AKET-season (Inundation)
Third month: Athyr
 
Day 1—17th September: Feast of Hathor, the Mistress of Heaven. Prayer or divinatory time: dawn.
Day 2 – 18th September: Return of Wedjet from Dep. [Dep is the pre-Dynastic name for Buto, of which Wedjet was the patron goddess.] Prayer or divinatory time: noon.
Day 3 – 19th September: If you see anything it will be good on this day. Prayer or divinatory time: do not observe – not a suitable day.
Day 4 – 20th September: The trembling of the earth under Nun [the god who personified the original formless ocean of Chaos]. Prayer or divinatory time: dawn.
Day 5 – 21st September: Do not keep fire burning in the house on this day. The turning of the year with the Autumn (Spring in Egypt) Equinox. In Egypt traditionally the time for planting – in the Northern hemisphere, harvest and the end of summer. Prayer or divinatory time: dawn.
Day 6 – 22nd September: The encouragement of the gods of the Two Lands [Set and Horus]. Prayer or divinatory time: do not observe – not a suitable day.
Day 7 – 23rd September: If you see anything it will be good on this day. Prayer or divinatory time: noon.
Day 8 – 24th September: Isis goes forth unto her son, Horus. Sun rises in Libra. Prayer or divinatory time: throughout the day.
Day 9 – 25th September: Do not go outside on any road from your house on this day. Do not let light fall on your face until Re is set in his horizon. It is the day of blaming the great ones … who were in his presence. Prayer or divinatory time: do not observe – not a suitable day.
Day 10 – 26th September: Great rejoicing in heaven; the crew of Re are in peace, his Ennead is cheerful [lit. ‘shout loudly’]. Those in the fields are working. It is the day of judgement between Horus and Set. Prayer or divinatory time: throughout the day.
Day 11 – 27th September: If you see anything it will be good on this day. Prayer or divinatory time: in the afternoon.
Day 12 – 28th September: Do not go to your antagonist but go to answer the neighbours [Obviously a time of strife in ancient Egypt]. Prayer or divinatory time: throughout the day.
Day 13 – 29th September: This is the day of cutting into pieces ...This neshmet-boat of Osiris is sailing up-stream to Abydos to the great town of Onnophris. Set entered the embalming booth … to announce the god’s limbs. Then they became fresh [Opening of the Mouth Ceremony]. Prayer or divinatory time: throughout the day.
Day 14 – 30th September: Do not do anything on this day. Prayer or divinatory time: dawn.
Day 15 – 1st October: Let a man sleep with his wife on this day. Prayer or divinatory time: throughout the day.
Day 16 – 2nd October: The appearance of the Great Ones of the Ogduad [The Hermopolitan group of eight deities connected to the Creation myth]. A happy day of infinity and eternity. Do not go out of your house on this day. Let not a man sleep with his wife. Prayer or divinatory time: do not observe – not a suitable day.
Day 17 – 3rd October: Landing of the Great Ones, the Upper and Lower Ones at Abydos; loud weeping and wailing by Isis and Nephthys, her sister, over Onnophris [Osiris] in Sais. The weeping and crying isheard in Abydos. Prayer or divinatory time: do not observe – not a suitable day.
Day 18 – 4th October: It is the day of strife by the children of Geb … do not approach any road for making a journey on it. Prayer or divinatory time: at dawn and in the afternoon.
Day 19 – 5th October: Beware the children of the storm … Let a man eat bread in his house. Do not go outside on the road on this day. Prayer or divinatory time: dawn.
Day 20 – 6th October: The Going Forth of Bastet. Offer to the gods on this day. Prayer or divinatory time: dawn.
Day 21 – 7th October: The Feast of Shu, son of Re. Prayer or divinatory time: in the afternoon.
Day 22 – 8th October: The raising of Ma’at in order to see Re, when she is summoned by the gods in the presence of Re. Prayer or divinatory time: in the afternoon.
Day 23 – 9th October: [Damaged] Prayer or divinatory time: dawn.
Day 24 – 10th October: Isis goes forth, her heart being happy and Nephthys being also in jubilation when they see Onnophris [Osiris]. He had given his throne to his son, Horus, in front of Re. Prayer or divinatory time: dawn.
Day 25 – 11th October: If you see anything, it will be good on this day. Do not offer to the gods on this day. Prayer or divinatory time: do not observe – not a suitable day.
Day 26 – 12th October: Establishing the Djed … of Atum in the heaven and land of Heliopolis reconciliation of the Two Lords and causing the land to be in peace. The whole of Egypt is given to Horus, and all the desert land to Set. Going forth of Thoth in order to judge in the presence of Re. Do not offer to the gods. Prayer or divinatory time: in the afternoon.
Day 27 – 13th October: Judging of Horus and Set; stopping the fighting. Prayer or divinatory time: throughout the day.
Day 28 – 14th October: The gods are in jubilation and in joy … The land is in festivity and the gods are pleased. If you see anything, it will be good. Prayer or divinatory time: throughout the day.
Day 29 – 15th October: The going forth of the three noble ladies in the presence of Ptah, beautiful of face, while giving praise to Re, him who belongs to the throne of truth of the temples of the goddesses. Giving the White Crown to Horus, and the Red Crown to Set. [Usually Horus represents Lower Egypt and Set Upper Egypt, so the ascription of the Crowns may seem puzzling. But as ‘all the desert land’ is assigned to Set, perhaps the association of the same word, now applies to the Red Crown, and explains the previous statement.] Do not dispute with your antagonist on this day. Prayer or divinatory time: throughout the day.
Day 30 – 16th October: If you see anything, it will be good on this day. Do not offer to the male gods. Do not offer to the goddesses on this day. House of Re, House of Osiris, House of Horus. Prayer or divinatory time: in the afternoon.

The Calendar of Ancient Egypt - the revised and expanded edition compiled by Melusine Draco, is published by Ignotus Press UK ISBN 978 1 78876 583 1.   Order direct from the publisher to qualify for the special price. 



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Very  few  cultures  have  had  as  much  influence  on  present day esoteric systems and no other magical tradition has had so much rubbish written on its behalf than the Egyptian Mystery Tradition.  As German occult writer, Frater U. D. observed in one of his books: “It has become trendy to begin any exposition on secret lore with the words ‘The history of theory X is as old as mankind itself’. Not that such statements are always wrong, but there is little value in suggesting the long continuity of any tradition if it cannot be proved.”
    
Egyptologist Kurt Lange [Egypt] posed an opposing line of questioning as to whether we even see the pharaonic period with its ‘increasingly evident transformations’ in a different light to that in which it was viewed by the pioneer Egyptologists of only fifty or a hundred years ago.  And, he continued, if that is the case, does this explanation suggest that perhaps we are projecting our own essence and will into the unfathomable mystery of ancient Egypt?  “Can we of today ever penetrate to the core of the nature of an age-old creative community from a different milieu?  In our efforts to know, to explain and to feel ourselves corroborated, are we not attempting to grasp a mirage?  Every seeker after knowledge is bound to ask himself such questions before he turns to the sources.”
    
Aeron Medbh-Mara observed in her essay, Dagger & The Plough, each environment be it moor, bog, forest, heathland, fen, artic tundra, desert and mountain, etc, poses different problems for those living under such conditions. “Each had their own deities concerned with the various aspects of life, climate, circumstance and death.   True, in some case we may be faced with relatively modern landscape for, as we have colonised each area we have subtly or otherwise attempted to change this environment to meet any current need.  As these changes have come about so the interaction with the gods may have changed; perhaps even the gods themselves as they have been replaced or asked to take on ‘extra responsibilities’?”
 
At this point, the neophyte should make some attempt to clarify exactly  what  it  is  that  they  personally  expect  from  this  ancient religion.  Of the three opening observations in Part III of Liber Ægyptius,  two  of  them  have  been  taken  from  contemporary magical writings because the purpose of this book is a ‘purification of thought’ when it comes to modern Egyptian magic. But, as the Egyptologist  asks,  are we really trying to  grasp a mirage - a false image that only exists in the minds of romantics or does the essence of the Old Ways really shine through like a beacon for those willing to seek it out?
    
The reality of contemporary Egyptian magic can be proven but modern approaches to the tradition are often far from being pure and it becomes increasingly difficult to decide where fantasy and improvisation should be separated.  The most pertinent question, of course, is the one asked by Aeron Medbh-Mara in that are we asking too much from the Old Ones in expecting them to assume additional responsibility for our own spiritual short-sightedness? 
    
We,  in  the  northern  hemisphere,  are  people  of  sea, moor,  bog, forest, heathland and fen: the gods of Khem metamorphosed from a desert environment.  This immediately poses different problems for those living in northerly climes because, unlike the Egyptians, we are hampered by the widely fluctuating seasonal hours of daylight and weather conditions, which in turn interferes with traditional Egyptian religious practices.
    
Adaptations can be made, as Egyptians in exile would have needed  to  make  changes  but  these  ‘adaptations’  do  not  mean foisting bogus similarities onto indigenous deities - Bridhe is not synonymous with Isis, nor the Morrigan with Sekhmet. Needless to say, certain changes have  to be made  but in the  world of magic, trying to create an amalgam of cultural differences could result in a chimera of dangerous proportions.  In Egypt, as with all other cultures, the gods were elements abstracted from the great Being; merely forms of the male and female ‘constitutive principles’ to personify anything that may be touched or realised. They were, however, Egyptian concepts, identifying solely with the national and cultural ethos of an Egyptian people immured in a sun and Nile-based religion.  
    
It has been suggested that our ‘conceptual inadequacy’ over matters Egyptian stems from  a need to  assimilate its underlying religious structure to more identifiable features of the contemporary world. “Egypt becomes acceptable only when fitted out with the identity we, applying our modes of thinking and being, foist upon it ... We are less interested in acquiring knowledge of Egypt than in recognising ourselves in Egypt,” shrewdly observed Christine Favard-Meeks.
    
Parts I and II of Liber Ægyptius have drawn heavily on historical sources since these  can be proven  to a reasonable degree of satisfaction to both academic and magician.   And, in order to keep those sources as pure as possible, very few texts written after the New Kingdom have been included.   This still leaves the Adept with an  enormous  deficit  on  magical  working  methods  since, despite the vast quantity of accessible magico-religious writings, there is little evidence of exactly how the priesthood approached magic and religion.  What methods were used?  Which form, if any, of psychic protection did they employ during ritual working?  Were their devices for raising magical energy any different to ours?     
    
This is why we need to know Egypt.  To understand the social and historical implications behind changes in worship throughout the 5000 years of civilisation; to identify the different types of god-power with which we, as individuals, can empathise.  We can never come to that ‘knowing’, however, if there is a persistence in following the  airy-fairy paths  of a pastel  coloured,  multi-cultural Isis, superimposed upon a tragic, Christ-like persona of Osiris. 
    
In many instances, the Egyptian Mystery Tradition has even been transposed into some New Age amalgam of Wicca that fits quite uncomfortably into 21st century political correctness as neo-pagans attempt to ‘project their own essence and grasp the mirage’ without  the  slightest  understanding  of  the antecedents of  this ancient god-power. To use Kurt Lange’s own imagery, we must penetrate to the very core of the nature of this age-old creative community if we want to walk in the shadow of their knowledge, wisdom and understanding.
 
One of the chief difficulties in the study of the religion of Khem has been the method of its presentation to the world, as Margaret Murray explained in The Splendour That Was Egypt. “The plurality of gods and the representation of the Deity, whether as an animal or as a human being with an animal’s or bird’s head, was shocking to the prophets of Israel, from whose denunciations many of the modern ideas of Egyptian religion have been taken.  Other adverse commentators were the Greek authors, the early Christian Fathers and many later Christian writers. 
    
“Milton voices the general feeling when he speaks of ‘the brutish gods of Egypt’, and says of Osiris ‘Naught but profoundest hell can be his shroud’.  The more modern writer is apt to be either shocked at the resemblances to Christianity or to treat the whole subject with slightly contemptuous levity, forgetting that this same religion had for thousands of years brought to its believers help in times of trouble, comfort in sorrow, and courage in the face of death.”
    
The obvious juxtaposition between the later Christian ethic and the neo-Osirian myth cannot be ignored, although early writers on the subject must have been acutely embarrassed by the similarities.  It is also impossible to ignore the marked similarities between recorded Egyptian mythology and the various adaptations adopted by nearly every other civilisation in the Western world as the different cultures evolved. 
    
Aeron Medbh-Mara’s observation concerning these ‘changes’ becomes even more pertinent as history records the esoteric or religious teaching spreading outwards from Egypt; being adapted to suit the climate and environment of other cults who sought to use older wisdom and pass it off as their own.  It is pure speculation, but since Africa has long been considered the ‘cradle of civilisation’, could Egypt (which is, after all, geographically part of Africa) be looked upon as the ‘cradle of God’?  
    
If the would-be neophyte still has problems in making the transition from Wicca (or any of the other traditions) then it may be necessary to reflect again on the warnings made by Murry Hope in Practical Egyptian Magic. “Egyptian magic can be approached in three ways. Intellectually, though a profound study of its philosophy, history, art, literature and traditions; through practical application; or a combination of both. It is not a static system, however, and will slowly lead the neophyte into deeper waters from which he can either retreat if he is unready, or proceed if he is of the right spiritual maturity.  Never be ashamed to admit that you found it necessary to leave it alone. It takes a wise man to be humble ... There will doubtless be many who will not find the Egyptian system suitable to their own spiritual or occult needs. Fair enough. Then make it in your own way and in your own time.”
 

AKET-season (Inundation)
Second Month: Phaophi
 
Day 1 -18th August: The Opet Festival dedicated to Amun, Mut and Khonsu at Karnak. The Marriage of Isis and Osiris. The birth and feast of Re-Harakthte. The Feast of Wedjet. Jubilation. The Great Ennead is in festivity on this day. Do not do anything on this day. A public holiday or celebration. Wedjet, the cobra goddess of Lower Egypt was bound up with the regenerative forces. Traditionally, Pharaoh, or his high priest, would undergo extensive purification rituals during the two to four-week festival. Prayer or divinatory time: dawn.
     On the eastern bank of the Nile at modern Luxor, is a vast enclosure containing the Great Temple of Amun; the Great Hypostyle Hall is 6,000 square metres with 134 columns built by Seti I and Ramesses II in Dynasty XlX. Religious processions in honour of Amun, carried in state in a shrine, aboard his sacred boat, or personal confrontations between the Pharaoh and his god cover every column and every inch of wall space as a testament to the piety of the royal family. The Opet Festival is one of the best-known religious festivals that took place at Thebes from the early Dynasty XVIII onwards.
     Occurring annually in the second month of the season of Akhet, and lasting for a period that varied from two to four weeks, the main event was the ritual procession of the divine images of Amun, Mut and Khonsu from Karnak to Luxor. The Temple of Luxor was largely constructed as a suitable architectural setting for the Festival of Opet.
Day 2 – 19th August: Feast of Thoth. The proceeding of the Majesty of Sais – Neith. Offer to all the gods. It is important to hear what I say to you. Prayer or divinatory time: noon.
Day 3 – 20th August: Thoth is in the presence of Re in the inaccessible shrine. If you see anything, it will be good on this day. Prayer or divinatory time: do not observe – not a suitable day.
Day 4 – 21st August: It is the day of the Going Forth of Anubis for the inspection of the amulet for the protection of the body of the god. Prayer or divinatory time: dawn.
Day 5 – 22nd August: Feast of Osiris. Do not go out of your house on this day. Do not copulate with a woman. It is the day of offering in the presences of Montu [the falcon-headed war god] on this day. Prayer or divinatory time: dawn.
Day 6 – 23rd August: Feast of Nekhbet. A happy day for Re in heaven, and the gods are pacified in his presence. The Ennead is making glorification in front of the Lord of the Universe. Prayer or divinatory time: do not observe – not a suitable day.
Day 7 – 24th August: Feast of Horus. Do not do anything on this day. Sun rises in Virgo. Prayer or divinatory time: noon.
Day 8 – 25th August: If you see anything on this day, it will be good. Favourable is to do everything on this day. Prayer or divinatory time: throughout the day.
Day 9 – 26th August: Feast of Khnum. Jubilation in the heart of Re. His Ennead is in festivity, all enemies are overthrown on this day. Anyone born on this day will die at a good age. Favourable is to do everything. Prayer or divinatory time: do not observe – not a suitable day.
Day 10 – 27th August: Feast of Atum. Proceeding the Majesty of Bastet … the Majesty of Re… to pay tribute to the August tree [The holy tree in Heliopolis on the leaves of which the gods’ names were inscribed – symbolically the sycamore]. Favourable is to do everything. Prayer or divinatory time: throughout the day.
Day 11 – 28th August: Feast of Dwmutef [one of the four sons of Horus responsible for the protection of the stomach after embalming. Shown in the form of a jackal]. Everything is good on this day. Prayer or divinatory time: in the afternoon.
Day 12 – 29th August: Feast of Kebeh [daughter of Anubis]. Prayer or divinatory time: throughout the day.
Day 13 – 30th August: Feast of Imstey [one of the four sons of Horus responsible for the protection of the liver after embalming. Shown in human form]. Favourable to everything on this day. Prayer or divinatory time: throughout the day.
Day 14 – 31st August: Feast of Hapy [one of the four sons of Horus responsible for the protection of the lungs after embalming. Shown in the form of a baboon; also the name of the god of the Inundation. Note that the fourth son of Horus, the hawk-headed Qebehsenuef, responsible for the intestines after embalming, is not allocated a feast day]. Offer to your local gods, and pacify the spirits. Prayer or divination time: dawn.
Day 15 – 1st September: Feast of Isis. Do not go out of your house at eventide. The Going Forth of the Majesty of Re at nightfall with his followers. Prayer or divinatory time: throughout the day.
Day 16 – 2nd September: Feast of Osiris-Onnophris. Feast of the Eye of Horus. The gods who are in his retinue are in great festivity. If you see anything on this day, it will be good. Prayer or divinatory time: do not observe – not a suitable day.
Day 17 – 3rd September: Give up beer and bread [i.e. fast]. Burn incense to Re and the invocation-offering to the spirits. It is important so that your words may be listened to by your local gods. On this good day … favourable in everything. Prayer or divinatory time: do not observe – not a suitable day.
Day 18 – 4th September: Do not do anything on this day. Prayer or divinatory time: at dawn and in the afternoon.
Day 19 – 5th September: Feast of Ptah, lord of the workshop. Do everything on this day. Prayer or divinatory time: dawn.
Day 20 – 6th September: Feast of Horus and Set. Do everything on this day. Prayer or divinatory time: dawn.
Day 21 – 7th September: It is the day of the Going Forth of Neith in the presence of the Majesty of Atum Re-Harakhti – may he live and be prosperous. Prayer or divinatory time: in the afternoon.
Day 22 – 8th September: Do not bathe on this day. Prayer or divinatory time: in the afternoon.
Day 23 – 9th September: [Damaged] Prayer or divinatory time: dawn
Day 24 – 10th September: Do not go out of your house, or in any wind until Re sets. Prayer or divinatory time: dawn.
Day 25 – 11th September: Do not go out on this day on any road. Prayer or divinatory time: do not observe – not a suitable day.
Day 26 – 12th September: Do not order any work. Do not do any work on this day. It is the day of opening and sealing the windows of the place of Busiris [Old Kingdom temple complex at Abusir]. Prayer or divinatory time: in the afternoon.
Day 27 – 13th September: Do not go out. Do not give your back to any work until the sun sets. Prayer or divinatory time: throughout the day.
Day 28 – 14th September: If you see anything, it will be good on this day. Prayer or divinatory time: throughout the day.
Day 29 – 15th September: Anyone born on this day will die as an honourable man among his people. Prayer or divinatory time: throughout the day.
Day 30 – 16th September: The land is in festivity on this day. House of Re, House of Osiris, House of Horus. Prayer or divinatory time: in the afternoon.
 
The Egyptian Calendar – a revised and expanded edition of the Egyptian Book of Days – compiled by Melusine Draco : published by Ignotus Press UK : 202 pages : Available from https://www.feedaread.com/books/The-Calendar-of-Ancient-Egypt-9781788765831.aspx
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​It gives us great please to announce that Amunet Ogdoad has become an Initiate of Temple of Khem having successfully completed a long period of study and the trial of the tomb.   We honour her as a full Priestess of Anubis within the precincts of the Temple of Khem.
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THE HERMOPOLITAN OR OSIRIAN PATH
The Osirian legend is the most well-known of the Egyptian myths despite the fact that the only detailed narrative is that of Plutarch’s Greek version.  The authentic Egyptian references are ‘dispersed over several different periods and offer only a nebulous of disjointed facts’ (Daily Life of the Egyptian Gods) while one ‘curious and poorly documented legend’ Geb is forced to slay his own son (Osiris) in self-defence.   The Osirian cult forms the bridge between the nine deities of the Great Ennead of Heliopolis and the more modern, devotional approach of the Hermopolitan Path.
 
Osiris [E=Aser]
As Hamlyn points out in Egyptian Mythology, ‘perhaps more than in the case of any other god, the legend of Osiris underwent great changes through the course of history’.   And  as  all  students  of mythology are aware, the mysteries of the ‘dying god’ tradition were a focal point of religious belief in the Tigres-Euphrates and Nile valleys, i.e Osiris (Egypt), Attis (Phrygia) and Adonis (Greece).  Osiris was originally a god of the vegetation which died, re-seeded and flowered again following the inundation of the Nile, thereby symbolising the Egyptian concept of re-birth.  As Gardiner points out the Osirian myth had ‘never been deeply spiritual but it had recounted the triumph of good over evil and had told of widely devotion and filial piety’.  It was also accessible to the common people in terms of understanding and identification.
 
The dying god concept had to be credible to the simple man. To have a divine being dying each year by accident would have eventually  led  to  a  total  lack  of  ‘street-cred’;  death by disease or decay was also out since who in their right mind would identify with a weak and sickly god?  The only alternative was for Osiris to be killed and as the image of Set was still creating a problem for the priesthood, he could be disposed of once and for all by being named as the murderer of his brother. 
     
​Magically speaking, the death and resurrection of Osiris are comparable  to  the  later  mystery  traditions  of  Ishtar/Tammuz, Cybel/Attis, Demeter/Persephone, Mithra and Christianity rather than the more sanitised version with which he is so frequently aligned. In view of later ‘dying god/king’ cults (including the killing of the pagan king William Rufus by Walter Tyrrel in English folk-lore when the king’s blood ‘watered the earth’ all the way to Winchester) it also endorses the theory that Set’s involvement was originally that of ‘divine slayer’ rather than the murderer of Osiris [Tyrrel has never been reviled as a murderer]. The fact that the mortal remains of the dead god should come into contact with the earth indicates that this was a custom belonging to the age of agriculture; life had been taken out of the ground by the crops, so life had to be put back in again.
 
Praise be to Osiris!
Adorations be given to him!
Smelling of the earth to Un-Nefer!
Prostrations to the ground to the
Everlasting Self-Created Sun God!
 
It would be unwise, however, to look upon the Osirian Path with sweetness and light since the knowledge drawn upon to resurrect the god were magical powers that the uninformed would be quick to label ‘black’.  One of the best sources of information for students of the Osirian Tradition is the two volume Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection by Sir Wallis Budge which provide sufficient working material to satisfy even the most avid of scholarly magi.  For the modern magician, the Set/Osiris Mysteries have been more fully explored in The Setian by Billie Walker-John, where the relationship between the so-called rivals can be seen in its proper perspective of balancing opposites.
    
Represented  by  corn  and  vine,  Osiris’s other most familiar emblem is the djet.  From the beginning of the New Kingdom this was considered to be a portion of the backbone of the god and venerated as one of the his relics.  Because of its symbolic value, the hieroglyph appears often in scenes and texts associated with the knot or buckle [tjet] of Isis.  Located in the centre of the Pillar of Equilibrium, Tiphareth is the sphere of the dying god - the Tarot symbolised by Death and The Hanged Man.  Osiris is petitioned for strength during suffering and adversity and a belief in what is to come. His image is one of fertility and growth and it would be a mistake to look upon him as a death-god.
 
Isis [E=Aset]
Attributed with all the qualities of the perfect wife, mother and goddess - the mother of all things, both spiritual and temporal.  She is almost inter-changeable with Hathor and Bast on the more earthly levels but it is as the goddess of magic that Isis comes into her own. To enable her to posthumously bear her son, conceived by the union with her husband’s dead body, Isis resorted to the skills of the necromancer. “For she was a potent magician and even the gods were not immune from her sorcery.”   
    
Isis represents the rich plains of Egypt, made fruitful by the annual Inundation of the Nile.  She is represented as a woman who bears the hieroglyph of a throne as her head-dress, or a solar disk between cow’s horns which identifies her with Hathor.  By the time of the Greek occupation of Egypt, Isis had adopted virtually all the attributes of the female pantheon — and some of the male ones as well.  Netzach is her sphere on the Tree of Life and her image is The High Priestess of the Tarot.  Her colours are blue and silver.  Because she became the embodiment of every other goddess in the Egyptian  pantheon, this  collective power  makes her a very powerful focus for female energies in magical terms.
 
Nephthys [E=Nebthet]
The fourth sibling in the Osirian group represents the flooding or high water mark of the Nile.  She represents hidden lunar depths and can be invoked as a protector; she was supposed to possess great magical powers like her sister, Isis but she is the personification of darkness and of all that belongs to it, her attributes being of a passive rather than active nature.  This idea stems from the legend that having taken a fancy to her brother-in-law Osiris she slipped into his bed under the cover of darkness.  As a result him of mistaking her for Isis, Anubis was the result of this adulterous union.  She is therefore the mistress of illusion.  Nevertheless  the  two  goddesses  are  inseparable, Isis representing  the  part of  the world that is visible, with Nephthys representing that which is invisible.  Nephthys is always represented by the head-dress of a house and basket but never appears to have been the object of an independent cult since no temples or shrines have yet been discovered that are dedicated to her alone.
 
Horus the Younger [E=Hor]
The son of Isis and Osiris (there are some 20 of this name in the Egyptian pantheon) who was born posthumously and later avenged the death of his father by doing battle with Set.  During the fighting, Horus lost an eye, the symbol of which has become a powerful tool in magical working although it is often confused with the more ancient ‘eye of Re’. Like Horus the Elder, he is depicted as falcon-headed and holds in his right hand the ankh. 
    
Despite the happy-family picture, Horus and Isis were often at logger-heads, the son even decapitating his mother after particularly violent argument.  Later Pharaohs associated themselves with the younger Horus and thus became identified the son of Osiris - which added another layer of confusion to the earlier texts where Pharaoh was descended from the sun-god.  He could aptly use The Aeon as a point of focus in the Tarot, with many of the attributes normally associated with Horus the Elder.
 
Tauret [E=Twrt]
She  grew  to  prominence  as  the  popular  goddess  of childbirth, maternity and suckling during the New Kingdom.  She is represented as a pregnant hippopotamus with pendulous breasts, standing upright and holding the hieroglyphic sign of protection, ka, a plait of rolled papyrus.  Enjoying great popularity at Thebes amongst the middle classes, who gave her name to their children and decorated their homes with her image, she could also be called upon as an avenging deity when she would appear with the head of a lioness brandishing a dagger.
 
Bes [E=Bs]
Also a popular household deity from the New Kingdom who presided over all aspects of the home from marriage and child-birth to protection against evil spirits.  He was a grotesque dwarfish figure, jovial and belligerent, fond of dancing and fighting.  The middle classes  kept  statues  of  him  in  their  homes and named children after him.
 
There are, of course, hundreds more deities in the Egyptian pantheon than those featured above and the Adept choosing to follow either  the  Primitive,  Heliopolitan  or  Hermopolitan  Paths can expand   his  or  her  knowledge  of   those  appertaining  to  the appropriate Path by studying academic text books for the period.  The Pyramid  and  Coffin  Texts  and  The  Book of the Dead are important historical guides to the deities of ancient Egypt and some later versions of The Book of the Dead list up to 500 separate identities.
    
The later Triad system, a group of three gods usually consisting of a divine family of parents and child who were worshipped at a particular cult centre set the precedent for the trinity-concept in other religions emerging outside Egypt.  As the Dictionary defines, the Triad was often a convenient method of linking together three formerly independent deities of an area to form an easily identifiable religious context for worshipping or political purposes.  Among the most important were Amun-Mut-Khons at Thebes;Ptah-Sekhmet/Bast-Nefertem at Memphis; the Winged Horus-Hathor-Horus the child at Edfu; Khnum-Satet-Anuket at Elephantine  and  Osiris-Isis-Horus  who  were  not  associated  with  any specific cult-centre.  The Dictionary suggests that this appears to have been ‘primarily a theological development of the New Kingdom’ but it was a convenient method of bringing several different attributes of the deities under one temple roof.
 
 
The Otherworld
The regions to which the dead departed were called the dwat or Amenti (Osiris is sometimes referred to as Khenti-Amenti in earlier texts); the latter a dark gloomy place, containing pits of fire and dreadful monsters, flanked by a river and lofty mountains.  In the later Osirian cult the souls of the dead had to pass through to the dwat, an equivalent of the Elysian Fields [sekhet hetepet] where Osiris and his company could be found among the 15 regions in the Field of Reeds [sekhet aaru].  The dwat was situated in the heavens, at the furthest reaches of the Eastern Desert where the mummified body of the sun-god waited while the scarab beetle, Khepri, deity of the rising run, pushed the solar disc out of the dwat into the new day. Amenti is the darkness into which the sun descends over the mountains of the Western Desert.
 
Like most things connected to Egyptian religious thought, the dwat had an equivocal meaning insomuch that the texts sometimes refer to the negative aspects of Osiris as a malevolent deity.  In this guise  the  petitioner  could  invoke  the  protection  of  Re,  so  the deceased could make the journey in the light rather than the darkness. Initially, in the Pyramid Texts, the dwat was represented by a star within a circle; the place in the sky where the sun and the stars re-appeared after having been invisible; in later times it began to represent the Otherworld whether celestial or subterranean (the latter being more recent in Egyptian culture).
    
The Egyptian fondness for obscure mythological allusions make it extremely difficult to discover any specific details about Otherworld since most spells are for the life in the hereafter rather than about it (JEA - Vol 58).  “As a rule, the magical incantations that make up the bulk do not specify the exact circumstances under which they are to be used, nor can these be easily deducted from their contents.”  According to Dieter Muller early copies of The Book of the Dead display ‘great variability in the choice and order of their chapters’.  The Pyramid Texts at the other end of the spectrum show a certain degree of consistency, while the Coffin Texts pose a particularly complicated problem.  Having preserved much valuable information on the purpose of the spells and their application they nevertheless exhibit certain conflicting preferences for the location and order of the text.
    
The Texts consist of a heading followed by a section in which the deceased has to pass an unspecified number of gates.  At each gate a conversation ensues, in which he reveals his familiarity with the name and character of the door-keeper and receives permission to advance: “You who have come spiritualised, my brother: proceed to the place about which you are informed’.  The same pattern is followed to placate the ferryman who will take him across the river separating these gates from the Field of Reeds.  The text concludes with an invocation and a docket promising freedom of movement and arable land in the Field of Reads to anyone who knows this spell [Reference JEA - Vol 58].
    
The Egyptians often referred to the desert [E=deshret] the ‘red land’ as a place of death; the Western Desert was regarded as the entrance to Amenti.  Set was considered the ‘red god’ and lord of the desert wilderness, while other deities such as Min and Hathor were patrons of travellers in the desert regions.
    
Like all mythologies, there are strange creatures inhabiting the Otherworld such as Ammut who consumes the hearts of those whose evil deeds made them unfit to proceed into the afterlife.  She is usually shown waiting beside the scales in the Hall of Judgement, with the head of a crocodile, the foreparts of a lion and the rear of a hippopotamus.  Apophis, the snake-god of the underworld, who symbolises the forces of chaos and evil; it is Set who defeats  this  adversary  of  Re  but  at  a  later  period  Set  himself became identified with Apophis. 
    
The realms of the Otherworld were inhabited by a ‘fantastic array of beings’ but the most feared were the ‘messengers of Sekhmet’ which appear to be irritating and deadly spirits thought to be prevalent at the end of the year and very much part of the ‘real’ world.   They caused sickness, sleeplessness and general discontentment and can be dealt with by invoking Sekhmet herself to get rid of them.  The demons of the netherworld are the creatures of the darkness, probably similar to those encountered on the astral, who hound and harry the dead as they make their way through Amenti.
    
Magically, Amenti is the darkness of the Otherworld - the place to which the Adept can descend in the process of exploring the astral since this is where all things that are hidden are finally revealed.  The dwat is the ‘starry place’ - the darkness behind the sky.  It doesn’t matter which deity the Adept chooses providing she or he  maintains a strict adherence to the cosmic, natural or universal law - the law  of opposites that governs all areas of magical working - ‘As  Above, So Below’ - which takes into account this world and the next, whether it be the physical world, Amenti or the dwat.

 
Heliopolitan Path and the Theban Triad - Part II
 
Generally speaking, the Egyptians could be classed as religious but never  mystical  simply  because  their  belief  system  was  strictly utilitarian - a reverence for those two natural forces that made their existence possible: the Sun and the Nile. In fact, according to F. Gladstone Bratton (A History of Egyptian Archaeology) their entire religious and cultural history was determined by these two forces.  “They have left us little or no abstract thought.  Their belief was defined by the dualism of light and darkness, aridity and fertility, night and day, life and death.  Just as there was no twi-light in Egypt, neither was there any middle ground of thought.”
    
This observation, however, is refuted by T G H James (BM - Collections) who finds that between the simple religious beliefs of humble Egyptians and the elaborate theological doctrines of the great state-cults, there is a further level of religious thinking which can occasionally be glimpsed through rare personal tomb inscriptions and literary compositions.  James believes that these examples, which appear in Old Kingdom tombs  at Saqqara, offer an insight  into the most ‘profound religious thinking manifested in ancient Egypt’, particularly those discovered in tombs of certain high officials of Dynasty VI.   These ‘new’ ideas of responsibility and retribution appear as Egypt was facing its first major social and political upheaval; the unnamed Great God, invoked as part of the funerary rites, illustrates that the Egyptians could think about divinity ‘without investing it with concrete form’.  
    
In the years since Bratton’s book was published in the late 60s, however, the cults of Ptah and Amun have been found to show a distinctly more mystical approach to religious thought.  Both were originally regional gods whose worship remained constant until the great surge of popularity towards the end of the pharaonic dynasties.  These are the deities to appeal to the intellect since they offer intellectual concepts rather than religious personification but for the ordinary ancient Egyptian who preferred more clearly defined expressions there was nothing to write home about.   James also identifies  the  First  Intermediate Period  as  the  time  when a new attitude to religious matters developed and the first ‘semi-philosophical texts were composed’.
 
Ptah [E=pth]
As Emery explains, although the cult of Ptah sought after a higher level of religious thinking and spirituality, originally he was widely regarded as the protector of artisans and artists, and inventor of the arts.  He was at the same time designer, smelter of metal and builder.  His high priest at Memphis bore a title analogous to the ‘Master Builder’ of the European medieval cathedrals.  It was Ptah who directed the architects and masons during the construction of a temple and appears to have retained the same characteristics from Dynasty II right down to later times.  He is usually represented as a bearded man with a blue skull cap, wrapped in a shroud-like garment carrying the symbol of stability.  As Ptah-Seker he represents the union of creative power with that of chaos or darkness.

After the extinction of the New Kingdom rulers, Ptah became the third most important deity in both stature and wealth.  His new-found glory elevated him to the position of ‘the Universal Demiurge who had with his own hands fashioned the world, the other gods being mere personifications of aspects of Ptah’.  He was said to have saved the city from attacking Assyrians by raising an army of rats, who forced the enemy to flee, having gnawed their bowstrings, quivers, and the leather thongs of their shields—a myth later found in the Old Testament.
 
His  more  human  attributes  give  him  the  appearance  of  a Buddha-like figure and his worship is more concerned with the building and perfection of the temple, i.e. the mind and body that earthly pursuits.  The Adept who leans towards the mystical rather than the magical may find an ideal focus in the concept of Ptah, the universal architect.  His name in the Tarot and the Tree of Life signifies ‘admirable or hidden intelligence’ - the four aces which represent the roots of the four elements.  He is The Hierophant or The Universe and Yesod (the Foundation).
 
Bast [E=Bastet]
The local goddess of Bubastis but she became the great national divinity when the city became capital of the kingdom in Dynasty XXII.  With Ptah and their son Nefertum they formed a triad.  She personified the fertilising warmth of the sun, represented by a cat, or cat-headed woman.  Like Hathor she was a goddess of pleasure, music and dance and was often shown with a sistrum. 
 
She also gave protection against contagious diseases and evil spirits.  Her devotees buried the carefully mummified bodies of cats which, during their life-times, had been venerated as animals sacred to Bast - see below.  Her festival took place in April and May and is celebrated with dancing, drinking and song.  Like Isis and Hathor she sits in the sphere of Netzach and can be represented by The High Priestess in the Tarot.
 
Ma’at
Depicted as a woman standing or sitting on her heels, wearing an ostrich feather on her head, which is the symbol of her name - truth order and justice.   In reality, Ma’at was a ‘pure abstraction deified’ but in the Book of the Dead she becomes a beautiful woman presiding over the weighing of the heart in the Hall of Judgement.  Her name means ‘that which is straight’ and among the Egyptians it implied anything that was true, genuine or real. In the Old Kingdom the name referred to national order under the dominance of the sun-god; in later times it meant moral order, the realm of universal values. 
 
She can be attributed to Adjustment or Temperence in the Tarot and her name can be used in an oath or promise that can never be broken.  In later times she was named as wife to Thoth, or as the female embodiment of his attributes.
 
Seker
Probably another localised vegetation god before he became the god of the dead in the Memphis necropolis.  Usually depicted in the form of a greenish hawk-headed mummy, he was worshipped in the sanctuary called ro stau - ‘the doors of the corridors’ which communicated directly with the Underworld.  His worship was quickly submerged within the Osirian cult although he continued to be worshiped at Memphis as Seker-Osiris.  In later times he became the great funerary divinity as Ptah-Seker-Osiris despite the fact that he belongs very firmly within the Memphian cosmogony.
 
Amun [E=imn]
One of the most important but enigmatic gods in the Egyptian pantheon; his worship having a close alignment with the higher spirituality of the Heliopolitan Path than the purely devotional Hermopolitan Path.  Originally, he was the principle god of Thebes and a member of the Ogdoad, the group of eight primeval deities worshipped at Hermopolis. 
    
His name, means ‘what is hidden’ and although classed as one of the primeval  gods of Egypt it wasn’t  until much later that his votaries began to exercise the enormous power, which they finally wielded throughout the land.   He was first mentioned Dynasty II Pyramid Texts and later Dynasty XI texts imply that Amun is a god who cannot be viewed by mortal eyes, invisible and inscrutable.  It is worth noting that the Cairo Calendar makes no mention of Amun and the Theban triad since these gods only came to prominence during the New Kingdom.  
    
In Dynasty XII, in the process of re-organising the kingdom and solidifying its control of the entire country, Amun was transformed from an obscure god into a national and dynastic divinity; calling on the powerful solar theology of the Memphian dynasty of ancient Egypt as an obligatory step’ (Hierogylphics).  Lewis Spence suggests that it isn’t “difficult to see that the conception of such a deity would speedily win favour with a priestly and theological class, who might strain after a form of god-head less crude than the purely symbolic system that held sway in the country.” 
     
When the princes of Thebes rose to power, Amun rose with them and became the prominent god in Upper Egypt.  Osiris, as the popular god, could not be replaced but Amun as the more spiritual being fused with Ra; the high-priest of Amun-Ra was raised to royal power instituting Dynasty XXII, or the dynasty of priest-kings, the influences spreading far and wide into neighbouring countries.  His temple at Karnak is the best surviving religious complex of the New Kingdom.  He is represented in human form wearing a high double crown, or either as a ram or a goose.  The Romans  later  worshipped  him  as  Jupiter-Amon  and  consulted oracles at his temple.  An apt Tarot symbol could be The Hanged Man or The Wheel of Fortune, signifying all the various changes and sufferings undertaken before emerging triumphant.  
 
Mut [E=mwt]
The female counterpart in this amalgam was the ‘world-mother, lady of heaven and queen of the gods’ who was attributed with all the female attributes of the mother oriented goddesses in Egypt and represented by a vulture. With their son Khons, they comprised the Theban Triad.  Khons is a moon-god usually depicted holding a sceptre and flail and wearing the Sidelock of Youth with a lunar head-dress.  The triadic structure (or structural element) was used in Egypt to answer the problem of divine plurality and unity (Journal of Egyptian Archaeology - Vol 57). 
According to H. Re Velde in Egypt the triad was an extremely suitable structure for connecting plurality and unity, “because the number three was not only a numeral, but signified the indefinite plural.  Thus the triad was a structure capable of transforming polytheism into tritheism or differentiated monotheism”. The third card in the Tarot, The Empress would be an ideal focus for Mut.
 
The Triad was often a convenient means of linking together three formerly independent gods of an area, and seems to have been a primarily a theological development of the New Kingdom. Although the Osiris-Isis-Horus family grouping fits into the triad principle at first glance, the Theban Triad is a much more exalted form of worship, best suited to mysticism and the Mysteries than the religion of the common man.  Of all the gods in the Egyptian pantheon, the concept of Amen-Ra is probably best suited to 20th century since it does not require an acceptance of all the trappings of legend and mythology to produce a precise identification on god-head.

A unique limestone icosahedron was discovered at the Dakhlish Oasis and probably dates to the first century AD. In contrast to other examples known from Graeco-Roman Egypt, this one is not inscribed with Latin or Greek letters or numbers, but with 20 Egyptian divine names in Demotic script. It was presumably used in an oracular procedure intended to establish which deity would provide help to the petitioner [EES Journal 2007 Vol.93]
 
This rare find is formed by 20 equilateral triangles – with 20 divine names written on the sides – is imperfectly made, as most of the faces are uneven.  It has been suggested that it was produced by an Egyptian who might not have had much practice in shaping this sophisticated Greek form.  On each of the faces a divine name is written in black ink with the sides outlined in the same.  The gods’ names are as follows:
 

1. Imn – Amun
2. P3-Re – Pre
3. Pth – Ptah
4. Dhwtj – Thoth
5. Itm – Atum
6. Hprj – Khepri
7. Gb – Geb
8. Wsjr – Osiris
9. Hr – Horus
10. 3s.t – Isis
11. B3s.t – Bastet
12. H‘pj – Hapy
13. T3-Rpy – Triphis*
14. Sy – Shai
15. Nb.t-H.t – Nephthys
16. Nj.t – Neith
17. Spsy.t – Shepshit
18. Mn – Min
19. Hnsw – Khonsu
20. Mw.t – Mut

 
NB: *Triphis is depicted as a lioness-headed woman wearing a crown with disk, horns and plumes like that of Hathor . Her consort is Min and Triphis is sometimes depicted standing behind Min, touching with her hand the flail which appears over his upraised hand, indicating their intimacy as well as her participation in Min’s power.
 
 
An icosahedron can be carved from a variety of materials such as steatite, faience, serpentine, limestone, calcite and rock-crystal – all of which can be viewed in several museum collections. The Egyptian pantheon provides no obvious pattern for distributing the twenty names over the Dakhlish version; what mattered was the result obtained when the die was thrown and which god was identified in the process.
 
Numbered icosahedra were used in Alexandria in games of chance but evidently someone whose pantheon was Egyptian adopted this foreign form, presumably to function as an oracular device.  The deity identified by throwing a die could be a possible solution to the problem. It was suggested that the ‘Egyptian’ icosahedron could perhaps be linked with the ‘oracular spells’ in the Greek and Demotic magical papyri, although they are later in date; in these an array of different gods are called upon to assist the practitioner and the icosahedron could have been used to decide which deity or which spell might be used.
 
Martina Minas-Nerpal suggests that divination seems to have been the most likely purpose of the Dakhlish icosahedron. “An Egyptian might have taken a liking to the Greek form and found it useful to write 20 divine names on it … While praying he might have moved the die in his hand, rather as is done with a rosary … Because its faces are uneven and non-equilateral, some deities would – in practice – never have been selected by a throw of the die.”
 
 
Our student responded:
‘I have obtained a wooden icosahedron and have inscribed it with the names of the 20 deities as instructed in the lesson. I do feel that this will be a useful divinatory and magical tool and oracular device. I feel that some helpful preparatory work to using the icosahedron would be to ground oneself with a good understanding of the various attributes and characteristics of the individual deities named on the icosahedron. This would help increase one’s overall intuitive response to any oracular-type questions asked of a particular deity using the device and would also help focus intention upon an appropriate deity when one is throwing the device and calling on the deity to intercede and communicate.
 
‘I also think that the icosahedron promotes an individualist approach to divination and the interpretation of correspondences/symbols, in that it is more intuitive to the particular circumstances of a given situation/petition, rather than being confined by the more traditional set of correspondences. I think it is also noteworthy that the icosahedron’s shape is one that is found commonly in the natural world and as such it carries the symbolism of sacred geometry within its form. The icosahedron could also therefore be a strong meditational aid, particularly for contemplating the nature and geometry of the cosmos, which was important to the magical practitioners and temple builders in ancient Khem. My icosahedron actually smells very woody, and this sensation facilitates the feeling of being out in nature and contemplating the patterns of the cosmos.’
 
Reproduced with the kind permission of Temple of Khem student SW.