The Serapeum

This mystery school at Saqqara was used for the most terrifying rite of them all.

The bull is not an afterthought or a cover story—it is the symbolic key that makes the whole system legible without revealing its true purpose. Apis is not worshipped as a bull—the bull is a living carrier of an invisible principle. Indeed, the bull represents the maximum expression of animal vitality. To initiate a human into sovereignty over death, you don’t use a weak symbol—you use the strongest possible life-symbol. The message is implicit: if even this force must die and be reborn, so must you.

Osiris was enclosed in a chest, sealed, dismembered, reassembled and transfigured. The bull, as Osiris/Apis, undergoes the same narrative. The initiate re-enacts it somatically. The clue is that the black granite boxes are polished on the INSIDE—creating a mirrored effect for the initiates.

Above: the Osiris/Apis statue

So in this secret initiation the candidate must experience of THE VOID. (The author has experienced this state several times and it is terrifying.) Spiritually however, the void is not nothingness but rather the absence of form—not the absence of being. It is what remains when identity falls away, symbols dissolve and the ego dies. Yet awareness does not vanish—that’s the paradox.

People report the void as vast, boundless and neutral. Dark, but not hostile. Empty of meaning yet full of presence. It is awareness without reference. This is why it feels unsettling at first—the psyche is accustomed to something to hold onto.

It feels frightening because the ego cannot survive there, meaning collapses and the sense of “I am someone” dissolves. Traditions are clear on this point: fear appears when the ego realises it is not fundamental. All healthy traditions agree on this you pass through the void—you do not remain in it. That return is the real spiritual work.

The void is pure, unconditioned awareness encountered when all forms of identity fall silent —a sacred absence that makes rebirth possible.

These enormous black granite boxes were polished on the inside, a hint at their function. The geometry of their lids implies sliding, not lifting. A candidate could safely undergo a simulated death overnight, enough to induce deep psychological and ontological transformation, but short enough to preserve life—and that aligns perfectly with the design of the Serapeum boxes. Entry at sunset, exit at sunrise.

Each box holds 9,000 litres or enough oxygen for several days. However, CO₂ accumulation is the limiting factor and would require an exit in less than 12 hours. So overnighting in a mirror-polished, pitch-black, air-limited box triggers extreme time distortion, heightened residual reflection and ego boundaries softening. This is precisely what transforms consciousness—as intended by initiation. So the Egyptians weren’t just master masons, they understood the effects that different types of stone had on awareness.

Spiritually speaking for the soul, the void is a crucible, a reset chamber and a preparatory field. Its purpose is precise, transformative and deeply functional. For the soul, this is like clearing debris from a channel—everything that blocks authentic expression is dissolved. Without this purification, spiritual perception remains cluttered. In the absence of external references, the soul can encounter its own essence.

So VITRIOL is the spiritual alchemy of the Serapeum: enter the interior, descend into the void, undergo purifying fire and emerge with the Philosopher’s Stone—the awakened, integrated soul.