THE PYRAMID MYSTERIES (from Secret Teachings of All Ages - chapter 7 The Initiation of the Pyramid)
Posted by Andras Nagy on January 3, 2011 at 1:11pm in Sacred Geometry
"The square base of the Pyramid is a constant reminder that the House of Wisdom is firmly founded upon Nature and her immutable laws. "The Gnostics," writes Albert Pike, "claimed that the whole edifice of
their science rested on a square whose angles were: Σιγη, Silence; Βυθος, Profundity;
Νους, Intelligence; and Αληθεια Truth." (See Morals and Dogma.) The
sides of the Great Pyramid face the four cardinal angles, the latter
signifying
according to Eliphas Levi the extremities of heat and cold (south
and north)
and the extremities of light and darkness (east and west). The
base of the
Pyramid further represents the four material elements or
substances from the combinations
of which the quaternary body of man is
formed. From each side of the square
there rises a triangle, typifying the
threefold divine being enthroned within
every quaternary material nature. If
each base line be considered a square from
which ascends a threefold
spiritual power, then the sum of the lines of the
four faces (12) and the
four hypothetical squares (16) constituting the base is
28, the sacred number
of the lower world. If this be added to the three
septenaries composing the
sun (21), it equals 49, the square of 7 and the
number of the universe.
The twelve signs of the zodiac, like the Governors' of the lower worlds, are
symbolized by the twelve lines of the four triangles--the faces of the Pyramid.
In the midst of each face is one of the beasts of Ezekiel, and the structure
as
a whole becomes the Cherubim. The three main chambers of the Pyramid
are
related to the heart, the brain, and the generative system--the
spiritual
centers of the human constitution. The triangular form of the
Pyramid also is
similar to the posture assumed by the body during the ancient
meditative
exercises. The Mysteries taught that the divine energies from the
gods descended
upon the top of the Pyramid, which was likened to an inverted
tree with its
branches below and its roots at the apex. From this inverted
tree the divine
wisdom is disseminated by streaming down the diverging sides
and radiating
throughout the world.
The size of the capstone of the Great Pyramid cannot be accurately
determined, for, while most investigators have assumed that it was once in
place, no vestige of it now remains. There is a curious tendency among
the
builders of great religious edifices to leave their creations
unfinished,
thereby signifying that God alone is complete. The capstone--if
it existed--was
itself a miniature pyramid, the apex of which again would be
capped by a
smaller block of similar shape, and so on ad infinitum.
The capstone
therefore is the epitome of the entire structure. Thus, the
Pyramid may be
likened to the universe and the capstone to man. Following the
chain of
analogy, the mind is the capstone of man, the spirit the capstone of
the mind,
and God--the epitome of the whole--the capstone of the spirit. As a
rough and
unfinished block, man is taken from the quarry and by the secret
culture of the
Mysteries gradually transformed into a trued and perfect
pyramidal capstone.
The temple is complete only when the initiate himself
becomes the living apex
through which the divine power is focused into the
diverging structure below.
W. Marsham Adams calls the Great Pyramid "the House of the Hidden Places";
such indeed it was, for it represented the inner sanctuary of pre-Egyptian
wisdom. By the Egyptians the Great Pyramid was associated with
Hermes, the
god of wisdom and letters and the Divine Illuminator worshiped
through the
planet Mercury. Relating Hermes to the Pyramid emphasizes anew the
fact that
it was in reality the supreme temple of the Invisible and Supreme
Deity. The
Great Pyramid was not a lighthouse, an observatory, or a tomb, but
the first
temple of the Mysteries, the first structure erected as a repository
for
those secret truths which are the certain foundation of all arts
and
sciences. It was the perfect emblem of the microcosm and the
macrocosm
and, according to the secret teachings, the tomb of Osiris,
the black god of
the Nile. Osiris represents a certain manifestation
of
solar energy, and therefore his house or tomb is emblematic of the
universe
within which he is entombed and upon the cross of which he is
crucified.
Through the mystic passageways and chambers of the Great Pyramid passed the
illumined of antiquity. They entered its portals as men; they came forth
as gods. It was the place of the "second birth," the
"womb of the
Mysteries," and wisdom dwelt in it as God dwells in the
hearts of men.
Somewhere in the depths of its recesses there resided an unknown
being who
was called "The Initiator," or "The Illustrious
One," robed in blue and gold
and bearing in his hand the sevenfold key of
Eternity. This was the
lion-faced hierophant, the Holy One, the Master of
Masters, who never left
the House of Wisdom and whom no man ever saw save he
who had passed through
the gates of preparation and purification. It was in
these chambers that
Plato--he of the broad brow---came face to face with the
wisdom of the ages
personified in the Master of the Hidden House.
Who was the Master dwelling in the mighty Pyramid, the many rooms of which
signified the worlds in space; the Master whom none might behold save those who
had been "born again"? He alone fully knew the secret of the Pyramid,
but he
has departed the way of the wise and the house is empty. The hymns of
praise
no longer echo in muffled tones through the chambers; the neophyte no
longer
passes through the elements and wanders among the seven stars; the
candidate
no longer receives the "Word of Life" from the lips of the
Eternal One.
Nothing now remains that the eye of man can see but an empty
shell--the outer
symbol of an inner truth--and men call the House of God a
tomb!
The technique of the Mysteries was unfolded by the Sage Illuminator, the
Master of the Secret House. The power to know his guardian spirit was revealed
to the new initiate; the method of disentangling his material body from.
his
divine vehicle was explained; and to consummate the magnum opus,
there
was revealed the Divine Name--the secret and unutterable designation of
the
Supreme Deity, by the very knowledge of which man and his God are
made
consciously one. With the giving of the Name, the new initiate became
himself a
pyramid, within the chambers of whose soul numberless other
human beings
might also receive spiritual enlightenment."