Path through the Pyramid

Part 3

Entrance

Entry texts herald an eminent Visitor to the passage system

The 358 signifier

Beyond the entrance two lines perpendicular to the floor of the Descending Passage are scored into the wall on both sides.

The distance between the start of the Great Basement Sheet and the Scored Lines is 357.7612 Pyramid inches.  Rounded up to 358, the first occurrence of this even-numbered figure calls up the waters of creation and separation,  dividing between waters to waters (1:6 h-k).

358 is a standard number which can be associated with the Hebrew word for Messiah, having the same sum as mashiach in Daniel 9:26;  its meaning in equivalent English is 'the anointed one'.¹

The Long Descent

The next message carries a warning about snares lying in the Visitor's path, but the gematria becomes a blessing by excluding the first six words of this enigmatic verse.  The 4128 message carries reassurance as the Visitor passes through the gabled doorway and continues past the Scored Lines.

A hundred feet (30m) past the entrance it may look as if a decision is needed about the route, but the First Ascending Passage lies concealed behind a stone slab.  Beyond the slab lies a stone plug that bars the way.  Made up of three large granite blocks, the plug has an apparent overall length of 206 Pyramid inches: and for set times (Gen.1:14 n).  In 500 BCE the hope of the explorers is to trace the path of the One from the East, but the Granite Plug will remain an impassable barrier until 813 CE when Al Mamoun's men force a break-in and by-pass.  The only route for our explorers is down the passage that leads deep into the Pyramid's bedrock.

Subterranean complex

After a long descent of 344 feet (105m), and a hundred feet below ground level, the Descending Passage empties into a low horizontal passage that opens out after eighteen feet (5.6m) into a recess.  After the recess the passage continues for a further five feet (1.5m) to the largest of the Pyramid chambers: a dark uninviting place where a deep pit awaits the unwary visitor.  Beyond the chamber the passage proceeds southwards at a lower level for a distance of fifty-four feet (16.4m) until it reaches a dead-end at the southernmost part of the Pyramid's passage system.

After passing through the small recess with its wave-like roof, we come to the largest of the Pyramid chambers.  The floor has been partially excavated by the builders; only the ceiling and walls appear flat.  The whole subterranean complex has been hewn out of the Pyramid's rock base and left unfinished.

Individually, the texts appear as unfinished ideas, but linked together form a composite view of a creation that awaits completion.

Introducing signifier 153

Only one standard number was found in this place.  Hovering over the pit is a measurement close to 306 Pyramid inches, a multiple of standard number 153.  The first occurrence of 306 is found in verse 2 of Genesis, and the Spirit of God. (1:2 i-j) ²

Dominant themes are Division and Separation, Day and Night, Light and Darkness; the last is continued into the next scene with God calling to the Light.

Exit from subterranean area

The exit route takes us back through the Subterranean Passage.  Re-entering the Descending Passage we begin the upward journey by measuring off the distance along the east wall as we go.  After twenty-four feet—again that signpost measurement of  286.1 Pyramid inches—a narrow tunnel is located leading off the west side of the passage.

There is an arduous and dangerous scramble as the irregularly shaped tunnel climbs rapidly upwards to a cave-like structure called the 'Grotto' (a natural hollow in the rock containing a block of granite) and then continues through the straight-cut Well-Shaft to the top.  Proceeding due east along a small sunken passage, we arrive at a junction of passageways.

Continuation is in Part 4     Passage to the Queen's Chamber,

or proceed directly to the King's Chamber     Upper chamber and passage

Footnotes

 
1
dividing between waters to waters

There is another association, albeit a sinister one, which implicates 'serpent' (nakhash) with the 358 signifier—that ancient symbol for the tempter who waits in ambush by the door:

O Evil-doer, Evil-doer!  O you who creep, you who creep!
 Your face be behind you.  Beware of the Great Door!

Utterance 280 (a spell against snakes),
Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts

Table 1. The 358 conundrum

 
2
There is suggestion of another standard number in dimension bB  (virtual beginning of the roofline to end of the recess).  The actual length is 365.1, but considered not close enough to the preciseness of 365.24 for the standard-number watch.

Search numbers are listed at this link

Note 1. Search numbers and significant names