John Anthony West

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“Egyptian civilization was not a development, it was a legacy” - John Anthony West

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John Anthony West (July 9, 1932 – February 6, 2018) was an American author, lecturer, guide, a proponent of the Sphinx water erosion hypothesis (Theory) in geology, involved in esoteric studies of Egypt, and also studies of the Dogon people. He was able to survive cancer but was not able to make a recovery.

"In 1993 his work with Robert M. Schoch, a geologist and associate professor of natural science at the College of General Studies at Boston University was presented by Charlton Heston, the host in an NBC special called “The Mystery of the Sphinx” that won West a News & Documentary Emmy Award for Best Research and a nomination for Best Documentary. The documentary contends that the main type of weathering evident on the Great Sphinx and surrounding enclosure walls could only have been caused by prolonged and extensive rainfall during the time period from 10,000 to 5000 BCE and was carved out of limestone bedrock by an ancient advanced culture (such as the Heavy Neolithic Qaraoun culture).This challenged the conventional dating of the carving of the statue circa 2500 BCE. West suggested that the Sphinx may be over twice as old as originally determined, whereas Schoch made a more conservative determination of between 5000 and 7000 BCE." -Wikipedia

His book, Serpent in the Sky: The High Wisdom of Ancient Egypt, Quest Books, 1993 he revealed much of the esoteric meaning of the Egyptian mystery schools such as:

"...the serpent represents intellect, the faculty by which man discriminates. There is a higher and a lower intellect. Thus, symbolically, there is a serpent that crawls and the higher intellect, that which allows man to know God -- the heavenly serpent, the serpent in the sky."

"Egypt started with the concept of divine attributes within man. The gods are not brought down to earth; rather man is raised to the gods."

"John Anthony West explains in this richly illustrated book the unity and purpose of ancient Egyptian culture. The Serpent symbolized choice: the lower or the higher path. West brings to life the world of a people for whom higher truth was a living reality and ultimate goal." -http://www.jawest.net/books_vids.htm

Other books of his worthy of mention are The Traveler's Key to Ancient Egypt: A Guide to the Sacred Places of Ancient Egypt, Quest Books, 1996 and Sacred Symbols of the Dogon: The Key to Advanced Science in the Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs, Quest Books, 2007

The video series "Magical Egypt: A Symbolist Tour of Ancient Egypt", also gives a high quality insight to the esoteric meaning of the Egyptian mystery schools.

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