An exclusive update to members of the Stargate Assembly by LYNN PICKNETT and CLIVE PRINCE
Despite its laudable intentions, ‘Alternative Egyptology’ is, in fact, a minefield.
Not only are there many competing theories claiming to solve the very real mysteries of ancient Egypt – which, until recently, have been the subject of a generally good-natured debate – but there are also individuals and groups with vested interests, who seek to use those mysteries in order to sell other ideas of a religious, esoteric or even political nature.
Which of the theories you accept usually comes down to whether you accept the author’s particular interpretation of the data – the monuments, artifacts and texts that survive from ancient Egypt.
However, when there is a disagreement about the data itself the debate becomes much more clear-cut:
a statement of fact is either right or wrong.
Our research for The Stargate Conspiracy found serious factual errors in the works of some of the key figures in this field, in particular:
- Robert Bauval
- Graham Hancock
- John Anthony West
and Robert Temple.
These errors are so fundamental that, if we are correct, they undermine many of these writers’ central theories.
The best example is the supposed significance of the year 10,500 BC, which is promoted so strongly by Hancock and Bauval.
The climatic and astronomical evidence that they put forward is, as we demonstrate, basically wrong.
Since The Stargate Conspiracy was published in July, none of the authors have responded to our criticisms – although there’s been a lot of behind-the-scenes shenanigans, some threats of legal action, and a successful attempt to put commercial pressure on our publishers as ‘punishment’ for daring to publish the book.
Yet the authors we criticize have kept a remarkably low profile when it comes to responding to our points.
For example, Graham Hancock was due to take part in a live debate with us on national radio recently but pulled out at the last minute.
Miles Williams Mathis: Graham Hancock Unmasks Himself – Library of Rickandria
And it is not only our criticisms they have blithely ignored, but also those by others within the Alternative Egypt field itself.
Why are they avoiding the issue?
After all, the easiest way to publicly undermine our credibility, and that of their other critics, would be to prove us wrong.
As one-time avid fans of their books ourselves, we certainly feel cheated at what appears to be such a lack of respect for their readership – to whom, after all, they owe their reputations – as to constitute outright contempt.
It’s ironic that Bauval and Hancock have frequently taken the high moral ground and accused academic Egyptologists of brushing aside criticism and suppressing dissenting voices.
We now appear to have a new Egyptological orthodoxy with all the dogmatism and high-handedness of the old.
Yet it’s not just the past that the New Orthodoxy seeks to reinterpret.
They see the past as containing messages for our immediate future, giving prophecies of imminent global transformation – as in Bauval and Hancock’s Keeper of Genesis, for example.
Keeper of Genesis: A Quest for the Hidden Legacy of Mankind – Anna’s Archive
In recent postings on the Daily Grail promoting his forthcoming book Secret Chamber, Bauval continues to build up Messianic expectations for the Millennium.
Secret Chamber: The Quest for the Hall of Records – Anna’s Archive
For example, in describing his visit to the chamber beneath the ‘water shaft’ at Giza, Bauval refers to the ‘fabled Hall of Records’.
‘Fabled’?
Does the idea of the Hall of Records really have the long and venerable pedigree he implies?
The existence of a Hall of Records beneath Giza, connected with the Sphinx and dating from 10500 BC, appeared for the first time in the psychic readings of Edgar Cayce in the 1920s.
Cayce also predicted that the Hall of Records would be rediscovered by 1998, and that this would usher in a New Age, in which the ‘Master of the World’ would return (taken by some to mean the Second Coming), a new race would appear and – tellingly – the ideals and doctrines of Freemasonry would dominate the world.
However, Cayce has one of the worst track records of any prophet: virtually all of his predictions to date have failed dismally.
Even so, many people continue to believe in him and his prophecies, particularly concerning the Hall of Records.
Now that 1998 has passed without its discovery, there appears to be a concerted effort to link it with the excavation of the water shaft chamber, which did happen last year (although, in fact, the chamber itself has been known about since the 1930s).
(The water shaft and chamber are discussed briefly in our book, but a more detailed examination appears in Ian Lawton and Chris Ogilvie-Herald‘s Giza – The Truth, published in the UK this week.)
Bauval has recently distanced himself from the Cayce circus, writing on Egyptnews (17 June):
‘It is no secret that I do not condone either the so-called reading of Cayce or the other material that is promoted by the ARE, such as the Second Coming, reincarnated entities from Atlantis and such like hare-brained stuff.’
This is fine as far as it goes, but by writing of a ‘fabled’ Hall of Records, Bauval is perpetuating the common fallacy that you can reject the prophet but keep the prophecy.
The fact is that the term ‘Hall of Records’ and the concept of an underground depository of lost wisdom connected with the Sphinx originated with Cayce.
It is true that there are:
- Egyptian
- Arab
- Masonic
legends of hidden artifacts or texts in Egypt, but they relate either to the Great Pyramid or to places other than Giza.
None make the association with the Sphinx or with an underground chamber, and none use the term ‘Hall of Records’, which was an invention of Cayce’s.
Bauval goes further in his posting of 15 August, relating the Masonic symbolism of the Millennium Night ceremony in which a gilded capstone is to be placed on the top of the Great Pyramid, and the ‘coincidence’ of the culmination of Sirius at the same time, to Messianic ideas concerning the births of Horus and Jesus.
The meaning for American Freemasons of the capstone ceremony is explored in The Stargate Conspiracy.
Briefly, it relates to the symbolism of the design on the reverse of the Great Seal of the United States, which appears on dollar bills.
This shows an incomplete pyramid with the famous (or notorious) ‘eye in the triangle’ symbol floating above it.
In the early 1930s – but not, as far as we can trace, before – this symbol began to be associated with predictions of the global domination of the USA and Freemasonry.
The parallel with Cayce’s prophecy relating to the Hall of Records, made around the same time, is obvious. (Significantly, Cayce was a Mason.)
The first prominent Freemason to promote this concept was Henry A. Wallace, the politician who had the design incorporated onto dollar bills and who later became Vice President under Roosevelt.
Henry Agard Wallace (October 7, 1888 – November 18, 1965) was the 33rd vice president of the United States, serving from 1941 to 1945, under President Franklin D. Roosevelt. He served as the 11th U.S. secretary of agriculture and the 10th U.S. secretary of commerce. He was the nominee of the new Progressive Party in the 1948 presidential election.
Wallace was also one of the key figures in the origins of what we call the ‘Stargate Conspiracy’ in the early 1950s.
To be fair, some readers have taken us to task for describing this image as Masonic, pointing out that it is not one of the traditional symbols of Masonry.
This is true.
Although the ‘eye in the triangle’ image is known from at least the 16th century, it does not appear as an explicitly Masonic icon until this century.
Why it was chosen for the US Great Seal is unknown.
However, the important point is that Wallace and other Masons came to believe that it was Masonic, and to interpret it in Masonic terms.
The placing of the gilded capstone on the Great Pyramid at the moment of midnight at the Millennium is – whether intentional or not – a potent symbol for modern American Freemasons who accept Henry Wallace’s interpretation.
It represents the ‘completion’ of the pyramid and this, according to Wallace, symbolizes the dawn of an era in which the United States and Freemasonry will be the dominant forces in the world.
The fact that this coincides with the culmination of Sirius – when it is directly south of Giza, and at its highest point – is something that will not have escaped those who seek to exploit the meaning of such apparently symbolic events.
On the subject of Sirius in Masonic lore, there is a difference of opinion among Freemasons.
Many authorities attribute the symbols described by Bauval to Venus rather than Sirius – see, for example, Christopher Knight and Robert Lomas‘s recently published Uriel’s Machine.
Uriel’s machine – the prehistoric technology that survived the flood – Anna’s Archive
The fact that, seen from Giza, Sirius culminates a minute after midnight on 31 December 1999 is not as unique an event as Bauval implies.
In fact, it has culminated within a minute or two either side of midnight at New Year in most years since the beginning of the 20th century and will continue to do until about 2100.
And there have been about twenty occasions this century when, rather than culminating at 12.01, Sirius has reached its highest point at midnight exactly – a much more significant moment, if one is looking for symbolism.
By linking these events with the birth of Jesus (although his connecting Sirius and the Star of Bethlehem is, to say the least, extremely debatable) and the onset of the Age of Horus, Bauval has added a decidedly Messianic gloss.
Is this – despite his skeptical words about Cayce’s prophecy – a hint of the Second Coming?
The aim of The Stargate Conspiracy is to show how such potent symbolism is being deliberately manipulated by those with their own, very disturbing, agendas, specifically in order to heighten expectancy around the Millennium.
The kind of Messianic message being strongly hinted at by Robert Bauval plays straight into their hands.