THE PYRAMIDS of the COLD • Chapter 32 Why did Tree goddess Isis have to extract the wooden coffin where Osiris was trapped from the hollow trunk of the pillar of Djed

In summary: in this chapter we'll uncover the real meaning of the Djed Pillar, which is nothing but a pretty sophisticated representation of the central wooden caisson of the Grand Gallery, coupled with the hauling Beetle, the wooden structure which was endlessly moving up and down that caisson. In short, if the central wooden Djed caisson has been represented into the trunk of a tree, the hauling Beetle and its four transversal beams, allowing for six crewmemebers of the Beetle to take place in their individual niches, has bee represented into some kind of branches. Of course, these are weird looking branches, because the transversal beams that connected the two parts of the hauling Beetle were perfectly straight, from one ramp to the other.

We’ll also explain the relationship between the Tree goddess Isis, and the Djed pillar: Isis, as the glorification of the two central hauling ropes was constantly inside the caisson, hence inside the Djed pillar. And if Djed amulets were placed on the throat of mummies, it only is because the Djed, as the glorification of the central wooden caisson of the Grand Gallery of the Great Pyramid, coupled with the hauling Beetle, were literally the composite structure that worked just like a human throat by supplying both air and water to the flash-evaporative cooling conduct.

Djed pillar amulet, Dynasty 26 to Dynasty 30: https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/117868

Operating diagram of the Great Pyramid of Khufu for flash-evaporative cold production. Probably the most important part of the entire system was the central wooden Djed caisson in which both air and water were pressurized by the fall of the composite impactor. Without pressurized water, there wouldn’t be any creation of a fog of microdroplets of water possible, and without pressurized air, there wouldn’t be no consecutive cycles possible either: moist air had to be cleared out in between each cycle. The Djed caisson is absolutely central, and it has been perfectly described in the Osiris myth: the ‘hollow tree’ in which Osiris is trapped while still also trapped inside the ‘wooden coffin made to fit his body perfectly’ (the impactor itself), is the Djed caisson.

The two lateral modern wooden stairways in the Grand Gallery of the Great Pyramid, are perfectly illustrating the original hauling purpose of these ramps, where the two sides of the hauling Beetle would have been running up and down. It is right in between these ramps, in the central 'gutter' of the Gallery, that the central wooden Djed caisson would have been set (2 cubits wide, and about 1.2 meter high, just like the height of the ascending passage). The Djed pillar is a metaphorical representation of that central wooden caisson, coupled with the structure of the hauling Beetle. [Photograph] UnchartedX Egypt Tour, Ben van Kerkwyk: https://techzelle.com/great-pyramid/

32.01  Introduction: to understand Isis and the Osiris myth, you first have to know what to look for

All along this study, the most important and outstanding part is not that the Great Pyramid of Egypt has never been intended as the tomb of the pharaoh (that explains why there isn’t any kind of decoration anywhere, no painting, no text, not even the cartouche of Khufu and particularly not on the so-called “sarcophagus” of the king), nor it is the fact that this structure had only been built to create flash-evaporative cold in the horizontal passage, but it really is that Egyptians used all their scientific knowledge and technological prowess to create a fantastic set of glorifying gods, goddesses and myths so that they could gain political profit and legitimize their rule over Egypt.

The big question I’m still unable to answer today, is how all this was perceived by the people: were they aware that everything about their religion was only metaphorical, and if they were, did they understood them? Did they know that Osiris was only the glorifying vision of the impactor’s weight of the Great Pyramid and that Isis was all about the two ropes endlessly hauling back the impactor from the waters of the inclined well to the top of the Grand Gallery?

Personally, I think they did know everything and that what really happened was pretty similar to what is happening right now when we are in some ways also 'worshiping' Hollywood actors in every single film where they appear.

Operating diagram of the Grand Gallery of the Great Pyramid of Khufu, showing the central wooden Djed caisson inside which the composite impactor was operated. In order to provide guidance to the impactor, even when it was inside the inclined well, the central wooden Djed caisson had to extend inside the well itself. In short, the Djed caisson was in two parts: the aerial part in the Grand Gallery, and the flooded part in the inclined well.

32.02  The aerial part of the central wooden Djed caisson was mandatory for one reason: produce pressurized air at every new cycle to replace the moist air with about 100% humidity created during the previous cycle

The difficulty with the 'reconstruction' of the central wooden Djed caisson, is that there is nothing left in the Great Pyramid today, that could indicate that inside the central gutter, was set a permanent wooden caisson that runned all the way down the Gallery, and that also continued inside the inclined well. The only thing that allows us to be sure of its reality (apart from the representations of the Djed pillar and the Egyptian myths that are attesting its presence), is only because without it, the evaporative cooling process wouldn't have worked in the first place.

Or to be exact, the evaporative cooling would have worked one time only. Because if you don't get rid off the moist air that results from the evaporative process, you can't force liquid water into that air anymore. The central caisson was mandatory; it simply had to be here, period.

The reason why Djed amulets were placed on the throat of mummies is because the Djed is the glorification of the central wooden caisson of the Grand Gallery of the Great Pyramid: the caisson worked just like a throat by letting both air and water passing through that structure. Of course, if Djed pillars are often represented in an inclined position, it only is because the central wooden Djed caisson was also inclined, and that is the origin of the ceremony of 'Rising the Djed pillar'. Amice Calverley’s Record of the Temple of Seti I, Plate 8. Inner Osiris Hall: https://www.ancientegyptfoundation.org/calverley.shtml

32.03  The Osiris myth: Osiris was tricked inside a wooden coffin, thrown into water, trapped into a hollow tree while still in his coffin and finally rescued from the water by Isis... what a day!

What really is very important here, is that the tree that grew around the coffin where Osiris was trapped, once it got to the shore, will be known as the famous pillar of Djed, or Djed pillar. In short, and that really is the most important thing to keep in mind in the Osiris myth, is that the Djed pillar is a wooden and hollow structure in which was placed the wooden coffin where Osiris had been imprisoned. The second most important part is that it is the Tree goddess Isis who is getting Osiris out of that Djed pillar. Again, if you don't know that the whole point of the Osiris myth is to glorify the operation of the composite impactor of the Grand Gallery, and if you don't know that  there had to be a central wooden caisson to imprison the impactor, you simply cannot understand anything about the true meaning of this Osiris myth. But if you know what to expect, and in particular that central wooden caisson, now you have the proof of its existence.

“In the Osiris myth, Osiris was killed by Set by being tricked into a coffin made to fit Osiris exactly. Set then had the coffin with the now deceased Osiris flung into the Nile. The coffin was carried by the Nile to the ocean and on to the city of Byblos in Lebanon. It ran aground and a sacred tree took root and rapidly grew around the coffin, enclosing the coffin within its trunk. The king of the land, intrigued by the tree's quick growth, ordered the tree cut down and installed as a pillar in his palace, unaware that the tree contained Osiris's body.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Djed

“Meanwhile, Isis searched for Osiris aided by Anubis, and discovered Osiris's location in Byblos. Isis maneuvered herself into the favor of the king and queen and was granted a boon. She asked for the pillar in the palace hall, and upon being granted it, extracted the coffin from the pillar. She then consecrated the pillar, anointing it with myrrh and wrapping it in linen. This pillar came to be known as the pillar of djed.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Djed

[Germinating Osiris Brick at the MET] "Beginning in Dynasty 18, beds were made on which soil was molded into the shape of the god of regeneration and ruler of the dead, Osiris. Thickly sown with grain and kept moist until the grain sprouted and grew, then left to dry again, these figures [...] magically expressed the concept of life springing from death, symbolizing the resurrection of Osiris."

32.04  The hollow tree that was both hiding and protecting the wooden coffin where Osiris was trapped

Unless I'm mistaken, it is not very clear in the Osiris myth if the tree in which the coffin where Osiris is trapped is hollow or not, but many other texts are indeed talking about Osiris being placed into a hollow tree, additionally to being trapped inside the wooden hollow coffin of Seth:

“But Osiris was more than a spirit of the corn; he was also a tree-spirit, and this may perhaps have been his primitive character, since the worship of trees is naturally older in the history of religion than the worship of the cereals. The character of Osiris as a tree-spirit was represented very graphically in a ceremony described by Firmicus Maternus. A pine-tree having been cut down, the centre was hollowed out, and with the wood thus excavated an image of Osiris was made, which was then buried like a corpse in the hollow of the tree.”

32.05  The difficulty of the deciphering process of the Osiris myth if you don't already know what you're looking for

The Osiris myth is certainly the most documented Egyptian myth and is extremely rich in weird and wacky events and details; but again, once you’ve understood that this myth is all about the operation of the Grand Gallery, and that you’ve also understood, roughly how the Gallery was operated, then the myth itself can be very easily deciphered. What's even better, is that the deciphering of the myth allows you to transform the initial 'roughly' understanding of the Gallery's operation, into a much more detailed reconstruction. This is the major trick in the ancient Egyptian religion: you almost already have to know what it is all about, before you can understand it completely.

32.06  The main events in the Isis and Osiris myth are nothing but the reinterpretation of the composite impactor's operation in the Grand Gallery of the Great Pyramid: from its release in the waters of the well to its recovery

1 • Osiris gets tricked and imprisoned inside a wooden coffin which had been designed to exactly fit his dimensions

2 • Osiris is then thrown into the water of the Nile river, while still trapped inside the wooden coffin

3 • Osiris, still trapped in the wooden coffin finally gets to shore, but only to be tricked again: this time, Osiris and the wooden coffin are both trapped inside the hollow trunk of a tree

4 • Then Isis comes into play and gets Osiris out of the trunk after having put resin (myrrh) and linen onto the Tree

5 • Isis finally gets Osiris out of the water, but the goddess also appears in some paintings as being physically part of the tree itself as shown on the above image

Operating diagram of the Grand Gallery in the Great Pyramid, showing the central wooden Djed caisson that wasn't limited to the Gallery, but that also extended right inside the inclined well, probably right to the Taweret block. "Isis maneuvered herself into the favor of the king and queen and was granted a boon. She asked for the pillar in the palace hall, and upon being granted it, extracted the coffin from the pillar. She then consecrated the pillar, anointing it with myrrh and wrapping it in linen. This pillar came to be known as the pillar of djed.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Djed

32.07  The three components of the Djed pillar

If you look closely to the Djed pillar, you see there are three components:

1 • the 4 crossbars that represent the 4 crossbars of the hauling Beetle, creating 6 individual compartments, one for each crewmember of the Beetle (more on the hauling Beetle in Section 24)

2 • the central wooden caisson itself, personalized into the form of a tree (just like in the Osiris myth)

3 • some ropes circling around the body of the tree, which probably are another representation of the knot of Isis: they are about the ropes used to maintain the integrity of the individual wooden girdles sewn to each other, in order to sustain the pressure applied in the caisson by the fall of the impactor

Djed-Pillar Amulet N5416 (Ramesses IX) at the Louvre: https://collections.louvre.fr/ark:/53355/cl010007788 

Operation of the Grand Gallery of the Great Pyramid, showing the central wooden Djed caisson in the part of its cycle where the hatches have been closed and the caisson is airtight so that the composite impactor can create fresh and dry pressurized air needed for the evaporative cooling process to occur in the nearby horizontal passage.

32.08  The role of the upper aerial part of the central wooden Djed caisson was to produce pressurized fresh dry air: in short, it worked just like the human windpipe, and this is why amulets of the Djed-pillar were placed on the throat of mummies

This airtight capability of the Djed caisson is absolutely crucial: without the creation of pressurized air, it wouldn’t have been possible to produce more than one single cycle of evaporative cold. Moist air (at 100% humidity rate) that was produced during every cycle had to be evacuated and replaced with fresh new dry air. In other words, the central wooden Djed caisson worked like a windpipe by supplying dry new air to the horizontal passage. That is why Djed-pillar amulets were placed on the throat of mummies.

“Spell 151e of the Book of the Dead refers to the djed-pillar amulet as “the magical protection of Osiris,” and spell 155 was recited over this amulet as it was placed on the throat of a mummy.” https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/117868

Human anatomy of the throat, showing the windpipe (trachea): https://www.macmillan.org.uk/cancer-information-and-support/laryngeal-larynx-cancer/the-larynx

32.09  What went through Isis' head for her to put resin and linen onto the trunk of the Tree where was Osiris and his wooden coffin where he was trapped?

Of course, no egyptologist will ever try to explain or comment why would goddess Isis bother to put myrrh resin or linen onto a tree; because let’s agree that this behavior isn’t really what one would expect from a goddess, right? What’s the point here? Why would anyone want to cover a tree with resin… and then recover everything with linen?

Operation of the Grand Gallery in the Great Pyramid of Khufu, showing the central wooden Djed caisson in which was operated the two central hauling ropes. These two ropes were named Isis when they really were active, hauling the impactor up and ascending the Gallery, and Nephthys when tey were inactive and descending the caisson).

“In the Osiris myth, Osiris was killed by Set by being tricked into a coffin made to fit Osiris exactly. Set then had the coffin with the now deceased Osiris flung into the Nile. The coffin was carried by the Nile to the ocean and on to the city of Byblos in Lebanon. It ran aground and a sacred tree took root and rapidly grew around the coffin, enclosing the coffin within its trunk. The king of the land, intrigued by the tree's quick growth, ordered the tree cut down and installed as a pillar in his palace, unaware that the tree contained Osiris's body.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Djed

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Table of contents

Operating diagrams of the Great Pyramid

Timelines

Index