There is no death in the Osirian religion, only decay and change, and
periodic renewal; only evolution and transformation in the domain of
matter and the transubstantiation into spirit. In the so-called death of
Osiris it is rebirth, not death, exactly the same as in the changes of
external nature. At the close of the day the solar orb went down and
left the sun god staring blankly in the dark of death. Taht the moon god
met him in Amenta with the eye of Horus as the light the was to
illuminate the darkness of the subterranean world. --from "Egyptian Book
of the Dead and the Mysteries of Amenta" It goes unappreciated by modern
Egyptologists, but it is embraced by those who savor the concept of a
"hidden history" of humanity, and those who approach all human knowledge
from the perspective of the esoteric. Gerard Massey's massive Ancient
Egypt: The Light of the World--first published in 1907 and the crowning
achievement of the self-taught scholar--redefines the roots of
Christianity via Egypt, proposing that Egyptian mythology was the basis
for Jewish and Christian beliefs. Here, Cosimo proudly presents Book 4
of Ancient Egypt, in which Massey discusses the Egyptian Book of the
Dead as the "pre-Christian word of God," and explores the idea that
Amenta, the threshold to the Egyptian underworld, is the first overt
expression of a human desire for a noncorporeal afterlife. Massey goes
on to connect the "mystery of the mummy" to "the mystery of the Christ"
by likening the Christian dogma of physical resurrection to the Egyptian
impetus for mummification. Peculiar and profound, this work will
intrigue and delight readers of history, religion, and mythology.
British author GERALD MASSEY (1828-1907) published works of poetry,
spiritualism, Shakespearean criticism, and theology, but his best-known
works are in the realm of Egyptology, including A Book of the Beginnings
and The Natural Genesis.
