On Thursday March 30th the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon (or

Roygnon) will review and discuss the 1982 Bestseller "Holy Blood, Holy

Grail" by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln. This is the

book that generated "The Da Vinci Code" and is the first mainstream

modern speculation on Jesus being married to Mary Magdalene and possibly

having heirs who become The Grail Family and, according to the author's

become the magical, holy bloodline of the Legendary Merovingian dynasty

of French Kings in the days of King Arthur. This bloodline is

perpetuated and protected by a medieval secret society that still exists

in modern France, The Priory of Sion (Zion). The book is a door-stopper

and not very well organized. They try to make it read like a detective

story rather than a straight forward documentary presentation. Unless

you are fascinated by the subject you may get bogged down with all the

mystery before you reach the solution -- but if you stick with it the

overall effect is convincing. And to devout Christians perhaps shocking.

There are some problems, not with the idea of the Grail family. That is

very well presented, but with the authenticity of the Priory of Sion

itself. Yes there was one back in medieval times -- but is today's

fraternity and its family leadership directly connected to the early

medieval Merovingians? In any case the book is a great introduction to

this fascinating subject. It certainly got me to looking into my old

French antecedents. I discovered the Merovingian "golden bees" on the

Roygnon family crest and began to wonder if I had a little of this

magical blood? I recall Hamlet said: "To bee or not to bee." I wonder if

he was Merovingian. Tune in and we'll explore the mystery of the Grail

Family.