-Caveat Lector- >From The Irish Times, http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/world/1999/1130/wor5.htm - Tuesday, November 30, 1999 Pyramids to rent for New Age pilgrims EGYPT: Late at night, long after the last foot-sore tourists have headed back to their hotels, pilgrims of a different kind gather silently at the Great Pyramid of Giza. Forty-four souls, assembled from as far afield as the United States, Britain, Norway, New Zealand and Israel, patiently await security clearance before ascending to the 4,500-year-old structure, whose meaning has confounded minds for centuries. The crackle of Egyptian police walkie-talkies occasionally punctures the serenity, but these New Age pilgrims are unperturbed. For them, the night vigil is a homecoming. "We are a group of people from around the world who have come to spend some time with Ma in Israel and Egypt," says Mr George Riemer, a stockbroker from Bend, Oregon. "The one thing we have in common is that we are all seekers of truth." Chalanda Ma is the group's Indian-born, California-based guru. A small, intense woman draped in a white sari, she explains the significance of the Great Pyramid. "The pyramids carry the consciousness, the constant of light. It is a pure vehicle of light and harvests those seeking for the light and who come here with the knowledge. Space will activate their energy," she says. Her group has no name. "I have no beliefs, I do not function with beliefs. In the word belief, there is the word lie, and for me this is not the truth," she says. Ma leads her followers in a twohour ritual in the King's Room in the heart of the Great Pyramid. "Ask yourself, are you committed to yourself, to God? Do you have the willpower to love yourself, and God? Are you following the path of light, or of darkness?" she asks, eyes closed, her voice resonating in the chamber. One by one her devotees lie down in a lidless granite sarcophagus. "Heal!" Ma exhorts, striking it with a metal rod, as her acolytes produce an eerie drone from musical bell-jars.The session ends in the Queen's Room, where the group meditates, humming in unison. As they activate their energy, an electricity generator powering the lights drones in the background. Down the corridor come the faint sounds of the guards chatting in the entrance. "It's just like coming home, that's all I can say. Amazing," says one follower from Israel, summing up the general feeling afterwards. This is her first visit to Egypt. "But I know I have been here before, in ancient times," she adds. If the antiquities authorities at the Giza pyramids find such groups odd, they are not saying so out loud. Parties of 15 pay 3,600 Egyptian pounds (about £1,200), and another 70 pounds for each additional person, to have the Great Pyramid to themselves for three hours. Chalanda Ma and her retinue paid 5,630 pounds for their chance to commune with truth. Antiquities officials say about 40 groups a month have been renting the pyramid for New Age rituals in the run-up to the next millennium, and they expect business to double in 2000. "This year has been the highest, because of the millennium. Next year there will be perhaps 2,000 people per month," says Mr Ahmed al-Haggar, chief inspector at the Giza Pyramids. But all visits, day and night, to the interiors will stop from midDecember until January 1st, as plans unfold for a spectacular New Year's Eve concert at the pyramids arranged by French musician Jean-Michel Jarre. Giza plateau director Mr Zahi Hawass said security concerns lay behind the decision to bar access to the inner chambers. "New Year is big - everyone wants to be here in front of the Pyramids," he said. The unpredictable could not be ruled out. Last year a German tourist jumped to his death from the Cairo tower in the belief that a visit he had just made to the Pyramids would keep him safe. Mr Hawass also finds his patience tried by what he calls the "pyramidiots" - theorists who accuse the Egyptian authorities of concealing the truth about the origins of the monuments. "When people come and meditate there is no problem. But there are those who really are nuts, fill the Internet with lies and think we are hiding evidence about the lost civilisation. "The pyramidiots want to steal the pyramids for themselves," he says. "But I don't mean that those who meditate inside the pyramids are pyramidiots," he adds. "They are nice people and they should be respected." - (Reuters) -- Dan S DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. 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