Excerpt from A Search in Secret Egypt by Paul Brunton

(Paul Brunton (October 21, 1898 – July 27, 1981) was a British philosopher, mystic, traveler, and guru. He left a journalistic career to live among yogis, mystics, and holy men, and studied a wide variety of Eastern and Western esoteric teachings.)

The second meeting duly took place in the ruined temple of Luxor. I sat on a long block of stone carved with hieroglyphs, while the Adept squatted cross-legs on the same block, and faced me.

My note-book was prepared and, with pen poised expectantly, I was ready to take down his message; to inscribe on the white sheets the less picturesque characters of our twentieth-century system of hieroglyphs-shorthand!

Ra-Mak-Hotep wasted no time on preliminaries but plunged straightway into the subject of his message:

“Those who broke open the tombs of ancient Egypt have released forces upon the world that have endangered it. Both the tomb robbers of long ago and the archaeologists of our own days have all unwittingly opened the tombs of those who dealt in black magic. For in the final cycle of Egyptian history – the priesthood – and sorcery and the black arts were commonly practiced. When the white light of truth was formerly shining through the pure Egyptian religion became dimmed, and the noise-some shadows of false, materialistic doctrines crept in to replace it, the practice of mummification arose, together with all the elaborate accompanying rituals. Yet under the misleading and cunningly perverted teachings which supported this practice, there was an element of secret self-interest which sought to keep a long-preserved physical link with the physical world through the embalmment of the body.

“This practice was originally intended only for the adept-kings of Egypt’s prehistoric golden age, and for the spiritually advanced High priests who were truly channels of God, that their material bodies, impregnated with their holy power, might continue to exist and serve as focuses radiating that power into the world.

“A kind of ancestor worship also developed, under which the bodies of the dead were embalmed, merely as a formal rite to show succeeding generations what their deceased ancestors looked like. It was really a hollow imitation of the mummification which was practiced in earlier epochs of Egypt to preserve holy relics of good kings and priests. For in the dark period which later descended on Egypt, when it was bereft of true spiritual light and when the hell-forces of the nether world were evoked by those with much knowledge but little compassion, the instructed men of the priestly and ruling classes caused their own bodies to be embalmed. This was sometimes done for the purpose of black magic, sometimes out of fear of the spirit’s destruction in the purgatory that awaited it after death, and sometimes out of ignorant conformity to custom. In almost every case, before such a man passed out at death, he arranged for and had his tomb prepared whilst he was alive. After the preparation of the physical tomb he invoked (or had invoked for him by a priest of sufficient knowledge) a spirit-entity, and artificial elemental creation, imperceptible to bodily senses, sometimes good but more often bad, to protect and watch his mummy and act as a guardian spirit over his tomb.

“Further to protect these embalmed bodies, the tombs were first hidden with cunning care and then it was generally taught to people that any profaner of these tombs would be visited by the spirit-powers with the most dreadful punishment. This teaching was believed, and those tombs were long left in peace. But with the increasing decay of the priesthood and rulers, even the people began to lose their superstitious faith, and tomb-robberies commenced, for the sake of plundering the jewels which were buries with almost every mummy of an important personage.

“It was true that wherever the embalmed body was that of a person with some knowledge of magic, or under the protection and guidance of someone with such knowledge, spirit-powers had been invoked to protect those tombs and punish intruders. Those powers were often exceedingly evil, menacing and destructive. They existed within the closed tombs, and could continue to exist, for thousands of years. Hence your archaeologists who, in all ignorance, break open such spirit-shielded graves, do so at their own peril.

“Yet if it were merely a matter which affected the safety of archeologists and their families alone, what I have to tell you would be of little importance. But it is not. It is a matter that affects the safety of the whole world.

“For among the tombs of high and low personages whom they excavate, there were those which were so protected. Every such tomb which has been unsealed lets out, like a flood, a rush of pent-up noxious evil spirit-entities upon our physical world. Each mummy that is taken out of such a tomb and transported to your European and American museums, carries with it the etheric link with those entities, and hence their awful influence. Those influences can bring only harm to the world, harm of various kinds, even to the point of destructively affecting the destinies of nations. You Westerners have no shield against them, and because they invisible to you, they are nonetheless potent.

“When your world has come to realize that evil spirits are imprisoned in a number of those tombs, it may be too late; for by then all the tombs will have been opened, and those devilish creatures will have made their escape. Among other things they are and will be responsible for international treacheries. Ignorance of Nature’s laws does not excuse a man from suffering whenever he transgresses against those laws; and ignorance of the existence of evil, magical forces does not excuse your century from suffering the punishment which your unnecessary intrusions into their realms will bring upon it.

“These artificially created elemental spirits have been released in sufficient numbers during the present century to terrorize the world from their psychic realm, which is immaterial enough to be invisible but close enough to influence the physical existence of the living. We who hold the spiritual welfare of mankind at heart, battle against these dark forces on their own levels, yet we are not permitted by Nature’s laws to destroy them any more than we are permitted to destroy living men whom we know to be potent dangers to their fellow beings. Our powers are restricted to shielding persons and institutions under our especial protections.

“Those objects which are taken out of the tombs along with the mummies – such as scarabs, jewels, amulets, and furniture – carry with them the influence of those tombs. If the latter were not magical, not linked up with evil entities, then no harm could result from their appropriation and rifling, but if they were so linked, then their unsealing may bring misfortune and disaster. But the ordinary archeologists and Egyptologists, unaware of such facts and unable to detect the difference between the two delve into both alike. Whether it heeds it or not, let the world receive this message: let it not meddle with tombs whose psychic nature men do not understand. Let the world stop opening those graves until it has acquired sufficient knowledge to comprehend the serious results of what it is doing.

“Most of the kings had some degree of occult powers, whether for good or for evil purposes, for they were initiated in them by their High Priests.”

We met a few more times, the Adept and I, and then I was called away to pursue my travels farther south. At each of our meetings he stored my head with information about the tenets of the mysterious fraternity to which he belonged. It was during a reference to some experiences of mine in India, where I had met a young yogi who claimed that his Master was more than four hundred years old, that Ra-Mak-Hotep gravely announced the startling and incredible information that some Adepts who had lived and moved in ancient Egypt were still alive!

I shall not quickly forget the exclamations of astonishment with which I greeted his statement.

The pitch of his assertions was that there are adepts whose bodies lie in a comatose state in certain Egyptian tombs which have not yet been discovered, and which he claimed, would never be discovered by the ordinary archaeologist.

“The tombs of these great Adepts are too well-guarded and will never be found by your ‘diggers’” he explained. “Those tombs are not tombs of the dead, but of the living. They contain, not mummies, but the bodies of Adepts in a unique state which the word ‘trance’ most nearly describes. You have discovered in India that fakirs have permitted themselves to be buried for short or long periods of time whilst keeping their bodies in an entranced state. The function of their breathing organs was completely suspended during the period of burial. Up to certain point, The Egyptian Adepts are in a similar state, but their knowledge is far more profound, and they have kept their bodies entranced, yet alive, for thousands of years.

“Moreover, there is one vital difference between them and those Hindu fakirs. The latter fall into a total unconscious state during their burial, and remember nothing until they awaken again – unless the are adepts, in which case they could never be persuaded to give a public demonstration of their powers. The Egyptian Adepts however, remain fully conscious during their internment, and although their bodies are coma, their spirits are free and working. In India you visited the Sage Who Never Speaks, who lives near Madras, and on the first occasion you found him in a profound trance, seemingly as though dead. Yet you must know that his mind was very much alive, because on your second visit he not only knew all about your first one, but mentioned his objection to your having attempted to take his photograph then. Such a man functions in the inner realms of being, or even on the physical realm by using his etheric body. The buried Egyptian Adepts are mentally in a similar condition while physically their bodies are, of course, much more profoundly entranced. Their spirits move and travel, their minds think in a condition of full consciousness and they have the advantage of being aware of two worlds – the material and the spirit worlds.

“Their bodies are hidden in undiscoverable tombs, which await the return of their spirits. One day the latter will re-animate those comatose bodies, which will then step forth into the outer world again. The process of re-animation will have to be performed by the right persons, who possess the right knowledge. Part of the ritual of awakening consist in chanting certain secret ‘Words of Power’. It may seem curious to you, but their bodies appear apparently embalmed, for they lie swathed in linen and enclosed in mummy coffins. There is, however, the vital difference that they have never had their hearts cut out as was done with real mummies. All their vitals organs remain intact, except that they have collapsed stomachs due to the fact that no food has been taken since the beginning of their entrancement. Another difference is that the living Adepts have had their faces and bodies covered with a coating of wax. This coating was applied after the state of entrancement had been induced.

“Their tombs are well concealed, and their number is extremely small – naturally, for only highly advanced Adepts could enter this state and not all Adepts are willing to do so. I do not like to use the word ‘trance’ in their case because it gives the wrong impression, but I know no other word which can fitly be employed. Their condition is quite different, for instance, from the trance of spiritualist mediums and hypnotic subjects. There are really profound degrees of trance which modern investigators have never traced. All such conditions which they have contacted are superficial in comparison with the profound and unique condition of the entombed Egyptian Adepts. In the repose of the latter there is really much activity; they are not really in trance states, as the world understands that word.

“There is one Adept who has been in his tomb since 3260 B.C.; another since more than 3000 B.C.; still another who has lain there for 10,000 years! They are all working very actively in secret for the spiritual welfare of mankind. They know what is going on in the entire world, despite the fact that their bodies are interred. They are perfect men. By that I mean that their bodies cannot be touched – not even by any insect or parasite – such is the tremendous radiation of their spiritual forces. Moreover, they are in constant telepathic communication with certain living Adepts of our time who themselves possess a functioning body. The spiritual treasures preserved by those ancient Egyptian Adepts are handed over to these living Adepts. When the time comes to awaken them, the ritual of arousal will have to be performed by one of the latter.”