Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
One Man's Narrow View of Isis Worship, July 4, 2008
This book will prove a huge disappointment to anyone devotedly worshipping the Goddess Isis today. To be a "real" and "pure" Isiac in Williams' Reconstructionist Order (an order he freely admits on page 33 "presently exists only in theory") in Chapter 4, all male priests "unequivocally" must be circumcised "without exception" (though even the male laity is encouraged in the same paragraph), as well as bathe 3 times a day (the laity must bathe prior to entering sanctified space) in order to make oneself barely acceptable to approach Isis, and be head to toe body shaved once every three days. Female "devotees" (it's unclear whether this means priestess or worshipper) should cover their heads with a black cloth "at all times" when out in the world to show piety. Although vegetarianism is not supported, for example by the remains of the priestly meal found at Pompeii, which included eggs and fish, Williams' Isiacs should be vegetarian (p.35), go to Isiac confession and confess ones sins/transgressions/violations against Isiac religion and the author's Isiac Laws, and give up TV, commercialism and worldly concerns (p.37). It should here be remembered that the Egyptian priesthood operated on a rotational basis throughout the year (months on and months off) and when off-duty returned to their very worldly lives of supporting families and personal careers outside the priesthood. Adultery or even sleeping with an adulterer (?!) is here considered an especially nasty anti-Isis crime (the author seems to conveniently forget Osiris' tumble with Nephthys resulting in the birth of Anubis - which Isis never seemed to mind) - the list goes on and on.
He also has his own mystically channeled Aretalogy which he claims came directly from Isis, but seems nothing more than a semi-poetic reiteration and allegedly divine confirmation of all his various proscriptions found throughout this short book - including Isis ominously saying "Do not transgress against me". In this same channeled piece, Isis also says Her followers should wear black, when most ancient sources (with two possible mentions of the very small Melanophoroi sub-group in Greece) mention the brilliant white robes of both priesthood and worshippers. However black and white were certainly not the only options. Written evidence, frescoes and statuary reveal multi-colored vestments, embroideries, fringed shawls, etc.
Williams' elaborations on the Egyptian Negative Confession (a funerary recitation from Ancient Egypt that is not specifically Isiac) are somewhat disturbing - including being "banished from the community" (p.72) for severe transgressions. In Willams' interpretation of the Negative Confession, some sexual taboos that are laughable by modern sexology standards - are considered impure. This is entirely based on a mythological episode where the God Set "rapes" Horus - which some scholars view as inter-femural coitus (popular among the ancient Greeks) - which does not involve actual penetration. There is ultimately no conclusive evidence that the Negative Confession was ever part of Greco-Roman Isis worship.
Reconstructionist Isis Religion is repeatedly portrayed in this slim self-published Lulu text as a cloistered, inward turning, ascetic path, that is about negation of self, destruction of ego and a moving away from the "fractured, impious and morally degenerate world." Personally I think this speaks more of the author's years spent within the Buddhist community, as repeated use of Buddhist terms suggests - he's just clothed that experience in Isis-drag, fusing it with the minimal archaeological facts available to us concerning Isis worship in the Greco-Roman World. This becomes apparent in the use of prayer beads (again enjoined by Isis in the channeled Aretalogy) for chanting meditation - and an accompanying basic meditative technique that's adapted right out of standard Buddhist practice. We really have no evidence that ancient Isis worshippers used prayer beads. And although Apuleius mentions Lucius "contemplating" the temple statue of Isis in his Metamorphoses, there is no definitive mention of actual meditation in the current evidence. Conveniently omitted are the earthier, love and sexual aspects of Isis embraced during the Greco-Roman period - such as Isis-Aphrodite. Working prostitutes were regularly welcomed among the worshippers of Isis - as were slaves - during the late Roman period. Such omissions are clearly to support the author's claim of a universal chaste asceticism within his reconstructed Isis cult.
Nowhere does the use of a sistrum appear in the book - which if he's doing an historical reconstruction, how can one ignore the repeated portrayal of Isiac priests/priestesses and worshippers (including children) in Roman and Pompeian art, shaking sistra? Curiously absent are the hallmark situla carried by priestesses of Isis as well as the urnula/hydreion of Nile water carried by the officiating priest. But lest we forget - this book is written as an introduction for the potential laity and you have to be an initiated scholarly priest to really know the inner secret workings of this reconstructed mystery religion - a religious order we must remember which only exists in theory. Maybe you get a sistrum once "Father Brandon" has checked if you're circumcised, body shaved and chomping veggies religiously and given you the secret decoder ring. After all he claims to be "the first known, authentic Isiac priest since the end of the Classical era in antiquity." According to whom? Seems more ego-dissolution and austerities are in order.
The book claims to be a way to bridge historical ancient Isiac religion with modern times. For most people in the 21st Century West this would be an impossibility, in spite of the rather idealistic view on page 88 of unconditional family support - try telling your wife/husband/partner/kids that you're giving up your lucrative worldly career to become a mendicant. There are many modern pagan paths to Isis - which some have been happily and successfully recreating and following for more years than the author has been alive. It has not been dead for 1500 years as the author claims. Modern worship of Isis is not about endless patriarchal negation and turning away from the world, but rather the inclusive, nurturing love of the Great Goddess, which embraces many paths to personal truth and divine revelation, guided by ethics and perspectives that are actually applicable in today's world. This book clearly represents one man's limited view of Isis worship - but certainly not the only or even prevailing view. Save your hard earned money or you'll end up a disappointed consumer like I was.
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1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Historical Authenticity & Ancient Isiac Austerity, July 7, 2008
Any potential readers of this book should understand, first and foremost, that this is not really a book about "modern Isis worship," per se - at least not in the sense that most modern pagans would be familiar with. Rather, it is a book about Isiacism, which is the ancient faith of the Goddess Isis. And it is about bringing back a historically authentic version of Isiacism, not about revising it or making up a new version to fit modern sensibilities.
While the author tries to be sensitive to making Isiacism relevant for today, he clearly has a very distinctive idea about what is truly "relevant" in modern Western spirituality, and this idea may not agree with the ideas of many modern pagans. Williams, like many other mystics throughout time, believes that in order to find Truth we must turn inward, and that means turning away from worldly distractions.
Isiacism in the ancient world was not only a tradition of jubilation, as the author notes, but also one of austerity. The claim was made in a previous review that the author carries this bent toward asceticism over from his own personal experience within Buddhism, but anyone who has actually studied anything about ancient Isiacism would know this not to be the case, for Isiacism itself was (and, for Williams, is once again) a highly ascetic tradition, requiring great sacrifice and renunciation from its adherents. If this fact bothers you, then I suggest you look elsewhere for inspiration. Williams does not seek to cater to what modern pagans may or may not find acceptable - he is simply reconstructing the ancient tradition of Isis authentically, and that's that. In a sense, Williams isn't really a "pagan" at all by modern standards - he is a traditionalist and, most significantly, a genuine mystic in the classical sense, living a dedicated life of renunciation and austerity in devotion to his Goddess. As such, he brings something very unique and important to the modern pagan world, which it has not yet had.
There have obviously been individuals over the last 50 years or so worshipping Isis in their own way, and the author never denies this fact. However, the fact still remains that no one prior to Williams has genuinely resurrected a historical version of the ancient religion of Isis. Until now, Isiacism simply hadn't been practiced in an authentic way (that we know of) since around the fall of Philae in the 6th century C.E. Of course, practicing an authentic version of ancient Isiacism is not for everyone, but the author is not dogmatic and does not denounce others who are practicing alternate forms of the worship of Isis. The point being: this is one possible path amongst many, and, being a highly austere path, it will likely only ever be for the few, not for the masses.
For those who are intimidated by the idea of genuine spiritual striving, or by the renunciation of modern, worldly distractions in order to achieve divine communion, the authentic faith of Isis - and this book, which brilliantly outlines its reconstruction - is probably not for you; there are plenty of other books out there about Isis that would likely make more suitable choices than this one. But, for the few who are genuinely called to truly devote their lives to Isis in an authentic and truly transformative mystical context, this is the book to have. There simply isn't anything else out there even remotely like it.
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