The Gods Of Egypt

As with most hieroglyphic translations, the old Egyptian names have many variant spellings in English. Seth is also SET, and RA is also the eye of Re for example.

There was also a mysterious plague of missing hieroglyphs at the time of the New Kingdom (1550-1070 B.C.), when foreign influence made certain letters vanish from the language. Egyptian scribes valiantly tried to reinstate them by adding extra letters to the ends of words, which led to much confusion. And still does.

More confusion arises from the Egyptian tendency to join deities together at different periods. With all the permutations, one God can have an enormous number of names. Amon, Amen, Ammon-Ra, Amen-Re, Amun, Amon-Re.

Although HORUS had the head of a hawk, he was not alone and other heads are serpent, dog, jackal, bull, frog, hippo, crocodile and lion. Horns, globes and plumes are almost obligatory accessories and you can have an animal head enhanced with all these embellishments.

Cats were considered to be sacred creatures. They were mummified, and this was done with the utmost respect. No vivisection was involved, which is probably more than you can say for the humans.

Below you will find not only information on this page, but multiple links to other websites for further information.

Aker   Ammut   Amon   Anubis   Aten   Bastet   Bes   Geb   Hapi   Hathor   Horus   Isis   Khepri

Khonsu   Ma'at   Min   Mut   Neith   Nephthys   Nut   Osiris   Ptah   Re   Sekhmet   Seth   Sobek

Taurt  Thoth

These deities were worshipped with offerings and prayers, in local and household shrines as well as in formal temples managed by priests. Different gods were prominent at different periods of Egyptian history, and the myths associated with them changed over time, so Egypt never had a coherent hierarchy of deities or a unified mythology. However, the religion contained many overarching beliefs. Among these were the divinity of the pharaoh, which helped to politically unify the country, and complex beliefs about an afterlife, which gave rise to the Egyptians' elaborate burial customs.

Ancient Egyptian religion encompasses the various religious beliefs and rituals practiced in ancient Egypt over more than 3,000 years, from the predynastic period until the adoption of Christianity in the early centuries AD. Initially these beliefs centered on the worship of multiple deities who represented various forces of nature, thought patterns and power, expressed by the means of complex and varied archetypes. By the time of the 18th dynasty they began to be viewed as aspects of a single deity who existed apart from nature, similar to trinitarian concepts also found in Christianity: the belief that one god can exist in more than one person.

These deities were worshipped with offerings and prayers, in local and household shrines as well as in formal temples managed by priests. Different gods were prominent at different periods of Egyptian history, and the myths associated with them changed over time, so Egypt never had a coherent hierarchy of deities or a unified mythology. However, the religion contained many overarching beliefs. Among these were the divinity of the pharaoh, which helped to politically unify the country, and complex beliefs about an afterlife, which gave rise to the Egyptians' elaborate burial customs.

Theology

Egyptian religion was not based on firm theological principles. Its primary focus was simply the interaction between humans and the gods.These gods were believed to be present in every aspect of the natural world, yet their true natures remained to some degree mysterious. Hundreds of gods were believed to exist, and the exact nature of their complex interrelationships is still the subject of scholarly debate.

 Polytheism

The gods Osiris, Anubis, and Horus, from a tomb painting.

The Egyptians saw the actions of the gods behind all the elements and forces of nature. However, they did not believe that the gods merely controlled these phenomena, but that each element of nature was a divine force in itself. The forces deified in this way included animals, as with Sekhmet, who represented the ferocity of lions, and inanimate elements, such as Shu, the deification of air. The gods could also represent more abstract things, as Horus represented the power of kingship. The Egyptians thus believed in a multitude of gods, which were involved in every aspect of nature and human society. Egyptian myths about the gods were intended to explain the origins and behavior of these phenomena, and the hymns, prayers and offerings given to the gods were efforts to placate them and turn them to human advantage.^[6] This polytheistic system was very complex, as some deities were believed to exist in many different manifestations, and some had multiple mythological roles. Conversely, many natural forces, such as the sun, were associated with multiple deities.

The depictions of the gods in art were not meant as literal representations of how the gods might appear if they were visible, as the gods' true natures were believed to be "mysterious" and "unknown". Instead, these depictions gave recognizable forms to the abstract deities by using symbolic imagery to indicate each god's role in nature.^* Thus, for example, the funerary god Anubis was portrayed as a jackal, a creature whose scavenging habits threatened the preservation of the body, in an effort to counter this threat and employ it for protection. His black skin was symbolic of the color of mummified flesh and the fertile black soil that Egyptians saw as a symbol of resurrection. However, this iconography was not fixed, and many of the gods could be depicted in more than one form.

Many gods were associated with particular localities within Egypt where their cults were most important. However, these associations changed over time, and they did not necessarily mean that the god associated with a place had originated there. For instance, the god Monthu was the original patron of the city of Thebes. Over the course of the Middle Kingdom, however, he was displaced in that role by Amun, who had originated elsewhere. The national popularity and importance of individual gods fluctuated in a similar way.

In addition to the major gods, there were also other, less-powerful supernatural beings. These included a profusion of minor gods, which in modern studies are sometimes referred to as "demons". They tended to be less universal than the major gods, and were often defined by specific behaviors or tied to particular locations, but the Egyptians did not draw a clear distinction between the two classes. Some demons were localized guardian deities, while others were servants of greater gods who performed specific actions on demand. Most of them were inhabitants of the Duat, the Egyptian underworld, although many others were present in the world of the living. The spirits of deceased humans, while distinct from the gods, were also believed to exist on the same plane, and could affect the world of the living in similar ways. Deceased pharaohs were believed to be fully divine, and occasionally, distinguished commoners such as Imhotep also became deified.

 Associations between gods

The Egyptians recognized that different natural phenomena are interrelated,^[6] and they often placed deities in groups to symbolize this relationship. Sometimes deities were grouped into pairs, linked because of a relationship between the two phenomena they represented, or simply to give one deity a counterpart of the opposite sex. They could also be grouped into threes; often these triads formed mythological families consisting of a father, mother, and male child. There were also many larger groups, including two different sets of creator deities—the eight gods of the Ogdoad and the nine gods of the Ennead—and several sets of minor gods with similar functions but no individual identity, such as the deities representing each hour of the day and night.^[17]

The relationships between deities could also be expressed in the process of syncretism, in which two or more different gods were linked to form a composite deity. While early Egyptologists believed that the Egyptians did this to resolve conflicts between competing deities, syncretism was more of a recognition of the presence of one god "within" another where their respective roles overlapped. Sometimes this process combined deities that had similar characteristics, or that could even be seen as different aspects of the same god. At other times syncretism combined a foreign deity with a native one, or linked a localized god with a more important national one. Sometimes syncretism joined gods with very different natures, as when Amun, the god of hidden power, was linked with Ra, the god of the sun. The resulting god, Amun-Ra, thus united the power that lay behind all things with the greatest and most visible force in nature.

 Monotheistic tendencies

At various times during Egyptian history, different gods, including Horus, Ra, and Isis, rose to be seen as the greatest of all the gods. During the New Kingdom, Amun held this position, and a theology developed in which he came close to being a truly monotheistic deity.^[19] His true identity was concealed from the visible world, even from the other gods, yet his power permeated the universe. Although they retained their individual identities, all the gods were ultimately aspects of this single hidden force.

Based on this, and upon instances in Egyptian literature where "god" is mentioned without reference to any specific deity, many Egyptologists have argued that beneath the polytheistic traditions of Egyptian religion there was an increasing tendency toward monotheism, while others have seen evidence of pantheism. In recent decades, however, Erik Hornung has disputed these claims, noting that each of the gods, even Amun, was only depicted and worshipped in a limited number of forms, so that Egyptian religion was never completely pantheistic. He also points out that at no point in Egyptian history were the traits of a supreme being limited to only one deity, and many Egyptian writings call particular gods "sole" or "lord of all that exists" even in periods when other gods were preeminent. He further argues that the Egyptians used the generic term "god" to refer to any god, or "whichever god you wish". His argument is that Egyptian religion was purely polytheistic, having no notion of a divine being beyond the immediate multitude of deities.

More recently, scholars such as James P. Allen and Jan Assmann have suggested that the Egyptians did to some degree recognize a single divine force. Allen's compromise approach states that the Egyptians could simultaneously be polytheists and monotheists, as demonstrated by the process of syncretism which, he says, "unites the view of god as simultaneously Many and One". Under this view, it is possible that only the Egyptian theologians fully recognized an essential unity behind the polytheistic system. However, it is also possible that ordinary Egyptians practiced a form of henotheism, identifying the single divine force with a single god in particular situations.

Atenism

The Egyptians did have an aberrant period of true monotheism during the New Kingdom, in which the pharaoh Akhenaten abolished the official worship of other gods in favor of the sun-disk Aten, of which he himself was an aspect. This exclusivity was a radical departure from Egyptian tradition, and the Aten's impersonal nature did not appeal to the Egyptian people. Thus, under Akhenaten's successors Egypt reverted to its traditional religion, and Akhenaten himself came to be reviled as a heretic.

Cosmology

In Egyptian belief, the universe was governed by the force of ma'at. This Egyptian word encompasses several concepts in English, including "truth," "justice," and "order." It referred to the fixed, eternal order of the universe, both in nature and in human society. This was the most fundamental of all natural forces, believed to have existed from the creation of the universe, which ensured the continued existence of the world. Among humans, ma'at meant that all people and all classes of society lived in harmony. Any disruption of ma'at was inherently harmful, so all people were expected to behave in accordance with it.

In nature, ma'at meant that all the forces of nature existed in balance. It included the cyclical patterns of time—the cycle of day and night and of the seasons, and of human generations. While the Egyptians recognized that time is linear, they also saw it as cyclical, in that each of these patterns represented a renewal of ma'at and a defeat of disorder, and thus a repetition of the original creation of the universe. Therefore, the theme of cosmic renewal was present in many Egyptian rituals.

Ma'at also included the structure of the world, which kept each element in its place. The Egyptians had a specific vision of this structure. In this view, the world was surrounded by infinite expanse of water from which it had originally arisen. This water was personified as the god Nun. The earth was envisioned as a flat plate of land, represented by the god Geb. Above him arched the body of the sky goddess Nut, who represented the surface of the primordial water. Shu, the air, stood between Geb and Nut and separated them. During the day, the sun god Ra traveled over the earth, across the inner surface of Nut.At night, Ra was thought to be swallowed by Nut, and pass through her body, or on the outside of the sky, through a region called the Duat. With each new sunrise, Nut gave birth to him again. By the New Kingdom, however, the Duat was also sometimes identified with a region beneath the earth, and Ra was said to sail beneath the horizon to rise into the sky the next morning.

Divine pharaoh

Colossal statue of the pharaoh Ramses II

Egyptians viewed kingship itself as a force of nature.Thus, even though the Egyptians recognized that the pharaoh was human and subject to human frailties, they simultaneously viewed him as a god, because the divine power of kingship was incarnate in him. He therefore acted as intermediary between Egypt's people and the gods. He was key to upholding ma'at in society, by defending the country from enemies, appointing fair officials, settling disputes between his people, managing the food supply, and appeasing the gods with temples and offerings. For this reason, temple reliefs often depict the pharaoh presenting an emblem of ma'at to the gods, representing his maintenance of the divine order. Theoretically, he held dominion over the entire world, and thus the Egyptian word for "king" referred only to the pharaoh, and not to any foreign ruler.

The king was also associated with many specific deities. While alive, a pharaoh was logically identified with Horus, the god of kingship. Due to analogy between the sun, the dominant force in nature, and the king, the dominant force in human society, the pharaoh was also associated with Ra and regarded as his son.Once Amun had been syncretized with Ra, Amun was also identified with the king and seen as his father.Several goddesses functioned as the "mother" of the pharaoh, and he could also symbolically take the place of the child deity in many family triads of gods.

Upon his death, the king became fully deified. In this state, he was directly identified with Ra, and was also associated with Osiris, god of death and rebirth and the mythological father of Horus.Many mortuary temples were dedicated to the worship of deceased pharaohs as gods.

Afterlife

The Egyptians had elaborate beliefs about death and the afterlife. They believed that humans possessed a ka, or life-force, which left the body at the point of death. In life, the ka received its sustenance from food and drink, so it was believed that, to endure after death, the ka must continue to receive offerings of food, whose spiritual essence it could still consume. Each person also had a ba, the set of characteristics distinguishing one individual from another, similar to the concept of a personality.Unlike the ka, the ba remained attached to the body after death. Egyptian funeral rituals were intended to release the ba from the body so that it could move freely, and to rejoin it with the ka so that it could live on as an akh. However, it was also important that the body of the deceased be preserved, as the Egyptians believed that the ba returned to its body each night to receive new life, before emerging in the morning as an akh.

Originally, however, the Egyptians believed that only the pharaoh had a ba, and only he could become one with the gods; dead commoners remained dead. The nobles received tombs and the resources for their upkeep as gifts from the king, and their ability to enter the afterlife was believed to be dependent on these royal favors. In early times the deceased pharaoh was believed to dwell among the circumpolar stars, which never set in the Egyptian sky and were therefore regarded as eternal.^[55] Over the course of the Old Kingdom, he came to be more closely associated with the daily rebirth of the sun god Ra and with the cyclical death and resurrection of the fertility god Osiris as those deities grew more important.

During the late Old Kingdom and the First Intermediate Period, the possession of a ba and the possibility of a paradisiacal afterlife gradually extended to all Egyptians. To reach this pleasant afterlife, the soul had to avoid a variety of supernatural dangers, before undergoing a final judgment known as the "Weighing of the Heart". In this judgment, the gods compared the actions of the deceased while alive (symbolized by the heart, the center of reason and emotion in Egyptian belief) to ma'at (symbolized by a feather), to determine whether he or she had behaved in accordance with ma'at. If the deceased had not done so in life, then he or she could not be expected to do so in the afterlife, and was thus destroyed by the demon Ammut. If the deceased was judged worthy, his or her ka and ba were united into an akh. Specific beliefs about the destination of the akh varied. The vindicated dead were often said to dwell in Osiris' kingdom, a lush and pleasant land believed to exist somewhere beyond the western horizon, but kings, and sometimes commoners as well, were often said to travel with Ra across the sky. Over the course of the Middle and New Kingdoms, the notion that the akh could also travel in the world of the living, and to some degree magically affect events there, became increasingly prevalent.

 Writings

While the Egyptians had no unified religious scripture, they produced many religious writings. These included a variety of hymns, prayers, and funerary texts. Despite the great number of Egyptian myths, however, mythological information is more fragmentary.

 Mythology

Ra (at center) travels through the underworld in his barque, accompanied by other gods

Egyptian myths were metaphorical stories intended to illustrate and explain the gods' actions and roles in nature. The details of the events they recounted could change as long as they conveyed the same symbolic meaning, so many myths exist in different and conflicting versions. Mythical narratives were rarely written in full, and more often texts only contain episodes from or allusions to a larger myth. Partly this was because the Egyptians avoided explicitly describing or depicting negative events within myths, believing that this risked giving power to the forces of chaos. Much of what mythological information is known comes from papyri originally kept in temple libraries, from devotional writings, and from funerary texts. Surprisingly little comes from inscriptions in the temples themselves, as temples were meant to celebrate the eternal power and benevolence of the gods, and the turbulent events often found in myths conflicted with this purpose.

Among the most important Egyptian myths were the creation myths. While there were several different creation myths, they all shared common elements: an infinite, lifeless ocean which preceded the creation, and a pyramidal mound of land which was the first thing to emerge from this ocean.  However, the creation accounts differ in focusing on different gods. One creation myth describes the Ogdoad, the group of eight gods who embodied the primeval waters, and how their meeting resulted in the creation and emergence of the mound. Another myth relates the actions of Atum, who was said to be the first god to appear on the mound, in creating the Ennead, nine gods representing the natural forces of the world. A third myth says that the god Ptah, who was associated with the mound, created the world simply by envisioning and naming all things in it, while a fourth claims that Amun was the hidden power that caused all the other creator gods to form. To some degree these myths represent competing theologies, but they can also be seen as representing different aspects of the process of creation. The convergence of the Ogdoad represented the transformation of the lifeless primordial chaos into the orderly, life-bearing world; the Ennead myth demonstrated how the world's original, embryonic form (Atum) evolved into the multiplicity of elements it later contained.^[67] Amun was the ultimate cause of creation, who first developed a concept of what the world would be like, and Ptah was the power of creative speech, by which that initial vision was made reality, and which caused the evolution of Atum.

Another story central to Egyptian belief was the myth of Osiris and Isis.It tells of the god Osiris, who had inherited his rule over the world from his ancestor Ra. Osiris was murdered and dismembered by his jealous brother Set, a god often associated with chaos. Osiris' sister and wife Isis reassembled Osiris' body and resurrected him so that he could conceive an heir to take back the throne from Set. Osiris then entered the underworld and became the ruler of the dead, while Isis eventually gave birth to his son Horus. Once grown, Horus fought and defeated Set to become king himself. Set's association with chaos, and the identification of Osiris and Horus as the rightful rulers, provided a rationale for pharaonic succession and portrayed the pharaohs as the upholders of order. At the same time, Osiris' death and rebirth were related to the Egyptian agricultural cycle, in which crops grew in the wake of the Nile inundation, and provided a template for the resurrection of human souls after death.

The sun god Ra was essential to life on earth, and was thus among the most important gods. In myth, the movement of the sun across the sky was explained as Ra traveling in a barque, and the setting of the sun was regarded as Ra's entry into the underworld, through which he journeyed during the night.While in the underworld, Ra met with Osiris, who again acted as a god of resurrection, so that his life was renewed. He also fought each night with Apep, a serpentine god representing chaos. The defeat of Apep and the meeting with Osiris ensured the rising of the sun the next morning, an event that represented rebirth and the victory of order over chaos.

 Devotional Writings

Like many cultures, the Egyptians prayed to their gods for help, although there are few written prayers that predate the Nineteenth Dynasty. There are also many formal hymns praising particular deities or the pharaoh. These poems consist of short lines organized into couplets or triplets, and were probably recited, or possibly even sung, during religious ceremonies. They often included mention of many different aspects of the deity whom they addressed, and expounded on his or her nature and mythological function. Thus, they are important sources of information on Egyptian theology.

 Funerary Texts

Section of the Book of the Dead depicting the Weighing of the Heart.

Among the most significant and extensively preserved Egyptian writings are funerary texts designed to insure that deceased souls reached a pleasant afterlife. The earliest of these are the Pyramid Texts, the oldest religious writings in the world. They are a loose collection of hundreds of spells inscribed on the walls of royal pyramids during the Old Kingdom, intended to magically provide the king with the means to join the company of the gods in the afterlife. The spells appear in differing arrangements and combinations, and few of them appear in all of the pyramids.

At the end of the Old Kingdom a new body of funerary spells, which included material from the Pyramid Texts, began appearing in tombs, inscribed primarily on coffins, but also found on tomb walls and on other funerary objects. This collection of writings is known as the Coffin Texts, and was not reserved for royalty, but appeared in the tombs of nonroyal officials. In the New Kingdom, several new funerary texts emerged, of which the best-known is the Book of the Dead. Unlike the earlier books, it often contains extensive illustrations, or vignettes. The book was copied on papyrus and sold to commoners to be placed in their tombs.

The Coffin Texts included sections with detailed descriptions of the underworld and instructions on how to overcome its hazards. In the New Kingdom, this material gave rise to several "books of the netherworld", including the Book of Gates, the Book of Caverns, and the Amduat.^[84] Unlike the loose collections of spells, these netherworld books are structured depictions of Ra's passage through the Duat, and by analogy, the journey of the deceased person's soul through the realm of the dead. They were originally restricted to pharaonic tombs, but in the Third Intermediate Period they came to be used more widely.

 Religious practices

First pylon and colonnade of the Temple of Isis at Philae.

Temples

Temples existed from the earliest periods of Egyptian history, and at the height of the civilization were present in almost every town.^[These included both mortuary temples to serve the spirits of deceased pharaohs and temples dedicated to patron gods, although the distinction was blurred because divinity and kingship were so closely intertwined. Not all gods had temples dedicated to them, as there were many cosmic deities that did not receive widespread worship, and many household gods who were the focus of popular veneration rather than temple worship.

Temples served as "houses" for the gods, in which physical images which served as their intermediaries were cared for and provided with offerings. This service was believed to be necessary to sustain the gods, so that they could in turn maintain the universe itself. Thus, temples were central to Egyptian society, and vast resources were devoted to their upkeep. Pharaohs often added to them as part of their obligation to honor the gods, so that many temples grew to be huge—the Temple of Amun at Karnak, for instance, is the largest religious structure in the world.

In the New Kingdom, a basic temple layout emerged, which had evolved from common elements in Old and Middle Kingdom temples. With variations, this plan was used for most of the temples built from then on, and most of those that survive today adhere to it. In this standard plan, the temple was aligned along a central axis oriented relative to some significant location; most commonly, temples were built along the Nile with an axis running roughly east–west. The major entrance to such temples was usually the nearby landing quay on the Nile, from which a processional way ran through the walls of the temple enclosure. Beyond this, there were usually one or more pylon gateways, followed by a courtyard enclosed by a colonnade. This courtyard was likely where commoners delivered offerings and met with the priests. Further in was the covered hypostyle hall, and beyond this was the sanctuary, surrounded by subsidiary rooms related to the daily business of temple ritual.

The entire journey from the temple entrance to the sanctuary was seen as a journey from the human world to the divine realm; thus, the sanctuary was the most sacred part of the temple, and contained a shrine with a statue of the temple's god.Access to the sanctuary was usually restricted to the pharaoh and the highest-ranking priests. Ritual offerings were typically performed in the morning and evening, either by the pharaoh or, more commonly, the priest acting as his surrogate. In these rituals, the god's statue was washed, anointed, and elaborately dressed, and food offerings were placed before or near it. Afterward, when the god had consumed the spiritual essence of the offerings, the items themselves were taken to be distributed among the priests. In addition to these daily offerings, there were other rituals performed at certain times of year for particular festivals, and infrequent rituals performed under special circumstances.^[91] Many of these rituals involved the transportation of the god's image to visit another significant site,^[100] the symbolic destruction of the forces of disorder, or the reenactment of particular myths.

Temples were supported by donations from the monarchy and by estates of their own. These estates could include vast areas of land, with farms, gardens, mines, quarries, and workshops devoted to supplying the temple's needs. Large temples were therefore very important centers of economic activity, sometimes employing thousands of people.

 Priests

The pharaoh was Egypt's official representative to the gods, so in theory, temple priests merely acted on his behalf. In fact, during the Old and Middle Kingdoms, there was no separate class of priests; instead, many government officials served in this capacity for several months out of the year before returning to their secular duties. Only in the New Kingdom did professional priesthood become widespread, although most lower-ranking priests were still part-time. The pharaoh theoretically retained the right to make all priestly appointments, although he often delegated this duty. However, as the wealth of the temples grew, the influence of their priesthoods increased, until it rivaled that of the pharaoh. In the political fragmentation of the Third Intermediate Period, the high priests of Amun even became the effective rulers of Upper Egypt.

There were several different varieties of priests and temple personnel. One class of priests worked outside temples: those who served in the mortuary cults of private individuals.The lector priests, who recited the incantations during temple rituals and were versed in many magical texts, also performed outside duties, such as officiating at funerals. The priests serving in each temple were divided into several ranks and specialized roles. At the top of this hierarchy was the high priest, or "first servant of the god." This office was frequently passed from father to son and tended to become hereditary. Temples also employed many people outside the priesthood, including farmers and artisans to supply their needs, and musicians and chanters who assisted in temple rituals. All were paid with portions of the temple's income.

Priests were usually male. During the Old Kingdom, many women from wealthy families held important priestly roles, mainly in temples to female deities. However, during the Middle Kingdom women became less prominent in public life, and afterward most of the women involved in temple activities seem to have been in more minor roles. There was an exception to this during the Third Intermediate Period, when important female roles emerged in the cults of several deities, most notably the "god's wives" of Amun.

While actively serving the temple, priests adhered to strict standards of purity. They were required to shave their heads and bodies, wash several times a day, and wear only clean linen clothing. In the service of some specific gods, there were also particular behaviors, such as eating certain foods, from which priests had to refrain. They were not required to be celibate, but sexual intercourse rendered them unclean until they underwent further ritual purification.

 Festivals

The Egyptians celebrated a variety of religious festivals. Most were annual, tied to one or more specific days of the year, but some took place at longer intervals or on irregular occasions. Some, such as the celebration of the new year, took place across the country, but most were celebrated only locally, at a specific temple. Temple festivals usually involved a procession carrying the god's image out of the sanctuary in a model barque to visit other significant sites, such as the temple of a related deity. Commoners celebrated these events along with the priesthood, gathering to watch the procession and sometimes receiving portions of the unusually large offerings given to the gods on these occasions. Other festivals were part of the rituals of kingship rather than the cult of a deity; these included coronation ceremonies and the sed festival, a ritual renewal of the pharaoh's strength which took place periodically during his reign.

 Magic

The word "magic" is used to translate the Egyptian term heka, which meant "the ability to make things happen by indirect means". Heka was believed to be a natural phenomenon, the force which was used to create the universe and which the gods employed to work their will. Humans could also use it, however, and magical practices were closely intertwined with religion. In fact, even the regular rituals performed in temples were counted as magic.Individuals also frequently employed magical techniques for personal ends. Although these ends could be harmful to other people, no form of magic was considered inimical in itself. Instead, the Egyptians believed that was seen primarily as a way for humans to prevent or overcome negative events.

Magic was closely associated with the priesthood. Temple libraries contained numerous magical spells, and many of the spells found in other contexts seem to derive from temple books; thus, great magical knowledge was ascribed to the lector priests who studied these books. These priests often worked outside their temples, hiring out their magical services to laymen. Other professions also commonly employed magic as part of their work, including doctors, scorpion-charmers, and makers of magical amulets. It is also likely that the peasantry used simple magic for their own purposes, but because this magical knowledge would have been passed down orally, there is limited evidence of it.

Language was closely linked with heka, to such a degree that Thoth, the god of writing, was sometimes said to be the inventor of heka. Therefore, magic frequently involved written or spoken incantations, although these were usually accompanied by ritual actions. Often these rituals invoked the power of an appropriate deity to perform the desired action, using the power of heka to compel it to act. Sometimes this entailed casting the practitioner or subject of a ritual in the role of a character in mythology, thus inducing the god to act toward that person as it had in the myth. Rituals also employed sympathetic magic, using objects believed to have a magically significant resemblance to the subject of the rite. The Egyptians also commonly used objects believed to be imbued with heka of their own, such as the magically protective amulets worn in great numbers by ordinary Egyptians.

 Funerary practices

Because it was considered necessary for the survival of the soul, preservation of the body was a central part of Egyptian funerary practices. Originally people were buried in graves in the desert, where the arid conditions mummified the body naturally. In the Early Dynastic Period, however, the Egyptians began using tombs for greater protection, and the body was insulated from the desiccating effect of the sand and was subject to natural decay. Thus, the practice of embalming developed. The process was not fully developed until the New Kingdom, but from then on the embalmers removed the internal organs, dried the corpse in natron crystals, and wrapped it in linen to be placed in its coffin. The quality of the process varied according to cost, however, and those who could not afford it were still buried in desert graves.

The Opening of the Mouth ceremony being performed before the tomb

Once the mummification process was complete, the mummy was carried from the deceased person's house to the tomb in a funeral procession that included his or her friends and relatives, along with a variety of priests. At the tomb entrance, a number of rituals were performed, including the Opening of the Mouth ceremony, in which a priest touched the mummy with various ceremonial tools to restore the dead person's senses and give him or her the ability to receive offerings. Then the mummy was buried and the tomb sealed. Afterward, relatives or hired priests gave food offerings to the deceased in a nearby mortuary chapel at regular intervals. However, over time families inevitably neglected offerings to long-dead relatives, and most mortuary cults only lasted one or two generations.

The first Egyptian tombs were mastabas, rectangular brick structures where kings and nobles were entombed. Each of them contained a subterranean burial chamber and a separate, aboveground chapel for mortuary rituals. In the Old Kingdom the mastaba developed into the pyramid, which symbolized the primeval mound of Egyptian myth. Pyramids were reserved for royalty, and were accompanied by large mortuary temples sitting at their base. Middle Kingdom pharaohs continued to build pyramids, although far smaller than those of the Old Kingdom, but the popularity of mastabas waned. Increasingly, commoners with sufficient means were buried in rock-cut tombs with separate mortuary chapels nearby, an approach which was less vulnerable to tomb robbery. By the beginning of the New Kingdom even the pharaohs were buried in such tombs, and they continued to be used until the decline of the religion itself.

Tombs could contain a great variety of other items, including statues of the deceased to serve as substitutes for the body in case it was damaged and Canopic jars containing the organs removed during the mummification process. Because it was believed that the deceased would have to do work in the afterlife, just as in life, burials often included small models of humans to do work in place of the deceased. The use of these model workers replaced the practice, used by the earliest pharaohs, of burying human servants along with the king. The tombs of wealthier individuals could also contain furniture, clothing, and other everyday objects intended for use in the afterlife, along with amulets and other items intended to provide magical protection against the hazards of the spirit world. Further protection was provided by funerary texts inscribed on the tomb walls, the burial shroud, the coffin, or on separate rolls of papyrus. The tomb walls also bore artwork, including images of the deceased eating food which were believed to allow him or her to magically receive sustenance even after the mortuary offerings had ceased.

Because they believed that the gods could manifest themselves in animal form, the Egyptians mummified and interred animals as well as humans. Originally this only applied to specific sacred animals, such as the Apis bull worshipped as a manifestation of Ptah. Beginning in the Twenty-sixth dynasty, however, the Egyptians began mummifying a wide variety of animals in honor of the gods whom they represented. Worshippers paid the priests of a particular deity to acquire and mummify an animal which represented that deity, and the mummy was placed in a cemetery near the god's cult center as an offering. Some such crypts contain millions of animal mummies. History

 Predynastic and Early Dynastic periods

The beginnings of Egyptian religion extend into prehistory, and information about religious activity in these early times comes solely from archaeological evidence, which is difficult to interpret and subject to differing opinions. Careful burials during the Predynastic period imply that the people of this time believed in some form of an afterlife. At the same time, animals were ritually buried, a practice which may reflect the development of zoomorphic deities like those found in the later religion. While these early Egyptians also produced anthropomorphic figures which may represent gods in human form, the evidence is unclear, and this type of deity may have emerged more slowly than those in animal shape. Each region of Egypt originally had its own patron deity, but it is likely that as these small communities conquered or absorbed each other, the god of the defeated area was either incorporated into the other god's mythology or entirely subsumed by it. This resulted in a complex pantheon in which some deities remained only locally important while others developed more universal significance.

The Early Dynastic period began with the unification of Egypt around 3000 BC. This event transformed Egyptian religion, as some deities rose to national importance and the cult of the divine pharaoh became the central focus of religious activity.^[139] The early kings were interred in elaborate mastaba tombs with expensive grave goods and, in the case of First Dynasty rulers, humans sacrificed to attend the king in the afterlife. These burials demonstrate the importance of the royal funerary cult even at the beginning of Egyptian history. High officials were buried in less-elaborate tombs of a similar type.^[140]

 Old and Middle Kingdoms

During the Old Kingdom the priesthoods of the major deities attempted to organize the confusing national pantheon into groups, each with their own mythology and cult center. It was in this period that family triads of deities emerged, and the theologies of Heliopolis, Hermopolis, and possibly Memphis were developed.^{[141][142][143]} Meanwhile, pyramids replaced mastabas as the tombs of pharaohs, although important non-royals continued to use mastabas.^[144] Pyramids were accompanied by large mortuary temple complexes, which were extremely important in the development of Egyptian temple design.

In the Old Kingdom, the city of Heliopolis became the nation's most important religious site, and its patron god Ra was increasingly influential. The Fourth Dynasty change from step pyramids to true pyramids, for instance, may have been influenced by the symbolic association of the true pyramid shape with the rays of the sun. By the Fifth Dynasty Ra was effectively the nation's state god, with and had developed the close links with kingship and the afterlife that he retained for the rest of Egyptian history. Around the same time, Osiris became an important afterlife deity.

At the end of the Fifth Dynasty, kings began inscribing the Pyramid Texts inside their tombs. The texts contain not only the solar and Osirian concepts of the afterlife that were current at the time, but also older traditions, some dating back to Predynastic times. They are thus an extremely important source for understanding Egyptian theology during and before the Old Kingdom.

In the 22nd century BC, the Old Kingdom collapsed into the disorder of the First Intermediate Period, with important consequences for Egyptian religion. Old Kingdom officials had already begun to adopt the funerary rites originally reserved for royalty, but now, less rigid barriers between social classes meant that these practices and the accompanying beliefs gradually extended to all Egyptians, a process called the "democratization of the afterlife". The Osirian view of the afterlife had the greatest appeal to commoners, and thus Osiris became one of the most important gods. The new pharaohs originated from Thebes, and they promoted their patron god Monthu to national importance, but during the Middle Kingdom he was eclipsed by the rising popularity of Amun.

New Kingdom

The Middle Kingdom crumbled in the Second Intermediate Period, but the country was again reunited by Theban rulers, who became the first pharaohs of the New Kingdom. They promoted their deity Amun to the position of supreme state god, and syncretized him with the long-established patron of kingship, Ra. The temple of Amun-Ra at Karnak in Thebes thus became the religious capital of Egypt. Increased contact with outside peoples in this period led to the adoption of many Near Eastern deities into the pantheon, while the subjugated Nubians absorbed Egyptian religious beliefs, and in particular, adopted Amun as their own.

Akhenaten and his family worshipping the Aten

The New Kingdom religious order was disrupted when Pharaoh Amenhotep IV replaced Amun with the Aten as the state god, and renamed himself Akhenaten in its honor. Eventually he prohibited the worship of gods other than the Aten, and moved Egypt's capital to a new city at Amarna, for which this part of Egyptian history, the Amarna period, is named. In doing so Akhenaten claimed unprecedented status for himself, as an aspect of the Aten itself as well as its sole intermediary for worship. The Atenist system lacked well-developed mythology, moral philosophy, and afterlife beliefs, and the Aten itself seemed distant and impersonal, so the new order did not appeal to ordinary Egyptians.^[161] Thus, many of them continued to worship the traditional gods in private. Nevertheless, the withdrawal of state support for the other deities undermined the structure of Egyptian society. Akhenaten's successors therefore restored the traditional religious system, and eventually they dismantled all Atenist monuments.

The confusion of the Amarna period resulted in a long-term decline in pharaonic religious influence, despite the efforts of later pharaohs to counteract it. As a backlash against Akhenaten's claim to be the only interface between the populace and the gods, people began to believe that the gods were more directly involved in daily life. The pharaoh was therefore less significant, more human and less divine. At the same time, after the religious restoration the priesthood of Amun grew still more powerful, and these factors contributed to the breakdown of the New Kingdom.

 Later periods

In the first millennium BC, Egypt was significantly weaker than in earlier times, and in several periods foreigners seized the country and assumed the position of pharaoh. Animal cults, a characteristically Egyptian form of worship, became increasingly popular in this period, possibly as a response to the uncertainty and foreign influence of this period. Isis grew more popular in this period as well, and eventually became the most important goddess in Egypt.

In the fourth century BC, Egypt became a Hellenistic kingdom under the Ptolemaic dynasty, which assumed the pharaonic role, maintaining the traditional religion and building or rebuilding many temples. The kingdom's Greek ruling class identified the Egyptian deities with their own, and syncretized several Greek gods with Osiris and Apis to create Serapis, a new state god intended to unite the Greek and Egyptian communities. Nevertheless, for the most part the two belief systems remained separate, and the Egyptian deities remained Egyptian.

The Ptolemaic religious system changed little after Egypt became a province of the Roman Empire, with the Ptolemaic kings replaced by distant emperors. The cult of Isis appealed even to Greeks and Romans outside Egypt, and in Hellenized form it spread across the empire. In Egypt itself, however, knowledge of many of the details of Egyptian belief had become confined to the insular and shrinking temple priesthoods. The religion declined further in the first century AD, when Christianity and its exclusive monotheism arrived and began winning converts. In 383 AD, when Christianity had become the official religion of the empire, Emperor Theodosius ordered the closing of all pagan temples, including those in Egypt. While it persisted among the populace for some time, Egyptian religion slowly faded away thereafter.

The whole allegory of Job is an open book to him who understands the picture-language of Egypt as it is recorded in the Book of the Dead. In the Scene of Judgment, Osiris is represented sitting on his throne, holding in one hand the symbol of life, "the hook of attraction," and in the other the mystic Bacchic fan. Before him are the sons of God, the forty-two assessors of the dead. An altar is immediately before the throne, covered with gifts and surmounted with the sacred lotus-flower, upon which stand four spirits. By the entrance stands the soul about to be judged, whom Thmei, the genius of Truth, is welcoming to this conclusion of the probation. Thoth holding a reed, makes a record of the proceedings in the Book of Life. Horus and Anubis, standing by the scales, inspect the weight which determines whether the heart of the deceased balances the symbol of truth, or the latter preponderates. On pedestal sits a bitch -- the symbol of the Accuser.

The Great Hall of Truth or Judgment Seat of Osiris. Left to Right: Osiris in judgment chair. A leopard skin, his banner. Four genii over closed lotus flower, symbol of Mu. Great beast of Amenti. Thoth with Ibis head recording history of the deceased. Anubis with jackal's head and Horus with hawk's head weighing the heart in pair of scales against a feather. The deceased, hands aloft exposing his heart, being led into the Hall of Truth by a feather and being received by Maat, goddess of Truth. The bitch sits on top of the balance scale...the accuser...later called Satan by the Christian church.
From the Egyptian "Book of the Dead".

DREAMS OF

THE EYE OF HORUS

by Dee Finney

The highly stylized eye of the falcon-headed solar and sky god Horus (the Latin version of Hor) is associated with regeneration, health, and prosperity. It has become commonly associated with esoterica and the occult. It is also called the udjat eye or utchat eye, which means "sound eye". The udjat is depicted as a human eye and eyebrow as they would be seen looking at a person full-faced. The eye is decorated with the markings that adorn the eyes of hawks. Usually, it is the right eye shown as the udjat, although the left is not uncommon. This is probably because of another myth that say that the sun and the moon were the right (sun) and left (moon) eyes of the sky god and the sun is seen as more powerful. Each piece of the udjat can be seen as representing a fraction of the descending geometric series 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, etc., put together they make 63/64 or approximately 1. The entire eye measured 1 heqat. And each of the parts of the eye measured fractions of the heqat. These are the parts of the EYE and their corresponding associated fraction values : 1/641/321/161/8 1/41/2= The corresponding sense data are :- 1/64 heqat Touch 1/32 heqat Taste 1/16 heqat Hearing 1/8 heqat Thought 1/4 heqat Sight 1/2 heqat Smell   The EYE OF HORUS has a very specific meaning. The eye is represented as a figure with 6 parts. These 6 parts correspond to the six senses - Touch, Taste, Hearing, Thought, Sight, Smell. These are the 6 parts of the *eye*. The eye is the receptor of *input*. It has these six doors, to receive data. The construction of the eye follows very precise laws. The senses are ordered according to their importance. And according to how much energy must be *eaten* by the *eye* for an individual to receive a particular sensation. All of the sensory data input is *food*. Also, in the Egyptian system there is the unit of the ro. And by definition 320 ro = 1 heqat. The symbol for the ro is the mouth, it represented one mouthful. Again associating these measures with food, or input data. Now if we consider the ro as the smallest unit of input energy needed for the input to *register* as sense data. We note, 320 = 5 x 64 and so in terms of ro we have 5 ro to register a Touch 10 ro to register a Taste 20 ro to register a Sound 40 ro to register a Thought 80 ro to register a Light 160 ro to register a Smell To see how the drawings of the eye correspond to the various senses note:- 1. Touch 1/64 heqat or 5 ro This part of the EYE represents planting a stick into the ground. Like planting a stalk that will take root. The Earth represents touch. Planting itself represents physical contact and touching. 2. Taste 1/32 heqat or 10 ro This part of the EYE represents the sprouting of the wheat or grain from the planted stalk. It is the food we put into our mouth. And so represents taste. Taste is also = Touch + Shape. That is to say, the different tastes we experience come from touching different shapes. So, touch is more a fundamental sense that taste. 3. Hearing 1/16 heqat or 20 ro This part of the EYE represents the EAR. The figure points towards the ear on the face. Also, it has the shape of a horn or musical instrument. When we Hear a sound or combination of sounds we find this to be pleasing or unpleasant. The sound has a taste for us, causing a preference. Sound requires Touch + Taste and so is a combination of the lower senses. 4. Thought 1/8 heqat or 40 ro This part of the EYE represents thought. We often use our eyebrows to express our thoughts. And this facial feature is closest to that part of the forehead we associate with thinking. We raise our eyebrows to express surprise, for example. Thought = Touch + Taste + Hearing. If you think :) about it. Thinking is a kind of suppressed sound. The language we think in is like the *touch* of muscle prior to giving voice. And of course, we have a *taste* for different types of thoughts. 5. Sight 1/4 heqat or 80 ro This is the pupil of the EYE. And so no more needs to be said. It represents seeing, or the sensation of light. 6. Smell 1/2 heqat or 160 ro This part of the EYE points to the nose. It even looks like a nose. It represents the sensation of smell. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The reverence shown to parents is one of the virtues symbolized by the udjat, and the amulet could be used as a substitute for any of the offerings an eldest son was supposed to provide daily at his father's tomb. It was believed to ward of sickness and capable of bringing the dead to life (as it did with Osiris). The eye was also placed in the wrappings of the mummies over the incision where the embalmers removed the internal organs. Damaging the body in any way was considered bad luck for the deceased, and the Egyptians hoped to protect it by placing the amulet over the cut. Horus, the son of Osiris and Isis, was called "Horus who rules with two eyes." His right eye was white and represented the sun; his left eye was black and represented the moon. According to myth Horus lost his left eye to his evil brother, Seth, whom he fought to avenge Seth's murder of Osiris. Seth tore out the eye but lost the fight. The eye was reassembled by magic by Thoth, the god of writing, the moon, and magic. Horus presented his eye to Osiris, who experienced rebirth in the underworld. As an amulet the Eye of Horus has three versions: a left eye, a right eye, and two eyes. The eye is constructed in fractional parts, with 1/64 missing, a piece Thoth added by magic... The Egyptians used the eye as a funerary amulet for protection against evil and rebirth in the underworld, and decorated mummies, coffins, and tombs with it. The Book of the Dead instructs that funerary eye amulets be made out of lapis lazuli or a stone called mak. Some were gold-plated. It was called the "all-seeing Eye." Other attributes associated with it are terror and wrath. According to some myths, the eye took on a personality of its own, swooping down out of the sky to right wrongs...

5-18-99 - DREAM - I was in a huge office building. There were three little kids with me. Two boys and a girl. We were just sitting there, talking to each other. The boy across from me was somewhere between 6 to 10 years old. He was telling me that the ETs had done surgery on his left eye to change something in the rods behind the eye so he could see certain things other people couldn't see.  While he was talking, I had some little strips of beef or something brown and I was trying to arrange them to say a word. I turned around to arrange some layered brown trays that the ETs had planted seeds in. There were 7 of them. I thought to myself that I could water them and take care of them and I turned around and the beef pieces were gone. I looked at the little boy sitting next to me. He had just eaten them. He looked at me as if to say, "That was good food! Is something wrong?" I felt like laughing. Whatever that ET experiment was, it was now being digested inside that little boy.

7-15-99 - VISION - I saw a white sheet or blanket pulled up and off a human-like figure that looked like a mummy.  I asked, "Who is that boy?"  A deep male voice boomed, "I am taking you to meet your own people, "The Rupians!"

I was then hearing a discussion between several people who were trying to decide who was going to do the channelling of the information.  An old woman's voice said, "Nevra! They are calling you Nevra!"

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8-28-97 - Nightmare Dream: I went to a house where an evil man lived. He abused his wife and family incessantly. He called his son "Alligator" and made him wear a green long brimmed hat like an alligator head. The evil man held out his son to me for me to kiss him. I kissed the child, despite getting bumped in the face with the brim of the hat.

When I arrived, everyone was in a good mood, laughing and enjoying my visit, but it seemed like they were overdoing it for my benefit. The wife especially was acting like she was actually crazed with fear and yet laughing so as to not show it to me.

I discovered that the 12 year old daughter had been raped by her father and had given birth to twin babies who were so premature, they were like cracked eggs flopped out in a pan. The daughter screamed..."They have no hands, they have no hands." But, when I picked up the babies, I saw a vision of a magnified closeup of the hand stubs and the cells for the hands were there, just not developed yet.

I picked up the babies and put them both in a box which I carried at stomach level. Inside the box was also a large egg standing upright. It was cracked jaggedly around the top. I opened the egg and saw two yolks inside which were still developing.

Quite a large crowd of people had gathered in the house by now. The wife was nearly hysterical with joy, yet I sensed her fear. She ran to get her husband to bring him in and I said, "If he harms anyone, I'll kill him." Two other men near me, heard me say that and showed me a small piece of paper with a note on it with some information about a plot to kill the evil man.

6-3-99 - DREAM - I was in a house with some other people but working by myself on my computer. The page was scrolling down and there were hundreds of words and sayings about Native Ameriican Indians. I cannot recall any specifically, but this page contained everything I had ever seen about Indians.

My son Michael was there and he stubbed his toe and hollered, "Ouch!" I looked at his toe and the nail was completely off except for one tiny thread of skin. He told me to pull it off before it hurt too much, so I yanked the toenail all the way off for him.

My eyelids were aching so I looked in the mirror. I touched my eyelids with my fingers and saw that my eyelids had become detached from my body and were about to fall off. I carefully held them in place despite the pain because if I didn't, I'd never be able to close my eyes again and I'd see more than I wanted to from now on.

~~~~~~~~~~~

6-17-99 - DREAM - I had given birth .to twin boys. They were very unusual. They were each four inches long. They had no hair, and their eyes were perpetually open and their noses were like little flat buttons. I had them out on the street and they were like regular kids would be. . . playing, running in the street, etc.

I was told that there was a historical song written about them. One was named NATE and the other name was something similar, but I can't remember what it was.

They were so small, yet a friend of mine said not to worry that they weighed 10 pounds. In my mind I compared what 10 pounds was to my other babies when they were at 10 pounds and that sounded normal to me.

7-10-99 - DREAM - I was working in a very large office for a man who I've long recognized as an ET.  He and I were in the bedroom and there was a very large bed there. The boss told me he had lost a very special gemstone. I told him I would help him find it. It was a simple matter. I spotted it in the blanket. It looked like a small silver-blue egg. It was kind of sparkly even though it was smooth like an egg. He picked up the stone and I told him I needed to go to the bathroom. I went into another room which was extremely large and had many chairs and couches which could be used for many guests at the same time. Here I met my daughter who also needed to use the bathroom. I let her go first while I changed clothes.

I dressed all in white . . . an outfit like Fredericks of Hollywood  . . . all white . . . long white stockings with a satin garter belt, five inch white high heeled shoes and a beautifully shaped, all white, lacy, beribboned Teddy. This is what I was going to wear to teach.

I was at the point of fading out of the dream here but I was seeing the teaching material. It appeared to be the Book of Revelation and certain words were highlighted on the pages. They moved like they were alive. I know I'm not remembering both the exact words. One started with "W" which I'm remembering as 'WRITE'. The next word started with "T" which I remembering as meaning 'Put it here!" I think the word is 'TESTIMONY'. I also believe this means "The Living Word!"

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Papyrus of Ani; Egyptian Book of the Dead [Budge]

Weighing of the Heart of Ani

Coffin with Eyes of Horus l

THE THIRD EYE REFERENCES

The Third Eye  

Hebrew azniya is a kind of eagle. Reversed, this becomes ayin za. Ayin is an eye. The falcon was the lightning symbol of the Egyptians, and was associated with Horus.

The object appearing in Egyptian art and hieroglyphics and called the utchat, or udjat, was the eye of Horus or of Ra.

FALCON

The buteo, falcon, was watched for its flight. The ibis, which had great skill in killing snakes, was associated with the god Thoth, who was equated with the Greek Hermes and was the Egyptian electrical god par excellence.

Falcon / Hawk byk - The sacred bird of the falcon-headed solar god Horus, it was also regarded as his Ba. The falcon was a bird that had protective powers, and was frequently linked with royalty, where it was depicted as hovering over the head of the pharaoh, with outstretched wings. The falcon was also sacred to Montu, god of war, and Sokar, god of the Memphite necropolis. The bird of prey was sometimes associated with Hathor, 'The House of Horus'. The son of Horus, Qebehsenuef who guarded the canopic jar of the intestines, was a falcon-headed god. The human headed ba-bird was sometimes given the body of a falcon.

Sacred to Horus, the falcon (or hawk) was thought to be the guardian of the ruler, and is frequently found as spreading its wings protectively behind the head of the pharaoh. At Saqqara during the Late Period, there was a catacomb build for mummified falcons. These birds, though, were shown to be of different types of birds of prey, not just the falcon. To the Egyptians, the Horus-falcon may have been regarded as interchangeable with a whole range of different birds of prey.

The ubiquitous Eye of Horus symbol of ancient Egyptian religion can be quite readily shown to have been inspired by the "Eye of God" aka "Eye in the Sky" that is manifested in the heavens above our planet Earth during most if not all total eclipses of the sun. Horus, the famous solar falcon god of ancient Egypt, was quite evidently inspired by the "winged disk" or the "Bird of the Sun" that is readily perceivable within the sun's corona during those total eclipses of the sun in which the streamers of the sun's corona are concentrated into the sun's equatorial regions and thus appear very much like a bird's wings spreading out on either side of the so-called "black sun" that is formed by the dark circle of the occulting disk of the moon. The ancient Egyptian myth of the cosmic battle between the solar falcon god Horus and the sun eating serpent god Set was quite evidently inspired by total solar eclipses as the British Museum's reputed Egyptologist EA Wallis Budge noted well over a century ago. In fact, the solar falcon god Horus is very clearly spoken of as assuming the form of a gigantic "winged disk" in some versions of this ancient Egyptian solar eclipse myth.

The Eye of Horus symbol does not usually show the wings of the solar falcon god however the Egyptians also had a closely related winged version of their total solar eclipse inspired udjat eye symbol. I expect that the wingless Eye of Horus symbol is essentially a winged udjat eye symbol from which the wings of the coronal SunBird have been deliberately removed in order to emphasize the religious attribute of this sky god's divine omniscience that is allegorized by the striking similarity in appearance of the totally eclipsed sun to an "Eye of God". The "solar eye" nature of the Eye of Horus symbol is clearly revealed by the fact that some versions of this ancient Egyptian religious symbol clearly depict the pupil and iris of the "Eye of Horus" as red sun disk with a central black dot

See: http://eyeofhorussymbol.homestead.com/

Anti:  Egyptian guardian deity. Depicted as a falcon or with a falcon's head, often standing on a crescent-shaped boat.

Behedti: Egyptian god in the form of a crouching falcon. Worshipped at Behdet (Edfu), he later was identified as a local form of the god Horus.

Chenti-cheti: Originally an Egyptian crocodile god, he later took on the form of a falcon.

Chenti-irti (Machenti-irti) Egyptian falcon-god of law and order, identified with Horus.

Hemen: Egyptian falcon-god.

Horus (Egyptian Har or Hor)  Egyptian sky god. Usually depicted as a falcon or in human form with the head of a falcon. The sun and the moon are said to be his eyes. Son of Isis and the dead Osiris. He was born at Khemmis in the Nile Delta, and Isis hid him in the papyrus marshes to protect him against Seth, his father's murderer.   Horus later avenged the death of his father against Seth. Horus lost his left eye (the moon) in the contest between the two. Horus was identified with Lower Egypt and Seth with Upper Egypt in this battle, which lasted eighty years. The gods judged Horus to be the winner, and Seth was either killed or castrated. The consequence of Horus's victory was the union of Upper and Lower Egypt. The Egyptian pharaoh was believed to be an incarnation of Horus, and the name of Horus formed part of his name. The pharaoh was said to become Horus after death. Seth restored the eye he had torn from Horus, but Horus gave it instead to Osiris. The image of the "eye of Horus", a human eye combined with the cheek markings of a falcon, became a powerful amulet among the Egyptians.

Among the various manifestations of Horus are:

Harpokrates (Heru-Pa-Khret, Harpakhrad) : "Horus the child". This refers to his birth and secret rearing by Isis. In this form he is often depicted as a naked child seated on Isis's lap.

Haroeris (Har Wer): "Horus the elder". In this form Horus battled against Seth.

Harakhte (Harakhti, Heraktes) : "Horus of the horizon". Horus at Heliopolis, linked with Ra in the sun cult. In this form he is associated with the rising sun.

Harendotes (Har-nedj-itef, Har-End-Yotef): "Horus the saviour of his father" A reference to the avenging of his father's murder.

Harmachis (Heru-Em-Akhet, Harmakis) : "Horus in the horizon". Horus as symbol of resurrection, linked with the setting sun.

Harsiesis (Harsiese, Har-si-Ese, Hor-Sa-Iset): "Horus, son of Isis".

Harsomtus (Har-mau): "Horus the uniter" This is a reference to his role in uniting Upper and Lower Egypt.

Hor Behdetite (Behedti): "Horus of Behdet". Originally a local form of Horus as Behdet in the Delta region. In this form he was symbolized by the winged solar disk.

Nenun:  Egyptian falcon-god.

Qebhsnuf: Egyptian son of Horus, Canopic guardian of the viscera after mummification. He was represented as a mummified man with the head of a falcon.

Egyptian goddess. Re (Ra)  Egyptian sun god and creator god. He is usually depicted in human form with a falcon head, crowned with the sun disc encircled by the uraeus (a stylized representation of the sacred asp). The sun itself was taken to be either his body or his eye. His principal cult centre was at Heliopolis. Re was also considered to be an underworld god, closely associated in this respect with Osiris. By the third millennium B.C. Re's prominence had already become such that the pharaohs took to styling themselves "sons of Re". According to one tradition, Re is said to have created himself out of the mound that grew from the primeval lotus blossom. He then created Shu (air) and Tefnut (moisture), who in turn engendered the earth god Geb and the sky goddess Nut. Another tradition states that Re created mankind from his own tears.

William Butler Yeats’ wrote :

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the center cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction; while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

IO / ISIS

THE DREAM AND THE MYTHOLOGY

by Dee Finney

.

"Tell me: to what region of the earth I have wandered in my wretchedness?" "This god Zeus, desirous of union with this mortal maid, has imposed upon her these wanderings. Maiden, you have gained a cruel suitor for your hand." Prometheus to Io.zzzzzzzzzzzz

Io is said to have been turned into a cow, either by Hera or Zeus, and then forced to wander over the whole world. The Persians, believe that Io, daughter of Inachus, was seized together with other women by Phoenician merchants, who sailed away for Egypt with the kidnapped women on board. That explanation would account for Io's disappearance from Greece.

The Persians agreed that this abducting of Io by the Phoenicians was a wrong that Asia did against Europe. So when later the Europeans carried off the Phoenician princess Europa, they say, Asia and Europe were then even; for they, accepting again counsel from their wisdom, did not believe either in the tale of Zeus the bull conveying the princess Europa to Crete through the sea. The Persians kept a book concerning the abduction of women and the wrongs that Asia and Europe performed against each other, the Europeans (the Greeks) then, sent the Argonauts to the city of Aea in Colchis, and carried off the Colchian princess Medea. That was the third wrong, they say, and when the Colchians demanded the restitution of Medea the Greeks answered that they had been refused reparation for the abduction of Io. After that the Trojan seducer Paris decided that he would make a Greek woman his wife and, taking lessons from the past, he abducted Queen Helen of Sparta. And he feared nothing; for this had been done before several times.

However, on this occasion the method found no tolerance; for a powerful fleet gathered at Aulis and sailed to Troy in order to obtain, by persuasion or by force, the restoration of Helen and the property that Paris had taken with him. This was unprecedented, and even though the Trojans then pleaded the seizure of Medea, war broke up nevertheless. The Persian's opinion is that there is no reason to go to war for a matter of abduction of women, arguing that the women would never have been carried away, had they not wanted it themselves. And that is why they think that the Greeks did even a greater wrong when they became the first to stage a huge attack and raze a city for the sake of a woman.

When Zeus had thus disguised Io under the shape of a cow, Hera, suspecting mischief, requested the cow for herself and set Argus, the All-seeing, to guard the animal. That was the end of the All-seeing; for Zeus, who wished to set the cow free, ordered Hermes to steal it, and this god, following instructions, killed Argus by the cast of a stone, without thinking twice.

This is how the cow went free. But Hera sent a gadfly to infest and torture it, and so Io, tormented by the gadfly's sting, began her wanderings, coming first to the Ionian sea, which is called after her. Then she journeyed through Illyria, which is the region north of Epirus in the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea, and came to Mont Haemus in Thrace, and thence she crossed the Bosphorus, which separates Europe and Asia. Io continued her wanderings through Scythia and Cimmeria (to the north of the Black Sea), met in Caucasus the bound Prometheus, and at last she came to Egypt.

Io stated that all these things were caused by dreams. When she met Prometheus, Io told him that her afflictions began with those dreams she had had by night, in which visions told her to leave her maidenhood behind her and yield to Zeus, who loved her. She said to Prometheus, "This I see - A form storm beaten, bound to the rock. Did you do wrong? Is this your punishment? Where am I? Speak to a wretched wanderer. Enough - I have been tried enough - My wandering - long wandering. Yet I have found nowhere to leave my misery. I am a girl who speak to you, but horns are on my head. (Horns are the sign of Isis) She also said that, having told these dreams to her father Inachus, he consulted the Oracle, and the god speaking through it commanded him to banish his daughter from home and land to roam over the whole world, adding that if he disobeyed a thunderbolt from Zeus would destroy his race.

This Inachus did, says Io. And yet Inachus acted as if he were ignorant of what had happened to his daughter. For he sent Cyrnus to look for her, and this man came as far as Caria, the southwestern region of Asia Minor, and not finding her, settled there. Also Lyrcus is said to have been sent by Io's father to search for her, and after having covered a great deal of land and sea without finding the girl, he finally renounced the quest; but being too afraid of Inachus to return to Argos, he went instead to King Caunus of Caria, where he married the king's daughter.

In Egypt the wandering girl recovered her human form and gave birth to Zeus' son Epaphus beside the river Nile. Hera then bade the Curettes to steal the child; and having obeyed the goddess, they were killed by Zeus for having carried out his wife's orders. It was then that Io started her new wanderings, this time in search of her son. And after roaming all over Syria she found Epaphus, who had been nursed by the wife, called by some Astarte and by others Saosis, of King Malcander of Byblus. Together with her son she returned to Egypt and married Telegonus, who at the time reigned over the Egyptians. This is why Epaphus, from whom sprang the Libyans and the Ethiopians, became later king of Egypt and the founder of the city of Memphis.

Having thus settled in Egypt, Io made a statue of Demeter, and this goddess was then called "Isis". And after that the Egyptians also gave Io the name "Isis", and Io-Isis, they say, was made a goddess by Zeus. Isis is known for having mourned the god Osiris, worshipped by the Egyptians, who say that Isis discovered many drugs and was versed in healing, giving aid during sleep while standing above the sick. They say that many who had lost the use of their eyes or other part of their body, whenever they turned for help to Isis, were restored to their previous condition. They call Apollo her son and they say that it was Isis who instructed him in healing and divination. The Drug of Immortality, which achieves the highest form of healing, was discovered by Isis, but the formula remains unknown for the majority of men, as everyone can see.

As reported, Isis appeared in the dreams of the Cretan woman Telethusa, whose husband Lidgus wished to have their child killed, would Telethusa give birth to a girl. But when the child was about to be born Telethusa had a vision in her dreams in which Isis, in the company of other gods (Anubis, Bubastis, Apis, Harpocrates and Osiris), told her not to obey her husband's orders. Doing as the vision said she then disguised her daughter as a boy, thus deluding her husband. Later, this girl, when she was about to marry, became a boy.

Isis is said to have been once saved by a fish, and for this reason, they say, the fish was put among the constellations, being the one Fish that is called southern, which seems to drink from the constellation of Aquarius. This is the reason why, some say, the Syrians do not eat fish; but others say that it is because the goddess Derceto (whom some call Astarte) threw herself in a lake near the city of Ascalon, and was changed, as to the form of her body, into a fish. Since that day then, the Syrians do not eat fish and honour their fishes as gods.

Isis came to be worshipped in a large part of the world as a great goddess, and her manifold nature becomes apparent in Apuleius' invocation, when he says: "Blessed Queen of Heaven,, whether you are pleased to be known as Ceres [Demeter]...who in joy at the finding of your lost daughter Proserpine [Persephone]...gave our forefathers bread raised from the fertile soil of Eleusis; or whether as celestial Venus [Aphrodite]...who at the time of the first Creation coupled the sexes in mutual love ... or whether as Artemis, the physician sister of Apollo, reliever of the birth pangs of women, and now adored in the ancient shrine at Ephesus; or whether as dread Proserpine [Persephone] to whom the owl cries at night, whose triple face is potent against the malice of ghosts...you who wander through many sacred groves, and are propitiated with many different rites...I beseech you [etc.]." [Apuleius, The Golden Ass] And the goddess answers him in similar way: "The Phrygians call me ... Mother of the Gods; the Athenians, call me Cecropian Artemis; for the islanders of Cyprus I am Paphian Aphrodite; for the archers of Crete I am Dictynna; for the Sicilians Proserpine [Persephone]; and for the Eleusinians their ancient Mother of the Corn [Demeter]. Some know me as Juno [Hera], some as Bellona of the Battles, others as Hecate...and the Egyptians...call me by my true name, namely, Queen Isis." [Apuleius, The Golden Ass]

Ancestors and founders of important cities like Mycenae, Thebes and Argos were descendants of Io (or the river god Inachus). These dominated also Crete, Laconia and perhaps Arcadia. The Heraclides were descendants of Io. So were, among others, Cadmus, Perseus and Heracles.

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HEBREW GODDESSES

FROM:  http://www.greatdreams.com/io.htm

THE MYSTERY OF OSIRIS

Osiris, Usire Asar, Ausar, Unnefer, Wesir

WEBSITE OF ZAWI HAWASS AND THE DISCOVERIES

HYMN TO OSIRIS

INVOCATION OF OSIRIS

In addition to native variations by locality or over time, there are often several possible transliterations into the Roman alphabet used for English.)

English name: Green Man (the term “Green Man” refers to a class of deities from many different traditions, of which Asar is a Tameran example — Asar was commonly depicted as a green man)

THE MYSTERY OF OSIRIS

Osiris plays a key role and is a central figure in the ancient Egyptian mysteries and in the Order Of The Morning Star. It was Osiris who was the beloved pharaoh of Egypt. It was Osiris who taught the people of the land of Egypt about farming. Osiris was and is one of the first "Green Men", in that he was also the god of vegetation. When Osiris became ruler over the land of Egypt, the people were engaged in the practice of cannibalism. Osiris helped them to evolve beyond cannibalism and to learn farming skills.

Osiris is the husband of Isis. In that after thousands of years all female goddesses became merged as an aspect of Isis, she too is central to Egyptian symbolism. Most scholars know of the tragic story of the death of Osiris. He was murdered by his evil brother Set. Set is equated with Typhon-Apophis of the Greeks. Set is the destructive aspect that the alchemical principal must undergo, and thus be reborn into a new and purified creation. (Satan is based on the personage of Set) That is exactly what happened to Osiris. His death or as the alchemist would say his putrefaction was carefully evolved through the power of Isis under the magical direction of Thoth.

Essentially, a formula was being created in the mythos. It is the alchemical formula of I.A.O., Isis, Apophis, Osiris, Birth, Death, resurrection. To the Adept this is a powerful process of transformation that unlocks the keys of magical power and of immortality.

For as Osiris died, through the power of Birth (Isis) under the authority and skill of Thoth (The Higher Genius) Osiris arose on the physical plane as the great avenging god Horus, his son. On the spiritual plane Osiris became the great god of the underworld. Like Christ he became the god that the Egyptians needed to become in order to be saved. What this means is that unless the initiate allows for the complete transformation of the self under the direct guidance of the Higher, no true and lasting power can be obtained. Osiris is the reconciler with the Lower Selfhood in which no birth or death is necessary. We can refer to it as "The Bornless One."

To the Egyptians one must become Osiris. In that no one can or could deliver the forty-two negative confessions in the hall of truth, because no one is perfect in earthly life. By identification with Osiris the candidate who stands in the Hall of Truth can indeed deliver the negative confession. The reason is clear, it is not him, but him in Osiris that is delivering the negative confession. The candidate in the Hall of Truth is redeemed by his unification with Osiris.This unification in the Morning Star system takes place in the grade of 5=6, Adeptus Minor. Of the details I can speak no more.

In the Hall of the Neophyte it is the Hierophant who sits in the Osirisian position on the path of Samekh outside of Tiphareth. Osiris is the one in the Hall of the Neophyte who confirms the initiation on the new candidate. This is done after the candidate has taken the oath and is placed in the northwest part of the hall.

"I am the only being in an abyss of Darkness. From an abyss of Darkness came I forth ere my birth, from the silence of a primal sleep. And the voice of ages said unto my soul, 'I am he who formulates in Darkness, the Light that shineth in the Darkness, yet the Darkness comprehendeth it not.' Let the mystical circumambulation take place onto the Path of Darkness that leadeth unto Light with the Lamp of Hidden Knowledge to guide the way."

Asar [Osiris]: God of life and death. Husband and brother of Aset, brother of Set, Nebt Het, and Heru the Elder, son of Nut and Geb, and father of the twins, Bast and Heru, lover of Nebt Het, and father of Anpu. Asar is shown as a virile green man or as a mummified black man. See also information on the religious item known as the Djed.

GEB	NUT

Egyptian god of the underworld and of vegetation. Son of Nut and Geb. His birthplace was said to be Rosetau in the necropolis west of Memphis. Brother of Nephthys and Seth, and the brother and husband of Isis.

HORUS HAKARTE	HORUS Son of Seth

Isis Hathor gave birth to Horus after his death, having impregnated herself with semen from his corpse. [Horus birth & Flight]

Osiris was depicted in human form wrapped up as a mummy, holding the crook and flail. He was often depicted with green skin, alluding to his role as a god of vegetation. He wore a crown known as the 'atef', composed of the tall conical white crown of Upper Egypt with red plumes on each side. Osiris had many cult centers, but the most important were at Abydos (Ibdju) in Upper Egypt, where the god's legend was reenacted in an annual festival, and at Busiris (Djedu) in the Nile delta.

One of the so-called "dying gods", he was the focus of a famous legend in which he was killed by the rival god Seth. At a banquet of the gods, Seth fooled Osiris into stepping into a coffin, which he promptly slammed shut and cast into the Nile. The coffin was born by the Nile to the delta town of Byblos, where it became enclosed in a tamarisk tree. Isis, the wife of Osiris, discovered the coffin and brought it back. (The story to this point is attested only by the Greek writer Plutarch, although Seth was identified as his murderer as early as the Pyramid era of the Old Kingdom.)

Seth took advantage of Isis's temporary absence on one occasion, cut the body to pieces, and cast them into the Nile. (In the Egyptian texts this incident alone accounts for the murder of Osiris.) After Seth killed Osiris, Horus, his son, became Pharoah. Seth was jealous of him as well, so he fought Horus for the throne. Seth took out Horus' eye in the battle. Thoth, the god of wisdom, found the eye and put it together. It is now called the Eye of Horus, or the wedjet eye. The eye is one of the main symbols of Egyptian mythology. Horus became one of the main Egyptian gods.

Isis searched the land for the body parts of Osiris, and was eventually able to piece together his body, whole save for the penis, which had been swallowed by a crocodile (according to Plutarch) or a fish (according to Egyptian texts). In some Egyptian texts, the penis is buried at Memphis. Isis replaced the penis with a reasonable facsimile, and she was often portrayed in the form of a kite being impregnated by the ithyphallic corpse of Osiris. In some Egyptian texts, the scattering of the body parts is likened to the scattering of grain in the fields, a reference to Osiris's role as a vegetation god. 'Osiris gardens' - wood-framed barley seedbeds in the shape of the god, were sometimes placed in tombs - and the plants which sprouted from these beds symbolized the resurrection of life after death.

It was this legend that accounted for Osiris's role as a god of the dead and ruler of the Egyptian underworld. He was associated with funerary rituals, at first only with those of the Egyptian monarch, later with those of the populace in general. The pharaoh was believed to become Osiris after his death. Although he was regarded as a guarantor of continued existence in the afterlife, Osiris also had a darker, demonic aspect associated with the physiological processes of death and decay, and reflecting the fear Egyptians had of death in spite of their belief in an afterlife. Osiris was also a judge of the dead, referred to as the 'lord of Maat' (i.e. of divine law).

Legendary ruler of predynastic Egypt and god of the underworld. Osiris symbolized the creative forces of nature and the imperishability of life. Called the great benefactor of humanity, he brought to the people knowledge of agriculture and civilization. The worship of Osiris, one of the great cults of ancient Egypt, gradually spread throughout the Mediterranean world and, with that of Isis and Horus, was especially vital during the Roman Empire.

Osiris (Ausar)

The god of the dead, and the god of the resurrection into eternal life; ruler, protector, and judge of the deceased, and his prototype (the deceased was in historical times usually referred to as "the Osiris"). His cult originated in Abydos, where his actual tomb was said to be located.

Osiris was the first child of Nut and Geb, thus the brother of Set, Nephthys, and Isis, who was also his wife. By Isis he fathered Horus, and according to some stories, Nephthys assumed the form of Isis, seduced him thus, and from their union was born Anubis.

Osiris ruled the world of men in the beginning, after Ra had abandoned the world to rule the skies, but he was murdered by his brother Set. Through the magic of Isis, he was made to live again. Being the first living thing to die, he subsequently became lord of the dead. His death was avenged by his son Horus, who defeated Set and cast him out into the desert to the West of Egypt (the Sahara).

Prayers and spells were addressed to Osiris throughout Egyptian history, in hopes of securing his blessing and entering the afterlife which he ruled; but his popularity steadily increased through the Middle Kingdom. By Dynasty XVIII he was probably the most widely worshipped god in Egypt. His popularity endured until the latest phases of Egyptian history; reliefs still exist of Roman emperors, conquerors of Egypt, dressed in the traditional garb of the Pharaohs, making offerings to him in the temples.

Osiris, King Of The Underworld

From Lenoir’s La Franche-Maconnerie.

Osiris is often represented with the lower part of his body enclosed in a mummy case or wrapped about with funeral bandages. Man’s spirit consists of three distinct parts, only one of which incarnates in physical form. The human body was considered to be a tomb or sepulchre of this incarnating spirit. Therefore Osiris, a symbol of the incarnating ego, was represented with the lower half of his body mummified to indicate that he was the living spirit of man enclosed within the material form symbolized by the mummy case.

RE

There is a romance between the active principle of God and the passive principle of Nature. From the union of these two principles is produced the rational creation. Man is a composite creature. From his Father (the active principle) he inherits his Divine Spirit, the fire of aspiration—that immortal part of himself which rises triumphant from the broken clay of mortality: that part which remains after the natural organisms have disintegrated or have been regenerated. From his Mother (the passive principle) he inherits his body—that part over which the laws of Nature have control: his humanity, his mortal personality, his appetites, his feelings, and his emotions.

The Egyptians also believed that Osiris was the river Nile and that Isis (his sister-wife) was the contiguous land, which, when inundated by the river, bore fruit and harvest. The murky waters of the Nile were believed to account for the blackness of Osiris, who was generally symbolized as being of ebony hue. MPH

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Thereafter Osiris was worshipped both as a fertility god, who ensured the rebirth of vegetation each spring and as Lord of the underworld, through whom all live again.

Osiris sat at the entrance to the underworld. Only those who could satisfy him of their goodness during life gained admission. thus all made offerings to Osiris in hope of his favour.

Osiris is usually shown as a crowned king, holding a crook and a flail.  He is usually depicted black, the colour of death.

OSIRIS - THE GOD OF DEATH AND REBIRTH

Although the cult of the sun-god was the state cult of Egypt, the most important god in terms of religious practice was Osiris, the god of the living and the dead. For the cult of Osiris applied to everyone, from the king down to the lowest member of society. Osiris was a god of fertility; all the principal Egyptian gods (including the pharoah who was God Incarnate) were creator gods, that is, they gave life to the world. Since Osiris gave life to the living and the dead, the pharoah was generally regarded as the incarnation of Osiris—in fact, the very name of the god, Us-Yri, means "Occupier of the Throne."

Osiris's principle function as the god of the dead was to judge the soul of the deceased. If that soul were found to be pure and sinless, it would be admitted into the realms of bliss; if it were to be found in any way weighted with sin or crime, it was thrown to Amenti, a horrid god with the face of a crocodile, the front of a leopard, and the back of a rhinoceros, who would consume the soul in its frightening jaws. So Osiris was the god that every soul had to answer to after death, accounting for all aspects of the life lived on earth.

Osiris didn't just fall into this role. According to Osiris legends, as an incarnate god in the body of a pharoah, he was married to his sister, Isis. Their brother, Setekh, was also married to another sister, Nephthys. Through a ruse, Setekh murdered Osiris and threw his body, locked in a coffin, into the Nile. When Isis recovered the body, Setekh tore it into many pieces and threw them back into the Nile. Isis reassembled all the pieces and breathed life back into the body; they then had a child, Horus, who would become the god of the sun. Isis herself turned into a hawk; so most tombs in Egypt have an image of a hawk with its wings spread out as a symbol of rebirth.

So Osiris represents many things for the Egyptians. As someone who died and was then reborn, he represents the cycle of death and rebirth which the Egyptians saw as the dominant principle and promise of the universe. As the god of fertility and the Nile, Osiris brought life, in the form of agriculture, to all living humans. Incarnate in the pharoah or king, Osiris created life for the living in the administration of the state. As the lord of the dead, Osiris represented the moral order of the universe, judging each soul by its life and rewarding or punishing that soul with a rigorous justice.

The Ancient wise men of Sumeria and understood how Royal Power came down from the heavens to direct human affairs. The Babylonians spoke of second sun, a Black Sun that beams evolutionary concepts into the mind of man. In the Egyptian mysteries Osiris is a Black God, Lord of the Underworld, Master of Black Light. He is served by the Priest Adept Moses, who is with our goodly company.

LIBRA (The Scales)

SKY PHOTO

LIBRA START CHART

There are other Biblical verses that tie in, in my way of seeing things. In Genesis 8:21, the Lord said in his heart, ". . . for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; . . ." This is why He brought on the flood. Proverbs 21:2 says, "Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the heart."

Revelation 6:5 says, ". . . And I saw, and behold, a black horse, and its rider had a balance in his hand

The scales have been identified as formerly being Chelae, the claws of the Scorpion of Babylonian astrology. Some identify Libra with the Egyptian god Osiris as the scales he uses to weigh the souls of the dead. Another link of this constellation has been made with Julius Caesar who was praised for his clemency and justice. When a comet appeared in July 44 B.C., four months after his murder, it was thought that his spirit was ascending to take its place in the heavens.

Libra is often less explained in mythologic terms, but rather in astronomic. It is thought that the scales represent the equal length of nights and days during the autumnal equinox, which occurs while the sun is in this sign.

Claws and Scales

Libra lies between Scorpius and Virgo. Once long ago the area occupied by Libra was seen as comprising the claws of the scorpion Scorpius. After about the first century B.C.E. this constellation has become associated with the Balance Scales.

The Scales of Justice

The constellation of Libra is sometimes seen as the Scales of Justice. This leads to an association with the constellation of Virgo, who has been identified with Astraea or Dike, the Goddess of Justice. It is the Goddess who judges the souls of men after their death by weighing them in her balance.

HYMN TO OSIRIS AND OTHER GODS

FROM: http://www.greatdreams.com/osiris.htm
 

THOTH HAS HIS OWN PAGE:  SEE:  http://www.spiritweb.us/egypt/thoth.html