the contendings of Horus and Set

The following is the ancient Egyptian tale of the eighty-year war between the gods Horus and Set and my personal interpretation of the myth. My on-going study of the myths of the Bible influence my perception of this tale to a large degree with the understanding that this story would precede the myths of the Bible. 

This is a tale from the Chester Beatty Papyrus No. 1 dated to the time of the 20th dynasty under the Pharaoh Rameses V, though the story is probably from earlier in New Kingdom ancient Egypt. It is a story of the fight between Horus, the son of Osiris, and Set, the brother of Osiris, over the office of the white crown of Osiris following the murder of Osiris at the hands of this Set.

The Hedjet - white crown of Upper Egypt

The story recounts their continuous battles and the attempts by the gods of Egypt to put an end to their fighting and adjudicate between the two. It casts the gods' deliberations in the context of what you would expect from mortal men's deliberations in that there are calls to adhere to tradition, sulking, trickery, and appeals to elders who may have some authority to sway the proceedings one way or the other. It is up to the cunning Isis to trick Set into incriminating himself that puts what seems to be an end to the proceedings only to see the infighting continue. Eventually, the candidacy of Horus cannot be denied as he proves himself worthy of the crown.

A few things to keep in mind about the story is first of all it is a fight over the white crown which Osiris wears. Osiris presumably had to give up this crown or a better explanation would be the power inherent in the headdress because he was no longer present in the land of Upper Egypt to effectively rule over it. After his murder, he was inert in the "land of the dead" and now ruled that realm. The luminous white crown he wears, the Hedjet, was the crown of Upper Egypt. Upper Egypt could refer to the southern half of the kingdom which was divided at the royal city of Mennefer, known to the Greeks as Memphis. As an aside, I wonder why the Egyptians did not correct the Greeks in their terrible translation of this name into Greek? Perhaps the contempt they felt for them caused them to let the Greeks continue in their ignorance? In any event, I think it is important to consider a different explanation for the location of Upper Egypt in this case. Because the ancient Egyptians believed their land to be a personification of the heavens, it is possible this designation is referring to the night sky. Osiris as Orion would wear the crown while ruling over the southern half of the night sky. Upon Osiris' death, which is Orion's disappearance and descent into matter, the fight for his crown would commence once Isis had magically revived Osiris in the "netherworld" in order to be impregnated by his seed and give birth to his son Horus. In the meantime, the crown would be vacant from the time of Osiris' murder until the birth of Horus. During this time the combatants would try to back up a claim to the throne. Consequently, if Set hadn't already been locked up for murder, he would have a pretty strong claim on the crown. While in the "netherworld" Osiris' crown was the Atef, a Hedjet crown surmounted by two ostrich feathers; the ostrich feathers seemingly denoting being entombed in matter.

Osiris wearing the Atef crown

The court proceeding takes place before the great Ennead of Iunu (Heliopolis of the Greeks) with the great Universal Lord Re presiding over the deliberations. The epithet "Universal" I understand as being manifest creation. The Ennead wants to award the crown to Horus however Re is not consulted about this preference and gets testy about the whole affair, wondering how the Ennead can award the crown without his input? Apparently, the Ennead used the rationale that since Thoth could present the uninjured eye, the Wadjet or Eye of Horus, to the Universal Lord Re, he speaks for the Ennead and has the authority to make this decision. This sacred eye is one of the disks that encapsulates the light and is encircled by the serpent goddess Wadjet, who is an aspect of the great mother goddess Hathor. Thoth, the wisdom of the light giving moon in the dark night, is the power that heals this eye in the darkness of existence. The cycle of the moon where it waxes and wanes, injured by the black pig Set, and then healed is to what this refers.

Wadjet Eye / Eye of Horus

Set wishes to prove his physical dominance over Horus and thus establish his claim on the crown while the Ennead appeals to tradition where the son should inherit the position of his father. As a solution, Atum suggests that the "great living god" Banebdjedet be summoned to judge between the two. Banebdjedet is the primordial ram headed god of Mendes who is frequently depicted with four heads - Re, Shu, Osiris, and Geb. He is lord of the Ba, in essence the god responsible for the creation of your immortal soul. The four heads are suggesting the idea that he is the world Ba of the four gods that make material life possible. Banebdjedet arrives at the gathering with the god Ptah-Tatenen. It seems surprising that Banebdjedet does not immediately side with Horus, as Horus is the re-born Ba soul of Osiris via Isis. Maybe it is the presence of his sidekick Tatenen that convinces him this matter should be escalated to another authority? Tatenen seems to be an aspect or complement to the more spiritual Ba realm of Banebdjedet. The four heads of Banebdjedet could be an allusion to Tatenen, an expression of Ptah, who instead of being latent mummified creation like Ptah, has come forth as creation. In fact, it is Khnum, the potter of the Ka life force, who is the father of Tatenen and who created Tatenen when the earth came into being. Tatenen would be the great Universal Ka which is sustained by the Universal Lord Re. A role of Tatenen, much like Set, involved keeping the serpent Apophis away from the primeval mound of the earth. Set's incredible strength thus far has enabled the created world, of which Re is Lord, to also fend of the advances of the serpent Apophis who threatens to annihilate this creation. Without the services of Set, Re fears creation will not last and it seems likely that Tatenen feels the same way, though not explicitly demonstrated. Without creation, the Ba cannot incarnate and become a glorious Akh; therefore, these Ka powers are of the utmost importance. Instead, Banebdjedet asks Thoth to send a letter off to the primordial mother goddess Neith, the mother of the great light which rises from the Nun, "in the name of the Universal Lord, the Bull who resides in Iunu". Re is recognized as the manifest sustainer of the universal Ka provider, the Bull, who gives and provides for all of creation.

Banebdjedet receiving an offering from Prince Mentuherkhepshef

By Kairoinfo4u photographer: Manna (http://www.flickr.com/photos/manna4u/3331554556/) [CC-BY-SA-2.0

(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Tatenen

Thoth's letter on behalf of Re gives quite a list of epithets of Re with the description of Re being the manifestation of the Universal Lord giving us the relationship between Re and Atum. Atum being totality, becomes Re when he has come forth in creation. Neith responds by saying the only outcome has to be Horus gets awarded the crown of his father. So that Set does not go away empty handed, he should be given two daughters of Re - Anat and Astarte. These two are aspects of the mother goddess and will allow Set to continue to populate the world with his beastly offspring.

Set seems to be an aspect of Re in that they are both related to the power of the Ka and the life force. Re is the creator of the material world and supplies the necessary sustenance to feed his creation as well as animating this world with his gift of Ka power. It is Re who fights for the right of Set to assume the kingship of the united Egypt after the death of the kingly Osiris; this unity being a metaphor for the fight and unification that goes on within every human between the beast and the spirit in you. It is projected onto the Egyptian kingdom and their myths. Some historians and archaeologists look for traces of a prolonged battle or create narratives of a historical battle between the followers of the Horus religion and the followers of the Sethian religion rather in vain due to the failure of our generation and many generations before us to take myth as hidden spiritual truths. Along the same lines, the Bible becomes a joke to most rational minded people due to this misunderstanding. Anyway, when it appears that Set will not be granted the right to rule as Neith feels the only possible true outcome is to award Horus the crown, then Re gets all pissy, has a snit, and lies down and mopes about until Hathor comes along and flashes him her genitals. This jovial gesture by the Goddess seems to reinvigorate Re to once again continue on his way and provide life. Re prefers Set over Horus because Set is the personification of this raw Ka power on earth in that he is full of strength and untamed. Because of this untamed instinct, Set is the beast that kills off the Ba soul that incarnates into the world as Osiris.

Set

I wonder if that is connected to the role of the beast Satan in the Christian religion? Satan tempts us in to following our carnal and selfish instincts, having no regard for our spiritual side with the difference being this beast seems to be in charge here on earth until Jesus returns to give him the boot. It is where I tend to get confused on the issue. I was under the impression that Satan ruled the place where the bad people go, Hell, and not the earthly realm. But by inference it always seems that it is Satan here in this realm who is responsible for all the calamity in the world. So, it is really not fair then, right? If Satan is here tempting us then it isn't a fair fight and we are all going to lose. Wouldn't it be a more fair fight if Satan was just relegated to Hell and we get assigned to Hell only if we are naughty on earth due to our own evilness that is not helped along by some force that you can't resist anyway? Well, sorry to confuse. The situation would be much clearer if we did realize that these two opposites are encapsulated within the totality we call I/me/myself. In my version of Christianity, this Jesus within us descends from the heavens and has a battle with this Satan in our own personal Hell. If Jesus wins then we are born again, get off the wheel of incarnation, and listen to harp music for the rest of eternity. If the devil gets the upper hand then upon material death we go back to incarnate in this earth hell for another round, hopefully using the innate knowledge now within us to be more successful this time around.

So, it is because of this that I think Satan should be properly thought of as a creation of who the Christians call Yahweh or the Lord. In the Old Testament, it is Yahweh who creates the red or ruddy man. The name of the first man, Adam, comes from the Hebrew adam, meaning ruddy. Then we have the birth of Cain, a man that Eve said she got from the Lord Yahweh. Cain is a beast who kills the nice guy Abel. Esau, the older twin of Jacob is often connected to the red beast and even called Edom, the Hebrew word for red, in Genesis 25:30. It is this entity that we constantly fight with and causes our suffering. I challenge you to re-read the Book of Genesis with this motif in mind and let the Bible come alive for you as a guide to your inner life. It is our desires that are constantly at war with our enlightened self. These desires do win out in the beginning because they are stronger; to a degree they are impossible to control, especially in our early life. As we get older and these desires do start to wane, our spiritual self can experience an awakening of sorts and finally achieve some kind of balance; maybe even get an upper hand on this relentless beast.

So, back to our story after a little theological break. Upon hearing Neith's decision, Re becomes furious and claims Horus is too young to hold this office with his insult, "the flavour of whose mouth is bad" which is an allusion to Horus still being an infant suckling at the breast of Isis. It is an ancient way of saying, "You Suck!" This in turn infuriated the entire Ennead, with the monkey god Bebon telling Re, "your shrine is vacant" which in essence is saying time has passed you by, you are out of touch, and we don't need to listen to you anymore. I think everyone feels that about their parents at some point when they are coming of age. At this insult Re takes considerable offense and lays down on his back sulking. In damage control the Ennead tells Bebon to get lost because of this grave injustice he has done to Re. If Re doesn't do his duty and animate creation then life will cease to exist. Presumably, the earth was in darkness due to the light of Re not shining; so, it was up to Hathor to flash Re her vagina in order to enliven him and once again get him moving. This act seems like a jovial gesture to to try to lighten the mood and get everyone civil again. I think it deserves a closer look. Hathor, in this instance is the dawn of the morning that precedes the coming forth of Re from his nightly trip through the Duat. Hathor flashing Re her vagina is showing him the path to rebirth into the akhet, the ancient Egyptian term for the place of cyclical rebirth, thus opening the way for Re to be reinvigorated and continue his cyclical journey. From this act, Re remembers his purpose as the Universal Lord and is enlivened to continue on his daily course.

Cooler heads prevail and the two warring parties are given a chance to state their case before the council. Set once again appeals to his strength in helping Re continue on his daily travels without interruption while Horus appeals to the tradition of the crown being passed down from father to son, as in Re passing it to Shu to Geb to Osiris and now to Horus. It is now Isis' turn to get angry but she is calmed by the Ennead who say that what is right will be done. This in turn enrages Set, who claims in retaliation he will everyday kill one of the members of the Ennead and refuses to remain in deliberations while Isis is around. The way the gods act is very immature with their histrionics and fits of rage. However, as the Ennead of Iunu are representing forces of nature, in a way it is to be expected as nature at times tends to rage and is unpredictable, especially when we get lulled into expecting everything to continue as it has in a nice cyclical and orderly pattern.

The Ennead ferry across to an island to reconvene with the ferryman given explicit instructions to not bring Isis across. Isis, of course, tricks him, gets across, and turns herself into a beautiful maiden which attracts the advances of Set. Isis concocts this story where her husband had died and her son took over tending to the cattle on the land. A stranger eventually came and lodged with them in exchange for helping out. His plans were nefarious as he eventually tells the son he will beat him and confiscate the cattle. Reacting to this tale, Set said that the man should be evicted and the son put in his father's position, thus incriminating himself. After Re learns of this trickery and Set's subsequent confession, Set takes out his rage on Nemty the ferryman who has the fore part of his feet removed as punishment. This also is a nautical term describing the part of a ship where the prow joins the keel, which is very apt in the case of the ferryman.

As a result, Pre-Harakhti (another name of Re and Atum) Lord of the Two Lands and "the Heliopolitan", write a letter to the Ennead awarding Horus the White Crown at which Set once again becomes enraged. Set wants the crown removed from Horus' head and Horus thrown in the water, upon which they will both transform into Hippopotami and submerge. Whoever comes out of the water prior to the end of the three months will be the loser of the contest. Re agrees to this contest, even after all that has happened, apparently still wanting to see Set take over the crown of Osiris. Isis figures her son Horus is a goner and magically fashions a harpoon and casts it into the water at Set but instead hits Horus. She then tosses it and hits Set, who appeals to their relationship as brother and sister in order for Isis to release him. She does and Horus now flies into a rage, takes his axe and cuts off Isis' head with it. He takes the head in his arms and climbs the western mountain. Isis transforms into a headless statue of flint and upon seeing this, Re gathers the rest of the Ennead to go find Horus in order to punish him.

This strange turn of events seems to come out of nowhere. Horus is supposed to be the good guy yet here he is cutting off the head of his mother. I'm tempted to chalk this up to the coming of age of Horus and the need to separate himself from the maternal mother figure. There comes a point in life when it is necessary to leave home and strike out on your own however it is usually done in a more civil manner. In a way, it is represented as the youth still being immature and unable to quite yet handle his growing strength. As well, there is some allusion here to the cycles of the sun and moon and their relationship to the increasing power of light after they come out of the waters of incarnation. The sun at the winter solstice will stand still for three days before reversing course and starting to grow in strength in its journey to its zenith at the summer solstice. The moon will disappear for three days into the water before emerging as a new moon on its way to becoming a full moon. The three months in the water as Hippopotami is possibly symbolizing this aspect of the two great celestial orbs. The heading up a mountain after coming out of the waters of creation is the behaviour of the earth's sun and moon after rebirth. Now as to Horus cutting off the head of Isis and carrying it up the mountain, there are some echoes to Greek mythology here in this story. This ancient Egyptian story predates those myths and has a more favourable outcome for the one who loses her head in the story. The Greek myth of Perseus is what I am referring to. Perseus is a son of the great ruler Zeus and is tasked with bringing back the head of the Gorgon Medusa, who when you look at this wild snake-haired maiden she turns you to stone. Perseus, with the help of Hermes and Athena, is able to approach Medusa and cut of her head with his sword. He assumes the position of Horus the Striker as the hero in the northern night sky as this picture of his constellation is showing:

Perseus with the head of Medusa

The similarities of the two stories are the cutting off of the head with the sword, the tucking it under the left arm, and then there is Isis afterwards turning into a stone statue as opposed to turning all that look at her into stone. As well, it is Hermes and Athena who help Perseus on this quest. Hermes is the Greek iteration of Thoth, and Athena is the Egyptian Neith and as we have seen, Thoth as the personification of earthly wisdom and Neith, as a supporter of Horus' claim to the crown, play supporting roles in this tale. Obviously, the story changed when it became the young hero Perseus' myth however it is nonetheless interesting to see some of its connections to the myths of ancient Egypt.

So back to the story, Horus climbs the mountain with the head of Isis; climbing the mountain being an allusion to the celestial orbs rising in the sky, and rests under a tree. Set finds him first and gouges both of his eyes out and buries them in the mountain. The two eyes grew into lotuses which is apt since the lotus gives birth in the morning to the great child of light. Set then runs into Re and tells him the lie that he had not seen Horus. Hathor finds Horus and she heals his eyes with milk of the gazelle; the gazelle sometimes being a symbol for Set. In this aspect, Set gets the epithet "robber of the eye". Since milk has healing properties, Hathor uses a little reverse medicinal psychology! The Ennead once again summoned the two and told them to make peace. Set invites Horus over to make amends and at night while they lay down to sleep, Set tries to penetrate Horus sexually, presumably to demonstrate that he is not a real man. Horus took Set's semen in his hands and told Isis what happened. Isis freaked out and cut off his hand and then proceeded to masturbate Horus into a pot which they then poured onto the lettuce that Set normally eats in order that it is Set who will receive Horus' seed. The two then went back before the Ennead and Set boasted that he had sodomized Horus to which the Ennead spewed and spat at Horus' face, as even back then homophobia was just as prevalent. Horus calls Set a liar and gets Thoth to summon the semen of each participant to see who is telling the truth. Set's semen answered from the marsh that Isis threw it in after cutting off Horus' hand while Horus' semen answered from within the pregnant Set. Being divine seed, the pregnancy appeared on the top of Set's head as a golden solar disk. Thoth grabbed the disk and placed it on his own head. This actually has great esoteric significance. It is signifying that when the reawakened young soul represented as Horus struggles to mature and assume his destiny, all the while fighting his nemesis Set, who is representing desire and temptation, the successful result of this is wisdom. Wisdom will be born out of the simple beast who you have subdued.

Though you might think this would settle the question once and for all, Set is able to convince everyone that there should be one last battle, this one being a race of stone ships. Set feeling he is the stronger of the two, wishes to demonstrate this strength and be awarded the crown. However, Horus is now cunning enough to treat a stone ship as a ship that hauls stone and builds his ship with pine plastered with gypsum. Come race day, Set's boat immediately sinks and out of frustration he immediately scuttles Horus' boat. This infuriates Horus who is about to harpoon Set when he is told to stop.

Horus harpoons Set from the Temple of Horus at Edfu

At this point, Horus has finally had enough and sails downstream to Sais to petition Neith to put an end to this fighting which has gone on for eighty-years and make the case that he has been vindicated every time. The designation of eighty-years is a bit of a mystery. If this myth is indeed a story of the inner struggle within you, I would have to believe this refers to the eighth stage of light's journey into and out of matter. The eight symbolism would be rebirth as Horus from the goddess Isis which would have followed the seven, which is the resting in matter as symbolized by Horus' father Osiris. The rebirth of your enlightened self is only a beginning of sorts and it is still an uphill climb up the mountain to subdue this beast and ultimately reconcile the two halves of yourself. This would lead to the ninth stage of the journey at material judgment represented by the scales where your heart is weighed against a feather. Being able to balance your two warring selves, Horus and Set, is the way to pass this judgment. There is not an expectation of a sinless, completely virtuous life but rather a recognition that the journey into matter will cause strife. As was shown in the scene with Thoth taking the golden disk from the head of Set, the constant battles which you are faced with enables you to grow stronger and acquire great wisdom which you then use to end this fighting for good with the knowledge that you are now complete and fully vindicated.

Horus, Set, and the ruling Pharaoh in balance

The Ennead now has Thoth draft a letter to Osiris asking him for a final judgment, which is fitting because Osiris sits on the throne in the judgment hall awaiting the vindicated as Horus following the weighing of the heart in which Thoth is there recording the judgment in the book of life. Osiris is fully addressed with all the names of kingship, showing deep reverence for him. Osiris answers immediately saying his son Horus should not be cheated and that all the gods should be grateful for Osiris' sacrifices because without him there would be no rebirth or sustenance. Re takes umbrage to this statement and immediately retorts that without Osiris there still would be grain. This seems to be a question of who is responsible for sustenance on the earth. Is it Osiris, the fertile bull who gives up his own existence so that grain can rise from the earth in its due time cyclically every year or is the light of Re that causes the grain to rise, in essence suggesting that without him it does not come forth? Osiris responds that what Re does is indeed important however he has allowed injustice to get the upper hand and that himself, Osiris, lives in a dark word where injustice abounds and they don't fear the gods; so, it is up to the gods to administer justice whenever they can. Osiris concludes by saying there is none greater than himself as he has made the ultimate sacrifice so others can live. He is being true of speech and not boasting.

Following this, they reconvened on the Island in the Middle whereby Horus is vindicated and Set brought in chains before the court. Set finally acquiesces to the decision and Horus is awarded the White Crown. His kingdom truly has come. The mature light of Horus is finally ready to assume the kingship of Egypt and now illuminates the world, giving hope to all. Re gives Set a place in his entourage as a son who will continue to use his strength to fight off the advances of the destroyer of creation, Apophis.

Set on Re's solar boat, fighting off Apophis

Thus concludes the story.

To read the story in full go to this link:

http://www.reshafim.org.il/ad/egypt/texts/horus_and_seth.htm

slow burn

middle age restoration

interrupting nothingness.

verdant realization,

a stair-stepped ramble.

harvest moons,

incandescent understanding.

discovering a rune

to my future self.

heart of stone,

in a house of light.

Jesus had his Mary's,

i have the same.

cluttered landscape,

monuments to desire.

raging goddess

excites nature's cauldron.

lioness invite,

unfolding celestial dance.

material disappearance,

consigned to oblivion.

crystal spheres

conduct the piper.

playing a tune

for the quiescent one.

nighttime hoarfrost,

returning light!

maxim harvest

of universal expression.

who is this lady?

And as we wind on down the road,

Our shadows taller than our soul.

There walks a lady we all know,

Who shines white light and wants to show,

How everything still turns to gold.

And if you listen very hard,

The tune will come to you at last.

When all is one and one is all.

To be a rock and not to roll.

Led Zeppelin concludes their magical song, Stairway to Heaven, with this verse. There is a reference to this lady we all know. Patriarchal western religions for centuries have tried to eliminate this lady but she won't go away. Reasons for this include that try as they might to exclude a feminine presence from the godhead, such as the Christian trinity of father, son, and holy spirit or in Judaism the idea of a male figure running the show by himself, it defies the natural order of things to exclude the presence of the divine female and the wondrous power of birth that she contains. To move through and into different states of being through birth and death, thinking of death as rebirth, requires the assistance of this lady. It is documented that in altered states of consciousness a commonality of this phenomenon is this beautiful lady.

There is the recent story of Dr. Eben Alexander, a neurosurgeon who contracted a rare form of bacterial meningitis that shut down his cerebral cortex. Now I'm not interested in debating whether consciousness exists outside of the brain in this post but I do want to reference the article for a vision that he describes:

It gets stranger still. For most of my journey, someone else was with me. A woman. She was young, and I remember what she looked like in complete detail. She had high cheekbones and deep-blue eyes. Golden brown tresses framed her lovely face. When first I saw her, we were riding along together on an intricately patterned surface, which after a moment I recognized as the wing of a butterfly. In fact, millions of butterflies were all around us—vast fluttering waves of them, dipping down into the woods and coming back up around us again. It was a river of life and color, moving through the air. The woman’s outfit was simple, like a peasant’s, but its colors—powder blue, indigo, and pastel orange-peach—had the same overwhelming, super-vivid aliveness that everything else had. She looked at me with a look that, if you saw it for five seconds, would make your whole life up to that point worth living, no matter what had happened in it so far. It was not a romantic look. It was not a look of friendship. It was a look that was somehow beyond all these, beyond all the different compartments of love we have down here on earth. It was something higher, holding all those other kinds of love within itself while at the same time being much bigger than all of them.

Without using any words, she spoke to me. The message went through me like a wind, and I instantly understood that it was true. I knew so in the same way that I knew that the world around us was real—was not some fantasy, passing and insubstantial.

The message had three parts, and if I had to translate them into earthly language, I’d say they ran something like this:

“You are loved and cherished, dearly, forever.”

“You have nothing to fear.”

“There is nothing you can do wrong.”

The message flooded me with a vast and crazy sensation of relief. It was like being handed the rules to a game I’d been playing all my life without ever fully understanding it.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/10/07/proof-of-heaven-a-doctor-s-experience-with-the-afterlife.html

From an article about the psychotropic brew Ayahuasca used by shamans in the Peruvian Amazon jungle written by Kim Kristensen, this story is related:

During one of my ayahuasca experiences, I "saw" a voluptuous, nude Indian female. I mentioned the vision to the other participants on the day after the ceremony, and they were able to describe the woman before I finished! Apparently, we all saw the same woman, who the shamans later told us was the female spirit known as ayahuasca.

http://www.maps.org/research/kristensen.html

There is the Green Fairy of Absinthe/Wormwood lore. Wormwood has psychotropic qualities due to the presence of an ingredient called thujone. Wormwood was known in the ancient world with it being used in ancient Egyptian medicine as well as an additive to the beer and wine they drank. The role of the Mistress of Intoxication, Hathor, starts to come a little bit clearer now.

The Green Fairy

The lady of gold in ancient Egypt, Hathor, is the lady we all know. One epithet of the goddess was the Mistress of Intoxication with, as it appears, the help of some psychotropic additives such as wormwood, mandrake, dried blue lotus, and even cannabis to help this along. She is the lady of turquoise and in statues of her she is depicted with the bright blue eyes and golden brown tresses of Dr. Alexander's vision:

The bronze mask of Hathor from the Saint Louis Art Museum depicts the goddess's face in a manner similar to that on the faience sistrum. Here the Hathoric wig, with the ends of the hair wound in tight curls, is held in place by bindings radiating outward from the face. The bovine ears and broad collar are indicated in the usual manner. The eyebrows and the corneas of the eyes are blue glass inlays. The central inlays that formed the iris and pupil were probably also made of glass but have been lost.

Mistress of the House, Mistress of Heaven: Women in Ancient Egypt, Anne K. Capel, Glenn E. Markoe, page 124

Bronze mask of Hathor

In cultures near and far the mother goddess has many different names and manifestations and it is something that however hard we try we will never get rid of. You can suppress and deny it but eventually it will present itself again. Just ask Yahweh about his Asherah.

Clay figurine of Yahweh's Asherah

The ceremonies held in honour of the great lady and her son Ihy were shamanistic in nature. At her temple in Denderah, intoxication was required in order for the participants to come in contact with her. At the jubilee celebration of the kingship of Amenhotep III we get this description of the ceremony from Kheruef, a courtier of Amenhotep's Queen:

Much later in his life Amunhotep celebrated a jubilee marking the thirtieth year of his reign.  It also seems to have been the occasion for his official, public declaration of his transformation into a deity, the sun disk itself.  He is shown in the sun bark with Hathor, and his artists rendered him far more youthfully during his last eight years, as if to stress that the king had been reborn.

This event had its origins in prehistory, and originally marked the ritualistic or symbolic death and resurrection of the ruler.  There are only fragments of inscriptional material that illustrate this event before Amunhotep's reign, but even those from the Old Kingdom share significant features of Hathoric ceremonies.  After the fall of the Old Kingdom these were taken over and imitated in the tomb scenes of private persons, who hoped thereby to be reborn after death, just like the kings.  Apparently Hathor's presence and her magical power were necessary to ensure this rejuvenation.  Lioness-masked priestesses using the curved ivory wands that were ritual objects of Hathor are depicted in Middle Kingdom private tombs and in the representations of these significant and memorable royal event in the tomb of Kheruef, a courtier of Amunhotep's queen, Tiy.  He had been present at the royal jubilee and recorded in his tomb the prescence of the goddess Hathor, about whom it was sung: "Make jubilation for The Gold and good pleasure for the Lady of the Two Lands that she may cause Nebmaatre (Amunhotep), who is given life, to be enduring…Adoration of The Gold when she shines forth in the sky…[T]here is no god who does what you dislike when you appear in glory…[I}f [you] desire that he (Amunhotep) live, cause him to live during millions of years unceasingly."

Amunhotep III also seems to have claimed divinity for his wife, Queen Tiy.  Artists altered existing statues of the queen to give her the blue hair and diadem of Hathor; others portrayed her from the start as this goddess, suggested she was the earthly manifestation of Hathor.

The Great Goddesses of Egypt, Barbara S. Lesko, pages 118 to 119

The goddess had to be called upon through merriment, intoxication, and music making in order to rejuvenate the aging Pharaoh. This was a tradition in ancient Egypt whose roots probably stretch back into its prehistory. The rituals seem to be describing a ceremony where you will see a vision of the goddess through this behavior. It has all the ingredients used by practitioners throughout the ages that allow the acolyte to enter into an altered state such as chanting, intoxication, rhythmic drumming, the shaking of a rattling device - which in this case would be the sistrum that would call upon Hathor. 

Ihy the Sistrum player

Furthermore these celebrations and invocations of the great goddess would occur during celebrations designed to renew the life force. These were not funeral performances but wild celebrations of intoxication with the intent being to come into contact with Hathor. It is as Hathor's son who has come forth, Ihy the sistrum player, that contact with Hathor is made:

But as musician, seated though he is, King Amenhotep is continuing a long tradition of royal music-making  at Thebes.  In inscriptions on a stela which Herbert Winlock found among the rubble at Deir el-Bahri, the Middle Kingdom ruler, King Antef, describes how he too, some 700 years before Amenhotep, was a night-time music-maker for Hathor, accompanying Re on his journey through the Netherworld:

My body speaks, my lips repeat

pure Ihy-music for Hathor.

Music, millions

and hundreds and thousands of it,

Because you love music,

a million of music for your ka,

In all your places.

Through such music-making, both Antef and Amenhotep become open to renewal through the shining, beautiful goddess.

Hathor Rising, The Power of the Goddess in Ancient Egypt, Alison Roberts, page 29

I'm interested in finding this lady in the tradition that has been passed down to us through the Judeo-Christian folklore. If it is hard to suppress this woman then there should be polemics against her and her celebrations in the bible. Let's look at the introduction of Eve in Genesis chapters 2 and 3. Our introduction is less than complimentary as Eve and the serpent are burdened with the blame for the suffering of mankind due to Eve eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In the patriarchal Old Testament religion, Adam is depicted as the innocent obedient man whose downfall is his cunning wife and her serpent confederate. The overbearing god, Yahweh, is quick to judgment and condemnation due to the behaviour and tempting of this woman. In Genesis 3:20 Adam names the woman Eve:

Genesis 3:20 And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.

The meaning of the Hebrew word, chay, for living in this case is describing the material life form. The mother of all living in ancient Egypt is Hathor:

One of her names was 'mistress of the vagina', and Hathor was associated with all aspects of motherhood and believed to assist women in conception, labour and childbirth.

The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt, Richard H. Wilkinson, page 141

Temple of Hathor at Denderah

And Hathor had a connection to the serpent as she could be represented on the Pharaoh's brow as Wadjet, the Uraeus snake that wards off the enemies of the king. As well, her son Ihy the sistrum player who comes forth at dawn in the sun disk, could be represented as the Sata serpent that arises out of the primordial lotus such as this image taken from a crypt in her temple at Denderah.

Ihy as Sata coming from the lotus

Let's see if there is any connection here between the name Eve and the idea of a great goddess that has her origins in ancient Egypt. In Hebrew the name we translate as Eve comes from Chavvah which has the meaning of "life".

The Online Etymology Dictionary gives us this information:

Eve 

feminine proper name, from Biblical first woman, Late Latin, from Heb. Hawwah, literally "a living being," from base hawa "he lived" (confer Arabic hayya, Aramaic hay yin).

Like most of the explanations of names in Genesis, this is probably based on folk etymology or an imaginative playing with sound. ... In the Hebrew here, the phonetic similarity is between hawah, "Eve," and the verbal root hayah, "to live." It has been proposed that Eve's name conceals very different origins, for it sounds suspiciously like the Aramaic word for "serpent." [Robert Alter, "The Five Books of Moses," 2004, commentary on Gen. iii:20]

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Eve&allowed_in_frame=0

Let's follow this one down the well travelled rabbit's hole. The Aramaic word for serpent being referred to here by Alter is hiwyah:

The story of the Fall (Gen 3:1-24) is the occasion for giving to the woman the proper name that has remained with her for all generations. After the sentence of punishment (3:14-19), the woman receives a personal name (3:20) that expresses her positive nature and destiny in relation to her primary role-motherhood: "The man named his wife Eve (hawwah), because she was the mother of all living (mol-hay)." The first naming is unambiguous in its etymological explanation and meaning, while the second one retains a certain syntactic ambiguity, inasmuch as it could include non-human creatures. The Aramaic word hiwyah means "serpent," and this meaning was adopted in one of the rabbinic interpretations of the passage (cf. Genesis Rabbah 20:11; 22:2). The creation of the name of Eve in Gen 3:20 seems to take into account the fact that Eve stands at the beginning of a genealogy, followed by a line of descendants. The explanation that the woman was "the mother of al living" manifests the magnificent theological perspective of the narrator: in spite of sin and hardship result from the penalty, the woman remains the symbol of the great miracle and mystery of life. The Hebrew text points to the linguistic association between the name hawwah and the word hayyah "living" (adj. fem. sing.), or an archaic noun form meaning "living thing." 

The Transformation of Biblical Proper Names, Joze Krasovec, page 10

With this knowledge it could be plausibly argued that the serpent in Genesis 3 is an aspect of the woman or perhaps Adam gave the woman a name that had a connection to serpents as a constant reminder of her betrayal. Probably not a good way to start off a relationship but hey let's not judge.

Okay the great semitic mother goddess Asherah had as one of her titles Rabat Chawat 'Elat, the Phoenician "Chawat" corresponding to the Hebrew "Chavvah". Another of her titles was Dat ba'thani which means "Lady of the Serpent". So we have a connection here that we could argue until we tire of arguing over it. In any case, I wanted to establish this connection because this Asherah shows up in ancient Egypt in the 18th dynasty as a Phoenician goddess named Qudshu, which was an epithet of Asherah, and this Qudshu is equated with the Egyptian Hathor.

http://www.matrifocus.com/LAM07/spotlight.htm

The idea of a great mother was an idea that was certainly was prevalent in the ancient world and has been subject to a suppression at the hands of the patriarchal crafters of the Old Testament. The great mother goddess of the Levant that is suppressed in the bible, after we are treated to a story that casts her in a light where she causes all of our sufferings, had her origins along the Nile. It is her miraculous mystery of birth and rebirth plus her association with the wisdom of the serpent that is to be acknowledged, celebrated, and witnessed in altered states of consciousness. Misogynist pedlars of male dominated religion may try as hard as they can but they will never succeed in ridding the subconscious of the wondrous mother goddess and therefore thankfully she will live on birthing light into this world of darkness.

dark secrets

Hail Min

who fecundates his Mother,

How secret is that

which you have done to her

In the darkness,

O Divine One, Sole One…

Hathor Rising, The Power of the Goddess in Ancient Egypt, Alison Roberts, page 84.

Who is this lady that is impregnated by her son? This idea is awfully strange in our modern day culture as it references ideas of incest and Sigmund Freud oedipal fantasies. At first glance, it seems that libido was a driving force in this ancient Egyptian idea. This idea was known as Kamutef, bull of his mother, and it is the idea that in the cyclical legitimacy of kingship, the Pharaoh must continually impregnate the Great Goddess in order to engender the next incarnation of the Pharaoh. Ramesses II makes the claim that he has had many kas (life forces/incarnations) and king lists were celebrated on temple walls as a way to ensure their legitimacy.

Pharaoh Seti I with son Ramesses II at the Abydos King List

There are two Great Goddesses of ancient Egypt who got involved with Kamutef. They would be Aset, the Greek Isis, and Hwt-Her which in Greek is Hathor.

The sacred animals of Min were a falcon and a white bull, and one of Min's most important titles was Ka-mut-ef (the Bull of his Mother). Min was said to secretly unite with his mother under cover of darkness to beget himself.

Egyptian Mythology, Geraldine Pinch, page 165

The sacred animals of Min are presenting a clue as to his role as the bull of the heavens. Min is the virile aspect of the constellation of Orion. His right arm is raised in the classic striking pose of Orion warriors and his erect phallus a symbol of the three stars in the belt of Orion. This association with the constellation of Orion led at times to Min's association with Osiris as the consort of Isis and also his association with Horus, who as I have detailed in this blog post, can also be an aspect of the Orion constellation.

He is also found in the Coffin Texts where the deceased associates himself with the 'woman-hunting' Min in order to possess the god's sexual powers. During the Middle Kingdom Min became associated with the god Horus and Min-Hor and as a result he was sometimes described as the son of Isis, though the association also led to Min being worshipped as the consort of Isis and father of Horus.

The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt, Richard H. Wilkinson, page 115.

Min on stela with Goddess and child

Amun-Re, an aspect of the great hidden light of the sun from the New Kingdom onwards, was in ithyphallic form known as Min-Amun or Amun-Kamutef.

Ithyphallic Amun-Kamutef at Luxor Temple

The unusual epithet 'Bull-of-his-Mother' (Kamutef), already associated with the ithyphallic Amun by the Middle Kingdom, also needs to be considered here, since it both encapsulates the generative fertile power of the bull god and provides a veiled hint of his incestuous relationship with the mother goddess, who, at Thebes, more often than not was Isis. Much more explicit is an epithet of Min-Amun naming him as 'the fecundator of his mother'. For contained in the strange name Kamutef is the paradoxical truth that the god is both Father and Son, the agent of his own rebirth, brought about by the fertilization of his own mother.  And she is the matrix, the vessel of renewal, supporting and containing his fecund seed, though she herself is not to be understood as the active power engendering life. This lies in the male seed of the bull god, which she contains in her womb, seed which not only preserves the ever-recurring cycles of nature but also safeguards the generations of Egyptian Kings.

Hathor Rising, The Power of the Goddess in Ancient Egypt, Alison Roberts, page 82.

In this role, the fecundating light of Min-Amun comes to the metaphorical womb inside us - Isis, that houses Osiris as the Ba soul and will give birth to Horus. The hidden light of the sun combining with the great celestial light allows Osiris to wake up and impregnate Isis. Now is probably as good a time as ever to riff on the intricacies of the light of the sun in ancient Egyptian thought:

You see, the light of the sun is the ultimate provider. He gives life to all when he rises in the eastern horizon at daybreak. He is majestic in his glory and this newborn child who is birthed anew every morning by the goddess is a sight to behold a million times over. This child is the golden calf; the calf denoting the relationship to the ka. He is the beneficent giver and sustainer of material life. In this respect it is ka power that is on an unmatched scale. In previous blogs, I have connected the power of Set to the ka; this ka power being relegated to the beastly animal life force that makes up our material self. Our ba soul is felled by this power at first but at some point in our lives it is realized that this power is necessary to give you healing wisdom in order to birth your greater self. However, the ka power contained in the light of the sun is a different sort of power; it is a power that sustains all life on earth. With this realization the next step in thought is if the light of the sun is a majestic ka force then it must have a twin, another aspect which would be a beneficent majestic ba force. In New Kingdom ancient Egypt, we see the rise of this all powerful state god named Amun who when combined with Re is given the designation Amun-Re. At some point in ancient Egyptian history culminating in the New Kingdom, there seems to be a progression of religious thought which allowed them to make this leap in faith. The simple meaning of Amun means "hidden" so in this respect the Egyptians were recognizing another aspect of the light of the sun. Amun-Re could be represented as a man with two feathers in his crown or as a ram. When the Egyptians represented gods and goddesses as being manifest in human form they were expressing the belief that these gods are active in not only our material plane of existence but also having influence over us directly here on earth. In this respect, you witness Horus as a baby being represented as human and the celestial elder Horus as a hawk because he has taken to the skies and is not operating exclusively in the earthly realm. Amun-Re's iconography as a ram is telling us that he is a ba force and this ba force is a twin to the ka force I have previously attributed to Re as the manifest light of the sun. However, this ba force is hidden much like Osiris is hidden to the ancient Egyptians. The great world ba soul comes to our world to enliven our individual souls. That is the great power of Amun-Re and why he rose to prominence in the New Kingdom and became the king of the gods in a very short period of time. He was the great liberating figure for all, a personal god who promised all encompassing salvation. I promise you that you will not read about this interpretation anywhere else than this blog space.

So, why then did the Egyptians have to combine this Amun with Min? Well, because in essence a ba can't enliven another ba. There has to be some kind of ka, a virile bull represented as Min, to give the life necessary for Osiris to wake up and do his thing. Min, the seed bull god known for his virility, presided over the Pharaoh's Heb Sed festival of renewal where the king had to demonstrate his vitality and virility to prove he was capable of impregnating the mother goddess Hathor and in essence continuing the cyclical legitimacy of kingship over the two lands, Upper and Lower Egypt, which contained within them the idea that a Pharaoh will rule over both the heavenly (spiritual) realm and the earthly (material) realm.

Much later in his life Amunhotep (III) celebrated a jubilee marking the thirtieth year of his reign.  It also seems to have been the occasion for his official, public declaration of his transformation into a deity, the sun disk itself.  He is shown in the sun bark with Hathor, and his artists rendered him far more youthfully during his last eight years, as if to stress that the king had been reborn.

This event had its origins in prehistory, and originally marked the ritualistic or symbolic death and resurrection of the ruler.  There are only fragments of inscriptional material that illustrate this event before Amunhotep's reign, but even those from the Old Kingdom share significant features of Hathoric ceremonies.  After the fall of the Old Kingdom these were taken over and imitated in the tomb scenes of private persons, who hoped thereby to be reborn after death, just like the kings.  Apparently Hathor's presence and her magical power were necessary to ensure this rejuvenation.  Lioness-masked priestesses using the curved ivory wands that were ritual objects of Hathor are depicted in Middle Kingdom private tombs and in the representations of these significant and memorable royal event in the tomb of Kheruef, a courtier of Amunhotep's queen, Tiy.  He had been present at the royal jubilee and recorded in his tomb the prescence of the goddess Hathor, about whom it was sung: "Make jubilation for The Gold and good pleasure for the Lady of the Two Lands that she may cause Nebmaatre (Amunhotep), who is given life, to be enduring…Adoration of The Gold when she shines forth in the sky…[T]here is no god who does what you dislike when you appear in glory…[I}f [you] desire that he (Amunhotep) live, cause him to live during millions of years unceasingly."

Amunhotep III also seems to have claimed divinity for his wife, Queen Tiy.  Artists altered existing statues of the queen to give her the blue hair and diadem of Hathor; others portrayed her from the start as this goddess, suggesting she was the earthly manifestation of Hathor.

The Great Goddesses of Egypt, Barbara S. Lesko, pages 118-119.

The ritual meaning of the dances, however, is very much in the spirit of New Kingdom Egypt, as can be gleaned from the songs inscribed above the young performers, who are accompanied by women musicians, playing flutes or clapping their hands in rhythm.  Over the dancers and musicians in the lower register is a powerful invocation to the starry snake goddess of the night, Hathor 'Gold', whom they call on to rise and be propitiated through the dances they perform in her honour.

But they dance not only for this beneficent queen of the night, shining in her fiery brilliance, but also for Amenhotep (III) who has great need of her power.  In their chant to the goddess they implore her to take him to the east of the sky, to the place where at dawn, 'the doors of the sky open and a god goes forth pure'.  And this is what they sing:

Make jubilation for Gold

and sweet pleasure for

The Lady of the Two Lands,

that she may cause

Nebmaatre [Amenhotep], given life,

to be enduring…

Hathor Rising, The Power of the Goddess in Ancient Egypt, Alison Roberts, pages 26-27.

It is in this aspect that the Pharaoh, the living Horus, becomes Min-Horus. He fecundates the mother goddess Hathor, who originally brought his material essence, ka, into the material world, and who is now his consort.  

The king of Egypt was identified with the god Horus, as texts in Hatshepsut's temple recall when Hathor says, "I have wandered through the northern marshes, when I stopped at Khebt, protecting my Horus… I am thy mother who formed thy limbs and created thy perfection."  The vignette illustrating Spell 186 in the New Kingdom's Book of the Dead also shows the Hathoric cow emerging from a mountainside and parting clumps of papyrus plants.

The Great Goddesses of Egypt, Barbara S. Lesko, page 109.

He will impregnate Hathor in this aspect to complete his becoming when she births his spiritual ka in the morning dawn, which the ancient Egyptians called akhet, and the child born is the great leaping golden calf Ihy. 

yep, that Golden Calf

Ihy being nursed by Hathor in the birth house at Denderah

In a sun-hymn dating to Haremheb's reign, Hathor is specifically named as the mother in the eastern horizon bearing the young Re within her. He is 'vital and young in the sun-disk within your mother Hathor' (Book of Day in the tomb of Ramesses VI at Thebes)

My Heart My Mother, Death and Rebirth in Ancient Egypt, Alison Roberts, page 182.

As I have previously mentioned in this blog space, please note the above passage is also describing the essence of Re is encapsulated within the sun-disk and that Re is not the sun-disk. Digging deeper into this declaration, it becomes clear that Hathor is the dawn, the akhet. This passage below is also a confirmation of the understanding that the Pharaoh must become the bull of his mother Hathor if he wishes to continue in the Pharaonic cycle of rebirth.

But as musician, seated though he is, King Amenhotep (III) is continuing a long tradition of royal music-making at Thebes.  In inscriptions on a stela which Herbert Winlock found among the rubble at Deir el-Bahri, the Middle Kingdom ruler, King Antef, describes how he too, some 700 years before Amenhotep, was a night-time music-maker for Hathor, accompanying Re on his journey through the Netherworld:

My body speaks, my lips repeat

pure Ihy-music for Hathor.

Music, millions

and hundreds and thousands of it,

Because you love music,

a million of music for your ka,

In all your places.

Through such music-making, both Antef and Amenhotep become open to renewal through the shining, beautiful goddess.

Hathor Rising, The Power of the Goddess in Ancient Egypt, Alison Roberts, page 29.

So, Amun-Re has to impregnate the mother Isis who will birth the baby Horus who becomes Pharaoh and eventually in a divine cycle becomes Re again as he is reborn in the akhet as Ihy and Ihy becomes Re. On the other hand, the mature Horus has to impregnate his consort Hathor to allow for the birth of this bull calf Ihy. Hathor is the great mother goddess of the Ennead of which Horus is the ultimate expression, hence the meaning of Hathor's name - the house of Horus. This is the reason behind the ancient Egyptian concept of these gods being kamutef, bull of his mother.