The Temple of Rebis (By Marlene Seven Bremner)
​
This story begins many centuries ago, in a vast expanse of barren desert where the sun beat down upon parched, cracked earth. In this desolate landscape, a temple had been built like no other. Here, the boundaries between the microcosm and macrocosm, the earthly and divine, the inner and the outer dissolved completely, creating a liminal and sacred space of attunement. It was called the Temple of Rebis, and its carefully encoded design functioned to transmit ancient seeds of wisdom to those ready to receive.
In its original form, the temple was constructed by a group of enlightened alchemists, astrologers, magicians, and spiritual adepts who sought to encapsulate the secrets and wisdom gifted to humanity by the gods. This knowledge, long forgotten, could be awakened in the uninitiated through the power of symbols. Thus, they set out to construct a site that would transcend the infertile desert and bring inner divinity to life, a place of communion, learning, and healing. In their ancient wisdom, they designed it in such a way to induce a trance state within all who entered, that they could experience the union of the Above and Below for themselves, coming to understand the immense power of Nature as it reflects and radiates the Unified energy of the Divine.
Like a mirage, it emerged from the desert sands in a circular arrangement reflecting the all-encompassing circle of the cosmos, its structures in the fundamental geometric shapes of spheres, cubes, and pyramids. From above, its shape evoked the symbol of the Sun and consciousness unified with the Cross of Matter and the quarters of the directions and elements. Its outer circle was composed of 28 altars dedicated to the Moon’s phases and further to various planetary and natural forces.
Each part of the temple was adorned with intricate carvings and symbols in honor of the celestial bodies and the gods, intentionally designed to facilitate divine communion within those who entered. Magical and alchemical symbols within its design worked upon receptive minds to catalyze inner transmutations and a connection to the Divine Androgyne, a harmonious union of polarized forces within the self. Within the innermost sanctum of the temple lay a grand pyramid altar, a dedication to the divine and the focalization of the temple’s energies.
In its original time, the Temple of Rebis was renowned as a library of the ancient esoteric arts. The magical, alchemical, and astrological wisdom housed within attracted scholars, mystics, and seekers from across the ancient world. Here, they delved into the mysteries of the universe and continued to contribute to the temple’s repository of arcane knowledge. Magical rituals were enacted to invoke and draw down the celestial divinities into its forms with the use of incantations, sacred fumigations, and offerings. Alchemical laboratories were established wherein the most skilled alchemists unlocked the secrets of transmutation of the philosopher’s stone and the elixir of immortality. Astrologers divined the fates of individuals and nations within its circular domain, and paid homage to the planetary spheres and the sphere of fixed stars.
But the temple could not withstand the shifting winds of change. War ravaged the surrounding lands, promulgated by patriarchal forces seeking domination, power, and wealth. Prophets residing at the temple foresaw its imminent desecration. In their wisdom, the magicians of the temple worked together to perform a powerful ritual for its protection, casting a magical cloak of invisibility over the entire structure. Thus, the Temple of Rebis was hidden from the invading armies and saved from destruction by profane hands, but lost to the ages. All that could be seen were the shimmering sands of the desert.
Centuries passed, armies came and went, civilizations rose, flourished, and decayed, and all the while, the temple lay concealed within its magical shroud. Then, just last year, the temple was reawakened by a serendipitous twist of fate when an unwitting traveler stumbled upon a great treasure in the deserts of Egypt. It was an ancient artifact emerging from the sands, and its reflective surface caught the eye of the traveler as they walked along in contemplation. Digging the artifact out of the sand, they discovered it was a round, circular sphere, covered entirely with a reflective glass-like material.
Not knowing what it was, but recognizing its sacred and powerful nature, the traveler brought the mirrored sphere to the yearly gathering known as Burning Man. There was one attendee who recognized the sphere for what it was—the Sphere of Mercury, a sanctified sphere filled with purified mercury, a legendary artifact from ancient times said to awaken unified consciousness and provide great healing to all those who beheld it. A council was formed to understand the purpose of the Sphere in its reemergence from the sands of time. Drawn by intuition, they found a quiet spot in the open desert, and they gathered round the Sphere in meditative contemplation.
All at once, through the combined powers of their focus, the Sphere began to gently hum and vibrate. Suddenly, large shapes began to appear around the council, as the Temple of Rebis re-emerged into the world, its cloak of invisibility dissipating with the activation of the Sphere of Mercury, which now appeared as part of the temple’s central and most hallowed altar.
The central altar manifested as a six-foot cube, hermetically sealed and filled with a magnificent array of flowers, once carefully picked from ancient gardens for their healing qualities. Above the cube there stood an elongated pyramid reaching for the heavens. At its apex now rested the mirrored Sphere of Mercury, suspended by magical means, and above it, a downward pointing pyramid reflecting the one below. This altar was thereby a symbolic union of the Above and Below, facilitated by the unifying powers of the Sphere of Mercury. Here, energy forces converged, drawing spiritual power from the celestial spheres above and unifying them with natural energies of the earth.
The central altar was adorned with precious gemstones, minerals, and herbs, carefully selected for their various correspondences with heavenly energies. All devout visitors to the temple brought with them offerings—rare herbs, alchemical elixirs, sacred minerals—which they added to the central altar and dedicated to the divinities. Their devotion and the power of their intentions and prayers were channeled through the temple’s geometry, transmuting their humble offerings into a potent force of healing that radiated outward from the temple.
Once again, the Temple of Rebis stood as a beacon for alchemists, magicians, astrologers, healers, artists, scholars, and all seekers of natural and divine wisdom. Its celestial design of cubes, pyramids, and spheres came to life with the whispers of forgotten wisdom, a sanctuary for reverent souls to experience the transcendent union of opposites evoked through its energetic resonance. All reverent and holy minds who entered its hallowed halls felt the union of the Sun and Moon within their own soul, awakening the Divine Androgyne within for a fully integrated harmonization of life energies.
The Temple of Rebis, for all its great powers and holy wisdom, had a destiny of its own. Though it was constructed by pious hands in ancient times, its true purpose and destiny was to be an incorporeal temple hidden within the souls of every human being. New prophets of the temple perceived in their visions this greater purpose of the temple, and how it must come to pass. In their divined wisdom, they knew that the temple must be sacrificed to the flame to be resurrected in its ultimate incorporeal form, alive within the All-Soul, and thus within every soul, only to be awakened by those ready for its powers.
With great reverence, the people gathered within the Temple of Rebis to pay homage and to celebrate the eternal cycle of creation and destruction, honoring the impermanence of earthly existence and the eternal essence of the All. Night descended and darkness enshrouded the temple, the stars above glistening like so many knowing eyes watching from afar.
Beginning with one of the outer altars dedicated to the Moon’s phases, the people lit the temple aflame. As the fire spread from one Moon altar to the next, the people danced in somber contemplation of the impermanence of all things. The flames consumed the outer circumference, the circle of the All, and moved inward. On, the people danced, their movements taking on a more ecstatic quality as they celebrated the temple’s ephemeral existence. The crowd rejoiced in song resounding across the vast desert landscape, honoring the sacrifices of those who came before: ancestors, animals, plants, stones, stars, and planets.
As the flames consumed the temple, they rose high into the heavens and illuminated the night sky, transforming the temple into a pillar of light. In this magnificent conflagration, the temple’s encoded wisdom and energy was released back into the universe, to be planted like a secret seed within each individual spark of the All-Soul.
Night turned to morning, and the last of the flames died down. As the Sun rose over the desert horizon, all that was left was ashes, a poignant reminder of our origins in star dust, and our inevitable return to the dust of the earth, the continual generation and destruction of all things. All things are subject to this eternal cycle—life, knowledge, all grand aspirations, and the stars themselves.
The people stood round the circle of ashes and wept with joy and sadness, a bittersweet ceremony recognizing the duality of the universe. As the ashes cooled, the Sun rose higher, and they felt deeply the eternal rhythm of death and renewal. In their hearts they knew that the temple was not gone, but simply transformed, living as an eternal place within them.