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The Anacalypsis of Godfrey Higgins

Anacalypsis is the short title of a lengthy two-volume treatise written by religious historian Godfrey Higgins, and published upon his death in 1833. The book was published in two quarto volumes numbering 1,436 pages, and contains meticulous references to hundreds of books. Initially printed as a limited edition of 200 copies, it was partially reprinted in 1878, and completely reprinted in a limited edition of 350 copies in 1927. The full title of this work is Anacalypsis: An Attempt to Draw Aside the Veil of the Saitic or an Inquiry into the Origin of Languages, Nations and Religions.

The book is densely written, in language that in places appears cryptic. Higgins hints that there may be additional layers of meaning in his word choice, stating in the preface to Vol. I:

[T]here are more passages than one in the book, which are of that nature, which will be perfectly understood by my Masonic friends, but which my engagements prevent me explaining to the world at large.

The work is the product of more than twenty years of research, during which Higgins tried to uncover "a most ancient and universal religion from which all later creeds and doctrines sprang." [1] It includes several maps and lithographic plates of Druidical Monuments. The book itself details many of Higgins' beliefs and observations about the development of religion. Among these was his theory that a secret religious order, which he labeled Pandeism (from Pans- or Pandu- referring to a family of Gods, appending with -ism), had continued from ancient times to the present day, stretching at least from Greece to India, and possibly having once covered the entire world:

"All this seems to confirm the very close connexion which there must have been in some former time, between Siam, Afghanistan, Western Syria, and Ireland. Indeed I cannot doubt that there has been really one grand empire, or one Universal, one Pandæan, or one Catholic religion, with one language, which has extended over the whole of the world; uniting or governing at the same time..."

Among the many unusual theories presented in this book is that both the Celtic Druids and the Jews originated in India - and that the name of the Biblical Abraham is really a variation of the word Brahma, created by shifting the last letter to the beginning: Abrahma.

Higgins died before he was able to complete the final chapter on Christianity.

Kersey Graves, a 19th century atheist critic of Christianity, and author of the 1875 book The World's 16 Crucified Saviours, derived "many of the most important facts collated in this work" from the Anacalypsis.[2]

V. S. Solovyoff, author of the 1895 book, A Modern Priestess of Isis, was alleged to have plagiarized extensively from Higgins, among others. The same investigator also alleged similar plagiarism in Madame Blavatsky's 1888, work, The Secret Doctrine. [3]

• Anacalypsis (ISBN 1-56459-273-1)
• Mandaean Bibliography: The Anacalypsis
• "The Anacalypsis of Godfrey Higgins — Precursor of Isis Unveiled and The Secret Doctrine" (Theosophical History: Volume 1, Issue 3; 1983)
  • "Timeline of Godfrey Higgins" (The New Age Observer; same information as above)
• The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors (Chapter 16, Kersey Graves)
• Collation of Theosophical Glossaries
• "Godfrey Higgins" (Burghwallis.com)