Pythagoras remained silent. He understood.
And yet!
Another long year went by. With valor and determination, Pythagoras persisted against the extensive tensions that weighed on him. He managed to conquer the illusions that invaded his inner realm. Ultimately, the time came in which the Hierophant decided that Pythagoras radiated an energy powerful enough. It ascertained his readiness. He was indeed all set to penetrate the last degree of Initiation and, as such, receive the ultimate reality.
The Hierophant summoned him to the Great Hall. “You have earned the right to adhere to the group of Initiates, my son, because you have felt Truth inside a pure heart; a heart loving of the Truth more than any. Congratulations!”
Pythagoras smiled widely, his heart elated.
“However,” Sonchis prompted. “Bear in mind that no one has ever crossed the threshold of Osiris without passing by Death and Resurrection,” his even tone alleviated the extent of the warning.
The words lingered in his mind that night as he stretched out to sleep under the stars.
The next day at sunset, Pythagoras and Sonchis stood admiring the Sphinx. They commented on how such a gigantic monument appeared to direct its looks up towards the Constellation of the Lion.
“The Sphinx is the entrance to the final Initiation,” Sonchis explained. “It is Horus in the Horizon. Know this, Pythagoras: It represents the initial state of man. It informs us about the principal of evolution, and about the incarnated secrets of the complete theology.”
“The Sphinx is the fundamental figure - the symbol - that describes justly the four elements. The hoofs of the Ox are the Earth element; it is the Beginning thus, the Silence. The upper body of the Lion is the Water element which is the Vital force thus, the Daring. The wings of the Eagle are the Air element; it is the Key to the mind, so eventually, the Knowledge. And, finally, the face of Man is the Fire element which is the Unity, therefore the Will, the will to become what humans are in reality.”
At these words, the access to the final Initiation of Pythagoras heralded as if by a deed of magic. Under the head of the Sphinx, and in between its arms, the door unlocked to welcome him and his Mentor inside.
Torches on one side of the wall illuminated their way along the lengthy corridor. They reached the end halting in front of an enigmatic sculpture. Its right hand pointed upwards, and the left downwards.
“What do you think is the conundrum of that statue, Pythagoras?” the Hierophant asked in a serious tone.
Difficult as it came to be, Pythagoras focused on that enigma for a long moment. Deepened in his reflection, the Magician within Pythagoras grabbed a certain thread to an answer. Pythagoras dwelled on it for a moment. He hesitated.
He turned to probe the eyes of Sonchis for a clue then examined the statue again. He followed the direction of the right hand and spelled out, “Above…” He paused, shrunk his eyes on a thought, looked at the left hand and uttered, “Below…”
“As above… so is below…,” he murmured what he deemed to be the answer.
A fearsome silence loitered.
As above so is below… Pythagoras repeated inwardly then veered to face his Master.
Sonchis nodded with a smile and a glint of satisfaction. Without further explanation, he turned on his heels, span to the left and disappeared through an opening in the wall. Pythagoras followed behind him.
A serpentine lane took them under the Sphinx and all the way under the Great Pyramid of Khufu. They continued through some passageways that led them to an enormous hall walled by huge granite blocks.
“The Chamber of the King,” Sonchis explained to him in a whisper.
There, inside the heart of the Pyramid, three priests, with bright torches in their hands, stood in wait at the three sides of a sarcophagus. Their ceremonial white robes and purple tunics distinguished them to be second in roles after Sonchis. Distinctive coronets crowned their heads; each one different than the other. One represented the Moon, with a globe of two horns. The other embodied the Rising Sun, with the eye of Ra. The third, with a serpent, symbolized the Vital Energy.
Sonchis and Pythagoras joined them at the head-side of the sarcophagus. The mystical fragrance of incense permeated all over.
“No one can ever escape death!” Sonchis intoned and the fatalistic words resonated with the same dramatic sound as their full meaning. “Yet, every spirit is destined for resurrection!” He affirmed in faith then turned to address Pythagoras with solemnity. “Here is the Hat-Ka, the House of Spirit. You will sleep inside this sarcophagus, Pythagoras, for three days and three nights until the light of the resurrected god Osiris wakes you up.”
Without hesitation, Pythagoras stretched down inside the coffin and crossed his arms over his chest. In turn, the priests approached him to chant some holy lyrics and bless him with a sacred gesture of the hands. At that, they walked out.
Sonchis muttered some indistinct words of prayers over Pythagoras. Their eyes hooked for an undetermined moment then, with a last look of affection and admiration, Sonchis disappeared from his sight.
In complete darkness, the cold breeze of the Chamber initiated its pitiless sting on his body. His heartbeat pounded harder by the second. He perceived the sound of his heart intensifying before it slowed down dramatically. Numbness sneaked through his skin to reach his muscles and beyond.
Cold waned…
Sounds faded…
The aroma of the incense disappeared…
Darkness prevailed…
His last mindful apprehension of the physical world was that he was losing touch with reality. A powerful sense of lightness lifted him. He knew then that the ethereal part of his being had initiated his ascension through the gateways of eternity.
His Ka so to speak, his spirit, flew like a Phoenix throughout the spiritual spheres of space and time. He recognized the pulsations of life all around him, and acknowledged the eternal law of evolution. Shapes and numbers materialized, and his past lives unveiled their stories.
Pythagoras continued his ethereal journey through the deep mystical space without any awareness of earthly time. Something unfathomable shone brightly from afar. He decided to approach it. He realized that, in fact, the bright form headed in his direction as if to meet with him half-way. ‘The light of Osiris!’ he anticipated in elation.
Edging closer, the light revealed its form –a star; a five-pointed star! Amazed, Pythagoras slowed down for an instant, yet the star pursued its fast approach. In a phenomenal spark, Pythagoras and the star collided and merged at once in one being. A great magnetic light diffused in the realm of darkness.
In ecstasy, Pythagoras understood that he had finally become what he was in reality: the Microcosm of the Macrocosm; the god in the heart of God.
The vision waned...
A heavy weight pressed on his body. Pythagoras felt his limbs once again; back in his earthly body. He opened his eyes with reluctance. The anxious faces of the Sonchis and the Priests gradually appeared staring down at him.
Dazed, he heeded their murmurs welcoming him back from his spiritual journey. Someone approached a goblet to his mouth for him to drink. The liquid reanimated his membranes and cleared the fog off his mind.
He rose up from his tomb.
“Here you are now resurrected!” Sonchis greeted him with patent joy. “You have experienced the Great Mystery of all time, Pythagoras. Three days and three nights! You have defeated death, and achieved actual immortality!”
Serene and silent, Pythagoras looked resolutely at him with the eyes of the wise.
“Come now! Let us celebrate the glory of the Initiates.” Sonchis exclaimed. “You have become one of us; A reborn!”
His steps still unsteady, Pythagoras accompanied them to the south entrance of the Grand Gallery. They entered that hall which Egyptian Astrologers and Magicians have used at all times to observe the starry sky.
They waited for the very first sunray.
At that precise moment in
which the beam of the Rising Sun, the Supreme Being Ra, struck the face of Pythagoras, the Hierophant turned to him.
“Believe now, Pythagoras, that He is in You and You are in Him. Believe that you are everything that is, everything that was, and everything that will be,” Sonchis initiated him. “Pythagoras, you have become what you are!”
.5.
The Vision of the Master
Pythagoras succeeded his Initiation in Egypt as very few seekers of Truth could have done; the higher degree in the Great Pyramid of Khufu being the pinnacle. Such a major exploit changed his life for it led him to experience death and then resurrection within the Rising Sun; the Supreme Being Ra. After his accomplishment, he returned to the sanctuary of Memphis to assume his new position and responsibilities as the High Priest of Osiris.
Adamant to protect its great mysteries, Egypt has always strived to conceal their occult doctrine of Truth. Eventually, the great mysteries incited the curiosity and jealousy of other nations. These feelings spanned into hatred and greed. As history recorded, Cambyses II, the son and successor of Cyrus II, the Great king of Persia, attacked Egypt in the year 525 BCE.
His large and powerful army of ferocious Persian soldiers invaded the land of Ham. They burned down the religious cities. They destroyed the temples of Amon-Ra in Memphis and the shrines of Thebes. In an unbelievable phenomenon, the pyramids withstood all attempts of destruction. They survived steadfast and intact, as if protected by an unseen supremacy of occult power! Conversely, Pharaoh Psammetichus III and his court did not escape their horrible fate, nor did the important Egyptian families. Forced out of their castles and temples, they underwent shame and humiliation. The Persians chained them and hauled them between the ruins, then beheaded them in public. History marked, in time, the political and religious execution of the powers of Egypt!
Pythagoras, aged forty-five by then, saw the end of his fifteen peaceful and fruitful years in Egypt. His continuous learning of the great enigmas of life came to an abrupt and painful halt. Imprisoned by the Persians, along with the other priests of Osiris, he was forced to leave the Temple of Memphis and the Egyptian land behind.
A life of exile into Babylon became his doom.
* * *
At midday, two weeks after setting out to sea, the Persian ship of prisoners reached the city of Babylon that Cyrus II ruled, approximately, since 539 BCE. A province of the great Persian Empire at the time, Babylon expanded inside massive walls. They exhibited colorful mosaic illustrations of animals, heroes and gods. Attractive, yet peculiar, various statues of winged gods loomed over the vastly populated city. The Ishtar Gate constituted the main entrance to the city. It guarded the Ziggurat that comprised a tower of steps crowned by the Temple of the god Marduk.
The Persian guards dragged Pythagoras and the other prisoners through the city and past beautiful castles, impressive palaces and grand platforms. In spite of his precarious situation, he could not avoid gawking in awe at the beauty around him, in particular at its suspended gardens. They soon reached their confinement in the Temples of the goddess Ishtar and the god Bel. These sanctuaries represented the Babylonian versions of the notorious Phoenician female and male divinities, Arstate and Baal (Adonis).
In the ancient tongues, Babylon[25], or Babel, Bab-El, meant the Door of El. Many races of different languages, cults and religions considered it a holy capital and sought it for their dwellings. They co-existed peacefully together, and created forcefully a lively culture of controversial human thoughts.
At the time, two major religions had survived the Persian Religious influence in Babylon brought by the Zoroastrian Magi, whose Persian adepts worshiped their alleged savior Zoroaster. In consequence, a large number of residents prevailed in their practices. The older form of religion that endured was that of the Chaldean Kabalists, followed by the religious doctrine of the Hindu Gymnosophists, better known as the naked wise men.
To Pythagoras, a seeker of Truth by birth, nature and fate, new horizons for more knowledge broadened widely. Although a religious prisoner in exile, he favored some liberty of movement due to his honorable stature as a High Priest of Osiris. He grabbed this opportunity with both hands, and proceeded in studying the various doctrines there present, and their secrets. As always, he strove to acquire more and more comprehension and enlightenment. He started his new journey of knowledge with the Chaldeans from whom he would learn the Kabbalah for many consecutive months.
Savants and magi, the Chaldeans dressed up in particular attire. A black cloak covered a three-layered white and blue linen robe that displayed quadrangle patches of odd patterns. Known by their long curly manes and beards, they wore flat linen turbans. That particular headwear carried always a golden sign with the name of their Kabalistic Mystery God Iao, or Yaho.
Truth be told, the Babylonian Chaldeans had adopted their own concept of the Kabbalah, originally introduced by the Phoenician spiritual Enochian tribe, some time ago. From his education in Gebel and Memphis, Pythagoras knew that Enoch-Hermes-Tautus had initially acquired and accepted that occult spirituality from Angels on Mount Hermon in Phoenicia. Although Pythagoras deemed these Angels to be Higher Selves, he recognized that the authentic and more spiritual form of Kabbalah had originated from Enoch-Hermes-Tautus. The latter had based the dogma of that extremely clandestine system of Initiation on the esoteric meanings of letters and numbers, thus, the Ancient Scriptures. In fact, the Kabbalah meant to accept in the Phoenician language.
Previously Initiated by its original source, Pythagoras had already mastered this occult art. Therefore, he was perfectly able to discern many substantial differences between the original Kabbalah and the deviated one of the Chaldeans. As a matter of fact, by adopting the Kabbalah[26], the Chaldeans had incorporated one of the most ancient languages on Earth. They then used it for the invocation of spirits, either in the written form of the talismans, or in the spoken form of incantations.
With nothing more to learn from the Chaldeans, a year later, Pythagoras moved on into the next phase of his personal agenda; the Zoroastrians.
Zaratas, the great Magus of that sect, and probably the most notorious at the time[27], welcomed Pythagoras in his realm. The Magus, with long hair and bearded face, was dressed entirely in white linen. His robe cloaked him by the shoulders. An amber belt bundled up his double girded tunic at the waist. Even the turban, which extended all the way down his back, was of white linen. Pythagoras came to know that Zaratas always kept the fire of his god Ahuramazda ablaze in a clay container.
For more than a year, the Magus Initiated him into an enigmatic science that would enable him infinite manipulation of the occult powers of nature. As explained to him, such operation would transpire through the incorporeal fire, or the Astral Light, that is diffused everywhere.
One day, Pythagoras joined him inside one of the most secluded areas of Babylon. There, in the covert bosom of Nature, away from the eyes and ears of the common people, Zaratas imparted his philosophy.
“There are two causes behind the existence of the Universe, the Father and the Mother. The Father is Light. He is the god of Fire; the good god Ahuramazda. The Mother, on the other hand, is darkness and cold. She is Ahriman, the god of evil.”
Shocked by such a statement, Pythagoras enjoined swiftly. “Why is that, Zaratas? Why is the Mother evil?”
“She is not evil in the literal sense of the word. No! She should not be considered as such, Pythagoras. What I meant is the following….” He rubbed his palms together, sighed loudly, and explained, “Ahuramazda, the Father, is the Heavenly god that formed the psyche, or the soul, to implement it in humans. The Mother is the infernal goddess that produced the physical life on Earth.”
Pythagoras leaped to his feet in outrage and snapped, “So what! What’s wrong with the physical life on Earth?! Come now, Zaratas! I still don’t get this!”
He went pacing back and forth in front of the Magus, then, came to an abrupt halt and veered to face him. “Unless…,” he
uttered pensively.
“Yes, Pythagoras? Go on!” The Magus incited him with a witty look.
“Well, unless you mean to imply that the psyche - the fire, or the life principle generated in the Kosmos and humanity - is standing against, or let’s just simply say, rising above, the physical mortal bodies of the living.”
“Correct! This is the essence of all things. The metaphysical principles in the whole universe consist of both Heaven and Hell, or Earth… male and female, and so forth.”
Pythagoras engrossed in his private deliberation on what he had just heard.
Zaratas, also an Astrologer, instructed him that day on the science of the sky and its rotating planets. He elaborated on their secret numbers, and the vast influence of their magnetism and electric effects on the lives of human beings.
At that stage, Pythagoras dwelt in some doubts. He had acquired the knowledge of an identical system back in Egypt. He fathomed inwardly the clear disparities between both systems. The following days he spent with the Magus, in the bosom of Nature, impelled him to conduct a deep assessment on the Zoroastrian Initiation. Despite his conclusion on the peculiarity of these teachings, he listened intently to what Zaratas imparted.
“No evil matter shall ever destroy, or defile, the wisdom you acquired during the many years of your Initiation, nor shall they affect the purity of your inborn psyche,” his commanding voice claimed high and loud, his eyes intense with a bizarre luminosity. “However, you should purify yourself from the pollution of your previous life. I shall teach you how!”
“When?”
Unconcerned by the fretfulness of Pythagoras, he stood up slowly. He took his time to arrange his turban, and fixed up his tunic. Only then, he edged closer to square him sharply in the eyes.
“Tonight!” he announced then chuckled.
Pythagoras released his breath.
That same night, Zaratas subjected Pythagoras to the service of Initiation of his dogma.
Pythagoras the Mathemagician Page 16