Living Temple of Egypt: The living metaphysics of ancient Egypt, from within the tradition.

The metaphysics of ancient Egypt, recovered from within the living tradition.

Ancient Egypt has never quite let go of us. Its gods and symbols, and above all its understanding of the soul, still speak to anyone who senses there is more to the world than its surface. Yet behind the temple walls lay more than religion. There lay a complete metaphysics, a working account of the human being and the cosmos, and it is that inner teaching this book sets out to recover.

The Living Temple of Egypt introduces the great ideas of Egyptian spirituality from within the Western Mystery Tradition, the living current in which they are still practised, rather than from the lecture hall. Andy Cooper writes as a teacher rather than a historian. At every turn he holds an Egyptian idea up against its counterpart in Huna, the Qabalah, the Hermetic philosophers and the wisdom of India, so that the same truths can be seen plainly under their many names.

Inside, you will find:

• The principles of Egyptian metaphysics, set out in plain language
• The Egyptian model of the soul and its many parts, and what it means for life and for death
• Creation, the One and the many, and the law of "as above, so below"
• The Neteru, the gods and goddesses, understood as living powers rather than a crowded pantheon
• Magic, symbol and the sacred image as instruments that do rather than merely say
• The afterlife, the weighing of the heart, and the journey of the soul

It is a book meant to be worked, not merely read. Most chapters close with a short practice, a meditation or a contemplation, so that what is described can be tested in your own experience rather than taken on trust.

This first volume is written for the seeker and the student of the Western esoteric tradition, for anyone drawn to Egypt who wants its wisdom as something to live by, and for readers of Dion Fortune, Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki and the mystery school tradition they carried.

The Living Temple of Egypt is the first of five books in the Voices of the Nile series, opening the inner tradition of Egypt to the seeker of today.