(6/3/2020 – looking back on this topic, I have no idea. If there is any reality to it, it seems very risky so one would have to research more about it to say anything else. I would generally stay away from most mind-altering (or mind-damaging) substances (if that’s what this is) because they are part of Brave New World.)

October 16, 2004

Boundaries of Knowledge

2018 Disclaimer Concerning Occultism

Lost Secrets of the Sacred Ark – Amazing Revelations of the Incredible Power of Gold [2003]

I commented already on an interview given by Laurence Gardner about his book Lost Secrets of the Sacred Ark. Since then, I have read his book and was impressed by much of it.

He makes an fascinating case for the idea that “white powder gold” was used in ancient religious rituals. I think the information he presents backs up his theory in a convincing way: for example, his description of the 1904 expedition (http://www.lib.byu.edu/~imaging/negev/Origins.html) by Sir W.M. Flinders Petrie (1) to a mountain (Serabit el-Khadim) that Gardner identifies with Mount Horeb or Sinai. The story is summarized here (2).

There are other themes concerning the Holy Grail, the bloodline of Jesus, and so on, that were probably covered in Gardner’s earlier works. It is a problem because these ideas need a lot of justification, and I am sure there is no way he could have found the space to do that for his new readers. One frustrating example is on page 58 where Laurence Gardner makes a rhetorical case for David being descended from Moses. This is just too big a leap for me and needs more explanation. As far as the Holy Grail theory goes, I’ve read about it, but it’s neither here nor there to me.

The author also presents the idea that the prophet Jeremiah brought Tamar, daughter of Zedekiah, to Ireland in order to join the House of David to the Irish kings. I spent many years following the teachings of cult (3) leader Herbert W. Armstrong, who also wrote about that in his intoxicating but weakly-argued US and Britain in Prophecy.  I’m not sure what to think about this particular idea now. There is detailed criticism here (4) concerning the related issue of the origin of the Stone of Scone. Is it a true story? I don’t know. It will rise or fall on its own evidence. I invite anyone to make their best case one way or the other.

Gardner also presents the theory – new and amazing to me – that Moses and his brother Aaron were actually the Egyptian Pharaohs Akhenaten and Smenkhkare. I also need to hear some justification of his chronology. In any case, perhaps many of these extra topics are not essential to the question concerning white powder gold.

He makes many logical leaps which I wish he didn’t, but he creates a compelling picture of man’s history transformed by spiritual technology.   In this way Gardner presents his views like a theologian whose source is divine revelation.

One example is on page 120 where he says

“We are all surrounded and bombarded by thought-fields, and the thoughts we claim as our own are like a continuous universal broadcast… The pituitary gland is the primary radio receiver, channeling all wavebands and frequencies…”.

He says this without a step-by-step explanation. Maybe this is the most effective way for some writers to present their beliefs and speculations, but as with any other source, readers should always question what they read and fill in the blanks with more study.

There are a lot of speculative assertions about the properties of white powder gold. On the other hand, he presents many references and leads for follow-up research.

Also on the positive side, I’m in sympathy with Gardner in the way he takes a literal – let’s say “physical” – view of stories in the Bible rather than assuming all of its stories are only symbolic or fictional. And what I’m saying is that it’s possible as an unbeliever to take the Bible seriously, but as a flawed human book rather than absolute truth. He tries to explain spiritual events as natural, as something connected to our own biology and to exotic substances that are not separate from our reality. In other words, the “supernatural” is somehow only natural.

To me, it’s perfectly reasonable to speculate that the events surrounding Moses and the Ark of the Covenant may have been related to technology. Nothing like this is proveable, but I think the author’s speculation is useful and valid as far as I can tell, since he provides sources that can be pursued and tested. We’ll see how far his theory will go. Maybe someone knows something that will demolish it.

Here is one piece of documentation that Gardner referenced. The alchemist Philalethes identified powdered gold with the Philosopher’s Stone. Is it the same thing Gardner writes about? Did the alchemist actually make it using a different technique?

…Some Alchemists who are in search of our Arcanum seek to prepare something of a solid nature, because they have heard the object of their search described as a Stone.

Know, then, that it is called a stone, not because it is like a stone, but only because, by virtue of its fixed nature, it resists the action of fire as successfully as any stone. In species it is gold, more pure than the purest; it is fixed and incombustible like a stone, but its appearance is that of very fine powder, impalpable to the touch, sweet to the taste, fragrant to the smell, in potency a most penetrative spirit, apparently dry and yet unctuous, and easily capable of tinging a plate of metal. It is justly called the Father of all miracles, containing as it does all the elements in such a way that none predominates, but all form a certain fifth essence; it is thus well called our gentle metallic fire. It has no name of its own; yet there is nothing in the whole world whose name it might not with perfect propriety bear. If we say that its nature is spiritual, it would be no more than the truth; if we described it is as corporeal, the expression would be equally correct; for it is subtle, penetrative, glorified, spiritual gold. It is the noblest of all created things after the rational soul, and has virtue to repair all defects both in animal and metallic bodies, by restoring them to the most exact and perfect temper; wherefore is it a spirit or quintessence. (5)

 

Notes

[1] http://www.serendipity.li/petrie/rs01.htm
Extracts from Researches in Sinai by W. M. Flinders Petrie

[2] http://www.halexandria.org/dward482.htm
This page presents Gardner’s account and theory.

“…Because on Mount Serabit (aka Mount Horeb, the biblical Mount Sinai), there exists an extraordinary archaeological discovery: A temple dedicated to the Egyptian goddess, Hathor…”

[3] With respect to the word “cult”, no offence is intended to current or former followers of Armstrong. Anyone who wants to challenge me on this assertion, or has questions, is welcome to write. I have tried to explain my point of view elsewhere on this site.

[4] http://www.herbertwarmstrong.com/ar/AR40.html
Scroll down to “The Coronation Stone Revisited”.
Ambassador Report AR 40, March 1988, Edited by John Trechak
See http://www.herbertwarmstrong.com for more information on Herbert W. Armstrong.

[5] http://sacred-texts.com/alc/hermmuse/philal2.htm
The Three Treatises of Philalethes (part 2)
From Volume 2 of The Hermetic Museum (http://sacred-texts.com/alc/hermmuse/index.htm)