brilliant feather pens of the gods have dipped into rainbows, drawn out the hundreds of colours and painted the landscapes; small but mighty elemental creatures have created the vast meadows, plains and forests; giants have moulded the monolithic stones and monuments – all guided by gods and god-like men of old. I can see far... and I can see pyramids and other ancient megaliths all over the Earth; marking areas of special energies, places where the cosmos and the Earth unite. Temples were built on these sites, modelled after the temples above, those in the spiritual world. The old roads, the old straight tracks always led to these centres, where the temples were... Now Earth, as Lynn says, is wounded and poisoned by modern consciousness, and it can only be hoped that enough of her monuments of old are still standing. We must tend to these monuments – her need is so great!

LYNN
Jay...

Both Scott and Lynn rise and descend to where Jay is standing, Scott just behind him to the right, and Lynn to the left.

JAY
The Piri Reis Map, yes, but such a small fragment of the whole truth; just a crumbling paper in my hand. My travels, yes, and the sights that came before my eyes, but these are nothing as compared to the inner, imaginative visions... The river, the Rio Grande... it sings a sad song to me; it tells of harm to Earth and men by elements of darkness – darkness within the cosmos and so within us... There are powers who will destroy humanity, shoot him down, just as the police and soldiers shot down the students in Mexico City... They will deny the Chalice exists – with distortions and lies. They will try to forcibly remove it from the hands and hearts of the worthy; they will try to thrust it from the evolutionary stream....

From the three upstage entrances, three men and three women enter, moving to right and left respectively. The three Japanese women then enter, and lastly the Indian men and women. They stand on all three platforms.

FIRST WOMAN
I was dragged to the town square, stripped of my clothes and raped – how many soldiers were there? The people of the town stood about and watched... Then I was killed, to prevent my telling, for it was believed the war would soon be over. Oh no, war wages on in my heart! How can I alleviate my anger and humiliation? Give me a Chalice that I may sip from; that will heal the wounds of my soul.

FIRST MAN
I was but a fifteen-year-old boy, but my father put a noose about my neck and hung me and then himself, for we were in the concentration camp. When I came here I looked back and saw the life that might have been, the life to which I was entitled. My soul was filled with sorrow and longing.

SECOND WOMAN
I tried to run away from the soldiers, but was caught and killed by their dogs. I once had a dog, but he was shot. When I came here he ran to greet me.

SECOND MAN
I was in a barrack in Viet Nam, and that’s all I remember. Next thing I knew I was here.

THIRD WOMAN
My children and I were taken to a place in the woods. We dug our graves and then we were shot. I have been trying to tell them what happened, but they cannot understand.

THIRD MAN
I was in a camp, and starving and in total despair I threw myself into an electrified fence. Despite the weakness of my constitution, I did not die quickly, my death was prolonged and painful.

SCHOOLGIRL
We three Japanese women died in the atomic holocaust. Oh, give us the Chalice, give us the draught of forgetfulness. Thirty years, and we still cannot forget.

THIRD MAN
May we never forget!

BRIDE
Four children would have been born to me and my new husband. I met them here, and my groom also. Now we do not know if there shall be another opportunity for us to be together as a family.

MOTHER
My children grew up here, but look with longing to the fields, streams and villages of Earth – Earth, where they might have further developed their still young souls; where they might have found the Chalice.

FIRST INDIAN WOMAN
I died in 1838, on the Trail of Tears, when promises were broken and the Cherokees were removed from their ancestral homes.

SECOND INDIAN WOMAN
I died of the white man's disease – tuberculosis.

FIRST INDIAN MAN
I was shot down while pleading for peace.

SECOND INDIAN MAN
I was killed in battle, for we were outnumbered twenty to one.

FIRST WOMAN
If we but had the opportunity to find the Chalice, while still in our bodies on the Earth! But our bodies lie buried in fields, or blow through the air as ashes or merge with the salt of the sea.

FIRST MAN
I have seen glory above, and a great Prince with a face like the most radiant of suns, but can I partake of what I see? Was not my life and my death shameful? Could the trumpet be blowing for the shattered debris that we became?

SECOND WOMAN
We have not a chance to find the Chalice, and the young and the spoiled walk on our graves with all their thoughts and goals given over to pleasures and riches.

SECOND MAN
Why couldn’t the dead of the first and second world wars have saved me? My father who survived two wars now weeps for me.

THIRD WOMAN
We still have many relatives below. Can my wishes and their dreams lead them to the Chalice?

THIRD MAN
No one witnessed the moment of my death, nor cared. I was but one of hundreds who threw themselves against the fence. How to look ahead, with such an ignoble death behind me? Speak not of a Chalice – how far away it is, how impossible to attain.

SCHOOLGIRL
We have seen Michael, we have heard his trumpet; he will bring changes upon Earth.

BRIDE
Michael, Prince of Heaven.

MOTHER
We were in the Southwest Temple of America. There is hope!

FIRST INDIAN WOMAN
The white people must recognise the wisdom of the old ways.

SECOND INDIAN WOMAN
They must place the corn and wheat upon new altars.

FIRST INDIAN MAN
The young are frequently seen visiting the Hopi elders.

SECOND INDIAN MAN
They are asking – can Earth survive?

FIRST WOMAN
Who will find the Chalice? None save those who can remember us and ask why we suffered, why we still suffer. But who can hear us? Who can see us? Who can know that we still live?

Slowly, the dead exit back through the upstage entrances.

LYNN
Jay, can we hear the voices of the dead whispering through this plateau – this plateau that was once a home – whispering of wrongs and injustices? Whispering of terrible darknesses?

SCOTT
We walk on ruins, but never forget, on countless graves and tombs.

LYNN
Where is the humanity that once lived here? Or that lived in Chaco, or Egypt, or in Central America, or in Mexico?

SCOTT
And how many today, like yourself, are asking about the Chalice?

JAY
You ask, too, Scott, and Lynn.

LYNN
Perhaps we’re the only ones... perhaps everything is resting on our shoulders.

JAY
It seems so, but let’s hope not.

SCOTT
Here, Earth needs the Triad, the Trinity, and from this must emerge a new or fourth factor, the Cup or Chalice. Overcome the lower ego, or there can be no working together.

JAY
Tell me about it – do you know how many friends and colleagues I started with on this project – on our book? There were nine or ten. Remember, Scott?

SCOTT
They wanted to contribute whole chapters! Then the arguments started. The most controversial subject: Atlantis.

JAY
And the Messiah.

SCOTT
Oh god, yes.

JAY
We had what I like to refer to as "the night of the phone calls," and then we were down to two, until Lynn joined us.

SCOTT
Shall we stay together and get the book done?

JAY
Can we be the Cup Bearers otherwise?

LYNN
You know I have no problem with Atlantis. Well, I have none with the Messiah either.

JAY
On this encouraging note, I believe we'd better get back to camp. Tomorrow’s itinerary?

SCOTT
We head south, through part of the desert known as the Jornada del Muerto or "dead man’s route." If we get our timing and/or our politics right, we may get to visit the Trinity site.

JAY
Trinity?...

SCOTT
Site of the first atomic test, and J. Robert Oppenheimer named it Trinity.

JAY
Just what the country needs, the Trinity.

SCOTT
I don’t know if we want to be around the radioactivity... we’ll see.

JAY
Let’s get some rest - we’ll need it.

They exit over the left platform, and the lights fade out.


In the intervening darkness, a base to hold the hooked stick upright is placed at about the centre of the stage. This base has a natural, imbricated form. Wellesley Tudor Pole enters and stands to the right of the base.

Full, warm lights of the spiritual world fade up. Tudor Pole's head is bowed in deep meditation.

The First Herald enters from the centre upstage opening. He is carrying the hooked stick. After a pause during which he observes Tudor Pole, he descends from the platform and stands to the left of the base. Slowly Tudor Pole opens his eyes and becomes aware of the First Herald.

HERALD
You are absorbed in aspects of the past; from your recent life on earth.

TUDOR POLE
Yes... I am re-visioning important events not long before my death. It appears that one of my last efforts was the turning point for my physical body, which would endure no more. I had been involved in what I called the establishment of a clear channel through which instruction and illumination could be safely conveyed to human consciousness. In the course of that work I lost a certain ring, and the ring was used as a sort of lightning conductor to divert an immense complex of uncontrolled energy; hence my bodily life was preserved. But how useful could I continue to be? I had but a brief measure remaining in the world of time.

HERALD
Ah, but here that allotment was immeasurable. And here you remain... near the Borderland where earthly human form continues to manifest, when you could be expanding your being; exploring the higher cosmic spheres.

TUDOR POLE
There is vastly more to be derived still, from my work with effects – more "to report to the causative regions," as I expressed it, rather in British business terms. Effects – even the lowliest and most horrible – still concern me greatly.

HERALD
Look down then, to see how effects have altered causes! Look to where we find ourselves!

Following the gesture of the Herald, Tudor Pole gazes down.

We are at the top of that familiar form which has staked itself eternally into the ground of our very being – the form of the fountain that spirals up from below – the fountain of human blood and tears – a visible measure of the suffering of those millions upon millions who died violent deaths, unprepared for their lives above. We see the top as a living seed, a living flame of the spirit, ever growing, ever spiralling upwards. Upon this stake, the Christos placed Himself and descended... We cannot now find Him above, in your solar home, but below, in the very pit....

The Herald holds the stick, with both hands, over the base.

My Brother, take the rod once again.

Tudor Pole takes the hooked stick from the Herald. The Herald ascends the upstage platform and stands before the centre entrance. He raises both hands up, then crosses his arms over his chest. From the right and left upstage entrances, the dead re-enter: the six men and women, the three Japanese women, and the four Indian men and women. They descend to the centre stage and place themselves in a semi-circle at centre and left, behind the base. At the same time, the Herald exits slowly back through the centre entrance. After a pause, Tudor Pole speaks.

TUDOR POLE
I would ask what this rod might symbolise for you. It is the measure of man's control over the mineral world. A walking stick with which he maintains his balance in gravity; a weapon he hurls to kill; a staff he uses to rule the earthly kingdoms; a piece of wood with which he builds his home; a crutch he uses to hobble from the battlefield. We live in the age of the mastery over the mineral or physical world, and have been its victims. What deprived you of your lives – and myself of mine? Fire and weapons, combustibles, passions, war, egoism, brutality; all over a measure of land or to dominate peoples, yet all divided by the condition of polarisation, or the cross, so wars to no avail, ignoble, useless wars. As with the rod of Moses, the plagues of humanity are inscribed on this stick. My Guide once used this very stick to point to the pit wherein dwelled the inspirers of atomic weaponry. It was not so long ago. What do we do now? In perfect freedom, freedom from the lower ego, we build the new from the ashes of the old. We become the new free masons, the bearers of the Chalice, which may be filled with the precious Holy Grail of the higher existence.

He places the stick upright in the base.

We will be scientists of the living, but only through an unseen measure: that of selfless Love. Only this Love can effect the living; increase the living fount of the spirit. The higher Self is the universal humanity – the point of unity amongst all the division – symbolised by the Chalice. We will remember this in our essential Selves, no matter the circumstances we find ourselves placed in shadowland. Here is the power of the future...

He moves his hands up and alongside the stick, and small branches, leaves and buds sprout from it.

Power over the living. The new emerges from the old – the physical kingdom, or the triad, or the cross of polarisation and division – it emerges from the silent or neutral centre in the form of a receptacle, which God may fill with a new and higher spiritual substance. This substance must be earned through development of the lower into the higher Self. Now you know the meaning of the Great Work we must begin. In the hereafter we are limited. On Earth we may learn or suffer to learn.

FIRST INDIAN (SINGING CREEK)
And Earth is imperilled.

TUDOR POLE
Let us tear down the walls between the living and the dead and build open pathways in their place. We are the new free masons! Let us inspire those upon Earth! Let our voices be heard!

THIRD MAN
Let us not exclude from our love those of different faiths or races.

FIRST WOMAN
Let us fill the void of evil with understanding, bringing a light, however faint, to the darkness.

SECOND INDIAN MAN
Let us not exclude from our love those who are flawed and act out of error and weakness. May we, by our love and mercy, transform those distortions to health and uprightness, that from this perfect uprightness, yet more perfect living forms may grow.

SECOND INDIAN WOMAN
Let us cure illnesses by our sacrifices and our love.

SINGING CREEK
Let us lay down the arms of killing and take up the spiritual weapons.

SECOND WOMAN
May we love without waiting to be loved.

FIRST INDIAN WOMAN
May we never forget our promises.

SCHOOLGIRL
We will breathe these thoughts and ideas into the minds of those on Earth.

MOTHER
May they search for the healing liquid of the Chalice.

FIRST MAN
May they save the Earth.

BRIDE
We will invite those on Earth to sup from the festive meal of the Chalice, and they in turn will nourish us.

SECOND MAN
We will be the new free masons.

THIRD WOMAN
And unlike the masons of old, we will exclude none from our circle, none.

SECOND INDIAN MAN
The higher Self will lovingly bind the schisms of the strong and weak, of those advanced on the path and those still behind.

TUDOR POLE
All have equality in essential being.

From the right and left upstage openings, the two Angels in white (from Golden River) enter, and are soon followed by the New King Cepheus, who emerges from the centre entrance. All remain on the upstage platform.

KING CEPHEUS
In deed, He followed the gleaming
Tears and the unquenchable blood
To the vales of horror below,
And there He sought one man
Whose countenance He perceived
With the compassionate flame
Of the all-seeing "I" of the Son.

One man – but one – who was yet,
To Him, all men and all women
Confined in dark oblivion.
He walked by the wire fence,
Barbed with vicious spikes,
And saw the imprisoned man.
No flame of the in-dwelling spirit
Rose within the soul –
This had been diminished
To an imperceptible spark.

There was no hope for warmth
Or charity or even pity
Within the man's strong,
Firmly-beating heart;
No half-gesture of appeal
For life from the cold hands
That held the cover about him.

The youthful hair,
Raven black and full,
Had grown long and unkempt –
Once he had been vain,
But now was all unconscious
Of the wind-blown strands
That still graced the dark,
Deeply-frowning brow.

His mouth was turned severely
Downward, an expression
Of grimmest despair.
His dark eyes looked intensely
Through the fence, to the other side,
Yet saw nothing but the abyss,
The unbridgeable chasm
Between his world
And the world of those
Whom he believed were free.

Beside this man
A youthful friend
Was staring vacantly ahead,
The soul as though
Already departed
From the unbearable
Existence...

They were the strong
And the weak together,
The strength unbroken in the one,
The weakness a fading image
Of beauty and frailty
In the other.

He caused the picture of these two
To be emblazed forever
In the material world
And in the sphere of infinity.
Their image shall never be lost,
Even when the stars
Can no longer be seen
Glimmering in the depths
Of the known universe...

Soon they ascended
To my constellation,
These two, and sat
For a brief duration
Upon my great throne.
Now they are fully
With God, the Father,
In whom they had placed
Their faith.

FIRST ANGEL (RIGHT)
The two, the weak and the strong,
Are but two aspects of the One.

SECOND ANGEL
The nations, the races and the sexes
Are but multiple divisions of the One.

KING CEPHEUS
May the peace, harmony and stillness of the One
Bring fulfilment to our eternal questing.

All lights fade out slowly.


The lights fade up on an outdoor setting. As in the first two dramas, effects of moving foliage are created through the lighting. The time is February, 1998, and the place is a park and path overlooking the dry Santa Cruz riverbed in Tucson, Arizona. A bench (which appears to be stone) is placed to the right of the centre. At rise, Jay, now in his fifties (as are Lynn and Scott) is seated on the bench, writing in a small notebook. Lynn, carrying a velvet bag, enters from the left and sits on the centre platform.

JAY
Did you see the Garden of Gethsemane?

LYNN
Yes, and it’s very touching.

JAY
Now I’ll test my notes: "Felix Lucero was a soldier in World War I, and was wounded in battle. Lying upon the battlefield in great pain, he said a prayer to God that if his life was spared he would develop his talent for sculpture, and he promised God that he would create statues depicting the Life of Christ. Miraculously, Felix Lucero was rescued from the battlefield. The larger-than-life figures, made of common materials, even debris, depict the important events of Christ's life: Mary and Joseph with the Child, the Last Supper, Christ standing before Pilate, the Crucifixion, and Christ in the Tomb. The Resurrection is not depicted, perhaps because only the events of His physical life are sculpted... The Garden of Gethsemane has been permanently placed in a small park situated by the Santa Cruz River."

LYNN
Except there’s no river, no water; there’s nothing but dry red dirt and sand.

JAY
Dry in the wintertime, yes, but in the summer, during the monsoon, this same dry riverbed is nearly flooded.

LYNN
Difficult to imagine now.

JAY
What I especially like about this Garden is that its creator was no one of any importance or significance – that is, insofar as his contemporaries were concerned – and yet his work survives. Granted, by a river that has its troubles, but even these troubles serve as a constant reminder, for it was human abuse and corruption that destroyed this river.

LYNN
You’ve picked what I would call a very appropriate locale for meeting Scott. I wouldn’t say symbolic as it’s... well, literal.

JAY
It’s also a good outdoor meeting place; easy to find in Tucson. There’s a car driving up now – that's Scott.

LYNN
If the two of you can’t come to agreement at this meeting, I’m sure Scott will pull out of the book.

JAY
And of far greater harm, out of our triad – what we have called the sacred three.

LYNN
Can’t you compromise, Jay?

JAY
No... that’s the trouble, there’s been too much compromising.

LYNN
He’s walking by the Garden now, and looking....

After a pause, Scott enters from the left. He remains at left, by the platform, his arms folded across his chest.

JAY
Remember our summer in the San Juans, when we placed the shrine near the origins of the Rio Grande? When you found the bowl buried in the rubble, near the cave and the spring?

SCOTT
It’s best not to place too much importance on the bowl.

JAY
Not one authority could identify it, nor explain its unusual alloy. It is clearly Christian in origin – the sun face, the flowing water, the Christ figure, the square mound with its hollow or neutral centre.

SCOTT
I know.

JAY
It seems you’ve forgotten.

SCOTT
There were some possible explanations for it.

JAY
Nothing definite or final.

SCOTT
Look, Jay, if I publish this book with you and Lynn, I’ll be ruined. It was hard enough for me to get my footing again in my field, and I do want to remain in archaeology. Right now I'm involved in some important digs for which I'm being well-paid. What about my family?

JAY
I don’t believe this book can harm you.

SCOTT
Come on, you know the field of archaeology better than that.

JAY
(Rising from the bench) It’s time to write the truth! We’ve put out two books and both skirt around what we really want to say. How much more time do we have, especially to work together?

SCOTT
Don’t involve me in it; don’t use my name, that’s all.

JAY
You found the bowl - and you believe it’s miraculous.

SCOTT
I don’t necessarily believe it’s miraculous. You want to get to the truth, outer and inner. Well, your inner truth isn’t my inner truth. Your convictions aren’t my convictions. And what about Lynn?

LYNN
I agree with Jay. But if these aren’t your convictions, tell us what you honestly believe, Scott.

Scott remains silent.

JAY
When we placed our triangular shrine, we knew there was a Temple – a new Temple – all of us saw and experienced it, even though briefly. We resolved to build a temple on Earth, as a sort of copy of its spiritual archetype. Not an old temple littered by the centuries of corruption, but a new temple on the cleansed site. And we would offer this human contribution, however humble, in our Chalice, or the bowl.

LYNN
Our humble efforts to begin building the New Jerusalem. Three people who can work together!

SCOTT
The world isn’t ready for anything like this.

JAY
There are similar books already on the market.

SCOTT
None about some temple in the sky – co-authored by an archaeologist.

JAY
Someone has to take the first steps. We know the Temple exists.

SCOTT
Why do you need me? Your book can succeed without me.

LYNN
True, it probably will, but we’re splitting, you see, we’re splitting over disagreements.

SCOTT
Fundamental disagreements.

LYNN
But don’t you remember, Scott –

SCOTT
I have a good memory, thanks.

LYNN
No... The higher "I am." No matter even the fundamental differences among the lower egos. The higher Self must rise above and resolve these differences – for the good of all. That is the Chalice.

JAY
Who is more conscious of the importance of working together than the three of us? If we fail to function as a group in accordance with the higher Self, what then?

SCOTT
Christ is not that much of a reality for me, not as much as for you and Lynn. Not as much as for Felix Lucero.

JAY
Yes, but the higher Self is, name it what you will.

SCOTT
I can’t, Jay... Maybe it’s the influence of my wife, my family. Maybe it’s the years of hardship, overcoming my early reputation. Also, our first two books weren’t well-accepted by my colleagues. They humored me a bit. Not this third, I can’t... Why don’t you and Lynn just finish it, finish it without me.

LYNN
The Chalice?

Suddenly angry, Scott abruptly exits left.

So much for the meeting.

JAY
There was no meeting.

There is a distressed pause, then Jay sits resignedly on the centre platform next to Lynn.

LYNN
I suppose you noticed I brought it... It has never failed to inspire you.

Lynn removes the small gleaming bowl from its velvet bag. It shines in hues of copper and gold. Jay takes it from her and examines it once again.

JAY
I’ve meditated on the images on this bowl or cup, and it seems I am in the Temple, although only for fleeting moments. Lynn, I believe this sun face represents Michael.

LYNN
Have you seen Michael in the Temple?

JAY
No, the Temple is so very human in character; I don't believe Michael can so contract his Being. But he’s always a powerful presence there. I once saw him in a series of images, a radiant sun face with – nevertheless – delicate human hands. He pointed to flowing water – perhaps to the Aquarian age or the future – and to the neutral centres of square and rectangular-shaped mounds, such as those carved on this cup. He then touched my thigh, as though affirming: the work with the Earth is good and correct, and you are mine; you belong to me. What is puzzling is that Scott is always part of this work; it is just understood. Yet, look what has happened to his third of our triad.

LYNN
We must continue without him – someone may take his place.

JAY
How could that be? Haven’t we tried over and over to interest others?

LYNN
If matters have progressed this far with us, I don’t think there can be any steps backward. And two are better than one. "Where two or more are gathered in My Name...."

JAY
I agree, we absolutely must finish the book.

LYNN
Oh, wait till you see the colour photos of the bowl! There’s a very good one of the sun face. These can be at the centre with the other illustrations, but somehow so surpassing them! Perhaps the other illustrations should be in black and white... well, a few can be in colour, the mountains especially.

JAY
(Looking carefully at the bowl) What is this line? Not a mere line, but some sort of design. I hadn’t noticed it before.

Lynn looks at the bowl.

LYNN
I noticed it, but didn’t think it had any special meaning. It shows up clearly in some of the photos.

JAY
What does it remind me of?...

LYNN
It looks like... truly, like some sort of stick or branch.

JAY
The walking stick! The hiker at Chaco Canyon, all those years ago, remember?

LYNN
Oh, yes!... But, seriously?

JAY
I’m certain there’s a connection. This is no mere abstract design; it’s a stick or a branch or a rod or a sword.

LYNN
Michael’s sword.

JAY
Perhaps that, too....

Slowly he returns the bowl to its velvet bag. Then he slowly rises from the platform, and Lynn follows.

Let’s walk a bit, shall we?

LYNN
In the Garden of Gethsemane.

They exit, left, and the lights fade out.

The lights fade up again on the Southwest Temple. The colours of the Temple are the same as in Golden River. From the centre upstage entrance the Atlantean Initiate enters, followed by Wellesley Tudor Pole and the First Herald from the left upstage entrance. The three remain at centre and left on the upstage platform.

INITIATE
The past echoes in my Temple,
The past we worked with
And healed...
It echoes with ringing clarity
And is almost painfully glaring,
With too many coloured facets
For the eye to fully see,
Or the soul to fully absorb –
Like a too-bright gem.


Of late all activity –
Save these echoes of the past –
Have ceased in my Temple.
And whilst the doors are opened wide,
Nary a soul from below steps softly in...

FIRST HERALD
Some have climbed the rainbow, peered in the door, and even passed by your ferocious guardians without half blinking, but none have tread the crystal floors of the Temple in full consciousness.

INITIATE
What shall happen to us and the heavenly world if no human beings, through their own efforts, can now enter the Temple? How is our heavenly existence to know its renewal; its continued life? The angels can no longer generously pour the golden blessings from their vials when the liquid but singes the ground and turns to flame. Are we to have no Golden Age?

TUDOR POLE
We have not seen great changes in the early twenty-first century, but some ought to find their way here.

FIRST HERALD
If only a few...

INITIATE
A few would be enough.

FIRST HERALD
Ah, but no one enters....

TUDOR POLE
Are we to have a future? Come, however full of darkness, however laden with error or flaw, come, you shall be most welcome.

INITIATE
None enter...

For a few moments they wait, looking toward the right. The First Herald begins to withdraw. Then they hear something and look eagerly to the right.

From the right, Lynn and Jay enter. They are dressed in pale garments with touches of rainbow colour. Jay carries the cup and stands at the centre of the stage, with Lynn to his left. After a pause, Scott also enters from the right and stands to the right of Jay. Jay and Lynn greet him with great joy, then Jay raises the cup.

JAY
I am!

The lights fade slowly, and lastly on Jay, Lynn, Scott and the cup.