The Art of Ahkenaten.

I was busy writing to my Earth healing site (see links) when I began to feel a burning urge to write about recent understandings of the Art of Amarna.
I recognise that feeling so here I am. The reason for this is a book I am reading called "Tutankhamun, The Exodus Conspiracy" by Andrew Collins & Chris Ogilvie-Herald. Now I'm not generally into conspiracy theories but this subject is close to my heart. I've only just begun reading it but I have finally understood more of what Akhenaton was trying to achieve. There is so much gumf written about him and what his artistic style represents and, as usual, they completely miss the point. People interpret this stuff so literally forgetting about 'symbolism'. Has Jung had absolutely no impact on the academic world?
In order to understand the Amarna art you have to open your mind up to certain spiritual concepts. Many healers are working with this level of information now so surely its not all that hard.
I have been working with the Akhenaten energy for some time now. It comes and goes, typically part of the spiritual learning path! It hasn't been around for a couple of years but now its back, on a different level. The authors reflect on Akhenaten's view of the aten:
"According to the inscriptions left to us this was an omnipotent, BISEXUAL FORCE symbolised by the light and heat of the sun's rays. In art is was depicted as a sun-disc, encircled by the uraeus-snake-a symbol of sovereignty, from which emanated rays of light that ended in hands, some of which offered ankhs, the Egyptian cross of life".
Later on, trying to interpret other people's views on why Akhenaten chose to portray himself as an aphroditic image and how this might have meant that he suffered from a disease they end one sentence with;
"Explaining perhaps Akhenaten's BISEXUAL physiognomy in Amarna art". Now Akhenaten's name means the glorified spirit (akh)of the Aten, meaning that he embodied the male solar energy, the energy of male creation. If the Aten was a bisexual force, which it is (everything contains both masculine and feminine), and Akhenaten embodied that force then it seems pretty obvious to me that he would portray himself as BOTH energies, the male and female. The whole point of his work was Balance. Serpents represent creative force, both masculine and feminine, and have been used all over the world by priests and initiates, in world service.
In my view Akhenaten was trying to bring that awareness into the lives of the Egyptians. They were held in thrall by the priests of Egypt and, much like Christianity over the years, had become corrupt and greedy. If you wanted to go to heaven, or the afterlife, you had to do what the priests said, which included giving your money and living in fear of going to hell(or the equivilent) if you didn't. People lived in fear of their gods and Ahkenaten knew the truth. He followed his guidance when told to build the city where he did. He tried to create a community of people dedicated to healing the consciousness of the people and to freeing them from the slavery of religious belief.
Now, there is nothing unusual in this. It happens periodically. Whenever change needs to happen here on earth some souls choose to incarnate in order to plant seeds for the future, in terms of belief systems, or to change things in ways that are on ground level, such as politically. It happens all the time. Souls that specialise in spiritual change come in because spiritual belief systems are crippling people instead of allowing them to grow. Spiritual beliefs need to be opened up again and balance once again established. Akhenaten, his family and many of his followers were part of that particular change. Just as now we are going through a time of spiritual and global change, a rebalancing.
The earth work that I do uses many of the same symbols and energies as those used by Akhenaten. They were not invented by him but known by his ancestors. They were a part of older energy systems designed to keep the energies of the earth in balance, and thereby influence human thinking. He was guided to build Aketaten on a site which had a strong serpent/earth energy and which had not been used by previous builders. Again, this happens all the time when you work with earth energies. As an example, look at the history of the Findhorn community. Eileen Caddy, the founder, was guided and taught by her guides/God and she was instructed, every step of the way, to build the community and where. Years later, they discovered that main energy lines run beneath the place they built upon and this is why she had to build here. When you are strongly guided, even if you don't know why you are being asked to do something, you still do it because you know it is necessary!
Akhenaten kne w what he was doing! He followed his guidance and carried out his mission, nearly! Some people were unable to do the work necessary to be able to bring it to its conclusion. If something is to work it needs everybody's input.
The Amarna art is a physical representation of the teachings. The balance of male and female, energetically and physically, is shown in the paintings. The women were just as important as the men, each has their role. Serpent energy, that power within the Sun and the Earth, was part of their spiritual development. They knew, that in order to affect change that they had to represent the forces of creation. And what was the greatest force of all? Divine Love, an open heart, compassion. They tried to show this in their art. The family, the love within it, made them human. They were spiritual human beings, not set apart from their people but part of them. Look at the life of Jesus, he was human. He knew what he had to do and he did it. Another spiritual changer.
In Aketaten they would have had to be trained in working with the serpents. This takes years of self development and dedication, as it is a challenging path. This is work that the ancient people of all cultures knew and still know. The ancient priests and priestess of the British isles, the Aborigines, the native Americans etc. It is the knowledge which built Stonehenge and Avebury. Each culture would have had its own language with which to express their knowledge and each had its mysteries which only initiates knew. But even initiates only knew their level of knowledge. I believe that the work done by Akhenaten and his followers was the same. It may have had its own language but the basic concepts of the work would have been understood by all initiates.
His work is the same as that done by many of us at present, which is why it is recognised. Studying his art can tell us much about what he was trying to achieve. I hope we can get it!!