CHAPTER 8

Epilogue

Sometime after this book was written and had been sent off to the proofreader and thence to the printer, I had a phone call from Helen Reid, Production Manager for PSI Science Productions. "Win," she said, "according to the list of contents Keph-A-Ra's book is supposed to have an epilogue. Do you have one? My reaction was a stunned silence. Already half way through the next book in the series, I was wrestling at the moment with X and Y chromosmes and could hardly recall what Keph-A-Ra was all about. "You'll have to give me a couple of days to think it over, Helen," "I replied, mentally sending out an S.O.S. to Keph for some assistance. He came through within a few days with flying colours, leading me directly to interesting scientific and historical data of which I had no previous knowledge. The items he conveyed to me were somewhat disjointed, due probably to my total concentration on an entirely different subject. (For example, I was just washing some swiss chard which I'd picked out of the garden to go with supper, when a scrap of information was conveyed -- namely, to go and begin writing this episode in the five minutes or so that it takes swiss chard to cook.)

Up until a decade ago (when Keph-A-Ra was originally written, -- which
now makes me realize why there was so long a delay in getting it
published), serious geologists would have scorned the early chapters in
this book as being pure fantasy. But in the last ten years new
discoveries have revolutionized man's understanding of the earth's
crust, ideas comparable to the discovery of the atom and the theory of
evolution in their effect. Geology textbooks are being rewritten, and
the teachings are being totally revised, for now scientists believe that
continents are like giant rafts, constantly in motion.

In the book Loliad-R-Kahn, it is explained how at one time the Earth
was in one solid lump, bounded by the north and south seas. One of the
first men to speculate on the similarity of the shorelines of the
continents of Africa and South America was Sir Francis Bacon, who
thought the pattern could be hardly coincidental. That was around 1620.
Shortly thereafter a French scientist, Francois Placet, theorized that
the continents had been split apart by the great flood at the time when
Noah built his ark.

All through the 1800's geologists were finding stange matches between
fossils in widely separated parts of the world, and wondering how this
could be. Then, in 1915 Alfred Wegener, in his book The Origin of
Continents and Oceans, suggested, "The continents must have shifted.
South America must have laid alongside Africa." Conservative geologists
soon started the crucifixion cry. "Utter damned rot," was the retort of
the president of the prestigious American Philosophical Society.
The ideas were generally greeted with contempt and derision.
This controversy raged for many years until, during the 1950's,
oceanographers discovered that a continuous mountain range, some 40,000
miles long, ran through all the ocean basins. Along the crest of the
undersea mountains is a narrow valley floored with hot rock where lava
from the interior of the earth wells out into the valleys. The ocean
floor moves steadily outward from these cracks. To offset this constant
creation of new surface, other regions of the ocean floor sink down into
earth's crust along deep sea trenches.

These facts are established by scientists who go out with drilling rigs
and take core samples of the ocean floor. By dating the skeletons of
microscopic sea creatures, paleontologists can ascertain the age of the
sea floor. To date their studies have shown that one part of the Pacific
is twenty-two million years old, while other sea beds can be as much as
two hundred million years old.

Quite recently a new science came into being, paleomagnetics, which is
a system of studying the lines of earth's magnetic force as it
influences molten lava when it cools into rock. In effect it measures
the direction of magnetic poles at the time of the rock formation. When
studying samples on different continents, however, scientists found that
rocks of the same age seemed to have poles which pointed in different
directions. The only logical answer was that the continents themselves
had moved en masse after their original formation. In addition there
were sharp reversals in magnetism sometimes running in parallel stripes.
In fact, paleo-magnetic studies indicated that the earth's magnetic
field was reversed no less than 171 times in the past seventy-six
million years.

In 1960, a team of British scientists under the direction of Sir Edward
Buller, used a computer to demonstrate how South America and Africa
could fit into each other like pieces of a giant jigsaw puzzle. They
avoided comparison of today's coastline and instead measured the
3,000-foot depth line along the continental slopes where they fall away
into the deep ocean basins. Then geologists from the Massachuetts
Institute of Technology and the University of Sao Paulo went one step
further. Using radioactive isotope dating techniques they compared rock
strata on the west shoulder of Africa and the east coast of South
America. The rock layers and ages matched precisely, even to bands of
iron ore, tin and gold!

It should, however, be pointed out that Keph-A-Ra disagrees with the
present geological conclusion that gradual drift accounts for the
separation of land masses. What scientists say happened gradually over
millions of years we claim happened spontaneously in the great world
upheavals, and for this reason the carefully estimated time schedules
worked out by geologists in no way coincide with Keph-A-Ra's version.

Also during the last decade reams have been written about the finding
of evidence of Atlantis around the Greek islands, whereas Loliad has
always claimed the final resting place of the Atlantean continent was in
Antarctica. It was remnants of Khe which formed the Greek islands.

Loliad also promised that his word would be proven in my lifetime, but
that since the upheaval was so devastating, piecing the evidence
together would be difficult. The first pieces of this evidence have now
come to light. In 1967 and again in 1969 the National Science Foundation
reported the discovery of "one of the truly great fossil finds of all
time." Explorers in Antarctica from rock out-crops in the ice-locked
Transarctic Mountains, brought home fossil fragments of land creatures
from the age of the dinosaurs. Among these was a reptile about the size
of a sheep known as Lystrosaurus. It was identical to those known to
have lived in Africa, India and China, and could not have crossed the
water.

Dr. Edwin H. Colbert, a renowned paleontologist, said this discovery
"indicates that Antarctica and southern Africa were joined along a broad
front. The same is true of peninsular India, making of them essentially
a single land."

Amenhotep was regarded as the most paradoxical of all the Pharaohs. His
mother, a very strong-minded foreign Princess named Tii, had also been
befriended and influenced by Hapshesut. Together they planned to reform
the church in the most bloodless way possible. Once Amenhotep was
established as the ruler, he spent five years proving his wisdom and
strength before openly turning his allegiance to a new god, whom he
called Atonu -- the "invincible disk." A few of his close associates had
already become converted of their own accord when they understood the
new concept. But the general population, trained to believe completely
in the ancient ways and to fear the wrath of many gods, needed a little
more explanation.

Custom had long since decrede that each great city had a special
presiding diety who concerned itself with the welfare and punishment of
the residents of that one city. Thebes, the capital, had long since been
the domain of Amon, Amenhotep's namesake, so the Pharaoh decided to go
elsewhere to begin establishing Atonu and all the new concepts he
represented.

He selected a broad plain on the right bank of the Nile named
Hermopolitan. It was occupied by only a few obscure villages with no
specific reigning diety. Taking his whole court to this new location,
Amenhotep, in the fifth year of his reign, began to open up mines in
this area to build Atonu's temple.

The temple grounds, surrounded by a thick wall, covered an immense area
which was flanked by brick storehouses. Gardens were planted with rare
shrubs and sycamores, reminiscent of the gardens of Hapshepsut (who, was
very much involved in the whole proceedings even though she and I had
long since departed from the cocoon of flesh to fulfil a happier
destiny).

The temple itself was built of white limestone approached by a colossal
gateway. Unlike other temples it was comparatively devoid of
ornamentation, being covered mostly with a cream-coloured whitewash of a
bright and cheerful tone, occasionally decorated with pracing animals,
an entirely new art form depicting freedom and flexibility. Birds flew
in painted shrubs, animals grazed peacefully among fruit and flower
patterns. Even the arrangement of the rooms was original, different from
the former styles of architecture.

Workmen soon began to flock to the new city, Khuitatonu. It was built
with straight roads, and open spaces interspersed with orchards and
gardens.

Prior to the reign of Amenhotep, his immediate predecessors, also
zealots in religion but fighting to preserve and strengthen the ancient
ways, had spent their energy in securing pre-eminence for Amon over all
his rivals. One-tenth of the booty collected by Thutmose III, both in
Syria and Ethiopia, went to the church (as described in earlier
chapters). In addition all the people had heavy tributes levied on their
property. Increasing the power of Amon had been used to justify a
systematic plundering of the surrounding country.

The patrimony of the priesthood rose to even new heights under this
system, until at last the priests came to the conclusion that Amon had a
right to the allegiance of the Lords of Heaven, and that he was the
Supreme Being, in comparison to whom the others were of little account.
The priests used Thutmose III's victories to prove their point and daily
they became more dominant and vicious in their rule.

Thus, when Amenhotep came along with a loving god, Atonu, he invited
the hostility of the priests of Amon, who once again decided to play a
waiting game.

Atonu, the sun disk, was defined as "the god who rejoices in truth, the
lord of the solar courses, the lord of the disk, the lord of heaven, the
lord of earth, the living disk which lights up the two worlds, the
eternal infuser of life." He was not only the god of Egypt but also the
god of foreigners; he loved everyone equally. Atonu was represented by a
solar disk with rays prolonged towards the earth ready to distribute the
crux ansata to mortals. (From this symbol we were able to convey to
Julian the design for the PSI-man.)

Amenhotep taught that Atonu had respect for Ra and Horus, but he was
strongly opposed to the teachings given in the name of Amon. He taught
that Atonu was the chief rather than the destroyer of Ra -- or in your
terms that the sun was only part of the universe -- subject to the
higher law of Spirit. The Pharaoh also made it quite clear that
sanctuaries built to Atonu contained only the reflection of his divine
shadow -- not himself -- for he is everywhere.

The worship of Atonu contained none of the gloomy and cruel aspects
which had now crept into the worship of Amon. The temple rang with
music, songs and hymns accompanied by the harp and flute. The offerings
associated with Atonu's rites were the fruits of the earth: flowers,
bread, cakes, vegetables, fruit -- never the blood sacrifices which
prevailed in the temples dedicated to Amon, in which, so the priests
taught, Amon took his obeisance.

In renoucing the old ways, Amenhotep insisted on changing the names of
those whose appellation, like his own, annouced a devotion to other
gods. His own title meant "he to whom Amon is united." He changed it to
Khuniatonu -- "the glory of the disk." He formed a school to propogate
his new ideas and preached them constantly to all his courtiers.

Khuniatonu's family life was particularly rewarding. He married
Nofrititi, of whom he was passionately fond. When he set out to visit
the temple, she always followed to join him in prayer; she stood beside
him in court to help distribute favours. She ministered to him tenderly
in public as well as in private. Their union was so tender that there
are even extant carvings on your earth today showing her sitting on his
lap in a playful attitude -- a truly unique representation among all
the monuments of ancient Egypt.

This good and deeply affectionate couple had six daughters whom they
raised in an intimate family manner unheard of in previous generations.
They took the girls with them everywhere, even letting them play around
the throne while their parents were about the duties of office.

The gentleness and gaiety of Khuniatonu is reflected in every
historical evidence of his reign. His subjects adored him. All the
scenes which history has left consist entirely of processions,
cavalcades, banquets, enterainments and worship. The people danced
around him with joy, chanting and waving great fans.

He vigorously chastised any who went on raids against neighbouring
states. His relationships with foreign princes were warm and friendly.

Sometimes, when numbers of other states were preparing to go to war
against each other, they all appealed to Khuniatonu to take their side
in the matter. Scores of dispatches were sent him, but he refused to
give his support to anyone, except in a few rare cases, where
indifference would have resulted in the innocent slaughter of people.

Khuniatonu died young in about the eighteeth year of his reign. He
chose to be buried without splender in the depths of a ravine on a
mountain side to the east of the city of Khuitatonu. His tomb remained
unknown for centuries. He made no elaborate preparations for his burial,
save that of having the artists inscribe one fresco. It depicts the
radiant disk, hovering over and darting its rays over every object,
presenting the crux ansata to the nostrils of every member of his
family. Its rays, many of which are depicted with little hands on the
end, caress Nofrititi and her daughters who, in turn, are shown making
offerings of cake and sweetmeats.

Yes, my Princess, of course it looks familiar -- it is the same ancient
symbol of our mentor, Loliad-R-Kahn, which you have seen so often worn
as a medallion around his neck in his earliest visits -- a disc with
seven rays descending from heaven, depicted clearly in the first
portraits drawn of him by your husband, Ernest. Did he not say then,
that he would explain it to you someday? Farewell, my Princess, but
before I depart would you mind once again playing the tape of Loliad's
Prayer, that I may hear it through your ears and your emotions -- and
once again rejoice with you that the time is at hand. Do you know that
because of your dedication, Earth has had the opportunity to acquire
spiritual knowledge which might have taken 5,000 years to gain if lost
to your ears on this earth ... Farewell.
Sah-Solah