Sokar

Also present is the god Heka holding the twin uraei serpents (symbolic of the two channels known by the Hindus as the pingala and ida) which are crossed over each other at the centre of his body (the central sushumna channel) creating an X. 
Again, according to the Pyramid Texts, Heka came into existence before duality began.
On top of his head and perched on a pedestal is the backend of a lion - indicating that he is the son of the goddess Sehkmet. 
The diagonal cross and the loop-shaped backend of the lion, is strikingly reminiscent of the Christian, Chi-Rho symbol. 
We find some interesting connections in the following commentary about Sokar; the egg, the seed of creation, the crucial point in the cycles and “all the cyclic aspects of nature originating from this point”: 
Sokar's sanctuary was again called Rostau, (R'-sTA.w) “the doors of the corridors” or “mouth of the passages” – in any case, we can gather that Rostau - the ancient name for Giza - was seen as a ‘gateway’ or portal between worlds, a direct link to the Underworld. 
Other versions of the ancient name for Giza are Rustau and Rasetjau. 
Some researchers or scholars have even spelled it as ‘Rosetau’ – not realising, or for some reason not publishing, the obvious connection this name has with the Rose Cross of the Rosicrucians.
The Sun symbol representing the bindu point above the head in Hindu depictions of the Kundalini chakra system is the Eye of Ra, flanked here by two Udjat eyes – the two Eyes of Horus – Solar and Lunar – representing the left and right brain opposites.
Again, the right eye connected to the male-related left hemisphere of the brain is also associated with Ra, the Sun, while the left eye connected to the right hemisphere is associated with Thoth, the Moon.
The two eyes and the ‘Sun symbol’ are also related to the three components of the third eye – Pineal (right eye of Horus) Pituitary (left eye of Horus) and Thalamus (Ra Sun symbol) within the centre of the brain.
We are being told that activation of the “third eye”, also allows one to leave the body and travel “astrally” through the heavens as an orb of light (Sun symbol).
This is evidenced in the wings of the snake held by Sokar who is about to depart on the serpent – he becoming one with the serpent energy of the Kundalini.
“. . . The image of your majesty [the Sun] is inside Sokar”.*
Like Osiris Sokar was a god of the Underworld and was depicted with green skin, and again like Osiris, Sokar is said to have been the archetypal “Green Man”* of many cultures.
This pagan element is primarily shamanistic in origin, symbolising ‘rebirth’ and the triumph of life after death and is directly associated with the growth of plants and vegetation in Spring, which in turn is associated with the rebirth point in the cycle and after the Winter season associated with death:
Being shamanic in origin, the green skin could also be associated with the indigenous plants exemplified in the symbolic ‘Garden of Eden’ and the psychoactive substances found therein, which facilitated the shaman’s entry into the trance state and altered states of consciousness, therefore assisting in man’s evolution.
Sokar is also depicted with the head of a falcon or hawk like Horus - the son and reincarnation of Osiris.
Also, at Memphis, Egypt, Sokar was a creator god like the father god Ptah, and was god of craftsmen and also an Earth, fertility and agricultural god. 
According to authors of Christ in Egypt,* Sokar or Seker was a distinct god but was also a form of both Horus and Osiris – as well the Creator god Ptah. 
*Christ in Egypt: The Horus-Jesus Connection by D. M. Murdock, Acharya S.
This may all seem confusing, but the thing we should remember here is that these gods, who were also associated with the Sun, personified the shamanic experience and perhaps even point to a real person (hero-heru) in history whose story is a model; an archetypal example of one having attained and experienced this ‘energy’ or ‘enlightenment phenomenon’ and who utilized the pyramid for shamanic ‘ascension’ purposes.
There is the possibility that each god was superseded by a charismatic individual that possibly once lived, and in whom it was observed possessed spiritual wisdom, and so was attributed the powers of the previous gods – later becoming revered as a god himself. 
Sokar is actually synonymous with the Hindu god Bhrama who represented balance and stability, and so like Bhrama who was central within the ‘sacred triad’ along with the gods, Shiva (creation) and Kali (death), during the Middle Kingdom, Sokar was included in the composite deity, Ptah-Sokar-Osiris – representing the three aspects of the universe: Creation (Ptah), Stability-balance-neutral point (Sokar), and Death (Osiris). 
In any case, we really don’t need to go over the same old ground; trying to find the original ‘Messiah,’ ‘Christ’ or ‘Anointed one: all we need do is identify the very experience related to the deeper understanding of the phenomenon behind the term ‘anointment’ – and by which it was believed, one was “anointed by God” and really all these symbolic devices, gods, goddesses, avatars and heroes, are all pointers, requesting that we do just this.
It must be emphasised that the epithet of ‘Christ’ is merely a title that applies to any gifted Avatar or person of profound wisdom – his or her wisdom being the result of an extraordinary experience by which one is, or becomes, “anointed.”
One of the most quoted psalms from the Bible is Psalm 23 and in the 5th verse we find this line.
“ . . . thou anointest my head with oil and my cup runneth over”. (Psalms 23:5).
Yes the 23.5 reference here could be a coincidence, but personally, it speaks volumes to me as if it has reached across the void of a few thousand years to make its significance known to me right here, and right now, and as I write this. 
The connections are highly synchronistic, in that both the verse and the number of the verse are meaningfully connected, as if cleverly encoded to only make sense many generations later and at the right time.
The term, ‘Christ’ is originally rooted in both the Egyptian word Karast, meaning, ‘Anoint’ – i.e., caress with oil – and the Chaldean word Chris meaning, ‘Sun’. 
It also stems directly from the Greek christos – equivalent to the Hebrew word messias, as in the term ‘Messiah’ – both terms meaning, “Anointed one” – i.e., a person who is ‘anointed’ by God.
As most of us will know, Frankincense, Myrrh and Gold were given as gifts to the baby Jesus by the ‘Three Wise Men’ or Magi – whom I might add, are also said to be connected with the ‘three belt stars’ of Orion to which the Great Pyramids of Giza are aligned – according to Robert Bauval’s Theory.
However, as we can see, it appears that this connection was known long before Robert realised it in recent times.
The two ‘anointing oils,’ Frankincense and Myrrh, and the third gift of Gold, are really metaphorical – again, encoded information associated with the ‘enlightenment experience’ and the internal processes through which the ‘division’ in mind and consciousness is healed, and internally.
Exactly what the two oils stand for and symbolise are the Pineal and Pituitary glands, which secret chemicals (oil).
Again, the Gold, which is symbolic of enlightenment and illumination and the higher spiritual self of man, symbolises the Thalamus at the centre of the brain - the Inner Sun, (the Chris) which is what the Sun god really personified.

The Gods created mankind as slaves to mine gold... Gold as in spiritual awakening: the ultimate reward of divine balance.

The Sun symbol or circumpunct (circle with a dot at the centre) again takes its rightful place here and is shown above the head of this ancient Egyptian deity who resembles the images of Sokar or Seker standing on the back of a winged serpent as shown in the wall painting below.
This is the “feathered Serpent” of the Meso-American civilizations such as the Maya and the Aztecs.
The god Sokar about to astrally ascend to the stars, and like the figure on the right, said to be the goddess “time” who is riding a serpent – the ten stars related to the 10 hours that have already passed.
This goddess riding the serpent may have been the archetype for the Witch who wears a peaked hat (a reference to the vortex which spirals upwards to its center – the bindu-point) and rides (astral travel) a broomstick – also symbolising the spinal column and the serpent energy of the risen Kundalini.
It’s interesting that there are no texts whatsoever inside the Great Pyramid or the other pyramids at Giza. 
But ten miles southeast of Giza, and on the desert plateau of Saqqara (named in honour of the falcon-headed god Sokar), stand five pyramids built for the Pharaohs Unas, Teti 1, Pepi 1, Merenre 1, and Pepi 2. 
On the walls of the chambers of these pyramids are over four thousand vertical columns of hieroglyphs. 
The Saqqara site was first explored in 1839 by John Shae Perring (1813 – 1869) the British Engineer, anthropologist and Egyptologist who excavated Giza with British Army Colonel, and archaeologist Richard William Howard-Vyse (1784–1872).
In 1880, the Head of Antiquities in Cairo, Gaston Maspero (1846–1916), opened the pyramid of Pepi I at Saqqara and to his surprise discovered that the walls of the sarcophagus chamber were literally covered in inscriptions.
The Pyramid Texts are considered the oldest known religious writings known to mankind - dated to between ca. 2400-2300 BCE. 
The pyramids at Saqqara are said to date from between the 5th and 6th dynasties, but the Pyramid Texts, are said to date from the 2nd dynasty to the 6th. 
The discovery of these texts would later be attributed to French scholar Auguste Mariette (1821–1881) who directed Maspero, but who died the following year. 
Unlike the pyramids of Giza, the architectural structure of four out of the five pyramids at Saqqara were found to be damaged and/or unstable. 
However, the Pyramid of Unas, which belonged to the Pharaoh Unas or Wenis, (the ninth and last king of the 5th dynasty of the Old kingdom), is the only pyramid where the texts can still be viewed on-site and are as clear today as when they were first carved on the polished walls. 
Although there is public access to the chambers to view these texts, the pyramid itself lays in ruins on the Saqqara Plateau.
The Pyramid texts are a collection of hieroglyphic inscriptions; magic spells and formulas, written to protect the dead person on the journey into the afterlife – or so it is believed. 
It is also believed that these inscriptions (passwords) were intended to be spoken and recited by the deceased Pharaoh during his journey into the Underworld or “otherworld”, thus enabling him to pass through different levels of this inner realm and navigate around various obstacles.
The use of these magical formulas – which amount to over 200 – are likely to be shamanic in origin, as they supposedly allowed the subject to shapeshift like the shaman (an internal experience) into different mythical creatures while under the protection of the gods so as to reach the abode of the gods and become a god.
The Pyramid Texts themselves state almost unequivocally that the pyramids were the kas of the Pharaohs; an extension of the primeval mound on which the ben ben seed stones had once sat. 
They tell us in no uncertain terms that it was the gods who built the pyramids and that the king or Pharaoh used it as an instrument of ascension. 
As authors like W.M. Fix suggest (see Starmaps, 1979), the purpose of these texts need not have been to guide the dead, but could have also been used by someone alive and for the purpose of shamanic trance-state experiences – what we would recognise today to be astral-travel – i.e., OBEs (Out of Body Experiences) – to ascend to the stars. 
Amongst these texts are the ‘glorifications’ – the sabu (associated with the star constellation of Orion) which makes one into an akh – a Shining One.
As I mentioned many times in the book The Shining Ones (2006), ‘Akh’ is the ancient Egyptian term for the ‘spiritual centre’ or ‘source of creation’ and means ‘light’ ‘shining’. 
Today we would refer to this as the ‘centre of the collective consciousness’ or ‘cosmic consciousness’ – and as we can see, the term ‘god’ would apply, as Akh is the highest point reached while experiencing Kundalini enlightenment. 
So we can see that the Pyramid Texts are magickal formulae with the purpose to transform a man into a god. 
It could be interpreted also that the individual experiences illumination and enlightenment – the same experience shared by the Shining Ones culture who seemed to know all about this rare human experience as expressed in the Hindu Sanskrit scriptures and mainly because they were an advanced people whose power, influence and knowledge had evolved directly from the experience of the shaman and the influence the shaman had over his tribe. 
We will be returning to these texts, as the new interpretations given by Clesson H. Harvey, reveals that these texts were associated with the enlightenment phenomenon as understood by the ancient Egyptians and no doubt based on what they had learned from this predynastic shamanic priesthood, the Akhu or Shemsu Hor . . . Shining Ones. 
Although Harvey’s interpretations have been ignored by most Egyptologists, his interpretations are what I would come to expect, with other evidence pointing to the conclusion that these texts are really about the internal experiences of the shaman and attaining enlightenment and immortality, and that this is one of the reasons why the Great Pyramid was built and what it was utilised for. 
The location of the Pyramid of Unas is close to the famous “step pyramid,” which is still standing and in a relatively good condition – which is quite astonishing really considering the fact that Egyptologists believe this is the first pyramid in Egypt ever built. 
The step Pyramid is said to have been built by the innovative architect and physician Imhotep, for king Djoser (Zoser), the 1st Pharaoh of the Third Dynasty.
Djoser’s pyramid was essentially the result of building one massive mastaba on top of another, resulting in a six-tiered ‘stepped pyramid’ structure. 
It was Imhotep, considered one of the greatest physicians and scientists in Egyptian history, who first introduced the use of ‘dressed stone’ in these early construction projects. 
Again, the orthodox belief is that since this time there appears to have been a successive progression towards the construction of the ‘perfect pyramid’, culminating in the relative perfection of the Great Pyramid at Giza.
In any case, there is also a hint that Imhotep had access to secret sacred texts that perhaps provided the inspiration behind Djoser’s pyramid at Saqqara and possibly the Great Pyramid of Giza.
In the colonnade of the Temple of Horus at Edfu we find this intriguing statement: 
The meaning of the name Sokar is unclear. 
Suggestions include: skr“cleaning the mouth”, associated with “Opening of the Mouth” ceremony – a funerary ritual in the Coffin Texts; also zkrw, meaning ‘speeder’ and sy-k-ri, “hurry to me” - the cry for help later uttered by Osiris to Isis. 
Others suggest the name means “the adorned one”. 
It is said that Sokar . . . 
Sokar preceded Osiris as a god of the Underworld and continued to do so – even when the two gods became syncretized as one single deity, as was often the case with similar gods and goddesses. 
Perhaps the earliest ‘Christ figure’ one can find, and one who is most likely the original Shamanic priest/god archetype behind the ‘Messiah mythos’ of the ancient Middle East, is a mysterious ancient Egyptian god named Sokar, Sekar or Seker . . . “He of Rostau”* being one of many descriptions attributed to this most ancient deity. 
In Greek he is known as Socharis or Sokaris. 
Sokar is said to be a form of - or rather a pre-incarnation - of the god Osiris, as well as his son, the falcon god Horus. 
Sokar appears to have been an early syncretised version of both Osiris and Horus), and I say he is ‘mysterious’, because we really don’t possess a lot of information about him. 
What we do know is this:
Sokar is said to be one of the oldest and most venerated gods of ancient Egypt, his veneration possibly going back to predynastic times, which makes him very ancient indeed.
Sokar was primarily worshipped in Memphis, the ancient capital of Egypt. 
The ‘Sanctuary’ or ‘Dominion’ of Sokar was ROSTAU (R’-sTA.w), which is said to be the necropolis of Giza and where of course the Great Pyramids and the Sphinx are located; however, we are reminded by Egyptologists that ‘Rostau’ is a name that could apply to any necropolis.
The ancient burial ground of Saqqara or Sakkâra which served as the necropolis for Memphis, was most likely named after Soker who is also frequently mentioned in the Pyramid Texts at Saqqara.
Sokar
Gary Osborn
“They [the temples] were built according to an architectural plan which was supposed to have been revealed in a codex that came from the heavens at Saqqara in the days of Imhotep.”
The Egyptians by Cyril Aldred, 1961, p.32
Gate of God
In other illustrations, just his hawk or falcon head is visible emerging from the top of the ‘primordial mound’, as symbolised by the pyramid structure, usually placed at the centre of a henu barque (a solar boat).
(“He of Rostau” . . . “Lord of the Secret Place”)
The Pyramid Texts
“ . . . was the deification of the act of separating the Ba and Ka from the Ha, roughly the separation of soul from the body, after death. This was said to be enabled by the funerary ceremony of opening the mouth, and thus Seker was given his name, meaning cleaning of the mouth. The Ba and Ka, or the personality and the life force would be reunited as a kind of enlightened entity, or Akh”.
The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt by Richard H. Wilkinson, (Thames and Hudson 2003), pp.209.
‘There are two schools of thought as to the underlying symbolism of the death-and-resurrection motif. It may be a response to the natural cycle of the seasons, particularly in the temperate and northern realms, in which winter brings a very clear apparent death of most vegetation, and spring is an almost miraculous resurrection of green. Alternatively, it could be a subconscious representation of the process of ego death, which is a necessary first step in personal psychological transformation, and the subsequent upwelling of newly-released life energy once the transformation is complete’.
Joesph Robert Jochmans.
‘Memphite Creation beliefs held that the first Creation was through Ptah-Sokar, with his symbolic egg shaped dome the egg/seed of first creation, all the cyclic aspects of nature originated from this point, including that of the Sun, and the rebirth correspondent with its cycles, the Horus Kings upon the Earth effectively reigned through the power of the Great Lord of the Heavens’ .
Source: (After a transliteration and German translation on the Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae website: 
Old Agyptisches Dictionary, Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften, PT 532).
Interestingly, we are told that Sokar was a tutelary god of meteors and comets and the patron god of Goldsmiths (again the association with Gold – the final phase of the ‘Great Work’ known as Alchemy). 
The ‘Smithy’ Blacksmith, who worked with fire to transform matter, was the brother of the Shaman – the “shaman smithy” – in that they shared a common attribute associated with ‘transformation’ on all levels.
In some ancient Egyptian illustrations, Sokar is also shown standing on the back of a winged serpent about to ascend towards the heavens and from the base or somewhere beneath the primeval mound or ‘mound of creation’, also called the Omphalos at the centre of the world.
This really describes the Great Pyramid and here we see a powerful image of Sokar who looks as if he is about to ascend to the apex of this primordial mound or pyramid. 
The primordial mound is also represented by the Omphalos-shaped, black Void above which is flanked by two birds (Kites) and has a Tau Cross sticking out the top of it as if conveying the message that the primordial mound of creation over which the Pyramid has been built, is really a swirling vortex – a description which can be understood today. 
This illustration also commemorates “the first time of the age of the Gods” according to researcher Joseph Robert Jochmans.
 

Figure 5: Photo taken of one of the details from the “Eleventh Hour of the Duat” – one of the many wall paintings found inside the tomb of Thutmosis III. Source: “The Serpent of the Earth becomes Celestial . . .” From Christian Jacq (1993), p. 99.

Figure 6: Statue or cult icon of the god Sokar with head emerging from the primordial mound in his Henu-barque (hnw – also meaning “praise”). An artist's rendition of an ancient Egyptian depiction, dating from the period of Ramesses III, who reigned 1185-1153 BCE, (Dynasty 20, late New Kingdom).

Figure 7: Sokar laying prone inside the seven-stepped mound or pyramid, surmounted by the god Osiris.
 

Figure 8: A rendition of one of the details from the “Fifth Hour of the Duat” – one of the many wall paintings from the “Book of the Secret Room” found inside the tomb of the 18th Dynasty, New Kingdom Pharaoh, Thutmosis III, who ruled Egypt between 1504 and 1450 BC. 
The tomb was discovered in the Valley of the Kings (tomb KV 34) in 1898 by Victor Loret’s workmen.
This ancient Egyptian illustration is known as“The Fifth Hour of the Amduat” or Duat (Underworld).
Note the head of the raised ‘Kundalini goddess’, taking the place of the apex. 
Note also, the scarab beetle god Kheper or Khepri associated with the Sun – the ‘Inner Sun’ – entering or exiting the Void of creation.
We shall discover in the following presentation that Khepri also symbolises the Thalamus, but rather the connection the thalamus has with the seventh chakra and the bindu point above the head - again also known by the Hindus as the Void.
These additions to the image symbolise the raised or ascended consciousness of Sokar himself and this is what is being conveyed.
Compare the image of Khepri who is shown half inside the Void with the image below.  
This image first appeared in an edition of The New Scientist, (1998).
This edition of the magazine featured articles exclusively about the ‘Nothing’ Void in terms of Free Energy, Zero-Point Energy and the Zero in mathematics.

Again, we can compare the above with what the scarab beetle is doing in the ancient Egyptian image.
This image, although not in any way meant to be associated with the above ancient Egyptian illustrations, is apt nevertheless, and seems to suggest a subconscious acknowledgement of what all of us know deep down at the unconscious level. 
We could say that the man is shown entering the ‘Unconscious’ – his own and that of the collective - and that this is a modern-day version of what is being symbolically conveyed in the ancient Egyptian illustrations of an individual entering the Duat or ‘Underworld’ and using something within the brain, as represented by the beetle god Khepri, to achieve it.
This “something” within the brain is again the central Thalamus which actually resembles a scarab beetle; a connection that the ancient Egyptians were well aware of so it appears.
Its not surprising then to discover that the god Sokar was also depicted with a scarab beetle standing on his head, representing the scarab beetle god Khepri – associated with the Rising Sun. 
In the following illustrative example we again see the same “matchstick-man” image of Sokar, this time with a scarab beetle above his head.
He is also surrounded by a five-headed serpent – again associated with the risen energy of the Kundalini through the chakras, as depicted in Hindu art as seven cobra heads rearing up over the back of the head of an avatar or Naga god – a Hindu ‘shining one’.

A man is seen entering the Void – a ‘Stargate’ portal or ‘wormhole’.

Despite the idea that it may one day be possible to enter into other worlds or realities – i.e., ‘alternate, or parallel universes’, and perhaps as theorised, through an Einstein-Rosen Bridge ‘wormhole’ or vortex – it is a fact that man is able to do this already and has been doing this since humans first walked on this planet and with the power of his own consciousness.

Every human is really a ‘Stargate’, which means that every one of us has the ability – although it lays dormant in most of us – to access other levels of consciousness; retrieve information, transcend time and space; even experience other worlds internally.

This is naturally achieved through the hypnagogic state (the Neutral Point in consciousness) – otherwise known as ekstasis or the ‘shamanic trance state’.

Simple meditation is of course an introduction to these internal experiences.

Shamanic experience, altered states of consciousness, reached either by accident or voluntarily through use of hallucinogens; the accounts of Near-Death, Out of Body, Remote Viewing experiences, and all manner of mystical, paranormal phenomena right on up to enlightenment itself which has been behind the religious impulse of mankind throughout history, all attest to this fact.

 The above illustrates an internal experience; access of the Void within one's own consciousness; a point which exists between worlds and which could relate to the physical “blackhole” theorised by our astrophysicists, but more in terms of consciousness – that the physical blackhole is but a mere projection/reflection of the source within  to which most of us are experientially unconscious.

Figure 10: The large Pinecone flanked by two birds positioned at the entrance to the Vatican in Rome.

. . but what's behind this facade?

At the top of the stairs and behind the pinecone sculpture is an open, ancient Egyptian-styled sarcophagus.

Figure 11: The ancient Egyptian sarcophagus behind the pinecone positioned at the entrance to the Vatican in Rome.

Figure 12: The god Sokar with the beetle god Khepri above his head at the location of the Bindu. 
From The Sixth Hour of the Amduat – also from the tomb of Thutmosis III.
Here, the beetle god Kheper or Khepri (the Rising Sun) takes the place of the Ra ‘Sun disk’ often worn on the heads of other deities, and also the ‘circumpunct sun symbol’ (Eye of Ra) as shown above Sokar’s head in the illustration above.
The ‘sun symbol’ or circumpunct is given reference as the Oculus of dome buildings and like the one which George Washington sits beneath, the circumpunct or solar symbol of the oculus is above his head like the ‘solar disk’ we see above the head of Sokar.
Again, this is the location of the Bindu point; however, in this illustration, the scarab beetle (Khepri) is being used here to further one’s knowledge. In other words it is a symbolic device conveying the organ or area within the centre of the brain - the thalamus - through which one is spiritually connected to the Bindu – the Void or Source-Center of consciousness. 
Could this ‘codex from the heavens’ have been the ‘Geometric Formula’ containing the “proportions of the universe” that 32nd-Degree Mason Frank C. Higgins had written about so extensively?
It would certainly appear so, as this is exactly what this statement from the Temple walls of Edfu says.
Again, Sokar is the god whose name was most likely given to Saqqara, and so there is indeed a link between this god and the codex or ‘geometric formula’ containing the proportions of the universe and on which the architectural geometry of the Great Pyramid was based.
The Pyramid Texts are profoundly metaphysical and are certainly shamanic in origin, and we find that the symbolism and attributes relating to Sokar, who is mentioned in the Pyramid Texts, along with the gods, Osiris, Horus, Thoth, and Ra, means that he embodies many, if not all, of the metaphysical, qualities, abilities and powers expressed in the Pyramid Texts. 
The Metaphysical Attributes of Sokar
Sokar is also shown seated on a throne and also in mummiform; laying prone.
In the image below we see Sokar laying prone inside a seven-tiered, stepped pyramid with the Sun disk at the apex, surmounted by a large risen serpent whose striped body resembles the striped steps of the pyramid, indicating that the pyramid and its seven levels is also associated with the same serpent.
Sokar was described or referred to as the “Great God with his Two Wings Opened”.*
Or “the great god who spreads his wings, with multicoloured plumes”, and was called the “Guardian God of the Door to the Underworld”, the “Lord of the Secret Place” (StA.yt),*
And also like the falcon god Horus, who was later associated with the Horizon, Sokar was also “Lord of the Horizon”.*
In the Amduat, Sokar is named as “He who is upon his sand”.*
Through the symbolism being displayed here, we are possibly being told that the sarcophagus wasn't always used as a coffin for the dead; that it was also used as an initiation chamber or deprivation tank, to access altered states of consciousness associated with the 'third eye', pineal gland as symbolised by the pinecone - initiating a shamanic, astral, near-death experience. The objective of the shaman-priest-king was to access the Source-Centre of Creation - the heavenly kingdom within.
One of the secrets of the Freemasons has always been To learn how to die before you die.
The theory that the pyramids were not tombs but were used as shamanic initiation temples, has recently been presented in the book, 'Shamanic Wisdom in the Pyramid Texts: The Mystical Tradition of Ancient Egypt', by Jeremy Naydler, (Inner Traditions), 2005. 
Figure 11: The ancient Egyptian sarcophagus behind the pinecone positioned at the entrance to the Vatican in Rome.
. . . but what's behind this facade?
At the top of the stairs and behind the pinecone sculpture is an open, ancient Egyptian-styled sarcophagus.
Figure 10: The large Pinecone flanked by two birds positioned at the entrance to the Vatican in Rome.
A man is seen entering the Void – a ‘Stargate’ portal or ‘wormhole’.
Despite the idea that it may one day be possible to enter into other worlds or realities – i.e., ‘alternate, or parallel universes’, and perhaps as theorised, through an Einstein-Rosen Bridge ‘wormhole’ or vortex – it is a fact that man is able to do this already and has been doing this since humans first walked on this planet and with the power of his own consciousness.
Every human is really a ‘Stargate’, which means that every one of us has the ability – although it lays dormant in most of us – to access other levels of consciousness; retrieve information, transcend time and space; even experience other worlds internally.
This is naturally achieved through the hypnagogic state (the Neutral Point in consciousness) – otherwise known as ekstasis or the ‘shamanic trance state’. 
Simple meditation is of course an introduction to these internal experiences. 
Shamanic experience, altered states of consciousness, reached either by accident or voluntarily through use of hallucinogens; the accounts of Near-Death, Out of Body, Remote Viewing experiences, and all manner of mystical, paranormal phenomena right on up to enlightenment itself which has been behind the religious impulse of mankind throughout history, all attest to this fact.
The above illustrates an internal experience; access of the Void within one's own consciousness; a point which exists between worlds and which could relate to the physical “blackhole” theorised by our astrophysicists, but more in terms of consciousness – that the physical blackhole is but a mere projection/reflection of the source within to which most of us are experientially unconscious.
The following insights were inspired by a discussion I had with Dr. Mark Gray.
Below is a photo of the entrance to the Vatican at Rome. 
At the top, between the two approaching rows of steps is a huge pinecone. 
Compare the details in this photo with the ancient Egyptian image on the right. 
Many of the features are almost identical. 
Like the Void, which is flanked by two kite birds in the ancient Egyptian wall painting on the right, the symbolic pinecone - symbolically associated as it is with the pineal gland; altered states of consciousness and therefore the transcendental void - is flanked by two peacocks. 
The steps leading up on each side are like the sloping sides of the primordial mound, and beneath both we see twin lions front to front, or back to back as the Sphinxes are in the ancient Egyptian image. 

Figure 4: The god Sokar in his syncretised form of Ptah-Sokar-Osiris.
Here we see the falcon-headed Sokar, wrapped in a white shroud like the gods Ptah and Osiris.
He is also holding the Crook and Flail (symbolising the opposites) which are positioned on both sides of the central Was Scepter, which symbolises Power over Death. There is evidence to suggest that the Was Scepter was symbolic of the central sushumna channel within the spine, through which the Kundalini energy rises from the root chakra. If so then the Crook and Flail also symbolise the dual opposite energies associated with the Hindu Pingala and Ida channels. (See here:)
Figure 6: Statue or cult icon of the god Sokar with head emerging from the primordial mound in his Henu-barque (hnw – also meaning “praise”). 
An artist's rendition of an ancient Egyptian depiction, dating from the period of Ramesses III, who reigned 1185-1153 BCE, (Dynasty 20, late New Kingdom). 
Scarab Beetle Khepri