[Back to Chapter 8]



CHAPTER NINE

EPILOGUE

 
POETRY.

FROM information on Massey's early personal development it appears inevitable that he would take an active interest in the political establishment of the time, which he regarded as the cause of his childhood deprivation. Martha Vicinus[1] considered that Massey's politics were a diffuse form of revolutionary sentiment, unenlightened by any ideological comprehension.  But his early articles and reports of speeches that he made at Chartist meetings, did show firm understanding of political radical principles.  Certainly he was revolutionary with an idealist republican stance.  However, this very diffusion moulded his political ideology.  Influenced by Chartism, Internationalism and Christian Socialism, he developed quite solidly into what might be termed an International Co-operative Republican.  His optimistic idealism, directed specifically to the working-class, was motivated by convictions of the People's Charter and, more importantly, the ‘something more’—the ‘social chapter’ of George Julian Harney.  However, his arrival on the divided Chartist scene was too late for him to develop clear-cut ideological principles or qualities of leadership necessary to obtain a position of authority within the movement.  Using dramatic phrasing to appeal directly to the working class, he urged them to prepare for the Chartist advent which was to come and liberate them from their poverty, using the principles of co-operation as a means of regeneration.  But following the collapse of Harney's Star of Freedom it had to be recognised that by 1853 Chartism as a specific force was dead, assisted by its own seeds of internal destruction.  Also, the working class did not have the necessary motivation to continue their support.  In October 1852 the Star of Freedom had commented on increasing industrial investment which, it considered, benefited the wealthy, while ‘the poor if not contented are quiescent, if not happy are apathetic; and by their indifference to politics give countenance to those who are interested in assuming and proclaiming the reign of general contentment.’  If Massey was not the author of those remarks, he was certainly in agreement, blaming the working class as a group for their lack of endurance and meagre attempts toward self-help, by which means he had attained his own position.  He appeared not to realise just how effective extreme social deprivation was in maintaining negative attitudes.

    The overall importance of socio-political and religious reform verse in the first half of the 19th century, particularly when written by artisans, is only recently being considered.[2]  Radical newspapers and periodicals provided the largest circulation for this material, with many provincial papers publishing verse which had political protest or land reform as their theme.  Massey's considerable output during four years of active involvement with Republicanism and the Christian Socialists' Co-operative ventures, played an essential role in the dissemination of radicalism to the working class.  Critics of poetry have denounced such verse as 'shouts' without taking into consideration the readership for whom it was intended or the importance of its social function.  Reviewers of Massey's early lyrical style verse were, however, on firmer ground when they wrote, often indicating their own individual preferences, of his affectation of phrasing and over emphasis on imagery.  He was sensuous at times for that period, particularly following his marriage when:

    This escaped the notice of Robert Buchanan who, in his Fleshly School of Poetry, might have classed it with Rossetti's ‘The House of Life’ as being ‘flooded with sensualism’ and ‘a very hotbed of nasty phrases’.  But Buchanan was not an admirer of the Pre-Raphaelite's aesthetic realism.

    Attempts to define poetry at that time did not have the advantage of the modern broader-based schools of thought, such as Formalist, Structualist, New Critic or Psychoanalytic.  To which can be added the latest computer analysis programs. John Stuart Mill had written earlier that ‘Descriptive poetry consists, no doubt, in the description, but in description of things as they appear, not as they are … and arrayed in the colours of the imagination set in action by the feelings.’[3]  To illustrate the functioning of two types of poet, the ‘born’ and the ‘made’, one author devised a genealogical style tree.[4]  I have adapted this to construct a general ‘poetic process’ chart that is in accord with theoretical modes of thought at the time.  It remains relevant in general, albeit simplistic terms today, before deeper aspects of poetical analysis are applied.  T. S. Eliot indicated that the structure, rhythm, sound and idiom of a language suggests the personality of people who speak it.[5]  Together with emotion and feeling, aspects of the personality, as Eliot suggested, may also be perceived individually through the 'poetic process'.  There is more evidence for this when, as in Massey's case, there is a marked degree of disturbance of the primary emotions.  Emotional disorder influences imagination and representation, with education acting as a modifier from the thematic stage.  In much of Massey's early poetry there is over frequent use of words such as ‘God’, ‘Christ’, ‘Angels’, ‘Love’ and ‘Heaven’, together with other theistic expressions, immoderately expressed sentimental imagery and emphasis by capitalisation.  These literary extravagances, together with verse composed for a specific cause are the main reasons for the small amount of interest shown in his poetry today.  Excessive idealism, concurrent with a desire for a high profile and attempts to attain profound forms of expression, indicates his emotional disturbance and lack of early literary education at that period.  Poetry composed during periods of poverty and stress, however, shows little evidence of his personal situation at the time, and was created probably as a form of necessary catharsis.  But verse which he produced following greater experience obtained during prose writing, shows a wider, often more universal range of idiom.
 
SPIRITUALISM.

    Throughout Massey's works there is a continuing development of Spiritualistic theories that warrants fuller comment here.

    From the earliest Shamans to modern mediumship, he maintained that demonstration of the survival of the human personality after bodily death was fundamental to the explanation of the evolution of religion.  However, the development of particular aspects of orthodox doctrines during the third and fourth centuries such as salvation and a physical resurrection, with mediation possible only through a priest, made it necessary that mediumship be suppressed by the church.  Mesmerism, which was practised by Massey and his first wife, Rosina, was reviled by the clergy as being a fraud attributed to Satan.  Many members of the medical profession considered mesmeric practitioners to be shams and impostors, whom they accused of bribing patients not to show pain while being operated upon during hypnosis.  The function of Thought transference, later Telepathy, often used at that time synonymously with clairvoyance, did not achieve scientific credence (as ESP) until much experimental work had been undertaken.  It was not until 1940 that ‘It appears that the evidence would allow, at present, of no other explanation than that of the ESP hypothesis as defined.’[6]

    Poltergeist activity, such as Massey had experienced at Ward's Hurst, was another type of phenomenon occurring in many countries, which received a great deal of publicity.  Ascribed either to discarnate entities by Massey and the Spiritualists, or clever children's pranks by sceptics, the apparent intelligence exhibited by some of the phenomena proved puzzling.  Today, in cases where deception is ruled out, opinions are divided between the theory of discarnate entities, or the physical exteriorisation of repressed emotional conflicts.[7]  Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was aware of the theory of complex personalities, and warned that 'the inquirer should exhaust every possible normal explanation to his own complete satisfaction before he adopts the Spiritualistic view.’[8]  These are words that are often ignored, even today.

    Physical mediums were particularly outstanding during that period, producing phenomena that were investigated in depth and acknowledged by some prominent scientists such as Professors Richet, Lombroso, Morselli, Bozzano, De Morgan and Zöllner.  At the same time, many fraudulent persons jumped on the psychic stage who, although usually detected quite early, provided ammunition for the sceptics and denigrators of the various phenomena.  Accusations of fraudulent practice were made, and the scientists who asserted that particular phenomena were genuine, although not necessarily believing post-mortem survival, were subject to ridicule, and often misrepresentation.  Materialisation of forms and the depiction of faces on ectoplasmic material were, the critics stated, due to drawings made by the medium on cheesecloth, swallowed, and then regurgitated at the appropriate time.  Some fraud was undoubtedly achieved using this method.  Scientific researchers circumvented this possible mode of deception in some of their tests, either by tying a veil over the medium's head, or getting the medium to swallow a blue dye, which did not affect the genuine phenomena.  Photographs taken simultaneously at different angles during the phenomena also made the suggestion of deceit less easy to adduce.[9]  Daniel Dunglas Home, with whom Massey had a number of sittings in the mid 1860s, was undoubtedly the most well known physical medium of that period.  Although extensively investigated, he was never detected in fraud.

    The Spiritualists and anti-Spiritualists appeared at that time to be evenly divided.  Of the more general early writers on the subject, Joseph McCabe, of the Order of St. Francis before he became an atheist, was particularly ‘down’ on Spiritualism and mysticism, not conceding the authenticity of any type of phenomena.  For the other view, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a valued supporter, although later burning his fingers over the Cottingly Fairies photographs when he accepted the opinion of a photographer who turned out not to be an expert.[10]  His book, as opposed to McCabe's, presents a stronger and more detailed case.  The phenomenon of psychic photography through which Massey had obtained a photograph of a dead daughter, was certainly open to question.  Opportunities for double exposure and retouching were obvious, and in many cases were confirmed.  To try and exclude this type of fraud, stringent tests were devised, involving stereoscopic cameras, close observation of the medium and control over the preparing and processing of the photographic plates, in order to make deception virtually impossible.  There remained finally, a corpus of unexplained results.[11]

    Massey, in common with many others of that time, was optimistic that Spiritualism would develop in ever increasing popularity to the detriment and exposure of what they termed ‘religious accretions’.  Yet these early high expectations have not been achieved.  Despite Spiritualism's wide following from the mid 1800s to the early 1900s and an immense amount of recorded paranormal cases investigated by the Society for Psychical Research that was formed in 1882, the number of active supporters has declined.[12]  At the same time there appears to be an increasing interest in subjects that come under the broader heading of ‘Paranormal’.

    There are several explanations for this.  One of these is the rapid technological advancement following the Second World War which became integral with a change in social leisure pattern, linked also with today's desire for quick results.  Few persons of sufficient ability are able now to devote regular time over a number of years to develop aspects of mediumship, particularly in regard to physical phenomena.  In addition, interest in eastern religions and their associated mystical structures can satisfy a desire for non-conformism and give a broader approach to religious philosophy.  More rapid esoteric revelation is hoped by some to be achieved by psychedelic drug use.  But results from this appear only to illustrate the vast range of material held in an individual's subconscious mind that is structured by psychological aspects of personality, personal experiences and systems of belief.  The whole purpose of the early proponents of Spiritualism, that of demonstrating and promulgating post-mortem survival, has become transferred from physical to mental phenomena.  Research continues, particularly on the hypothesis of the mind being able to exist apart from the physical body.  For example, the Psychology Division of the University of Hertfordshire is examining the notion of direct mental interaction between living systems and the possibility that an unseen observer can have an effect on the physiology of another person.  The Koestler Parapsychology Unit of the Psychology Dept. University of Edinburgh conducts courses and research.  Additionally, several other academic societies, such as the American Institute of Noetic Sciences, are also moving away from restrictive scientific fundamentalism.  It is in that direction rather than in physical mediumship that there appear to be sound prospects eventually of replacing empiricism with a scientific basis.[13]

    From the stand of science, post-mortem survival is not yet proven despite strong indications to its probability.  Experiences which may prove evidential to an individual, are not recognised by critical scientific scrutiny which demands replication of the phenomena, under strict control; this is particularly inimical to physical phenomena.  Frederic Myers, former president of the Society for Psychical Research had suggested, prior to his death, that a group should be formed by some of the so-called ‘dead’ to provide evidence for survival.  Following Myers' death in 1901, some mediums began to obtain messages by automatic writing purporting to originate from Myers, as well as from his friends Edmund Gurney and Professor Henry Sidgwick, who were classical scholars.  Words, phrases and sentences were given via this method to separate mediums which, when compared, gave references to quite obscure classical sources.  Some of these ‘cross-correspondences’ have not been explained by any non-survival hypothesis.[14]  The early concept of a tenuous 'ether' pervading the atmosphere and providing a means through which paranormal phenomena are transmitted has not been confirmed.  Yet recent research into the ‘string theory’ of particle physics suggests that the survival of the human personality after bodily death is, in fact compatible with mechanistic materialism.  A development of the theory proposes a form of matter which can interact gravitationally with the matter of atoms, molecules and elementary particles.  This matter, termed ‘shadow matter’, consists of free unbound matter of that type extending throughout the universe.  When bonded with ordinary matter, it becomes a duplicate of all objects, animate and inanimate.  A shadow matter brain could interact with the living brain by means of gravitational quanta of energy, energising nerve impulses.  Interaction could take place also through distance, thus explaining telepathy, clairvoyance and out-of-the-body experiences.  According to this theory, there is no reason why the shadow matter brain could not exist after death, and psychic phenomena are likely to provide the best means of proving, by modern scientific praxes, the theory of shadow matter, if it exists.[15]

    At a presidential address in 1996 to the Society for Psychical Research, Professor Archie Roy of Glasgow University suggested that a greater number of reputable mediums should be investigated.  Modern technological devices and experimentation can be applied at university level to improve on previous studies, which are already revealing difficulties in those theories which deny life after death.  A group called PRISM (Psychical Research Involving Selected Mediums) was established with Professor Archie Roy as President.  This would involve a study covering all aspects of mediumistic and psychic ability, with Professor David Fontana analysing the information (Psychic News, 17 Feb. 1996, 1).

    This first became functional through an experimental group in Norfolk, when three members of the Society for Psychical Research—Montague Keen, Prof. Arthur Ellison and Prof. David Fontana attended.  Later in 1996 prominent researchers, mainly those on the Council of the Society were invited to attend.  Those who subsequently attended included Prof. Robert Morris, Prof. Donald West, Prof. Archie Roy, Prof. Bernard Carr, Dr. Alan Gauld and Dr John Beloff.  Other investigators who attended various experimental sessions included Dr. Ernst Senkowski, Dr. Hans Schaer, Dr. Kurt Hoffman, Dr. Russell Targ, Dr. Marilyn Schlitz and Dr. Bernard Haisch.  The sessions continued until the end of 1998 when the experiments had to be curtailed.  Phenomena that were produced during that period included the production of apports, colour photography under controlled conditions, synchronised sound and colour images on video tape, and speech on tape recorders.  Images and writing on photographic film combined with mediumistic communication were of a format similar to some of the earlier SPR Cross Correspondences and required separate research.  These experiments were written up and published as The Scole Experiment: Scientific Evidence for Life after Death by Grant & Jane Solomon (London, Piatkus, 1999).  The whole of the phenomena was also examined and reported at length by the Society for Psychical Research in their Proceedings, vol. 58, part 220, November 1999.  Personal and mostly positive opinions of the investigators are given, together with the more negative response of some others.  In sum, the conclusion was that the evidence pointing to survival was inconclusive.  This was in the main due to disagreement over certain aspects of the scientific protocol employed and varying interpretations of the data collected.  Unfortunately, the cessation of that particular group prevented further experiments that were being planned by the SPR that may have produced more positive official results.  However, some members of the group are continuing to develop other aspects of the phenomena that may well be published at a later date.[16]
 
EVOLUTIONISM.

    The evolutionistic concepts that inspired Massey's final years of study and which quickly became a subject of debate (The Two Worlds, April 2; May 7; May 28; June 18 1909), can be divided today, with some overlapping, into population dispersions from Africa, philology, genetics, and astro-mythology.  This latter would include some aspects of more general mythology and development of religious doctrines.

    Recently, two main theories of man's African genesis have evolved.  One postulates gradual and independent multi-regional evolution from an early migration of Homo erectus some million years ago, while the other—now generally accepted—considers a second exodus of Cro-Magnon type around 100,000 years ago, appearing in France and Spain 40,000 years ago.  This second migration replaced the previous migration, including the Neanderthals, about 30,000 years ago.  Of the religious concepts of the Neanderthals there is little evidence, apart from burial with some ritual which indicates a belief in a future life. Following the second migration it is believed that New Guinea and Australia were colonised 40-50,000 years ago, followed by Eurasia, the Pacific Islands, and America via the Bering Strait some 20,000 years ago.[17]
 
    There are still some anthropologists who consider that a group of the earliest hominins may have left Africa and undergone evolutionary transitions in Eurasia. That would place a movement of the original African Australopithecus (4 – 1.2 million years ago) to Eurasia between 2.3 – 1.4 million years ago (New Scientist, 11 May 2013, 41 -43).

    When commenting on the development of a religious Matriarchal to a Pariarchal state, Massey maintained a number of times that the individualised fatherhood was comparatively late as a human institution, and that the father could not be recognised in heaven before he had been also discovered on earth.  In early creation myths therefore, the mother preceded the father in mythology, and the god or child born of her was self-begotten.  Natural Genesis 1, 4; Ancient Egypt 1, 76 - 88 ff.  Recently, Peter Watson in The Great Divide. History and Human Nature in the Old World and the New (2012), 120ff.  brings to attention some modern anthropologists whose ideas follow a similar line.  They realise there must have been a time when no link had yet been made between human sexual intercourse and birth some considerable 280 days later.  It appears very likely that awareness of the link was made during domestication of the dog, which has the more readily observed gestation period of some 63 days.  This would bring the link to around 11,000 years ago – also about the same period when the overemphasised female Venus figurines became fewer in number.  Watson mentions also the account in Genesis where Adam and Eve eat from the Tree of Knowledge following which they knew they were naked (Genesis 3:7; Watson, 134-5.).  Elaine Pagels in Adam & Eve and the Serpent (1988), 27-28, comments that Clement of Alexandria (150-215 AD) rejected the claim by Tatian (120-180 AD) that eating of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge made Adam and Eve sexually aware.  However, she with some other commentators added that the Hebrew verb ‘to know’ connotes sexual intercourse, as when ‘Adam knew his wife, and she conceived...’ (Genesis 4:1).  All these accounts may lead to a belief that Genesis is a primeval cultural legend based on original perceived facts in nature.

    Comparative philology was receiving an increase of interest in the mid-nineteenth century following the studies of Bunsen, Humboldt, Max Müller and Grimm.  Ethnologists such as J. C. Pritchard could envisage the possibility of using it to trace man's prehistory, to show cultural and religious links between tribes and nations, and even demonstrate a form of corrupt primeval monotheistic revelation.  However, words taken from countries as diverse as Britain, Egypt and Israel, were ridiculed when Massey proposed a considerable number of similarities grouped by sound and meaning to add weight to his migration theory.  When he continued to use word roots and then apply them to illustrate examples of Egyptian myths being used during the formation of early Christianity, he received much stronger censure.  But despite recent developments in philological classification which have produced some surprising—and controversial—results, much of Massey's philological derivations remain uncertain.  Nevertheless, although ancient Egyptian is classified as part of the Afro-asiatic branch, and English as Indo-european, there appears to be some relationship between these and some other branches.  It has been shown for example that the African Bantu language is related to Spanish, French, Portuguese and Italian.  Language probably commenced its earliest proto development in Africa some 100,000 years ago, and there is some linguistic and archaeological evidence to show that there were three migrations from Asia to the New World, at 14,000 years, 11,000 years and most recently at 4,000 years.  Previous migrations from Africa to Asia have left linguistic traces, and there is now sufficient information available to suggest that all the world's language families, and therefore all the world's languages, could share a common origin.  Due to divergence and diversification it is impossible scientifically to reconstruct protolanguages further back than about 10,000 years.  But as a hypothetical exercise in tracing word origins, a 2,000 Proto-world vocabulary of core words has been constructed, which could date back to 50,000 years.[18]  More recently Professors Mark Pagel of Reading University and Russell Gray, University of Auckland have been working on similar lines to Merrit Ruhlen.  Languages (European, Middle East and India) have been compared, all having derived from the same root and have many linguistic similarities.  The divergence of the languages can be compared and the evolutionary history of individual words can be traced.  Pagel states there are sounds or words that predate Indo-European.  Giving the words 'thou', 'I', and 'who', as examples that could be at least 15,000 to 20,000 years old, he considers that the sounds and meanings were similar to those used today. (The Times, 28 February, 2009.)

    Continuing research by Mark Pagel et al. using quantitive modeling has shown that Ice Age people living in Europe 15,000 years ago might have used forms of some common words including I, you, we, man, mother, fire, and bark, that in some cases could still be recognised today. The words would not sound exactly the same e.g. mother would sound like mama, or something similar, but a basic conversation could be possible. For the full article see: ‘Ultraconserved words point to deep language ancestry across Eurasia’ at:
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2013/05/01/1218726110.full.pdf+html

See also http://www.evolution.reading.ac.uk/WordChanges/ and Russell Gray’s ‘Pushing the Time Barrier in the Quest for Language Roots’.  This theme is continued in an article ‘Language‘s missing link’ (New Scientist, 16 July 2011).  Investigation of earlier ideas that word sounds could be linked to an inherent meaning was undertaken by Christine Cuskley, Univ. of Edinburgh, Benjamin Bergen, Univ. of California, Sota Kita, Univ. of Birmingham et. al.   Implications suggest that sound symbolism provided the stepping stone from gesture to the simple word and that the sound symbolic relations in today's languages may be remnants of those very first words.

    These researchers add some initial limited support to Massey’s evolutionistic theory of the development of primaeval onomatopœa.  However, modern linguistic research has moved on from Massey's too wide ranging conclusions, to results by computer based research.  This does not confirm Massey's refutation of Grimm’s Law.

    Perhaps even earlier were the ‘click’ consonant languages the remnants of which are still spoken by a number of South and East African tribes.  Linguistic and genetic studies of the San and Hadzabe indicated that these people have inherited this part of vocabulary from a common ancestor who spoke one of the earliest proto languages.  This would date to a time prior to out of Africa migrations (Independent, 18 March 2003; see also Massey, Natural Genesis, I, 257-259, where he considers that clicks were part of the development of pre-human sounds into verbal language).

    About the same time that certain philologists were making these advances, new biochemical techniques in the application of mitochondrial DNA were being designed.  This form of DNA, which is inherited only from the mother, was applied to genetic studies to discover how quickly genetic mutations took place.  Mitochondria from different races was traced to one common African source group who lived about 200,000 years ago, and approximate dates of migrational settlement were determined for a number of countries.[19]  In an ongoing research extensive analysis of men's Y chromosome suggests that the “father” of humankind is far younger than our mother.  Genetic analysis of mitochondrial DNA sequences has revealed that all modern mitochondria are derived from between one and seven maternal ancestors—“mitochondrial Eves”—who were part of a group of perhaps 200 individuals living around 140,000 years ago.  The descendants of other women with different mitochondria have died out.  The Y chromosome of over a thousand men from 21 different regions of the world showed that “Y-chromosome Adam” lived around 50,000 to 70,000 years ago … These findings support the “Out of Africa” theory, suggesting modern humans began migrating from Africa to Asia and beyond 44,000 years ago. (New Scientist, 4 November 2000, page 16).  This has received further confirmation when the DNA of more than 12,000 men across modern Asia was tested.  It was found that in all the men three markers in their Y chromosomes revealed that their ancestors came from Africa between 35,000 and 89,000 years ago.[20]  Furthermore, despite the uniqueness of Australia's ancient Aborigines and archaeological finds on that continent, which threatened to undermine the “Out of Africa” hypothesis, research undertaken by geneticists at Cambridge University into the DNA of Aboriginal Australians and New Guinea's Melanesians supports the single migration theory by demonstrating “that both populations share genetic features linking them and other Eurasians to the exodus from Africa more than five millennia earlier.”[21]

    These independent subject discoveries, when compared, indicate the possibility of a relationship between historical linguistics, prehistoric archaeology, molecular genetics, and the migration of myths.
 
MYTHOLOGY.

    The idea that early man was able to recognise the precession of the equinoxes is central to the development of astro-mythology.  Athanasius Kircher and Charles Dupuis illustrated this opinion with mythological zodaical planispheres.[22]  Observation of precession of the pole stars through a complete cycle of some 26,800 years was considered by Massey as necessary for man to develop a complete cataclysmic ‘deluge’ myth.  A minor ‘deluge’ would occur as each pole star or the group of seven constellation star markers was replaced by the following one.  Constellations that have been identified are Draco, Hercules, Lyra, Cygnus and Cepheus, with this era's Pole Star being Polaris, in Ursa Minor.  At the time of the great pyramid, the pole star was Thuban, in the constellation Draco.  According to Massey, the myths that developed during that early period would be stellar based, and traceable in their religious eschatology.  In the migrations of these people, their temples would be orientated north/south.  When the stellar cult was replaced by the solar, it marked the commencement in Egypt of the Osirian religion, and the eschatology of the nocturnal sun through the darkness of Amenta.  This was representational of the resurrection and continuity of the human spirit in the after life.  The groups of polar stars were replaced by the seven stars of Ursa Minor, who were the divine watchers, the stars that never set; while during their migrations, these Solar cult people orientated their temples east/west.

    During the past twenty-five years there has been some reconsideration of the development of astro-mythology with particular reference to Egyptian religious ritual and its continuance through Babylonia, Sumeria, India and Europe.  Two authors, de Santillana and von Dechend, consider that precession was the only majestic secular motion that our ancestors could keep in mind, and that the cosmological information contained in ancient myths are attempts to portray the forces which seem to have taken part in the shaping of the cosmos.[23]  Thomas D. Worthen’s Myth of Replacement. Stars, Gods and Order in the Universe (see bibliography), complements and enhances the earlier Hamlet’s Mill by Santillana and von Dechend (1969).   Taking a heuristic approach, Worthen considers that myths occur in typological series.  Those myths that are particularly associated with time cycles and cosmic precession are examined, and he introduces also relevant philological and etymological elements to his study.

    A recent discovery can be cited that also adds weight to Massey's original hypothesis of the great importance early civilizations placed on celestial phenomena and the development of their myths. (See Massey, Natural Genesis, I, 292-370). A ceremonial platform at Takalik Abaj, western Guatemala (Olmec, c. 1,200-400 BC) is considered to have alignment to the constellation Draco.  This was adapted later by the Maya to focus on the star Eta Draconis in that constellation.  The alignment was investigated archaeologically, and led to the discovery of an unlooted royal burial (National Geographic, May 2004, 70-79).

    Following on this brief general essay an Egyptologist, Jane Sellers, has more recently investigated in greater detail the cosmological references contained in the pyramid and coffin texts, and the later Book of the Dead.[24]  Checking precession and astronomical references by computer program, the evidence for her conclusion that the ancient Egyptians' religion was indeed founded on astro-mythology is impressive.  This provides sound vindication of many of Massey's theories made some ninety years earlier.  During a practical investigation of the Great Pyramid, Bauval and Gilbert confirmed, also through computer programs, that shafts and chambers had an astro-geometry and were aligned to Orion's (as Osiris) belt, to the pole star alpha Draconis (Thuban), and to beta Ursa Minor.[25-1]  These alignments were connected ritually to the soul's rebirth, using stellar imagery in the development of solar eschatology, and it is possible that stellar observations were made from Heliopolis as early as 10,000 BC.  Should this prove to be correct it provides some further vindication of Massey's opinion of a longer time scale than orthodox opinions presently allow.  It was found also that architecturally, the pyramid complexes of Giza and Dashour could have been built as a representation on earth of the astro-mythological rebirth rituals founded in the cosmological heaven of eternity.

    In spite of the unsurprising reservations of some Egyptologists regarding a statement by theorists that all pyramids had an astronomical alignment, recent and ongoing archaeo-astronomical research is tending to confirm this.

    Since 2003 an Egyptian-Spanish mission under the auspices of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities have studied over 500 pyramids, sanctuaries, temples etc. across the Nile Valley and beyond.  The results so far have almost convinced them that certain places throughout Egypt, such as Karnak and Denderah, had an especially sacred character because they presented both topographic (the Nile) and astronomical alignments.  They would consider solstitial alignments to be universal within ancient Egyptian culture.  Other alignments included equinoctial, seasonal sun orientations, Sirius (as the Egyptian Sepdet), the meridian, and quarter cardinal directions.  In summary, the authors show the importance of three customs of astronomical orientations throughout ancient Egypt history: cardinal, solar and stellar. [25-2]

    During Massey's researches he had cause to consider that the Egyptian Sphinx, being representative of the mount of earth as the place of burial, passage, and rebirth for the solar god was considerably earlier in date than the nearby Great Pyramid.[26]  In the Egyptian texts the two-headed sphinx, named Aker, guards the western gate of sunset with one head, and the eastern gate of sunrise with the other.  Its body contains a succession of caves through which the sun, representing Horus or the later Osiris, travels during its nocturnal journey.[27]  In the mythology the two gates of earth are for the sun, but they become the two gates of Aker for the soul, in the eschatology.  The sphinx on the Giza plateau, being a single sphinx facing east, represents the exit between the sphinx's paws of the sun god's boat from the tunnel of night, at the dawn of day.

    A recent independent researcher, John West, has also queried the generally accepted dating of the Sphinx.[28]  West based his assumption (expressed earlier by Schwaller de Lubicz) on patterns of erosion on the body of the Sphinx that, he asserted, could have been made only by water, and not wind-blown sand.  That put the age of the Sphinx between 10,000 BC to 8,000 BC when the climate in that area was very much wetter.  West considered his theory to have increased validity as, during that period, the sun would appear to rise exactly between the paws of the Sphinx—a further likely approximate date of construction.[29]  Further detailed on site investigation by geologist Dr Robert Schoch added much support to this theory (Voices of the Rocks by Robert M. Schoch (Harmony, NY. 1999).  In his later work Voyages of the Pyramid Builders (Tarcher/Putnam, New York, 2003), he responds to criticism, refuting arguments that the Sphinx was constructed no earlier than c. 2500 BC.  He considered that the base was original, but the body and face were repaired probably in the early dynastic or Old Kingdom period.  Colin Reader, a geological engineer who also made a close study of the Sphinx, concluded that it was built earlier than the Old Kingdom, but only by some 300 years. (Colin Reader, Khufu knew the Sphinx. Self-published, revised 1999).  Another geologist, David Coxill, agreed that the Sphinx ‘is clearly older than the traditional date.’  But there was—and still is, considerable opposition to these opinions by more orthodox scholars.[30]

    The development of myths from their source has never been completely investigated according to theories of early migrations from Africa.  Massey's theory that myths, being particularly fundamental to the formation of early religious doctrine should retain their basic elements, has not been studied in depth.  Classification of myths is particularly complex, especially when considering developmental changes over long periods of time, though more basic material is becoming increasingly available.[31]  The synthesis of myth, philology and anthropology to a common core is also not yet adequately demonstrated in terms of Massey's evolutionary beliefs.  However, following the recent theories of African genesis and greater evidence and dating of migrations from Africa, this seems a fertile line to follow.  There are strong indications that astro-mythology and many aspects of Egyptian eschatology could have greater links with the Mediterranean religions than has been previously realised.

    The burial of the Egyptian mummy in the earth (tomb) is coincident with the resurrection of the soul in Amenta, followed by its purifications and refinings into a spirit finally made perfect.  Resurrection elements of the Egyptian religion were conveyed, in Massey's opinion, via the mystery teachings of Isis and Osiris to the Roman Mithraic religion and early Christianity.  The seventh and eighth stages of the souls ascent corresponds to the seven Pole-lords of heaven, and the great god ‘who is the Bear which moves and turns heaven around …’  As the Egyptian Isis and Horus had been taken over by the Christian mysteries as types in Mary and Jesus, it was only natural that the apologists Justyn Martyr and Tertullian would accuse the earlier mysteries of being demonically inspired precursors of Christianity.[32]  A number of the apocryphal gospels and testaments not written by Christian apologists and therefore judged to be heretical, contain matter that developed in Syria and Asia Minor, that can only have been transmitted via Egyptian Gnosticism.  The weighing of souls, references to the Pole stars and the dragon with seven heads can be cited.[33]  An echo of the Egyptian judgement, should the soul be weighed and found lacking in moral integrity, is present in the Christian committal service when it is prayed to ‘deliver us from the bitter pains of eternal death’.  That second (eternal) death in Revelation 20:6, or the spiritual death following physical death in Matthew 10:28, is the annihilation of the spirit in the lake of fire in the Egyptian Book of the Dead.  The ‘lake of fire’ was developed later in Hebrew and Christian theology as being part of the doctrine of purgatory, thus debasing the original meaning.  The spirit of the deceased prays to ‘let me live and be saved after death’, i.e. not to die the second death. (Book of the Dead, ch. XLI, in Thatcher, O, Library of Original Sources, I, 48. Minerva, 2004).  Faulkner (1994) translates as: 'May I live, may I be saved after sleeping.'  The Gnostic Pistis Sophia which, like the Egyptian Book of the Dead is mainly post-resurrectional and to which it has many similarities, has had parts of its teaching carried into Christian theology.[34]  Being post-resurrectional, the Egyptian Horus, coming from Amenta as the word, or teacher, takes his seat on the horizon, or mount.  Similarly, the Egypto-gnostic Jesus emerges from Amenta and takes his seat as teacher of the twelve disciples on the heavenly Mount of Olives.  In the Christian form the event, though similar, was staged on this earth.  That induced the Gnostics to ridicule ignorant Christians who took the resurrection literally instead of as a spiritual truth.  Massey's list of nearly three hundred similarities in comparing pre-Christian data with the Canonical gospels and Book of Revelation, is impressive.[35]
 
PARALLELS WITH CHRISTIANITY.

    Translation and publication of the first century AD scrolls found between 1947 and 1952 in caves at Khirbet Qumran near the Dead Sea have added further questions on the development of early Christianity.  Although not all scholars agree on the dating of the scrolls and some of the conclusions reached during their study, it appears that the communal group using the scrolls was strongly militant and messianic.  Whether they were termed Essenes, Nazarenes or Zealots, the names were used generically, and they were probably an extreme Jewish sect who had the aim of bringing about religious and governmental reform.  There were many messianic disturbances between 4 BC and 62 AD, with a number of crucifixions of pretenders on the grounds of blasphemy and sedition, the Roman government being in continual fear of uprisings.[36]

    A number of parallels between the scrolls and parts of the New Testament suggest the gospels to be, in part at least, Hellenistic fiction.  The gospel stories of Jesus, therefore, fit into a pre-written pattern, with messianic expectations being adopted as Christian beliefs.[37]  There is also on-going research into a basic 'sayings' gospel obtained by comparing the synoptic texts, referred to as ‘Q’, that challenges again the narrative texts depiction of the historical Jesus which appear to be embellished with mythologies.  Finkelstein and Silberman in their more recent The Bible Unearthed, assert that archaeological evidence is the only source of information on the biblical period that was not considerably emended, edited or censored by generations of biblical scribes.  The first five books of the Bible are a patchwork written under different historical circumstances to express different religious and political opinions.  The authors consider, with some others for example, that the Exodus did not occur in the time or manner described, being an unauthentic chronology.  Semitic immigrants arriving from Canaan to the eastern border of the Delta region of Egypt and settling, forced the Egyptians to expel them at intervals.  Geographical details of the Exodus story come from the 7th century BCE that equates with the rulers of the Egyptian 26th Dynasty, and the authors of the Exodus story integrated contemporary details into it.  The Hyksos invasion of Egypt in 1570 BCE was a gradual process of immigration from Canaan to Egypt, and not a rapid military campaign.  The Pharaoh Ahmose in the 18th Dynasty then destroyed the city of Avaris in the Delta, the Hyksos centre, and chased the survivors back to southern Canaan.  Following this episode, a number of garrison forts were established along the eastern boundary of the Delta to monitor the movement of foreigners.  That would make any mass exodus impossible.[38]

    The results of these modern studies correspond broadly with Massey's contention that myth, as well as Egyptian astromythology, the basis of Egyptian eschatology, was developed and to some extent transformed incorrectly, via Gnosticism and the Hellenic diaspora to influence considerably the formation of Jewish and Christian doctrines.
 
MASSEY'S BOOKS.

    Massey's books failed in popularity due mainly to the contentious subject matter.  Some of his theories were poorly defined and so supported with detail that readers found them difficult to understand. Again, he was not in the academic circle.  Albert Churchward in his preface to the first edition of Signs and Symbols of Primordial Man, a book equally unappreciated at the time, wrote that Massey ‘… was never tired of discussing the subject and assisting me.  No one ever understood the mythology and Ritual of Ancient Egypt so well as Gerald Massey since the time of the Ancient Philosophers of Egypt.  He has left a written record in Ancient Egypt of the facts which will be an everlasting light on the subject.’

    Alvin Boyd Kuhn in The Lost Light: An Interpretation of Ancient Scriptures (1940) although moulding Massey's theories to a theosophical viewpoint, said of Massey that ‘He is the only scholar in whose hands the recondite Egyptian material begins to take on rational significance.  All others leave it resembling unintelligible nonsense.’

    Numerous reprints of Massey's works from the 1970s with their introductions, indicate the revival of interest being generated in the subject matter, since recent opinions appear to vindicate a great deal of his hypotheses.  Dr. Charles Finch noted the systems of belief, particularly astro-mythological, that Massey used to connect levels of meaning to systems of religious and scientific thought.  His book Echoes of the Old Darkland (Khenti Inc. Decatur, 1991) owes its title and most of its evolutionary theme to Massey's trilogy, especially his Ancient Egypt.[39]  John G. Jackson Man, God, and Civilization (Carol Publishing, NY, 1993) dedicated his book to the memory of Gerald Massey adding the comment on page 308 that ‘… the conclusions reached by Gerald Massey many years ago are being confirmed by later research.  It is high time that this great Egyptologist should get the recognition that he should have received in his own lifetime.’

    Increasingly discerning approaches are being made to recent concepts of evolutionary origins, especially from black American scholars.  Many of these consider that black children should now have an historical past based on African-centred curriculum and, in recommending Massey's books, appreciate his contribution towards their aim.[40]  Recognition has now found a firmer base.  Currently he is being remembered principally for several phases of his work:

a) His early descriptive but less overtly emotive poetry.  Samples of these are currently used by some universities as discussion topics for students of English/English literature.

b) Poems that can be viewed mainly within the narrow critique of social and political reform agitation of the 1840s and 1850s.

c) His active support of Chartism and co-operation reported in radical newspapers and later literature of the time.

d) As the author of two important investigative works on Shakespeare's Sonnets.  These are more highly rated today than at the time of authorship.

e) Aspects of the more controversial evolutionistic theories that he considered to be the pinnacle of his life's work and which were denigrated at the time are, more recently in a number of aspects, receiving confirmation.

    It is probably in this area of his work that due recognition will in part be finally achieved and, with continuing research, this may not be too long in the future.

    I have been asked by a number of readers for the relevance of Massey's works today as a particular branch of curricula study or personal research.

    There is continuing study into human origins by way of mitochondrial genetics and haplogroups that group people together.  It is now reasonable to assume that the ‘Out of Africa’ theory rather than the 'Multiregional' hypothesis regarding the origin of human migrations is basically correct.  This of course vindicates Massey's opinions that he obtained by using a system of typologies.  However, it still remains to investigate further his—and also Dr Albert Churchward's—belief that human migrations can be followed by means of the development of myths that were originally formed prior to these migrations.  This is an interesting theory that would deserve further research.

    Note: It must be particularly noted that Massey's works are 100 years old and by today's standards can not be trusted as correct in detail.  Validation would have to be confirmed by using the latest discoveries and the results of modern research.

    Since completing the above work, I have noted the following that have relevance to sections of the biographic subject matter:

    Inside the Neolithic Mind. Consciousness, Cosmos and the Realm of the Gods.  David Lewis-Williams and David Pearce. Thames & Hudson, 2009.  The authors investigate in detail the development of Neolithic art, buildings and their relationship to a religion of the cosmos.  The intensity of mental experiences by shamans induced by rhythmic dancing, flickering light, sensory deprivation and psychotropic substances form part of altered states of consciousness providing a basis of early religious belief systems and social cohesion. Depictions of animals and other figures on the walls of inner chambers of passages indicate the ritual spiritual entrance of the shaman to another world, the wall providing an interface between this world and the other. The passages themselves were routes between dimensions of the cosmos.  Various motifs carved on the entrance of tombs and within passages such as interconnected spirals, were associated with mental travel between realms.

    Forged. Writing in the Name of God – Why the Bible’s Authors Are Not Who We Think They Are.  Bart D. Ehrman.  HarperCollins, 2011.  The author discusses the opinions of scholars relating to deceptions and forgeries both in the New Testament and pseudonymous Christian writings from outside the New Testament. Many instances of these are discussed, and the justification for such deceptions are considered.

    Forgery and Counterforgery. The use of Literary Deceit in Early Christian Polemics. Bart D. Ehrman.  OUP, 2013.  This is a scholarly and comprehensive monograph on the subject of Christian writings, whereas the previous book was written as an introduction for the more general reader.  The author considers the general term ‘forgery’ to be a literary work referring to any writing that appears – or is assumed to be - under a name other than that of the author.  This includes for example, authorship under a fictitious pen name, and a work – for various reasons - appearing under the well known name of a person who did not write it where there may, or may not have been an intention to deceive.  Examples are given both from the Graeco-Roman world, and in depth, from early Christian Polemics.

    First Migrants. Ancient Migration in Global Perspective. Peter Bellwood. Wiley-Blackwell, 2013.  Following on previous books on the subject, this is an up to date summary of the researches that have been carried out to date.  The author covers assumptions regarding the earliest possible prehistoric migrations, and links them with later migrations that can be established through language families, genetics and biological anthropology.  The migrations to and colonisations of areas within a global perspective are analysed.

    Most recently, the discovery of fossils and teeth from a cave in China and another in Israel suggest that an early Homo sapiens may have left Africa some 130,000 years ago before a later wave of migration around the currently accepted date of approximately 60,000 years ago. ‘Humanity’s forgotten pioneers’, New Scientist, 9 August 2014, p. 10.

[Appendices]


NOTES