THE PYRAMIDS of the COLD • Chapter 07 The check valve with counterweight Part 2 Sekhmet is the active and mobile part of the valve: the disc with its counterweight
Publié par Bruno Coursol dans The Pyramids of the Cold le 21/09/2025 à 06:42
Because the lioness goddess Sekhmet is how ancient Egyptians have glorified the active part of a check valve with counterweight, that is the disc of the valve coupled with its counterweight, some artifacts representing Sekhmet are showing just that: the disc coupled with its counterweight; it’s called an ‘aegis’. [illustration] “Aegis with the Head of Sekhmet” item 57.540 at the Walters Art Museum: https://art.thewalters.org/object/57.540/
THE PYRAMIDS of the COLD • Study written by Bruno COURSOL (January 2021 to September 2025)
Section A • The flash-evaporative cooling process and the so-called horizontal passage
The transformation of a fog of microdroplets of liquid water into vapor created flash-evaporative cold
Chapter 07 • The check valve Part 2: Sekhmet is the active and mobile part of the valve, the disc with its counterweight
In summary: we’ve just seen in previous chapter about the gentle and inactive cat goddess Bastet, that the ancient Egyptians had one more time chosen to split the operation of a technical piece equipment into its two active and inactive parts when considering the operation of a check valve with counterweight, mandatory to avoid any damage due to the water hammer effect. If Bastet is about the inactive and immobile body of the valve, ferocious lioness Sekhmet is about the active and mobile part of the valve. The idea of activity and inactivity apparently was one of the Egyptians’ obsessions with the idea of the cycle itself.
We'll see that pretty much everything there is to know about Sekhmet is actually perfectly depicted in the famous artifact called 'the Aegis of Sekhmet', that is nothing but a simple disc coupled with a counterweight in a 90° angle, and that if Hathor and Sekhmet have been so strongly associated together, it is because Hathor was known as 'the Mistress of the counterweight': by saying that Hathor transformed somehow into Sekhmet, Egyptians simply wanted to emphasize the fact that Sekhmet (the disc with counterweight of the check valve), used the very idea of the counterweight itself.
We'll see what really was the real 'intimacy' between Ptah and Sekhmet, with Ptah being the glorification of the central wooden Djed caisson that metaphorically would have impregnated the Sekhmet check valve, through an erected penis made of metal pipes. Finally we'll see why Sekhmet was also known to fix broken bones: Egyptians used the fact that Sekhmet was the disc of the valve to invoke her if you would have broken bones, because one way of seeing the backbone, is as a broken bone fixed by many intervertebral discs. Egyptians loved to use metaphors based on the anatomy of the human body, and there is another one with the disc of Sekhmet and the intervertebral discs fixing the backbone.
What if the size of the disc on the Sekhmet statues really was the exact size of the original disc of the Sekhmet check valve? Wild Urban Priestess: https://www.wildurbanpriestess.com/post/in-search-of-sekhmet-in-the-british-museum
07.01 The hundreds of standing and seated Sekhmet statues are about the endless movement of the disc of the check valve, standing up from the seat of the valve and then sitting down to its seat again, in the Great Pyramid it happened every 15 minutes or so
One of the most unique things about Sekhmet is that there are hundreds of her statues that have been found, either in a seated or standing position, and it doesn’t look like egyptologists really tried to understand why. To my knowledge, there isn’t any statue of deity represented in these two different postures, either seated or standing.
But now that we know Sekhmet is about a check valve, we can understand why: Sekhmet literally kept moving from one position to the other in an endless operating cycle. Most of the time the Sekhmet check valve was actually seated, and about every 15 minutes or so, she proudly stood up for probably less than 10 seconds before seating back in her seat again. In short, the metaphor of the seated or standing Sekhmet statues, is about the seat of the check valve, and the endless up and down movement of the disc of the valve.
“There are two types of Sekhmet statues. There are some standing statues and there are some seated statues.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sekhmet_statues
Operating cycle of a swing check valve, showing the ring-shaped seat of the valve [black]: https://www.superlokworld.com/blog/beginners-guide-to-check-valves
[Pectoral of Tutankhamun] here represented between Sekhmet and Ptah [edited]: https://i0.wp.com/egypt-museum.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Pectoral-of-King-Tutankhamun-between-Ptah-and-Sekhmet.jpg?ssl=1
07.02 The metaphorical erected penis of Ptah (the aerial and aquatic parts of the central wooden Djed caisson) would have looked like it was penetrating Sekhmet's vagina
We’ll see in Section E the deciphering of god Ptah, who was the glorification that ancient Egyptians have made of the central wooden Djed caisson of the Great Pyramid. The Djed caisson started at the very top of the Grand Gallery (that's the aerial part), but it also extended inside the inclined well itself, probably to the upper part of the Taweret sealing block (that's the aquatic part). With that in mind, we can understand why Ptah has been seen as the husband of Sekhmet, because the mandatory short pipe that connected the outlet of the inclined well to the check valve, would have looked like the erected penis of Ptah, getting inside the vagina of Sekhmet. Probably in this metaphoric representation, the Sekhmet open valve would have been seen as her open cervix.
[illustration] Modified from Charbonnier C, Chague S, Ponzoni M, Bernardoni M, Hoffmeyer P, Christofilopoulos P. Sexual Activity after Total Hip. Arthroplasty: A Motion Capture Study. J Arthroplasty. 2014 Mar;29(3):646: https://hipkneeinfo.org/hip-care/a-guide-to-returning-to-sexual-activity-following-hip-replacement-surgery/
Operating diagram of the Great Pyramid of Khufu, designed for flash-evaporative cold production, hypothetically to cool down chemical manufacturing of sodium carbonate 'natron', the salt used by Egyptians during the mummification of pharaohs. The Bastet and Sekhmet check valve with counterweight was at the heart of the Pyramid, but also functioned just like a real beating heart, with one single valve, and that's the origin of the myth of the transformation of water into blood: if the valve functioned like a heart, then the water passing through that valve was just like blood.
07.03 Because of the 7,000 jugs of false blood that Sekhmet had to 'gorge on', we know that the inclined well of the Great Pyramid contained exactly 33.600 liters of water
And now, there is something very cool. Even if it will be very difficult to know exactly the amount of water that was inside the inclined well, by only taking into consideration the dimensions of the structure, because of my limited access to information I cannot really estimate the exact volume of the well that was flooded (knowing that the bottom of the well was the upper part of the block known as the upper granite plug in the ascending passage, this is Taweret, and because it is almost impossible to know how deep the central wooden caisson got into the well and how thick were the wooden boards constituting the caisson).
In short, there are many unknown data to be precise. But lets try to do an estimate. The ascending passage is about 38 meters long, 1.09 meter wide and 1.20 meter high.
Lets take arbitrarily 5 meters out of this passage to take into consideration the original location of the Taweret plug (that can be exactly determined by the location of the little granite Bes wedging block still in the floor of the passage today), and lets use a flooded section of 1 meter by 1 meter. That would make 33x1x1= 33 m³ = 33,000 litres of water.
And now is the cool part: in the above myth about Sekhmet, it is said that it was 7,000 jugs of this fake blood that was offered to the goddess; and 7,000 jugs of beer is exactly 33,600 litres.
According to the next excerpt : 7,000 jugs of beer = 7,000 x 4.8 litres (1 hekat = 4.8 litres) = 33,600 litres
“So Ra poured 7,000 jugs of beer and pomegranate juice (which stained the beer blood red) in her path. She [Sekhmet] gorged on the “blood” and became so drunk she slept for three days. When she awoke, her blood lust had dissipated, and humanity was saved.” https://ancientegyptonline.co.uk/sekhmet/
“To evaluate and calculate the density of beers, the Egyptian scribe needs three units: the hekat, which measures a volume of grain, the dś-jar, which gives a volume of beer, and the pefsu, which gives the mathematical relationship between these two values. The hekat (or heqat) is the Egyptian unit of volume used to gauge quantities of grain or beer. It is worth 4.8 litres” https://beer-studies.com/en/Advanced-studies/Brewing-ratios/Egyptian-brewing-ratios
« Le couloir ascendant commence à partir d'un point du couloir descendant se trouvant à 18 mètres de l'entrée primitive de la pyramide ; il est long de 38 mètres, haut de 1,20 mètre et large de 1,09 mètre. » https://www.aly-abbara.com/voyages_personnels/egypte/monuments_traditions/pages/caire_gizeh_pyramide_cheops.html
Aegis with the Head of Sekhmet and a counterweight, because Sekhmet really is the glorification of a counterweight. The Walters Art Museum: https://art.thewalters.org/object/57.540/
07.04 Sekhmet drinking blood: the check valve with its endless opening and closing disk looked exactly like a beating heart by ejecting a small amount of pressurized water at a time, over and over again… in other words, the water passing through the check valve just looked like blood
I thought for some time now that it was the inclined well of the Great Pyramid that was the origin of the famous myth where water mysteriously turns into blood. It was the inclined well that produced pressurized water so I thought it was the well that was seen as the heart of the Pyramid.
But at the time I had no idea there was a check valve at the exit of the well, and knowing it now changes everything. The well didn’t look like a heart and it didn’t have any valve like a real heart does; but the check valve both looked probably like a heart in its global shape, and had its own heart-like valve: the endless opening and closing disk.
The check valve really was the beating heart of the Great Pyramid; and because when that check valve was active, every 15 minutes or so, she was glorified into goddess Sekhmet, there is a myth were Sekhmet is actually drinking blood, as much blood as she can, before going back to inactivity and sleep.
What we have here is not only the description of the fact that the check valve was fed with pressurized water that looked like blood because by doing so the valve looked like a beating heart, this is also the description of the inactive valve “that slept for three days”.
Probably there is another information to understand here about these “three days” of inactivity.
“Sekhmet was associated with the goddesses given the title “Eye of Ra”. According to myth, Ra became angry because mankind was not following his laws and preserving Ma’at (justice or balance). He decided to punish mankind by sending an aspect of his daughter, the “Eye of Ra”. He plucked Hathor from Ureas on his brow, and sent her to earth in the form of a lion. She became Sekhmet, the “Eye of Ra” and began her rampage. The fields ran with human blood. However, Ra was not a cruel deity, and the sight of the carnage caused him to repent. He ordered her to stop, but she was in a blood lust and would not listen. So Ra poured 7,000 jugs of beer and pomegranate juice (which stained the beer blood red) in her path. She gorged on the “blood” and became so drunk she slept for three days. When she awoke, her blood lust had dissipated, and humanity was saved.” https://ancientegyptonline.co.uk/sekhmet/
“Understanding the Heart: Anatomy, Function, and Blood Pressure”, By Albert Harmon: https://galaxy.ai/youtube-summarizer/understanding-the-heart-anatomy-function-and-blood-pressure-X9ZZ6tcxArI
Snap-tite Hose Inc Rep Discusses Fire Hose Management Using the N-Dura Fire Hose. Video by Fire Spotlight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0Dfxv_4-94
07.05 Firefighter Sekhmet: do you see the fire hose?
Among all the metaphors discussed in this Section, probably the most illustrative is the one seeing both Bastet and Sekhmet as the patron goddesses of firefighters. This very metaphor is all based on what really were Bastet and Sekhmet all about: the check valve of the Great Pyramid through which was passing pressurized water.
So, this is why we have this very cute story about why ancient Egyptians believed a cat was able to draw the flames out of a burning building.
“Those with links to the fire service might be interested to know that Bastet is also the patron goddess of firefighters. In Ancient Egypt it was believed that if a cat ran through a burning building, it would draw the flames out. Worshipping her is a powerful way to keep a firefighter safe as they work.” https://www.celebratepaganholidays.com/general/signs-bastet-is-calling-you
Figurine of Sekhet [Sekhmet] [left]. “Sekhmet ('The Powerful One') is the Egyptian goddess associated with warfare and fire as well as healing and medical treatment. She symbolises the pharaoh's unvanquishable heroism in battle and she could both bring and ward off pestilence and destruction.” Royal Collection Trust: https://www.rct.uk/collection/84099/bastet-amulet
“Granite standing figure of goddess Sekhmet. From goddess Mut temple at Karnak, modern-day Egypt. New Kingdom, 19th Dynasty,circa 1250 BCE. (State Museum of Egyptian Art, Munich, Germany).” Photograph by Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin: https://www.worldhistory.org/image/3422/goddess-sekhmet-statue/
07.06 If anyone really believes what standing Sekhmet is holding in her hands is a ‘papyrus sceptre’, well Houston “we have a problem”
I love photographs, they most of the time are much more clear and dramatic than a thousands words. So, really if there is anybody out there who really thinks that Sekhmet is holding a ‘papyrus sceptre’, yes Houston, we really have a problem.
This is not a ‘papyrus sceptre’ Sekhmet is holding, but a ‘fire hose’, because she is the patron goddess of firefighters. There is the hose and there is the water gun. I’m not saying that Egyptians used this kind of fire hose in real life, because they’ve used so many metaphors, tens of thousands of metaphors all around, that maybe they’ve used real fire hose with pressurized water, or maybe it is just another metaphor. I don’t know, and I’m not gonna argue on that.
You’ll note though that Sekhmet is only holding the ‘papyrus’ fire hose when she is standing up, and when she is standing up, it is because the disc of the valve is open and water is passing through the valve. In short, Standing Sekhmet with the fire hose is the One who really was getting the fire out of buildings.
About another standing Sekhmet statue at the British Museum: “Black granodiorite statue of Sekhmet: showing the goddess as a woman with the head of a lioness but a divine female wig. She is standing with left foot forward, holding papyrus sceptre in left hand and 'ankh' in right”. https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/Y_EA84
Papyrus plant: https://www.detentejardin.com/plantes/plantes-dinterieur/plantes-vertes-dinterieur/cultiver-un-papyrus-en-pot-1031422
[left] “In Ancient Egyptian architecture, gargoyles showed little variation, typically in the form of a lion's head. Similar lion-mouthed water spouts were also seen on Greek temples, carved or modeled in the marble or terracotta cymatium of the cornice”. Sushma Menon. Photograph by Paul Smit: https://paulsmit.smugmug.com/Features/Africa/Egypt-Dendera-temple/i-nQTX77f/A
[right] “Figurine, emblem of Neferem” The Louvre N5118: https://collections.louvre.fr/ark:/53355/cl010008518
07.07 Ancient Egypt is all about water, whether it is the gargoyles or the lotus flower of the Dendera Light
Of course, when you are looking today at ancient Egyptian marvels, most of the time color has disappeared but something else also disappeared as well, and that is water. Egyptian gargoyles are most of the time showing the head of a lion, and that is because of the role of the Sekhmet check valve. The lion gargoyles are about pressurized water getting out of the check valve.
But the lotus flower also is about water (see Section 2), this is why the emblems of Nefertem at the Louvre have this curious base: its nothing but a pipe, a perfect copper pipe. And this is why Nefertem, and his lotus flower (that actually is about the lotus seed head that resembles to a shower head, Section 2), are so strongly associated with Sekhmet, the check valve that supplied the fog nozzle Nefertem with water and air.
Contrary to my first assumption, it is not the inclined well of the Great Pyramid that is at the origin of the myth where water turns into blood: the origin of this extraordinary transformation is the check valve, because the valve with its endless opening and closing disk, really looked like a real beating heart. And of course, because Sekhmet is about this operating valve in action, she is indeed directly associated with blood: Sekhmet was literally known to drink blood.
07.08 What really is Sekhmet all about is actually at the back of her aegis: it is a counterweight (and everybody agrees on that)
We’ll come back later to gentle cat Bastet, but first we have to understand Sekhmet, the ‘powerful one’ and the one who is often represented with probably the most weird artifact that ancient Egyptians had left for us: the aegis. The aegis is the key to understand everything about Bastet and Sekhmet, who are known to be “two aspects of the same goddess”. We'll see that Sekhmet is actually nothing but the glorification of the disk with counterweight of the Bastet check valve.
“The collars worn by both Egyptian men and women were composed of two main parts: in front, a broad collar (called "wesekh") decorated with floral elements, and a v-shaped counterpoise (called "menat") falling behind the neck to balance the weight of the collar. Such a combination was not only used as decoration but also as a ritual instrument by holding the "menat" in the hand and rattling the beads of the collar.” https://art.thewalters.org/object/57.540/
“Bastet was worshipped in Bubastis in Lower Egypt, originally as a lioness goddess, a role shared by other deities such as Sekhmet. Eventually Bastet and Sekhmet were characterized as two aspects of the same goddess, with Sekhmet representing the powerful warrior and protector aspect, and Bastet, who increasingly was depicted as a cat, representing a gentler aspect. Bastet was originally a fierce lioness warrior goddess of the sun, worshipped throughout most of ancient Egyptian history. Later she became the cat goddess that is familiar today. She was then depicted as the daughter of Ra and Isis, and the consort of Ptah, with whom she had a son, Maahes.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bastet
Counterweight Butterfly check valve: povvalve.com/the-science-behind-counterweight-valve-an-in-depth-analysis/
07.09 When Mistress of the counterweight Hathor (official) is transformed into Sekhmet... also Mistress of the counterweight (but unofficial)
We’ve already seen that if Hathor was known as the ‘Mistress of the counterweight’, it is only because she was the glorification of the hauling plug with counterweight that was operated at the end of the two central hauling ropes. This counterweight was mandatory for the ropes to be able to descend inside the central wooden Djed caisson, all the way to the entry of the inclined well for the reattachment of the ropes with the floating impactor.
And now, we have Sekhmet that was the disc of the check valve set at the exit of the inclined well, on which was also attached another counterweight, this one mandatory to avoid the water hammer effect on the pipes and fog nozzle.
So, there was two counterweights one used in the Grand Gallery, and the other one used just below the Gallery in the little platform before the entry to the cooling passage; and this technical duality had become through the Egyptian glorification process, the following myth:
“The angry side of Hathor was connected with Sekhmet, one of the aspects of Hathor.” https://symbolreader.net/2015/06/21/hathor-the-exuberant-goddess-of-abundant-life/
“In the ancient legend, an angry God Ra transforms his daughter Hathor into the ferocious Sekhmet. He sends her to punish humans for conspiring against him. Woman-lioness boiling with rage almost destroys all of humanity in her terrifying rampage. Recognising his mistake God Ra tries to restrain the raging feline. He gives her red-coloured beer which she takes for blood. When she is drunk and quiet he transfers her back to the peaceful Hathor.” https://australian.museum/blog-archive/science/egyptian-past-the-lady-of-terror/
Draw of Hathor and Sekhmet by Jeff Dahl: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hathor#/media/File:Hathor.svg , en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sekhmet#/media/File:Sekhmet.svg
55.45 Sekhmet only appears during Dynasty 5 (when the Great Pyramid has been built near the end of Dynasty 4)
“The first known unambiguous reference to Sekhmet has been found in mortuary complex of Nyuserre Ini of the Fifth Dynasty of Egypt.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sekhmet
One of the most beautiful metaphors of all with Sekhmet ‘fixing bones’ that is all about a disc: the disc of the back bone and the disc of the check valve. [illustration] When Is SURGERY Needed for a Bulging Disc? HT Physio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLUHt2B_KCQ
07.10 Sekhmet was known as the one who was "fixing broken bones" because she isn't only about the counterweight: she is also about the disc of the check valve that was attached to that counterweight
Another perfect example of the facetious side of ancient Egyptians with the ‘fixing broken bones’ metaphor. The trick here, because I really think that what we should say is precisely ‘trick’ as Egyptians evidently loved to play with words and ideas, was to understand that when they say that Sekhmet was ‘fixing broken bones’, they were talking about the backbone; in some ways the most important ‘bone’ of the human body. Of course, the backbone is actually not a real bone, but from some perspective, at least theirs, the backbone really was a bone, even if it was a broken bone.
Everybody knows that the spinal column is also called ‘backbone’, even if the term backbone is incorrect, because the spinal column is made of many little bones assembled together with the intervertebral discs. So, in some ways, the spinal column actually looks like a broken bone, fixed with intervertebral discs.
And that is precisely that metaphor, another anatomical metaphor, that have been used by Egyptians to glorify the disc that was in operation on the Bastet and Sekhmet check valve: Sekhmet was ‘the One who fixed broken bones’.
“Sekhmet is a solar deity, and one of the oldest and most powerful of the gods and goddesses. Her name derives from the Ancient Egyptian word ‘sekhem,’ which means ‘power,’ or ‘to be mighty.’ A single name that tells a thousand stories of violence, destruction, and terror. Despite her ferocious nature, this ‘Lady of Terror’ was known to be a healer, who fixed broken bones and protected her friends from plague and disease. She was thus the patron of physicians and healers, and led her priests to become doctors.” https://australian.museum/blog-archive/science/egyptian-past-the-lady-of-terror/
Spinal or intervertebral disc (blue): https://www.ehealthstar.com/conditions/bulging-herniated-disc
The inclined well of the Great Pyramid wasn't its beating heart: the Bastet and Sekhmet check valve was. The fundamental purpose of the Bastet and Sekhmet check valve with counterweight would have been most probably to prevent the water hammer effect that would have damaged both the pipe system and the fog nozzle. For clarity of the draw, the check valve is in a closed position even if the fog of microdroplets is represented and supposed the valve is letting pressurized water passing through the system; you can imagine that the check valve has just shut down if you want. The goal of this diagram is only to put everything into place and is not accurate in many ways.
07.11 The ‘broad collar’ of the aegis isn't only about the disc of a check valve: it is also about a protractor, the tool used for measuring angles
We’ve seen many times now that Egyptians, not only glorified every single piece of equipment they’ve used inside the great pyramids, and mastabas before then, but that they’ve also glorified theoretical principles, like the evaporative cooling process itself with the Dendera Light (Section 2), the endless cycle of water between the vapor and liquid phases with the famous representations of Geb, Shu and Tefnut interacting with each over (Section 3) or even the magnifying glass (Section 45) and I think here that they’ve used the endless cycle of opening and closing of the valve’s disk, to glorify the idea of measuring angles.
In short, both the disk of the valve and its counterweight are the perfect illustration of this very important notion that is measuring angles; something Egyptians could have used when constructing buildings and pyramids or when they were studying night sky and following up the movement of the stars.
Aegis with the Head of Sekhmet, MFA Boston
Illustration of a protractor for measuring angles
"Rhind Mathematical Papyrus". Production date: 1500 BCE. The papyrus is probably a mathematics textbook, used by scribes to learn to solve particular mathematical problems by writing down appropriate examples. The text includes eighty-four problems with tables of divisions, multiplications, and handling of fractions; and geometry, including volumes and areas.” https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/Y_EA10057
07.12 The Rhind 'mathematical papyrus' and the big masquerade
All along the study of The Pyramids of the Cold, what is striking to observe is how advanced ancient Egyptians were, whether it is about art, science, technology, medicine, chemistry, etc. But what is even more incredible is the gigantic farce, the tremendous masquerade that egyptologists are so successfully proclaiming everywhere, for more than 200 years now.
When is this gonna stop? When are they gonna stop this non sense? Why isn’t there anybody really interested in describing ancient Egypt just the way it was? Are we so insecure in our modern civilization only based on consumption, pleasure and leisure that we prefer to draw a ridiculous vision of the ancient Egyptians? I’ve already discussed of the stupid interpretations made by egyptologists of what have been found in the Great Pyramid (like the so-called pitiful ‘sarcophagus’), or everything that is completely disregarded because it simply invalidated the academic position (the absence of any kind of decoration, marking, painting, hieroglyph, cartouche in the Great Pyramid, or the presence of the girdles stones and salt deposit in that same Pyramid), but here with π (Pi) and the Pythagorean theorem, we have a perfect illustration of the problem. The knowledge of the people who were living in the ancient world about 4,500 years ago, simply isn’t what’s described by historians. So, when is this masquerade gonna stop?
“1300 years before Thalès was born, Ancient Egyptians solved the famous theorem which now bears his name, Theorème de Thales in French, or Intercept theorem in English. Back then, it was called problem Number 53, and was part of the Rhind Papyrus. The value for π was already approximated as 3.16 (a 0.6% margin error, extremely good even by modern standards), 4000 years before that value was fixed at 3.14. So why are these theorems called after Pythagoras or Thales, when they had already existed thousands of years prior to their living?” © Dr. Y. and Afrolegends.com: https://afrolegends.com/2016/11/23/the-rhind-papyrus-or-advanced-ancient-egyptian-mathematics/
Learn and Measure Angles with a Protractor. By Math and Science: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzOaT9D4mXM
07.13 Sekhmet 'patron of physicians and healing' because of the wound closure: a check valve opens but it also has to close
Again, we have here with Sekhmet one of the most beautiful metaphors that ancient Egyptians could have use in their everyday life. Because Sekhmet is the glorification of the check valve that was set at the exit of the inclined well of the Great Pyramid, and because the valve functioned just like a beating heart, Sekhmet has been associated with medicine and she had become the patron of physicians.
It is also possible, that because a check valve both opens up and closes down, she would have been directly associated with the process of wound healing. It is Sekhmet who was invoked by Egyptians each time they had to suffer an injury and they would have asked for Sekhmet to help healing.
“Considered both the protector of pharaohs and the patron of physicians, Sekhmet was one of the most terrifying and revered Egyptian gods.” https://allthatsinteresting.com/sekhmet
“Sekhmet is one of the oldest known deities (nṯr) in Egyptian history. She is the patron of the physicians, physician-priests, and healers”. Pam Llewellin: https://egyptcentrecollectionblog.blogspot.com/2021/08/sekhmet-goddess-of-destruction-and.html
Illustration adapted from “Wound Healing”, by Osmosis (Elsevier): https://www.osmosis.org/learn/wound-healing
07.14 When Sekhmet is breathing the hot air of the desert and is drinking blood: the two operation phases of the check valve
This is certainly the most important excerpt about Sekhmet, because it is describing the two different operation phases of the check valve that was installed at the exit of the inclined well. Remember that before the impactor hits the waters of the well, it is the air imprisoned inside the central wooden Djed caisson that is pressurized and forced inside the well; and only then, pressurized water is created when the impactor enters the well.
“Sekhmet is the daughter of the sun god, Ra, and is among the more important of the goddesses in the Egyptian Pantheon. Sekhmet acted as the vengeful manifestation of Ra's power, the Eye of Ra. Sekhmet is said to breathe fire, and the hot winds of the desert were likened to her breath. She is also believed to cause plagues (which were described as being her servants or messengers) although she is also called upon to ward off disease and heal the sick. In a myth about the end of Ra's rule on the earth, Ra sends the goddess Hathor, in the form of Sekhmet, to destroy mortals who conspired against him. In the myth, Sekhmet's bloodlust was not quenched at the end of battle, and this led to her going on a bloody rampage that laid Egypt to waste and almost destroyed all of humanity. To stop her, Ra and the other gods devised a plan. They poured out a lake of beer dyed with red ochre so that it resembled blood. Mistaking the beer for blood, Sekhmet drank it all and became so drunk that she gave up on the slaughter and returned peacefully to Ra.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sekhmet
07.15 The beer metaphor is about the air inside the water
In the above excerpt, you will have noticed that this is not real blood that is mentioned: Sekhmet isn’t really drinking blood but red stained beer; and the reason for that is because this is not just water that is pressurized by the fall of the impactor; air also is pressurized.
In short, before being pressurized, the water of the inclined well gets first hit by the pressurized air that is forced in the well because of the central wooden Djed caisson (it worked like a giant bicycle pump); so what is inside the well and ejected from the well is not just pressurized water, but also pressurized air. And I think Egyptians found a perfect metaphor to describe this particular mix of pressurized air and water: they’ve used beer. Sheers!
How To Get Rid of Beer Foam Fast”, by Reactions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsdUoutzxVg
07.16 Both Hathor and Sekhmet are about a counterweight: Sekhmet is the counterweight of the butterfly check valve supplying the fog nozzle with pressurized water and Hathor the counterweight of the two central hauling ropes
Another crosschecking here: in previous Section 54, we’ve seen that Hathor was the glorification of the counterweight used to get the two central hauling ropes down to the lower end of the central wooden caisson so that they could be reattached with the impactor.
In short, both Hathor and Sekhmet are the glorifications of counterweights:
• Sekhmet was about the counterweight of the disc of the check valve that was set at the exit of the inclined well
• Hathor was about the counterweight of the two central ropes when they were released down the Grand Gallery; and she was even known as the “Mistress of the Counterweight”.
Lionness-headed Menat of Sekhmet [left]. “This amulet represents a "menat," a counterweight often made of metal worn on the back to keep large necklaces in place. "Menats" were regarded not only as jewelry but also as ritual objects sacred to the goddess Hathor, who was called, among many other titles, "Mistress of the Counterweight." This small-scale "menat" amulet shows the lion-headed goddess Sakhmet [Sekhmet] - closely associated with Hathor - wearing the sun disk and a broad collar. Below appears an "udjat," the eye of Horus, between two rearing cobras. The disk at the bottom depicts another pair of snakes spreading large protective wings around a seated deity in the middle.” The Walters Art Museum: https://art.thewalters.org/object/48.1626/
'Book of the Dead', Papyrus of Ani (sheet 3): Ani's Judgment: the scene is the Hall of Judgment. Centrally placed is a balance, holding in its two pans Ani's heart (on the left) and a feather (on the right) representing Maat, the divine personification of truth and order. The crossbar of the balance hangs from a feather-shaped peg attached to the upright support, on the top of which squats a small baboon.” Object EA10470,3 at the British Museum: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/Y_EA10470-3
07.17 Both Hathor and Sekhmet are about a counterweight: Sekhmet is the counterweight of the butterfly check valve supplying the fog nozzle with pressurized water and Hathor the counterweight of the two central hauling ropes
Another crosschecking here: in previous Section 54, we’ve seen that Hathor was the glorification of the counterweight used to get the two central hauling ropes down to the lower end of the central wooden caisson so that they could be reattached with the impactor.
In short, both Hathor and Sekhmet are the glorifications of counterweights:
• Sekhmet was about the counterweight of the disc of the check valve that was set at the exit of the inclined well
• Hathor was about the counterweight of the two central ropes when they were released down the Grand Gallery; and she was even known as the “Mistress of the Counterweight”.
Lionness-headed Menat of Sekhmet [left]. “This amulet represents a "menat," a counterweight often made of metal worn on the back to keep large necklaces in place. "Menats" were regarded not only as jewelry but also as ritual objects sacred to the goddess Hathor, who was called, among many other titles, "Mistress of the Counterweight." This small-scale "menat" amulet shows the lion-headed goddess Sakhmet [Sekhmet] - closely associated with Hathor - wearing the sun disk and a broad collar. Below appears an "udjat," the eye of Horus, between two rearing cobras. The disk at the bottom depicts another pair of snakes spreading large protective wings around a seated deity in the middle.” The Walters Art Museum: https://art.thewalters.org/object/48.1626/
07.18 The 'Weighing of the Heart' is just a play on words: it is because the Heart of the Great Pyramid was its check valve and the fact that the valve had its own counterweight
I must admit that I’ve already been very happy to have finally understood the real meaning of the ‘opening of the mouth’ ceremony in previous Section 52 (the mouth is about the very first incision made by the embalmer on the body of the deceased, and the fact that at some point, this incision have to be open up: this is what the opening of the mouth is all about; the real beginning of the journey toward immortality), and I also have to admit I didn’t expect to understand really the other most important Egyptian ceremony: the ‘Weighing of the Heart’.
I’ve already started to discuss the very profound meaning of this ceremony in Section 5, where I tried to understand the reason why there was on many representations of the ceremony, a peeing baboon on top of the scale. I still think most or all of the assumptions made are correct, although I’d need to revisit this Section completely now that the check valve has come into play.
But the most important thing I didn’t resolved in Section 5, is why did the Egyptians associated the heart with the idea of weighing anything. But when you look at the above image of an antique letter scale, a type of scale ancient Egyptians were probably using, the answer is crystal clear: the check valve functioned just like a real beating heart and it had a lifting arm with a counterweight at the end.
In other words, in order for the heart of the Great Pyramid to function, the counterweight had to be sufficiently lifted up. If the arm and the counterweight wouldn’t be raised efficiently, there wouldn’t be any beating at all; and that is the real meaning of the weighing of the heart ceremony: the deceased had to prove he was strong enough and worthy enough to lift the counterweight and make his heart beating.
Vintage Letter Scale, with lifting arm, counterweight and protractor-like reading strip: https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/1883224043/vintage-letter-scale-antique-postal
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