Hi Smetters,
What an interesting read.
Thanks a lot and no need to duck for cover,lol.
I would rather hear you take on the freemasons
please you picked my curiosity. Don't be shy......

I can see your point of a lineage which in my view
is not incompatible with the symbolism.
I personally think that good poetry or legends
are written for 2 kind of people (the non initiate
who take things literally and the initiate who
can understand the parables and the allegorical
sense)......... Same for the Bible.
I remember for example that the favorite song of
Bernard de Clairvaux was the Cantiques of Cantiques
which if taken literally is quite erotic in nature
(I had the occasion to read it in french) same for
some mystic experiences of Saint (females in extasy)
so was it a way to conceal mystical experience or
the contrary or both ? I have read that some knights
had a sister, a daughter or a spouse to sustain them
morally in their endavours, the celibates ones had girlfriends
but most of the time a mystical bond formed between both
sexes where platonic love thrived that is why unless
you have lived with them at the time it is so difficult
to understand the true nature of those bonds.
you wrote :
Her father blazed the trail for the fashion of Courtly Love and troubadours where women were put on a pedestal and worshiped from afar (how nice….). Incidentally the Grail stories began to flourish at about the same time.

I agree it is nice to be worshipped from afar and put on a pedestal,lol.
On the other hand if one adopt the theory of the royal lineage where
the sacrificial King had a twin who acted in the shadow (same for royal princess) is it possible that the worshipping of woman or man from afar
was aimed at concealing a secret parentage through "romance" and "courtship" ? It spring to mind especially after reading Rex Deus and the Da Vinci Code. Those lineage were persecuted and the family were always separating the children in far away location. Those children longed for each other (Mary Magdeleine I have seen was the half sister of Jesus)
and Jesus itself is said to have escaped the Cruxifiction thanks to his twin Thomas Didyme who sacrificed himself so that Jesus could carry his secret mission.......... If this lineage really exist can you imagine the drama of the children separated for let's say decades......I am sure this has done a lot of damage in the spyche of generation of children.........and would explain recurrent nightmares of little children who apparently have no reason to be scared.......... Just a theory.......
Now let's hear what you have to say about freemasons...
Cheers,
Magdalen