Egyptian Book of the Dead and the Mysteries of Amenta

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.