The notion that some form of invisible college could have established itself at Heliopolis thousands of years before the Pharaohs, and could have been the initiating force behind the creation and unfolding of ancient Egyptian civilization, helps to explain one of the greatest mysteries confronted by Egyptology - namely the extremely sudden, indeed dramatic, manner in which Pharaonic culture 'took off in the early third millennium DC. The independent researcher John Anthony West, whose breakthrough work on the geology of the Sphinx we reported in Part I, formulates the problem especially well:

Every aspect of Egyptian knowledge seems to have been complete at the very beginning. The sciences, artistic and architectural techniques and the hieroglyphic system show virtually no signs of a period of 'development'; indeed, many of the achievements of the earliest dynasties were never surpassed or even equalled later on. This astonishing fact is readily admitted by orthodox Egyptologists, but the magnitude of the mystery it poses is skilfully understated, while its many implications go unmentioned.
How does a complex civilization spring full-blown into being? Look at a 1905 automobile and compare it to a modem one. There is no mistaking the process of 'development'. But in Egypt there are no parallels. Everything is right there at the start.
The answer to the mystery is of course obvious, but because it is repellent to the prevailing cast of modem thinking, it is seldom seriously considered. Egyptian civilization was not a 'development', it was a legacy. I'
Might not the preservers of that legacy, who eventually bequeathed it to the Pharaohs at the beginning of the Dynastic Period, have been those revered and secretive individuals - the 'Followers of Horus', the Sages, the Senior Ones - whose memory haunts the most archaic traditions of Egypt like a persistent ghost?
Gods and heroes
In addition to the Turin Papyrus other chronological records support the notion of an immensely ancient 'academy' at work behind the scenes in Egypt. Amongst these, the most influential were compiled,
 2Z4 Map ,,:!i';
as we saw earlier, by Manetho (literally, 'Truth ofThoth'), who lived
in the third century DC and who 'rose to be high priest in the temple at Heliopolis'.'7 There he wrote his now lost History of Egypt which later commentators tell us was divided up into three volumes dealing, respectively, with 'the Gods, the Demigods, the Spirits of the Dead
and the mortal Kings who ruled Egypt'. 18
The 'Gods' it seems, ruled for 13,900 years. After them 'the Demigods and Spirits of the Dead' - epithets for the 'Followers of Horus' - ruled for a further 11,025 years.19 Then began the reign of
the mortal kings, which Manetho divided into the thirty-one dynasties still used and accepted by scholars today.
Other fragments from Manetho's History also suggest that important and powerful beings were present in Egypt long before the dawn of its historical period under the rule of Menes. For example Fragment 3, preserved in the works of George Syncellus, speaks of
'six dynasties or six gods who. . . reigned for 1 1,985 years,.20 And in a number of sources Manetho is said to have given the figure of 36,525 years for the entire duration of the civilization of Egypt from the time
of the gods down to the end of the last dynasty of mortal kings.21
A rather different total of around 23,000 years has been handed down to us by the Greek historian Diodorus Siculus who visited ~ Egypt in the first century DC and spoke there with priests and ~ chroniclers. According to the stories he was told: 'At first Gods and :iI Heroes ruled Egypt for a little less than 18,000 years. . . Mortals have' been kings of their country, they say, for a little less than 5000 years.' 22
Time bridge
An overview of all the available chronologies in context of other related documents such as the Pyramid Texts and the Edfu Building Texts leaves two distinct impressions. Despite the conflicts and confusions over the precise numbers of years involved, and despite
the endless proliferation of names and titles and honorifics and epithets:
. It is clear that the ancient Egyptians thought in terms of very
long periods of time and would never have accepted the
Egyptological view that their civilization 'began' with the First
 
  . Following the Stars 225
Dynasty of Pharaohs.
. It is clear that they were aware of an 'influence' at work in their
history - a continuous, unbroken influence that had extended
over many thousands of years and that was wielded by an elite
group of divine and semi-divine beings, often associated with
leonine symbolism, who were called variously 'Gods and
Heroes', the 'Spirits of the Dead', the 'Souls', the 'Sages', the
'Shining Ones', the' Ancestors', the 'Ancestor-Gods of the Grcle
of the Sky', the 'Followers of Horus', etc., etc.
It is clear, in other words, that the ancient Egyptians envisaged a
kind of 'time bridge', linking the world of men to the world of the
gods, today to yesterday and 'now' to the 'First Time'. It is clear, too
 
\
Diagram 55.
It is clear that the ancient Egyptians were aware of an 'influence' at work in their history - a continuous, unbroken influence that extended over many thousands of years and that was wielded by an elite group of divine and semi-divine beings.
that responsibility for maintaining this 'bridge' was attributed to the 'Followers of Horus' (by this and many other names). And it is clear that the 'Followers' were remembered as having carried down intact /

Page 226 /

the traditions and secrets of the gods - always preserving them, permitting not a single change - until finally sharing them with the first dynasties of Egypt's mortal kings.
Time for a quicksliver change said Aliz Zed striking a camelions pose.

 Page Sources and Parallels
In addition to the citation of standard biblical passages about heavenly vision7
Maaseh Merkabah shares entire passages with other Hekhalot texts. Two examples
of these parallels, from III Enoch and Merkabah Rabba, reveal the manner in which each Heklahot text adapts material for its own purpose.
Gruenwald (1980,181, n.2) and Alexander (1983, 304, n.a) both draw atten- tion to the parallel to Maaseh Merkabah (3, 4, and 10) found in III Enoch 22B-C. In his edition of III Enoch, 22B-C is in an appendix because of their obvious status as additions. As is often the case with Hekhalot texts, we cannot claim direct borrowing in either direction, for we do not know when these sections were added to III Enoch or if they were found in a third text.
The parallel in III Enoch is as follows:
22B. (1) R. Ishmael said: Metatron, Prince of the Divine Presence, said to me: How do the angels stand on high? He said to me: Just as a bridge is laid across a river and everyone crosses over it, so a bridge is
 
 
 
 
Page 118

~ Appendix One
laid from the beginning of the entrance to its end, (2) and the minister- ing angels go over it and recite the song before YHWH the God of Israel. In his presence fearsome warriors and dread captains stand. A thousand thousand and myriad chant praise and laud before YWHW, God of Israel.
(3) How many bridges are there? How many rivers of fire? How many rivers of hail? How many treasuries of snow? How many wheels of fire? (4) How many ministering angels? There are twelve thousand myriads of bridges, six above and six below; twelve thousand myriads of rivers of fire, six above and six below; twelve thousand treasuries of snow, six above and six below; twenty-four thousand myriads of wheels of fire, twelve above and twelve below, surrounding the bridges, the riv- ers of fire, the rivers of hail, the treasuries of snow and the ministering angels. How many ministering angels are at each entrance? Six for every human being, and they stand in the midst of the entrances, facing the paths of heaven. (5) What does YHWH, the God of Israel, the glorious king, do. The great God, mighty in power, covers his face.. (6) In Arabot there are 660 thousands of myriads of glorious angels, hewn out of flam- ing fire, standing opposite the throne of glory. The glorious King covers his face, otherwise the heaven of Arabot would burst open in the middle, because of the glorious brilliance, beautiful brightness, lovely splendor, and radiant praises of the appearance of the Holy One, blessed be he.
(7) How many ministers do his will? How many angels? How many princes in the Arabot of his delight, feared among the potentates of the Most High, favored and glorified in song and beloved, fleeing from the splendor of the Shekinah, with eyes grown dim from the light of the radiant beauty of their King, with faces black and strength grown feeble? Rivers of joy, rivers of rejoicing, rivers of gladness, rivers of exultation, rivers of love, rivers of friendship pour out from the throne of glory, and, gathering strength, flow through the gates of the paths of heaven of Arabot, at the melodious sound of his creatures' harps, at the exultant sound of the drums of his wheels, at the sound of the cymbal music of his cherubim. The sound swells and bursts out in a mighty rush - Holy, holy, holy, Lord of host, the whole earth is full of his glory.
22C. (1) R. Ishmael said: Metatron, Prince of the Divine Presence, said to me: What is the distance between one bridge and another? Twelve myriads of parasangs: in their ascent twelve myriads of para- sangs, and in their descent twelve myriads of parasangs. (2) Between the rivers of fear and the rivers of dread, twenty-two myriads of parasangs; between the rivers of hail and the rivers of darkness, thirty-six myriads of parasangs, between the chambers of hail and the clouds of mercy, fourty-two myriads of parasangs, between the clouds of mercy and the chariot, eighty-four myriads of parasangs; between the cherubim and the ophanim, twenty-four myriads of parasangs; between the ophanim and the chambers of chambers, twenty-four myriads of parasangs; between
  The Textual Evidence 119
the chambers of chambers and the holy creatures of the throne of glory, thirty thousand parasangs; (3) from the foot of the throne of glory to the place where he sits, forty thousand parasangs, and his name is sancti- fied there.
(4) The arches of the bow rest upon Arabot, a thousand thousand and a myriad of myriads of measures high, by the measure of the watch- ers and the holy ones, as it is written, "I have set my bow in the clouds.". .

Page 226 Continues /

Following the vernal point
The etymology of the ancient Egyptian term Shemsu Hor, 'Followers
of Horus', was studied by the Alsatian scholar R. A. Schwaller de Lubicz who concluded: 'The term Shemsu Hor. . .literally means. . . "those who follow the path of Horus", that is, the "Horian way", also called the solar way. . . These Followers of Horus bear with them a knowledge of "divine origin" and unify the country with it. . .,2J
The 'solar way' or 'path of Horus' is, of course, the ecliptic - that
imaginary way or path in the sky on which the sun appears to travel through the twelve signs of the zodiac. As we saw in earlier chapters, the direction of the sun's 'journey' during the course of the solar year is Aquarius ~ Pisces ~ Aries ~ Taurus ~ Gemini ~ Cancer ~ Leo, etc., etc. The reader will recall, however, that there is also another, more ponderous motion, the precession of the earth's axis, which gradually rotates the 'ruling' constellation against the background of which the sun is seen to rise at dawn on the vernal equinox. This great cycle, or 'Great Year', takes 25,920 solar years to complete, with the vernal point spending 2,160 years in each of the twelve zodiacal constellations. The direction of motion is Leo ~ Cancer ~ Gemini
~ Taurus ~ Aries ~ Pisces ~ Aquarius, etc., etc., i.e. the reverse of ~ the route pursued by the sun during the course of the solar. year. --~
We suggest that the 'Followers of Horus' followed - In a very . precise, astronomical sense - not only the annual path of the sun, '~ eastwards through the zodiac, but also, for thousands of years, the ;~
vernal point's relentless precessional drift westwards through the same twelve constellations
 
 
 
 
 
 
Page 243

We wonder whether the first major 'station' of the quest-journey of
the Horus-King, reached after he had been prompted to 'find the astral body of Osiris', might not have been the initiate's dawning awareness that the body in question was a duality that could only be approached by linking Orion with the pattern of the Great Pyramids
in the Memphite necropolis. .J
Riding the vernal point ,
The reader will remember that the starting point of the Horus-King's 'journey in the sky' was when the sun's position along the zodiac (during the solar year) was close to the Hyades, at the 'head' of the constellation ofT aurus, standing, as it were, on the banks of the Milky Way.
If we now transpose this sky image to the ground then the Horus- King would have to place himself near the 'Bent' and the 'Red' Pyramids of Dahshur some 20 miles south of Giza (but nevertheless still very much part of the extensive Memphite necropolis). As we saw in the last chapter, the trigger for the construction of these two Fourth-Dynasty monuments appears to have been the slow preces- sional drift of the vernal point into the Hyades-Taurus region of the sky in the third millennium DC. Indeed it is more than possible that by building those Pyramids (which map the two brightest stars in the Hyades) Pharaoh Sneferu (2575-2551 DC) was deliberately laying down a marker for the position of the vernal point in his epoch.
If he was doing that, as all the evidence seems to suggest, then it is probable that such a highly initiated Horus-King would also have known that by metaphorically 'boarding' the solar bark at the spring equinox, and crossing the Milky Way, he would effectively be 'sailing
back in time' - against the flow of precession - riding the vernal point
towards the distant constellation of Leo.

/ Page 244 / 

But why, then, all this parallel emphasis in the texts on Orion- I Osiris moving from somewhere in the distant 'south' to his final
resting place in the Memphite necropolis? ;~ ;;;~
Secret spell ~
We suspect that for thousands of years before the Pyramid Age, hundreds of generations ofHeliopolitan astronomer-priests had kept the constellation of Orion continuously under observation, paying particular attention to its place of meridian-transit - i.e. the altitude above the horizon at which it crossed the celestial meridian. We think that careful records were kept, perhaps written, perhaps orally encoded in the ancient 'mythological' language of precessional astronomy.20 And we suppose that note was taken of Orion's slow precessional drift - the effect of which was that the comtellation would have seemed to be slowly drifting northwards along the west 'bank' of the Milky Way.
It is our hypothesis that the mythical image of the vast body of Osiris slowly being carried to the north, i.e. 'drifting' on the waters of the Nile, is a specific piece of astronomical terminology coined to describe the long-term changes being effected by precession in Orion's celestial 'address'. In the Memphite Theology, as the reader will recall, this drift was depicted as having commenced in the south, symbolically called Abydos (in archaeological terms the most southerly 'shrine' of Osiris), and to have carried the 'body' of the dead god to a point in the north symbolically called Sokar, i.e. the Memphite necropolis (the most northerly 'shrine' of Osiris). As we saw in Part III, the Shabaka Texts tell us that when he reached this point:
OSiris was drowned in his water. Isis and Nepthys looked out, beheld him, and attended to him. Horus quickly commanded Isis and Nepthys to grasp Osiris and prevent his [submerging]. They heeded in time and brought him to land. He entered the hidden portals in the glory of the Lords of Eternity. Thus OSiris came into the earth at the
Royal Fortress [Memphis], to the north of the land to which he had i come [Abydos]!1
 
/ Page 245 /

In the light of what we now know it is hard to imagine that the reference to Osiris coming 'into the earth' (or down to earth?) could signify anything other than the physical construction of the 'body of Osiris on the ground' on the west banks of the Nile - in the form of the great Pyramid-fields of the sprawling Memphite necropolis. Since Osiris is Orion the desire to achieve such an effect would more than adequately explain why the three Pyramids of Giza should have been arranged in the pattern of the three stars of Orion's belt. Moreover, since we know that the stated goal of the Horus-King's quest was not onfy to find the astral 'body' of Osiris but to find it as it was in the 'First Time', we should not be surprised by the fact that the Pyramids, as we saw in Part I, are set out on the ground in the pattern
 
 Page 246 /

that they made at the beginning (i.e. 'southernmost point') of that constellation's upward (i.e. 'northerly') precessional half-cycle.
So we wonder whether it is possible that the quest of the Horus- King might have had as its ultimate objective the acquisition of
knowledge concerning the 'First Time' - perhaps even the acquisition of
specific knowledge from that remote epoch when the gods had walked the earth?
Several passages in the Pyramid Texts invite such speculation. For example, we are told that the Horus-King must 'travel upstream' -
i.e. must push against the natural drift of 'time' - in order to reach
Orion-Osiris in his proper 'First Time' setting:
Betake yourself to the Waterway, fare upstream [south], travel about Abydos in this spirit-form of yours which the gods command to belong to you; may a stairway [road] to the Dual be set up for you to the Place Where Orion Is . . .22
They have found Osiris. .. 'When his name became Sokar' [Memphite necropolis] . . . Wake up [Osiris] for Horus. .. raise yourself. . . fare southward [upstream] to the lake, cross over the sea [sky], for you are he who stands untiring in the midst of Abydos . . !J Betake yourself to the Waterway, fare upstream... traverse Abydos. The celestial portal to the Horizon is open to you. . . may you remove yourself to the sky, for the roads of the celestial expanses which lead up to Horus are cleaned for you. . . for you have traversed the Winding Waterway [Milky Way] which is in the north of the sky as
a star crossing the sea which is beneath the sky. The Dual has grasped
your hand at the Place Where Orion Is . . !'
Likewise there is a striking passage in the Coffin Texts which refers to some secret 'spell' or formula to allow the deceased to use the 'path of Rostau' on the land and in the sky (i.e. the path to the Giza necropolis
on land and to Orion's belt in the sky) in order to 'go down to any sky
he wishes to go down to':
I have passed on the path ofRostau, whether on water or on land, and these are the paths of Os iris [Orion], they are in the limit of the sky. As for him who knows the spell [formula] for going down into them, he himself is a god in the suite ofThoth [meaning he is as wise as Thoth, 'the controller of the stars,Zl [and] he will go down to any sky he
wishes to go down to . . !6
 The two Brothers now in free wheelin' mode, continued apace, introducing

/ Page 247 /

  When the Sky Joined the Earth 247
Special numbers
We suspect that the phrase to 'go down to any sky' suggests an awareness - and recording - of precessionally induced changes in the positions of the stars over long periods of time. And we also note its implication that if the chosen initiate was equipped with the correct numerical spell then he would be able to work out - and visualize - the correct positions of the stars in any epoch of his choosing, past or future.
Once again Sellers stands out amongst Egyptologists for being the first to have entertained such apparently outlandish notions. 'It is possible', she writes, 'that early man encoded in his myths special numbers; numbers that seemed to reveal to initiates an amazing knowledge of the movement of the celestial spheres.' 27
Such numbers, she argues, appear to have been derived from a sustained, scientific study of the cycle of precession and a measure- ment of its rate and, puzzlingly, turn out to be extremely 'close to the calculations made with today's sophisticated procedures'. Intrigu- ingly, too, there is evidence not only 'that these calculations were made, and conclusions drawn', but also that 'they were transmitted to others by secret encoding that was accessible only to an elite few':28 In short, Sellers concludes, 'ancient man calculated a special number that he believed would bring this threatening cycle [of precession]
back to its starting point. . .' 29
The 'special number' to which Sellers is referring to is 25,920 (and multiples and divisions of it) and thus represents the duration, in solar years, of a full precessional cycle or 'Great Year,.30 She shows how it can be derived from a variety of simple combinations of other
numbers - 5,12,36,72,360,432,2100, etc., etc. - all of which are in
turn derived from precise observations of precession. Most crucially of all, she shows that this peculiar sequence of numbers occurs in the ancient Egyptian myth of Osiris where, notably '72 consipirators' are said to have been involved with Seth in the murder of the God-King:\
As was shown in Fingerprints of the Gods, the sun's perceived motion through the signs of the zodiac at the vernal equinox proceeds at the rate of one degree every seventy-two years. From this it follows that a movement of the vernal point through 30 degrees will take 2160

/ Page 248 /

years to complete, 60 degrees will take 4320 years, and a full 360-
degree cycle will require 25,920 years!2
Curiously enough, as the reader will recall from Part I, the Great Pyramid itself incorporates a record of these precessional numbers - since its key dimensions (its height and the perimeter of its base) appear to have been designed as a mathematical model of the earth's polar radius and equatorial circumference on a scale of 1 :43,200. The number 43,200 is, of course, exactly 600 times 72. What we have in this remarkable monument, therefore, is not just a scale model of a hemisphere of the earth but also one in which the scale involved incorporates a 'special number' derived from one of the key planetary
motions of the earth itself - i.e. the rate of its axial precession.
In short it seems that secret knowledge is indeed available in the myth of Osiris and in the dimensions of the Great Pyramid. With this secret knowledge, if we wanted to fix a specific date - say 1008 years in the future - and communicate it to other initiates, then we could do so with the 'special number' 14 (72 x 14 = 1008). We would also have to specify the 'zero point' from which they were to make their
calculations - i.e the present epoch - and this might be done with
some kind of symbolic or mathematical marker to indicate where the vernal point presently is, i.e. moving out of Pisces and into Aquarius.
A similar exercise could likewise be carried out in reverse. By following the 'eastwards' direction along the ecliptic path we can 'find' (calculate, work out) where the vernal point was at any epoch in the past. Thus if today we wished to use the precessional code to direct attention towards the Pyramid Age we would need to confide to other initiates the 'special number' of62.5 (72 x 62.5 = 4500 years ago = approximately 2500 BC). Again, we could rule out any ambiguity as to the zero date from which the calculations were to be made if we could find a way to indicate the present position of the vernal point.
We have seen that this is what Sneferu appears to have done with the two Pyramids at Dahshur, which map the two sides of the head of the celestial bull- the 'address' of the vernal point in his epoch. And in a sense, though with a great deal more specificity and precision, this could also be exactly what the builders of the Great Pyramid were doing when they deliberately targeted the southern shafts of the King's and Queen's Chambers on the meridian-transits of such

/ Page 249 /

significant stars as Orion and Sirius in the epoch of 2500 BC. To be clear about this, it seems to us well worth investigating the possibility that by setting up such obvious and precise 'time markers' they were
trying to provide an unambiguous zero point - circa 2500 BC - for
calculations that could only be undertaken by initiates steeped in the mysteries of precession, who were equipped by their training to draw out the hidden portents concealed in certain 'special numbers'.
We note in passing that if the Horus-King could have been provided with the 'special number' 111.111, and had used it in the way described above, it would have led him back to (72 X I I I. I I I years =) 7,999.99 years before the specified 'ground zero', i.e. to
almost exactly 8000 years before 2500 BC - in short, to 10,500 BC.
We know this seems like wishful numerology of the worst sort - i.e.
'factoring in' an arbitrary value to a set of calculations so as to procure spurious 'corroboration' for a specific desired date (in this case the date of 10,500 BC, twelve and a half thousand years before the present, that we have already highlighted in Chapter 3 in connection with the Sphinx and the Pyramids of Giza). The problem, however, is that the number I I I. I I I may well not be an arbitrary value. At any rate, it has long been recognized that the main numerical factor in the design of the Great Pyramid, and indeed of the Giza necropolis as a whole, is the prime number I I - a prime number being one that is only divisible by itself to produce the whole number I. Thus I I divided by I I, i.e. the ratio 11:11, produces the whole number I (while II divided by anything else, i.e. any other ratio, would, of neccessity, generate a fraction).
What is intriguing is the way that the architecture of the Great Pyramid responds to the number I I when it is divided, or multiplied, by other whole numbers. The reader will recall, for example, that its side length of just over 755 feet is equivalent to 440 Egyptian royal cubits - i.e. I I times 40 cubits.33 In addition, its height-to-base ratio is 7:11.3. The slope ratio of its sides is 14:1 I (tan 51 degrees 50').3; And the slope ratio of the southern shaft of the King's Chamber - the shaft
that was targeted on Orion's belt in 2500 BC - is 11:11 (tan 45
degrees).36
Arguably, therefore, the ratio I I: I I, which integrates with our
 
250 Map
'special number' 111.111, could be considered as a sort of mathemati- cal key, or 'stargate' to Orion's belt. Moreover, as we shall see, a movement of 111.111 degrees 'backwards along the ecliptic from 'ground-zero' at the Hyades-Taurus, the head of the celestial bull, would place the vernal point 'underneath' the cosmic lion.
Is it not precisely such a location, underneath the Great Sphinx, that the Horus-King is urged to investigate as he stands between its paws 'with his mouth equipped' and faces the questions of the Akhus whose initiations have led him this far? Indeed, does it not seem probable that the 'quest-journey' devised by the 'Followers of Horus' was carefully structured so as to sharpen the mind of the initiate by requiring him to piece together all the clues himself until he finally arrived at the realization that somewhere underneath the Great Sphinx of Giza was something (written or pictorial records, artefacts, maps, astronomical charts) that touched on 'the knowledge of a divine origin', that was of immense importance, and that had been concealed there since the 'First Time'?
In considering such questions, we are reminded of the Hermetic doctrines which transmit a tradition of the wisdom god Thoth who was said to have 'succeeded in understanding the mysteries of the heavens [and to have] revealed them by inscribing them in sacred books which he then hid here on earth, intending that they should be searched for by future generations but found only by the fully worthy'}7 Do the 'sacred books of'rhoth', or their equivalent, still lie in the bedrock beneath the Great Sphinx of Giza, and do the 'fully worthy' still seek them there?
 

Page 381

 "Conscious of being alone, this blessed and immortal being contrived to create two divine offspring, Shu, god of the air and dryness, and Tefnut the goddess of moisture: ' I thrust my phallus into my closed hand. Imade my seed to enter my hand. Ipoured it into my own mouth. I evacuated under the form of Shu, I passed water under the form of Tefnut.' 7
Despite such apparently inauspicious beginnings, Shu and Tefnut (who were always described as 'Twins' and frequently depicted as lions) grew to maturity, copulated and produced offspring of their own: Geb the god of the earth and Nut, the goddess of the sky. These two also mated, creating Osiris and Isis, Set and Nepthys, and so completed the Ennead, the full company of the Nine Gods of Heliopolis. Of the nine, Ra, Shu, Geb and Osiris were said to have ruled in Egypt as Kings, followed by Horus, and lastly - for 3226 years - by the Ibis-headed wisdom god Thoth.8"

3 x 2 x 2 x 6 = 72    
In short it seems that secret knowledge is indeed available in the myth of Osiris and in the dimensions of the Great Pyramid. With this secret knowledge, if we wanted to fix a specific date - say 1008 years in the future - and communicate it to other initiates, then we could do so with the 'special number' 14 (72 x 14 = 1008). We would also have to specify the 'zero point' from which they were to make their
calculations - i.e the present epoch - and this might be done with  

Page 71

"Osiris, The ancient Egyptian high god of death and resurrection."
"…He was plotted against by seventy-two members of his court, led by his brother- in -law Set..."
"… Set, out hunting in the marshes, discovered the coffer, opened it and in a mad fury cut the royal corpse into fourteen pieces,"

Page 890. /

8 x 9 is 72.
"In all there were two and seventy conspirators privy to the plot. It was a proper and a pregnant number, for there had been just seventy-two when red Set lured Usir into the chest. And these seventy-two in their turn had had good cosmic ground to be no more and no less than that number. For it is just that number of groups of five weeks which make up the three hundred and sixty days of the year, not counting the odd days, and there are just seventy-two days in the dry fifth of the year, when the gauge shows that the Nourisher has reached his lowest ebb, and the god sinks into his grave. So where there is conspiracy anywhere in the world it is requisite and customary for the number of conspirators to be seventy-two. And if the plot fail, the failure shows that if this number had not been adhered to it would have failed even worse."
One this page 890, two and seventy occurs once. Seventy-two occurs four times. Five times seventy-two makes three hundred and sixty as in "three hundred and sixty days of the year not counting the odd days,"
 
/Page 891 /

8 x 9 x 1 = 72.
Second and third line down.
"Possibly at the last minute one of the seventy-two."
 

Page 274.

"Seventy-two = the number of years required for the equinoctial sun to complete a precessional shift of one degree along the ecliptic."

Page 273 / 274  
 
 During this stillness of a moving point the Zed Aliz Zed yon scribe and those come hither go thither, but mostly go thither shadows, accompanied wah Brother Graham on talkabout.

 Page 310

Tombs and Tombs Only?
 "Khufu, Khafre, Menkaure . . . Cheops, Chephren, Mycernius. Whether they were referred to by their Egyptian or Greek names, the fact remained that these three pharaohs of the Fourth Dynasty ( 2575 - 2467 BC) were universally acclaimed as the builders of the Giza pyramids."
Fourth Dynasty ( 2575 - 2467 BC) . . . 2575 take away 2467 = 180.
At this juncture of a solid tincture of a juxtaposition. The Zed Aliz Zed had yon scribe write the blessed names Akhenaten, Nefertiti, and Tutankhamun.
 
Another thing, said the scribe, with reference to that last missal, ask of you yourself ,what, in heavens name can be the meaning of that,if any. In all fairness, I ask you.
 As if in reply, Alizzed taking a firm hold of the wand that never was accounted for the six names. Then, that rascal scribe, satisfied with an answer of sorts did a sum of the parts, and by addition did multiply.
Khufu 5, Khafre 6, Menkaure 8 . . . Cheops 6, Chephren 8, Mycernius 9.
5 + 6 + 8 = 19 . . . . . . . . . 6 + 8 + 9 = 23 . . . . . . . 19 + 23 = 42 . . . divided by the six names = 7
5 x 6 x 8 = 24 . . . . . . . . . 6 x 8 x 9 = 432 . . . . . . . 24 + 432 = 456
 After the re-inclusion of the brothers offerings, sent on a wing and a prayer via marathon man, Zed Aliz Zed said . Here thy iz wah scribe, other someat n' nowts for thee ta include.

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9 x 6 = 54
" There exist not one, but three universal languages. The first of them can be spoken and written while remaining within the limits of ones' own language. The only difference is that when people speak in their ordinary language they do not understand one another but in this other language they do understand. In the second language, written language is the same for all peoples, like say figures or mathematical formulae; but people still speak their own language yet each of them understands the other even though the other speaks in an unknown language. The third language is the same for all both the written and the spoken. The difference of language disappears altogether on this level."
Thus spake the prophet Gurdjieff.
 
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"In western systems of occultism there is a method known by the name of 'theosophical addition', that is, the definition of numbers consisting of two or more digits by the sum of those digits. To people who do not understand the symbolism of numbers this method of synthesizing numbers seems to be absolutely arbitrary and to lead nowhere. But for a man who understands the unity of everything existing and who has the key to this unity the method of theosophical addition has a profound meaning, for it resolves all diversity into the fundamental laws which
govern it and which are expressed in the numbers 1 to 10. As was mentioned earlier in symbology,
as represented , numbers are connected with definate geometrical figures and are mutually
complimentary one to another. In the Cabala a symbology of letters is also used and in combination with the symbology of letters a symbology of words.A combination of the four methods of symbolism by numbers, geometrical figures, letters and words, give a complicated but more perfect method."
Thus spake the prophet Gurdjieff
 Numerology

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"Nunerology is the name given to an ancient method of study-ing numbers that has been in use for thousands of years."
"…The most popular form of numerology in use today is based on the work of Py-thagoras, the famous Greek mathematician and philosopher who lived during the sixth century bc."
"…It was Pythagora's belief that numbers were the first of all things in nature. It was his belief that numbers were the basis of everything, in the natural, spiritual and scientific world. He believed that everything could be reduced to mathematical terms and that everything had a numerical value. Through studying the world in numerical form, he sought to achieve greater understanding of the world he lived in. Pythagoras, who believed that numbers created order and beauty, founded a school for students to follow his philosophy, and this was known as the Italic or Pythagorean School."

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"…Pythagoras formulated the concept called the Music of the Spheres', based on the idea that all the planets in the universe formed a harmonious whole consisting of a mu-sical chorus. He discovered that there was a relationship between sound and numbers, and developed this discov-ery to form his metaphysical concept. He suggested that every planet was a certain distance from a central point in the universe and that if an invisible string connected each planet to the central point, when plucked the string would emit a certain tone or vibration. Each sound or vibration could be associated with a particular number. He also be-lieved that the sound or vibration of the universe dictated by the planets would have a strong influ-ence on the character of an individual born at that particu-lar time.
Numerologists believe that the numbers one to nine have specific characteristics , and these characteristics are the basis for the methods of analysis described in this book. The numbers one to nine are the only numbers that are

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believed to be significant to numerology. All numbers greater than nine can be reduced to a single digit by the process of fadic addition, for example:
12 is reduced to 3 by adding 1 and 2;
49 is reduced to 4 by adding 4 and 9 which equals 13 and subsequently adding 1 and 3 to make 4."