From Light Into Darkness: The Evolution of Religion in Ancient Egypt [Paperback]

Stephen S. Mehler (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2005

Building on the esoteric information first revealed in Land of Osiris, this exciting book presents more of Abd'El Hakim's oral traditions, with radical new interpretations of how religion evolved in prehistoric and dynastic Khemit, or Egypt.

* Have popular modern religions developed out of practices in ancient Egypt?

* Did religion in Egypt represent only a shadow of the spiritual practices of prehistoric people?

* Have the Western Mystery Schools such as the Rosicrucian Order evolved from these ancient systems?

* Author Mehler explores the teachings of the King Akhenaten and the real Moses, the true identity of the Hyksos, and Akhenaten’s connections to The Exodus, Judaism and the Rosicrucian Order.

Here for the first time in the West, are the spiritual teachings of the ancient Khemitians, the foundation for the coming new cycle of consciousness -- The Awakening.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Stephen S. Mehler was born and raised in NYC. He received a BA in Physiology and Anatomy from Hunter College and holds two Masters degrees, from San Jose State in Human Ecology, and in Ancient and Prehistory. Since 1992, he has worked with Egyptian-born Egyptologist and indigenous wisdom-keeper Abd'El Hakim Awyan.

Product Details

• Paperback: 250 pages
• Publisher: Adventures Unlimited Press (August 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1931882495
• ISBN-13: 978-1931882491
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #59,128 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #33 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Judaism > History of Religion
  • #36 in Books > History > Ancient > Egypt
  • #74 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > New Age > Mysticism

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding!, September 28, 2005

By 

Charles Putnam "seeker of wisdom" (Everett, WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: From Light Into Darkness: The Evolution of Religion in Ancient Egypt (Paperback)

Before I begin a review of this book I'd like to point out that I met both Steve and Hakim in 1992 while on tour in Egypt. Steve has become a lifelong friend as a result of that meeting. Steve and I were on separate tours but we both had the privilege of having Hakim as our guide. Most of you reading my comments have never met Hakim. Not only is he a gentle man but the holder of vast wisdom from his indigenous tradition that stretches back for thousands of years. Many persons have regarded him solely as a kindly and experienced tour guide. But because of his 30 years of personal study attempting learn about ancient Egypt especially the king Ahkenaten, Steve was able to discern that there was much more to Hakim than met the eye. As Steve gained more of Hakim's trust, he soon became the student and eventually the transmitter to the public of the ancient Khemitian tradition that has been passed down to Hakim. As he did in The Land of Osiris and now in From Light into Darkness, Steve is sharing with us invaluably important material not only on the spirituality of ancient Egypt but the cyclical, not linear, nature of human existence. He accomplishes this task in 200 pages and written in an engagingly conversational style. Steve provides a telling account how an oral tradition contains greater truth than the written one. He deftly points out the historical conflict between personal direct spiritual experience (the mystical tradition) and religious life mediated by the hanuti (priestly) caste. Very importantly Steve clarifies who the neters were. They were not deities as mainstream academic Egyptology would have you believe but were divine principles framed into a quasi animal/human presentation. The king Ahkenaten did not invent monotheism with the glorification of Aten but was attempting to revive the enlightened state of Aten which was being swamped by the rising power of the hanuti class and the spiritual darkness that came with it. But most significant of all, Steve focuses our attention on a message of hope. The Age of Amun, the time of darkness, is coming to an end and the dawn of Kheper is on our doorstep. For some this may seen Pollyanish but the forces representing the Age of Amun only appear to be in control. Their power is slipping and a new generation has the opportunity to bring the Dawn into fruition.

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An important book that brings more indigenous teachings to the world!, September 25, 2005

By 

Chris Dunn (Illinois, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: From Light Into Darkness: The Evolution of Religion in Ancient Egypt (Paperback)

The oral traditions of native people, while lacking the stamp of academic "peer review," are of intense importance and interest. Stephen Mehler seeks an understanding of history that includes all points of view, but gives weight to those who describe their own history over the opinion of outsiders. This history is what they learned at the knee of their parents following what their parents learned from their own. These are the stories that are passed down through the millennia as ancestral heritage.

The engineering evidence in Egypt has not been explained by traditional Western accounts of its history. The oral tradition now being passed on by Ab'd El Hakim Awyan and brought to the Western world by Mehler provides a cultural framework that allows for a common-sense scientific understanding of an advanced prehistoric civilization that once flourished, but perished in a great cataclysm.

From Light into Darkness builds on The Land of Osiris, providing more indigenous wisdom and unfolding a spiritual fabric that offers comfort and understanding of the cyclical nature of life on Earth, including inevitable periodic planetary changes.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Alternative View, September 16, 2005

By 

John Matlock "Gunny" (Winnemucca, NV) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: From Light Into Darkness: The Evolution of Religion in Ancient Egypt (Paperback)

Mr. Mehler has spent most of his life in the study of ancient Egypt. Part of this study is based on his own observations of Egyption artifacts and research conducted inside the pyramids. In addition he has spent several years of study with the Egyption wisdom keeper Abd'El Hakim Awyan who has passed on oral traditions and radical new interpretations of how religion evolved in prehistoric and dynastic Khemit (Egypt).

The thesis in this book is that the teachings of the form the basis from which Judaism was born to be subquently evolved into Christianity and Islam. He presents some theories that the early Jewish patriarchs and prophets (Joseph, Moses and others) were in fact Egyptian. He also presents some thinking that the Risucrucian Order began in ancient Egypt rather than being a development of much more recent time.

In summary, this book presents an alternative view to the history of religion as it is commonly understood.