Falling down from the skies,
Into the exposed abyss.
We have also found, as a surplus, the Garden of Eden, the Island of Avalon, the Garden of the Hesperides, the hideout of the New Jerusalem, as well as the Holy Land and Paradise that has been promised us all from the dawn of time.
So do traditions such as the Grail Cycle and the myth of the Wandering Hero in search of Paradise. Indeed, the Primordial Paradise, which was the source from where the gods and angels brought the Gospels and the seeds of knowledge in the dawn of times.
It is clear to any keen observer that the Egyptian hypostyle hall represents a heavily forested underground realm with its subterranean "heaven" (or canopy) forming the ground floor of our own world. We shall see below that this subterranean world represents, rather literally at that, the subterranean realm. Moreover, the lotus, palm and papyrus capitals of such hypostyle halls are closed and budding, as they would be at night or before they are a button ready to open.
Only in the sections usually exposed to sunlight are the pillars, in contrast, decorated with open flowers and fronds. Among the constellations represented in the roof of the hypostyle chamber the Celestial Nile is represented, with the gods navigating across them in their barques. Clearly, the chamber represents a dual of Egypt, Celestial, though extremely beautiful and pleasurable.
Most Egyptians temples had a pair of monolithic obelisks planted just in front of the pylons of the inner gateway, these pillars again marked the entrance into Hades, Nut, the Sky is shown decked with stars which represent the night sky. The gods navigate along her body. At the rear pylons - the ones corresponding to the Gateway of Paradise - are posted the gigantic statues of the Twin Guardians. These often change into lions, sphinxes or some other terrifying creatures. They correspond to the Cherubins that guard the Gates of Paradise in just about all mythologies. In Greece they are Cerberus and Orthrus; in Babylon, the Karibus, in China the Twin Lions; in Angkor and Indonesia, the Nagas. In India, they are the Lokapalas or Dvarapalas ("Guardians"). In reality they are the Twins we encounter everywhere and who are indeed Atlas and Hercules in Greece or Krishna and Balarama in Indian myths.
The shape of the pylons of the Egyptian temples roughly recall the one of certain churches and cathedrals such as Notre Dame and Reims, which have two blunted towers flanking the central gateway, which is far lower than the other two side towers. Clearly, the same conception guided the hands that built those cathedrals and the temples of Egypt. The semi-obscurity of the hypostyle hall was intended to convey the idea of a nocturnal, gloomy realm like Hades and Cimmeria. This darkness is further enhanced by the decoration on the roof, which depicts the starry night sky. The same symbolism is also encountered in tombs such as the tholoi of Minoan Crete and the tumuli of Etruscan Rome, or even in the domes and crypts of certain early Christian churches. If we look again at our discussion of Fig.3, we see that this gloomy sky represents the belly of Nut, the Celestial goddess in Egyptian tradition.
This dark abode of the dead corresponds, as we said there, to the region of Paradise, enclosed between the four Pillars of the World. But the Egyptian Paradise, their land ancestral, was Punt, the Land of the Gods.
And it was there, in Punt, where the Egyptians fetched their "wood from Meru", which they indeed never obtained from Lebanon, despite the contrary affirmations of some Egyptologists. The name of Punt (Puanit in Egyptian) is, as we saw above, precisely the same as that of Phoenicia, the primordial Phoenicia that was both the "Land of the Phoenix" and the "Land of the Palm-Trees"
In Egyptian, the radix per is connected with the idea of motion and, more precisely, of crossing into Paradise inside the naos of the Solar Boat. It also forms the name of the aa (or pharaoh), who is indeed the alias of Osiris as the ferrier of the Solar Barque of Paradise. Moreover, the word also designated the pylons (or gateway) of the Egyptian temples, which represented the similar ones of Paradise, as depicted in certain Egyptian iconographies. In other words, the Pharaoh (per-aa) was indeed "the great one (aa) in the ship (per)"
The title of the Egyptian Book of the Dead - indeed called Reu Nut Pert Em Heru (or "Spells for [Safely] Crossing into the Realm of Light")This mysterious book of the Egyptians is in reality a recipe for crossing safely into Paradise (Duat or Amenti, the Egyptian Realm of the Dead). And the trip is done in the Solar Barque, which safely crosses through the mysterious place after passing the Gateway (or Pylon) that corresponds to the Pillars in Egyptian myth. The soul of the deceased joins the company of the gods under the figure of Osiris, with whom he becomes identified after death.
Many vignettes of the Egyptian Book of the Dead show in detail the perils of the crossing into the Sekhet-Hetepet (or "Fields of Peace"), the Egyptian equivalent of the Elysian Fields, where the worthy spend their eternal life hunting, fishing and "banqueting in cakes and beer". One such is Fig. 6, which shows the deceased in the Solar Boat crossing into the Sequet-hetepet in the company of two gods, Ra and the Benu bird. The deceased is pushing the boat with a pole. Here, the deceased explicitly represents the Pharaoh in his role of Osiris as the Barger of Paradise; as Canopus, the Pilot of the Argos Ship (the Ark). In Fig. 7 is shown the arrival of the deceased in the Sekhet-hetepet, in the manner of a "comic strip". In the upper strip, the deceased and his wife are before two gods. Next, they ride the Solar Boat, crossing into the Field of Peace. In the second strip, they get into the place, characterized by the enormous reeds that give it its other name of Field of Reeds (Sekhet-aaru). Next, the deceased ploughs the two sides of a field crossed by a river. The final strip shows the Solar Boat anchored in a canal.
The region is divided in three sections by two further canals. In one of these are the gods, crouching. The two pairs of omphaloi represent the two pylons or gates of Paradise. The four ovals in the extreme right correspond to four lakes; the two birds are Benus. The boat carries a staircase with seven stairs. The seven stairs and the seven sections of the region, wholly surrounded by canals confirms the identity with the seven Islands of the Blest (or Elysium) of Greek traditions. The boat is the one in which the deceased couple crossed into the paradisial place.
Said otherwise, the hieroglyph of the name of P'R-AA variously represents the Solar Boat itself, its shrine or cabin, the Barger and the Gate of Paradise that is to be crossed by the deceased in his role of Pharaoh, as an alias of Osiris. All these imply an idea of "crossing", "coming forth", that is, of "coming forth to Light", into Paradise, the Realm of Light where the Sun indeed resides and from where he starts his daily journey. The name of P'R-AA is indeed written in hieroglyphs as two Aat symbols connected by the Cow's Belly that represents the Sky (the womb of Nut). The message is crystal clear and unequivocal: "the Gates of Paradise are linked across the Skies by Pharaoh, the Celestial Barger".
In still other words, the Book of Coming Forth (or Crossing) to Light is the recipe for successfully crossing into Paradise, that is no other than Meru, another name of Punt.
The Egyptians embodied, in their eschatological rituals - the ones sacralized in their wonderful temples and their spells of the Book of the Dead - the very passage into Paradise, and even gave the recipe of the wonderful news: the one that we can indeed be saved by divine grace and return to our Lost Paradise in the company of the gods, by being identified with Osiris and Pharaoh. Indeed a beautiful message, the same one as that of the Gospels,
The Greeks would flock to sacred sites such as Eleusis and Delphi, often in quest of initiation into the secrets of the Mysteries. Their traditions, and those of the Romans, tell of the long pilgrimage of the soul to remote regions such as the Islands of the Blest, which lay in the most extreme regions of the world.
Ancient Egyptian texts such as The Book of the Dead describe in detail the long pilgrimage and the perils of the soul in the beyond, in its quest for the site of Paradise. The Egyptians too placed Paradise beyond the seas and the place where the Sun rises everyday. The Bardo Thodol, the Tibetan Book of the Dead, also tell at length the long pilgrimage and the perils of the soul in its pilgrimage to Paradise, its temporary abode, where it awaits reincarnation.
The Muslims have, as one of their most sacred duties, the obligation to emprehend a pilgrimage to Mecca, their Holy Land, at least once in their lifetimes.
Mt. Kailasa, in the Trans-Himalayas of Tibet, is one of the most sacred spots of the Shivaites. The Holy Mountain is identified with Mt. Meru, the mountain of Paradise. All these are considered holy sites, connected with the sacred Paradise. But their most holy spots are Lake Manasarowar, near Mt. Kailasa, and Lanka in Ceylon, the sites of their two extremal Paradises. However, all seven sacred spots correspond to the Seven Dvipas (or Paradises),which are the archetypes of the Seven Islands of the Blest of the Greeks and Romans, as well as the Paradises of other nations. It is from these Seven Islands that all other sacred septenaries ultimately issue.
As we see, all nations have rituals similar to the above, which entail a return to Paradise in a pilgrimage that simulates the wanderings of the soul after death. Even the Occultists have similar traditions. They quest initiation in the ancient arcanes, except that in a context of actuality and magic, rather than in that of the beyond. Christ, Buddha, Pythagoras, Plato, Solon, Zoroaster, Mani, Apollonius of Tyana, and most other great initiates are said to have gone to India, in their quest for Initiation in the arcanes of the Mysteries.
We see then that the ritual of Extreme Unction is connected with a return to Paradise and the obtaining of the Elixir of Life either in reality or in the netherworld. The Greek-Roman belief derives from a similar one of the Egyptians. According to this people, the dead, on their way to Amenti, had to cross an immense lake or river which ringed the region. The only way to do it was the barge of Kharun, the sinister ferryman of Hell. Kharun is the same as the Greek Charon, the barger of the Styx, the river that encircled Hades. So, we see that the ritual of Extreme Unction is connected with Paradisial traditions down from Neolithic times, at least.
The idea is that the dying are anointed for the same reason that were the meriahs of the Gonds and Konds, in preparation for a return to Paradise, where they would enjoy abundance and peace. Kukulkan, the fiery, winged serpent of the Toltecs and Mayas, was both a corn-god and a fish. He is all god of resurrection and reincarnation.
Arysio Nunes dos Santos, thinks this is all allegory and relates only to Atlantis, an Island Paradise obliterated in a cataclysm, which lies beneath the sea. What do you think?
Hazel
