Son of the Sun: The Life and Philosophy of Akhnaton, King of Egypt (Rosicrucian Order AMORC)

Son of the Sun: The Life and Philosophy of Akhnaton, King of Egypt, written during World War II, while the author remained in India, far from the calamity in Europe, anxiously watching the tragedy of her movement. The text is a thorough examination of Akhnaton’s life as an apostate Pharaoh and the details of his cult of the solar power, the Aton. It is divided into three sections: a description of the King’s early life, up to and including his ascension and his replacement of the national religion; a discussion of the particulars and implications of Atonism; and an exposition of the resultant decline of Egypt due to Akhnaton’s refusal to compromise his beliefs, which concludes with a chapter considering the lessons for people today to be gleaned from Akhnaton’s life and religion. The final chapter reveals Savitri Devi’s ultimate purpose, which she states herself, namely to present for consideration the intellectual work of a forgotten hero: an ancient, but strikingly contemporary belief system which she believed had the potential to light the way beyond the impasse of the modern mindset, crippled by the severance of science (or rationality) and religion, broadly conceived.