Review of 'The Temple of the Sun' By Justin Case

The "Temple of the Sun" by Morya Caldecott is the second book in "The Sacred Stones Triology", and is the most religiously oriented of the three, but his doesn't mean its dull ! Book one is about a henge witch who lives in neolithic Britain who manages to defeat a renegade sorcerer of his power with the help of the mysterious "Lords of the Sun".

    The second book is about how Kyra is summoned to enter the Temple school and her travel to the Avebury Stone Circle. The land to South is ruled by a people that came over the sea, a male Spear-Lord and his family rule each hamlet, and the neighboring towns are ruled by similar extended families.
    Kyra enters the school and begins learning dream interpretation, and quickly moves on to greater and more important grades, with each class and the work that is done in them is explained. The teaching of the Lords of the Sun and their magical and psychic rites have to do with Directed OOBEs (out of the body experiences), divination, visions, visitations, illusion, psychic healing, and the effects of past karma as it was understood at that time.

    The conflicts of a distant past are reenacted as the guilt carried by the High Priest is made manifested in a spiritual being that has a sort of semi-corporality, a not/child who in reality is the manifestation of his guilt and Karma. Events complicated when the now powerless sorcerer of the first book shows up to see his son and causes further trouble. Another Spear-Lord is decieved and goaded into invading the town and the karma of centuries past almost comes home to roost, as these people almost make the same kind of mistakes they made in the past - doing the work of the not/child and the sorceror. The not/child (guilt) isn't satisfied and goes even farther abroad to bring even more trouble - which is resolved in an unusual way. Kyra finally graduates and becomes a "Lord of the Sun", and all is well - for the moment...

    Until, in the third book, a more base and cruel religion is introduced by a new People invading and migrating into the area. The Temple finds itself with a competitor that appeals to the basest of people's instincts and motives through fear, intimidation, and fraud. They portray the Temple as being too aetherical and philosophical to be of any real use to practical people. The Temple fights this propaganda over perceptions, and whether they succeed or not is left to the reader to discover.