3. The “Underworld” as a Planet
With Ra, we are back
to the theme of the Underworld, where we began this excursion with
the sarcophagus lid of Lord Pacal in Palenque. Ra, of course, ruled
the Egyptian underworld for a time. But the Egyptian underworld,
while certainly understood to be a real place beneath or inside of
the Earth, was also a place
In “the west,” under the sea or ocean, or beneath the earth. All these locations were one, used interchangeably,
a fact that recalls,
once again, the Unified Intention of Symbol. Thus,
Since “sea” or “ocean” can also mean “space”, and there is no up or down in space, it is certainly possibly that this Underworld is actually beneath the earth - another planet.520
Alford’s
identification of the underworld with a meteor that has crashed
into, and sunk beneath, the surface of the Earth has now been stood
on its head, for while Alford himself pointed out the meaning of
“oceans” and “mountains” and “islands” as “planets in the deep sea
of space,” it appears that — in his rush to flatten the
multi-tiered meanings of mythological symbols into one flat and
utterly prosaic meaning, he has forgotten the very astronomical
context of many of his own observations, and forgotten, therefore,
that “Underworld” itself may refer not only to the interior of the
Earth in a prosaic sense, but also to another planet which was and
still is entirely real.