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sacred geometry, archaeoastronomy, and new physics have all become subjects of fevered study in order to discern the “occult significance” of the works of the ancients. And, invariably, it is done in strictly ritual terms, positing that all of the abilities of the ancients were terms, positing that all of the abilities of the ancients were accomplished strictly by magical rites or rituals - controlling what is “up there” by rituals “down here.” that all of the ancients terms, were Occultists claim that the mental and spiritual powers of the ancients were what we have lost. They then assert that this ancient wisdom was broken up and obscured in magical doctrines, which those who are not “initiated” simply cannot grasp. They claim that parts of it have been handed down by continuous tradition, and released to the world at opportune times, and other parts have only been released to an elect few, of which exalted company, they, of course, are obviously members. When considering such ideas, we do come to the thought that it is very likely that there are rites or stories or myths behind the rituals that may, indeed, have been passed down in such secret groups in a more pure form than the stories that make their way around the globe across millennia. But that does not mean that the “priesthood” of such groups truly understands the stories or rites of which they are guardians— especially if they do not consider the possibility that such information may be scientific codes and require a trained scientist to decode them. Most of the so-called “occultists” and “sacred geometers” remind me of David Macaulay’s Motel Of Mysteries,” a humorous account of an archaeological excavation of a twentieth century motel, in which everything is meticulously excavated, recorded and then totally misinterpreted. The “vast funerary” complex unearthed by Howard Carson contains wonders such as the “Great Altar” (Television), a statue of the deity WATT (bedside lamp) and the Internal Component Enclosure (or ICE box). and There are other promulgators of the occult who seem to be part of the very Control System we have described above and who seem to have In terms of archaeology, there are processes involved in the formation of the archaeological record. A lack of understanding of these formation processes is not always confined to the non- the In these these formation processes is not always confined to the non- professionals. It has only relatively recently been suggested that the archaeology of a site is not a direct record of what went on there, but instead may have been distorted by a whole series of processes. confined the non- not 383 High Strangeness — Part Three extremely dangerous proclivities, as we will discuss further on. ” Macaulay, David, Motel Of Mysteries (Boston: Houghton Mifflin 1979).