source:
The Hieronimus & Co. Newsletter, Issue #15-16
http://www.are-cayce.com
When you examine the Edgar Cayce readings at the Association for Research and Enlightenment (A.R.E.) you'll read that the Great Pyramid was originally designed to facilitate the raising of consciousness and making contact with one's higher self. This is a belief shared with Rosicrucians, Theosophists and other esoteric orders. These secret orders have long taught that the King's Chamber was an initiation chamber. The key to initiation is to make contact with your higher self, find out what your meaning and purpose in life are, and then return to the physical body to put what you learned into action.
John Van Auken, an Executive Director of the A.R.E., is one of their most popular speakers on the topic of mystical spirituality in modern life. His extensive knowledge of the Edgar Cayce readings, the Bible, other world religions, and ancient Egypt is combined with years of practical applications of these truths in his own life. Van Auken is the author of several books on reincarnation, prophecies, spiritual enlightenment, Christian and ancient Egyptian mysticism and rejuvenation. He travels extensively, conducting seminars and retreats in the United States and abroad.
The A.R.E. has actively pursued the most current research in Egypt that may corroborate Cayce's readings. John Van Auken was a guest on 21st Century Radio® with Dr. Bob Hieronimus on March 29, 1998 to discuss "Sleuthing The Sphinx" published in the A.R.E.'s periodical, Venture Inward, July/August 1997.
Why did Edgar Cayce have such an interest in the Giza Complex? What did he say we would find there?
That the history we have of evolutionary man is only half the story. And that there are records there that are of the prehistoric period of an involution into matter. They tell of great cultures and civilizations and a past that we have consciously forgotten, of Atlantis, Lemuria... Mu, all sorts of ancient times and periods when we were coming into matter. And now we have been on the evolution up through matter, and we only have half the story. The Hall of Records has the rest of the story.
What did Edgar Cayce say the Great Pyramid was originally used for?
He said that the Great Pyramid was used in the ancient period as a chamber of initiation. In fact, the whole system on the Giza Plateau was used for initiation, enlightenment, to plant the seed of the truth in every soul's mind so in future incarnations it would still be latent there, and could be awakened.
According to the Cayce readings, who built the Giza Complex and when?
The Giza Complex was built by a remnant of Atlanteans, some native Egyptians to the area, and incoming tribes from Mt. Ararat and the Carpathians and Caucus Mountains led by a high priest called Ra-ta. They all worked together and joined with Hermes and some of the Nubians from the south in Nubia. They built the Plateau for several purposes, but one of them was as a chronogram. They laid it out according to the stars above the Plateau, and established one inch equals one year of time. As you go through the Great Pyramid, to make it a chronogram, where you could see the journey that all of the souls were going to go. on as they entered deeper and deeper into matter, and then evolve back to their heavenly nature.
Who is Zahi Hawass and what stand has he taken on some of the discoveries that are being made in Egypt now?
Well, Zahi Hawass is in charge of the Giza Plateau, of all the pyramids and Saqqara, and that would include the Sphinx. He is a longtime friend of enlightenment and education, but he had been, for a while, through a period of recklessness with some of the fast-moving ideas that were not well established with hard evidence. But last year at our annual Egypt Conference at A.R.E. headquarters, he expressed once again his openness to work with the concepts of Robert Bauval, where the constellations indicated positioning and dating of about 10,500 B.C. He's interested in these theories and wants to work but he also wants some hard evidence, finds. We need to find stuff that clearly indicates a great civilization predating all the other evidence on the Plateau which right now is only about 3,000 to 4,000 years old. He's a fascinating man, a Renaissance man, multicultured, travels all over the world, and he has a very difficult job.
As noted in the July/August, 1997 issue of the A.R.E publication, Venture Inward, Egyptian scholar, Mohammed Naxmi has published a book which is expected to stir up the Egyptologists' nest. What has he discovered?
He discovered that in the Koran there was an ancient group mentioned that actually predates the 3,000 to 4,000 B.C. period. So, he's actually even showing where there is evidence of an ancient culture beyond what most archaeologists accept on the Plateau at this time. It's just another little corner of the world coming with more evidence that something is there and it's worth continuing looking hard to find the hard material that we need to prove it.
Zahi Hawass also believes that over 70% of the temples or artifacts lie below the sands of Egypt right now, correct?
Yes, that's true. Some of the most exciting things going on in Egypt right now are the plans to address the Gantenbrink Door that was found in the Queen's Chamber air vent.... Well, Dr. Hawass, last summer at the Egypt Conference at A.R.E. Headquarters in Virginia Beach, said he would address it in February, March and April. They would see if they could open it. They are inspecting it, trying to figure it out. They want to make sure they can do this without damaging the Great Pyramid, of course.
And then Dr. Schor, Joseph Schor of Florida State University, and their team discovered a chamber below the Sphinx, about 35 feet below the Sphinx, that is 26 feet wide and 40 feet long. If you recall, Edgar Cayce said that the Hall of Records was beneath the Sphinx. Now, he also said it was off of the right paw of the Sphinx. And we're still trying to keep an open mind as to what that might mean. But this chamber, this far down, is fascinating. And at the same time, the Schor team found a hidden passageway under the Queen's Pyramids, in front of the Great Pyramid, going toward the Great Pyramid's funerary temple and turning underneath the Great Pyramid. And that was quite exciting. Now they are going to explore these. They're going to attempt to explore these in the next few months. I'm certainly hopeful they find some evidence of the ancient civilization.
What did the A.R.E. discover during their trip to the Giza Plateau in 1980?
We worked closely with Stanford Research Institute and Dr. Mark Lehner, probably one of the best known explorers of the Giza Plateau, particularly the Sphinx, and did all sorts of tests around the Sphinx, and all looking to confirm some of Edgar Cayce's prophecies about hidden chambers and passageways. And then that was followed by some of the anomaly stuff that occurred. Let's see, first the French discovered the sand chamber in the passageway towards the Queen's chamber, and we followed up with some research on that. Almost everything going on the Plateau area has tried to stay connected with and to understand it in the bigger picture of what this Plateau means to civilization now, and in the future, and where the records are that show how someone could build these structures, align them with the stars above the earth in such perfection that we couldn't even pull it off today if we tried to do it.
What was discovered by the Japanese team from Waseda University in Tokyo in 1987?
They discovered, below the French sand chamber, an open anomaly chamber, and then across from it, on the other side of the sand chamber, another opened anomaly. Now all that means is there could possibly be rooms there, opened rooms that have yet to be entered in the Great Pyramid of Giza. So everyone is studying carefully how all of this works out. We were also surprised when we found a little door by Gantenbrink and his little robots. There are indications, and there are many now starting to accumulate, that there's more to the Great Pyramid than we are familiar with at this time. The Schor passageway that goes under the Great Pyramid, no one's been in it yet and no one knows where it leads to or where it comes from. So, this year, Edgar Cayce predicted that the whole world would begin to understand better. And we think it has a lot to do with discoveries in Giza. Also, right now, the Surveyor is circling Mare and taking photos of the pyramid area near Cydonia where the Face was found. And these shots should be clearer than the Voyager shots back in the 70s. And we hope that we can also see what Voyager seemed to indicate was there, an actual village of pyramids with Sphinx faces and human temple faces. So it's possible '98 could be the year of discovery.
What was announced by Dr. Robert Schoch and Thomas Dobecki in 1991?
Well, you see, everybody believed that the Sphinx was originally carved in a desert environment.. somewhere between 2,600 and 3,600 BC. That would fit with everything you see. But then they discovered that the erosion on the Sphinx and in the Sphinx pit, its called, the walls around it, was "running water" erosion. And this particular erosion looked more like from tropical rain forest water rather than flooding water from the Nile. That would mean that the Sphinx would have had to have existed on the Plateau prior to desertification, before it became a desert. That means it had to have been the lush area which Edgar Cayce said it was in 10,500 to 10,400 BC, a lush tropical area with heavy rain, that would explain this particular type of erosion. That stirred up a real controversy among everyone, and everyone started to explore it more care fully, and were surprised at how much evidence there was for rain water erosion on the Sphinx and the walls of the pit that surround it.... [Dobecki] also discovered a similar anomaly off the right paw of the Sphinx which indicated that there was a chamber below it, or a collapsed chamber as he said in Venture Inward. That was amazing because it fit so perfectly with what the sleeping Cayce had seen in his deep visions back in the '20s.
But I have seen Mark Lehner and Zahi Hawase join together to dispute Dr. Robert Schoch's findings. Where do they stand on it today?
Well, the debate continues. First off, Dr. Lehner is trying to point out that the stone in that area is of different types and at different levels. And he wants to make sure we aren't looking at something that could have occurred by watersoaked sand. As you know, and most of your listeners know, the Sphinx has been buried up to its neck in sand for thousands of years. When Napoleon arrived, only the head was sticking out. Now you can see the entire body and the whole pit. So, is it possible [that] this erosion was [from] watersoaked sand? Well, others had looked at that and said no, it looks like running water, not watersoaked. Running water would have made these deep cuts in the stone. So, I think we're getting closer and closer to agreeing that this is a running water erosion and not watersoaked sand.
In April 1996 A.R.E. member, Joseph Schor of New York, headed an expedition to the Plateau. What did Schor flnd?
Dr. Schor used ground radar. NASA has used ground radar a lot [to] penetrate the earth with radar and they would actually get the shape of objects down in the ground. If it was an opened chamber, they could actually measure it. [Dr. Schor's] first most astounding discovery was this huge room, 26 feet by 40 feet with roughly 30 foot ceilings, about 35 feet below the Sphinx, carved deep in the bedrock below the Sphinx. Now the Egyptians were very skilled stone cutters. They could have done this. They have shown that in other parts of Egypt. Then later, they were using their ground radar up around the Great Pyramid. There are three little Queen's Pyramids on the east side of the Great Pyramid, and underneath it, they found a hidden passageway running underneath all three of the little pyramids, continuing on to the funerary temple on the east side of the Great Pyramid, and then going underneath it and vanishing under the Great Pyramid. This was a tremendous find, very exciting. Zahi Hawass, last summer, said he will explore these things. He just wanted a second opinion from another group. We asked NASA if they would check it out with their ground radar people, confirm or deny the potential of these passageways and chamber, and then the Egyptians, under Zahi's leadership, would explore. As I understand, Zahi is moving ahead with it, and I'm very excited.
There are many people who don't share your enthusiasm. It seems accusations of a cover-up of even more extraordinary discoveries are growing at a fever pitch.
I agree with you. This has been a real bitter period. A lot of negative things have been said about one another. All of us are true seekers of this wisdom, but a lot of bad blood has developed among the different groups. I think it's healing now, though. We're all talking to one another. Everybody seems to be involved -- almost everybody.
There are a few who are still holding out with a lot of bitter feelings. But, I mean, like Zahi Hawass has made peace with Robert Bauval. That's wonderful. He's made peace with John Anthony West. I see a whole 'coming together' here of everyone. Let's just get to the truth.
How do you feet about Boris Said's accusations of cover-up towards the Schor expedition? [See The Hieronimus & Co. Newsletter, Issue #15-16, article titled Filmmaker Boris Said and Researcher Richard Hoagland Agree and Disagree On Secrets and Cover-Ups in Egypt]
Mixed feelings, again, here we're getting into some excesses. Some of it's good, some of it shows the egos getting deeply involved, and I feel uncomfortable with some of that. I think we're beyond that period. So I'm feeling like we're in a better place now than we were then. It's still outstanding. Right now the feeling on the Giza Plateau is 'Lets stop trying to produce a movie and let's get down to real science, real archaeology.' And I think that's a great turn of events. I'm happy to hear that.
What can you tell us about the possibility of a second Sphinx being discovered?
OK If you look at the stele in front of the current Sphinx, you will see two Sphinxes carved on this granite stone. One is facing one direction and the other [faces] the other. This is common in ancient Egypt. It's called "Yesterday and Tomorrow". These are the Lions of Yesterday and Tomorrow. And beneath them are carved chambers, deep down below each of these Sphinxes. Now this Sphinx that we're all familiar with faces east and looks back to Leo, the constellation Leo in the sky, at 10,450 BC. On the other side of the Giza Plateau, it is believed that there is the other Sphinx that is looking to the future. And if we can discover it and uncover it, it too, has records and chambers, and looks to our future.
Your book to be published in the fall of 1998, Ancient Egyptian Mysticism and Its Relevance To Today's Seeker contains the story of Ra-ta. Why was he significant to the Pyramid and the Sphinx?
One time in Edgar Cayce's deep meditative trance state, where he gave his famous readings, he was asked for one of his previous lives where he made a significant impact in humanity. And the voice spoke that it was as a high priest in ancient Egypt around 10,500 B.C. as Ra-ta. And that he and Hermes and other great seekers, Isis, and many others, worked together to establish the enlightenments, the wisdoms, the beauty that we see recorded in all of these temples, in tombs, in monuments. And that hundreds of thousands of people came through. You have to remember, at that time on the earth, the earth spoke one language. You could travel all over the earth and meet with all the different cultures, you all spoke the same language. So it was easy to communicate these spiritual teachings, these techniques, these methods. And the world was working together at that time. It was a great period for Ra-ta and all of the seekers of light.
Why were the Pyramid and the Sphinxes so important to Ra-ta?
Well, Hermes was considered one of the greatest incarnated beings at the time. And it was decided that we had descended deep into matter now, and we were going to go further, and we would lose a lot of our consciousness. It would drop behind a veil. We would start to think of ourselves as only terrestrial, only earthly. So they wanted to record something that would last a long enough period to when we started to reduce the opacity of that veil and open it again and become more aware, the records would be there [and] we could quickly get a hold of the truth and move fast ahead. So that's why they all worked so hard to create the Plateau, to initiate all the souls that could come through and then sea] it up, and know that eventually, down the road a ways, we will all awaken again.
I think we are at that point in history. Very important changes are taking place all along the line, in almost every field. We must... take care not to accept the oversensationalizing of these issues so prone in the popular media. Refrain from leaping to conclusions or accepting outrageous accusations.
What is the key point in your new book on Ancient Egyptian Mysticism?
It shows that hidden in the ancient hieroglyphs on the walls and in the papyra that we find, are stories of the true spiritual nature of humanity. And that our most important journey is a consciousness expanding journey, not just a material, satisfaction journey to satisfy our material needs, but also to awaken our souls and awaken our consciousness.
You can order books by John Van Auken by calling the A.R.E. at 1-800-732-1112. His titles include: The End Times: Prophecies of Coming Changes; Spiritual Breakthrough: Handbook To God Consciousness; Reincarnation: Born Again and Again, With Concepts From Cayce, Steiner And The Secret Teachings Of Many Cultures; and due out soon: Ancient Egyptian Mysticism And Its Relevance To Today's Seeker. The A.R.E.'s website is www.are-cayce.com.