New Book Summary
Embodying Osiris, The Secrets of Alchemical Transformation
Thom F. Cavalli, Ph.D.
Now available from Quest Books, publication November 2010
In 100 A.D., the Greek philosopher Plutarch wrote a paper entitled, “On the Decline of the Oracles” in which he suggests that the gods had disappeared. This was a reasonable question since ancient Egypt, with its rich polytheistic culture, had collapsed some 200 years prior. In Thom Cavalli’s new book, Embodying Osiris, The Secrets of Alchemical Integration, we discover that the gods did not in fact disappear but instead were gradually re-emerging as psychological archetypes. This transformation is made especially clear in the evolution of Osiris from a nature spirit to the God of the Dead and ultimately to an archetype of Regeneration. In the myth of Osiris, this evolution can be traced in the god’s death, dismemberment and resurrection. Dr. Cavalli shows that Osiris represents the emergence of the individual psyche and that the myth contains many secret recipes which, using alchemy as a key, reveal a radical shift in the development of consciousness.
Dr. Cavalli illuminates the myth by adding the cultural context from which it emerged. He describes the Opening of the Mouth ritual, Judgment in the Great Hall of Osiris, the Heb Sed festival and other startling revelations of ancient Egyptian culture that describe how gods and archetypes function in the process of individual and collective individuation. Further, he shows how magic (heka) evolves into “unconscious alchemy” and in time lays the basis for modern science.
In analyzing the myth, we discover a fresh, postmodern interpretation that confronts modern scholarship. Questions like, “Were the ancient Egyptians capable of mystical thought?” and “Were their funerary practices strictly aimed at postmortum transformation?” Today, we ask, “How can we embody Osiris in the modern world?” In answering these questions, Dr. Cavalli takes the reader on a wild ride through the Underworld, the body of the celestial goddess Nut and sail through the night sky on Osiris’ solar vessel. As he suggests, we may never know what these ancient people really thought, but we can, using their wisdom, embody the god who makes things happen from the ground up – Osiris.
