26. Osiris said: Thou shalt build a Temple of
Astronomy, and dedicate it unto Osiris, Savior of men and angels, God of heaven and earth. And it
shall be built square with the world, east and west
and north and south. And the observing line shall be with the apex of the Hidan vortex, which lieth in the median line of the variation of the north star
(Tuax).
27. In the form of a pyramid shalt thou build it;
measure for measure, will I show thee every part.
28. And thou shalt provide such thickness of walls
that no sound, nor heat, nor cold, can enter therein; and yet thou shalt provide chambers within, suitable
for thyself and for thy chiefs, and thy friends, who
are also adepts. For I have also provided the earth
unto heaven, and heaven unto the earth; and my angels shall come and dwell for a season on the earth; and
my earth-born shall go and dwell for a season in
heaven; yea, they shall come to me on my throne and
behold the glories I have prepared for them.
29. Nor shall my temple be exclusive, but open unto
all who will pursue the philosophies of earth and
heaven. For which reason thou shalt build it with
the sun, moon and stars; and it shall be a testimony
unto the nations of the earth that thou art the
highest of all mortals, and first founder of
everlasting life in the flesh. For as the angels of
heaven can return to the earth and take upon
themselves corporeal bodies for a season, so shalt
thou master thine own flesh to keep it as thou wilt. For this is the end and glory for which I created man on earth.
Chapter XLIX
1. Osiris then instructed King Thothma to drive out of
the land of Egupt all the Faithists, especially the
shepherd kings, who could not be made slaves of.
2. Thothma impressed an army of two hundred thousand
warriors, and drove off the shepherd kings, putting
to death more than three hundred thousand of them.
And from the Faithists he took all their possessions, such as houses and lands, and suffered them not to
hold any mortal thing in possession; neither
permitting them to till the soil, save as servants,
nor to engage in any other labor save as servants.
And there went out of the land of Egupt, to escape
the tyranny of Thothma, three millions of Faithists,
including the shepherd kings, the unlearned. And in
regard to the Faithists, who remained in the land of
Egupt, Osiris, through king Thothma, made the
following laws, to wit:
3. Thou shalt not possess any land, nor house, nor ox, nor any beast of burden, nor cow, nor calf, nor shall thy people possess an altar of worship, nor temple, nor place of sacred dance. But a servant and a servant of servants shalt thou be all the days of thy life. But in thy sleeping place and in the sleeping place of thy family thou shalt do worship in thine own way, nor shall any man molest thee therein.
4. Thou shalt not profess openly thy doctrines under
penalty of thy blood and thy flesh; nor shalt thou
teach more in the schools or colleges; nor shall thy
children receive great learning. And of thy arts, of measuring and working numbers, thou shalt not keep
them secret longer, or thy blood be upon thee.
5. And if thou sayest: Behold, the Great Spirit; or
Jehovih, the Ever Present, thou shalt suffer death,
and thy wife and thy children with thee. And if a
man query, to try thee, asking: Who created the
world? thou shalt answer: Behold, God! And if he
should further ask: Thinkest thou the Creator is
Ever Present? thou shalt say: Nay, but as a man
that hath finished his labor, he sitteth on his
throne in heaven. And if he further ask thee: Where is God? thou shalt answer: On the Mountain Hored, in heaven. And if he still further ask thee: Is the
Ever Present a Person? thou shalt say: Nay, the
Ever Present is void like the wind; there is but one
ruler in heaven and earth, even Osiris, who is Lord
the God, Savior of men.
6. Who else but doeth these things shall be put to
death; whoso boweth not unto Thothma, my earthly
ruler, shall not live, saith God.
7. These laws were entered in the libraries of Egupt,
and also proclaimed publicly by the scribes and
seers. And yet with these restrictions upon them
there remained in the land of Egupt more than two
million Faithists.
8. And it came to pass that Thothma began the
building of the Temple of Osiris (pyramid),
and he impressed two hundred thousand men and women
in the building thereof, of which number more than
one-half were Faithists. And these laborers were
divided into groups of twelves and twenty-fours and
forty-eights, and so on, and each group had a
captain; but for series of groups of one thousand
seven hundred and twenty-eight men and women, there
were generals, and for every six generals there was
one marshal, and for every twelve marshals was one
chief, and these chiefs were of the Privy Council of
the king.
9. And the king allotted to every chief a separate
work; some to dig canals, some to quarry stone, and
some to hew the stones; some to build boats, some to
provide rollers, and others timbers, and yet others
capstans.
10. Two places the surveyors found stone with which to
build the temple, one was above the banks of the
great river, Egon, at the foot of Mount Hazeka, and
the other was across the Plains of Neuf, in the
Mountains of Aokaba. From the headwaters of Egon a
canal was made to Aokaba, and thence by locks
descended to the Plains of Neuf, and thence to Gakir,
the place chosen by the king for the temple to be
built.
11. And as for the logs used in building, they were
brought down the waters of Egon, even from the
forests of Gambotha and Rugzak. These logs were tied
together and floated on the water to the place
required, where, by means of capstans, they were
drawn out of the water ready for use.
12. As for the stones of the temple they were hewn in
the region of the quarries. And when properly
dressed, were placed on slides by capstans, and then, by capstans, let down the mountain sides, to the
water, whereon they were to float to the place
required for them.
13. The floats were made of boards sawed by men
skilled in the work, and were of sufficient length
and width to carry the burden designed. And at the
bottom of the floats were rollers, gudgeoned at the
ends. Now when a stone was let down from the place
of its hewing on to the float, it was ready to be
carried to its destination. And when the float thus
arrived near Gakir, ropes, made of hemp and flax,
were fastened to the float, and, by means of capstans on the land, the float was drawn up an inclined plane out of the water, the rollers of the float answering
as wheels.
14. When all things were in readiness for building the temple, the king himself, being learned in all
philosophies, proceeded to lay the foundation, and to give instruction as to the manner of building it.
15. These were the instruments used by the king and
his workmen: The gau, the length, the square, the
compass, and the plumb and line. Nor were there any
other instruments of measure or observation used in
the entire building of the temple. And, as to the
measure called a length, it was the average
length of a man, after trying one thousand men. This was divided into twelve parts, and these parts again
into twelve parts, and so on.
16. After the first part of the temple was laid, the
builders of the inclined plane began to build it
also, but it was built of logs. And when it was
raised a little, another layer of the temple was
built. Then again the inclined plane was built
higher, and another layer of the temple built; and so on, the inclined plane, which was of wood, was built
up even the same as was the temple.
17. The width of the inclined plane was the same as
the width of the temple, but the whole length of the
inclined plane was four hundred and forty lengths (of a man). Up this inclined plane the floats, with the
stones thereon, were drawn by means of capstans and
by men and women pulling also.
18. For four and twenty years was Thothma building the temple; and then it was completed. But it required
other half a year to take away the inclined plane
used in building it. After that it stood free and
clear, the greatest building that had ever been built on the earth or ever would be.
19. Such, then, was Thothma's Temple of Osiris, the Great Pyramid.
20. Jehovih had said: Suffer them to build this, for
the time of the building is midway betwixt the ends
of the earth; yea, now is the extreme of the earth's
corporeal growth; so let it stand as a monument of
the greatest corporeal aspiration of man. For from
this time forth man shall seek not to build himself
everlastingly on the earth, but in heaven. All these things shall be testimony that in the corporeal age
of the earth man was of like aspiration, and in the
spiritual age of man in an opposite condition of
corporeal surroundings; for by the earth I prove what was; and by man prove what the earth was and is at
certain periods of time.
Chapter L
1. When the temple was completed, and the king and his
four high priests entered into the Holy Chamber, the
false Osiris, through his servant God, Egupt, came in sar'gis, and spake unto the king, saying: Here am I, O king!
2. Thothma said: My labor is well recompensed. That thou hast come to me, O Lord my God, I am blessed.
Osiris said: Keep holy my chambers; suffer no man,
nor woman, nor child, that dwelleth on the face of
the earth, to know the mysteries of these, my holies, save and except my adepts. Here layeth the key of
everlasting life.
3. Thothma said: How sayest thou, the key of
everlasting life? Osiris said: Herein is that which is of good and evil, as I commanded thy forefathers;
to eat whereof man shall become as Gods, and live
forever. For this is the triumph of man over death,
even for which I created him on the earth.
4. Thothma said: Shall only we five know these
things? Osiris said: Nay, verily; else the light of my kingdom would not be full. Behold, thou, how I
built the temple! Was it not in the keeping of
adepts? So, then, as I have given unto thee to know
my kingdom, thou shalt give unto others, not
suffering these lights to come, save through my
commandments.
5. Now in the second month after the temple was
completed, Thothma, the king, having put the affairs
of his kingdom in order, went into the Holy
Chamber, and thence ascended into the Chamber
of Life and Death, leaving the four chief priests in the Holy Chamber. And Thothma cast himself in
death (dormancy) by swallowing his tongue.
Whereupon the priests closed the entrance and sealed
the king within.
6. Osiris, through his servant God, Egupt, said unto
the priests: One alone shall remain; in
quarter-watch shall ye dwell within the Holy Chamber, and I will remain also. And the priests cast lots,
and divided the watch in six hours each, unto every
day. And Osiris sent Baal to the spirit of Thothma,
and took him to Agho'aden, Osiris' heavenly place,
showing the spirit unto the glory of the throne,
saying: Behold the God of Gods. Thothma said: It
is a great glory; lo, mine eyes are blinded by the
light of the Lord my God. After this, Baal took the
soul of Thothma into a thousand heavenly places in
Osiris' kingdom, and showed him the glory thereof.
7. Thothma said unto Baal: Thou angel of God, thou
hast shown me, of a truth, God is in the image of
man. Nor is there any but one God, who ruleth over
all.
8. Baal said: How sayest thou then; who is God?
Thothma said: How sayest thou? For behold, his
glory was so great I could not look upon him.
9. Then answered Baal, saying: Only angels and
mortals; these are the sum of all things. He, thou
hast looked upon, was even as thou art; a one-time
mortal on a far-off star-world. He attained unto the Godhead, to create a world unto himself, even as
thou, who art an adept, canst create flowers and
plants and serpents. Thus he came into the void
regions of space and created the earth and her
heavens, and they belong unto him, for they are his. And in like manner is every star-world, created and
ruled by a God like unto thy God, who is Lord of all.
10. Thothma said: O that all people knew these
things! O that I may remember them when I am
returned to earth. Baal said: More than this shalt
thou remember; for I will now take thee to the hells
of the idolators and the Jehovihians. Baal then took the soul of Thothma to the hells of De'yus, and
showed him the horrors thereof. But he took him not
to the regions of God, in Craoshivi.
11. Now when Thothma had traveled in heaven for thirty days, Baal brought his spirit back to the Chamber of
Death, and showed him how to regain his corporeal
part, the which he did. And then Baal signaled unto
Egupt, and the latter spake to the priest on watch,
saying: Behold, Thothma hath returned; go thou and
fetch thy brother, and deliver him into the Holy
Chamber.
12. And when they came they unloosed the sealing
stones and delivered the king into the Holy Chamber,
and he was awake from his trance, and remembered all
he had seen in heaven, which he related to the high
priests who were with him. And both Baal and Egupt
came in sar'gis and talked in the Holy Chamber with
Thothma and the priests. For one day the king
remained in the Holy Chamber, that his spirit be
reconciled to the flesh; and on the next day he and
the priests came forth out of the temple and sealed
the door thereof, and placed the king's guard in
charge, that no man or woman might molest the place. Now Thothma had been in the death trance forty days.
13. The three angels, Egupt, Baal and Ashtaroth, came
into the altar in the king's palace that night, and
showed themselves to the college students who had
attained adept. Baal spake orally before them, directing his words to the king, saying: Behold, I
am the angel of God thy Lord, whom thou hast beholden in heaven; I am the same who traveled in heaven with
thee. What I speak, I say in the name of the Lord
our God, whose servant I am. On the morrow shall thy high priests draw lots, and one of them shall enter
the Chamber of Holies, in the Osirian Temple, and do
even as thou hast. And after him, behold, another of the high priests shall do likewise; and so on, until
the four have had thy experience.
14. And it came to pass that the four priests in turn
cast themselves in death, and visited Osiris'
heavenly kingdoms, and also many of the hells of
De'yus, being led in spirit by Baal or Ashtaroth,
Egupt being the guardian God of the temple.
15. When they had thus accumulated the same knowledge
of heaven and earth, the five of them were of one
mind as to attaining life everlasting in the
corporeal body. Osiris said: Behold, I will bring
many back who are already dead; and they shall call
unto their embalmed bodies and wake them up and
inhabit them. Go ye, then, to the root of the
matter, and prepare my people, for I will come in
person and inhabit the temple ye have built; and my
heavenly kingdom shall descend even to the earth.
Prepare ye the Column of the Stars!
16. Thothma built a column to the east line of the
slat, seven lengths, and the height was thirty-six
lengths; of wood and stone built he it, with an
opening from the bottom to the top, and the width of
the opening was six lengths. In the walls thereof
was a winding stairway, and there were windows
looking out to the east and west and north and south, that the stars from every quarter might be observed. On the summit of the column were dwelling-places for
the seers and mathematicians, with places for the
measuring instruments and lenses.
17. When this was completed, Thothma built of wood and stone an external wall across the slat of the temple; and within this wall were stairs also, and these led
to the top of the pyramid. This wall was also
provided with windows, that the northern stars might
be observed.
18. Thothma made an observing column for the sun, and
it was provided with lenses of all colors, so that
adepts standing at the base of the pyramid could see
the sun at every hour of the day, and distinguish the spots and their changes. A gau was set within each of the angles of observation, that the relative position of the sun with northern stars could be determined
every day.
19. By these two columns, therefore, Thothma and his
mathematicians measured the sun and moon and stars,
as to the distances and sizes thereof. And Osiris
commanded the king to send into the far-off lands of
the earth his wisest mathematicians, to observe the
winds of heaven, and the drouth upon the earth; and
the abundance of the yield of the earth in different
regions, in different years and seasons; and to
observe famines and pestilences, and all manner of
occurrences on the face of the earth. He said unto
the king: When thy mathematicians are returned to
thee with their accumulated wisdom, thou, or thy
successor, shall examine the sun and the stars and
moon, as compared to the things whereof the
mathematicians shall relate, one year with another;
and three years with another three years, and five
with five, and seven with seven, and so on for
hundreds of years, and thousands of years.
20. And when thou hast taken in the term of three
thousand three hundred years, and compared the sun
and moon and stars, as relate to the occurrences of
the earth, thou shalt have the key of prophecy for
three thousand three hundred years ahead. And thou
shalt say of this land and of that land; and of this
people and that people, how it will be with them, and thou shalt not err.
21. Thothma, the king, called together his
mathematicians, and, according to their grade, chose
from amongst them twelve hundred. These he divided
into groups of one hundred each; and he gave them a
sufficient number of attendants; and he sent them
toward all the sides of the world, allotting to them
sixteen years each for observation, according to the
commandments.
22. And they took with them all kinds of instruments
to measure with, besides scribes to make the records
of such matters as came before them. And they went
throughout Arabin'ya, and Vind'yu, and Jaffeth, and
Parsi'e, and Heleste, and Uropa, even across to the
western sea; and to the south extreme of Arabin'ya,
and to the great kingdoms of the interior, and to the north of Heleste and Parsi'e, and Jaffeth, to the
regions of everlasting snow.
23. And in sixteen and seventeen years they returned,
save some who died on the journeys. And most
wonderful was the knowledge these mathematicians
gained. In some countries they found philosophers
who had the knowledge required even at their tongues' end. Thothma received them in great pomp and glory,
and awarded all of them with great riches.
24. And Thothma had these things rewritten and
condensed into books, and named them books of great
learning, and they were deposited within the south
chamber of the pyramid, where never harm could come
to them.
25. And Thothma made it a law, that other
mathematicians should travel over the same regions
for other sixteen years and make like observations;
and after them, yet other mathematicians to succeed
them, and so on for three thousand three hundred
years. And accordingly, a new expedition started
forth. Now during the absence of the first
mathematicians, Thothma and his philosophers observed the sun and moon and stars every day, and a record
was made thereof, as to the earth in the regions of
Thothma's home kingdom. And these observations were
reduced to tablets and maps, and a record made of
them in Parsi'e'an language, which was the language
of the learned. For the Eguptian language of that
day was spoken mostly by the unlearned, and was mixed with the Fonecean, a language of sounds.
26. After the mathemeticians returned, Thothma and his philosophers examined the whole matter as compared
with the maps and tablets of the heavens, and the
facts deduced therefrom were written in a separate
book and called The Philosophies of God and His
Son Thothma, King of Earth!
27. Copies of this book were made and sent into the
lands of Arabin'ya, Vind'yu, Jaffeth, and Parsi'e and Heleste, and Uropa, to the priests of God, but the
original book was filed in the Holy Chamber, in the
Temple of Osiris.
28. Thothma applied himself to impart wisdom unto all
men. And during his reign he built in the land of
Egupt seventy-seven colleges of Great Learning,
twelve colleges of prophecy, two hundred houses of
philosophy, seven adepteries, and three thousand free schools, and four thousand houses of sacrifice unto
Osiris, Savior of men.
29. Three hundred and forty obelisks to God, thirty
triumphal arches to De'yus, four thousand oans-nus to the Creator, and these were mounted on pedestals of
polished stone, and stood at the street corners.
30. And there were graduated to the rank of adept
during Thothma's reign more than four thousand men
and three hundred women, all capable of the death
trance, and of going about in spirit. And of these
over seven hundred were permitted within thirty years to test the cast of the holy chambers in the pyramid. And their spirits were conducted into Osiris'
heavenly regions, and sojourned there for many days,
and returned to their bodies unharmed. Because of
the position of the chambers, there was no action
upon their bodies whilst in the swoon.
31. Thus did Thothma prove himself to be one of the
wisest and greatest men that ever dwelt on the face
of the earth. He believed all things the Gods told
him, believed he was Thoth re-incarnated, and
believed he would never die as to the flesh.
32. The false Osiris, through his servant God, Egupt,
had said to Thothma: This is the manner of heaven
and earth, as regardeth man: All men are
re-incarnated over and over until perfected to
immortal flesh; and in that day man hath so perfected his adeptism he can remain on earth or ascend to
heaven, even when he desireth. Hence of all
knowledge, adeptism is the greatest.
33. Thothma asked if there were any new creations.
Satan prompted Osiris, who said: Nay, thy spirit is
old as the earth. At first it was small and round,
like a grain of mustard, only it was spirit. And the multitude of these seed comprise the All Unseen.
When one of them taketh root in gestation, then is
the beginning. And it is born into the world a frog, or an ass, or worm, or lion, or small creeping thing; and it liveth its time and dieth. And the spirit
hieth it back again into another womb, and it is born forth a man low as to knowledge, evil as to life.
And he liveth a time and dieth again; but again the
spirit hieth back to another womb, and it is born
forth again, another man, but wiser as to knowledge,
and less evil as to life. And this continueth to
hundreds of generations and to thousands. But he who hath attained adeptship hath it in his power to call
forth out of the earth his own corporeality; he
needeth no longer to go through the filth of others.
34. Thothma was wise even in his belief; for when he
was growing old, and beholding his flesh sunken, and
his eyes growing hollow and dim, and his hands
getting withered, he inquired of the Gods, saying: I know thou hast taught me truth, O God. I am weak
before thee, as to judgment, and curious in my
vanity. Osiris said: Speak thou, O king!
35. Thothma said: By all the force of my will; and by my great learning, I cannot stay the withering of the flesh. If, therefore, I already dry up like a mummy, above the power of my will, how will it be with me
when I am further emaciated?
36. Satan prompted Osiris to answer the king, and so
he said: Until thou art even more emaciated thou
canst not understand the power of thine own soul.
37. With this the king was reconciled, and even at the time he was tottering on his last legs he began to
build a new palace, saying: After I have changed
this flesh into immortal flesh, hither will I come
and dwell forever. And I shall be surrounded by
adepts, wise and faultless. And this shall be the
first colony of the kind I will build on the earth.
38. But afterward I will build many colonies of like
kind; more and more of them, until I have all the
earth redeemed to immortal flesh. For of such shall
be my kingdom, and all men and all women on the earth shall own me Lord of all.
39. Nevertheless, with all Thothma's wisdom, and the
wisdom of his Gods, he fell on a stone and died
suddenly on the day he was one hundred years old.
Chapter LI
1. When Thothma was quite dead the priests carried his
body into the temple, fully believing his spirit
would return from heaven and transform the body from
corruptible into incorruptible flesh to live forever.
And they laid the corpse in the place previously
designated by the Gods, and sealed it up according to
the commands of the false Osiris, Savior of men.
2. Osiris had said: Whoso believeth in me, him will
I save unto everlasting life, and though he lose his
body, yet again shall he find it, and the corruptible
flesh shall be changed in the twinkling of an eye,
and become incorruptible unto life everlasting, with
the spirit that abideth therein.
3. On the fifth day the priests opened the chamber,
for according to the Laws of Miracles, on that
day, the spirit should accomplish the feat; but lo
and behold, it came not, and the body still lay cold
and dead. But the Gods came in sar'gis and said unto
the priests: Seal ye up the body for other five
days. And the priests did as commanded; and after
that they examined it again, but life had not
returned. Again they were commanded to seal it up
for other five days, which they did, but life
returned not.
4. Houaka, who was now the high priest, inquired of
Osiris concerning the matter. And Osiris, through
his servant God, Egupt, answered him, saying: Go
fetch a young man who is warm in the blood, which is
life in the flesh, and he shall be the seventh son of
an adept, and know how to cast himself in
death.
5. The priests brought Xaian, who was in his
twenty-fourth year, and when he came into the Holy
Chamber he was bid cast himself in death for benefit
of the king's soul. And Xaian thus cast himself, and
he was sealed in the chamber of death for five days
along with the king's corpse. And in five days the
priests brought both bodies into the Holy Chamber,
according to instructions. And Osiris came and
commanded them to stand around the bodies, and when
they had done so, the angels from Osiris' kingdom
came and spirited away the body of the king, and they
brought back the spirit of Xaian to inhabit the body
of Xaian, and put it in possession thereof, making
believe it was the spirit of Thothma returned.
6. Houaka said to the Gods: Where is the body of
Thothma? Hath it been transformed? And the Gods
answered: It hath gone to heaven, and will return
after many days. But as to the spirit of the king,
behold, he is with thee. And the priests spoke to
Xaian, believing it was Thothma. And after three
days they came forth out of the temple and recrowned
Xaian, Thothma the Second, and they proclaimed it
abroad that these things were true, howbeit they knew
to the contrary.
7. As to the spirit of Thothma, at the time of death,
it was taken to Agho'aden and put amongst the
servants of Osiris' heavenly kingdom, and thus
enslaved. So Xaian became king of Egupt.
8. Now, as regardeth the false Gods, Osiris and his
confederates, they never tried to reincarnate the
spirit of Thothma; but because of the virtues and the
wisdom of Thothma, they used him for benefit of
Osiris' heavenly kingdom, and to establish Osiris
everlastingly on the earth as the all highest God.
9. As to the kingdoms of the land of Egupt, which
succeeded Thothma, the inhabitants of the earth
already know the chief part. For hundreds and
hundreds of years the Eguptians were the most learned
people in the world, and especially in a knowledge of
the stars, and the sun and moon, and in adeptism and
miracles.
10. But woe came unto them; the land became flooded
with hundreds of millions of drujas; and as to the
people of Egupt, the chief desire was to be able to
return in spirit after death and dwell with mortals.
And the things which followed are not even lawful to
mention.
11. Suffice it, these spirits lost all sight of any
higher heavens than to dwell on the earth; they knew
no other. And they watched about when children were
born, and obsessed them, driving hence the natural
spirit, and growing up in the new body of the
newborn, calling themselves re-incarnated; and these
drujas professed that when they previously lived on
earth they were great kings, or queens, or
philosophers.
12. And they taught as their master, Osiris, the
false, did: That there was no higher heaven than
here on the earth, and that man must be re-incarnated
over and over until the flesh became immortal. Not
all of these spirits drove hence the natural spirit;
but many merely engrafted themselves on the same
body; and whilst such persons lived, these spirits
lived with them and dwelt with them day and night;
not knowing more than their mortal companion. And
when such person died, behold, the druja went and
engrafted itself on another child, and lived and
dwelt with it in the same way; and thus continuing,
generation after generation.
13. And because of these indulgences many of the
spirits came in sar'gis in the families of the
Eguptians; eating and drinking with them corporeally;
yea, and even doing things whereof no man may speak,
whereby dire disease seized upon the flesh of
mortals; and their blood and their flesh became
inhabited with vermin. The people became idlers and
vagrants; the lands were not tilled, and the places
of learning became deserted ruins.
Continued
Index to Oahspe