Mummies unwrapped

Rosicrucian Egyptian museum houses things historic and creepy

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Great, this is all I need -- another pointless and wholly irrational fear.

I was roaming the dimly lighted hallways of the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum and Planetarium in downtown San Jose, marveling at the Moorish architecture, the chiseled hieroglyphics, the two-level replica of a tomb, the everyday objects of ancient life (combs, hair extensions, kohl eyeliner applicators).

The museum is architecturally inspired by the Temple of Amon at Karnak, Egypt. With more than 4,000 artifacts, it houses the largest collection of Egyptian artifacts on exhibit in western North America -- including objects from pre-dynastic times through Egypt's early Islamic era.

But then I entered the Afterlife Gallery, where I came face to desiccated face with a mummy said to date from 1549-1064 B.C. I thought I was prepared for this, figured it would be no problem, because when you mummify something, aren't you wrapping the body up tightly in linen, hermetically sealed from cranium to metatarsal?

But here was this man -- and yes, the exhibit card on the glass case read "Mummy of an Upper-Class Egyptian Male" -- partially unwrapped. Head, neck and shoulders exposed, bare arms clasped over his still covered torso -- it was pretty creepy. His remains had a charcoal tinge, the texture looking like something between leather and a barbecued suckling pig.

His eyes were heavy-lidded, his mouth agape, and he looked almost alive.

I had an overwhelming desire to flee, journalistic responsibility the only thing keeping me rooted in place. I later learned -- thanks, Google -- that I was suffering from pharaohphobia, fear of mummies.

You, however, may be perfectly fine looking at the mummies, even those that are partially unwrapped. And you'll have many such opportunities, too, since the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum's artifacts include four human mummies, and a mummified Nile catfish, pet gazelle and cats. It's very interesting how the ancient ones adored cats, venerated them, adorned them in jewelry and buried their remains alongside their owners.

But the museum is more than a mummy mausoleum. The Rosicrucian Order -- more on that organization later -- does not display all of its unearthed treasures but, depending on the rotation, you'll see one of the seven known statues of Cleopatra, a 1.5-million-year-old ax, a re-creation of King Tutankhamun's coffin, fragments from the Book of the Dead, and assorted trays, utensils, amulets and scarabs entombed with the dead.

All told, the largest collection of Egyptian artifacts in Western North America resides in the ornate building, which also features a library, a planetarium and, outside, lovely gardens with exotic foliage like papyrus and a rare bunya pine, whose cones can weigh up to 15 pounds. It's also the North American headquarters for the Rosicrucian Order, part quasi-religious order, part fraternal organization, part philosophical think tank, many parts mystical, mythological and esoteric.

The Rosicrucian Order is formally known as the Ancient and Mystical Order Rosae Crucis (AMORC), whose roots date to the 1600s in Europe and spread to America in the early 1900s. San Jose became the headquarters in the early 1920s, when the block-long edifice was constructed in what then was farmland but now is a bustling downtown.

I went to the information alcove, where I sat through all three video presentations the order offers neophytes.

The presentation started straightforwardly enough. The order is "open to men and women of all nationalities, all religions, and all social classes" and its purpose is to "pass on teachings that are both cultural and spiritual." The video's narrator then asked the question viewers were wondering: "What do the Rosicrucian teachings address? ... [It] incorporates the traditional major themes, including the origins of the universe, time and space, life and conscious, psychic phenomena, the nature of dreams, the functions and characteristics of the soul, the mysteries of death, the afterlife and reincarnation, traditional symbolism, the science of numbers and other mystical subjects."

But what do they believe? The order, the video narrator stated, "transmutes the faults of human nature into opposite qualities, pride into humility. ... If there is evil on Earth, it's because humans delight in their weaknesses and do not sufficiently aspire to good."

IF YOU GO ...

Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum and Planetarium

1660 Park Ave., San Jose, Calif.

Hours: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesdays-Fridays; 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturdays-Sundays; closed Mondays-Tuesdays

Cost: $9, $7 senior citizens and students with ID, $5 children ages 5-10

Information: egyptianmuseum.org

Travel on 02/07/2016

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