Instead of providing a straight excerpt from The Almagest. I have decided to do a kind of theatrical preview, like they have for movies, to introduce you to the cast of characters, the situation, and the settings. Click on the banner above for a review of the book, and an order link.

Most of the action takes place in Egypt, at a place called Abydos along the west bank of the Nile River. This was the traditional burial place of the kings of the Old Kingdom. One of the Temples there is a mysterious place called the Osireion. The archaeologists who found this place in the early 1900's published their findings, that it was the oldest building in Egypt - perhaps 10,000 years old. This was very controversial because the next oldest buildings are only half that age. The theme of this novel is that the Osireion really is 10,000 years old; and it is not just a stone building but part of an engineered structure - an aqueduct - surving a long lost civilization, far far older than a mere ten millennia.



Egypt in Antiquity


The area west of the Nile was a lush tropical region up until 10,000 years ago. Then it started drying out into desert about 7,000 years ago so that it was like you see in the picture by the time the first kingdom appeared in Egypt around 5,000 years ago. As all this was going on, the people built an aqueduct to bring fresh water from the Nile to suppliment their diminishing local water supply.

What all of this means is that even before Egypt there existed a highly developed culture, philosophy, and religion ~ the Cult of Isis. Various religions siphoned off different aspects of this spirituality - the Hebrews, the Egyptian priests, the Romans, and the Christians - so that eventually the Cult of Isis existed no more. It is only in the modern day, with Wicca, that this ancient Earth based religion has come back into its own.


The Goddess Isis

My favorite character is, of course, Isis the Goddess. However, since women don't go around attired like the Queen of Egypt in the modern day, the Goddess in the novel is Sister Maria Gateaux, a modern day member of a splinter group of the Holy Roman Church in the 1200's that believed in what was eventually deemed the Albigensian Heresy. This philosophy is named after the city of Albe in southern France, which was at that time at the center of a movement toward democracy. This was not well received by the Emperor or the Church, so their beliefs were declared heresy, and the freedom fighters were destroyed in a civil war. A few survived, and so the Inquisition was declared, and these survivors were hunted down and burned at the stake. They were what we call in the modern day, witches.

Going back a little in time, to the original Roman Empire, this area of southern France was first conquered and "civilized" by the famous Julius Caesar around 50 B.C. Over the next three hundred years the south of France became the most advanced culture on Earth - they had superb roads, aqueducts in all the major cities, and a strong central government that ensured equal rights to everybody. Rome itself during this time was a dictatorship, but these independent peoples in southern France were democratic.



Julius Caesar and the Praetorian Guard


Out of this Roman Empire there emerged a group called the Praetorian Guard ~ formed right after Caesar was assassinated in 44 B.C. They were the conscience of Rome - preserving a strong tradition of honor, respect, and dignity. This Praetorian Guard was destroyed by the Emperor Constantine in 333 A.D. but its traditions persevered, and exist to the modern day.

These noble characters are represented by the other leading character, an excommunicated priest with extremely eclectic views about religion and especially the status quo. He is nicknamed Lucifer, and is everything you would expect of an Archangel who was cast out of Heaven by God ~ he's irreverent, insolent, controversial, and generally a pain in the ass. Yet, despite all his flaws and skewed ideas, this Lucifer incarnate is a likeable fellow and he is absolutely devoted to nature. So, quite naturally, the Goddess takes a liking to him.

Wiccans may be put out because in the first few chapters Kase is the leading man, and the Goddess takes a secondary role. However, as the drama continues and Kase weakens, the Goddess strengthens and eventually takes the lead. All the while, a tender romance develops and this leads to some dramatic confrontations, as you might expect in the courtship between two such strong characters.



The Osireion at Abydos


Much of the action takes place in and around the Osireion. The picture above is a ground view of the Central Court. You are looking at a rectangular indentation that is actually steps underwater leading up from a pool that circumvents this basketball court sized room. The place is built of massive blocks weighing from twenty to fifty tons, and the waterways go down tens, even hundreds, of feet straight down. The complete structure is a hundred feet below the surface, and overall it is quite similar to the castellum or well, that was the beginning point or tap into an underground aquifer, for Roman Aqueducts built thousands of years later. So, the notion of this being part of an aqueduct serving some antediluvian civilization is not so far fetched.

As far as the book itself goes, it's very factual - with lots of interesting things about the Isis Cult, Cleopatra, Nefertiti, Caesar, the Praetorian Guard, and the Albigensians. Many Old Testament "myths" are given a facelift, and a factual basis - the Ark of the Covenant, the Well of All Souls, the Golden Calf, and even Leviathan. All these things are assumed by everybody else to be mere symbols. The story line of Isis Incarnate makes them into real things of flesh, blood, stone, and metal.

It's not much fun reading conjectures about all these heavy spiritual things, reinforced with facts though they may be. So the two characters - Kase and Nikki - lead you on an exciting adventure, laced with drama, romance, humor, and suspense. You'll be wrapped up in the excitement in no time at all…

By the time you're finished reading the book it will be pretty clear that almost all of western spirituality has come from the Isis Cult ~ which is not really news to Wiccans, but it certainly doesn't hurt to see it all bolstered with hard facts and solid science. Additional materials are available in the supporting documents provided on this website, giving further details about the Osireion, Roman aqueducts, and stone working.



Jump Gate


The facts aren't all archaeological and historical, but technological as well. Respect for the Earth is a prominent theme, and many notions of energy conservation are cited. In fact, every institution, nation, or philosophy that doesn't respect the Earth is in for a righteous whipping - which means most every icon of the modern era. No one is spared.

There are even some futuristic sciences introduced ~ powerful new ideas of Celestial Mechanics, on the nature of space and time. The idea that the Osireion was built by a space traveling race is posed, with compelling scientific ideas to support it. All these materials are outlined in the novel itself, leaving the heavy details to separate publications. This means that, although the futuristic schemes are presented as a scifi backdrop, the very existence of the tech papers implies perhaps otherwise.

Ultimately, the Goddess turns out to have been in complete command all the while; and the leading character Kase becomes, alas - a scatterbrained dissident ~ of science, psychology, technology, and the sentient experience of future.

The best surprises don't come until the very end, when you read the Author's Notes ~ to confirm (or deny) those parts of the book that you thought might have been autobiographical. It's a compelling mystery until the very last sentence! (click on the banner at the top of the page to read the book)

Best Southern Regards,

bill h. clark ii
10.1.2005




Copyright 2005 WH Clark. Images from the Big Box of Art. All other images used with permission. Best viewed at 800 by 600 pixels with IE. All communications via email kept confidential. Last updated 10.5.2005