The Gods
INTRODUCTORY NOTE
Herein I have placed short summaries
explaining the functions of many of the
more important gods worshipped in Ancient Egypt.
BIBLIOGRAPHIC NOTE
The bulk of this material is to
be found, in a more comprehensive and scholarly
form, in Sir E. A. Wallis Budge's _The Gods of the Egyptians; or, Studies
in
Egyptian Mythology_ (Dover, New Tork, 1969 ed. reprinted paperback from original
London 1904 printing). However, much of it is collected from various other
sources which I have read during the course of my nearly 15 years as an amateur
Egyptologist.
If you want a bibliography, I
will start by recommending all the works of Mr.
Budge; particular titles include _Egyptian Magic_, _Osiris and the Egyptian
Resurrection_, _The Egyptian Book of the Dead_, and _Egyptian Language_.
Those particularly interested
in the language of Ancient Egypt should be aware
also of Budge's _An Egyptian Hieroglyphic Dictionary_. For the most highly
interested students (with sufficient time, interest, and background in
linguistics) I cannot overly recommend Sir Alan Gardiner's _Egyptian Grammar_,
latest reprinting 1988, contact Oxbow Books if interested but be forewarned:
my
copy, the absolute prize of my book collection, cost $80 if I recall correctly.
(I keep my copy right next to Crowley's _Magick in Theory and Practice_ and
Blavatsky's _Isis Unveiled_.)
SPECIAL THANKS
Special thanks is due to Amen, for all things, and to Nephthys, for her love.
-----
Amen (Amon, Amun, Ammon, Amoun)
Amen's name means "The Hidden
One." Amen was the patron deity of the city of
Thebes from earliest times, and was viewed (along with his consort Amenet)
as a
primordial creation-deity. He is represented in five forms: (1) a man,
enthroned; (2) a frog-headed man (as a primordial deity); (3) a cobra-headed
man; (4) an ape; (5) a lion. His sacred animals were the goose and the ram,
though he was not depicted as them.
Up to Dynasty XII Amen was unimportant
except in Thebes; but when the Thebans
had established their sovereignty in Egypt, Amen became a prominent deity,
and
by Dynasty XVIII was termed the King of the Gods. His famous temple, Karnak,
is
the largest religious structure ever built by man. According to E.A.Wallis
Budge's _Gods of the Egyptians_, Amen by Dynasy XIX-XX was thought of as "an
invisible
creative power which was the source of all life in heaven, and on the earth,
and
in the great deep, and in the Underworld, and which made itself manifest under
the form of Ra."
Amen was self-created, according
to later traditions; according to the older
Theban traditions, Amen was created by Thoth as one of the eight primordial
deities of creation (Amen, Amenet, Heq, Heqet, Nun, Naunet, Kau, Kauket).
During the New Kingdom, Amen's
consort was Mut, "Mother," who seems to have been
the Egyptian equivalent of the "Great Mother" archetype. The two
thus formed a
pair reminiscent of the God and Goddess of other traditions such as Wicca.
SEE ALSO Amen-Ra, Mut, Thoth.
-----
Amen-Ra
A composite deity, invented by
the priests of Amen as an attempt to link New
Kingdom (Dyn. XVIII-XXI) worship of Amen with the older solar cult of the
god
Ra.
SEE ALSO Amen, Ra.
-----
Amset (Imsety, Mestha, GD: Ameshet)
One of the Four Sons of Horus,
Amset was represented as a mummified man. He was
the protector of the liver of the deceased, and was protected by the goddess
Isis.
SEE ALSO Four Sons of Horus, Isis.
-----
Anubis (Anpu, GD: Ano-Oobist)
Anubis (the Greek corruption of
the Egyptian "Anpu") was the son of Nephthys: by
some traditions, the father was Set; by others, Osiris. Anubis was depicted
as a
jackal, or as a jackal-headed man; in primitive times he was probably simply
the
jackal god. Owing to the jackal's tendency to prowl around tombs, he became
associated with the dead, and by the Old Kingdom, Anubis was worshipped as
the
inventor of embalming, who had embalmed the dead Osiris, thus helping preserve
him in order to live again. Anubis was also worshipped under the form "Wepuat"
("Opener of the Ways"), sometimes with a rabbit's head, who conducted
the souls
of the dead to their judgment, and who monitored the Scales of Truth to protect
the dead from deception and eternal death.
SEE ALSO Nephthys, Osiris, Set.
-----
Bast (Bastet)
A cat-goddess, worshipped in the
Delta city of Bubastis. A protectress of cats
and those who cared for cats. As a result, an important deity in the home
(since cats were prized pets) and also important in the iconography (since
the
serpents which attack the sun god were usually represented in papyri as being
killed by cats).
She was also worshipped as the
consort of Ptah-seker-ausar; and is joined with
Sekhmet and Ra (a very unusual combination of male and female deities) to
form
Sekhmet-bast-ra, also worshipped as Ptah-seker-ausar's spouse, and viewed
as a
deity of the destructive, purifying power of the sun.
SEE ALSO Ptah, Ra, Sekhmet.
-----
Bes
A deity of either African or Semitic
origin; came to Egypt by Dynasty XII.
Depicted as a bearded, savage-looking yet comical dwarf, shown full-face in
images (highly unusual by Egyptian artistic conventions). Revered as a deity
of
household pleasures such as music, good food, and relaxation. Also a protector
and entertainer of children. However, many texts point to the idea that Bes
was
a terrible, avenging deity, who was as swift to punish the wicked as he was
to
amuse and delight the righteous.
-----
Duamutef (GD: Thmoomathph, Tuamutef)
One of the Four Sons of Horus,
Duamutef was represented as a mummified man with
the head of a jackal. He was the protector of the stomach of the deceased,
and
was protected by the goddess Neith.
SEE ALSO Four Sons of Horus, Neith.
-----
Four Sons of Horus
The four sons of Horus were the
protectors of the parts of the body of Osiris,
and from this, became the protectors of the body of the deceased. They were:
Amset, Hapi, Duamutef, and Qebhsenuef. They were protected in turn by the
goddesses Isis, Nephthys, Neith, and Serket.
SEE ALSO Amset, Duamutef, Hapi,
Isis, Neith, Nephthys, Qebhsenuef, and
Serket.
-----
Geb (Seb)
The god of the earth, son of Shu
and Tefnut, brother and husband of Nuit, and
father of Osiris, Set, Isis, and Nephthys. In the earliest stages of Egyptian
history his name was Geb; in later forms of the language it became Seb, but
the
old pronunciation has become so common in popular works on the subject that
it
is used herein. His sacred animal was the goose, and he was often referred
to
as the "Great Cackler". He is generally represented as a man with
green or
black skin - the color of living things, and the color of the fertile Nile
mud,
respectively. It was said that Seb would hold imprisoned the souls of the
wicked, that they might not ascend to heaven.
-----
Hadit: SEE Hor-behedet.
-----
Hapi (GD: Ahephi)
One of the Four Sons of Horus,
Hapi was represented as a mummified man with the
head of a baboon. He was the protector of the lungs of the deceased, and was
protected by the goddess Nephthys.
The name Hapi, spelled identically
in most but not all cases, is also the name
of the god who was the personification of the River Nile, depicted as a
corpulent man (fat signifying abundance) with a crown of lilies or papyrus
stems.
SEE ALSO Four Sons of Horus, Nephthys.
-----
Hathor (Het-heru, Het-Hert)
A very old goddess of Egypt, worshipped
as a cow-deity from earliest times. The
name "Hathor" is the Greek corruption of the variants Het-Hert ("the
House
Above") and Het-Heru ("the House of Horus"). Both terms refer
to her as a sky
goddess. The priests of Heliopolis often referred to her as Ra's consort,
the
mother of Shu and Tefnut. Like Isis, Hathor was considered by many to be the
goddess "par
excellence" and held the attributes of most of the other goddesses at
one time
or another. Like Isis and Mut, Hathor was a manifestation of the "Great
Mother"
archetype; a sort of cosmic Yin.
She had so very many manifestations
that eventually seven important ones were
selected and widely worshipped as the "Seven Hathors": Hathor of
Thebes,
Heliopolis, Aphroditopolis, Sinai, Momemphis, Herakleopolis, and Keset.
The Greeks identified her with
Aphrodite, and this is not too far off, as she
represented, in the texts, everything true, good, and beautiful in all forms
of
woman; mother, wife, sister, and daughter; also the patron of artists of every
kind, and of joyful things, festivals, and happiness. The star Sirius (called
by the Egyptians Sepdet) was sacred to her.
SEE ALSO Isis, Mut, Ra, Shu, Tefnut.
-----
Heru-ra-ha
A composite deity in Crowley's
quasi-Egyptian mythology; composed of Ra-Hoor-
Khuit and Hoor-par-kraat. Apparently without basis in historical Egyptian
mythology, but the name, translated into Egyptian, means something approximating
"Horus and Ra be Praised!"
SEE ALSO Ra-Hoor-Khuit, Hoor-pa-kraat.
-----
Hor-akhuti (Horakhty)
"Horus of (or in) the Horizons,"
one of the most common titles of Horus,
especially when in his function as a solar deity, emphasizing his reign
stretching from one horizon to the other.
SEE ALSO Horus, Ra, Ra-Hoor-Khuit.
-----
Hor-behedet (HADIT)
A form of Horus worshipped in
the city of Behdet, shown in the well-known form
of a solar disk with a great pair of wings, usually seen hovering above
important scenes in Egyptian religious art. Made popular by Aleister Crowley
under the poorly transliterated name "HADIT", the god appears to
have been a way
of depicting the omnipresence of Ra and Horus. As Crowley says in _Magick
in
Theory and Practice_, "the infinitely small and atomic yet omnipresent
point
is called HADIT." This is a good expression of the god - seen almost
everywhere, yet at the same time small and out-of-the-way.
SEE ALSO Horus.
-----
Hor-pa-kraat (Horus the Child, GD: Hoor-par-kraat)
Horus, the son of Isis and Osiris,
distinguished from Horus the Elder, who was
the old patron deity of Upper Egypt; but the worship of the two gods became
confused early in Egyptian history and the two essentially merged. Represented
as a young boy with a child's sidelock of hair, sucking his finger.
The Golden Dawn attributed Silence
to him, presumably because the sucking of the
finger is suggestive of the common "shhh" gesture.
SEE ALSO Horus.
-----
Horus (Her)
One of the most important deities
of Egypt. Horus as now conceived is a mixture
of the original deities known as "Horus the Child" and "Horus
the Elder". As
the Child, Horus is the son of Osiris and Isis, who, upon reaching adulthood,
becomes known as Her-nedj-tef-ef ("Horus, Avenger of His Father")
by avenging
his father's death, by defeating and casting out his evil uncle Set. He then
became the divine prototype of the Pharaoh.
As Horus the Elder, he was also
the patron deity of Upper (Southern) Egypt from
the earliest times; initially, viewed as the twin brother of Set (the patron
of
Lower Egypt), but he became the conqueror of Set c. 3000 B.C.E. when Upper
Egypt
conquered Lower Egypt and formed the unified kingdom of Egypt.
SEE ALSO Hor-pa-kraat, Horus the Elder, Isis, Osiris, Set.
-----
Horus the Elder (Her-ur, Aroueris)
Horus, the patron god of Upper
Egypt from time immemorial; distinguished from
Horus the Child (Hor-pa-kraat), who was the son of Isis and Osiris; but the
two
gods merged early in Egyptian history and became the one Horus, uniting the
attributes of both.
SEE ALSO Hor-pa-kraat, Horus.
-----
Isis (Auset)
Perhaps the most important goddess
of all Egyptian mythology, Isis assumed,
during the course of Egyptian history, the attributes and functions of virtually
every other important goddess in the land. Her most important functions,
however, were those of motherhood, marital devotion, healing the sick, and
the
working of magical spells and charms. She was believed to be the most powerful
magician in the universe, owing to the fact that she had learned the Secret
Name
of Ra from the god himself. She was the sister and wife of Osiris, sister
of
Set, and twin sister of Nephthys. She was the mother of Horus the Child (Hor-
pa-kraat), and was the protective goddess of Horus's son Amset, protector
of the
liver of the deceased.
Isis was responsible for protecting
Horus from Set during his infancy; for
helping Osiris to return to life; and for assisting her husband to rule in
the
land of the Dead.
Her cult seems to have originally
centered, like her husband's, at Abydos near
the Delta in the North (Lower Egypt); she was adopted into the family of Ra
early in Egyptian history by the priests of Heliopolis, but from the New Kingdom
onwards (c. 1500 BC) her worship no longer had any particular identifiable
center, and she became more or less universally worshipped, as her husband
was.
SEE ALSO Amset, Hor-pa-kraat, Horus, Nephthys, Osiris, Ra, Set.
-----
Khephra (Keper)
The creator-god, according to
early Heliopolitan cosmology; considered a form of
Ra. The Egyptian root "kheper" signifies several things, according
to context,
most notably the verb "to create" or "to transform", and
also the word for
"scarab beetle". The scarab, or dung beetle, was considered symbolic
of the sun
since it rolled a ball
of dung in which it laid its eggs around with it - this was considered symbolic
of the sun god propelling the sphere of the sun through the sky. In later
Heliopolitan belief, which named the sun variously according to the time of
the
day, Khephra was the nighttime form of the sun.
SEE ALSO Ra.
-----
Khonsu (Chons)
The third member (with his parents
Amen and Mut) of the great triad of Thebes.
Khonsu was the god of the moon. The best-known story about him tells of him
playing the ancient game "senet" ("passage") against Thoth,
and wagered a
portion of his light. Thoth won, and because of losing some of his light,
Khonsu cannot show his whole glory for the entire month, but must wax and
wane.
SEE ALSO Amen, Mut, Thoth.
-----
Ma'at (Ma)
The wife of Thoth, Ma'at's name
means "Truth", "Justice", and perhaps even
"Tao". It cannot readily be rendered into English but "truth"
is perhaps a
satisfactory translation. Ma'at was represented as a tall woman with an ostrich
feather in her hair. She was present at the judgment of the dead; her feather
was balanced against the heart of the deceased to determine whether he had
led a
pure and honest life. All civil laws in Egypt were held up to the "Law
of
Ma'at", which essentially was a series of old conceptions and morals
dating to
the earliest times in Egypt. A law contrary to the Law of Ma'at would not
have
been considered valid in Egypt.
SEE ALSO Thoth.
-----
Min (Menu, Amsu)
A form of Amen depicted holding
a flail (thought to represent a thunderbolt in
Egyptian art) and with an erect penis; his full name was often given as Menu-ka-
mut-ef ("Min, Bull of his Mother"). Min was worshipped as the god
of virility;
lettuces were offered as sacrifice to him and then eaten in hopes of procuring
manhood; and he was worshipped as the husband of the goddess Qetesh, goddess
of
love and femininity.
SEE ALSO Amen, Qetesh.
-----
Mut (GD: Auramooth)
The wife of Amen in Theban tradition;
seen as the mother, the loving, receptive,
nurturing force (similar to Yin) behind all things, even as her husband was
the
great energy, the creative force (similar to Yang). The word "mut"
in Ancient
Egyptian means "mother". She was also the mother of Khonsu, the
moon god.
SEE ALSO Amen, Khonsu.
-----
Neith (Net, Neit, GD: Thoum-aesh-neith)
A very ancient goddess worshipped
in the Delta; revered as a goddess of wisdom,
often identified with Ma'at; in later traditions, the sister of Isis, Nephthys,
and Serket, and protectress of Duamutef, the god of the stomach of the deceased.
SEE ALSO Duamutef, Ma'at.
-----
Nephthys (Nebt-het)
The sister and wife of Set, and
sister of Isis and Osiris; also the mother
(variantly by Set or by Osiris) of Anubis. She abandoned Set when he killed
Osiris, and assisted Isis in the care of Horus and the resurrection of Osiris.
She was, along with her sister, considered the special protectress of the
dead,
and she was the guardian of Hapi, the protector of the lungs of the deceased.
SEE ALSO Hapi, Horus, Isis, Osiris, Set.
-----
Nuit (Nut)
The goddess of the sky, daughter
of Shu and Tefnut, sister and wife of Geb,
mother of Osiris, Set, Isis, and Nephthys. Described by Crowley in his _Magick
in Theory and Practice_ thus: "Infinite space is called the goddess NUIT."
Nut
was generally depicted as a woman with blue skin, and her body covered with
stars, standing on all fours, leaning over her husband, representing the sky
arched over the earth. Her relationship to HADIT is an invention of Crowley's
with no basis in Egyptology, save only that Hadit was often depicted underneath
Nuit - one finds Nuit forming the upper frame of a scene, and the winged disk
Hadit floating beneath, silently as always. This is an artistic convention,
and
there was no marriage between the two in ancient Egyptian legend.
SEE ALSO Geb, Hor-behedet (Hadit), Shu.
-----
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 18
he
was probably the most widely worshipped god in Egypt. His popularity endured
until the latest phases of Egyptian history; relief's still exist of Roman
emperors, conquerors of Egypt, dressed in the traditional garb of the Pharaohs,
making offerings to him in the temples.
SEE ALSO Anubis, Geb, Horus, Isis, Nephthys, Ra, Set.
-----
Pharaoh (deified kings)
From earliest times in Egypt the
pharaohs were worshipped as gods: the son of
Ra, the son of Horus, the son of Amen, etc. depending upon what period of
Egyptian history and what part of the country is being considered. It should
be
noted that prayers, sacrifices, etc. to the pharaohs were extremely rare,
if
they occurred at all - there seems to be little or no evidence to support
an
actual cult of the pharaoh.
The pharaoh was looked upon as
being chosen by and favored by the gods his
fathers. The pharaoh was never regarded as the son of any goddesses, but rather
as the son of the Queen his mother, fathered by the god, incarnate as his
earthly father. (A few seeming exceptions to this include a sculpture of
Pharaoh Tutankhamen being embraced by his "parents" Amen and Mut,
but the intent
here seems to be to compare the king with their son Khonsu, rather than to
actually claim that Mut
was his mother.)
SEE ALSO Amen, Khonsu, Mut.
-----
Ptah
Worshipped in Memphis from the
earliest dynastic times (c.3000 BC), Ptah was
seen as the creator of the universe in the Memphite cosmology. He fashioned
the
bodies in which dwelt the souls of men in the afterlife. Other versions of
the
myths state that he worked under Thoth's orders, creating the heavens and
the
earth according to
Thoth's specifications.
Ptah is depicted as a bearded
man wearing a skullcap, shrouded much like a
mummy, with his hands emerging from the wrappings in front and holding the
Uas
(phoenix-headed) scepter, an Ankh, and a Djed (sign of stability). He was
often
worshipped in conjunction with the gods Seker and Osiris, and worshipped under
the name Ptah-seker-ausar.
SEE ALSO Osiris, Seker, Thoth.
-----
Qebhsenuef (Kabexnuf, Qebsneuef)
One of the Four Sons of Horus,
Qebhsenuef was represented as a mummified man
with the head of a falcon. He was the protector of the intestines of the
deceased, and was protected by the goddess Serket.
SEE ALSO Four Sons of Horus, Serket.
-----
Qetesh
Originally believed to be a Syrian
deity, Qetesh was an important form of
Hathor, specifically referred to in the latter's function as goddess of love
and
beauty. Qetesh was depicted as a beautiful nude woman, standing or riding
upon
a lion, holding flowers, a mirror, or serpents. She is generally shown full-
face (unusual in Egyptian
artistic convention). She was also considered the consort of the god Min,
the
god of virility.
SEE ALSO Hathor, Min.
-----
Ra
Ra was the god of the sun during
dynastic Egypt; the name is thought to have
meant "creative power", and as a proper name "Creator",
similar to English
Christian usage of the term "Creator" to signify the "almighty
God." Very early
in Egyptian history Ra was identified with Horus, who as a hawk or falon-god
represented the loftiness of the skies. Ra is represented either as a hawk-
headed man or as a hawk.
Owing to the fact that the sun
was a fire, the Egyptians realized that in order
to travel through the waters of Heaven and the Underworld, it required a boat,
and so Ra was depicted as traveling in a boat. During the day the boat was
a
great galley called Madjet ("becoming strong") and during the night,
a small
barge called Semektet ("becoming weak").
During dynastic Egypt Ra's cult
center was Annu (Hebrew "On", Greek
"Heliopolis", modern-day "Cairo"). In Dynasty V, the first
king, Userkaf, was
also Ra's high priest, and he added the term "Sa-Ra (Son of Ra)"
to the titulary
of the pharaohs.
Ra was father of Shu and Tefnut,
grandfather of Nut and Geb, great-grandfather
of Osiris, Set, Isis, and Nephthys, and great-great-grandfather to Horus.
In
later periods (about Dynasty 18 on) Osiris and Isis superseded him in
popularity, but he remained "Ra netjer-aa neb-pet" ("Ra, the
great God, Lord of
Heaven") whether worshipped in his own right or, in later times, as half
of the
Lord of the Universe, Amen-Ra.
SEE ALSO Amen, Amen-Ra, Geb, Horus,
Isis, Nephthys, Nut, Osiris, Set,
Shu, Tefnut.
-----
Ra-Hoor-Khuit
"Ra, who is Horus of the
Horizons." An appellation of Ra, identifying him with
Horus, showing the two as manifestations of the singular Solar Force. The
spelling "Ra-Hoor-Khuit" was popularized by Aleister Crowley, first
in the Book
of the Law (Liber AL vel Legis).
SEE ALSO Hor-akhuti, Horus, Ra.
-----
Seb: SEE Geb.
-----
Sebek
The crocodile-god, worshipped
at the city of Arsinoe, called Crocodilopolis by
the Greeks. Sebek was worshipped to appease him and his animals. According
to
some evidence, Sebek was considered a fourfold deity who represented the four
elemental gods (Ra of fire, Shu of air, Geb of earth, and Osiris of water).
In
the Book of the Dead, Sebek assists in the birth of Horus; he fetches Isis
and
Nephthys to protect the deceased; and he aids in the destruction of Set.
-----
Seker
A god of light, protector of the
spirits of the dead passing through the
Underworld en route to the afterlife. Seker was worshipped in Memphis as a
form
of Ptah or as part of the compound deities Ptah-seker or Ptah-seker-ausar.
Seker was usually depicted as having the head of a hawk, and shrouded as a
mummy, similar to Ptah.
SEE ALSO Ptah.
-----
Sekhmet
A lioness-goddess, worshipped
in Memphis as the wife of Ptah; created by Ra from
the fire of his eyes as a creature of vengeance to punish mankind for his
sins;
later, became a peaceful protectress of the righteous. She was worshipped
with
Bast and Ra as a compound deity, Sekhmet-bast-ra, and was considered the consort
of Ptah-seker-ausar.
SEE ALSO Bast, Ptah, Ra, Seker.
-----
Serket (Serqet, Selket)
A scorpion-goddess, shown as a
beautiful woman with a scorpion poised on her
head; her creature struck death to the wicked, but she was also prayed to
save
the lives of innocent people stung by scorpions; she was also viewed as a
helper
of women in childbirth. She is also depicted as binding up demons that would
otherwise threaten Ra, and she sent seven of her scorpions to protect Isis
from
Set.
She was the protectress of Qebhsenuef,
the son of Horus who guarded the
intestines of the deceased. She was made famous by her statue from
Tutankhamen's tomb, which was part of the collection which toured America
in the
1970's.
SEE ALSO Isis, Qebhsenuef, Ra, Set.
-----
Set
Originally, in earliest times,
Set was the patron deity of Lower (North) Egypt,
and represented the fierce storms of the desert whom the Lower Egyptians sought
to appease. However, when Upper Egypt conquered Lower Egypt and ushered in
the
First Dynasty, Set became known as the evil enemy of Horus (Upper Egypt's
dynastic god).
Set was the brother of Osiris,
Isis, and Nephthys, and husband of the latter;
according to some versions of the myths he is also father of Anubis.
Set is best known for murdering
his brother and attempting to kill his nephew
Horus; Horus, however, managed to survive and grew up to avenge his father's
death by establishing his rule over all Egypt and casting Set out into the
lonely desert for all time.
In the 19th Dynasty there began
a resurgence of respect for Set, and he was seen
as a great god once more, the god who benevolently restrained the forces of
the
desert; but this was short-lived and by around Dynasty 20 or 21 Set became
once
more dreaded as the god of evil.
SEE ALSO Anubis, Horus, Isis, Osiris, Nephthys.
-----
Shu
The god of the atmosphere and
of dry winds, son of Ra, brother and husband of
Tefnut, father of Geb and Nuit. Represented in hieroglyphs by an ostrich
feather (similar to Ma'at's), which symbol he is usually shown wearing on
his
head. He is generally shown standing on the recumbent Geb, holding aloft his
daughter Nuit, separating the two. It was said that if he ever ceased to
interpose himself between earth and sky, life would cease to be on our world
- a
very accurate assessment, it would seem. The name "Shu" appears
to be related
to the root "shu" meaning "dry, empty." Shu also seems
to be a personification
of the sun's light. Shu and Tefnut were also said to be but two halves of
one
soul, perhaps the earliest recorded example of "soulmates."
SEE ALSO Geb, Nuit, Ra, Tefnut.
-----
Tefnut
The goddess of moisture and clouds,
daughter of Ra, sister and wife of Shu,
mother of Geb and Nuit. Depicted as a woman with the head of a lioness, which
was her sacred animal. The name "Tefnut" probably derives from the
root
"teftef", signifying "to spit, to moisten" and the root
"nu" meaning "waters,
sky."
SEE ALSO Geb, Nuit, Ra, Shu.
-----
Thoth (Tahuti)
The god of wisdom (Thoth is the
Greek corruption of the original Egyptian
Tahuti), Thoth was said to be self-created at the beginning of time, along
with
his consort Ma'at (truth). The two produced eight children, of which the most
important was Amen, the hidden one, who was worshipped in Thebes as the Lord
of
the Universe.
Thoth was depicted as a man with
the head of an ibis bird, and carried a pen and
scrolls upon which he recorded all things. He was shown as attendant in almost
all major scenes involving the gods, but especially at the judgment of the
deceased.
It was widely believed that Thoth
invented the magical and hermetic arts, and
thus the Tarot deck, especially its revision by Aleister Crowley, is often
referred to as the "Book of Thoth".
SEE ALSO Amen, Ma'at.
***************************************************************
Part II - Frequently asked Questions (per se)
-----
* In Liber AL, there are some Egyptian names that look funny. What's the deal?
Crowley, it seems, tried as much
as possible to use the original Egyptian
pronunciations of divine names, rather than use their popular Greek corruptions.
Some of these (e.g. Hadit) have since been revised in the light of better
knowledge of Egyptian, but his attempt was in general a good one.
* Was there any Egyptian gematria?
Put simply, no. If there was a
standard order used by the Egyptians for their
alphabet, it has been lost. And unlike Hebrew, but like English, the symbols
used to express numbers in Ancient Egyptian were not used for letters.
However, since the phonetics of
Egyptian closely parallel Hebrew, it is possible
to transliterate Egyptian names and phrases into the Hebrew alphabet for
gematric computations much more readily than English.
* What's the deal with all these
'hyphenated' gods like Amen-Ra, Ra-Hoor-Khuit,
Ptah-Seker-Ausar, etc.?
Most hyphenated gods' names are explained thusly:
In ancient Egypt, different cities
often had completely different conceptions of
cosmology. As the influence of a city grew, so often did the influence of
its
mythos. It became necessary to reconcile different gods who served similar
roles, and so the priests took the enlightened viewpoint that the "gods"
were
merely one entity
manifesting under different names and/or forms. The one entity was referred
to
by a compound name, such as Amen-Ra or Ptah-Seker-Ausar.
However, some hyphenated gods'
names are merely hyphenated to make them easier
to read, for example, Her-nedj-tef-f, from the Egyptian words Her "Horus",
nedj
"avenger", tef "father", and -f "his", thus
"Horus, the avenger of his father."
In the case of Ra-Hoor-Khuit,
we have both explanations in force: Ra "Ra", Hoor
"Horus", khuit "of the horizons", thus "Ra, who is
like Horus of the Horizons".