Agrowing body of evidence us suggesting a missing chapter in human history. Symbolist author and Egyptologist John Anthony West explores evidence of a sophisticated science behind the unexplainable accomplishments of Ancient Egypt. Was Ancient Egypt the inheritor of a body of scientific and spiritual knowledge from an even earlier civilization? Author / Mathematician Michael S Schneider discusses organic geometry and the role of the Fibonacci number series in growing life. West then demonstrates the presence of the Fibonacci series in the stages of construction of the temple of Karnak, also known as the "House of Life". The Magical Egypt series is the bearer of a new (actually old) interpretation of the mysteries of Ancient Egypt - a symbolist interpretation that finds rich, substantive meaning in the very architecture and surviving works of art of the ancient Egyptian culture. The series is the brainchild of John Anthony West. Initially, I was trying to remember where I had heard that name before, but it all came back to me once the topic of the Sphinx came up in this initial, introductory episode to the series. Back in 1993, Charlton Heston hosted a documentary on NBC called The Mystery of the Sphinx, and in that documentary it was John Anthony West who advanced the idea that the Sphinx was actually far, far older than modern academics believe. This wasn't just conjecture on his part, for it was based on a geological analysis of the water wearing evident on the base of the Sphinx itself - a base that was covered by the sands for countless centuries. According to his analysis, such water weathering could not have occurred there after the first Ice Age, meaning the Sphinx was actually quite old when modern scientists believe it was built (roughly 2500 BC). This discovery only reinforced his own beliefs regarding ancient Egypt - namely, that it was privy to ancient, possibly even Atlantean, knowledge.

West has basically taken up the symbolist banner of R.A. Schwaller de Lubicz, who found correlations between the stars and human events that convinced him that the science of ancient Egypt was a sacred science, one incorporating such esoteric disciplines as magic and astrology alongside sciences such as mathematics into a unified knowledge that rivaled if not exceeded that of modern science today. The secrets of that science, he contends, are hidden in plain view today - in the architecture of ancient monuments. West argues that these secret teachings (hermetic thought) went underground as the Egyptian civilization deteriorated but went on to influence the great thinkers of the world up through the Renaissance.

This first video in the Magical Egypt series basically introduces us to the notions of this secret, magical side to Egyptian culture, whose mystery schools supposedly harbored knowledge, based on what was already ancient knowledge, of the very secrets of the universe. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this particular presentation features a discussion of the harmonic design that supposedly lies in the architecture of ancient Egypt and seemingly culminates in the design of the temple of Karnak. According to West, Karnak's design was based on the Fibonacci series of numbers. In this series, beginning with 0, each number represents the sum of the two previous numbers (0,1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21, etc.). This proves most fascinating because the Fibonacci series is prevalent throughout nature; to West, this pattern is nothing less than the voice of life itself. Organic growth is regulated in such a way that it maintains the balance of an object, be it a nautilus' chamber or a tree or a population of bees, and that natural balance can be broken down mathematically into the Fibonacci series. Karnak, which was continuously constructed over the course of centuries, supposedly expanded in accordance with this innate natural law of growth and balance, and that is why West finds such tremendous significance in the architecture of Karnak itself.

John Anthony West explores architectural anomalies and other evidence of an advanced civilization predating the ancient Egyptians. Across Egypt, the many architectural engineering artistic and scientific wonders still defy explanation. They mysterious Oserion appears to already have been an ancient ruin when it was "uncovered" by Seti I during the construction of the Temple of Abydos in the first Dynasty. New developments in the "age of the sphinx? Debate. In the Cairo museum is a Stella, which describes reparations to the great sphinx performed by the Father of the traditionally credited builder. Does the great sphinx conceal its own date of construction in the age of Leo? Today's Egyptologists are some of the most stubborn intellectuals you can find, as proved by their casual dismissal of John Anthony West's series concerning the true age of Egyptian wonders. Having introduced his ideas of an Egypt more mysterious and ancient than modern academics believe, West gets right into the good stuff in this second episode of his symbolic tour through Egypt. Egypt's Old Kingdom dates back to 2700-2200 BC; this was the time of dynastic rule in a unified Egypt and the time in which most scholars say the ancient wonders such as the Sphinx and the Pyramids at Giza were built. This history raises many important questions, however, ones for which there are no ready answers. For one thing, the Old Kingdom seemed to arise spontaneously and almost fully developed in terms of math, science, religion, hieroglyphics, and other disciplines around 3000 BC; we are supposed to believe that the Neolithic people of this region, who had only the most primitive of tools, managed to build the step pyramid at Saqqara 300 years later and the Pyramids and Sphinx a mere 500 years later. Since we still don't really understand how most of these structures were built, this timeline stretches logic to the breaking point.

West has a plausible theory - namely, that the source of ancient Egyptians' knowledge was a much older Egyptian civilization dating back many thousands of years. Egyptologists and archaeologists largely refuse to even consider such a possibility, but West has some pretty powerful arguments on his side - and that's what this second episode of Magical Egypt, The Old Kingdom and the Still Older Kingdom, is all about.

West first takes viewers to the Cairo Museum to view some exquisite pottery and statues dating back to pre-dynastic times, incredible pieces built out of the hardest of stones in ways we could not even duplicate today. He also points out other artifacts that support his theory. One of the most significant pieces is the Narmer Palette, which dates back to ca. 3200 BC; according to West, its inscription points to highly developed knowledge across several disciplines. The beauty of West's theory is the fact that it basically takes the ancient Egyptians at their word, as recorded on, as one example, the Inventory Stela which plainly states that the Sphinx was already built before Khufu, its supposed builder, was even born. Other Egyptian records record a long line of pre-dynastic kings (actual gods followed by companions of Horus) which yield an Egyptian timeline going back some 36,000 years. Egyptologists, having convinced themselves that Khufu had the Sphinx constructed, refuse to countenance the possibility that they could be wrong, making the rather ironic conclusion that they understand ancient Egyptian history better than the ancient Egyptians did.

The heart of West's arguments really is the Sphinx; his conclusion that this most majestic and mysterious of monuments dates back millennia before Egypt's dynastic era set off shockwaves in the Egyptological community. Often derided by academics, West seemingly has good hard science on his side. Having noticed significant weathering on the body and courtyard of the Sphinx, he consulted geologist Robert Schoch, who concluded that the heavy weathering at the site could only have been caused by water, not sand or wind. Since there has been little water to speak of there in the Sahara Desert since the end of the last Ice Age, Schoch conservatively estimates the Sphinx was built no later than 5000 BC to 7000 BC. West believes the Sphinx to a marker of the constellation Leo, however, which gives him a choice between 10,000 BC (the date advanced by Graham Hancock and Robert Bauval, based on astronomic correlations) and 36,000 BC, the latter of which corresponds with what the ancient Egyptians themselves believed. The earlier of the two dates seems most plausible to West, which is why his views are so controversial. An ancient civilization possessing great knowledge of the procession of the equinoxes and the means to build such a monument as the Sphinx as far back as 36,000 BC is hard for most academics to swallow.

West points to other evidence of this unknown older kingdom in Egypt, however. He shows us weathered stones inside the Red Pyramid at Dahshur, which would seem to tell us that the pyramid was built around the already aged "plundered tomb-chamber." From there, he's off to the Valley Temple of Khafra, adjacent to the Sphinx, the weathered core masonry of which seems to date back much earlier than the granite applied to the temple during the time of Khafra. Then there's the Osireion, which West suggests was originally built on a flood plain, then lost beneath the desert sands before being discovered by Seti I during construction of the temple of Abydos.

If nothing else, West presents cogent arguments that provide a plausible explanation for mysteries Egyptologists and archaeologists try to pretend don't exist. The Magical Egypt series certainly presents his ideas in a most plausible light. It's both a personal and a professional presentation in which West takes us right to the sites themselves to show us what he is talking about. While this can be problematic at times (at the Museum of Cairo, passersby sometimes make it hard to make out some of West's words), it makes for a most compelling presentation.

An obscure and very ancient ruin in the deep of the Egyptian desert is found to contain an accurate sculpture of our Milky Way as well as 23 of its neighbors. It also shows the trajectory and accurate distances to significant stars in the constellation of Orion. Astrophysicist and areche-astronomer Thomas G Brophy present his bombshell discovery Featuring Dr. Thomas Brophy - "The Mechanism Demands a Mysticism" Unlike the first two episodes in this symbolic tour of ancient Egypt, Volume 3: Descent wanders away from the ancient knowledge and archeological sites themselves onto an increasingly esoteric road that may well become somewhat boring to average viewers. My attention certainly kept wandering toward the end.

The contention here is that ancient Egyptian culture basically appeared overnight, with all of its science, religion, writing, etc., in place, and then declined over the next 3000 years. Oddly enough, the video really doesn't talk about the Middle or New Kingdoms or how this decline manifested itself directly. The video is more concerned with the idea of a cyclical nature to historical development and spends its first half hearkening back to the pre-ancient civilization West believes existed thousands of years prior to ancient Egypt as we know it. Compelling evidence for such a pre-ancient Egyptian civilization was offered in the previous two episodes, but now West adds yet another intriguing piece to the puzzle - the Nabla Playa complex that was discovered in the Nubian desert in 1974. What academics regard as a ritual gathering place is something much more significant to West. This monolithic stone structure dates back as far as 11,000 years, and it is more than just a collection of stones. It represents, West tells us, an observatory with which the pre-ancients were able to track the celestial movements of the heavens, demonstrating that, long before civilization is said to have begun, a civilization actually existed - and understood the nature of the precession of the equinoxes. An expert named Thomas Brophy then comes on to explain the findings of his research of Nabla Playa. Dubbing the site a calendar circle that was used around 6000 BC, he explains how the large stones were oriented to the equinoxes, particularly the vernal equinox heliacal rising point, with six inner stones corresponding to stars in the constellation Orion. More amazingly, stones located outside the circle itself accurately reflected the distance to each of these stars. Obviously, such a finding turns not only Egyptology but history itself on its ear.

If such a scientifically advanced, pre-ancient civilization existed, what happened to it? West believes it was basically destroyed in the wake of whatever catastrophic event brought about the end of the last Ice Age. Paleontologist Robert Dunlap discusses the nature of this catastrophic event. He wanders a little at times (informing us, among other things, that the catastrophe that killed the dinosaurs over 64 million years ago took place in June - and, yes, he explains how scientists could possibly know this), but the upshot of all this is that a Great Flood, which ancient cultures all over the globe speak of in their traditions, following the end of the Ice Age could have wiped out any civilization then existing in northern Africa. West conjectures that some humans managed to survive this Great Flood, along with a repository of their advanced knowledge. These people would have passed their knowledge down over the generations until such time as climactic and human conditions would allow for new civilizations to form. As we know from archaeology, between 4000 and 3000 BC, civilizations suddenly sprang up all across the globe, including ancient Egypt as we traditionally know it.

The video ends with an extended talk by Walter Cruttenden about the cycles of history. Drawing largely on the Yuga cycles spoken of in the Vedas, he covered ground that was completely new to me, but the upshot of his argument is that human history has four phases which keep repeating themselves in a cyclical manner. As you can see, we've wandered a little far afield of Egypt by this point, but Cruttenden's ideas can be applied to pre-ancient and ancient Egyptian history. As enlightening as this kind of information is, it does take us away from the ancient sites themselves, and for that reason this episode is a little less exciting than its predecessors.

The temple was the teaching" A look at the ancient Egyptian temple as an interactive repository of ancient teaching. After more than 17 years onsite at Luxor Temple, the enigmatic mathematician philosopher and modern-day alchemist R.A. Schwaller de Lubics discovered a key that unlocks a timeless teaching encoded in stone. Does Luxor temple conceal and ancient teaching about the metaphysical anatomy of man? West explores the controversial findings of Schwaller de Lubics and the biometric data he discovered hidden in this remarkable temple. Luxor, town in east central Egypt, in Qinā Governorate, on the Nile River, adjacent to Al Karnak. Agricultural products include cereals, sugarcane, and dates. Many tourists visit Luxor because of the archaeological sites it shares with Al Karnak. Luxor is on the southern half of the site of ancient Thebes and contains ruins of a great temple built in the 14th century bc. Al Karnak occupies the northern half of ancient Thebes. Population (1996) 360,503. Al Karnak, village, eastern Egypt, on the Nile River. Al Karnak occupies the northern half of the site of ancient Thebes. The southern half is occupied by the village of Luxor. The fame of Al Karnak rests upon the ruins of a group of temples built here when Thebes was a center of the Egyptian religion, beginning about the 11th Dynasty in 2134 bc. The temples, with their walled enclosures of rude brick and connecting avenues of sphinxes, extend over nearly 3 sq km (1 sq mi). Two small enclosures surround temples built in honor of the god Mentu and the goddess Mut by Amenhotep III. The greatest and most important temple, that of the god Amon, was begun by Sesostris I and was completed by Ramses II, although additions continued to be made until the 1st century bc. The Temple of Amon stands in an enclosure measuring about 140 sq m (about 1500 sq ft). Its most outstanding feature is a hypostyle hall, the roof of which rests on 122 columns that are more than 21 m (more than 70 ft) high and built in nine rows. Reliefs and inscriptions cover the walls, and obelisks, statues, and pylon gates are found throughout the enclosure. Systematic restoration of the temple was started in the late 19th century.

Did the ancient Egyptian technology extend into mastery of the afterlife? In the Valley of the Kings, the tomb of Seti I and Tuthmosis III have been closed to the public for over a decade. Arcane funerary texts cover the walls of the tombs with a bewildering list of spell and secrets that all the deceased to navigate the afterlife. Dr Rick Strassman, author of "DMT: The spirit Molecule" discuss the biochemistry of the death experience and the role of the mysterious pineal gland. Our powerful interaction with DMT is shedding new light on the ancient understanding of the "third eye" or pineal gland as the seat of consciousness. Lon Milo Duquette discusses the strange state of consciousness known as lucid dreaming and its unexpected relationship with the afterlife experience. Featuring Dr. Rick Strassman - "DMT The Spirit Molcule" Lon Milo DuQuette -"Angelsm Demons & God of the New Millennium" This fifth episode of the Magical Egypt series, a symbolist tour of ancient Egypt, gets down to the heart of the matter as far as the ancient Egyptians are concerned - their strong belief in an afterlife. This belief basically fueled everything the ancient Egyptians did, particularly in terms of the monuments they left us. Host John Anthony West takes us into the New Kingdom tomb of Tuthmosis III, which houses the complete text of the Amduat on its walls. The Amduat is basically a guidebook to the Afterlife, containing all the knowledge a dead pharaoh would need in order to ascend to godhood. There were twelve hours (stages) in one's progression through the Afterlife, and many spells and secrets were required to pass all the way through to the ultimate goal. West basically walks us through each stage, giving his interpretation of the funerary text on the walls themselves.

Focusing particularly on one depiction, in which the risen sun of the higher consciousness appears, West argues that the location of the risen sun corresponds with that of the Third Eye in a human being. I find this to be a questionable extrapolation, but it does at least make some degree of sense. It also leads the viewer into a new phase of the discussion, one centering on the pineal gland in the brain. Little understood by modern scientists, the gland has long been associated with mystical states of consciousness (the third eye, the sixth chakra); Descartes called it "the seat of the soul." According to the research of Robert Strassman, a molecule called DMT, which is associated with the pineal gland, may actually provide a doorway for transfer of the spirit out of the body. DMT is an hallucinogen that may be released by the pineal gland during times of extreme stress, and experiments have shown that individuals with abnormally high levels of DMT experience alternate states of consciousness, including experiences of an afterlife, and encounter both helpful and malevolent beings therein. Since few things are as stressful as a person's dying moments, it makes sense to conclude that DMT would be released in abundance at such a time, thereby conceivably bringing about a separation of body and soul in the individual.

From here, we get into a discussion on lucid dreams and how they might relate to all of this seemingly disparate information. Lon Milo Duquette, a most entertaining interview subject, discusses how a person with a strong mind can condition himself to recognize and take control of his dreams. Such lucid dreams, he suggests, are not unlike visions associated with near-death experiences, which begs the question: what if you could somehow maintain your consciousness through the death experience? Such a state of continuous, higher-level consciousness would conceivably allow you to effectively cheat death. Perhaps all of the spells and secrets that the pharaohs needed to learn in order to ascend to the gods after death served to train their minds to achieve just such a state of continuous consciousness.

John Anthony West, throughout his research, has done what most modern scholars do not do - examine the issues from an ancient Egyptian point of view. Rather than dismiss Egyptian funerary texts as the products of wild superstition, he leaves open the possibility that this ancient culture might have known what it was talking about. His What if? approach to Egyptology makes him unpopular with many of his fellow academics but provides him - and now us - with a fresh, sometimes illuminating, and always fascinating window on ancient history.

The ancient Arabic name for Egypt was "Khemet",/par or "The Black Land". The western continuation of the Egyptian magical arts was called "Al-Khemet", meaning "from the Black Land". The cradle of civilization is also the ancestral home of a high science of magic. We explore the many modern encarnations of the ancient science of perfection and the transformation of the 'materia prima" of the Alchemists. From Alchemy to Tarot, and in the many modern/par esoteric and mystical societies existing today, we explore the hidden thread that connects modern and ancient magic-The occult/par idea that consciousness is the materia prima. The coal that turns into a diamond. The lead that becomes gold. Lon Milo DuQuette -"Angelsm Demons & God of the New Millennium". Occultism (Latin occulere �to hide�), belief in the efficacy of various practices�including astrology, alchemy, divination, and magic�regarded as being based on hidden knowledge about the universe and its mysterious forces. Occult knowledge characteristically depends upon the notion of correspondences, or postulated relationships that unite all things�stars, planets, gemstones, colors, or even parts of the human body and life events�to one another and to invisible realities as well. Those who subscribe to this view believe that they can use occult knowledge to effect healing or to predict the future, for example. Occultism may also include a belief in beings, such as angels, deities, or spirits, who can be contacted by those who possess the appropriate knowledge. Occult knowledge is believed to be obtained through initiation by those who already have it, or through the study of the texts in which it is expounded.

There are occult practices within nearly all traditional civilizations. Western occultism has its roots in ancient Babylonian and Egyptian lore, especially as recorded and transmitted through Neoplatonism and the Hermetic books. Powerfully augmented by Jewish mysticism (see Kabbalah), occultism was an obscure but important presence in the European Middle Ages (5th century to 15th century). Medieval occult practice included astrology, alchemy, and ceremonial magic rites for evoking spiritual beings. Eminent scholars such as 13th-century Italian theologian Saint Thomas Aquinas and his contemporary, English philosopher Roger Bacon, assumed the efficacy of alchemy and other occult arts.

Along with the rediscovery of classical learning, the Renaissance (15th century to 17th century) witnessed a burgeoning of occultism. In Florence, Italy, the court of the Medici sponsored a revival of Neoplatonism by establishing a Platonic Academy. Later, figures such as 16th-century German physician Philippus Aureolus Paracelsus, who blended Neoplatonic philosophy with a rigorous empiricism, personified the transition from ancient occultism to modern science. Fraternal orders such as the Rosicrucians also pursued esoteric wisdom. In the late medieval and early modern period (13th century to 15th century), however, occultism came to be increasingly regarded by the church as connected with the worship of Satan. This development resulted in the persecution of witchcraft during the Renaissance, when thousands of women were tortured and killed under the accusation�usually false�that they engaged in occult practices.

Twice a year, on the anniversary of the Ramses birth and coronation day, the rising sun penetrates the temple to illuminate the four gods of creation situated at it's very core. As we witness this rare spectacle, we gain an understanding of the ancient temple, not just as a place of worship, but as an essential mechanism of the ancient magical practices. West is joined by bestselling author researcher Robert Bauval at the temple of Abu Simbel. We look at the temple, statuary and heiroglyphs as examples of talismanic technology. Lon Milo Duqette discusses modern/par applications of talismanic technology. Abū Simbel, site of two temples in southern Egypt, on the Nile River, south of Aswān. The temples were carved into a sandstone cliff about 1250 bc during the reign of Ramses II. The interior of the larger temple is more than 55 m (about 180 ft) in depth and consists of a series of halls and chambers leading to a central sanctuary. This temple was dedicated by Ramses II to the chief gods of Heliopolis, Memphis, and Thebes. It is oriented so that the rays of the rising sun illuminate the statues of the three gods and of Ramses II in the innermost sanctuary. The smaller temple was dedicated by Ramses to his queen, Nefertari, and to the goddess Hathor. The facade of the larger temple has four sitting statues of Ramses II, each more than 20 m (about 65 ft) in height. Smaller statues of Ramses II, Nefertari, and their children adorn the facade of Nefertari's temple. The larger temple has numerous inscriptions and reliefs, some of them of unusual historical interest. A series of reliefs depicts the battle between the Egyptians and the Hittites at Kadesh. Two of the large sitting statues of Ramses have inscriptions in Greek dating from the 6th century bc. They were written by Greek mercenary soldiers and are among the earliest dated Greek inscriptions. The temples, the most important monuments of ancient Nubia, were unknown to the West until 1812, when they were discovered by the Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt. In 1964 an international project was begun to save the temples from inundation by Lake Nasser, the reservoir of the Aswān High Dam. In a remarkable engineering feat, the temples were cut apart and, in 1968, reassembled on a site 64 m (210 ft) above the river.

Comparison of ancient and modern models of the structure of the universe reveal unexpected similarities. As our most recent scientific understanding is bringing the subatomic realms into ever clearer focus, the strange world of quantum mechanics and string theory are finding a remarkable consistent echo in the cosmology, or creation myth the ancient Egyptians. Could there be complex scientific notation hidden in ancient heiroglyphics? Author/researcher Laird Scranton demonstrates an unexplainable accurate description of subatomic structure, quantum physics, cellular biology and even string par theory, hidden in ancient accounts of the formation of the universe. If Scranton's discovery proves true, it may be the most important breakthrough in Egyptology since the discovery of the Rosetta Stone. Historians tend to exaggerate the capabilities of ancient Egyptians, when, in fact, they were a practical culture. The development of cosmology in ancient Egypt followed practical lines. Early man's impressions of the night sky formulated into various myths which then later became the core of Egyptian religion. Since its principal deities were heavenly bodies, a great deal of effort was made by the priesthood to calculate and predict the time and place of their god's appearances. These skills led to the division of the day and night into twelve sections each, the development of a lunar calendar and the development of a solar calendar of 12 30-day months with a special 5-day unit to bring the total to 365 days.Because the sun god, Ra, was the pre-eminent god, the annual solar motion along the horizon was a key astronomical observation for the Egyptians. The timing and position of the northernmost and southernmost turning points, the solstices, ultimately fixed the mythology of Egyptian cosmology. Egyptian legend declares that the sky goddess Nut gives birth to Ra once a year, catalysing both calendar development and the concept of divine royalty plus the matrilineal inheritance of the throne. Nut is often portrayed as a naked female stretched across the sky. The Sun (Ra) is shown entering her mouth, passing through her star speckled body and emerging from her birth canal nine months later (from the spring equinox to the winter solstice). Thus, Ra becomes a self-creating god, i.e. the Universe is self-creating and eternal. By the Old Kingdom, the astronomical/religious zeal of the pharaohs is reflected in the construction of massive pyramids at Giza. Their shape reflects the manner in which clouds and dust scatter sunlight into broad swaths forming stairways to heaven. These were stone pathways to the gods and were oriented to reach the immortal ones, i.e. the northern circumpolar stars. Cosmology in Mesopotamia was much more sophisticated. Babylonians believed in a six-level universe with three heavens and three earths: two heavens above the sky, the heaven of the stars, the earth, the underground of the Apsu, and the underworld of the dead. The Earth was created by the god Marduk as a raft floating on the Apsu. The gods were divided into two pantheons, one occupying the heavens and the other in the underworld. Babylonian astronomy is noted for their detailed, and continuous, records of astronomical phenomenon such as eclipses, positions of the planets and rise and setting of the Moon. These records date back to 800 B.C. and are the oldest scientific documents in existence. The purpose of this activity was clearly astrological with the aim of forecasting the fortunes of the country as well as of the king. In addition to records, Babylonian astronomers also developed several arithmetic tools to aid in the prediction of eclipses and planetary motion. However, while their record keeping was a novel technology for the time, and their system of stellar names and measurement system was passed onto later civilizations, the Babylonians never developed a cosmological model in which to interpret their observations. Greek astronomers will achieve this goal using the Babylonian data.