Secrets of the Dead: Inside PBS’s Hi-Tech Scanning of The Pyramids

The Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt is shrouded in magic and mystery. It is the only one of the seven ancient wonders of the world still standing and is still perplexing. An upcoming documentary special from THIRTEEN, Secrets of the Dead: Scanning the Pyramids, uncovers the “most important findings about the Great Pyramids in centuries: several previously unknown cavities.”

Secrets of the Dead: Scanning the Pyramids shows modern-day explorers, particle physicists, experts in 3D technologies and engineers using thermal imaging from tiny robotic cameras to augmented and virtual reality simulations. Den of Geek spoke with assorted experts in Egyptian traditions, mysteries and magic to get an all-seeing eye’s view inside the Great Pyramid in advance of watching the documentary.

The Great Pyramid was commissioned by Khufu, the second ruler of the Fourth Dynasty in the first half of Egypt’s Old Kingdom period (26th century BC). The pharaoh was named after the earth deity Khnum. Khufu’s father was recorded to have been a beneficent ruler in surviving documents. Khufu is remembered as heartless by most texts written during the Middle Kingdom. The Westcar Papyrus of the Second Intermediate Period (1782-c.1570 BCE), an ancient Egyptian text kept at the Museum of Egyptology in Berlin, doesn’t show him as cruel, but as ambitious. It also gives evidence about his interest in magic because he reportedly killed a criminal just to test the resurrection skills of a magician.

“Khufu or Cheops was a great believer in magic,” occult expert Marie Bargas, the Hollywood Witch, told Den of Geek. “People think of the Great Pyramid as a tomb. But what if it is actually an initiatory structure?”

“I was taught that the Great Pyramid is less of a tomb and more of an initiatory temple. The shape itself creates a massive energy field,” Bargas confirms.

Manly P. Hall’s book, The Secret Teachings of All Ages, says the Great Pyramid was used to teach Hermetic initiates how to experience the release of the soul from the body container.

“There is a long held misperception that the merkhut, or pyramid, was created as a monument to pharaonic ego,” Queen Mother, who writes, recites, translates, and teaches prayers, poems, and prose entirely in Khametic, the ancient Egyptian language, told Den of Geek. Queen Mother Imakhu is a tradtional conferred title of wisdom, power and respect originating in Africa.

Secrets of the Dead: Scanning the Pyramids says the Westcar Papyrus confirms Pharaoh Khufu’s fascination with magic and his desire to build secret chambers inside the pyramid to house magic books containing all the knowledge of the day. According to legend, the real treasure is kept in secret rooms which has led countless explorers to continue to search for them, even to the present day.

“When Egyptology became popular after Napoleon’s conquest of and fascination with Egypt, the world viewed Ancient Egyptian culture with new eye,” says Queen Mother Imakhu. “It became fashionable for Lodge initiates to be buried in miniature pyramid mausoleums that had the ascension symbol Behudet over the doorway. Many of these stylized burial chambers still exist in popular and lesser-known cemeteries the world over.”

Looting Ascension

Pharaohs were buried with their queens, servants, property, treasures and libraries. One reason a person was buried with all of their belongings was to “keep their energy contained and focused,” says Queen Mother Imakhu. “This prevented the person from becoming a wandering ghost. The afterlife writings and directives were left in the tombs for the deceased as a way of saying, ‘If you are reading this it means you are dead. Deal with it. Prepare to move into the next realm. Detach from this one.’”

The tomb of Tutankhamun, affectionately known as King Tut, discovered under the ruins of workmen’s huts in the Valley of the Kings by Howard Carter in 1922, is the only pyramid found with its treasures still intact. Since the first excavations in the ninth century, no treasures or burial goods were ever discovered within the chambers of the Great Pyramid of Giza. Secrets of the Dead: Scanning the Pyramids declares that the entire pyramid was empty when it was first surveyed. While PBS’s documentary describes a series of tunnels built by tomb robbers and looters, this writer has another theory. The pharaohs were buried with their wives, servants and treasures to help them with the passage into the next life. If Khufu’s was empty, maybe he ascended and brought everything with him as proscribed by the Egyptian Book Of The Dead?

“I would agree with your theory about Khufu,” says Queen Mother Imakhu. “He was the first Pharaoh associated with the pyramids. His building of the Pyramids was a tribute to the Matriarchal foundation of the tradition because the energy flowing through them simulates the life giving energy that flows through the breast.”  Khufu was “the closest to the matriarchal origins of pre-dynastic Kam” in ancient Khamet, the original name of Ancient Egypt. “The vibration would have been extremely high. High enough vibration brings ascension.”

“If we are to look at the sacred practices and beliefs of the Ancient Egyptians, it is highly possible that Khufu, his Queen, and their entourage to have ascended,” Imakhu adds. “In my mind, he had access to the Wise Woman teachings that were born of the Pre-Dynastic era.”

Secret Chambers

Secrets of the Dead: Scanning the Pyramids follows Mehdi Tayoubi, co-director at Scan Pyramids, and Salima Ikram, an Egyptologist who explored every corner of the pyramid for more than two years. The team uses an imaging technique called muography to create an internal scan of the pyramid.

Muography is the process of recording the “trajectories of sub-atomic particles known as muons to form images,” according to the Secrets of the Dead: Scanning the Pyramids official synopsis. “The process is similar to taking an X-ray but on a much larger scale. Infrared readings illustrate differences in temperature in different parts of the pyramid. Cooler temperatures in a specific area suggest voids or open spaces.”

In November 2017, the Scan Pyramids research team announced they discovered new empty spaces within the Great Pyramid. This is the biggest discovery to happen in the pyramids in centuries. Three different muography techniques detected three new cavities inside the pyramid. The smaller cavities near an external notch and rafters could support theories about how the pyramids were built. The third void, “higher up in the pyramid, is an enormous one: roughly 14,000 cubic feet and at least 100 feet long, comparable to the volume of a 200-seat airplane,” according to the Secrets of the Dead: Scanning the Pyramids site.

“I’m not surprised that they discovered more secret passages,” says Bargas. “I suspect that these passages were created to channel energy throughout the mass of the structure.”

 “The secret chambers are very powerful,” says Valeria Tignini, an ascension activator who visited the inside some of the tombs “through my astral body. There are chambers if you lay or stand in you will become activated in and will have full awakening. There are also chambers with a mountain of treasures such as gems, gold, and relics that they do not dare to touch as they know that they will be cursed eternally.”

The Mummy’s Curse and Portals to the Unknown

Curses relating to tombs are actually very rare. The every idea of such desecration was so unthinkable at the time it was dangerous to even record in writing. Later historian Zahi Hawass quotes a “curse” that those who “disturb the rest of a Pharaoh” by breaking “the seal of this tomb shall meet death by a disease that no doctor can diagnose.” The tomb of Ankhtifi from the 9–10th dynasty is inscribed “any ruler who … shall do evil or wickedness to this coffin… may Hemen not accept any goods he offers, and may his heir not inherit.” The tomb of 9–10th dynasty pharaoh Khentika Ikhekhi warns “all men who shall enter this my tomb… impure… there will be judgment… an end shall be made for him… I shall seize his neck like a bird… I shall cast the fear of myself into him.”

The curses impure invaders might encounter could have come from a more naturally-occurring supernatural phenomenon like a portal or ley line.

“Ley lines are energy grids,” Queen Mother Imakhu says. “The potential for mysticism occurs within certain patterns of straight lines, and where these lines intersect. It is believed that much of Ancient Egypt’s sacred sites were built on or near ley lines.”

“I believe that the “secret” chambers are not necessarily rooms, but structural channels to conduct energy throughout the pyramid,” adds Bargas.

Historians wrote that Khufu was contemptuous of the gods when he was young, but later repented and wrote a series of sacred books. Some believe the reason there aren’t many representations of Khufu is because he was so evil all depictions were destroyed after his death.

“There may have not been any books originally left behind regarding what happened to Khufu,” Queen Mother Imakhu confirms.

Slave Labor?

Greek historian Herodotus wrote that Khufu used slaves to build the Great Pyramid, but the evidence shows the finer work was done by skilled craftsmen, including engineers, and architects, and the manual labor was done by farmers during the off-season, when their fields were submerged, and that they were paid well. Herodotus also wrote that Khufu closed all the temples and pimped out his daughter to pay for the construction of the Great Pyramid.

One of the great mysteries about the Great Pyramid is how it was built in the first place. The historian Manetho estimated more than 2.3 million blocks were used in its construction, not including the limestone casing.  The workers would have had to quarry, dress, move, and place just over 100 blocks per day, at an average weight of 2.5 tons, non-stop, 24 hours a day, for 63 years to finish it. Khufu reigned for 23 years, which mean 274 blocks would have to be moved per day. All this work was done before the invention of the wheel or the molting of steel.

“I don’t think anyone today has any valid theory with proof and evidence of how the pyramid was built, who built it, when it was built and what its purpose,” says John DeSalvo, author of the books Decoding The Pyramids Exploring the World’s Most Enigmatic Structures and The Complete Pyramid Sourcebook.

The Extraterrestrial Connection

When some people think about paranormal methods of pyramid construction, their minds go to unearthly entities traveling to earth in the flying saucers drawn on stone walls. Others see this theory as limiting and racist, as if the Egyptian people could not possibly have done the job without help. But the archaeologists found evidence of a self-reliant workforce. Ruins of an apparent builders’ village was uncovered, with their own tombs. The extraterrestrial connection has more to do with knowledge than visitors.

“The merkhut is a connection to the cosmos. It is no accident that the three most well-known structures, the Great Pyramids of Giza, are aligned with Orion’s belt on the Orion constellation,” says Queen Mother Imakhu.

According to legend, Orion, which is associated with the god Wasir (Osiris), is a “home-base within the cosmos,” Queen Mother Imakhu says. The stars of Orion’s belt are believed to be “communication points for the high priesthood and nobles.” This confirms the “otherworldly connection/ascension theory. And truly, as above, so below.”

“It is all speculation, but I don’t think the Egyptians built it but it was by a prior civilization with some ancient knowledge maybe knowing how to levitate objects by scientific or even a paranormal method,” DeSalvo says.

The preserved Westcar Papyrus, which contains five stories about miracles performed by priests and magicians from 1700 BC, says Khufu built the temple on blueprints designed to by the Egyptian god of knowledge of wisdom Thoth, a moon god.

“It is sacred geometry, which was brought down to us by extraterrestrial intelligence, of the ‘Gods.’ Each structure in built over earthly vortexes. The earth is activated and the pyramids contain the energy and connect to the cosmos,” Valeria says. “The stones are magnetized by the earth and cosmic energy.”

“Ancient Egyptian priesthood and scholars left evidence behind to support the belief that sacred geometry was part of the natural design, occurring in everything,” says Queen Mother Imakhu. “Patterns bring structure. Alignment. Aesthetic flow. Sacred geometry is evident in vital aspects of Ancient Egyptian culture, from tapestry to tekhen (obelisk) to weather patterns to time portals. To ignore the patterns of structure is folly.”

Besides the limestone covering and granite blocks, Tignini’s visions included gemstone. “I saw all kinds,” Tignini says. “Emeralds were very common, diamonds, rubies. Also gold tombs, relics like rods that heal your entire body, helmets that activate your third eye. This is all through my travels.”

“This reminds me of the experiments to reconstruct the Ark or to understand the placement of precious and semi-precious stones on the ‘Breast Plate of Aaron’ in the Bible,” says Bargas. “Stones are energy sources. My alarm clock has a lithium battery. May be we are misinterpreting the use of everything. Are the pyramids actually ‘Ancient Engines’?”

The River’s Course

The earth is made up mainly of water. It is the planet’s blood and regenerative source. The Nile is world’s longest river. Fed by both the White Nile from equatorial Africa and the Blue Nile from the Abyssinian highlands, the ancient Egyptians considered it the source of life. The goddess Isis recognized the corpse of her husband Osiris lodged in a tree made into a sacred pillar in the kingdom of Byblos after the god had been killed and set adrift in the Nile. Isis brought the pillar back to Egypt to revive her dead husband.

“Khufu paid homage to the oldest known Khametic temple, which was a Neith/Wadjet temple – an ancient water temple,” Queen Mother Imakhu says. “The waterway mysteries are connected to this. There is a link between the hidden water passages, ascension, and the teachings in the Per-t Em Hru En Grh (Book of Coming Forth by Day from Night/Book of the Dead).”

The river Nile had many ancient names including Iteru, which means River, and Uhem Ankh, which means Renewing Life/Born Again, which refers to the refreshing properties of water in barren land. The best known name was Hapi, the name of the elemental guardian NTRU, who was honored as the sacred container for the precious waters flowing through it. The names themselves were spiritual codes.

“Each pictograph letter, or hieroglyph, or, what we call Mdw NTR (Words of God) in name Hapi has a sacred meaning,” says Queen Mother Imakhu. “The H is believed by some scholars to be a twisted rope. Contemporary faith practitioners understand it to be a stylized DNA strand. The long A is an extended arm with an open palm, indicating the measure of a man’s character. The letter P is believed by some to be a door or portal, while others believe it’s a type of magic carpet. Both denote travel into other realms.

“The letter I is a reed, which symbolizes ascension. As a word, Hapi, in truth, gives the keys to ascending into higher vibratory realms. Shifting one’s DNA through high moral character grants access to other realms that are hidden along global waterways within the reeds. These portals are spoken of in various indigenous cultural traditions and religions all over the world. They have even been hinted at in modern day popular films.”

Pagans call the mystical energetic component in the water beneath the pyramids “Raising the Cone of Energy.” The pyramid is a “form of the cone,” Queen Mother Imakhu says. “Energy can be projected upward, or received in a downward spiral. Essentially, the merkhut is a vessel for dynamic spiritual activity.”

The conical pyramid represents a woman’s breast, according to the teachings. “The energy rising from or descending into it were akin to cosmic milk to nourish the soul,” Imakhu says. “That emanation could also be seen as a pathway. As for the question of heka (magic), certainly, there are some writings left behind for future generations, but they are as primers to the non-adept. Those of elevated consciousness begin receiving secret information through astral sages.”

Waterways are documented to run beneath each pyramid, which “lead to the paradise of the afterlife. The funerary texts provided guidance to the dead for journeying into the ancestral realm,” Imakhu says. The coffin texts “provided the codes of conduct in order to be of elevated character – the requirement ascension,” for future generations.”

“The ancients had to harness the energy with tools,” Tignini says. “Earth was also going through a descension, so the energy was getting denser. Today, we are going through ascension, so the energy is getting lighter and more and more healers and activators are showing up.”

“Once the third eye, what we call the First Eye, or Arit Udja, is functioning at a high degree, one begins to see the deeper meanings of the sacred writings and symbols left behind,” Queen Mother Imakhu adds. “Sacred portals are to be protected, and not polluted by the profane.”

The global scientific team of Scan Pyramids was the first scientific mission in 30 years to get Egyptian government permission to examine the pyramids, granting them unprecedented access to areas inside the pyramid where tourists aren’t allowed. Some find this exclusion to be a crime against progress. 

“I feel the Egyptians should open this up to the world,” DeSalvo says. “This is a world Monument, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, considered the first wonder, and it should be made available for all people of all nations and cultures to study and do research. The Egyptian should not monopolize the control of it.”

Secrets of the Dead: Scanning the Pyramids, premieres Wednesday, January 24, at 10pm on PBS. It will be available for streaming beginning January 25 via pbs.org/secrets and PBS apps.