PERHAPS THE MOST impressive and controversial relics to
come out of ancient times are the pyramids of Egypt. The
remains of at least seventy to eighty of those structures are
scattered all along the upper Nile region as silent reminders
of a once powerful civilization.
The largest and most famous Egyptian pyramid is the
Pyramid of Cheops (the "Great Pyramid"). It stands today
beside several others on an elevated plateau in Gizeh, Egypt.
The dimensions of this pyramid are impressive.
It towers nearly five hundred feet high and covers thirteen acres of
land at its base. Built of stones weighing an average of
21/2 tons each, the entire structure is estimated to weigh
5,273,834 tons.
A remarkable characteristic which makes the Great Pyramid one of the "Seven Wonders of the Ancient World" is the precision of its construction. The stones of the pyramid
were cut so perfectly that a sheet of paper cannot be inserted
between the blocks in many places. This precision, coupled
with the enormous bulk of the structure, helps account for
the pyramid's long life and durability. The pyramid was
built to last.
Perhaps the greatest mystery surrounding the Great Pyramid was its purpose. Most pyramids are thought to have been
burial tombs. History tells us that the Great Pyramid was
employed for other purposes, as well. For example, some of
its inner chambers had been used for mystical and religious
rites. Yet a third and infinitely more practical use can also
be found:
The Great Pyramid is an excellent marker for aerial
navigation.
The four sides of the Great Pyramid precisely face the
four compass points: north, south, east and west. The sides
are directed so exactly that the widest deviation is only
one twelfth of a degree on the east side. In addition, the
Great Pyramid is situated less than five miles south of the
northern thirtieth parallel. The Great Pyramid can therefore be used as a reference point for sectioning the entire
planet into a three-dimensional grid of 30-, 60-, and 90-
degree angles with the North Pole, South Pole, Equator
and center of the earth as reference points. This feature
is especially useful because the Great Pyramid is located
at the center of the Earth's land masses. Knowing only
the dimensions of the Earth and having a method of calculating how far one has traveled, one can very effectively
navigate, especially by air, from the Great Pyramid to any
point on Earth using the 30-60-90 degree grids and the
compass directions indicated by the pyramid. The only
deviation comes from the fact that the Earth is not a perfect sphere, but is slightly flattened at the poles and widened at the Equator. However, this deviation is so slight,
amounting to only 26.7 miles (.0003367 or the fraction
1/298), that it is easily compensated for. Interestingly, when
the Great Pyramid was first built, it was even more valuable
as an aerial navigation marker than it is today because it
had been covered with a casing of fine white limestone.
The limestone blocks were carved so precisely that the
pyramid looked from a distance as though it had been
hewn from a single white rock. The limestone reflected
the sun, making the pyramid visible from a much greater
distance.*
The unique characteristics of the pyramids at Gizeh raise
interesting questions about those monuments. Since they
serve an aerial navigation function so well, were they built
at least partially for that purpose? If they were, who could
have possibly had use for them in 2000 B.C.? A possible
clue to the riddle may lie on the moon.
On November 22, 1966, the Washington Post ran a
front-page headline proclaiming: "Six Mysterious Statuesque
Shadows Photographed on the Moon by Orbiter." The Post
story, which was picked up later by the Los Angeles Times,
described a lunar photograph snapped two days earlier by
U.S. space probe Orbiter 2 as it passed twenty to thirty
miles above the moon's surface. The photograph seems
to reveal six spires arranged in a purposeful geometrical
pattern inside a small portion of the Sea of Tranquility. The
pointedness of the lunar objects' shadows indicates that they
are all either cone- or pyramid-shaped. Although the official
NASA press release mentioned nothing unusual about the
photograph, other people found the picture remarkable. Dr.
William Blair of the Boeing Institute of Biotechnology
stated:
If the cuspids [cone-shaped spires] really were the
result of some geophysical event it would be natural to expect to see them distributed at random. As
a result, the triangulation would be scalene [three
unequal sides] or irregular, whereas those concerning
the lunar object lead to a basilary system, with coordinate x, y, z to the right angle, six isosceles triangles
and two axes consisting of three points each.'
In Argosy magazine, Soviet space engineer Alexander
Abromov went a step further by stating:
The distributiori of these lunar objects is similar to
the plan of the Egyptian pyramids constructed by
Pharaohs Cheops, Chephren, and Menkaura at Gizeh,
near Cairo. The centers of the spires of this lunar
"abaka" [arrangement of pyramids] are arranged in
precisely the same way as the apices [tips] of the
three great pyramids.2
Assuming Drs. Blair and Abromov have not grievously
miscalculated, it appears that some of the pyramids of Earth
may be part of a permanent marking system that extends
to more than one planet of our solar system. The system
may even extend to Mars. Pyramidlike objects have been
photographed on the Martian surface. Pictures snapped by
the U.S. Viking mission in 1976 show the Martian region of
Cydonia to contain possible pyramidlike objects and what
appears to be a huge sculpted face nearby staring skyward.
It is easy to argue that the Martian pyramids and face are
natural formations not unlike some found on Earth; however,
one, and possibly two, other "faces" have been discovered
elsewhere on Mars with strikingly similar features, such as
the "helmet," cheek notches, and indentation above the right
eye.* Perhaps equally interesting is the fact that one pyramid
in Cydonia has a side pointing due north towards the Martian
spin axis. Is this alignment chance, or is there a connection to
the Great Pyramid at Gizeh which is also aligned according
to precise compass directions?
It is, of course, possible that the objects on the moon and
Mars will prove to be rock formations after all. Available
photographs seem inadequate to establish the formations as
artificial. If they are artificial, it is clear from the photographs that they have undergone a fair degree of erosion.
Only a closer look during future missions to the moon
and Mars will resolve the controversy. The objects are
certainly worth closer investigation because the moon has
hosted UFO phenomena for centuries, including inside the
Sea of Tranquility.3
Even if the Martian or lunar objects prove to be natural formations, that would not change the clearly artificial nature of Earth's pyramids. This compels us to return
our focus to the pyramids of Egypt. For whom did the
ancient Egyptians say they were building their magnificent
structures?
Like the ancient Mesopotamians, the early ancient Egyptians claimed to be living under the rule of humanlike extraterrestrial "gods." The Egyptians wrote that their "gods"
traveled into the heavens in flying "boats." (These "boats"
were later mythologized to explain the movement of the
sun.) The "gods" of Egypt's early period were said to be
literal flesh-and-blood creatures with the same needs for
food and shelter as human beings. Actual homes had been
built for them. Those homes were furnished with human
servants who later became Egypt's first priests. According to
renowned historian James Henry Breasted, the earliest servants of the "gods" were laymen who performed their duties
without ceremony or ritual. Their jobs consisted simply of
providing the "gods" with ". . . those things which formed
the necessities and luxuries of an Egyptian of wealth and
rank at that time: plentiful food and drink, fine clothing,
music and dance."*
Many people identify ancient Egyptian religion with the
worship of animals. This type of veneration was unknown
during the early period of the Egyptian civilization. According to Professor Breasted:
... the hawk, for example, was the sacred animal of
the sun-god, and as such a living hawk might have
a place in the temple, where he was fed and kindly
treated, as any such pet might be; but he was not
worshipped, nor was he the object of an elaborate
ritual as later.4
The records of ancient Egypt have given us many clues as
to who might have had use for a permanent marking system
to navigate various planets of our solar system: the Custodial society. The first pyramid of Egypt was designed by
Imhotep, Prime Minister to Egyptian king Zoser-Neterkhet.
Imhotep was said to be the son of Egypt's most important
Custodial "god" during his day: Ptah. Egyptian lore written after Imhotep's time adds that Imhotep had received
the pyramid design in a plan "which descended to him
from heaven to the north of Memphis [a city in ancient
Egypt]."5
The Great Pyramid at Gizeh, which was built
several generations later during the "Age of the Pyramids,"
was constructed according to the methods established by
Imhotep. It was during the Age of the Pyramids, which
began around 2760 B.C., that worship of the humanlike
"gods" reached its height; more than 2000 gods then existed.
It was for their "gods" that the Egyptians had ultimately built
their most important pyramids. The many pyramids built
after those at Gizeh are generally inferior and are viewed
as imitations.
Some theorists believe that the "ancient astronauts" of
Egypt had used their space age technology to lift stones
and to otherwise assist in the construction of the Gizeh
pyramids. This hypothesis is neither certain nor necessary
to sustain the "ancient astronaut" theory. Egyptian records
tend to support the idea that human labor had provided the
primary muscle for the pyramids' construction. This would
have been in keeping with the Mesopotamian contention that
Homo sapiens had been created to be a labor pool for the
Custodial "gods."
It is hardly surprising that the pharaohs and priests who
acted on behalf of the "gods" were often immensely
unpopular with the Egyptian people. The Old Kingdom
(ca. 2685-2180 B.C.) was followed by a period of weakness
and unrest. Even the Great Pyramid of Cheops had been
broken into by unhappy Egyptians. According to historian
Ahmed Fakhry:
The Egyptians so hated the builders of the pyramids
that they threatened to enter these great tombs and
destroy the mummies of the kings.6
Such intense loathing is certainly not surprising. In order
to get the great pyramids built, Egyptian society was made
more repressive in order to make human labor operate with
greater machinelike efficiency. Occupations became rigid
so that it was difficult to move from one type of job to
another. Laymen ceased to serve the "gods": an impenetrable priesthood was erected instead. Personal happiness
and achievement were sacrificed in the name of labor productivity. Feudalism had arrived in Egypt.
As the pharaohs were busy helping to make slaves out of
their fellow humans, the "gods" were making fools out of the
pharaohs. Imhotep, reputed son of the "god" Ptah, instituted
the concept of the pharaoh as "God-King." This elitist title
was little appreciated by most Egyptians. As "God-Kings,"
the pharaohs were made to think that they were elevated
above the toiling human multitudes. The pharaohs were
taught that if they cooperated with Custodial plans, they
would escape the human predicament by joining the "gods"
in the heavens.
There was just one catch.
The pharaohs would be allowed to escape Earth only
after they had died! Pharaohs were taught the silly idea
that if they had their dead bodies carefully preserved, the
bodies would be brought back to life and they could join
the Custodial "gods" in the heavens. Some pharaohs, like
Cheops, also buried large wooden boats near their tombs.
According to some scholars, the pharaohs believed that
their entombed boats ("solar barks") would be magically
exhumed and endowed with the same power that caused
the "boats" of the "gods" to fly. The pharaohs believed that
they would be whisked away after death in their magicallypowered wooden boats to the home of the "gods" in the
heavens.
Although Egyptian preservation techniques were quite
good, it is clear that the pharaohs' minds were being filled
with nonsense. The wooden "solar barks" never flew. Few,
if any, mummified bodies of the great God-Kings reached
the heavens. Instead, many mummies have become macabre museum curiosities for the titillation of the human
multitudes that the pharaohs so fervently hoped to escape.
Other mummies suffered an even more humiliating fate:
they were ground up and used as an ingredient in medicines. Pulverized mummies also became paint additives
because of the preservatives used in the mummification
process.
The puzzle is why the pharaohs believed the cruel joke
which had been perpetrated on them. Some historians suggest that mummification was an attempt to imitate the
life-cycle of the butterfly. Others believe that the pharaohs
wanted to maintain their wealth and position in their next
lifetimes and therefore desired to be resurrected in the
same bodies. One UFO writer has suggested that they were
striving to duplicate body preservation techniques used by
Egypt's technologically-advanced "gods." Ancient Egyptian
records, however, reveal an even more compelling reason
why the pharaohs mummified themselves: spiritual knowledge had been twisted.
Ancient Egyptians believed in a "soul," or "serf," as
an entity completely separate from the "person" (meaning "body"). Egyptians labeled one such spiritual entity
the "ka." The Egyptians believed that the "ka," not the
body, was one of the spiritual entities that constituted the
true person and that the body itself had no personality
or intelligence without a spiritual entity. This generally
enlightened view was given a false twist, however. The
Egyptians were made to believe that the spiritual well of the
"ka" after death depended upon the "ka" maintaining contact with a physical body. According to historian Fakhry:
The Egyptian wanted his Ka to be able to recognize its body after death and to be united with it;
for this reason he felt that it was very important to
have his body preserved. This is why the Egyptians
mummified their bodies and excelled in embalming
them.7
The pharaohs went even a step further. Mr. Fakhry
explains:
The Egyptians also made statues and placed them in
tombs and temples to act as substitutes for the body
if it should perish.8
These practices had a devastating impact on spiritual
understanding. They caused people to wrongly equate spiritual wholeness with spiritual attachment to human bodies
(or to body substitutes). Such teachings encouraged humans
to accept the Custodial intention to permanently join spiritual beings to Homo sapiens bodies. The powerful human
drives for spiritual integrity and immortality were twisted
into an obsessive quest to preserve bodies. Philosophies of
materialism were thereby hastened. Materialism, by one of
its definitions, is the overpreoccupation with things at the
material level and neglecting important aspects of ethical
and spiritual existence. This often leads to the second definition of materialism: the belief that everything, including thought and emotion, can be explained entirely by
movements and changes in physical matter. Although the
Egyptians had not embraced the latter definition as a philosophy of life, they had helped move the world a step in
that direction.
The derailment of spiritual knowledge in Egypt was
caused by the corruption of the Brotherhood of the Snake,
to which the pharaohs and priests belonged. As mentioned
earlier, after its reported defeat thousands of years ago
by its Custodial enemies, the Brotherhood continued to
remain dominant in human affairs, but at the cost of
becoming a Custodial tool. To understand how the cor-rupted Brotherhood began to distort spiritual truth and
perpetuate theological irrationality, we must first look at
the early inner workings of the Brotherhood and its method
of teaching.
The original uncorrupted Brotherhood engaged in a pragmatic program of spiritual education. The organization's
approach was scientific, not mystical or ceremonial. The
subject of the spirit was considered to be as knowable as
any other science. It seems that the Brotherhood possessed
a considerable body of accurate spiritual data, but it had
not succeeded in developing a complete route to spiritual
freedom prior to its defeat.
Brotherhood teachings were arranged as a step-by-step
process. A student was required to satisfactorily complete
one level of instruction before proceding to the next one.
All pupils took oaths of secrecy in which they swore never
to reveal the teachings of a level to any person who had
not yet graduated up to that level. This style of instruction
was designed to ensure that a student did not prematurely
attempt difficult spiritual feats or become overwhelmed by
advanced level-information before he was ready for it,
in the same way that one does not take a student driver
on treacherous mountain roads before the student successfully navigates easier, but increasingly difficult, highways first.
Imparting spiritual knowledge in this fashion will be
effective as long as the levels are ultimately open to
everyone. When arbitrary or blanket restrictions are placed
on who may have access to the teachings, either through
overregulation, elitism, or by setting near-impossible conditions for admittance, the system of confidential step-by-step
levels changes from an educational tool into an instrument of
spiritual repression. The Brotherhood underwent just such a
change.
The teachings of the Brotherhood in ancient Egypt
were organized into an institution known as the "Mystery Schools." The Schools furnished the pharaohs and
priests with most of their scientific, moral, and spiritual education. According to Dr. H. Spencer Lewis,
founder of the Rosicrucian Order headquartered in SanJose, California,* the first temple built for use by the
Mystery Schools was erected by Pharaoh Cheops. Inside
those temple walls, spiritual knowledge underwent the
deterioration which caused pharaohs to mummify their
bodies and bury wooden boats. According to old Egyptian
lore, the distorted teachings of the Mystery Schools were
created by the "great teacher," Ra, an important Custodial
"god."
The Mystery Schools not only twisted spiritual knowledge, they greatly restricted public access to any theological
truths still surviving. Only the pharaohs, priests, and a few
others deemed worthy were accepted into the Schools. Initiates were required to take solemn vows never to reveal to
any outsiders the "secret wisdom" they were taught; students
were threatened with dire consequences if they broke the
vow. These restrictions were reportedly established to prevent misuse of high-level knowledge by those who might
degrade that knowledge or use it harmfully.
While this is a legitimate reason to develop safeguards, the restrictions
imposed by the Mystery Schools went far beyond simple
security. Entire social and occupational groups were denied
membership. The vast majority of the human population
had no hope of entering the Schools; their access to any
surviving spiritual knowledge was therefore severely limited. The Biblical "revolving sword" preventing access to
the "tree of knowledge" was being put into place by those
who ran the Mystery Schools.
The Mystery Schools caused spiritual knowledge to evaporate in another way. The Schools forbade its members from
physically recording the Schools' most advanced teachings.
Initiates were required to relay the information orally. There
is no faster way to lose knowledge than to forbid its being
written down. No matter how sincere and well-trained people may be, word-of-mouth will invariably result in changes
to the ideas being relayed. With a word substituted here and
a sentence omitted there, the semantic precision needed to
communicate an exact scientific principle will be lost. This
is one way that a functional science can quickly degrade
into an untenable superstition.
As time went on, the Brotherhood became so restrictive
that it excluded most of Egypt's own priests from membership. This was especially true during the reign of King
Thutmose III, who ruled about 1200 years after Cheops.
Thutmose III is best known for his military adventures
which expanded the Egyptian empire to its greatest size.
According to Dr. Lewis, Thutmose III took the final step
of transforming the Brotherhood into a completely closed
order. He established rules and regulations reportedly still
used by some Brotherhood organizations today.
Changes in the Brotherhood continued. Less than one
hundred years after the reign of Thutmose III, his descendant, King Akhnaton (Amenhotep IV), spent the last year
of his 28-year life transforming Brotherhood teachings into
mystical symbols. Akhnaton's symbols were intentionally
designed to be incomprehensible to everyone except those
Brotherhood members who were taught the symbols' secret
meanings. The Brotherhood ostensibly created this new
system of visual images to be a universal "language" of
spiritual enlightenment transcending human languages, and
to prevent misuse of knowledge. In real fact, the intention
was to create a secret code designed to make spiritual knowledge unattainable to everyone except those admitted into the
increasingly elite Brotherhood, and apparently to eventually
obliterate spiritual knowledge altogether. The translation of
spiritual data into bizarre and incomprehensible symbols
has brought about the spectacle of honest people trying to
decode garbled symbols in a quest for spiritual truths which
can, and should be, communicated in everyday language
understandable by anyone.
Despite the obvious sincerity of Akhnaton, we discover
that the transformation of spiritual knowledge into a system of obscure symbols has had a devastating impact on
human society. As this manner of relaying spiritual knowledge was disseminated throughout the world by members
of the Brotherhood, all knowledge of a spiritual nature
became misidentified with bizarre symbols and mystery.
This misidentification is so strong today that almost all
studies of the spirit and spiritual phenomena are lumped into
such disgraced classifications as "occultism," "spiritualism,"
and witchcraft. The attempt thousands of years ago to keep
spiritual knowledge out of the hands of the "profane" has
almost entirely destroyed the credibility and utility of that
knowledge. Brotherhood symbolism was another piece of
the Biblical "revolving sword" blocking human access to
spiritual knowledge. It has left only the confusion, ignorance
and superstition which have come to characterize so much
of the field today.
Akhnaton presided over another important development
in the Brotherhood. Although the young ruler had fared
poorly as a political leader, he achieved everlasting fame
for his efforts to champion the cause of monotheism, i.e., the
worship of a "one only" God. Monotheism was a Brotherhood teaching and many historians cite Akhnaton as the
first important historical figure to broadly promulgate the
concept.
To aid in the establishment of the Brotherhood's new
monotheism, Akhnaton moved the capital of Egypt to the
city of El Amarna. He also relocated the main temple
of the Brotherhood there. When the Egyptian capital was
moved back to its original situs, the Brotherhood remained
in El Amarna. This signaled an important break between
Egypt's established priesthood, which resisted Akhnaton's
monotheism, and the highly exclusive Brotherhood which
no longer admitted most priests to membership.
The ancient Egyptian empire eventually decayed and vanished. The Brotherhood of the Snake fared much better. It
survived and expanded by sending out from Egypt missionaries and conquerors who established Brotherhood branches
and offshoots throughout the civilized world. These Brotherhood emissaries widely disseminated the Brotherhood's new
"one God" religion and eventually made it the dominant
theology throughout the world.
In addition to launching "one God" theology, the Snake
Brotherhood created many of the symbols and regalia still
used by some important monotheistic religions today. For
example, the Brotherhood temple in El Amarna was constructed in the shape of a cross—a symbol later adopted by
the Brotherhood's most famous offshoot: Christianity. Some
Brotherhood members in Egypt wore the same special outfits
with a "cord at the loin" and a covering for the head as later
used by Christian monks. The chief priest of the Egyptian
temple wore the same type of broad-sleeved gown used
today by clergymen and choir singers. The chief priest also
shaved his head in a small round spot at the top—an act
later adopted by Christian friars.
Many theologians hail monotheism as an important religious breakthrough. Worshipping a spiritual "one-only God"
is indeed an improvement over the idolization of stone
statues and clumsy animals. Unfortunately, Brotherhood
monotheism still did not represent a return to complete
accuracy; it simply added new distortions to whatever spiritual knowledge still remained.
Based upon what we are coming to know about the nature
of the spiritual being, we find that two false twists appear to
lay in the Brotherhood's definition of a Supreme Being:
Firstly, Brotherhood monotheisms, which include Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, teach that a Supreme Being
was the creator of the physical universe and of the physical
life forms within the universe. In an upcoming chapter we
will discuss the likelihood that spiritual beings were born of
a Supreme Being of some sort, but physical creatures and
objects probably were not. As some other religions have
noted, if our universe is the product of spiritual activity,
then it appears that all individual spiritual beings within the
universe are responsible for its creation and/or perpetuation.
The scope of a Supreme Being would actually extend far
beyond the creation of a single universe.
Secondly, a Supreme Being is usually portrayed as a spiritual being capable of possibly unlimited thought, creativity,
and ability. A Supreme Being is said to be an entity which
can make and unmake universes. The big question is this:
Why must we be limited to only one such being?
Is there any reason not to suppose the existence of ten
such beings? Or a hundred? Or an almost infinite number?
It appears that the Brotherhood definition of a "one God"
actually describes the native potential of every spiritual
being, including those spiritual beings who animate human
bodies on Earth. The true nature and capabilities of every
spiritual being would therefore be hidden by doctrines which
state that only a Supreme Being may enjoy pure spiritual
existence and unlimited spiritual potential. Brotherhood
monotheism would actually hinder human spiritual recovery
and prevent people from grasping the true, and probably
much broader, scope of a Supreme Being.*
Brotherhood monotheism was another piece of the Biblical "revolving sword" to prevent access to spiritual knowledge. It also allowed the Custodians to greatly elevate thenown status. As part of its new monotheism, the Brotherhood
began to teach the fiction that members of the Custodial
race were the physical manifestations of a Supreme Being.
In other words, Custodians started pretending that they and
their aircraft were the "one-only God." History records that
they used extraordinary violence to make Homo sapiens
believe the falsehood. Few lies have had as devastating an
impact on human society, yet it became a prime mission
of the corrupted Brotherhood, from the time of Akhnaton
to the modern day, to make humans believe that the Custodians and their aircraft were "<3od." The purpose of this
fiction was to enforce human obedience and to maintain
Custodial control over the human population. In no case is
this clearer, or the results more visibly tragic, than in
the Biblical story of the ancient Hebrews and their "one
God" named Jehovah.
"Most of the limestone is gone today. Except for a few blocks
found at the base of the Great Pyramid, the limestone casing had been
excavated away from the pyramids beginning in the first millennium A.D.
*For an interesting scientific evaluation of the Martian objects, I recommend Unusual Martian Surface Features by Vincent DiPietro, Greg
Molenaar, and John Brandenburg. It is published by Mars Research.
Please see bibliography for address.
An interesting compilation of unusual lunar phenomena is found in NASA
Technical Report R-277 entitled "Chronological Catalog of Reported
Lunar Events" by Barbara M. Middlehurst. It briefly lists 579 unusual
lunar sightings considered to be reliable beginning in the year 1540 and
ending in 1967. It is currently available from The Sourcebook Project.
* A fuller discussion of the possible nature of a Supreme Being and its
relationship to individual spiritual existence is presented in Chapter 40.
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