So how did we come to be so disconnected from our Egyptian history? The author of the book Magi; the Quest for a Secret Tradition says that knowledge of Christianity’s close links with the non-Jewish religions were stamped out in Egypt during the persecutions of the pagans that took place in AD 390. He remarks that, “Thereafter religious orthodoxy became the overwhelmingly dominant force throughout the empire and people with Gnostic ideas had to keep these a closely guarded secret if they wanted to avoid persecution for heresy. …Yet, in spite of persecution an undercurrent of ideas, long dead in the west, which connected the work of Jesus Christ with both the Hermetic tradition of Egypt and the Zoroastrian revelation of Persia, continued to survive.” The author remarks that it was understood in the ancient world that the Egyptian pharaohs somehow embodied the Solar Logos, and, “as such the pharaoh was a living god whose responsibility it was to uphold civilization on Earth.”
The sun is also known as the Solar Logos. When I was still trying to come to terms with the fact that our ancestors, the descendants of Jesus and his family, practiced pagan beliefs, for instance being followers of Mithraism as was the Merovingian King Clovis, I couldn’t help but think, “We do worship on Sundays, do we not?” When I was a child, in a Southern Baptist church, our missionary group for children was called ‘Sunbeams’.
There’s a central sun in our universe that sends God’s power to our galaxy’s sun which then flows to our solar system’s sun, then to the planets in our solar system and to humans who contain a central sun within them in their third chakra – the solar plexus. If not for these suns, there would be no life. The Essene’s rose before dawn to go outside and face the rising sun to pray and meditate. To them the sun represented God. They weren’t worshiping the sun, but the God behind it. It was later in other solar religions, where the meaning was lost and the people came to worship the visible sun. That led to the atrocities such as the Mayan and Aztecs human sacrifices to the sun because they had such a fear of eclipses they were afraid the sun would go away permanently, so they tried to appease it by the sacrifice of human lives.
After the Romans conquered Egypt, they took the title of Horus Kings and claimed they were the embodiment of the Solar Logos and therefore were gods. However, as they were not the real embodiment of the Solar Logos as (some) of the Pharaohs had been, all they did was sully the position. The author of Magi; Quest for a Secret Tradition has some important insights regarding the role of Jesus as a Sun king;
“The insignia of the pharaoh were the crook and flail. The first showing that he was the good shepherd to his flock, the second that he was a scourge to his enemies. Jesus, in his ministry, discarded the flail and taught the message that one must love one’s enemies. He did this because, owing to what happened at his baptism, the Christ Spirit united with him, his claimed authority was even higher than that of the Solar Logos.”
The author remarks that the special role of John the Baptist was that as the last in the line of Old Testament prophets, he represented the Elijah tradition. And as an Orion figure, he symbolized the starry heaven beyond the solar system, “a place beyond the reach of the Solar Logos to which the pharaohs dreamed of going after death.” He says that John the Baptist’s baptism of Jesus represented “the very pinnacle of initiation into the mysteries beyond which, it seems, no one had yet gone.” The author said that the Spirit of God is the Primary Logos and stands above sun and stars and describes the Logos as pure and unconditioned love which lies beyond all created worlds. He makes the remark regarding Jesus that, “If he was born in the stable with the rights and privileges of a pharaoh, he now transcended his fate by fulfilling a greater destiny embraced not by the falcon but the dove.”
The next author is talking about our enemies, the black magicians who usurped the priesthood in Egypt and made the pharaohs puppet rulers. I believe the black magicians were the same followers of Belial from Atlantis and that there was an ancient rivalry that continued in Egypt. From The Secret Teachings of All Ages;
“Ceremonial magic is the ancient art of invoking and controlling spirits by a scientific application of certain formula. A magician, enveloped in sanctified vestments and carrying a wand inscribed with hieroglyphic figures, could by the power vested in certain words and symbols control the invisible inhabitants of the elements and of the astral world. While the elaborate ceremonial magic of antiquity was not necessarily evil, there arose from its perversion several false schools of sorcery, or black magic. Egypt, a great center of learning and the birthplace of many arts and sciences, furnished an ideal environment for transcendental experimentation. Here the black magicians of Atlantis continued to exercise their superhuman powers until they had completely undermined and corrupted the morals of the primitive Mysteries. By establishing a sacerdotal caste they usurped the position formerly occupied by the initiates, and seized the reins of spiritual government.
Thus black magic dictated the state religion and paralyzed the intellectual and spiritual activities of the individual by demanding his complete and unhesitating acquiescence in the dogma formulated by the priest craft. The Pharaoh became a puppet in the hands of the Scarlet Council – a committee of arch-sorcerers elevated to power by the priesthood. These sorcerers then began the systematic destruction of all keys to the ancient wisdom, so that none might have access to the knowledge necessary to reach adept-ship without first becoming one of their order. They mutilated the rituals of the Mysteries while professing to preserve them, so that even though the neophyte passed through the degrees he could not secure the knowledge to which he was entitled.
Idolatry was introduced by encouraging the worship of the images which in the beginning the wise had erected solely as symbols for study and meditation. False interpretations were given to the emblems and figures of the Mysteries, and elaborate theologies were created to confuse the minds of their devotees. The masses, deprived of their birthright of understanding and groveling in ignorance, eventually became the abject slaves of the spiritual impostors. Superstition universally prevailed and the black magicians completely dominated national affairs, with the result that humanity still suffers from the sophistries of the priest crafts of Atlantis and Egypt.
Fully convinced that their Scriptures sanctioned it, numerous medieval Qabalist’s devoted their lives to the practice of ceremonial magic. The transcendentalism of the Qabalist’s is founded upon the ancient and magical formula of King Solomon, who has long been considered by the Jews as the prince of ceremonial magicians. Among the Qabalist’s of the Middle Ages were a great number of black magicians who strayed from the noble concepts of the Sepher Yetzirah and became enmeshed in demonism and witchcraft. They sought to substitute magic mirrors, consecrated daggers, and circles spread around posts of coffin nails, for the living of that virtuous life which, without the assistance of complicated rituals or sub mundane creatures, unfailingly brings man to the state of true individual completion. Those who sought to control elemental spirits through ceremonial magic did so largely with the hope of securing from the invisible worlds either rare knowledge or supernatural power.
The little red demon of Napoleon Bonaparte and the infamous oracular heads of de Medici are examples of the disastrous results of permitting elemental beings to dictate the course of human procedure. While the learned and godlike demon of Socrates seems to have been an exception, this really proves that the intellectual and moral status of the magician has much to do with the type of elemental he is capable of invoking. But even the demon of Socrates deserted the philosopher when the sentence of death was passed. Transcendentalism and all forms of phenomenalistic magic are but blind alleys – outgrowths of Atlantean sorcery; and those who forsake the straight path of philosophy to wander therein almost invariably fall victims to their imprudence.
Man, incapable of controlling his own appetites, is not equal to the task of governing the fiery and tempestuous elemental spirits. Many a magician has lost his life as the result of opening a way whereby sub-mundane creatures could become active participants in his affairs. When Eliphas Levi invoked the spirit of Apollonius of Tyana, what did he hope to accomplish? Is the gratification of curiosity a motive sufficient to warrant the devotion of an entire lifetime to a dangerous and unprofitable pursuit?
If the living Apollonius refused to divulge his secrets to the profane, is there any probability that after death he would disclose them to the curious-minded? Levi himself did not dare to assert that the specter which appeared to him was actually the great philosopher, for Levi realized only too well the proclivity of elementals to impersonate those who have passed on. The majority of modern mediumistic apparitions are but elemental creatures masquerading through bodies composed of thought substance supplied by the very persons desiring to behold these wraiths of discarnate beings.
Some understanding of the intricate theory and practice of ceremonial magic may be derived from a brief consideration of its underlying premises. First; The visible universe has an invisible counterpart, the higher planes of which are peopled by good and beautiful spirits; the lower planes, dark and foreboding, are the habitation of evil spirits and demons under the leadership of the Fallen Angel and his ten Princes. Second. By means of the secret processes of ceremonial magic it is possible to contact these invisible creatures and gain their help in some human undertaking. Good spirits willingly lend their assistance to any worthy enterprise, but the evil spirits serve only those who live to pervert and destroy.
Third, it is possible to make contracts with spirits whereby the magician becomes for a stipulated time the master of an elemental being. Fourth; True black magic is performed with the aid of a demoniacal spirit, who serves the sorcerer for the length of his earthly life, with the understanding that after death the magician shall become the servant of his own demon. For this reason a black magician will go to inconceivable ends to prolong his physical life, since there is nothing for him beyond the grave. The most dangerous form of black magic is the scientific perversion of occult power for the gratification of personal desire. It’s less complex and more universal form is human selfishness, for selfishness is the fundamental cause of all worldly evil. A man will barter his eternal soul for temporal power, and down through the ages a mysterious process has been evolved which actually enables him to make this exchange. In its various branches the black art includes nearly all forms of ceremonial magic, necromancy, witchcraft, sorcery, and vampirism. Under the same general heading are also included mesmerism and hypnotism, except when used solely for medical purposes, and even then there is an element of risk for all concerned.”
There is another side to magic, the ‘white’ side. I’m discussing this topic because you will find the words magic and occult throughout our family story and it has been very troubling to me, hence the need for a deeper understanding of the subject. Richard Smoley in his book Hidden Wisdom a Guide to the Western Inner Traditions wrote;
“Today it may seem strange that a pope (Urban) should have turned to occult means for help, but in fact many in the Renaissance agreed with the magus Cornelius Agrippa who asserted that ‘a magician doth not among learned men signify a sorcerer, or one that is superstitious, or devilish, but a wise man, a priest, a prophet and that magic was accounted by all ancient philosophers the chiefest science.’
…Theurgy is ritual magic – but magic that enacts the will of God, not of the magician. It brings divine energies down to Earth, elevating and spiritualizing the world of matter, including the very being and substance of the participants. Each time the believer takes part with attention and devotion, he or she becomes more attuned to God.”
The author of The Edgar Cayce Primer tells of the understanding that Edgar Cayce had regarding magic. He wrote that just as Christians today worry about Satanic influences and occultism the Edgar Cayce readings were also concerned about them. The readings give a great deal of information that help to clarify these important spiritual questions and problems. He states that, “They point out differences in the mystical, the occult, and the psychic. The mystical experience is the awareness of Oneness. The occult is defined in the readings as the use of the mind’s powers without respect to purposes. The psychic is, according to the readings, of the soul, and the preferred terminology regarding the Spirit working through the individual and manifesting its gifts.” He goes on to say that what differentiates between the occult and the spiritual is not the “form, nor the organization, nor the dogma, but rather the individual’s ideals and purposes.”
People familiar with the Old Testament of the Bible may remember the story where Moses went back to Egypt in order to rescue the Israelite’s who had been made slaves. When he and his brother Aaron went before Pharaoh, they performed what were considered magic tricks. The magicians of Egypt made a wooden staff turn into a snake. In return, Aaron put Moses staff on the ground and it also became a snake that swallowed the magician’s snake, showing the supremacy of Moses and Aaron’s God.
My study of our family history has shown a pre-dominance of serpents in it. However, the Egyptian Ennead shows that Horus was hawk-headed, Thoth was ibis headed, Anubis was dog headed, and Sekhmet was lion headed. I just accept that we are really all just One – and we are related to all of them!