Plutarch a Greek historian and author who was alive during the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD,  was initiated into the mysteries of Delphi and served as a priest in the late first century. He was aware of the hidden side of religion but the demand for secrecy among the priests prevented it from being chronicled.

He wrote the story of Osiris and Isis and is the only detailed manuscript known of these gods. In describing the chambers and hallways of the Egyptian Temples he wrote the Temples have secret vesting rooms in the darkness underground.

Archaeologists claim that these secret rooms were used to store items of high value frequently used in Temple rituals. But Plutarch hints at a greater mystery these artifacts are used for; these hidden spaces are frequently covered with hieroglyphs and other symbolic images; this wouldn’t normally be found in storage rooms!

Few archeologist pursue the mystical and spiritual aspects of these tombs and Temples trying to keep their reputation in line with theories that make scientific sense. Professor Claas Bleeker a religious historian at the University of Amsterdam states that it s  “obvious that there existed in ancient Egypt certain cultic mysteries which were only known to the initiated.”

The “Book of what is in the Far World” referred to as the Amduat dated to 1470 BC was referred to in ancient times as the “ Treatise of the Hidden Chambers” records the journey of the sun god Ra over 12 hours in his celestial boat across and through the Far World.

This text was written to give the deceased pharaoh instruction on his journey. But this text also states that it can be used for the living. It is good for the dead to have this knowledge, but also for the living.

This is significant because it indicated that not only the dead but also the living can travel to the Far World but also the living can travel and return from the netherworld. Could this be a extraterrestrial event?

Professor Edward Wente with the University of Chicago has concluded that certain texts including the Amduat and another the “Book of Gates” may have been composed for use in this world and were not designated solely for use in the Tombs.

This is called “practical theology” and living people identified themselves with various beings who exist in different stages and states in the netherworld. For the Egyptians it was not necessary to wait for the time of death to receive the benefits of the netherworld.

This waiting time is conveyed in rituals.  In my opinion I feel that the Book of Amduat and the Book of Gates were focused on the living and had a secondary purpose in the funerary process. In the Amduat it states that it’s contents were to be a secret that only a few were to be made aware of.

We can be certain that there certain esoteric and secret practices that took place on a regular basis in the secluded rooms and Chapels of the Egyptian Temples. Both men and women would have been initiated into the secrets of the kingdom of the gods. They would have received instruction on how to traverse safely to the netherland and according to their beliefs be illuminated as one of the stars.

It becomes quite interesting and inspiring for Egyptologists to study the rituals and try to determine the true purpose of these temples. Personally it is not as important to me as who built these temples as what was their purpose; what was done in them.

There is a very common occurrence that happens when visitors in the area of these tombs arrive for the first time. There is frequently an eruption of emotion and people are crying and noses are running, quite unusual because more often than not these visitors aren’t the emotional type!

Some of these people have a feeling of being spaced out and the group has to look out for one another to make sure everyone gets onto the bus when leaving. A story was conveyed to me of a cruise ship in the South of Egypt visiting Abu Simbal on lake Nasser was slowly turning in a complete circle so the passengers could admire the view in front of two temples; Ramses II, and the temple of his daughter Nefertari. The ship was piping opera music over the ship from its speakers. Many of the passengers were moved to tears in the calm waters and feeling of spirituality.

A friend of mine took his daughter to the Valley of the Kings, his daughter was a very fashionable well educated corporate executive. This is not the type of woman prone to public displays of emotion.

It was early morning and the sun was just rising as the tour bus turned the corner into the narrow entrance to the valley and confronted the dry sun bleached dry rock expanse of the valley with it’s tomb entrances and the high hills rising before them .

She suddenly burst into emotion  as uncontrollable torrents of tears streamed down her face. It was as though something took control of her and she could only say that she felt like she had been here before.