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
