Did God Have a Wife?: William G. Dever
Dever, one of the world's most renowned archaeologists has finally asked the BIG question, and his research, archaeology, and scholarship have come up with the most stunning answer. Yes, God was married!
His analysis of the folk religion, and how the common folk worshipped was one of the powerful aspects of this book, the stuff that never made it into the Bible, yet is reflected in the archaeology of the people in the countryside. This is archaeology at its level-headed best.
A very shocking book, as well as revealing for his amazingly coherent, and provocative challenges, and answers to the nay-sayers of Asherah being God's wife.
I highly recommend it. (*****)
Giorgio Santillana, Hertha von Dechend: Hamlet's Mill
This is not the easiest book to read or understand, but it is by far one of the most influential ones I own for the sheer power of generating ideas and themes to research and write on. It is archeoastronomy detective work like no other text. Scholarly, erudite, difficult, astounding, breath-taking. I also rate this one as one of those books in my all time favorite top 10.
I know others have not found their overall thesis convincing, but archeoastronomy is indepted to this book for having a serious start, and it has also come a long way since, especially with John Major Jenkins work on "Maya Cosmogenesis 2012" and "The Galactic Alignment."
Archeoastronomy became a hobby of mine directly because of this book. I highly recommend it. It was reprinted for the 3rd time in 1992, and well worth shelling out the dough for it. (*****)
- Hugh Nibley: The Message of the Joseph Smith Papyri
This 2nd edition has been enlarged, updated, totally checked footnotes for accuracy of quotes and use of sources, all new pictures and more than what the original edition had, and all footnotes put at the bottom of the page for easier reading.
John Gee, the LDS Egyptologist at BYU/FARMS (Now the Neal A. Maxwell Institute) spent 17 years checking the accuracy of every single quote and deserves our accolades and congratulations. So does FARMS for putting back all the materials that were supposed to be originally in here. It has gone from a 270 page text to over 600. It is a magnificent tome, very useful indexes, much nicer to read and understand, and is one of my all time favorite top 10 books. (*****)
Jason Lotterhand: The Thursday Night Tarot
In his down to earth style and humor, Lotterhand opens up the world of the Tarot symbolisms and what they can mean for us in our every day to day lives. Without stuffy erudition, nor with New Age silliness, Lotterhand goes through the Major Arcana of the Tarot Cards and analyzes their interpretations as he understands things. You can't help but come away from this book feeling good. This is the collection of his classes he has taught for years and years, including questions from many of his students and his responses.
I have read it many times, and will continue reading it as a perfect introduction as to what the Tarot symbolisms and use really means, not what phony prognosticators of the New Age Movement have hijacked the Tarot to mean. Their use of it is an "adulterated use" to quote Paul Foster Case, another of the true Tarot interpreter geniuses.
The overall view of the Tarot following Lotterhand's interpretation is one of love.... love for God, our fellowman, as well as for ourselves. That Tarot has nothing at all in any form to do with Satan worship, devil loving wickdness, and magic is more than proven by Lotterhand's scholarship in this fascinating area. I highly and strongly recommend this cure for the disease of understanding Tarot as an evil Devil inspired system. (*****)
- John W. Welch, David & JoAnn Seely, editors: Glimpses of Lehi's Jerusalem
The most complete, insightful look into Jerusalem as she existed in 600 B.C. just before the Babylonian captivity. It analyzes and looks into the social life, economic, political, physical, spiritual, archaeological, and in every way possible to understand what life was like for Lehi as a parent, and Nephi as a child.
The updating of the Lachish Letters, of the reform of King Josiah, the Rechabites, International affairs occurring, Egyptian connections, etc., is powerfully transforming our understanding on the very real background and pathbreaking work that the FARMS group (now called the Neal A. Maxwell Institute) is performing on all aspects of the LDS scriptures, culture, doctrine, and history.
A most delightful read! (****)
- Kevin Townley: The Cube of Space
This book (Archive Press, 1993) is the singular most comprehensive description, discussion, meditation, and writing of the Sefer Yetzirah's description of the Cube of Space in existence. Townley has written a book like no other, although his followup book "Meditations on the Cube of Space" (Archer Books, 2003) is also in-depth and provocative.
David Allen Hulse's book "New Dimensions for the Cube of Space," Samuel Weiser, 2000) is a simpler guide, with different developments, discussions and assignments for the Tarot Card symbolisms on the cube however.
Townley has discussed every single available notion of the cube, its symbolisms, significance, and interest in both the Jewish Kabbalistic texts, as well as for us in our modern meditations for further understanding of the cosmos. His two books are nothing less than a tour de force, which gives years of pleasant reading. (****)
Leonora Leet: The Secret Doctrine of the Kabbalah
This book just simply stunned me. It is one of the most fascinating analysis of Sacred Geometry and modern Quantum Physics along with a detailed discovery after discover after discovery of the Jewish religious system called Kabbalah.
Leet's geometric charts make the book even easier to understand, but the depth of her cogent reasoning concerning the cosmos, geometry, and music is a sight to behold.
Her follow up book "The Universal Kabbalah" is quite interesting in the first few chapters and then bogs my mind down with so much detail and analysis that it is far over my head, though I am working on deciphering it.
Leet spent over 20 years analyzing and writing about her discoveries. The most significant one concerns the Kabbalah Tree of Life diagram which is remarkably elucidated by Leet, both in the historical aspects of its changes, as well as the reasons why it is the shape and form that it is, and the meaning of sacred geometrical extensions of the already existing lines of the Tree of Life.
A most significant contribution, not only to my own understanding of Kabbalah and Geometry, but for my own enthusiasm of learning more about the Kabbalah (****)
Margaret Barker: The Great High Priest
With her astonishing range of scholarship and working with ancient archaeological and linguistic data, Barker has changed our understanding of the ancient Hebraic Priesthood as well as religion. This book is a milestone. (*****)
Menas Kafatos, Robert Nadeau: The Conscious Universe
The Quantum Physics notion of Complementarity (two particles being connected, no matter how far apart they are in the universe), as well as understanding how the part relates to the whole is what is explored in this gem of a little book.
This is no spiritual guru linking of science and religion together by mis-representing one or the other or both of the disciplines, but a sober, real look into the ideas of consciousness, and how Quantum Physics has come around to recognizing the universal aspect of consciousness in *all things*. An amazing book, quite technically written, but with amazing conclusions. The main conclusion being that consciousness can no longer be separated from the problem of the way science operates. (****)
Robert Eisenman: The New Testament Code
Again, with his impeccible schoalrship and thirst for detail Eisenman extends his analysis and evidence for a First Century Early Christian provenance for the Dead Sea Scrolls using the internal materials of the scrolls themselves, their literary usages, their dramatis personae, and their descriptions of what sins abound with the wicked foreign leaders, which can only possibly apply to the Herodians.
I wish Eisenman's writing style was easier however. For this reason I can't give it a 5 star rating. His information is astonishingly useful however, and rather controversial, my kind of book! (****)
Tree of Souls: The Mythology of Judaism: Howard Schwartz
Magnaminous! This compilation from all periods of Jewish mythology, using hundreds, if not thousands of the texts, shows without doubt or question that there was a Jewish mythology, and its power of presentation for relevance is unsurpassed in all of mythology.
From the Creation, the the Shekhinah as the wife of God, to Israel's woes, and successes, this detailed, and humorous, insightful, powerful book has so much in it from the lives of the Patriarchs, the prophets, and the rabbis, that it will take many months to read all the way through it. I have referenced it several times, and spent not a few very delightful evenings (even rainy days) browsing through its pages, and the excellent scholarly discussions by Schwarts itself placing things in context. This is a book I turn to again and again and again with new "Aha!" insights from every single page. (*****)
What I find truly amazing is that We speak of the future earth as being "the Celestial Kingdom while we do not the same when it comes to the lesser two kingdoms which are also the earth. The earthstone on the SLC temple is the lowest or footstool of God. It is the Telestial Kingdom where we all start our journey according to language specific temple rites. The temple inside has the world room painted and made to resemble this earth we live on. God informs us that the room represents the Telestial Kingdom or the world in which we now live.
And yet it is interesting that when you mention this to people who are temple worthy, they have no understanding that this earth right now is that very kingdom regardless of the countless times in the endowment ceremony that Elohim and Christ and others refer to our lone and dreary world as the Telestial Kingdom and Telestial world. This is the same language as is used in the D&C to convey the different worlds of glory. It appears that from the specific language that there is only one Telestial Kingdom/ world and that we are all part of it right now.
Not to switch subjects on you but I believe that early on in the church there was an understanding of these things- namely- that we progress through the kingdoms of glory rather than be assigned to them in the hereafter. Early historical documents even speak of our progression through the worlds of glory.
If this is all true, then truly the earthstone on the temple corresponds with the Telestial Kingdom which would in fact be the lowest or starting place for mankind.
Posted by: Rob Osborn | September 17, 2007 at 08:45 AM
Well, basically all ancient cultures participated in Saturn worship. If you look into the pantheons of every culture you will find that the supreme being is equivelent to the planet Saturn. In the case that scholars refer to "Sun Worship" this is also Saturn Worship, as evident from the fact that Hebrews recognized the planet Saturn as their Sun and named the Sabbath accordingly. The Chaldeans called Saturn/God 'El', which is where Abraham recieved it, yet knew who truly deserved the name. Abraham was then told to go teach the Egyptions who Saturn was a type for, thus worshipping the hosts of heaven is an abomination, but the greatest of all the stars is like God, this is who we worship, the creator, not the creation. In a very real sense all of history Saturn's intimate relationship to our Earth. Saturnalia is the roman celebration of the return of Saturn to our earth, when we will enter a golden age, or millenium era. We (Saints) look forward to the return of Kolob, as Joseph said that the "Grand Sign of the Second Coming" would be a planet. Saturn is Kolob. This is the short answer but there are volumes and volumes published on the subject and volumes yet to be published, hopefully by more LDS authors. (of course most books written so far only are based on ancient Saturn worship and do not have the air of prophecy dictating a literal return of the planet. That is one of the great mysteries that the saints have. More than you might believe write about Saturn having been close to this earth as the root of our creation myths). Good luck in your scholarly pursuits! I appreciate the oppurtunity to remark on this important question.
C. Ammon Cheney
Ammon
Posted by: Ammon Cheney | October 14, 2007 at 02:52 PM
It is very interesting to note, if we follow Ammon Cheney's perspective, that Saturn is next to Uranus, which is the Greek word for "the heavens." Of course, this name was applied in more modern times, but if Saturn can be seen as Kolob, it is fitting that it is place closest to the Heavens. I just thought that was cool.
Posted by: David Larsen | October 16, 2007 at 02:50 PM
Kerry and Ammon Cheney,
Hey thanks for starting this thread. I have been very interested in the Saturn symbolism for awhile now but I have been somewhat stymied in myu investiogation. Can you recommend some books, or websites, etc that are good for saturn info? also are you saying that Kolob is the actual planet of Saturn or simply that the terms Kolob and Saturn are the same but different languages and the planet in our system named Saturn was merely named after Kolob/Saturn?
Brent
Posted by: Brent | May 21, 2008 at 06:23 PM