'The Phoenix Solution' offers the most comprehensive hypothesis ever put forward about the civilization of ancient Egypt. Readers who enjoy seeing hundreds of
historical puzzle pieces assembled into a single, coherent picture will certainly find this a rewarding book. The more important pieces include the Hall of Records (and its contents), the construction date of the Great
Pyramid, the true meaning of the Osiris-Seth-Horus-Isis stories, and the real meaning of the Phoenix, the bird reborn from its own ashes. Alford creates his hypothesis without recourse to extraterrestrials. He has been
studying ancient Egypt since his first visit to the pyramids at age 14, and has also written 'Gods of the New Millennium', a recent bestseller.I read this book because I have always been puzzled by the central story
of the ancient Egyptians, that their principal god Osiris is murdered by another god Seth, cut up into pieces, and buried all over the place. Later, Osiris is 'resurrected' - at least to the extent of producing an
offspring, the god Horus. How do you base an entire religion (and civilization) on a 'myth' like this? Alford 'explains' this story - down to the minutest detail - as an account of actual astronomical events -
principally the exploding of a planet near the asteroid belt. The correlation between the stories and these events, Alford argues, is nearly 100 per cent. What he says about the 'pyramid texts' offers the first cogent
interpretation that I have read.
Alford joins the growing movement of archaeoastronomy in seeing ancient myths and rituals as a relatively reliable way of transmitting important scientific information. Where this
information, such as complete knowledge of the precession of the equinoxes, could have come from is a different matter. Alford's interest here is to use the exploded planet hypothesis to explain virtually every aspect
of Egyptian myth, ritual, and temple placement.
The intent of the Egyptians, however, was closer to healing than to science. Their greatest desire was to heal the Heavens of this catastrophe, to restore the Heavens
and the gods to the way they were before the Zep Tepi or First Times.(And here, my own heart gave an affirming response to this interest, this holy purpose) Even the ascent of Pharaoh after death was only partly for his
personal immortality. The more cosmic purpose was that his light would bring some measure of peace and restored harmony to the Heavens. All of this is detailed in the pyramid texts.
Even the ground plan of the temples
was designed to aid in this purpose. As Graham Hancock says in his most recent book, 'Heaven's Mirror', "...temples were laid out according to a plan that would in some way 'resemble the sky', and that the object
of the whole exercise was to bring about the 'resurrection of the former world of the gods.'" How literally true this might be can be seen in Alford's mapping of the solar system onto the Nile valley, with the Sun
near Aswan, the Earth at Abydos, and the exploded planet Osiris at the correct proportional distance from both Sun and Earth - at the Giza plateau! To appreciate why an ancient culture would give its heart to the
restoration of Heaven's First Times, we need to constantly remind ourselves that in the worldview of the ancients, planets and gods are not separate. Rather, each being has direct counterparts on the planes above and
below itself. All parts of the Oneness are internally connected, a view to which we are slowly returning.
What you will not find in this book is the spiritual wisdom of ancient Eguypt, as that is not Alford's focus in
this volume. But you will find the entire structure of its belief system interpreted within a single frame of reference that dismisses nothing and which requires no off-planet visitors to make sense. 'The Phoenix
Solution' is highly recommended for anyone who enjoys historical detective work or grand, unifying theories.
Stuart Dean, marketing co-ordinator for the A.R.E. PRESS.
VENTURE INWARD, March/April 1999
"'The Phoenix Solution' commences with a perceptive and erudite discussion of the possible origins of advanced knowledge in prehistory...
Alford then continues with a masterly survey of what he calls the 'seven major pyramids'...The upshot is that Sneferu based the Bent and Red pyramids on a pre-existing Great Pyramid... and both Khufu and Khafre
adopted their pyramids rather than built them."Alford's intimate knowledge of Babylonian and Sumerian mythology (a breadth of perspective that should put many other authors to shame)
provides a good position from which to draw together the disparate threads of ancient history. Thus, when he compares the Enuma Elish with Egyptian creation myths, 'The Phoenix Solution' really starts to
come to life. Alford has the kind of innate passion for mythology that is reminiscent of Joseph Campbell at his most accessible - and this passion
is infectious. Although he covers a lot of ground, one gets carried along by his enthusiasm and constantly refreshed by his insights.
"When Van Flandern's 'Exploded Planet Hypothesis' enters the argument,
Alford has already prepared the way with 150 pages of clearly stated, lucidly reasoned and intriguingly innovative introduction, so Van Flandern's ideas just seem to fall directly into place.
Alford gradually develops a thesis in which the Egyptian gods represent planets - for instance, Horus becomes a term for 'planet' and thus the 'Eye of Horus' is a satellite of that particular planet. By the end one is
left with the feeling that the Exploded Planet Hypothesis is both more immediate and more inclusive than simple star correlations, homogeneous solar cults or trite polytheism/monotheism dualities.
"Alford has fired an intellectual arrow straight through the gaping hole between the orthodox and 'New Age' positions, thereby well and truly setting the Sphinx among the Ibises. 'The Phoenix Solution' demands -
at the very least - serious engagement and intelligent discussion from readers as well as some dedicated and original follow-up research from students of astronomy and mythology.
"If nothing else, 'The Phoenix Solution' will hopefully go some way to scuppering the blatant cronyism that has become so rife among those whose bread and butter lies in re-visioning Egyptology through an
extant (and all but entirely burnt out) alternative paradigm.
"Don't make the mistake of ignoring this book - it is one of the most fascinatingly innovative (and wholeheartedly fortean in the truest
sense) attempts at a turnkey solution to mythology for the last twenty-five years."
NIKLAS RASCHE for FORTEAN TIMES MAGAZINE, No.116 (November 1998).
