Nexus - 0602 - New Times Magazine-pages

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Akhenaten's mother, Queen Tiye of Egypt, with her cartouche set was seemingly identical to the ancient Mesopotamian in the crown. fire-stone or shem-an-na—the substance that was made In the courts and halls of the outer temple there were numerous into bread-cakes and used to feed the Light-bodies of the stone-carved rectangular tanks and circular basins, along with a Babylonian Kings and the Egyptian Pharaohs. embraces". Also found was an Amarna statue-head of \ ), That has become apparent, however, is that this powder variety of curiously shaped benchtables with recessed fronts and This, of course, explains the temple inscriptions denoting the split-level surfaces. There were also round tables, trays and importance of bread and light, and this white powder (the shem- saucers together with alabaster vases and containers, many of an-na) was identified with the sacred manna that Aaron placed in which were shaped like lotus flowers. In addition, the rooms the Ark of the Covenant. In Egypt, the cakes made from this housed a good collection of glazed plaques, cartouches, scarabs powder were called 'scheffa food’, while the Israelites called them and sacred ornaments designed with spirals, diagonal squares and "shewbread'. basketwork. There were magical wands of an unidentified hard The Book of Exodus tells us that the Master Craftsman who material, and in the portico were two conical stones of about six made the original shewbread for Moses in Sinai was Bezaleel, the inches and nine inches respectively in height. son of Uri Ben Hur. But Bezaleel was not a baker; he was a note The explorers were baffled enough by these finds, but they goldsmith—the very man who made the golden accoutrements for were further confounded by the discovery of a metallurgist's cru- the Tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant. This conforms pre- cible. Ever since, Egyptologists have argued as to why crucibles cisely with the function of the priestly Master Craftsmen in would have been necessary in a temple—while at the same time | Mesopotamia. They were the great Vulcans and metallurgists of debating a mysterious substance, called mfkzt, which seemed to be Tubal-cain, who manufactured the valuable shem-an-na from pure related to the crucible and the conical stones and which had gold. dozens of mentions in wall and stelae inscriptions. As for the crucible, the conical stones and the great array of Some have suggested that mfkzt might have been copper; many tanks, tables and equipment which made the Sinai temple appear have preferred the idea of turquoise; and others have supposed it —_ more like a gigantic laboratory than a church, it emerges that this was perhaps malachite. But these are is precisely what it was. all unsubstantiated guesses and there What Petrie had actually found was were no traces of any of these materi- the alchemical workshop of als at the site. Akhenaten and of the 18 dynasties of Sinai is noted for its turquoise Laying some inches deep in a Pharaohs before him—a temple-labo- mines, but if turquoise mining had storeroom was a considerable ratory where the furnace would have been a primary function of the temple . . roared and smoked in the production masters over so many centuries then supply of the finest, pure white, of the sacred fire-stone of the high- one would expect to find turquoise spin shem-an-na. stones in abundance within the tombs unadulterated powder. Quite suddenly, the words of of Egypt. But such is not the case. Exodus begin to make sense as we Hardly any have been found. read them again with a wholly new Another cause of wonderment has insight: been the innumerable inscribed refer- And Mount Sinai was altogether ences to ‘bread’, along with the prominent hieroglyph for ‘light’ on a smoke because the Lord descended upon it in fire, and found in the Shrine of the Kings. the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and The discovery which caused the most bewilderment, however, the whole mount quaked greatly. was the unearthing of something which was identified as the enig- In Exodus we read that Moses took the golden calf which the matic mfkzt to which the 'bread' symbolism seemed to be related. Israelites had made, and then burnt it in the fire and ground it to a Laying some inches deep in a storeroom was a considerable sup- white powder. This is precisely the process of a shem-an-na fur- ply of the finest, pure white, unadulterated powder. nace, and it is evident that the Egyptian priests of the goddess At the time, some suggested that the powder could be a remnant Hathor had been working their fire for countless generations of copper smelting, but, as was quickly pointed out, smelting does before the priests of Aten became involved in the time of Moses. not produce white powder; it leaves a dense black slag. It was in fact Pharaoh Tuthmosis III who had reorganised the Moreover, there was no supply of copper ore within miles of the ancient mystery-schools of Thoth and founded the Royal School temple, and the old smelting works were in any event apparent in of the Master Craftsmen at Karnak. They were called the Great the distant valleys. Others guessed that the powder was ash from = White Brotherhood because of their preoccupation with a mysteri- the burning of plants to produce alkali, but there was no trace ous white powder. A branch of this fraternity became especially whatever of any plant residue. concerned with medicines and healing, and they became known as For want of any other explanation, it was determined that the the Egyptian Therapeutate. In much later times, the Therapeutate white powder and the conical stones were probably associated extended its activities into Palestine, especially into the Judah set- with some form of sacrificial rite, but again it was pointed out that tlement of Qumran where they flourished as the Essenes. this was an Egyptian temple and animal sacrifice was not an But what was so special about the goddess Hathor? Why was Egyptian practice. Moreover, there were no remnants whatever of she the chosen deity of the Sinai priests? Hathor was a paramount bones or any other foreign matter within the mfkzt, which nursing goddess, and as the daughter of Ra she was said to have appeared for all the world like a hoard of sacred talcum powder. given birth to the Sun. She was the originally defined Queen of Some of the mysterious powder was taken back to Britain for the West and Mistress of the Netherworld—to where she was said analysis and examination, but no results were ever published. The to carry those who knew the right spells. She was the revered rest (opened to the elements after 3,000 years) was left to become _ protectress of womanhood, the Lady of the Sycamore and the a victim of the desert winds. goddess of love, tombs and song. And it was from the milk of Laying some inches deep in a storeroom was a considerable supply of the finest, pure white, unadulterated powder. NEXUS - 57 FEBRUARY — MARCH 1999