Pyramidology Aka Pyramid Power

[MrRING]

Growing up in the 70's, Pyramid Power was everywhere! But where did it go? I suspect it got absorbed into mainstream New Age-ism, but it created numerous artifacts on the road to Memphis.

To set the stage, a 2016 article about an adherent of pyramid power's personal tale:
https://www.gaia.com/article/pyramid-power

It was the mid-1970s and Pyramid Power was a huge topic of interest all over the world. Researchers were creating scale models of The Great Pyramid of Khufu, aligning them to the magnetic poles and experimenting, using pyramids for everything from meditating under them, to sharpening razor blades. It was a fascinating time to be involved in anything alternative and I was completely and totally enthralled by every bit of it. I was ecstatic with The Pyramid Shop’s existence and I immediately hit them up for a job and told him I was willing to work for free. How could they say no? Well, they did, but eventually they said yes, after realizing that I was going to hang out anyway. I was excited to be a part of it.

That excitement was well founded, as I was exposed to a fascinating environment with sincere, good people at the helm. The store was a magnet for the metaphysical community of the city and cities nearby, allowing me to meet some of the most interesting people I’ve had the good fortune to know.It also became a stop for traveling psychics, gurus and even a few hucksters. I was privileged to participate in numerous experiments, conducted within the small shop, with varying degrees of success and failure, but all of them fascinating.

The store sold sheet-copper pyramids that could be worn as hats, the owner’s own design, with one so large that it could be meditated inside of. All sorts of books on Pyramid Power were sold, as well as Pyramid Energy generators, some shaped like pyramids and others simply discs imprinted with geometric shapes, designed to simulate and generate Pyramid Power, whatever it may be. The owner would ask customers to put one of these generators to their third eye and describe the experience.

Without exception, everybody felt something, even the most skeptical.

Meditation in a Pyramid​

Some found it unnerving, others exciting, while there were those who felt they’d opened a new chapter in their lives. Although it was a totally subjective experience, there was a common thread. Everyone seemed to feel some sort of movement, as if they were being pushed or dragged along a highway. I often felt as if I were swirling, the same sort of feeling I used to get as a kid when I’d spin around in circles until I fell over, except Pyramid Power didn’t make me sick. Meditating in the big pyramid was an experience that defies description. I don’t know what happened inside that space, but my meditations were deeper, more intense and often bordered on hallucinatory. I loved that pyramid.

According to the current wikipedia article:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid_power

Pyramid power refers to the belief that the ancient Egyptian pyramids and objects of similar shape can confer a variety of benefits. Among these assumed properties are the ability to preserve foods,[1] sharpen or maintain the sharpness of razor blades, improve health, function "as a thought-form incubator", trigger sexual urges, and cause other effects. Such unverified conjectures regarding pyramids are collectively known as pyramidology.

There is no scientific evidence that pyramid power exists.

Pyramidology has it's own page too which explains the different branches:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramidology

Types of pyramidology​

The main types of pyramidological accounts involve one or more aspects which include:

• metrological: theories regarding the construction of the Great Pyramid of Giza by hypothetical geometric measurements
• numerological: theories that the measurements of the Great Pyramid and its passages have esoteric significance, and that their geometric measurements contain some encoded message. This form of pyramidology is popular within Christian Pyramidology (e.g. British Israelism and Bible Students).
• "pyramid power": claims originating in the late 1960s that pyramids as geometrical shapes possess supernatural powers
• pseudoarchaeological: varying theories that deny the pyramids were built to serve exclusively as tombs for the Pharaohs; alternative explanations regarding the construction of the pyramids (for example the use of long-lost knowledge; anti-gravity technology, etc.); and hypotheses that they were built by someone other than the historical Ancient Egyptians (e.g. early Hebrews, Atlanteans, or even extraterrestrials)

This is a video on a pre-fab Pyramid Power kit:

Some clips that are very interesting - the first two clips would be of most interest here I think:

Clips from The Pyramid (1976 film), a 1976 episode of Montage (a local news magazine show from Miami), and a 1977 episode of SCTV

An stridently skeptical yet interesting take:
https://web2.ph.utexas.edu/~coker2/index.files/pyracrystal.shtml

While ignorant and fanciful superstitions concerning the Egyptian pyramids have circulated in European culture since the Renaissance, the pseudoscience known as pyramid power dates fairly precisely from 1970 and the publication of Psychic Discoveries Behind the Iron Curtain, by two reporters for the National Inquirer tabloid, Ostrander and Schroeder. This paperback contains the story of Antoine Bovis, a French occultist who in the 1930s decided that the true purpose of the Egyptian pyramids was to convert the corpse of the king sealed within into a mummy. Bovis built small pyramids of plywood in Nice, France, and claimed to have used them to “mummify” various pets. The story continued on to 1959 when Czech occultist Karel Drbal patented the “Cheops Pyramid Razor-Blade Sharpener.” This was a tiny cardboard pyramid; when the standard double-edged razor blade of the day was placed in the proper position within the pyramid after each use, it was possible to get many more shaves from the blade than “usual.”

Once US New Agers were unleashed onto the topic, claims of pyramid power wonders expanded without limit— pyramids could purify or “sanctify” drinking water; polish jewelry and tablewear; make plants grow faster and larger; keep cookies and cake fresher; preserve vegetables and other perishable foods; speed healing and maintain “wellness;” aid meditation and relaxation; increase effects and enjoyment of wine and drugs; increase psychic ability, spiritual development, intuition and mastery of esoteric occult concepts; increase enjoyment of sex; stimulate graphic and colorful dreams; and so on, and on. A large number of books proclaiming the dazzling promise of pyramid technology appeared during the 1970s, although strangely the fad became almost extinct within a decade, being replaced by similar bizarre claims about quartz and other natural crystals.

 

[MrRING]

Here is a (very long) video where Praveen Mohan experiments with the possible preservative properties of pyramids:

I also wasn't previously aware of Tesla's interest in pyramids:
https://bigthink.com/the-present/why-nikola-tesla-was-obsessed-with-egyptian-pyramids/

 

[Victory]

Just an idea.
Perhaps less focus on this because there is greater awareness of ancient pyramids in more countries than Egypt, so less wonder associated with the Giza ones?

 

[MrRING]

Just an idea.
Perhaps less focus on this because there is greater awareness of ancient pyramids in more countries than Egypt, so less wonder associated with the Giza ones?

Could be, but while aesthetically the Giza examples were a focal point for pyramid power, I don't think the other kind was dismissed if memory of that era serves correctly.

A review of the Pyramid film from 1976 (which has a clip above), which I've not seen:
http://every70smovie.blogspot.com/2019/12/the-pyramid-1976.html

and IMDB:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0131549/

A young TV news reporter grows tired of Commercial programming and decides to cover more positive stories. He is fired for his troubles, and goes on a personal search for truth and beauty in the media. A voyage in consciousness for the millenium.

 

[Mikefule]

I remember reading about pyramid power back in the 1970s.

They started with the wildly speculative but interesting premiss that the shape and proportions of a massive stone pyramid may have helped in preserving the mummy within. They quickly moved to the unrelated an extraordinary idea that you could make a cardboard pyramid at home and use it to sharpen razor blades.

As a teenager with little experience of the world, and parents who actively discouraged me from reading or being analytical, I tended to believe that anything in a proper published book must be true. However, this one stretched my credulity a long way.

I could sort of see how a large stone structure might create a particular environment conducive to the preservation of a mummy.

Rationalising 40+ years later, I'd say that in a hot country, a massive stone structure would maintain a stable internal temperature. The alignment of the flat sides might have an affect on absorption, reflection, or radiation of the sun's heat. Having a wide base might affect how the interface between the bottom of the pyramid and the ground beneath worked to transfer heat, maybe the ground acting as a heat sink.

I didn't think it through in this level of detail at the time, but the point is that it is not inherently implausible that a large stone pyramid might be optimised for preserving the remains of the dead in a stable environment.

However, then or now, I could find not the faintest shred of an explanation for why a cardboard pyramid would keep a razor blade sharp.

As I said above, I was in a mindset at the time that anything in a "proper published book" must be true.

The arguments in the books were supported by the evidence of "witnesses" and "researchers" and "experiments". How could I reconcile the obvious absurdity of a cardboard pyramid with specific proportions sharpening a razor blade, with the "obvious" (to me) factual accuracy of the books?

40 years later, the answer is simple: the books were based on lies or wishful thinking.

I am now free to read when I want, and analyse as much as I want, and I have spent years learning and practising critical skills. However, even now, in the back of my mind is the thought that "there might be something in it." I imagine this is how it is for some people who reject the religious faith of their youth, but can never quite let go of the guilt.

 

[kesavaross]

I remember reading about pyramid power back in the 1970s.

They started with the wildly speculative but interesting premiss that the shape and proportions of a massive stone pyramid may have helped in preserving the mummy within. They quickly moved to the unrelated an extraordinary idea that you could make a cardboard pyramid at home and use it to sharpen razor blades.

As a teenager with little experience of the world, and parents who actively discouraged me from reading or being analytical, I tended to believe that anything in a proper published book must be true. However, this one stretched my credulity a long way.

I could sort of see how a large stone structure might create a particular environment conducive to the preservation of a mummy.

Rationalising 40+ years later, I'd say that in a hot country, a massive stone structure would maintain a stable internal temperature. The alignment of the flat sides might have an affect on absorption, reflection, or radiation of the sun's heat. Having a wide base might affect how the interface between the bottom of the pyramid and the ground beneath worked to transfer heat, maybe the ground acting as a heat sink.

I didn't think it through in this level of detail at the time, but the point is that it is not inherently implausible that a large stone pyramid might be optimised for preserving the remains of the dead in a stable environment.

However, then or now, I could find not the faintest shred of an explanation for why a cardboard pyramid would keep a razor blade sharp.

As I said above, I was in a mindset at the time that anything in a "proper published book" must be true.

The arguments in the books were supported by the evidence of "witnesses" and "researchers" and "experiments". How could I reconcile the obvious absurdity of a cardboard pyramid with specific proportions sharpening a razor blade, with the "obvious" (to me) factual accuracy of the books?

40 years later, the answer is simple: the books were based on lies or wishful thinking.

I am now free to read when I want, and analyse as much as I want, and I have spent years learning and practising critical skills. However, even now, in the back of my mind is the thought that "there might be something in it." I imagine this is how it is for some people who reject the religious faith of their youth, but can never quite let go of the guilt.

No mummies have ever been found in any pyramid, well at least not dead ones a few thousand years old. They were buried in the Valley of the Kings.

 

[Coal]

I am now free to read when I want, and analyse as much as I want, and I have spent years learning and practising critical skills. However, even now, in the back of my mind is the thought that "there might be something in it." I imagine this is how it is for some people who reject the religious faith of their youth, but can never quite let go of the guilt.

Nicely put.

 

[Mikefule]

No mummies have ever been found in any pyramid, well at least not dead ones a few thousand years old. They were buried in the Valley of the Kings.

Thank you. I didn't know that.

However, the pyramidology books were based on the "pyramids of popular perception" rather than the "pyramids of archaeological accuracy". Like most readers at the time (40-odd years ago) I associated mummies with pyramids.

My memory of the details of the books is vague, but my memory of the impression they made on me is quite strong. I think that's how urban legends and other widespread misconceptions work: you hear or read something from a source that you consider to be reliable at the time. It gets filed away in the brain as a fact.

Over the years, the details of where you heard or read it are forgotten, and the fine details of what you heard or read get lost. What remains is the general, false, impression that there is something that everyone knows is true. The feeling of "Oh yes, I heard that too."

 

[Min Bannister]

However, even now, in the back of my mind is the thought that "there might be something in it."

Yes, I know what you mean. I still feel I want to try a razor blade under a pyramid some day. Though not enough to have actually done it yet.

 

[Coal]

Yes, I know what you mean. I still feel I want to try a razor blade under a pyramid some day. Though not enough to have actually done it yet.

While I agree with the sentiment, this particular myth has been busted so many times we can perhaps consider buying new razor blades as ususal...or grow a beard (in my case).

 

[Mythopoeika]

I'm just wondering (speculating) about the origin of the razor blade idea.
Maybe an explorer said to another, 'the stones are so precisely fitted together, you can't even fit a razor blade between them'.
So after conducting a test, the second explorer found that the razor blade was sharper after he pulled it out from a gap in the stones...

Of course, someone said it was magic, when it was probably just abrasion all along.

 

[EnolaGaia]

I'm just wondering (speculating) about the origin of the razor blade idea. ...

The razor blade application of "pyramid power" dates back to 1959, when a Czech named Karel Drbal filed a patent for a pyramidal blade sharpener / sharpness enhancer. The patent claimed the sharpness effects resulted from something to do with alignment of magnetic fields / effects. The notion of magnetic influence maintaining blade sharpness dates back even farther. The authors of the 1970 paranormal book Psychic Discoveries Behind the Iron Curtain discovered one of Drbal's pyramid products during their travels and interviewed him. These authors, credited as the original source of the phrase "pyramid power" in the Anglophone world, claimed Czechs had coined the term sometime in the 1960s.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid_power

 

[MrRING]

There are still people pushing the razor sharpening properties - as this website, which is likely a "pyramind scheme" of sorts!
https://pyramidrazorsharpener.wordpress.com/

Let’s take a more scientific look at this Pyramid Razor Sharpener stuff. There really is a great deal of talk about Pyramid Razor Sharpeners, but not much research to back it up. I don’t believe in the psychic stuff, but there’s one thing regarding the power of pyramids I am personally forced to believe.


O.K., so if you know about the power of the pyramid and just want to make one to see how it works, Click Here and Get You own Pyramid Razor Sharpener!


Now I am quite a cynical person and at first I basically wasn’t excited about hearing about my friend’s story regarding the secret of pyramids. He is right into his Pyramid Razor Sharpener and says there are a lot of secrets that pyramid structures hold. According to him you will come across mysteries surrounding the power of pyramid structures, but I told him the only power Pyramid Razor Sharpeners hold is over his sanity.

How a Pyramid Razor Sharpener Would Make me Rich!​

So Dave placed a bet. He bet me $20 he could prove to me a secret regarding the pyramids in a sensible scientific way. We can make a test, he said and I would essentially prove it to myself. I said I wasn’t inquisitive about his pyramid healing powers and his meditation stuff, but he assured me that it was to be a straightforward revelation concerning a test of the Pyramid Razor Sharpener. He sounded a bit certain of himself, as he always does, but who cares, I am going to be making 20 bucks!
So now, let me tell you that which we were to do....

Which searching for that, I found this on Tumbler - a classic pyramid razor kit:
https://randomitemdrop.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F169183227843

Item: razor-sharpening pyramid; dull blades placed inside and aligned for one day will become sharp. “The pyramidal shape apparently focuses cosmic energy when precisely aligned on the north-south axis, which can renew the crystalline structure of good-quality steel.” –Len Castin, Psychic Discoveries Since the Cold War, Atlantis Rising Online