THE ANCIENT EGYPTIAN MAP
The Egyptian seers possessed a similar galactic wisdom, and used it to map the ancient divisions of Egypt so that this land could be fashioned in the image of heaven.
According to myths recorded in the Edfu Temple Texts (composed during the time of the Ptolemies, the Macedonian rulers of Egypt, when, for the first time, secret scrolls were being ferreted from their hiding places all over Egypt and put on public display), the land of Egypt was originally surveyed during the period known as zep tepi (the first time) by a mysterious group of seers called the builder gods or seven sages.
The Texts imply that this survey was designed to map the land for future generations so that Egypt could be fashioned in the image of heaven and thereby become a kingdom of heaven on earth. This notion is reflected in the Hermetic texts: “Do you not know... that Egypt is an image of heaven, or, to speak more exactly, in Egypt all the operations of the powers, which rule and work in heaven have been transferred to the earth below? Nay, it should rather be said that the whole Cosmos dwells in our land as in its sanctuary.”2The ancient name for the land of Egypt was Khem, meaning “black land.” This is quite strange given the fact that Egypt is largely covered by white sand. Most scholars presume that “black land” had its origin in the alluvial black mud deposited along the banks of the Nile during the seasonal floods. While this may be partially true, however, we might see a deeper symbolic significance to the term, which pertains to the galaxy’s hidden black ground (bhumi) underlying its visible white form. Just as the hidden black land of Egypt is covered by billions of grains of shining, white sand, the hidden black foundation of the galaxy is covered by billions of shining, white stars.
The central myth regarding the land of Egypt revolves around two kingdoms: the kingdom of Set, which lies in the dry desert regions along the Upper Nile, and the kingdom of Horus, which lies in the fertile delta regions along the Lower Nile.
As we have seen, Set was the brother of Osiris who usurped his brother’s kingdom, and Horus was the son of Osiris who inherited his father’s kingdom. According to this myth, the land of Egypt was viewed as divided into two kingdoms: the unrighteous and unfertile kingdom of Set, and the righteous and fertile kingdom of Horus, and according to tradition, these two kingdoms were subdivided into various minor kingdoms, called nomes. The system of nomes appears to be very ancient; as far as scholars can tell, it was already in place by the time the first historical dynasties appeared around 3200 BCE.Although many believe that the system of nomes evolved on the basis of political and secular forces during the predynastic period, this flies in the face of how the ancient Egyptians viewed their kingdoms. They were seen as spiritual kingdoms, not as secular ones. The pharaoh, who ruled over the land of Egypt as a whole, was viewed as the embodiment of God, and the nomarchs, who ruled over the various nomes, were viewed as embodiments of the gods. This is consistent with the fact that each nome was associated with its own spiritual cult and set of deities.
To understand the spiritual geography of Egypt, we cannot ignore the central role of the Nile River. The nomes were mapped out and counted in sequence along the course of the Nile. In essence, the flow of the Nile toward the Mediterranean Sea represents the flow of consciousness from the more limited realms of material existence, represented by the kingdom of Set, to the more unlimited realms, represented by the kingdom of Horus. This understanding is consistent with the myth of Osiris, in which the king’s coffin floats down the Nile into the Mediterranean Sea on his preliminary journey to attain immortality.
The kingdom of Set was formed by the first twenty-two nomes counted from the source of the Nile, and Horus was formed by the last twenty nomes counted toward the mouth of the Nile. These 22 + 20 = 42 nomes correspond directly to the first forty-two layers in the upper half of the spectrum, each of which supports an entire spiritual heaven, or spiritual kingdom.
This implies that the twenty-two nomes in the kingdom of Set correspond to the first twenty-two layers above the half measure, and the twenty nomes in the kingdom of Horus correspond to the next twenty layers—the twenty-third to the forty-second. The twenty-third nome, the first nome in the kingdom of Horus, was assigned a unique and special significance: This was the nome where Horus subdued Set finally and became the ruler of all of Egypt. It thus represents the nome where the two kingdoms became unified into a single united kingdom.To celebrate the importance of the twenty-third nome, the Egyptians located there their oldest and most sacred seat of wisdom: the temple complex of On (Heliopolis), which is now believed to lie buried under the streets of Old Cairo. There they also constructed their most sacred monuments: the Sphinx and the Great Pyramid. The ancient Egyptian name for this nome was Ineb-Hedj, the “white fortress,” which appears to be an allusion to the Great Pyramid, the most prominent monument constructed in the nome. In ancient times, the pyramid was encased in white limestone and likely resembled a great white fortress. There may be a deeper, heavenly significance to this name, however.
Just as the luminous bulge of the galaxy resembles a shining white mountain (a fortress of the gods) looming over a vast white plain composed of billions of shining stars, so the Great Pyramid, resembled a shining white mountain looming over the vast plain of the Giza plateau, composed of billions of sand particles. As a symbol of the central galactic mountain, the Great Pyramid was likely viewed as the central abode of the gods, and the Giza plateau was viewed as an abode for ordinary living beings, the servants and worshippers of the gods. This is consistent with the Vedic description of the galaxy.
We cannot ignore the fact that the Great Pyramid and the Giza plateau were located in the twenty-third nome, which corresponds to the twenty-third layer in the upper half of the spectrum—the layer that supports the visible form of the galaxy as a whole. Just as the luminous form of the galaxy rests upon the hidden dark-matter field, which constitutes its underlying foundation, so the visible form of the Giza plateau rests upon the hidden black land of Egypt, which constitutes its underlying foundation. In this case, the twenty-third nome symbolizes the visible form of the galaxy as a whole.