Philip Gardiner, author of the best-selling book THE SHINING ONES (2002), and co-writer Gary Osborn, began their research by tracing the extent and influence of the snake cult worldwide, both in ancient and more modern times. This revealed that the central rite of the cult involved snake venom being mixed with snake blood in a ceremonial vessel, which in European tradition came to be known as a 'grail'. Moreover, it can be shown that this powerful concoction was alluded to in ancient texts as the Elixir of Life, which was said to contain healing properties that prolonged life.

Modern science is now investigating snake venom as a means to treat life-threatening diseases, and to prolong life. Indeed, it has been medically proven to enhance t-cell replication. Yet Gardiner and Osborn provide compelling evidence that ancient shamans masked any knowledge they held concerning snake venom as the elixir in myth and symbolism. Beyond this rose an evocative tradition surrounding the shaman's embodiment of the snake: absorbing the snake venom and blood mixture caused those initiated into the great mystery not only to achieve enlightenment but also to glisten in a manner which led to them being remembered as the Shining Ones.

Gardiner and Osborn show that the cult of the serpent was a worldwide phenomenon behind the genesis of world religions - including Christianity. They argue also that Christ was a purely literary figure that sprang out of the concept of the perceived bloodline of the serpent cult. More traces of this universal current are expressed in the Naga snake cults of India and the Dragon descent of the Emperors of China, not to mention the serpent lineages among the royalty in South America and Europe.

The incredible findings of Gardiner and Osborn, which feature in THE SERPENT GRAIL, have dramatic repercussions for our understanding not only of shamanic experience and human consciousness, but also for the story of the Watchers and Nephilim as presented in the Book of Enoch.

In 2002, Gardiner self-published his highly successful book THE SHINING ONES (radikalbooks.com), which offers evidence that an ancient priesthood called the 'Shining Ones' developed into the world's most powerful and ancient secret society. His new book THE SERPENT GRAIL is written with Gary Osborn, an experienced writer on mysticism and esoteric traditions. He has a career also in media-management and graphic design, who in his spare time is a portrait artist and semi-professional jazz-rock musician and composer.

Osborn has co-written several articles for the respected journal SHAMAN'S DRUM, covering subjects related to ancient mysteries, esoteric traditions, alchemy, mysticism, ancient shamanism and the nature of human consciousness. He has also been involved in various projects related to members of the Esalen Physics of Consciousness Group - having been a daily contributor to a forum, which included theoretical physicists, Jack Sarfatti and Hal Puthof, astronaut Edgar Mitchell, author Colin Wilson and psychic Uri Geller.