Shamanic Wisdom in the Pyramid Texts

Shamanic Wisdom in the Pyramid Texts
Author: Jeremy Naydler
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 427
Release: 2004-12-09
Genre: History
ISBN: 1594776180

A radical reinterpretation of the Pyramid Texts as shamanic mystical wisdom rather than funerary rituals • Reveals the mystical nature of Egyptian civilization denied by orthodox Egyptologists • Examines the similarity between the pharaoh’s afterlife voyage and shamanic journeying • Shows shamanism to be the foundation of the Egyptian mystical tradition To the Greek philosophers and other peoples of the ancient world, Egypt was regarded as the home of a profound mystical wisdom. While there are many today who still share that view, the consensus of most Egyptologists is that no evidence exists that Egypt possessed any mystical tradition whatsoever. Jeremy Naydler’s radical reinterpretation of the Pyramid Texts--the earliest body of religious literature to have survived from ancient Egypt--places these documents into the ritual context in which they belong. Until now, the Pyramid Texts have been viewed primarily as royal funerary texts that were used in the liturgy of the dead pharaoh or to aid him in his afterlife journey. This emphasis on funerary interpretation has served only to externalize what were actually experiences of the living, not the dead, king. In order to understand the character and significance of the extreme psychological states the pharaoh experienced--states often involving perilous encounters with alternate realities--we need to approach them as spiritual and religious phenomena that reveal the extraordinary possibilities of human consciousness. It is the shamanic spiritual tradition, argues Naydler, that is the undercurrent of the Pyramid Texts and that holds the key to understanding both the true nature of these experiences and the basis of ancient Egyptian mysticism.

Temple of the Cosmos

Temple of the Cosmos
Author: Jeremy Naydler
Publisher: Inner Traditions / Bear & Co
Total Pages: 326
Release: 1996-04
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780892815555

Recreates the ancient Egyptian sacred path of spiritual unfolding.

The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts

The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts
Author: James P. Allen
Publisher: Society of Biblical Lit
Total Pages: 484
Release: 2007-08-30
Genre: History
ISBN: 1589836782

The Pyramid Texts are the oldest body of extant literature from ancient Egypt. First carved on the walls of the burial chambers in the pyramids of kings and queens of the Old Kingdom, they provide the earliest comprehensive view of the way in which the ancient Egyptians understood the structure of the universe, the role of the gods, and the fate of human beings after death. Their importance lies in their antiquity and in their endurance throughout the entire intellectual history of ancient Egypt. This volume contains the complete translation of the Pyramid Texts, including new texts recently discovered and published. It incorporates full restorations and readings indicated by post-Old Kingdom copies of the texts and is the first translation that presents the texts in the order in which they were meant to be read in each of the original sources.

Gnostic Visions

Gnostic Visions
Author: Luke A. Myers
Publisher: iUniverse
Total Pages: 324
Release: 2011-04-15
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1462005470

Gnostic texts are filled with encounters of strange other worldly beings, journeys to visionary heavenly realms, and encounters with the presence and spirit of the divine. In Gnostic visions, author and Gnostic scholar Luke A. Myers presents evidence demonstrating how Gnostic visions were created and the connection these visions have to naturally occurring visionary compounds that are still in existence today. The culmination of more than ten years of research, Gnostic Visions advances the understanding of classical ethnobotany, Gnosticism, and the genesis of early Christian history. In this book the author discusses the prehistoric foundations of early human religion as well as the visionary religious traditions of the classical Greeks and Egyptians. Using these as a foundation, the book presents new and never before seen research explaining how Gnostic visions were created and what types of compounds were used by these ancient people to create them. Gnostic Visions presents evidence directly linking visionary Ayahuasca analogs with the creation of Gnostic and Hermetic visionary experiences. Gnostic Visions also describes the decline of Gnosticism, other visionary practices used in the Dark Ages and gives a brief tour of the visionary plants of the new world. In Gnostic visions, Myers tells of his personal experience with the divine and includes some of his own reflections of the importance of mankinds relationship to the natural world. He communicates that altered states of consciousness have been responsible for many of the most profound mystical religious experiences in human history.

The Presence of Myth

The Presence of Myth
Author: Leszek Kolakowski
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 151
Release: 2010-11-16
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 022622225X

"[An] important essay by a philosopher who more convincingly than any other I can think of demonstrates the continuing significance of his vocation in the life of our culture."—Karsten Harries, The New York Times Book Review With The Presence of Myth, Kolakowski demonstrates that no matter how hard man strives for purely rational thought, there has always been-and always will be-a reservoir of mythical images that lend "being" and "consciousness" a specifically human meaning. "Kolakowski undertakes a philosophy of culture which extends to all realms of human intercourse—intellectual, artistic, scientific, and emotional. . . . [His] book has real significance for today, and may well become a classic in the philosophy of culture."—Anglican Theological Review

Shamanic Egyptian Astrology

Shamanic Egyptian Astrology
Author: Linda Star Wolf
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 189
Release: 2010-03-09
Genre: Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN: 1591439809

Integrates the Egyptian pantheon, the ancient language of astrology, and shamanic practices • Links each of the planets and signs in Western astrology with its Egyptian counterpart, such as Leo with Anubis • Includes sacred invocations and shamanic rituals to invite the wisdom of each Egyptian deity into your life • Offers a shamanic way to interpret natal horoscopes Shamanic Egyptian Astrology integrates the Egyptian pantheon, the ancient language of astrology, and shamanic practices to promote a new way to interpret and work with natal charts. Revealing the cross-cultural mythology and astrological significance of the individual Egyptian gods and goddesses, the authors link each of the 12 zodiac signs and 11 celestial bodies of Western astrology with its Egyptian ancestor, introducing new significance to their positions and interactions in a horoscope. For example, Leo is linked with Anubis and Taurus with Hathor. Venus is associated with the goddess Isis and Jupiter with Horus. Each chapter includes sacred invocations and shamanic rituals to invite the wisdom of each Egyptian deity into your life--such as calling on Sekhmet for action or Thoth for clarity. With sample interpretations of the charts of Barack Obama and Gloria Steinem, this book provides a practical framework for accessing the wisdom of ancient Egypt and offers astrological and shamanic tools for spiritual guidance and the coming shift in planetary consciousness.

The Dawning Moon of the Mind

The Dawning Moon of the Mind
Author: Susan Brind Morrow
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
Total Pages: 293
Release: 2015-12-08
Genre: History
ISBN: 1429944269

A stunning and original interpretation of an ancient system of poetic, religious, and philosophical thought Buried in the Egyptian desert some four thousand years ago, the Pyramid Texts are among the world’s oldest poetry. Yet ever since the discovery of these hieroglyphs in 1881, they have been misconstrued by Western Egyptologists as a garbled collection of primitive myths and incantations, relegating to obscurity their radiant fusion of philosophy, scientific inquiry, and religion. Now, in a seminal work, the classicist and linguist Susan Brind Morrow has recast the Pyramid Texts as a coherent work of art, arguing that they should be recognized as a formative event in the evolution of human thought. In The Dawning Moon of the Mind she explains how to read hieroglyphs, contextualizes their evocative imagery, and interprets the entire poem. The result is a magisterial religious and philosophical text revealing a profound consciousness of the world with astonishing parallels to Judeo-Christian culture, Buddhism, and Tantra. More than twenty years in the making, The Dawning Moon of the Mind is a monumental achievement that locates one of the origins of poetic thought in Western culture. Almost before science, art, and written language, these texts set forth the relationship between time and eternity, life and death, history and ideas. In The Dawning Moon of the Mindthey emerge in their original luminosity and intelligence alongside a persuasive argument for their central importance to the history of language.

The Egyptian Book of the Dead

The Egyptian Book of the Dead
Author: Eva Von Dassow
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Total Pages: 184
Release: 2008-06-02
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780811864893

Reissue of the legendary 3,500-year-old Papyrus of Ani, the most beautiful of the ornately illustrated Egyptian funerary scrolls ever discovered, restored in its original sequences of text and artwork.