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The Mysteries of Master Mahan

Posted: Sun Jun 14, 2015 1:14 pm
by _Kishkumen
One of the most mysterious passages of LDS scripture is Cain’s declaration:

Moses 5:31 wrote:Truly I am Mahan, the master of this great secret, that I may murder and get gain.


Critics have opined that in Mahan we see a veiled reference to Masonry. Cain is subsequently called “Master Mahan,” which looks something like the designation Master Mason. This seems to be confirmed by the fact that Cain becomes Master Mahan by swearing a secret oath to Satan, which carries the penalty of death if it is revealed. It is true that Masonic oaths carried symbolic penalties.

While it is unwise to dismiss the Masonic explanation altogether, there are ancient Egyptian roots to the Master Mahan narrative, which we will now explore. The significant point is the name Mahan, which, when one reflects on it, does not look all that much like Mason after all. That is because it is not a distortion of Mahan; it reflects Joseph Smith’s understanding of Mehen, the guardian of Ra, who accompanied the sun god on his nightly journey through the underworld until his successful resurrection in the rising of the sun at dawn.

Mehen (the Coiled One) took the form of a serpent who circled around the bark (boat) of Ra:

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Sometimes the boat features less prominently:

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Later in antiquity he took the form of the serpent that eats itself and regenerates, the ouroboros:

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Mehen protected Ra principally from his enemy Apophis, who also took the form of a serpent. He was also tasked with the responsibility of guarding over criminals. His symbol appeared on the uraeus crown of the pharaoh and he also later appeared as the serpent legs of Abraxas, whose name has the numerical value of 365, the days of the solar year.

It is clear that to the Egyptians, who have retained a dim memory of the original religion of Adam, Mehen was not an evil figure. In fact, if you knew the secrets of Mehen, you could join Ra (the Egyptian Heavenly Father) on his bark and obtain deification. Indeed, in ancient Egyptian religion there were mysteries (something like the temple endowment) of Mehen. These mysteries are referred to in Coffin Text Spells 493 and 495:

CT Spells 493 and 495 wrote:My soul belongs to its body; my shadow belongs to its condition/I am the guard of the criminals after (the manner of) the mysteries of Mehen


As Piccione states regarding these mysteries:

[The mysteries of Mehen] appear to be a formalized set of rituals and beliefs related to the serpent-deity. This conclusion is based upon the general nature of st3w, “mysteries,” not as dogma or creed but rather… as a system of secret or dramatic rituals to reveal hidden aspects of the gods. In general though, as Ritner has suggested in the context of this spell, Mehen does not protect the sun god only by surrounding and enclosing him in his coils in order to shield him from outside evil, but also by encircling and containing the enemies of Ra—to hold them prisoner in his coils—and thus encumbering their inimicalities.


For Piccione's article, see: https://www.academia.edu/8169539/Mehen_Mysteries_and_Resurrection_from_the_Coiled_Serpent

So, Mehen protects Ra, and guards over his prisoners by containing them. Much like Cain gains power over Satan by swearing the oath and then killing Abel. Mehen has power over the enemies of Ra. As you can see, however, there are important differences in Cain’s case which suggest that he was duped. Before we talk about this, however, it will be helpful to understand more fully the secrets of the mysteries of Mehen.

Perhaps the most important aspect of the mysteries or secrets of Mehen is that they enabled the initiate to navigate the concentric fiery roads (spheres) and gates which separated the dead from Ra. By knowing the roads and the “gates that turn away” (sb3w stnmw), the deceased could make his way to Mehen, pass through the body of the serpent, and find the center Ra, who sits on his throne of “millions of years.”

The name of the roads is referred to in Coffin Text Spell 759:

CT Spell 759 wrote:I am acquainted with his enemies which are in the gates. I know the Roads of Mehen.


The fact that one must know the names of these roads and how to navigate them is clear from Coffin Text Spell 760:

CT Spell 760 wrote:As for the one who knows the name of those his roads, it is he who will enter Mehen./As for the one who knows this spell, he does not perish forever; he will live on that which Ra lives.


Also, see spell 759:

CT Spell 759 wrote:Make way for me, open the gates for me, (oh) you who are in Mehen, for I know the circuit of Ra and those which are with him.


Remember Brigham Young’s description of the purpose of the endowment:

Your endowment is, to receive all those ordinances in the House of the Lord, which are necessary for you, after you have departed this life, to enable you to walk back to the presence of the Father, passing the angels who stand as sentinels, … and gain your eternal exaltation in spite of earth and hell.


We can see how the LDS endowment, like the mysteries of Mehen (really one and the same thing), allow the deceased to navigate the afterlife in order to return to the father (Elohim/Ra), who sits on his throne (near Kolob) for ages upon ages, and there to be deified. In some of the Coffin Texts, the deification of the pharaoh is described as his navigating the Mehen board (an Old Kingdom board game in which pieces moved along the back of a coiled serpent):

CT 1003 wrote:Who will travel around the mhn-board, whose rank is great, whom Thoth will judge in the early morning?


A picture of a mhn board:

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So, as it turns out, there is nothing at all wrong with being a Master Mahan, since being a Master of the mysteries of Mahan is what is required to pass the guardians and enter the presence of the Father. What happened to Cain is that he was deceived by Satan. Remember that Satan is playing a role similar to Mehen’s. Indeed, this is one reason that he is called the Serpent. If you are tricked by the Serpent, then you failed to navigate properly the roads back to the Father.

Satan deceived Cain by distorting the mysteries of Mehen. He convinced Cain that there was a shortcut through the fiery roads to Ra that would bring him godlike power and wealth. All he had to do was swear to Satan and then kill Abel. In a sense, Satan convinced Cain that the test was not about navigating the fiery road so much as it was one of becoming Mehen himself, and preventing others from getting the gifts of Ra. Cain wanted to believe all of this because he was envious of the gifts that Ra had already bestowed upon Abel. Another inducement for Cain was that this shortcut would also place him at a rank above Satan among the guardians of Ra. He would then guard the prisoners of Ra, among whom Satan is numbered.

Of course, all of this ties back into our earlier discussion of the Josephite mysteries as encountered in the Deseret thread. Mahonri, mr hnrt, or overseer of the prisoners, is one who knew the real mysteries of Mehen. This allowed him to navigate the path to deification on the solar bark of Ra (hnrt dsrt or holy temple) and reached the Promised Land. The path to exaltation at the right hand of Ra is to pass from prisoner, to guardian of prisoners, to Ra-hood (deification). Anyone who is familiar with the novel Joseph and Aseneth will recall that Joseph is depicted as a solar deity therein:

Joseph and Aseneth wrote:4. And the gates of the court that looked east were opened, and Joseph came in, sitting in Pharaoh's viceroy's chariot. 5. And there were four horses yoked together, white as snow, with golden reins; and the chariot was covered over with gold. 6. And Joseph was wearing a marvellous white tunic, and the robe wrapped around him was purple, made of linen woven with gold: there was a golden crown on his head, and all round the crown were twelve precious stones, and above the stones twelve golden rays; and a royal sceptre was in his right hand. 7. And he held an olive branch stretched out, and there was much fruit on it.


That is because he is exalted. He sits with Ra. He was a prisoner, became an overseer, and then reached his exaltation. He navigated the fiery paths of Mehen successfully to become their master.

Re: The Mysteries of Master Mahan

Posted: Sun Jun 14, 2015 2:35 pm
by _Kishkumen
If Abraham and Joseph knew the mysteries of Mehen, then one would think that Moses and Aaron did too. The Bible contains evidence that they did:

Exodus 7:9-12 wrote:9 When Pharaoh shall speak unto you, saying, Shew a miracle for you: then thou shalt say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and cast it before Pharaoh, and it shall become a serpent.

10 ¶And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and they did so as the Lord had commanded: and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh, and before his servants, and it became a serpent.

11 Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments.

12 For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents: but Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods.


Here Aaron demonstrates to pharaoh that he and Aaron know the mysteries of Mehen better than pharaoh's leading magicians.

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Later, Moses will use that knowledge to guide the children of Israel to salvation:

Numbers 21:5-9 wrote:5 And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread.

6 And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.

7 ¶Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord, and against thee; pray unto the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.

8 And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.

9 And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.


So, the children of Israel murmured against God. In response, God sent fiery serpents after them. Recall that the Roads of Mehen (the Serpent) are fiery. Then God had Moses, a Master Mehen, construct a bronze fiery serpent to provide faithful Israelites a path to healing and salvation.

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Re: The Mysteries of Master Mahan

Posted: Sun Jun 14, 2015 2:58 pm
by _Kishkumen
Of course, the mysteries of Mehen were known to Christ and his earliest followers. Jesus instructs his followers:

Matthew 10:16 wrote:Be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.


The crucifixion of Christ is likened to Moses' lifting of the bronze fiery serpent on the pole:

John 3:14-15 wrote:14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:

15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.


Those who have mastered the mysteries of Mehen can take up serpents:

Mark 16:18 wrote:They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.


One group of early Christians preserved the mysteries of Mehen. They were known as the Ophites (from the Greek ophis, meaning snake). See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ophites. Unfortunately, we only know of the Ophites through the heresiologists, who did not understand the mysteries of Mehen and sought to undermine the mystical teachings and initiations of the Ophites. Here is a depiction of the doctrines of the Ophites in Ps.-Tertullian:

Ps.Tertullian wrote:Christ did not exist in the flesh (Christum autem non in substantia carnis fuisse; 2.4); that they extolled the serpent and preferred it to Christ (serpentem magnificant in tantum, ut ilium etiam ipsi Christo praeferant; 2.1); and that Christ imitated (imitor) Moses' serpent's sacred power (Num 21:6-9) saying, "And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up (John 3:14)" (Haer. 2:1). In addition, Eve is said to have believed the serpent, as if it had been God the Son (Eua quasi filio deo crediredat; 2.4).


Although this is surely distorted, it provides us an idea of the prominence of the Coiled One (Mehen) in the doctrines of the Ophites. An early 19th century diagram of the Ophite cosmology demonstrates the similarity between their teachings and the Old Kingdom mysteries of Mehen:

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Notice the position of Leviathan in the central frame. Biblical scholars have long recognized the relationship between Leviathan and Mehen.

Re: The Mysteries of Master Mahan

Posted: Sun Jun 14, 2015 4:35 pm
by _Kishkumen
Let's look at Jacque Matter's rendering of the Ophite Diagram more closely:

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Here is Origen's version of Celsus' account of the Ophite diagram:

6.25In this diagram were described ten circles, distinct from each other, but united by one circle, which was said to be the soul of all things, and was called “Leviathan.”[1] This Leviathan, the Jewish Scriptures say, whatever they mean by the expression, was created by God for a plaything;[2] for we find in the Psalms: “In wisdom hast Thou made all things: the earth is full of Thy creatures; so is this great and wide sea. There go the ships; small animals with great; there is this dragon, which Thou hast formed to play therein.”[3] Instead of the word “dragon,” the term “leviathan” is in the Hebrew. This impious diagram, then, said of this leviathan, which is so clearly depreciated by the Psalmist, that it was the soul which had travelled through all things! We observed, also, in the diagram, the being named “Behemoth,” placed as it were under the lowest circle. The inventor of this accursed diagram had inscribed this leviathan at its circumference and centre, thus placing its name in two separate places. Moreover, Celsus says that the diagram was “divided by a thick black line, and this line he asserted was called Gehenna, which is Tartarus.” Now as we found that Gehenna was mentioned in the Gospel as a place of punishment, we searched to see whether it is mentioned anywhere in the ancient Scriptures, and especially because the Jews too use the word. And we ascertained that where the valley of the son of Ennom was named in Scripture in the Hebrew, instead of “valley,” with fundamentally the same meaning, it was termed both the valley of Ennom and also Geenna. And continuing our researches, we find that what was termed “Geenna,” or “the valley of Ennom,” was included in the lot of the tribe of Benjamin, in which Jerusalem also was situated. And seeking to ascertain what might be the inference from the heavenly Jerusalem belonging to the lot of Benjamin and the valley of Ennom, we find a certain confirmation of what is said regarding the place of punishment, intended for the purification of such souls as are to be purified by torments, agreeably to the saying: “The Lord cometh like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap: and He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver and of gold.”

6.26It is in the precincts of Jerusalem, then, that punishments will be inflicted upon those who undergo the process of purification,[1] who have received into the substance of their soul the elements of wickedness, which in a certain place[2] is figuratively termed “lead,” and on that account iniquity is represented in Zechariah as sitting upon a “talent of lead.”[3] But the remarks which might be made on this topic are neither to be made to all, nor to be uttered on the present occasion; for it is not unattended with danger to commit to writing the explanation of such subjects, seeing the multitude need no further instruction than that which relates to the punishment of sinners; while to ascend beyond this is not expedient, for the sake of those who are with difficulty restrained, even by fear of eternal punishment, from plunging into any degree of wickedness, and into the flood of evils which result from sin.[4] The doctrine of Geenna, then, is unknown both to the diagram and to Celsus: for had it been otherwise, the framers of the former would not have boasted of their pictures of animals and diagrams, as if the truth were represented by these; nor would Celsus, in his treatise against the Christians, have introduced among the charges directed against them statements which they never uttered instead of what was spoken by some who perhaps are no longer in existence, but have altogether disappeared, or been reduced to a very few individuals, and these easily counted. And as it does not beseem those who profess the doctrines of Plato to offer a defence of Epicurus and his impious opinions, so neither is it for us to defend the diagram, or to refute the accusations brought against it by Celsus. We may therefore allow his charges on these points to pass as superfluous and useless,[5] for we would censure more severely than Celsus any who should be carried away by such opinions.

6.27After the matter of the diagram, he brings forward certain monstrous statements, in the form of question and answer,[1] regarding what is called by ecclesiastical writers the “seal,” statements which did not arise from imperfect information; such as that “he who impresses the seal is called father, and he who is sealed is called young man and son;” and who answers, “I have been anointed with white ointment from the tree of life,”—things which we never heard to have occurred even among the heretics. In the next place, he determines even the number mentioned by those who deliver over the seal, as that “of seven angels, who attach themselves to both sides of the soul of the dying body; the one party being named angels of light, the others ‘archontics;’”[2] and he asserts that the “ruler of those named ‘archontics’ is termed the ‘accursed’ god.”


Now, keeping in mind the fact that this garbled account comes through both a hostile witness against Christianity, Celsus, and the apologist who not only disagreed with Celsus but also despised the Ophites as an heretical sect, it is amazing what we can learn about the mysteries of Mehen through this account.

One suspects, based on this account, that Matter's 19th century diagram may be faulty. According to Origen, the circle of Leviathan encompasses all the other circles. Origen tells us that the Leviathan, who is none other than our Mehen, was a dragon of the great deep, whom God created for a plaything. Of course, we know from Egyptian sources that Mehen had a much more important role to fill, which is distorted by the Biblical author for polemical purposes. Leviathan/Mehen is Elohim/Ra's guardian upon the waters of the Abyss/Underworld, through which one must pass to obtain resurrection and exaltation.

Origin also tells us that the diagram was divided by a thick black line called Gehenna/Tartarus. As Origen informs us, this fiery place of punishment is where the souls of humans are refined before they can enter into the Heavenly Jerusalem. Clearly, the Ophites have introduced a redundancy to make Leviathan/Mehen's role clearer. Gehenna as a thick black line represents one of the fiery Roads of Mehen, which purify the souls of people before they can enter the presence of Ra and be deified, or, in other words, become citizens of the Heavenly Jerusalem.

We further learn that there is alchemical symbolism in this purification process. It is, after all, an alchemical process. Origen quotes the scriptures on the alchemical process of the purification of souls: The Lord cometh like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap: and He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver and of gold. He then informs us that it is in the "precincts of Jerusalem" known as Gehenna, that the wickedness of the soul, here called lead, will be burned out of the soul so that it can become pure gold. Zechariah is cited as saying that those who have gone through the process will sit atop a talent of lead.

Then Origen's discussion of Celsus' description of the Ophite sect's rituals and doctrines ends with a reference to the sealing power and anointings. I will quote it again instead of paraphrasing it:

[H]e who impresses the seal is called father, and he who is sealed is called young man and son;” and who answers, “I have been anointed with white ointment from the tree of life."


Clearly this is a reference to the Ophites' version of the mysteries of Mehen, or their temple endowment. In this ritual, the Father (Elohim/Ra/Christ) seals up the initiate (young person) to exaltation and eternal life by anointing her/him with the oil of the Tree of Life, thus completing the process that began in the Garden of Eden, when the Coiled One enlightened Eve (Zoe/Life) by having her partake of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (Gnosis).

We can further understand that the ten spheres of the Ophite diagram represent the Ten Sephiroth of the mystical Qabalic Tree of Life. The significance of this is that one can then also identify Mehen with the kundalini which must be enlivened through the wakening of the chakras in order to reach illumination. Since my knowledge of the Western esoteric understanding of the Qabalah is highly limited, I am not completely sure about that part, but surely this is part of it.

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Re: The Mysteries of Master Mahan

Posted: Sun Jun 14, 2015 4:46 pm
by _Chap
This is all extremely clever stuff, and one can only regard theses posts with admiration.

But if I try to take seriously the idea of people actually seeking for truth in this kind of stuff (and some have), I can't help thinking of this passage of Kant, quoted in Karl Popper's The Open Society and its Enemies - though Kant was talking about something rather different:

Concerning metaphysics in general, and the views I have expressed on their value, I admit that my formulations may here or there have been insufficiently conditional and cautious. Yet I do not wish to hide the fact that I can only look with repugnance and even with something like hate upon the puffed-up pretentiousness of all these volumes filled with wisdom, such as are fashionable nowadays. For I am fully satisfied that the wrong way has been chosen; that the accepted methods must endlessly increase these follies and blunders; and that even the complete annihilation of all these fanciful achievements could not possibly be as harmful as this fictitious science with its accursed fertility

Re: The Mysteries of Master Mahan

Posted: Sun Jun 14, 2015 4:51 pm
by _Kishkumen
Chap wrote:This is all extremely clever stuff, and one can only regard theses posts with admiration.

But if I try to take seriously the idea of people actually seeking for truth in this kind of stuff (and some have), I can't help thinking of this passage of Kant, quoted in Karl Popper's The Open Society and its Enemies - though Kant was talking about something rather different:

Concerning metaphysics in general, and the views I have expressed on their value, I admit that my formulations may here or there have been insufficiently conditional and cautious. Yet I do not wish to hide the fact that I can only look with repugnance and even with something like hate upon the puffed-up pretentiousness of all these volumes filled with wisdom, such as are fashionable nowadays. For I am fully satisfied that the wrong way has been chosen; that the accepted methods must endlessly increase these follies and blunders; and that even the complete annihilation of all these fanciful achievements could not possibly be as harmful as this fictitious science with its accursed fertility



That's wonderful stuff, Chap. Thanks for sharing.

Re: The Mysteries of Master Mahan

Posted: Sun Jun 14, 2015 5:13 pm
by _Kishkumen
So there is my primer on the Mysteries of Mehen. It is really only the tip of the iceberg, however. Once one fully understands the significance of Joseph and Egypt in Mormon theology, it becomes clear that all of this is tied together rather neatly. It is a shame, when you think about it, that all of this has remained hidden for lo these many decades since the assassination of Joseph Smith. Well, heck, Joseph Smith's own contemporaries had a fairly limited understanding of it all.

What amazes me most, however, is that all of these FARMS scholars, including the great man Nibley himself, seem to have missed the Boat of Ra here (lulz).

Once I saw my colleague, Consul Symmachus, revealing one branch of these mysteries (the Argive branch), I could no longer sit on my earth-shattering, game-changing revelations. Today is a watershed moment in the history of LDS scholarship. But much remains to be done. Someday I will probably lay the whole thing out, just so everyone can understand fully how it is that the Mycenaeans fit into the schema, as well as pre-Josiah reform Judaism. Right now, however, I have neither the time nor the energy. For one thing, in order to nail down the pre-Josiah stuff I would need to make my way through Margaret Barker's work, and even take account of Bill Hamblin's views. The latter is an especially dreary task.

The bottom line of all of this must be, as you well know, that the critics are all wrong. They did not understand that Nibley was really onto something. It would have been great to see LDS Egyptologists follow through or come clean with regard to their knowledge of the Higher Mysteries, but they let us all down. I can't say why it was left up to one lowly apostate on an insignificant message board filled with anti-Mormons and atheists to reveal these great truths. I just don't understand the Divine Mind well enough to say.

All I can say is that I am relieved to throw off this burden and roll it onto the backs of other disciples of the Mysteries who will carry this forward and make sure that the legacy of the true Master Mahan (not Cain) lives on. At the very least I can take some comfort in the fact that I will have more partners in the quest. It was too much of a load for one person to bear.

Best to all for now,

Rev. Severus Mahan Kishkumen, PhD, DDiv, MM

Re: The Mysteries of Master Mahan

Posted: Sun Jun 14, 2015 5:23 pm
by _Chap
Glad you liked it.

The source, given in note 41 of chapter 25 of Popper's book is apparently Kant's letter to Mendlessohn, of April 8th 1766 (Works, ed. by Cassirer, vol. IX, 56 f.)

by the way, I have not read Popper's book for many years. But looking back into it, I think I can see some of my reasons for feeling that when you see a piece of pretentious and deliberately obscure nonsense masquerading as wisdom, you can do a service to humanity by pointing it out as such.

It can be read online and downloaded here:

https://archive.org/details/opensocietyandit033120mbp

One reviewer puts it like this:

Whether one agrees with Popper's assertions or not--and there has been some criticism of his position over the years--this erudite work forces us to reconsider and re-evaluate positions that have become almost axiomatic to most of us in Western liberal democracies. No matter what one's political views, one has to acknowledge that 'The Open Society And Its Enemies' is the outpourings of a great mind; not only is it challenging, intellectual and authoritative but it also provides about the most solid defense of and argument for an open society, liberal democracy ever written.

'The Open Society And Its Enemies'--along with Plato's 'Republic', especially Part One about what is justice--have had a huge influence on my thinking with respect to governance of people in a free society, about democracy and of course, totalitarianism. These books have made me forever vigilant about authority, its motives and the propaganda that surrounds it.

With a substantial increase in authoritarian law across most Western democracies since 911, and with governments having almost unfettered access to and use of electronics and other surveillance technologies to monitor and control populations, together with their understanding of modern social engineering techniques and their application by way of sophisticated propaganda, we citizens, more than ever, need to understand what Popper is telling us in this invaluable and important work.

In 'Nineteen Eighty Four' Orwell describes a frightening dystopian totalitarian world; Popper, a few years earlier in 'The Open Society And Its Enemies' essentially explains how certain modes of thinking enable political climates wherein the formation of such dystopian worlds are not only possible but that they do eventuate. These books might have been born amongst the ashes of WW-II politics but they have never been more relevant than they are today.



We now return you to our normal programming - sorry for the derail!

Again, I think that your amazingly erudite investigation of Master Mahan should have been sent to Mormon Interpreter. Bet they'd have published it like a shot!

Re: The Mysteries of Master Mahan

Posted: Sun Jun 14, 2015 5:23 pm
by _Chap
Just to make sure that people see your post, not mine:

Kishkumen wrote:So there is my primer on the Mysteries of Mehen. It is really only the tip of the iceberg, however. Once one fully understands the significance of Joseph and Egypt in Mormon theology, it becomes clear that all of this is tied together rather neatly. It is a shame, when you think about it, that all of this has remained hidden for lo these many decades since the assassination of Joseph Smith. Well, heck, Joseph Smith's own contemporaries had a fairly limited understanding of it all.

What amazes me most, however, is that all of these FARMS scholars, including the great man Nibley himself, seem to have missed the Boat of Ra here (lulz).

Once I saw my colleague, Consul Symmachus, revealing one branch of these mysteries (the Argive branch), I could no longer sit on my earth-shattering, game-changing revelations. Today is a watershed moment in the history of LDS scholarship. But much remains to be done. Someday I will probably lay the whole thing out, just so everyone can understand fully how it is that the Mycenaeans fit into the schema, as well as pre-Josiah reform Judaism. Right now, however, I have neither the time nor the energy. For one thing, in order to nail down the pre-Josiah stuff I would need to make my way through Margaret Barker's work, and even take account of Bill Hamblin's views. The latter is an especially dreary task.

The bottom line of all of this must be, as you well know, that the critics are all wrong. They did not understand that Nibley was really onto something. It would have been great to see LDS Egyptologists follow through or come clean with regard to their knowledge of the Higher Mysteries, but they let us all down. I can't say why it was left up to one lowly apostate on an insignificant message board filled with anti-Mormons and atheists to reveal these great truths. I just don't understand the Divine Mind well enough to say.

All I can say is that I am relieved to throw off this burden and roll it onto the backs of other disciples of the Mysteries who will carry this forward and make sure that the legacy of the true Master Mahan (not Cain) lives on. At the very least I can take some comfort in the fact that I will have more partners in the quest. It was too much of a load for one person to bear.

Best to all for now,

Rev. Severus Mahan Kishkumen, PhD, DDiv, MM

Re: The Mysteries of Master Mahan

Posted: Sun Jun 14, 2015 5:47 pm
by _Kishkumen
As a post-script to the thread, I point your attention to the facsimile of hypocephalus included in the Book of Abraham, whose significance cannot be entirely appreciated without understanding the mysteries of Mehen. Of course, Joseph Smith had some notion of what he was looking at. Standing on the shoulders of giants, we can see even more clearly.

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Joseph Smith restored this image from the damaged hypocephalus:

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If you compare the two, you will notice that Smith deliberately inserted the figure of Ra on his boat in the upper righthand corner, as Egyptologists confirm:

The sun god Ra, with a hawk's head, seated in his boat. In the field the two symbolical figuring, according to M. de Rougé, the fixed points of an astronomical period.


Furthermore, one can see from the Hypocephalus of Neshorpakhered, that the figure seated in the center wears a crown with serpents and a sun disk:

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Once again, this crown was missing in the damaged hypocephalus Joseph Smith had, but he restored serpents on the head of the god.

The conclusion seems to be fairly clear: Through revelation, Joseph Smith was restoring knowledge of the mysteries of Mehen.