CHAPTER XVI
ANCIENT SACRED MYSTERIES, RITES AND CEREMONIES

By aid of the Popol Vuh and decipherings of the writings within the Great Pyramid at Cairo I am enabled to describe some of the ancient mysteries, rites and ceremonies. Le Plongeon translated the Popol Vuh into English from Brasseur's French translation, checking it himself with the original Maya. He kindly lent me this copy from which to make notes.

The following from the Popol Vuh, therefore, comes through Le Plongeon.

In Guatemala the Quiche Mayas disclosed their sacred mysteries to the applicants in seven steps or degrees. After the first step or initiatory degree, the remainder were conducted in six chambers or houses.

Some of these trials or degrees are exceedingly interesting, as we find them practiced later by the Egyptians and reflected all through the Old Testament.
 

First Initiatory Step

In this step the applicants for initiation to the Sacred Mysteries were made to cross two rivers, one of mud, the other of blood, before they reached the four roads which led to the place where the priests were awaiting them.

The crossing of these rivers was full of dangers that were to be avoided. Then they had to journey along four roads - the white, the red, the green, and the black - that led to where awaited the Council, composed of twelve priests, veiled, and a wooden statue dressed and wearing the ornaments of a priest.

While in presence of the Council the initiates were told to salute the King, pointing to the wooden statue. This was to try their discernment. Then they had to salute each individual, giving his name or title without being told, after which they were invited to sit down on a certain seat. If, forgetting the respect due to the august assembly, they sat as invited, they soon had reason to regret their want of breeding and proper preparation; for the seat, made of stone, was burning hot. Having modestly declined the invitation, they were led to the Second Trial - The Dark House.

In the Dark House they had to pass the night and submit to the Second Trial. Guards were placed around to prevent the candidates from holding intercourse with the outer world. Next a lighted torch of pinewood and a cigar were given to each. These were not to be extinguished, still they had to be returned whole at sunrise, when the officers in charge of the house came to demand them. Woe to him who allowed his cigar and his torch to be consumed! Terrible chastisement, even death, awaited him.

Having passed through this second trial successfully, the Third Trial was to be suffered in - The House of Spears.

In the House of Spears the applicants had to produce four pots of certain rare flowers, without communicating with anyone outside and without having brought them. They had also to defend themselves against the attacks of the best spearmen, selected for the purpose, one for each candidate. Coming out victorious at dawn they were judged worthy of the Fourth Trial.

This consisted in being shut up a whole night in - The Ice House. In the Ice House the cold was intense. They had to prevent themselves from being overcome by the cold and freezing to death. Their Fifth Trial then took place.
 

Tiger House

In the Tiger House they were exposed to the danger of being devoured by ferocious animals. Emerging safely from the den of tigers, they were ready to submit to the Sixth Trial.
 

The Fiery House

This was a burning fiery furnace where they had to remain from sunset to sunrise. Leaving this unscorched, they were deemed worthy to undergo the Seventh and Final Trial, the severest of all.
 

The House of the Bat

This was the House of Cama-zotz, the God of the Bats, and was full of death-dealing weapons. Here the God himself, coming from on high, appeared to the candidates, and beheaded them if found off their guard.¹

1 Do not these initiation vividly recall to mind what Henoch said he saw in his vision? "That blazing house of Creptal, burning hot and icy cold. The habitation where one appeared in great glory lining upon the orb of the sun."

The foregoing is a synopsis of Le Plongeon's translations. He says these rites were practiced at Xibalba, a place in the heart of the Guatemala mountains.

I am afraid Le Plongeon has failed to give the correct impressions as regards the trials. He should have told his readers that they were all symbolical; whereas he has tried to leave the impression that they were literal, thereby attempting to produce a blood-curdling, awe-inspiring, supernatural mystery. Le Plongeon, however, forgot himself on one occasion; for he states in the First Trial that the candidate is prepared beforehand, therefore knowing what to say, what to do, and how to act. In other words, the candidate has been previously taught his lessons, and these trials were examinations to ascertain whether he knew them.

The aforesaid is fully borne out by what is found on the walls of the temple within the Great Pyramid at Cairo. Here it is stated that the candidate is prepared beforehand and that a friendly spirit (an instructor] accompanies him and guides him through all his trials.

When one comes across any literary matter referring to the bat as a Maya symbol, it is invariably found that the writer says the Mayas looked upon the bat as a god and worshiped it as such. The Mayas did not look upon the bat as a god, nor did they worship it. This is so clearly shown in the Seventh Trial - "the House of the Bat" - that it is beyond controversy.

How can it be called bat worship when it is distinctly stated that,

"The Lord comes down from on high to see and to finally pass the candidate"?

The whole ceremony is a symbolical one, showing the candidate how he must be prepared to meet the end when it comes.
 

The Pyramid Temple

I shall now compare the ancient Egyptian Sacred Mysteries, as disclosed by the temple within the Great Pyramid near Cairo, with those of the Mayas as disclosed in the Popol Vuh.

The entrance door was placed in the north, and was a single stone in the form of an equilateral triangle surmounting a square and revolved on a pivot or apex. This was symbolical of Heaven and Earth. Through these the postulant must pass, for they symbolized the passage from a present to a future life. There were twelve entrances to pass through before attaining the Grand Orient, with secrets and trials restricted to each.

The first could not be seen; it was apparently a blank and was guarded by Horus. It was a blank or nothingness because the postulant was blind and bereft of his senses except motion. This portal had to be passed through with the aid of a friendly spirit.

Having passed through the portal, he was conducted down these passages by a friendly spirit he could not see, and was taken to the place of initiation, where his Manes were regenerated by the descent of the Soul to the expecting postulants.

He was then conducted to the chamber of Central Fire, which he extinguished.

Interior of the Great Pyramid, Egypt

Showing Construction of the Temple
 

Book of the Dead, Chapter XXII

"I come; I do that which my heart wishes on the day ot the Fire, when I extinguish the flames as soon as they appear."

And Chapter XXV. - "I make the man remember his name in the Great House. I make him remember his name in the House of Flame."

References to the Tank of Fire are constantly met with throughout the Book of the Dead and are generally accompanied by the foregoing glyph or vignette.

From the Chamber of Central Fire (the Tank of Fire) the postulant was conducted up the grand Horizon of Heaven, and came to a portal. Questions were asked, which he answered, and then he passed through and was able to see - light was given to him, and he then beheld his friendly guide. He was next conducted into the Chamber of the Shadow, Judgment of the Justified, Truth and Darkness, the Seven Halls of Death.

Here he had to pass an examination, and words were given him which he had to remember before being led on to the second portal, where he was required to give answers permitting him to enter.

Having passed through the second stage, the adept was allowed to enter the hall called the Tenth Hall of Truth, or Trial Scene, which was depicted in a black-and-white tessellated pavement - Right and Wrong, Truth and Falsehood.

From this hall he was conducted to the Chamber of New Birth, or place of coming forth with regeneration of soul. In this chamber were found emblems of mortality with the sarcophagus empty. A small opening admits the light of the bright morning star Sothis into the chamber. The rest of the chamber reminded the adept of what he passed through. He now emerged from the tomb.

Next he was taken to the Throne of Regeneration of the Soul, and Investiture of Illumination took place. Then he experienced more ordeals to attain to the Chamber of the Orient, to the Throne of Ra, to become a Master. The uncreated light, from which was pointed out the whole happiness of the future, he could see for himself in the distance.

After passing through another portal where he had to bend, he was conducted to the Chamber of the Grand Orient.

The initiate had to sustain the fiery ordeal to be approved as an adept. The adept had to become justified. The justified must then become illuminate. The illuminate must then be consummated Master before he could obtain the innermost mansion of the Divine House.
 

Comparing the Egyptian with the Maya

In the Pyramid Temple ² there were twelve rooms or portals - in the Maya seven houses.

2 Much of the detail concerning the Pyramid Temple comes from Dr. A. Churchward's work.

The Egyptian had a Dark Room, so also the Maya. The Egyptian had a Tank of Fire - the Maya a Fiery House. The Egyptian had Seven Halls of Death - the Maya House of the Bat corresponded with them.

After Mu was destroyed, the peoples of the earth symbolized in some way her destruction, so that,

"her memory should not be forgotten among coming generations."

The Mayas of Yucatan erected a pyramid as a monument for her, which stands to this day. They also erected temples to her memory.

The Quiche Mayas introduced it into their religious ceremonies in the form of a symbolical "Fiery House."

The Greeks symbolized it by forming a Maya epic, which forms their alphabet today. This epic, as I have already shown, describes the manner of Mu's destruction.

The Egyptians, like the Quiche Mayas, symbolized the destruction in their religious ceremonies. As the initiate advanced in religious mysteries he symbolically passed through the scene of the destruction of his Motherland - thus, through life, to keep her in memory.

Moses in an abstruse manner symbolized it in his writings, as we find in our Bible today.

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