The New Age Pyramid

The Old Granary
Philip Coppens

“The New Pyramid Age” established that across the world, the pyramid shape came with its specific pyramid mythology, which in the book was linked with a “new age”, in which the fires of the previous era were put out, and new fires lit. This “new fire” ceremony normally involved the king or tribal leader performing various rituals that united this world with the “afterworld”, as well as proving his fitness to rule.

Ogotemmeli

It was outside the scope of the book to query where this “pyramid template” developed from, though we did note that because of its worldwide nature, it would likely date back to the earliest origins of Mankind.
Despite not including it in the book, there are clear indications that the “pyramid template” developed from tribal shamanic lore. And for that, we turn to the Dogon and their creation mythology. Anthropologists Marcel Griaule’s visits and experiences with the Dogon were at the basis of Robert Temple’s “The Sirius Mystery” and its speculation that the Dogon possessed knowledge that was outside the “normal realm” of this Mali tribe, specifically focusing on the existence of a companion star to Sirius, namely Sirius B. But amidst all this – often unfounded – speculation, perhaps a more important lesson from the Dogon was missed: a likely explanation of how the concept of the pyramid was born, and what it represented.

In Griaule’s “Conversations with Ogotemmeli”, Griaule recounts his discussions with this Dogon elder, who was selected to explain to the anthropologist the world view of the Dogon. During a series of discussions, Ogotemmeli tackled the tribe’s creation myth, stating that the unformed universe was the Creator God Amma’s egg, and had known two creations: one visible, one invisible. As with the Egyptian creator deity Atum, the initial act was one of self-creation, with Amma forming a perfect twin, which the Dogon call the Nummo or Nommo.
As the complex story of creation unfolds, eight ancestors, who lived eternally, are introduced into the narrative. At one point, these ancestor deities saw the Earth, whereby Nummo decided he would try to redeem Mankind. All were concerned about the effect of contact between spiritual beings and ordinary beings; the consequences, it seems, were hard if not impossible to predict. Hence, the eight ancestors were taken to heaven with the Nummo to learn the skills of civilisation. Later, each was given one of the eight grains of heaven, with which they returned to live with men, civilising them. They thus became the “civilising deities”, the Dogon equivalent of the Apkallu, or Seven Sages.
Indeed, this legend has the same ingredients as many other legends – whether in surrounding African cultures, or further afield. And the story of the civilising deities that descended from heaven was, of course, the primary breeding ground for the Dogon ancient astronaut theory, which was argued in “The Sirius Mystery”.

Rather than speak of extraterrestrial beings amongst men, Ogotemmeli’s narration of Amma’s cult provided an insight into a shamanic, tribal expression of “the pyramid template”. One aspect of this creation myth speaks of “the granary”, a term that also lay at the foundation of another classic on ancient mythology, Giorgio de Santillana and Hertha von Dechend’s “Hamlet’s Mill”.
“When the first ancestor came down from heaven, he was standing on a square piece of heaven shaped like the first granary. The first granary was shaped like a woven basket turned upside down. It was round at the bottom, square and flat at the top, with stairways with ten steps up the middle of each of the four sides, which faced the cardinal points. The door of the granary was a sixth step of the north side.”
Inside, there were eight chambers, divided over two levels of four chambers each. The compartments met in a cup-shaped depression in the earth, large enough to hold a round jar, which was seen as the centre of the whole construction. It was said that the granary, like the Earth, represented a woman lying on her back with her arms and legs spread – the jar symbolised her womb.

There are clear references to a pyramid here, whereby the ground plan is not yet square, but circular. Despite this non-conformance to the eventual “pyramid template”, all the ingredients of this template are nevertheless present.
Furthermore, in the Dogon mythology, the granary (or proto-pyramid) was already linked to astronomy. Ogotemmeli explained how the round base represented the sun. The square roof represented the sky. A circle in the centre of the roof represented the moon. The rise of each step was male; the tread was female. The combined total of forty steps represented the eighty offspring of the eight ancestors. Furthermore, the northern staircase, was linked with the Pleiades, men and fish; the southern staircase with Orion’s Belt, and domesticated animals; the eastern, with Venus and birds; the western, with the long-tailed star and animals, vegetables and insects.

The reference to the pyramid as a granary should also shed new light on what is related in the popular biblical story of Joseph, in which the pyramids are sometimes taken to be the granaries he built. The man responsible for launching this “theory” was Benjamin of Toledo, who was of the opinion that the Pharaoh had stored a great quantity of wheat inside, in case of famine. Though he was wrong in the literal sense, mythologically speaking, he may not have been far off the mark – and more on the mark than some more “scientific” theories.

The Dogon granary thus represented the new system of the world, the symbol of a new age. This concept of a “new age” is also at the core of the “pyramid template”. And it is where the connection with the pyramid template is confirmed, for with the Dogon, there are also specific references to “the New Fire Ceremony”.
Assembled on the flat roof of the granary were the tools of a forge: the hammer, the anvil, etc. It was said that there would be no grain to store without the fire of the smithy. Hence, we can wonder whether the Greek name “pyramid”, and its specific reference to fire, is another reminder of the symbolic meaning of the pyramid. Some of the early “pyramid experts” may have, by labelling them Houses of Fire or Granaries, known more than we would assume. And rather than be “historically wrong”, they may have been “mythologically right”.

The specific creation myth that Ogotemmeli related was the creation of the Third World – ours. It spoke of a celestial society that was heading for disorder (similar to the biblical Fall). The new generation of Nummo proceeded to break the paradigm and thereby overthrew their destiny.
God had given the eight ancestors a collection of eight different grains intended for their food. Of the eight, the last grain was Digitaria, which had been publicly rejected by the fist ancestor when it was given to him, on the pretext that it was so small and so difficult to prepare. There came, however, a period when all the grains had been nearly exhausted except the last. (Should we see references here to a great famine, such as those involving the biblical Joseph?) When they ate that food, despite having taken oaths not to, it was the confirmation of the breach of the order – similar to the eating of the apple of the biblical story of the Garden of Eden. The two ancestors became unclean – Adam and Eve fell.
They therefore had to quit the heavenly region, as they were unclean, and the other ancestors decided to join them. The first ancestor too began to make preparations for his own departure – perhaps references to that biblical archangel Lucifer?

Some anthropologists have argued that sections of the Dogon mythology are a collection of various mythologies, and that some aspects were influenced by Griaule himself. Which specific details stem from where, is hard to identify, more than half a century after they were recorded. Furthermore, mythology constantly evolves, and adapts. But at its core, it retains a basic message, which is universal and everlasting; it is why the story of Jesus overlaps with that of Osiris and Odin, and other deities, as well as modern oeuvres such as the character Neo in the film The Matrix, or Luke Skywalker in Star Wars.

What the “pyramid template” is able to offer, is a common framework that explains why pyramids were constructed and for what they were used. What the Dogon creation myth is able to show, is that this pyramid template did not develop out of nothing, but was itself a “new phase” in an older design, which nevertheless contained the same basic ingredients. The “old granary” was a pyramid for those cultures who had not yet, or would never make, the step into a Pyramid Age.

http://www.philipcoppens.com/nap_art6.html

Kemetic Artistry Egyptian Art & Jewelry

Spirit of Sankofa writes......

Kemetic Artistry - in jewelery and wall paintings, shows us that the color of Black isn't dark or dismal. Nor does it represent death, witch craft or is it evil.
On the contrary, Black carried the cannotation of "fertility" (rebirth) as well as "Regeneration".
In Kemetic Culture the ancient Egyptians viewed, Osiris as...."The Black One". In ancient KMT they would line graves with the color black in hopes to evoke Osiris regenerating qualities.
The color of a painting or wall drawing had great significance. In many cases it had a message behind it's artistry.
Many wall painting of Ancient Kemet clearly show the darkness of the skin of the Khemet people.

There is much more to find,
When we keep our nose to the grind!
Keep in search of truth!

Em-hotep= Welcome in Peace
Know-Thyself*
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Color in Egyptian Art and Jewelry

The Egyptians considered the color of an object to be an integral part of its nature or being. The word iwen was used to signify the concept of color, and could also mean external appearance, nature, being, character, or even disposition.

Not every color and variation has symbolic significance of course. When groups of objects were being depicted, colors were varied to distinguish one object from another. So rows of people or chariot horses may be alternated as light and dark. And color was often enjoyed for its own sake.

Names and uses of colors

Old Egyptian had four basic color terms:

km , or black, hence, Kmt, or "Black Land". The color black carried connotations of fertility and regeneration, and was also the color of the underworld, where the sun regenerated every night. The god Osiris , king of the Underworld, was sometimes referred to as kmj, "the black one." Black stones were used in statuary, and black backgrounds used in some coffins, to evoke those regenerative qualities of Osiris and the Underworld.

khdj , or white, was also used from prehistoric times. Chalk and gypsum provided the white pigment used.

White was associated with cleanliness, ritual purity and sacredness and so, was the color of the clothes worn by ritual priests. The Instructions of Merikare speaks of service as a priest in terms of the wearing of white sandals. The floors of temples were made of white calcite. White alabaster was used to make ritual objects such as small bowls to the massive embalming table of the Apis bulls mummification. Many sacred animals such as the Great White baboon were also of that color.

Khdj also meant the metal "silver" and could incorporate the notion of "light": for example, in some texts, the sun was said to "whiten" the land at dawn. White was also used to denote the metal silver, and with gold, then symbolized the moon and sun.

W3d , where the "3" actually stands for the "a" that is not our letter A, had its focus in "green", as the term for the mineral malachite. The color green was symbolic of growing things and of life itself. To do "green things" was a euphemism for positive life-producing behavior in contrast to doing "red things."

The hieroglyph that represented w3d was a green papyrus stem and frond, carrying connotations of fresh vegetation and vigor and regeneration. Osiris was often shown with green skin to signify his resurrection, and in the 26 th dynasty , coffin faces were often painted green to identify the deceased with Osiris and to guarantee rebirth. Chapters 159 and 160 of the Book of the Dead give instructions for making an amulet of green feldspar, (though a variety of materials, ranging in color from green to blue, were used) The common amulet of the "Eye of Horus" or the Wedjat is usually green because of the connotations as an expression of the aspects of healing and well-being. Wadjet was the green one, the protective serpent goddess of Lower Egypt (though the color of that royal crown was red.)

Turquoise, or mfk3t, was the most valued of the green stones. Mined in Sinai , it was connected to the deity Hathor , who was called Lady of Turquoise, and as well as to the sun at dawn, whose rays and disk were described as turquoise, and whose rising was said to flood the land with turquoise. Thus, turquoise was also associated with rebirth, and faience figurines in this color were often used in funerary equipment.

Although blue pigment appears on paintings, the Egyptian language had no basic color term in Old Egyptian for "blue." Blue, or irtiu and khshdj , could represent the heavens as well as the primeval flood, and in both it functioned as a symbol of life and rebirth. Blue could also represent the Nile and its offerings, crops and fertility. The phoenix, or benu-heron , an ancient symbol of the inundation, was often painted in bright blue (the actual bird had light gray-blue plumage.) The sacred baboon was also depicted as being blue.

Blue pigment was introduced at about 2550 BCE, based on grinding lapis lazuli, a deep blue stone flecked with golden impurities. Lapis lazuli was the blue stone that figures prominently in much jewelry, but could only be acquired by import. It was called khshdj , and the term was extended to also mean blue. The stone and the color were associated with the night sky and the primordial waters. The rising sun was sometimes called the "child of lapis lazuli."

Blue pigment could also was manufactured by combining oxides of copper and iron with silica and calcium.

dshr , meant "red", hence, "Deshret", the "Red Land", the name given to the desert areas on each side of the fertile Nile Valley. Red pigments were derived from naturally occurring oxidized iron and red ocher.

Red was considered a very potent color, hot and dangerous, but also life-giving and protective. It is both the color of blood, relating to life ad death, and of fire, which could be beneficial or destructive. Expressions such as dshr ib , "red of heart" or "furious" are formed from this basic word.

Red is also a color given to the sun, red at its rising and its setting. In papyrus texts, red pigments or "rubrics" were often used to emphasize headings, but also used to write the names of dangerous entities and unlucky days.

Royal statuary was often made of rose or golden quartzite and red granite, which were used to invoke the regenerative properties of the solar cycle and the connection between the kingship and the sun. The obelisk of Senussret at Heliopolis was made of red granite.

khenet , or yellow, was symbolic of all that is eternal and imperishable. Anubis , often shown with black skin as a jackal, when depicted as a jackal-headed human male, had a black head with gold limbs and torso.

The color yellow was often associated with the sun disk and with gold, or nbw . Gold was not only associated with the sun, it was also the flesh of the gods, and the divine snake in the Story of the Shipwrecked Sailor was also gold.

Color in Art

In paintings deities were not often colored to indicate gold flesh. Most male deities were represented with reddish-brown skin, and female with yellow skin. But other colors, as green and blue were indicated above for Osiris, were used. The fertility deities Min and Amun-Re-Kamutef were shown with black skin. Amun-Re was depicted as blue-skinned from the 18 th Dynasty onward, emphasizing his status at that time as king of the gods. The jackal that represented Anubis and Wepwawet was colored black, although most jackals were actually sandy-colored, to signify their funerary role and connection with the underworld.

Kings were often shown painted in different contexts with different colored skin. For example, the eleventh dynasty king Nebhepetre Montuhotep I was shown regularly with reddish-brown skin at his mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahri . But one statue found ritually buried shows him with black skin to symbolize his renewal in the afterlife. In addition, some faces on nonroyal coffins during some periods were also painted black for the same reason. But the most common color for coffin faces, apart from natural red for males and yellow for females, was gold, linking the deceased with the sun god and showing the deceased successfully transformed into a divine being.

Certain colors were often set side by side as well, to signify completeness. For example, red and white, or its alternate hue yellow, find completion together in the colors of man and woman, and the red and white crowns. Green and black are also often used in the same way as the symbolic opposites of life and death.

Some colors were interchangeable. While hair was often shown as black, it was sometimes depicted as blue for the gods. However, they too could also be shown with black hair. The converse could also be true, as illustrated in the example where the god Anubis is shown as blue, as is the mummy. In the pectoral of Tut , Ptah is shown with black hair, the Blue Crown is colored black. In the same way, light blue and green could be interchanged. In that Tut pectoral, the god Ptah, often shown with green skin, is shown here as light-blue skinned.

The heavens may be colored black, though blue is more commonly used. Yellow gold, the color of sun and stars, could also represent the heavens, though its use for such is relatively rare. Black also represented Egypt itself, the fertile Nile soil, but the color green also signified earth as opposed to heaven or the sea.

Horemheb and Ramesses I both used a blue-gray background on the walls of their tombs, perhaps to represent the entrance of the deceased King into the underworld or the heavens. Since the underworld was described in some texts as the field of malachite (a green stone) green could also represent the underworld as well.

Earlier it was stated that male figures, whether divine or human, were given reddish-brown skin tones. Women were given yellow-gold skin tones. A poem from the Papyrus Chester Beatty I describes a female object of affection with "bright skin," arms more "brilliant than gold," and "white-breasted."

Since Egypt included people close to the Mediterranean as well as to sub-Sahara, its people showed many skin tones. But the men of Egypt had to be distinguished from non-Egyptians, from foreigners. Foreign peoples of different races were given appropriate skin colors by stylized characterizations. While Nubians and Kushite kings living to the south of Egypt were depicted as black in contrast to the red-brown skin hues of the Egyptian male, Libyans, Bedouin, Syrians and Hittites, living to the north, west, and closer to the Mediterranean were all shown with light yellow skin, as well as distinctive clothing and hair-styles.

Color in Hieroglyphics

Hieroglyphics illustrate the dual use of color, one, where objects are given the same hue they have in nature, and two, where objects are assigned colors to which they are symbolically linked. Each glyph had its own color or combination, which was faithfully kept whenever multiple colors were used. Sometimes difference in color was used to distinguish between two otherwise identical signs. Color was omitted in everyday writing, in order to save time or expense, but it was nevertheless viewed as a very real part of a complete sign.

Where the signs were not painted black or red, each sign received its own basic color or combination of colors. The colors assigned to the various signs are in most cases simply the colors of the objects themselves. So signs for leg, arm, hand, mouth, or other body parts, were usually in red, whereas reeds and other plants were green, water was blue, etc. Other objects had more symbolic coloration, for example, metal butcher knife was red, the sickle was green, and the bread loaf was blue.

The Painter’s Work

The paintings extant in the beautiful tomb of Nefertari are excellent examples of the symbolic and practical uses of color. After the outlines of the scenes were completed, color was applied with coarse brushes made from bundles of palm fibers, or pieces of fibrous wood chewed or beaten at one end.

Dry pigments were prepared by crushing various substances in a mortar or on a grinding palette with a stone pestle. These were then mixed with a water-soluble gum or egg white to bind them. Intermediate shades were derived by laying one pigment over another.

Many of the reliefs seen today in museums and even on the temple and tomb walls in Egypt itself have little of the tints originally placed upon them. But conservation is underway, and hopefully, as with Nefertari ’s tomb , the vibrancy of the Artist’s craft, part of the soul of ancient Egypt, will return.

Sources:

From Symbol and Magic in Egyptian Art by Richard Wilkinson
From Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt

To learn about the earliest civilization is to learn about ourselves.
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HISTORY OF EASTER-when and how did easter begin?

Spirit of Sankofa writes...........

During this time of season, I oftened wondered if many fully understand the true origins of Easter. Also, the main reason why the egg as well as rabbits were incorporated as far as the day is celebrated. This day is celebrates the easter goddes at the spring equinox. (The goddess of spring). To describe what she represents are; the east, resurrection and rebirth.
The celebration alone would be labeled by the western world as pagan. The offering to the goddess was given during the vernal equinox. The ancient egyptians and other cultures, would take painted eggs, and place them at the grave site. This was a sign of rebirth.

Em-Hotep*
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THE HISTORY OF EASTER

When And How Did Easter Begin?

Whether you believe it or not Easter in the beginning was a pagan festival. During the spring, the Saxons celebrated the return of spring with a festival in which they commemorated their goddess of offspring of the springtime. This goddess was known as Ostara or Eostre. She was the Anglo-Saxon Goddess of Spring, the East, Resurrection, and Rebirth. Our modern day Easter is derived from the name of Eostre and the celebrations that we join in are also associated with this pagan festival.

The Anglo-Saxons during the festival offered colored eggs to her at what was called the Vernal Equinox. They placed these multi-colored eggs at graves the Egyptians and Greeks were also known to place eggs at gravesites. This was a sign of re-birth. Through legends, the name of both Goddesses Ostara and Eostre played a part in the Easter that we know today. Eostre was said to have been a playful goddess that would rule over the earth beginning when the Sun King traveled across the sky in chariot marking the end of winter. Ostara came to earth after the Sun King rode and appeared as a beautiful maiden that carried with her a basket of colorful eggs. Ostara had a magical companion. A white rabbit that traveled with her to bring life back to dying plants and flowers and hiding colorful eggs in the fields.

There is one myth centered on Ostara that proclaims that she found a bird that was dying of the cold weather and she changed the bird into a rabbit so it would stay warm. Legend has it this is where the Easter bunny originated, but it also could have been from the magical companion of Ostara that traveled with her on her journey to bring life back to the earth.
When the Christian missionaries encountered the various tribes with their own beliefs and attempted to convert them to Christianity, they did so in a manner not to disturb their celebrations. If the Christians had tried to stop all pagan celebrations, it would have been certain death. To spread their Christian beliefs, they decided to allow them to celebrate their pagan festival in a somewhat Christian manner. Since, their pagan spring festival was during the same time that the Christians observed the Resurrection of Christ; it was easier to change this into a Christian celebration. The people were won over through time and endurance.
Easter, prior to A.D. 325 was celebrated on different days of the week. However, during the year of 325 AD, the council of the Nicaea issued the Easter Rule, which proclaims that Easter will be celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon or after the vernal equinox. In essence, Easter must be celebrated on a Sunday between March 22 and April 25. Easter was not celebrated in America until after the Civil War.

Keep The Third Eye Clear*