Tombstone Blues

By Chance Gardner

A competent forensic investigator can tell the sex, age and approximate height of a human by a remaining femur bone, even if that bone has spent quite a bit of time in the soup pot. Similarly, an artist, if even mildly educated in art history, symbolism, aesthetics, modes of communication, etc., can tell a surprising amount about the culture that produced it by applying the same forensic methodology to the study of its art, architecture and culture wide expressions of aesthetics. The techniques, the materials, the sophistication of the message it transmits, in many ways, there is no more direct window into the psyche of a culture than by looking at its aesthetic expressions, and the canons, or rules, the thinking, the implicit value structure that underpinned and motivated it. 

Our own research project began somewhere around 2014 when the core team sort of congealed out of a small handful of loosely affiliated oddballs, eccentrics, obsessive-compulsives, weird loners, insufferable know-it-alls, shadowy lurking characters, and a couple of idiot savants thrown in for good measure; researchers, authors and technical experts, who in one way or another all knew each other from the original Magical Egypt project. We were each engaged in a similar avenue of investigation that focused on the mystery presented in the artistic, architectural and aesthetic remains of Ancient Egypt. 

The surface-level mystery, initially, comes from the fundamental incompatibility of what we were told about our history vs the anomalous technological and intellectual sophistication that is clearly on display in the ancient ruins. It remains an undiscovered mystery for most to this very day because the standard issue explanation of Egypt that we were taught in school presents it in many ways as a primitive, superstitious, pre-scientific, pre-wheel, pre-calculus, essentially stone age civilization. So, of course, there would be no need or reason to look for anomalously advanced science here. Nothing to see here, folks; keep moving. Here’s the problem: this is all directly and massively contradicted by the culture wide expressions of an extremely sophisticated, extremely intelligent, highly scientific mindset that is seamlessly woven into its physical expressions, from the largest engineering projects to the smallest personal comb or piece of jewelry. The inexplicable technical, mechanical, and engineering prowess, the impossible materials and the obviously sophisticated scientific underpinning that animates it all is totally out of alignment with what would be expected from that time in history. 

Unless everything we know about history is wrong. Which, for many, is not an avenue of inquiry that is encouraged or even permissible at the current time. Don't pull that thread that starts unravelling the sweater - very quickly, you will find that there is no sweater there. “Have I been walking around without a shirt all this time? How come no one said anything? Is this why that guy at the gas station was looking at me funny? I was assured by the sweater salesman that… “ ok, you see where that is going. None of us are the emperor, but the parable still works.

The primary difference between our research team and most others is that we all are professional artists, collectively bringing an entirely different suite of tools, a different perspective, and a different philosophical lineage to bear on a perennial mystery that may be one of the most contentious subjects humanity has yet wrestled with. It is a mystery that is strangely situated at the crossroads of several of our deepest and most vigilantly enforced taboos, which of course, is a serious impediment to any hope of a genuine, unblinking exploration of what is really on display - the almost unfathomable mystery that has been hiding here in plain site for all these centuries, languishing in the filth and the urine stink of these vastly ancient archeological ruins. The simultaneously hilarious and tragic irony of this situation prompted the opening line for Season 2 of the Magical Egypt series: “Where science refuses to tread, and where religion forbids us to look, the artist takes over as the rightful tour guide.”

The mystery shines out in a way that drowns out the protestations of the old guard of “experts”, who mostly maintain a party line about humanity’s past that for some reason, cannot be questioned, no matter how much evidence piles up from other fields and other technical arenas that throw our old assumptions about the past into question. Usually, by pointing to technical, engineering and scientific anomalies that make it impossible to believe the old ideas, the old historical and academic dogma. At a certain point, as more and more evidence has come to light, not the least of which are a series of groundbreaking series of discoveries presented in the last two seasons of Magical Egypt, things have reached an almost comical state, wherein the old-guard gatekeepers are starting to look for all the world like a man in the grips of a fever dream, standing outside in broad daylight loudly shrieking that there is no sun. And its SUPER important to him that you believe him.

Another thing that separates our team from even our own predecessors is that each of us has seen academic outsiders, some brilliant and paradigm-shifting, some seemingly occupying that register of godlike geniuses who walked casually among mortal men; each has presented incontrovertible evidence to the academic and scientific community, only to be dismissed with the classic fallacy structure of appeal to authority - “you are not an Egyptologist; therefore nothing you say or find or think matters in any way, and we will never, ever, modify anything about the dogma that is currently in place. Please stop trying to change things. Things are exactly the way we like them.” After watching our common heroes, John Anthony West, Robert Bauval, John Michell, and several others, all mistakenly think that they could present evidence on a level playing field and watch established academics and experts bow and hand the “expert-who-proved-the-new-truth-that-we-now-all-believe” mantle over, it came to light that this is NOT a level playing field and new discoveries are NOT, seemingly, of interest to the established experts. So we all grew up with the understanding. “why bother worrying about what the old guard thinks? Let's just ignore them and make our case directly to mankind. There are enough intelligent, unencumbered people out there who will recognize what we’ve found and what it means.” And voila! The Magical Egypt series sprang to life.

Freeing ourselves of the shackles of the conventional views on ancient Egypt allowed us to leapfrog the quicksand of academic contention and gatekeeping and focus on unearthing, cataloguing and presenting what seemed very much to be not only a fundamental mystery about our past but in fact, turned out to be a thread that unravelled the universe. Leaving nothing but the one thing, the grandfather of all riddles. The original mystery.

In the case of Ancient Egypt, we quickly discovered that this was a mystery that WANTED to be solved. A hidden treasure that WANTED to be discovered. It was a treasure map that is itself the treasure. It is a treasure that hides in plain sight. 

It was, and is, for each new person, like a self-extracting archive. All you have to do is click on it the right way, and it practically expands itself and jumps into your lap. As we progress, I will give a series of concrete examples of how the hidden message of the temple does this. And even more mind-bending what the message says. It's all the same message. And as I keep saying, “Once you see it, you can't unsee it.” I didn't make that saying up, but I use it so much that I’m claiming Squatter’s rights.

So, a lot of these are going to be done as a series of installations, or instalments if you're a fan of the correct English language, that look at specific aspects of aesthetics. Ones that demonstrate not only a high degree of sophistication - of both intellect and scientific acumen, but examples that are further remarkable for the way they were interwoven with technology, a profoundly and inexplicably advanced science, that was so foundational to human development that in ways that many of us will never see or understand, these ancient thinkers and this ancient magical technology are still shaping, guiding and generally providing a substructure for human civilization in the modern age. And, at the same time, simultaneously serving a parallel role or function as the substructure, or lattice, for the optimal configuration of the human psyche. 

In fact, I would go so far as to say that the real importance of studying ancient architecture it that it is a symbol and schematic for the mysterious structure of the human mind. Mind, of course, being a catch-all word for the unfathomable clockwork interworking of psychic forces and structures and self-reinforcing patterns we think of as minds and invading external internal intelligences. The higher energetic body and all the unexplored wings and floors of our psychic structure that have been long dormant. Mind has been broken down into Chakras in a very convincing way that I will dwell on almost obsessively at some later point.

But essentially, the real reason to be so fascinated with the mathematical and symbolic poem in physical form that is the temples and the bouquet of occult symbolism that is the sacred art; the thing that is really, secretly important about them is that they have always served as 3D interactive models, or schematics of the human psyche and its higher, less tangible aspects. Life-size, living models that you can walk through and interactively perceive the mysterious structure that is usually hiding from you in the dark. Thru the agency of the temple, the timeless human psyche has been externalized before you.

It lies there, quivering and naked, cold and shivering, handcuffed to a rusty metal chair under the harsh all-seeing glare of the powerful interrogation spotlights. Who’s on the other side of that spotlight? What’s that smell?

Geez, tone it down there. Maybe the third espresso was leaning into it too much. 

Maybe I won't belabor this point any further, as I have already produced almost 15 hours of documentary on this (see above). But long story short, there is something REALLY important that has yet to be discovered by the mainstream about this hidden ancient transmission - and the practically alien level sophistication of the technology that CLEARLY existed in the ancient world. Or maybe modern experts know full well, but for whatever reason, they dont want us to know about it. The whole conversation there also, and BELIEVE ME, we will be having that conversation at some point in upcoming chapters.

But without further adieu, because seriously, hasn't there already been enough adieu, now we will proceed to the main show…

It starts with a question: What do a tombstone and an ordinary household window have in common?

Is it double-glazed, reinforced, polarized UV-blocking technology? No. It is not.

Here’s an extra wrinkle of complexity - what do these two things have to do with a Magic Door? 

Now the Harry Potter fans are leaning in a little…. 

Although practically no one in the west remembers this, which is a bit suspicious all by itself, the modern tombstone is a continuation of a long, long tradition of magickal heritage - actual working magickal technology - from a shadowy forgotten age. An age well before recorded history, but whose presence many of us can see and feel when we look at Ancient Egypt and many of the other ancient concurrent civilizations of pre-antiquity. Whole conversation in itself, there, but for those who have already had that conversation and are ready to jump to what’s next, I will offer this. Beyond the thrill of discovery of a lost civilization, I believe there is an ever greater thrill of discovering that there are key elements of this lost culture still laying around, not fully recognized for what they are, what they represent. 

Well, maybe you should stop jerking my chain and just tell me what they represent.

They are fully viable seeds. The heirloom seeds, if you will, that are waiting there to be used to resurrect the lost technology. They can be used literally the way seeds have always been used. This is the original seed vault. And right in time for the biggest draught, the world has ever known. And I think we all know we’re not talking about the physical world here. The world, in this case, is the world of intellect, mind, joy, compassion, imagination, constructive, harmonious society, wide-open discourse, artistic and aesthetic expression. A draught isn't coming. It started years ago. But its just now becoming apparent that the things we depended upon to live are gone and not coming back unless something radical happens. Better get those seeds in the ground quick. Winter is coming.

So I will offer this for consideration: It is not just of historical interest or academic curiosity that the ruins, the temples, and the aesthetic expressions of the ancient world are important. It's because they contain actual useable technology that is quite easily reverse-engineered to be put to immediate work as a force multiplier or an evolution accelerator to anyone; these are tools just sitting there, like it's an abandoned construction site. You can just walk up and avail yourself of these tools at no cost. And the tools keep regenerating, so everyone that finds the site gets a bunch of free tools if they just have the initiative to take them. Put them to use building your own house. Put a second story on that ramshackle hut you’ve been living in so far. Any citizen brave enough, intelligent enough and free of limiting programming, who sees the ancient technology for what it is and wishes to strap on the helmet and the rocketpacks. It's there for YOU. It is addressed specifically to you. Not only the psychonauts and shaman of the next generation but any shining mind who wants to understand everything the ancients knew about the central mystery of the universe - the human psyche and parts beyond. Including all the stuff it can do, that you can do, that no one told us about. 

Which is really where all the fun is hiding.

Also, in amongst all this, there is another area of concern, just as nakedly laying there, but somehow twice as shadowy and unnerving in its implications. What for most starts out as a B or possibly C storyline about ancient Egypt, upon closer examination, becomes a genuine hair-raising conundrum and the central storyline that the ancients themselves believed to be the pinnacle and the Marianas trench of all forbidden knowledge. 

This might also might be best approached via a question: This question is the only door through which to enter this discussion that will lead you all the way to the inner court. If you know what I mean.

Is it possible, considering the titanic engineering and mathematical prowess and the unfathomable technical excellence they demonstrate elsewhere, that the obsessively detailed instructions and maps of the afterlife are the product of this strange, somehow seemingly all-knowing science? If we stop to consider that maybe all of this was in service of a working understanding, perhaps even a mastery, of the mechanics relating to taming or somehow subverting, mastering, I guess, might be an appropriate term, the mysterious process by which a consciousness moves from one physical vessel to another, and if this were as reverse engineer-able as the ancient medical texts or the still-viable recipe for cement? Perhaps this very thing is waiting only to be recognized for what it is. 

So, What if it was a science, not a religion?

As JAW used to say, "What if it is us that BELIEVE, and they that KNEW?” Something better than that, more like “…We believe, they knew…”. 

In the same sense that the brain schematics hidden in ancient art demonstrate a sophisticated science that schematized the nexus between biology and mind, which, newsflash, it does (all documented in Season 2 of ME), what if that level of technical mastery, anomalous sophistication of scientific understanding and further, a genuine genius in the EXECUTION of this ancient technology. In other words, what if these weren't at all expressions of religion, but an aesthetic canon, a culture-wide aesthetic expression of the awe-inspiring SCIENCE and TECHNOLOGY that imparted mastery over death? That unstoppable, insatiable beast that the rest of us, ever since, have cowered and fled from,  fell over and died from fear of. 

Not them. 

In Ancient Egypt, death was their bitch. 

The modern tombstone is the same, although much less utilized, technology as the Magick door in an Egyptian noble's tomb. It is a door for some, it is a window for others. It is a hard stone wall for normies and muggles. One of the first steps the newly reborn pharaoh must do to begin his journey across the 12 hours of the underworld, ostensibly to command rulership in the afterlife, is to leave his lavish but eventually claustrophobic tomb through the service of a magic door that is conveniently situated in the tombs of every self-respecting nobleman. 

Of course, their ubiquity, similarity from one to the other, and the thing that they tell about themselves, the stories the Egyptians tell about them - its in the name, for god sake, all these things are keys to an informational treasure of vast and immeasurable unrecognized importance that is awaiting the right mental filter to be able to see it for what it is. All you have to do is manage a mental shift that allows the question to be asked: What if this is all part of a technology we don't understand and not just a bunch of obsessive hieroglyphic nonsensical superstition?

Imagine you are on a real estate tour, and the agent is showing you the features of your new tomb, and you inquire about this elaborate giant door that is emblazoned on the wall in such a position of prominence. He or she might answer, “oh, yeah, magic door, the original owners installed it. …doorway out of 3d space-time, sort of a space-warping hyper tunnel to the realm of the happy hunting ground. You just have to know the right spell to activate it. I think its also a time machine…”. 

…Is what he might say. In the loosest possible paraphrase.

So anyway, the reason you go and physically visit the tombstone of a loved one is that, like in ancient Egypt, it is a magickal window through which the dead can see and talk and interact with those he or she left behind. It is even related to these practices that, at least in ancient Egypt, were frequently depicted, wherein the family of the deceased bring food and wine for each visit to their loved one. I would imagine that a lot of cemeteries have policies that discourage that sort of thing, but that is outside the scope of this particular screed. But in less pedantic times, both parties could enjoy the feast through the magic window that connected the physical living world with the extra dimensional plane of existence where the dead reside. 

Most of these stories will fall under the umbrella of “a curated collection of things we’ve so far discovered in our ongoing research project, which is concisely titled “a forensic recreation of ancient science through a study of ancient aesthetics.” The details and visuals of this project are on full and spectacular display in the documentary series “Magical Egypt”.

This story continues, in a sort of meandering way, onto the next window that is relevant here, the arcana and cards of the Tarot deck. The windows of the great arcana serve the same purpose and function as both the tombstones of the modern day and the sacred temples of the ancient world. But that will have to wait until some theoretical time in the future.

Until the next instalment, I will leave this as an undressed, open wound in the psyche of those who made the colossal  mistake of getting too involved in things they read.