Serpent in the Sky: The High Wisdom of Ancient Egypt Paperback – May 1, 1993

An invaluable body of knowledge. West carefully and meticulously (and humorously) details a revisioned model of ancient egypt. The symbolist and esoteric approach can be attributed to the mathematician, philosopher and studying alchemist, R.A Shwaller de Lubicz. A man who's work never came to be appreciated or even challenged by mainstream academia...which is truly shameful. West brings Shwallers ideas to a layman audience so that these concepts can be digested more easily. As West says "Shwaller is meant to be srudied, this book is meant to be read". I did both and will continue to.. this book is worth many many reads.Our systems of science (which JAW coins "The Church of Progress") painfully fails century after century to acknowledge outside perspectives and ideas that contradict the orthodox view. Egyptology being amongst the most dangerous of all established ideologies of science, is dogmatic and fearful of any ideas disrupting their timelines and beliefs. Just look at Zawi Hawass (the most famous man in Egypt) and his knee jerk and zealous attitude and you'll understand what I mean.For amateurs and perhaps scholars and advanced thinkers, appreciates of Egypt, this book could serve as a critically important, highly readable source of wisdom and understanding. It doesn't take a genius to understand these things.. it only takes ones head to be removed from the sand.RIP JAW, may his work influence our generation so that we can carry this message into a more meaningful future.. without people like JAW, true heretics to the establishment, our brains and hearts would be buried in ideas that violate our purpose here on earth.

This book is essentially an amazing survey of the work of Schwaller De Lubicz. At the time the book was published, Schwaller's works were only available in french, so the author had done the english speaking world a great service in putting together this book. Now that Schwaller's work has been translated, Serpent in the Sky serves as an excellent jump off for those who are aware that "something is amiss" in modern science disciplines. This is from the book:"ALL MODERN disciplines devoted to the understanding of past or alien cultures are based upon certain assumptions considered so self-evident that they are never stated explicitly, and never questioned. Examples of such disciplines would include Egyptology, anthropology, archaeology, ethnology, sociology and paleontology. Generally speaking, `authorities' within these fields are unaware that their disciplines are based upon these assumptions:1 That man has `progressed'. That there has been an `evolution' in human affairs.2 That civilization implies progress, and that the height of civilization is in direct proportion to the rate of progress.3 That progress, hence civilization, began with the Greeks, who invented speculative philosophy and rational science.4 That science and science-based disciplines are the only valid instruments for arriving at `objective truth'.5 That without rational science and speculative philosophy there is no real civilization.6 That there is nothing the ancients knew that we do not know, or understand better.These assumptions have been accepted by almost every scientist and scholar for the last two hundred years. They percolate into every aspect of education in the modern western world. No reader of these words will have been taught otherwise at school or a higher seat of learning. Yet each of these assumptions is false, or represents a half-truth more insidious than outright falsehood." -John A. WestThis book is an excellent resource for those who wish to separate the 'wheat from the chaff', and go beyond the half truths and assumptions of mainstream academia. Ancient Egypt is a great place to start being that it is the foundation of western civilization, not Greece as we are taught. Also- The weathering of the Sphinx is something that Schwaller noted, and J.A. West took that observation and ran with it, proving beyond a shadow of doubt that the Sphinx must be at least 10,000 years old!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book... and when I say thoroughly I mean THOROUGHLY! I will absolutely never think about numbers the same way again. No joke--reading this was genuinely life changing for me in that regard. Although I lingered on the number sections for a particularly long time, I found the rest of the book just as interesting and well written. West sorted through some rather dense stuff and presented the information in a very concise and thought-provoking way. This is a gem that I know I will pull off the shelf time and again either to reference various sections for their relevance in other lines of research or just to enjoy in its entirety. To put this review in a fair context, I am interested in all things ancient, with a special emphasis on Egyptian culture and art, but I am often left unsatisfied with mainstream Egyptology. I tend to be open minded when approaching new material, but I am also the academic type who follows up with additional research into sources that are used etc. I am still spiraling down that rabbit hole...but I am really enjoying the journey. I rely heavily on reviews but rarely write them, so I hope I have helped a fellow review-guided shopper to take the plunge.