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Show Saturday, February 1 , 2006 DAILY HERALD Mummy Continued from B1 store,Harrods. “And why not? After all, he “Mummification is a practice ofour religion,” said Corky Ra, a Utah businessman and former memberof The Churchof Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Ra founded Summum in 1975. The faith blends ideas from a variety of religions and cultures and its followers believethatall living things contain an essence thatis the spirit of the creator. Ra claims Summum has more than 100,000 followersin dozens of countries. Reviving the art of mummification has provoked considerable curiosity in Summum in recentyears. Ra,61, says he developed the process in 1980 after experimenting on dead animals and human cadavers obtained from a medical school. The sacred-Egyptian wrappingrite is conducted inside a 26-foot high pyramid that-Ra built in the front yard ofhis suburban Salt Lake City home. The hollow, copper-coated mini-pyramid is also a meeting place for others who share the Summum philosophy, whichincorporates thespirituality of ancient Egypt where mummification was believed to help spirits move on to theafterlife. Ra calls this process Transference. owns the store! ButAl Fayed does have one thing in common with the other wannabe aoesmn are currently Seohopke wialare made arrangements with us, nonehavedied yet,” Aua said, According to Mayer, the .~ mummification sentisnot ° Senorfasoey aver¢ funeral in America. : NE es heretto econ :: RA eine boats would Be pro- hibitive,” he said. “But for thos¢ who are interested, it would meet. peopledo.” Asa licensed funeral director, Ra was acquainted with em- balming,but didn’t considerit a permanentsolution forhis cat. Sohe developedhis patented mummification procedure, which hesa: deterioratior reveal anything morethan generalities about the process. sed in special preservativesthat in- clude “chemicals used in genetic engineering,” it is covered with a lotion, wrapped in several ayer: pol plied to form a permanentseal. Denver funeral home Horan &* © Summum. Used by permission. All Rights Reserved. The Summum sacred Egyptian wrapping rite is performedinside a 26-foot high pyramidthereligion’s founder, Corky Ra,built in the front yard of his suburban Salt Lake City home. Thestructurealso serves as a meeting place for Summumfollowers. More about Ra's mummification process can be found at http:/www.summum.us/mummification. biologist and presidentofthe California Institute of Technology. He says manychemicals, such as phenol, have been used at various stepsin genetic engineering. “Wesometimesuse formal: dehyde and paraformaldehyde, which arecertainly preserva- small animals and a modest mummiform, under $25,000 is typical. “We have donedogs,cats, birds,and a rat,” said Bernie Aua, who joined the Summum ranksin 1982 and now helps with the mummifications in Salt LakeCity. Theprocess wasalso a mysteryto Robert H. Foote, a Cornell researcher andpioneer animal cloning technology The chemicals used for preservation, dehydration and to fix tissue for conservation are sodifferent from all the many culture and growth promoters ed with natural or engineered take upto a year to complete, depending on the animal's size. “Wefeel our process exceeds the Egyptians,” he said. “While it draws waterout of the body, it also replaces fluid and stabilizes the cells, keeping the body looking natural rather than creating the leathery look of Egyptian mummies. Auarecallsthe reaction of a Californian vet when,in 1992, Ra's cat was removed fromits mummiform and X-rayed. “Corky wanted to put Oscar in another mummiform,” said Aua. “The vet got kind of freaked out when he found out Oscar had been deadfor 12 years. The tissue was still showing up well, and he was amazed how the eyes werestill in such excellent condition.” Auasays the procedure can Additionallayers offiberglass andresin are added, before the bodyis enclosed in a gold, called a mummiform, which is filled with amberresin, welded shut and decorated. one can only guess w hat “ge- Without moreinformation, pi Laureate David Baltimore, a are McConaty,agrees. ‘ “In the 30 years I've been di-! recting funerals, I've never encountered anyone who wanted to permanently preserve me body of a family member,” he said. “Holding the remains of a loved onein the form of a mummy would be emotionally difficult for many people.” Nevertheless, Raisn’t impressed with conventional embalming andburials, either for Humans and animals alike Ra believes that Transference occursin animals as well as So whenhis beloved , Oscar, died in 1980, Rafelt compelled to mummifyhim. Afterall, hes nimals have an essencethat evolvesjustlike needs.” He says most content to see their loved ones « receivea traditional burial or i cremation. John Horan, president of the, Mummy money spite the lack of technical details, owners of some 600 ani- mals havehadtheir pets mum- mified by the secret process. But modern mummification doesn’t come cheap. The cost has exceeded $100,000 when elaborate mummiforms were used to encase the body. For However, Pittsburgh author Robert G. Mayersaysit’s uncertain just how long an animal could remain preserved using the Summum technique. Mayer, who is co-founderof the American Society of ers, also authored an embalming textbook, whichis required reading for most budding morticians. Hesays the removal of water is essential to prevent bacterial enzymatic activities that cause decomposition, and that the Egyptians achieved this using simple minerals. “The bodies wereplaced in a box and covered with natron (a mixture of sodium chloride, sodium carbonate andothersalts) which would desiccate the body,” he said. Mayeralso saysthat while modern human mummification is rare, Long Island-University Egyptologist Bob Brier dabbled in it a decade ago. In 1994, Brier andhis team mummified a cadaverthe old-fashioned way, using 400 pounds of natron that Briercollected from dried lakes in Egypt. “I dug the mineral from the sameplacethe ancient Egyp-_ humans or their pets. Su Menuisn'teither. The Salt Lake City woman had her: ue Maggie, mummified 11: Years ago, andplans todo lik “Wise whenher time comes. Andwhile traditional buri: doesn’t bother Diana peel homein New York. Today, Brier’s mummyrests at the State Anatomy Board in Maryland. “Wecontinue to do researchonit and study tis samples every few years,” he said.“It still showsnosigns of decay.” Modern Methods Ra, however,is convinced his modern method also works as well, or better. And apparently, more than 14,000 people sharehis confidence — all have signed a contract to place their bodies in his care, whentheir timeis up. Ten percent have completed financial aoa ments to be mummified, he says. While neither Ra nor Aua will reveal the names ofcelebrities who havearranged to be mummified,billionaire tycoon Mohamed Al Fayed publicly announced in 1999 that he planned to avail himself of the Summum process. Al Fayed, whose son died alongside Princess Dianain UPR from Costa Mesa, was, a different story for her beloved cockatiel, Feathers. When the bird died suddenly, last May, was devastated. “It was more in my heart could bear,” she Si Feathersis currently partway through the mummification process and McClungplans to placehis tiny mummiform next toa photo,in her bedroom, whenit’s completed in the next few months. Doesshefeelit will be worth the $6,000 expense? “People probably think I'm completely insane,” she said. “But they don’t understandthe depth of mylove for him.I'm glad he’s getting the treatment of the ancient kings of Egypt.” It's a treatmentthatall the Summum members,and their pets, plan onreceiving,too. All eventually plan to be laid to rest in an underground mummy mausoleum that Ra beganbuilding last summerin the shadow of the Summum pyramid. It appearstheyall plan to be NNN Ns SANNA NeeGeeLaiaet ALL LYRIC OPERN SOCIETY aaah ae & ee SCTRA AY Sid Bishi Us Lehi a ERC Mele Pyeai74|ATLA bm Celi ty 7] Late hd |