A BOOK OF
THE BEGINNINGS

Containing an attempt to recover and reconstitute
the lost origins of the myths and mysteries,
types and symbols, religion and language,
with Egypt for the mouthpiece and
Africa as the birthplace

by

Gerald Massey

________________
 

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN TWO VOLUMES
LONDON, 1881
NOW REPUBLISHED IN THIS EDITION
WITH ADDITIONAL MATERIAL
BY THE EDITOR
2007

________________

CONTENTS

PART 1

EGYPTIAN ORIGINS IN THE BRITISH ISLES

PART 2

EGYPTIAN ORIGINS IN THE HEBREW,
AKKADO-ASSYRIAN AND MAORI

ILLUSTRATIONS

Zodiac from the centre of the ceiling of Denderah
Larger View

Egyptian zodiac assigned to the second Hermes, according to Kircher
Larger View

EGYPT

Egypt! how have I dwelt with you in dreams,
So long, so intimately, that it seems
As if you had borne me; though I could not know
It was so many thousand years ago!
And in my gropings darkly underground
The long-lost memory at last is found
Of motherhood―you Mother of us all!
And to my fellowmen I must recall
The memory too; that common motherhood
May help to make the common brotherhood.
Egypt! it lies there in the far-off past,
Opening with depths profound and growths as vast
As the great valley of Yosemité;
The birthplace out of darkness into day;
The shaping matrix of the human mind;
The cradle and nursery of our kind.
This was the land created from the flood,
The land of Atum, made of the red mud,
Where Num sat in his Teba throned on high,
And saw the deluge once a year go by,
Each brimming with the blessing that is brought,
And by that waterway, in Egypt's thought,
The gods descended; but they never hurled
The Deluge that should desolate the world.
There the vast hewers of the the early time
Built, as if that way they would surely climb
The Heavens, and left their labours without name―
Colossal as their carelessness of fame―
Sole likeness of themselves―that heavenward
For ever look with statuesque regard,
As if some vision of the Eternal grown
Petrific, was forever fixed in stone!
They watched the Moon re-orb, the Stars go round,
And drew the Circle; Thought's primordial bound.
The Heavens looked into them with living eyes
To kindle starry thoughts in other skies,
For us reflected in the image-scroll,
That might by night the stars for aye unroll.
The Royal Heads of Language bow them down
To lay in Egypt's lap each borrowed crown.
The glory of Greece was but the Afterglow
Of her forgotten greatness lying low;
Her Hieroglyphics buried dark as night,
Or coal-deposits filled with future light,
Are mines of meaning; by their light we see
Thro' many an overshadowing mystery.
The nursing Nile is living Egypt still,
And as her lowlands with its freshness fill,
And heave with double-breasted bounteousness,
So doth the old Hidden Source of mind bless
The nations; secretly she brought to birth,
And Egypt still enriches all the earth.

MOTHER SHIPTON'S PROPHECY OF
THE 'END OF THE WORLD'
IN THE YEAR 1881

Some relics of the ancient Circle-Craft are still extant in Britain, and we have our misinterpreted prophecies in common with the Hebrew (see Pt. 2, pp.388-98). According to one of these the World is to end in the year 1881.
The 'end of the world' is the end of an aeon, age or cycle of Time, and we have seen the prophecy fulfilled in the rare lunar and planetary conjunction which occurred on the 3rd of March. It now remains for scientific astronomy to determine the length of this particular cycle of Time and define its relationship to the period of precession.
The ending of an Old World (or Aeon) and commencement of a New is an appropriate date for the birth of A Book of the Beginnings.

March 4th, 1881

 

This page last updated: 28/11/2007