Samuel Morningstar (rocker, mystic, author), has finally released a novel that has been highly anticipated by those who knew this was coming and what it might be about. Shadow Kingdom combines elements of a psychological thriller, crime investigation, horror, esoteric mysticism, and "sci-fi" to create the world which contains the events which unfold in his tale. The characters are humans, rock stars, soldiers, martial artists, cops, angels & demons, monsters, and extraterrestrials to name a few. The story begins with a private investigator hired to research the brutal ritual murder of an exotic dancer and takes us into a realm of wonders and nightmares beyond the realm of sanity and into conspiracies involving ancient immortals. Buth this sort of thing could never happen in "reality" as this is just a creative work of fiction right, or could it? Samuel created his dark fiction from the real life research of minds like David Icke, Whitley Strieber, and William Henry. I've never in my life read a fiction novel with so much truth and so many questions. I say truth because the esoteric principles conveyed within are the same as those taught in mystery schools the world over and throughout history. Samuel Morningstar is an intellect of unusual talent that makes great story tellers like Clive Barker look like child's play! He's also a talent in the music industry and member of the band Eternal Twilight and knows the rock scene well. This book will appeal to anyone interested in Ancient History, Mythology, Esoteric Mysticism, UFOlogy, Conspiracy Theories, Rock-n-Roll (including the Goth subcultrure), Martial Arts, Meditation, "Energy" Work, Dark Fiction, and Horror - a thinking person's fiction.

"Laurence Gardner is an internationally renowned sovereign genealogist and historical lecturer, Chancellor of the Imperial Dragon Sovereignty, Prior of the Sacred Kindred of Columba, Preceptor of the Knights Templar of St. Anthony, and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. He lives in the United Kingdom." While this was a most interesting read and one that will be of high interest to anyone curious about the Dragon bloodline or the Graal Legends there are too many aspects in which Garnder seems to fall short on proof. The first half of the book is excellent and practically coincides with all the personal research I myself have done regarding these topics and the many sources I have found my answers in. However, the wisdom from the more metaphysical and mystical schools of thought seem to not be fully accurately portrayed here. However, much is always left to interpretation on such things. Personally I found all the information very interesting and inticing, especially the possibility that Ahkenaten may be the biblical Moses. I've questioned this myself. However, his theories on Alchemical Gold being monotamic and the "bloodline" rituals of Starfire seem to be concocted or at least incomplete. The second half of the book seemed to be, in my personal opinion, likely a bit contrived toward his personal goals for organizations he belongs to and the research seemed to be less solid. However, then again that aspect gets into less trod territory and thus there is less information for comparison. I will however say that his views on the Dragon bloodline seem to be in direct opposition to Ike's as he does not portray the Dragons as the "evil conspirators" but the side of the "right". I do think that the books holds some very interesting contents for anyone interested in any of the associated topics as all perspectives should be reviewed. Personally I think the emphasis on the actual bloodline less important than what it represents to mankind as a whole. However, I continue to be intrigued by Gardner's works and will be apt to purchase and devour more books by him in the future.

Interestingly enough the author set out initially to disprove the theory that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene. What she found was a very long trail of clues which lead her to conclude many details of a medieval "heresy" based on the ancient Sacred Marriage Rites. From the anointing of Jesus with oil through the middle ages she traces the Sangraal Legend and it's relation to the Black Goddess/Madonna also known as the Hebrew Matronit/Shekinah and further correlations with Isis and Inanna. What I found most intriguing, like many other synchronicities on my personal path, is that this book ties in many aspects of personal research for me that I had been holding as several loose ends which I knew were somehow connected but was uncertain of. She very smoothly completed this picture for me as I had not looked at this possibility at all. However, while she gives great reasons and several likely "proofs" throughout history's art and literature to support the theory they initially intended to discredit, she also states most accurately that whether this be true or not is not what is important but what it represents. This important representation is the lack of the Divine Feminine in modern Christianity with it's wild patriarchal rule and how it must eventually be balanced with a healthy respect for the feminine. THIS is what got me started on my personal path in the first place and this book is a great starting and return point for anyone seeking more than what they have found in modern "religion".

Listed as: "Fascinating compendium of ancient Egyptian mythology, religious beliefs and magical practices. Includes spells, incantations, hymns, magical formulas and prayers. All explained by one of the most knowledgeable and respected Egyptologists of the early 20th century. B&W illustrations, photographs and hieroglyphics throughout. 704 pages." "E.A. Wallis Budge was the Curator of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities at the British Museum from 1894 to 1924. Along with his post at the British Museum, he was a Sometime Scholar of Christ’s College, a scholar at the University of Cambridge, Tyrwhitt, and a Hebrew Scholar. Best known for his numerous translatory works, Budge collected a large number of Coptic, Greek, Arabic, Syriac, Ethiopian, and Egyptian Papyri manuscripts. He was also involved in numerous archaeology digs in Egypt, Mesopotamia and the Sudan. Budge is perhaps best known for translating The Egyptian Book of The Dead (also known as The Papyrus of Ani), as well as analyzing many of the practices of Egyptian religion, language and ritual. Of his written works, Budge made the first books oriented toward students of hieroglyphics. They consisted of translated texts and hieroglyphs, as well as a complete dictionary of hieroglyphs. In addition, his published works cover areas of Egyptian culture reaching from Egyptian religion, to Egyptian mythology, and magical practices. Budge was knighted in 1920. He died November 23, 1934 in London, England." ~ While some scholars suggest Budge's translations are flawed it seems to me that it is only because he entertained more esoteric perspectives in some of his other writings though he is highly acclaimed in more metaphysical circles. However, not being learned in translating Egyptian myself I cannot say and I have not yet read any other translations of this text. However, that being said I found the book overall very interesting and have discovered many points of historic and esoteric reference which seem relevant. Personally I think one can only comprehend even a portion of the meaning behind the text if you have researched some of the esoteric doctrines, otherwise it's just a bunch of meaningless jibberish and repetitive lines with unusual name references and unusual practices. However, even with some previous research leading me here I do find the constant trading of gods and powers to be slightly disconcerting. What is most disconcerting to me is that there are segments where the author sites how interesting another segment of text is from another document that is basically of similar writing but where the segment in question differs and he prints the heiroglyphic version without translation. Thus, anyone who is not learning in translating heiroglyphs remains in the 'dark' about what he's trying to clue us into. Personally I find the Egyptian texts all very long and drawn out and repetitive yet intrigueing at the same time. This is definitely not for anyone who does not take specific interest in Egytology for either historic or esoteric reasons. It would bore you stiff. However, for those who do find that interesting, or who have found their paths leading them here you will likely find many useful references buried within these pages that will at the very least work as confirmation of prior experiences or comprehension or may even be enlightening on varying levels. My favorite part is The Chamber of Torture which speaks much of The Watchers. Anyone curious about The Watchers of Enoch or UFO theories will find this interesting: "Deliver thou...from the Watchers, who carry murderous knives, who possess cruel fingers, and who would slay those who are in the following of Osiris...May their knives never gain mastery over me. May I never fall under the knives wherewith they inflict cruel tortures...The sinner who walketh over this place falleth down among the knives [of the Watchers]...Deliver thou...from the Watchers who pass sentences of doom, who have been appointed by the god Nebertcher to protect him, and to fasten the fetters on his foes and who slaughter in the torture chambers; there is no escape from their fingers. May they never stab me with their knives, may I never fall helpless into their chambers of torture." I'll let you ponder that one on your own. However, when it comes to the ancient spirituality of the Egyptians one must remember they were not polytheistic sun worshippers afterall but pantheistic monists who had esoteric doctrines about natural things like the sun.

Last year I was exposed to the theories of Sitchin and with very little research it was fairly obvious that he is much hated in the archeological community. I basically read this book out of an extreme sense of curiosity and the SubGenius in me desired a good laugh. Well, the more I read this book the more it became obvious why so many New Agers are into this. If you follow his logic (meaning you don't have the common sense to check up on what you read when someone tells you it's true - you just believe them) then you will definitely be duped by this book and others by him. He uses slight twists of terminology and sources that are often unverifiable to 'fill in the blanks' that history has left us. For instance he claims that the asteroid belt in our solar system was created by a collision of a distant planet that collided with Tiamat (the planetary representation of the ancient Sumerian diety). Tiamat thus broken down by this 12th planet's moons created present day earth - seeded by the life on the 12th planet. Sound far fetched? How do you explain that some of the asteroids in the belt go clockwise while others go counterclockwise unless a planet orbiting opposite our solar system's planets collided and created it. While it makes sense on the most basic levels I'd love to hear what astronomers think of it. I'm not writing to disprove him and I will make no attempt to but read it yourself and you'll see that while this book is VERY entertaining (I read it in a few short days) many of his conclusions are wildly drawn and you may often ask yourself how he got from point A to point C as he clearly skipped something that would be point B. Such as his claim for why the rocket pilots were called Eagle Men and were dipicted with eagle feathers. "The Eagle has landed." is his claim. While we all know the eagles on modern American astronauts shoulders of their suits and the reference is clearly to National symbology and would have absolutely no meaning to ancient Sumeria nor the Nubiruans. Regardless of how adept Sitchin is or is not at translating Sumerian text some of his arguements land on your psyche like 'if that were true it would figure'! However, while many claim that even if 50% of his writings are untrue it's still worth taking note of. Well, even if none of it is true it makes a more interesting science-fiction than even Stargate and if any of it is true then we better be prepared for the 12th planets return and the chaos it will wreak on our world. Either way it's a great read!