MOIRA
TIMMS “RAISING THE DJED”
Because Egypt is both the center of the Earth's land mass, and the place
where the Djed originated around the beginning of the present cycle, it is
appropriate that the main event of The Raising of the Djed, occur there.
However, readers are reminded that in the holographic model every sacred site
is also the "center"- as is every individual. The "center"
can also be created, where ever you are, by invoking and honoring the four
directions.
The Djed was the Eqyptian symbol of human, planetary, and cosmic
stability, continuity, and regeneration,. As the cosmic axis, it was the
"cylinder," the column of light, that linked Earth to the pole
star-the still point, or stable point of reference, around which the heavens
revolved. To raise the Djed was also to erect the backbone of Osiris, the
lunar, underworld, god of regeneration. The Djed represented continuity of
nature's cycles, as well as ascension and resurrection of the human spirit.
Historically, the Djed was raised at crucial transitional times between
cycles, evoking light and stability to dispel darkness and chaos. Such periods
were the annual Winter solstices, the failing years of a reigning monarch or
the coronation of a new one. However, according to the texts of the Temple of
Horus at Edfu, the Djed served its greatest purpose and revealed its greatest
mystery at the ending of one world age, and the beginning of another. Winter
solstice, December 21, 1992, according to the ancient calendric reckoning,
inaugurates such a period.
Centering
The two universal forces that most concerned ancient peoples seem to have been
those of cosmos (harmony, and the organized, known order) and chaos (the forces
of entropy, confusion, and the unknown). Preserving cosmos and repelling chaos
have kept us busy and preoccupied since time immemorial. When the magnetic
Center that controls the periphery fails to hold, things fall apart and the chaos
that was in the beginning begins to return. Chaos, of course, has always been
the most feared of all the primal powers. Beyond the known order--the light of
the campfire, the walls of the city, the edge of the forest or horizon--loomed
the unknown, the domain of darkness, danger, and demons.
There has never been anything quite like the unknown, of course, for
bringing up our fears, and providing a fertile back-drop for our worst
projections--especially those of our own "shadow." Being "afraid
of one's own shadow" is, in fact, the crux of the whole matter where chaos
is concerned. And so it was since primitive times that outsiders were regarded
with suspicion, feared, and often hated. In the harsh struggle for survival,
the security of one's own kin, clan, or tribe was primary. While alien
"others" were always lower or less--"butt-faces" and
"barbarians"-- only one's own kind were believed to be the real human
beings. At worst, "they" were not fully human and held in contempt as
flawed animals, or even demons. For the most part, that which was of the
unknown was dealt with by means of superstition and magic. Remnants of these
attitudes still prevail today, reflected in class systems, racist attitudes,
the separative dogmas of the religious right, and hate crimes.
The world over, ancient and indigenous cultures had an innate sense of
themselves as existing at the Center of the universe, and the coherence of
their world depended upon maintaining their connection with it. To that end,
archetypal symbols --such as circle, spiral, tree, pillar or pole--were
magically and ritually employed to preserve essential order. To provide safe
space, central space "on call," people learned to do just that. They
called upon the four directions, defining the boundaries of sacred space and
time to create an instant mix of Center, the directions of above and below
forming the central vertical axis that connected heaven and Earth. The Center
of the Center was the direction found within each individual.
Every major culture of antiquity revered as sacred its particular
version of the World Tree with its roots and branches linking Earth (as matter)
and sky (as spirit.) Every sacred mountain became the center of the world, the
navel of the Earth, as did every sacred city. This was the holographic model,
whereby the center was everywhere and the periphery nowhere.
Out of this context the divine kingship of early cultures became an
institution whereby the ruling monarch was the living conduit between heaven
and Earth. The person of the god-king himself was the central source and
mediator of life, abundance and stability for the entire kingdom. For this
reason, when King Arthur was sick, the kingdom fell into decline and disarray.
(The word "king" derives from the Indo-European root for "kin,"
in the sense of family, and "divine procreator"--in which case, I
guess it is OK for a Queen to have a "kin(g)-dom.") Unlike American
Presidents who, despite a lack of competence can be elected for two terms,
rulers of some prehistoric king systems were ritually sacrificed after serving
one seven year term, and held personally accountable for acts of Nature such as
crop failure, famine, plague, and war1 .
Today, it is believed that we are responsible for our own reality, so we
must all be accountable. When an evolving species learns to split the atom and
unlock the secrets of nature that fuel the stars, it brings about its own
demise if the resultant technology is not harnessed in the service of the
planet. Is that what happened in previous cycles? Atlantis? Lemuria? Today, the
whole systems that maintain the working harmony of our biosphere are breaking
down because we screwed up and disconnected wisdom from knowledge. We have been
ripping the web of life to shreds, basically to support profits.
Better we should support prophets instead.
Return to:| Top
|
From the great traditional cultures of the past a number of identical
prophecies have survived to warn us, so that we may preserve harmony and avoid
catastrophe by acting appropriately to influence the train of events. Native
Americans, Australian Aborigines, the African Bushmen, the Kogi of Columbia,
the indigenous peoples who gathered at the World Summit in Brazil, issue to us
a collective warning: "You are killing the Great Mother. We cannot say
when the world will end, but your looting will destroy it." They declare
"the changing of the worlds" is close and urge us to revise our
perception of reality before it is too late. They tell us we must return to our
Center. But this is the root of the problem--Western culture doesn't have one!
And this is why we now look back to the past to rediscover what it means in
both mythic and practical terms.
The Turning Point
"In the beginning" the One set out to become the many. In ever
widening circles of complexity, the great spiral of creation evolved a complete
menu out of the primal soup. From the gas that burned the minerals, that cooked
the plants, that fed the animals, that in turn fed the humans who analyzed and
named everything down to the last quantum particle, the One has indeed become
as many as it could possibly be. Now the turning point of history has arrived
when matter begins to merge gently back into spirit ,and the many can again become
the One. But the spiral has swung so far out it has lost its curvature. The
evolutionary journey is supposed to be a round-trip, not a one-way ride to
oblivion. Historically, we are at the fork in the road where the choice between
two paths must be made. The problem, however, is that under the linear,
left-brain, materialistic, patriarchy, the outer reaches of the evolutionary
spiral have taken on the forward thrust of a line and the Center is no longer
holding.
To facilitate the necessary "turning point" a counter-force
must nudge the linear vector ("koyannisqatsi"--world out of balance,
according to the Hopi) back on course as a continuing spiral. This is why the
feminine, right-brain, conserving principle of the circle has now arisen as the
multiple forms of The Goddess, the consciousness of Gaia as the Power of Nature
(Earth changes), the Great Mother (Women unite.) Line and Circle, in union,
create the spiral--the form of the evolutionary force.
Very few of us today can claim to be one of the "real" human
beings because we are still in the striving mode; we are more like "human
becomings." Each of us is one of the many that the One has become. Through
the mobilizing archetype which gives meaning to symbols of the Center, we evolve
back into Oneness. Such a symbol always arises from the depths of the
collective unconscious at the conclusion of major historical cycles when primal
chaos again threatens to engulf the world. Not everyone perceives the symbol.
And out of those who do, few recognize its significance. However, such images
are themselves keys or codes that inform our consciousness, whether we
understand it with our rational mind or not. The advantage of understanding,
however, is that it increases our effectiveness in co-creating and consciously
participating in the process that is unfolding.
At this time in history, as chaos again presses in and the cycle draws
to a close, the Djed as the oldest known type of the central World Tree,
emerges once more into our collective awareness, activating the imagination,
appearing in dreams and art as an archetypal image full of mystery and power.
It allows the ancient wisdom to work through us, awakening and aligning the
divine in each of us with the transcendent Self--and each other. In this way,
the many again get to become the One.
Return to:| Top
|
Two Paths
Most, if not all, ancient civilizations shared a comprehension of time as
cyclical. This enabled them to plan for the short term, and to predict and
prophesy with astonishing accuracy for the long term. This is why the various
world prophecies form a coherent whole, and why most archaic traditions share
similar cosmologies and eschatologies. Western culture's linear march- of-time
model, however, has been the means of our undoing and is responsible for
ecological and planetary crisis on a scale unprecedented in human history. So,
to understand where we have come from helps us to understand where we are
going. The legacy of high wisdom from past and present traditional cultures
awaits our comprehension. It is our blueprint to the future; the means of our
survival.
The prophecy cycle that began in l945 with the advent of the atomic bomb
is predicted to end around the year 2,000. The remaining years until 2012 AD.
are designated as a sorting out period known to the Maya as "the beak of
time."
The engines of history are roaring, accelerating us, "fast
forward," to an evolutionary crossroads, and the choice between two paths.
This choice appears throughout many of the ancient prophecies. The linear path
vectors off into chaos and annihilation, while the other one spirals on to a
new phase of human evolution. Which path have we/will we collectively choose?
The Christian concept of the broad and narrow paths conveys the general
idea, whereby the broad path is the way of the world, full of materialistic
enticements, greed, and tawdry pleasures. The narrow path is the Christian way,
being "in the world but not of it." To those who chose the broad path
salvation is still possible, however, if they "repent" and
"believe on His [Jesus'] name."
The Hopi Life Plan, carved on a rock at Oraibi, Arizona, spells it out
pretty clearly, too. The horizontal path of materialistic white culture is
above, the Hopi path in harmony with nature is below. The first vertical line
is the original meeting of the two cultures and the opportunity to change
paths. The two circles on the lower line are the two world wars. The second
vertical line is the last-minute chance to change life paths before the third
world purification results in the end of the materialistic path and the
continuance of the Hopi one attuned to Nature.
The Great Pyramid contains prophecy in the form of geometric
interpretations along a measured time-scale. Ascending and descending
passageways both incline at an identical angle of slope. Each symbolizes a
choice and direction of life path. Just before the descending passage ends in
the pit, there is an opportunity to "get back on track." A tortuous,
vertical, tunnel connects with an upper passage leading to the (initiatory)
King's Chamber--a dangerous, difficult, but possible climb.
Return to:| Top
|
Osiris
Mythic themes are emerging as dominant archetypes now because they are becoming
real-ized in our collective experience. Myths provide a contextual
understanding for our existential predicament, clarifying what is being played
out, what our role is, and who we are in the greater scheme of things.
The story of Osiris is in the shamanic tradition, and it begins with
Osiris' murder by his evil brother, Set. One version says his body was cast
into he river, washed ashore and entombed within a great tree (a type of the
Djed) that grew around him. Eventually he was discovered and extricated from
the tree by the great goddess Isis. The bare bones of the other version are
that his body was dismembered and scattered throughout Egypt, but that after a
long and arduous search, Isis retrieved and re-membered his parts. Both
accounts end with Isis raising Osiris' spine to a vertical position,
"making him stable," and resurrecting him to life by means of the
words of power taught her by Thoth, the Master Initiator of Light.
The dismembered parts of Osiris represent the spiritual fragmentation of
the human condition. His re-memberment is the restoration of the human
spiritual body and the realization of the gnosis. (Seven distinct spiritual
bodies comprised the risen "Osiris" body). As such, the raising of
Osiris was the central fact in the structure of the Egyptian universe, for each
person aspired to become resurrected after death; to become
"Osirified"--just as we aspire to become "Christed." In the
Egyptian book of the Dead, for example, the chapter on "Making the
Transformation Into the God [Osiris] Who Giveth Light in the Darkness" is
directed at "uniting the two fighters [Horus and Set, deities who
represent the principles of light and darkness] who live in my body, with the
enchantment of my utterance . . . raising him that hath fallen [Osiris] . . . I
have re-membered him . . . I have overthrown the destroyers . . . I have
lighted the darkness." These are noble thoughts, expressed with an
eloquence that today still touch one's heart with light and meaning.
The Djed
The Djed is a pillar, a type of the central World Tree, representing stability,
continuity, and regeneration. The Festival of The Raising of the Djed dates
back more than 5,000 years to predynastic times--as does the Egyptian Book of
the Dead which identifies the Djed as both the backbone of Osiris and the
support and backbone of the universe. The Djed, however, is more than just an
object; it is a mythic complex that existed long before Osiris emerged from the
dark realm of the collective unconscious.
Historically, the Djed was raised at crucial transitional times between
cycles, evoking light and stability to dispel darkness and disorder. Such
periods were the Winter solstices, the failing years of a reigning monarch or
the coronation of a new one. However, according to the texts of the Temple of
Horus at Edfu, the Djed served its greatest purpose and revealed its greatest
mystery at the ending of one world age and the beginning of another. This is
such time!
The Djed is the supreme unifying symbol of all polarities, connecting us
to the transcendent reality of the whole, the One. It symbolizes the macro and
microcosmic "axis." As the cosmic axis the Djed is the
"cylinder," the column of light linking the Earth to the pole star.
It represents stability because it aligns the North pole of Earth with the
still-point of the revolving "dome" of the heavens--the pole star.
Beyond the pole star were/are the realms of the "gods" and higher
dimensions of being. In the microcosm, within us, the human axis is the spinal
column, the time-tunnel of the transformative journey from the gross
materialism of homosapiens to the Self-realization of homoChristos at the crown
chakra. It is through this chakra that we, too, are aligned with the energies
of the pole star.2
Return to:| Top
|
At a time when the planetary grid (Earth's geometrically arranged energy
system web) was understood and, it is believed, consciously administrated by a
global network of high initiate engineers, the Djed was a sacred instrument in
the powerful technology of "cosmos regeneration" (a domain explored
by the work of Reich and Tesla.) From the geodetic and astronomic perspective,
the raised Djed is the fixed reference point which makes firm the bond between
Earth and sky, evoking geophysical stability at a time of increased potential
for Earth changes. And, as we approach the end of the prophecy sequence and the
final 20 years of the current cycle, the Djed replaces the prospect of Earth
changes and geophysical "pole shift" with that of "pole
stability."3
The Djed is being raised again--globally, annually, at the Winter
solstice (and various other times--the 1996 Spring equinox, in particular)
until the closing of the cycle in 2012AD. Because Egypt is at the center of the
Earth's land mass, and the place where the Djed originated around the beginning
of the present cycle (3,100BC), it is appropriate that The Raising of the Djed,
be reinaugurated at its original site in Egypt. However, readers are reminded
that in the holographic model every sacred site, every community gathering, is
also the "Center"--as is every individual. Reerrecting the Djed today
serves well its ancient purpose, for it is the archetype of stability and
continuity for the current transitional phase.
In the ancient Egyptian creation myth the Pillar of Shu (god of
atmosphere) was the column of light that separated the union of Earth and Sky,
setting them apart and in correct relationship to each other. The dome of the
sky overlay the surface of the Earth according to the divine blueprint of
creation so that, in the words of Thoth the great Master Initiator of Light,
"That which is above is like that which is below."
Today the stars no longer guide our navigation, orchestrate our
time-keeping, or pace our planting and harvesting, because we replaced them
when we invented the compass, clock, and calendar, to name a few. Over the
millennia, we became governed by our own material creations, and our
fundamental connection to "all our relations" within the greater
whole was lost. Not only was it lost, it was also forgotten.
Although we are now beginning to remember the importance of our
connection with the Earth, there is only the faintest glimmer of a reciprocal
connection with the heavens. But it is coming. We are approaching it through
astrology, through rediscovering the myths of gods/goddesses and celestial
archetypes, not to mention the more "grounded" reality of the space
program. Raising the Djed in ceremony, with the right consciousness,
reestablishes the primordial connection between Earth and Sky, matter and
spirit. When we experience our own connection between the two a
resounding"Yessss!" will synaptically ricochet throughout the global
brain, the morphogenetic field of the planet, (and the Internet.) Our conscious
reconnection with the wisdom of our own origins, and the rediscovery of the
archaic celestial/terrestrial technologies, initiates us into "whole"
consciousness.
Return to:| Top
|
It is possible that the peoples of prehistory may not have been entirely
primitive, but were reduced to grubbing around with stones and living in caves
after some great global upheaval obliterated all traces of civilization. The
clues lie within the myths of history, and within the timeless precincts of
sacred rituals preserved by indigenous peoples who know how to access the
"mind of Nature." We know that as the wheel of time revolves it
allows us to recover buried or repressed psychic structures so as to
incorporate the recurring patterns of meaning into the present. In this sense
we are reminded that in psychoanalysis the cure is often associated with the
recovery of a forgotten memory. But within cyclical time it is not memory that
calls up the past, but the past itself that returns4 for healing,
completion and apotheosis. As we prepare to catch the wave of the past this
time around, the image of the Djed and the World Tree rise into our collective
awareness. Through them we may enter once more the precincts of the recurrent
golden age.
The Raising of the Djed has been called the "mystery of
mysteries."5 It appears to have been a physical ritual with
psychospiritual and interdimensional implications--which renders it an event of
profound significance for our time. Through its enactment Thoth's words can
again come alive--for, performed correctly and at the appropriate geodetic
coordinates, it is suggested that the Raising of the Djed is instrumental in
the periodic, historic, realignment of the planetary and celestial grid
meridians. We believe this realignment is an integral part of the formula for
"holon"6 hook-up--the matching of our personal and
planetary Light bodies with their overlighting celestial template. There is
cause here for deep reflection and inner questing as we set with the concept,
allowing its' meaning to percolate throughout the sacred chambers of the heart
and the fertile recesses of the collective mind.
Time Shift
Changing our perception of reality, as the indigenous peoples of the world
exhort us to, means keeping our ear to the ground for messages of the
"planet drum," and our eyes on the horizon for the metaphorical smoke
signals. As we approach the turn of the century both the pace of life and the
passage of time seem to be accelerating. The time-keeping system of the Maya
provides some clues.
In l992, the Maya calendar entered its final 20 years, highlighting an
event that was code named "Time Shift" because it marked the
beginning of a change in the timing frequencies affecting Earth's evolution.
Like a train changing tracks in the shunting yard, this shift (according to the
scholarship of Jose Arguelles) is ultimately expected transform our concept of
linear, symbolic, time into cyclical, real, time. We know that spiritual causes
gestate into physical effects, but we don't know how long the incubation period
may be. So the question becomes "how long after a 'time-shift' might it
take for the physical counterpart of 'pole-shift' to occur?" We suspect
that this is where the Djed factors into the equation.
Return to:| Top
|
The frequency at which matter vibrates has been speeding up, causing an
acceleration of personal and planetary karmuppance.7 This, and
associated phenomena, are purifying and transforming the world into something
considerably more refined than the physical plane as we have come to know it.
Like the ice-cube that transforms from frozen solid, to water, to steam, then
vapor, the physical world itself is now becoming spiritualized. We are seeing
this process unfold as science and prophecy, physics and metaphysics, begin to
segue and come into agreement. Increasingly, we can expect to experience the
apparent separation between past and future, inner and outer, dreamtime and
waking, self and other, as a semipermeable membrane allowing oneness with and
flow between.
Hindu yogic teachings explain that as time speeds up synchronicity increases.
As awareness begins to stabilize in the higher chakras the polarities within us
reconcile. And, we are told, that when the Self is real-ized temporal time
ceases to exist altogether! Modern Chaos Theory seems to agree, and asserts
that maximal chaos ultimately resolves into synchronicity. So, "no
problem!". . .
If the boundary between cosmos and chaos, control and confusion, known
and unknown, is a function of perception then that boundary dissolves
proportionate to the expansion of our consciousness. "What we see is what
we get" because it is our own externalized un-consciousness; our
"shadow." This means there is actually nothing outside of ourSelf.
All that is unlike love can be released along with the age-old, "us vs. them"
program. Getting with the real program means accessing the source of our
highest mutual good--the repository of our highest collective wisdom--our
higher Selves. We are all more similar than we are different. So, order or
chaos, light or dark, like it or not--it is all us!
BECOMING THE OSIRIS
Osiris "Djedi" was a title of Osiris, as the Great One,8
Lord of the Universe (the universal, Self-generating life principle of the
Center--i.e. the transcendent Self). The "Djedi" were the
"stable ones"--wisdom keepers of one mind and one spirit who, as
initiates of the Osirian mysteries, comprised the living, terrestrial body of
the archetypal, celestial Osiris. Contemporary Djedi are self-selecting
regenerators of cosmos. They are those who, regardless of race or creed, are
awakening to mission in service to the planet and the epochal imperatives of
stability, continuity and regeneration.
Egyptologist Sir Wallis Budge quotes the ancient expectation that
"Since Osiris was raised to life by the words and ceremonies which Thoth
taught Isis, and since Osiris has gained immortality by means of them, these
same words and ceremonies will raise us to life and give us immortality
also."9 The "secret Books of Thoth" containing those
formulae no longer exist. But they are deeply encoded within the repository of
our collective dreamtime, informing our DNA and waiting like seeds to be
activated in due season by the right evolutionary imperative and guiding
initiatory archetype.
It is the world soul and the force of history that now calls for, and
causes, the Djed to be raised. Like the flag with its emblem raised aloft in
the thick of battle to rally the flagging energies of the army, the Djed is a
beacon raised in the battle for the soul of the planet. (Horus and Set are at
it again . . .) And, like the warrior heroes who have throughout history stood
tall as champions of the many during times of great danger and crisis, the
Djedi come forth that the Djed may be raised.
The Djedi sense, and know Osiris's arising as their own. As Osiris
awakens from the sleep of the aeon, the Djedi also "rise to the
occasion," moving into resonant relationship as the reconstellated members
of the collective Osiris. Therefore, as the mighty bones creek and the ancient
One stirs, let the Djedi return. This is the historical moment of our awakening
and our call. The impulse and the need for us to ritualize these events in
global celebration arise, naturally, in resonance with the mythic awakening of
the archetype and because it is now alive in each of us.
Now, we move from the quickening to the gathering.
"S-aha
Djed!"
("Djed
be raised!")
MoiRa Timms is an archaic-futurist, researcher, author of Prophecies
& Predictions, and Beyond Prophecies & Predictions (Ballantine 1994).
The above article is excerpted from The Raising of the Djed, a
book-in-progress.
Copyright 1994 MoiRa Timms.
References
- The Sky Religion in
Egypt, G.A. Wainwright, 1936
- Beyond Prophecies and
Predictions, Ballantaine 1994, p.50.
- Ibid, Timms, p.71
- Conjunctions and
Dysfunctions, Octavio Paz, p.10
- Her-Bak Egyptian
Initiate. Isha Schwaller De Lubicz (Inner Traditions) 1971, p.220
- A term used by José
Argüelles to describe our interdimensional light body.
- Op. cit. Timms, p.
38-44.
- The Egyptian Book of
the Dead, Albert Champdor, p.50
- The God of the Egyptians, Vol 1, E.A. Willis Budge, p. 150-151
