The mystery of the Great pyramid : traditions concerning it and its connection with the Egyptian Book of the dead : with numerous illustrations

“THE TEMPLE OF OSIRIS”

(there) be opened to me the mighty flood by Osiris, and may the abyss of water be opened to me. . . the lord of the

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horizon, in my name of ‘ Opener ’.

The subterranean pit symbolizes the lake of fire, or “Place of the Central Fire” of the Ritual in which the condemned are punished, and is represented as a rectangular lake in centre of which is the hieroglyph for “water” (lake), and tongues of flame issuing round it. At each corner sits a dog-headed ape, the gods of the

infernal regions. (See ch. cxxvi.) These challenge the postulant who gives the necessary passwords, and he is allowed to pass unharmed. Elsewhere the condemned are represented as walking in this pit as madmen, on the ceiling, head downwards, like flies, beating their brains out with axes !

It thus represents madness or chaos, hence its being constructed like a chamber upside down, with its ceiling smooth, but floor uneven and chaotic.

It typifies, in its true allegory, the lake of fire (hence its representation as a lake in the Ritual) of Rev. xx, 10-15,

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