Into this situation comes a silver clad catalyst, Lancelot, come to help them move to the next level because they lack the awareness or capacity to evolve without nudging. Lancelot disputes a ford with them, a classic liminal spot, a transition point from one level of significance to the other. Such cross sections of reality, these thresholds, are always perilous spots for the unwary, but the aware soul uses the great energies available there to speed up their evolution. Arthur rides out to fight this knight who beats all his men so easily. Lancelot is invincible and Arthur's dragon nature flares up in a display of the petulance that would become his doom. In the midst of flowing water, clean, life renewing, creative symbol, he calls upon the power of Excalibur and smites Lancelot. It was a lack of awareness that befitted Uther. Excalibur should have enabled him to accept the truth that Lancelot is a better hand at war, but his pride caused him to misuse the power of the earth and the sword shatters. Merlin is aghast, but a water Spirit rises with the sword repaired so that they all get a second chance. Lancelot is saved and so is the spirit of Camelot.

This episode is a creative reworking of the original tale. The Sword in the Stone is not Excalibur, this one is, but by blending the two tales, the dramatic intensity of what Excalibur signifies is maintained. Also the episode is a great nodal point in myth, the meeting place at the margins of the Great Elements and all they signify. The sword is the Awareness as well as the air and intellectual element. The lake or stream is the water. The Stone or rocks of the streams are the earth element. And Arthur himself, the dragon, is the fire or creative element. It is one of the great structures of all authentic myths that they have such an episode, or many episodes, of the meeting of elements and is one of the signs which differentiate a myth from a mere fairy tale. Such Nodal Events always signify a high point of the narrative or indicate a dramatic shift that has long-term repercussions. Such is the case here too.


Camelot rises with Arthur wedding Guinevere and in a sheen of silver armor that everyone wears in emulation of Lancelot. Chivalry and nobility are the new guiding lights. But there is a serpent in paradise, Morgan Le Fay, half sister of Arthur and possessed of the old blood like Merlin. She makes a mentor of the lonely old mage who is desperate to communicate his knowledge to somebody. She also stirs up enough trouble between Lancelot and the queen, until they are almost driven into each other's arms by the suspicion that everybody holds them in. Morgan Le Fay also seduces Arthur by assuming Guinevere's form, a malicious reiteration of Uther's ruse. From that liaison is born Modred, child of Unawareness. He is constantly dressed in Gold armor, an Asura vision of life, sensate greedy, cold and unfeeling and perpetually dazzled by its own idols.

Lancelot and the queen betray Arthur, and the king, vulnerable to his dragon rage, drives Excalibur into the ground between their guilty bodies. Awareness has turned upon itself because of anger, and the earth, the Dragon is blighted. Merlin is tricked into immobility in a cavern of glass by Le Fay, and evil rides the land in no uncertain terms. [This is confusing the actual witch-maiden who does so, Vivienne, with Le Fay, but it works in the context of the movie and is more psychologically accurate. It is a very Hindu touch, the invincible tower that is the sage brought down in dotage because he could not resist a pretty face.] Arthur has forsaken Excalibur and he has lost his spirit too. The land darkens and turns putrid, until living itself is agony. Lancelot carries a ever-fresh wound as punishment for his betrayal, the queen hides away in a nunnery, the light is perpetually muddy, the waters brown and the land lost and confused because the king, its living symbol, is Unaware. The Quest for the Grail begins as a desperate expedient to save the land from this curse. Since it was done for an unvoiced but ever-present pride, it is a miserable failure, and creates the real break up of the Round Table. Only Galahad, youngest and least cynical of the knights understands the secret of the Grail. The king is the land and the blight is something he has brought upon it because he chooses to live in gloom and bitterness. And all the while the power of Modred grows, with the king too indifferent to oppose it.

When the Grail is found however Arthur has a last burst of spirit and he rouses himself to put down Modred's forces of darkness. That simple act of Will is the salvation of the land and the blight gives way to bursting blooms - for the Spirit of the land, the king, is again Aware of its strength and it will not be denied. He learns the queen is alive and goes to meet her, pardoning her and seeking pardon in his own right for what has transpired. He realizes at last that he cannot rule, or be true to his destiny, by holding on to anger and refusing to forgive. He was too great a man to desire to be loved like any other human; that was a weakness and a falling away from his Hero Nature. "One cannot gaze too long at the sun," a chastened, but more understanding Guinevere assures him. She respected him too much to fully love him. He too understands. "I was not born to be like other men but to be the stuff of future memory. Now I must ride with my knights to defend what was and the dream of what could be." He realizes that it is impossible to rebuild Camelot, but it can still be redeemed. They fight to ensure that the Fair Time will not be forgotten, so that people will always struggle to bring the Fair Time back. The queen has kept Excalibur safe and he rides to meet Modred with it, his Awareness finally restored. For the first time he has consciously embraced his Hero destiny, instead of being driven to it by circumstance.

Merlin has one last bolt to shoot from his frozen prison on behalf of Arthur, and he manages to befuddle and destroy Morgan Le Fay so that she cannot use her powers to help her demon spawn. Lancelot arrives at the battle of Camlan in time to decimate the forces of Modred, but dies with his effort. Modred calls to Arthur in a harrowing scene, "Come father, let us embrace at last''. His lance impales Arthur fatally, the personification of the fatal consequences of one's Unaware actions. Arthur, in a supreme act of will and wisdom in working through those consequences, drags himself along the lance and slays Modred with Excalibur ensuring that his mistakes and blindness, his Unawareness does not survive. That action sets Merlin free, and the waters of the Lake swallow Excalibur when the wounded king dies. Man is not yet prepared to shoulder the responsibilities of Constant Awareness. Arthur is supposed to have passed over to Avalon to be healed and to return at the time of his country's greatest need. Britain waits for her Rex Quondam Et Futuris, the Once and Future King when Full Consciousness can return to govern the turbulent passions.


As an endnote and testament to the peculiar power of mythology is the curious fact that no Prince of England who was baptized Arthur has ever managed to live till he was king. The Return of the King is a millennial event, promising the return of the Fair Time, and the collective unconscious, indeed the very earth energies, seem to have some problems with anybody who is not the real Pendragon.

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