The Lost Art of Resurrection: Initiation, Secret Chambers, and the Quest for the Otherworld

Description

Reveals the radical ancient practice of living resurrection, in which initiates ritually died and were reborn into a state of higher consciousness * Explores living resurrection initiation practices from world cultures, including Egyptian, Greek, Gnostic, Chinese, Celtic, and Native American traditions * Describes the secret chambers and temples where Mystery Schools practiced "raising the dead" * Shows why this practice was branded a heresy and suppressed by the Church More than two thousand years before the resurrection of Jesus, initiates from spiritual traditions around the world were already practicing a secret mystical ritual in which they metaphorically died and were reborn into a higher spiritual state. During this living resurrection, they experienced a transformative spiritual awakening that revealed the nature of reality and the purpose of the soul, described as "rising from the dead." Exploring the practice of living resurrection in ancient Egyptian, Phoenician, Greek, Persian, Indian, Japanese, Chinese, Celtic, and Native American traditions, Freddy Silva explains how resurrection was never meant for the dead, but for the living--a fact supported by the suppressed Gnostic Gospel of Philip: "Those who say they will die first and then rise are in error. If they do not first receive the resurrection while they live, when they die they will receive nothing." He reveals how these practices were not only common in the ancient world but also shared similar facets in each tradition: initiates were led through a series of challenging ordeals, retreated for a three-day period into a cave or restricted room, often called a "bridal chamber," and while out-of-body, became fully conscious of travels in the Otherworld. Upon returning to the body, they were led by priests or priestesses to witness the rising of Sirius or the Equinox sunrise. Silva describes some of the secret chambers around the world where the ritual was performed, including the so-called tomb of Thutmosis III in Egypt, which featured an empty sarcophagus and detailed instructions for the living on how to enter the Otherworld and return alive. He reveals why esoteric and Gnostic sects claimed that the literal resurrection of Jesus promoted by the Church was a fraud and how the Church branded all living resurrection practices as a heresy, relentlessly persecuting the Gnostics to suppress knowledge of this self-empowering experience. He shows how the Knights Templar revived these concepts and how they survive to this day within Freemasonry. Exploring the hidden art of living resurrection, Silva shows how this personal experience of the Divine opened the path to self-empowerment and higher consciousness, leading initiates such as Plato to describe it as the pinnacle of spiritual development.

Freddy Silva is a leading researcher of alternative history, ancient knowledge, sacred sites, and the interaction between temples and consciousness. He has appeared on Discovery Channel, BBC, and Coast to Coast AM radio. He is the author of 5 books and lives in Portland, Maine.

"Freddy Silva's latest book is his most brilliant, scintillating, and inviting of all, a superb book on global initiation over thousands of years. In it he explores how ancient sacred cultures guided people to experience psychic death while alive--a ritual near-death experience. The Lost Art of Resurrection is a truly remarkable contribution to the quest of reviving lost wisdom and a must-read for anyone interested in spirituality and sacred sites." * Barbara Hand Clow, author of Awakening the Planetary Mind * "This is a breakthrough work that topples not only church dogma but a century of pyramidiots stumped by Egypt's elusively empty sarcophagi. No mummy there! No, it's all about the round-trip journey to the spirit world and what our ancestors were really doing in their secluded temples. Fabulously illustrated, this important book is as much about the cosmogony of the ancient wisdomkeepers as it is about the hidden chambers of the human mind." * Susan Martinez, Ph.D., author of The Mysterious Origins of Hybrid Man *