I confess to mixed emotions when starting The Egyptians. Like many people, I have been fascinated with Ancient Egypt since I was a youngling, particularly the 20 years of reign for Akenaten and his son during the 18th Dynasty, and (of course) Cleopatra. But Egypt's religious history (if one might use that term) encompasses more than 5000 years, and I feared that a decent look would require volumes to do it justice. Herne does a good job of introducing the reader to this fascinating culture that has influenced so much of modern occultism.

Herne wisely focuses the book on how Egypt's mythology -- its deities stories -- influence and are influenced by the culture of the country. This results in a concise volume of information about the many ways the mythology have become embedded into what we call the occult. Herne weaves a large amount of geographic and historical background with plenty of detail about the various deities, cosmology, magic, making this a useful reference for anyone interested in working with these deities.

I appreciated Herne's clear "calling out" when he is operating from UPG (Unsubstantiated Personal Gnosis) and his tone throughout the book is that of a passionate amateur sharing his findings with the rest of us. Overall, this is well worth owning if you have any interest in Egypt at all.

~review by Lisa Mc Sherry

Author: Robin Herne
Moon books, 2021
pp. 200, $16.95