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OSIRIS RA RA OSIRIS
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THE PYRAMID TEXTS 1
THISISTHESCENEOFTHESEENUNSEENTHEUNSEENSEENOFTHESCENEUNSEENTHISISTHESCENE
THE STRANGE DREAM OF VIOLA LIUZZO 1965
THE ELEMENTS OF THE GODDESS Caitlin Matthews 1989 Page38 "This ennead of aspects is endlessly adaptable for it is made up of nine, the most adjustable and yet essentially unchanging number. However one chooses to add up multiples of nine, for example 54, 72, 108, they always add up to nine"
THE PATH OF PTAH
SHAMANIC WISDOM IN THE PYRAMID TEXTS THE MYSTICAL TRADITION OF ANCIENT EGYPT Jeremy Naydler 2005 Page 151 The Pyramid at Unas "There are altogether nine Pyramids with Pyramid Texts. They are all fairly close to each other at Saqqara" "Of the nine pyramids at Saqqara," Page 150 From a phe-/ Page 151 / nomenological standpoint, however, the best initial approach to the texts is without the encumbrance of the many rival theories concerning their interpretation, and to examine them simply as we find them on the walls of the corridors and chambers of the pyramid, through which and into which one walks. Approached in this way, the question of where to begin and where to end certainly seems at first not to be of paramount importance, for the Pyramid Texts are not like a book that one holds in the hand and reads from beginning to end; they are a book that we walk into, that encompasses us on all sides. In our first encounter with them, we find them architecturally located, and it may be that they do not in fact "begin" or "end" anywhere. The texts are wedded to walls and ask of us that we engage with them as architectural phenomena, with an awareness of where each utterance belongs in the inner structure and layout of the pyramid.
OSIRIS SOKAR SOKAR OSIRIS "Saqqara was sacred to the god Sokar,' originally regarded as a manifestation of Osiris, but at the same time fused with Ptah, the god of Memphis. As a manifestation of Osiris, Sokar represented his power of rebirth,"
Page 152 " Of the nine pyramids at Saqqara, four are so badly damaged that whole sections of text are missing from certain walls. These four are the pyramids of Teti, Pepi I, Merenrer and Iby. The pyramids of the three queens of Pepi are also not in the best state of preservation, and they suffer, along with that of Iby, from the added disadvantage of being single-chamber pyramids and therefore lacking an inscribed antechamber. Their texts are thus not as representative as the other pyramids, which all have antechamber, texts. This leaves the greatest body of extant texts in the pyramid of Unas and the pyramid of Pepi II. Pepi II's pyramid is the largest and has by far the most utterances on its walls. But it has also sustained some damage, so the texts of this pyramid are incomplete. One might think that this is more than made up for by the greater amount of texts. The impression one gets, however, is that Pepi somewhat indiscriminately crammed as many texts as possible into his pyramid, often overriding earlier conventions as to the placement of utterances on walls oriented to one or another of the cardinal directions.
Page 153 We are left, then, with the pyramid of Unas, which is not only the best preserved but also the one pyramid for which we have a complete set of utterances.10 Unas's pyramid was also the earliest to have texts inscribed on its inner walls, and the placement of the texts seems fo follow a clearer intention than in the later pyramids.ll As we have already seen, there is evidence to suggest that the Egyptians themselves regarded the Unas texts, in contradistinction to the texts in the other pyramids, as having canonical status. In concentrating on this pyramid, we need not, however, ignore the others. Unas's pyramid probably served as the model or archetype of the later pyramids, which all emulated it in design and to a significant degree also in the thematic content of their texts. To enable the reader to pursue comparison between the Unas texts and those of the other pyramids, a list of utterances and their position in the chambers of their respective pyramids is given in appendix 2.2
THISISTHESCENEOFTHESEENUNSEENTHEUNSEENSEENOFTHESCENEUNSEENTHISISTHESCENE
SHAMANIC WISDOM IN THE PYRAMID TEXTS THE MYSTICAL TRADITION OF ANCIENT EGYPT Jeremy Naydler 2005 Page 201 "The Sarcophagus Chamber Texts At the western end of the south wall, nearest to the sarcophagus, the priest addresses Unas with these words: O Unas, you have not departed dead, Page 202 As we have seen in chapter 3, this statement is usually interpreted as a pious denial of the reality of the king's death. However, not only is the king said to be sitting on the throne of Osiris, but he is also said to be grasping a scepter in either hand. The utterance clearly implies a kingship ritual, quite possibly a coronation ceremony, celebrated by the living king. O Unas, you have not departed dead, you have departed alive. If this were any normal departure, there would be no reason to state so explicidy that the king was departing alive and not dead. It would seem that the destination of the king is the realm of .the dead, but he is journeying into it alive. (2) UTTERANCE 214: BECOMING A FALCON In utterance 214, Unas's traveling soul is instructed to beware of a lake. It is perhaps a lake of fire in which the king must cleanse himself, for Unas is now instructed to purify himself: Purify yourself! The transformation of the king's bones into those of falcons is a significant stage in the experiences that he is undergoing. The falcon is the form that the sun god Ra takes, and for the king to become transformed into a falcon is a magical act that ensures his inner identity with the solar principle. The falcon in this respect has the same role in ancient Egypt as the eagle in many shamanic traditions, in which the Supreme Being as solar spirit becomes manifest as a sun bird, which usually has the form of an eagle. The eagle is thus the most potent form for the shaman to assume, and it is as a soaring eagle that he rises up to the spirit world.44 The fact that both Ra / Page 204 /
and Horus, with whom the king is identified, are conceived as falcons is an indication of this shamanic substratum of Egyptian religion. In the passage we are considering, it is not, of course, literally the king's physical bones that are transformed, but rather that the transformation he undergoes is so far-reaching that he acquires the same "celestial" body as the sun god Ra Thereafter, it is in the form of a falcon that Unas continues his spiritjourney to the stars (fig. 7.14 omitted). Figure 7.14.(Omitted) The human soul takes the form of a human-headed falcon when journeying into the spirit world either in dream, death, or shamanic flight as described in utterance 214. Tomb of Arinefer, Thebes. New Kingdom. (3) UTTERANCE 215: HEALING HORUS AND SETH, EMBRACED BY ATUM "The third stage of this journey is described in utterance 215, in which the king heals the eye of Horus injured by Seth and restores to Seth his testicles, whicn Horus has torn out. Unas is able to achieve this healing of the two antagonists because he is embraced by the supreme god Atum, whose very being transcends all opposites.47 By healing the injuries these two antagonists / Page 205 / have inflicted on each other, the king is able to unite fully with the royal ka energy.48 It is as if the conflict of Horus and Seth has the effect of locking up and making unavailable this vital energy of the ka, holding back all further
progress until a reconciliation is accomplished (fig. 7.15 omitted). The conflict of
these gods can be understood as being waged on the divine, the psychic, and the physical levels: On the divine level it is a clash of the cosmic forces of generation and destruction; on the psychic level it is an objective psychic reality that lives within the human soul; and on the physical level it manifests in the antagonism within the landscape between fertile land and desert. Figure 7.15. The reconciliation of Horus and Seth, as depicted in the Along with the reconciliation of Horus and Seth, the other salient theme of the utterance is the embrace of the king by Atum and his being protected by Atum in his solar form as Ra-Atum. The latter ensures that Unas will not suffer from the adverse power of any of the gods, most significantly Osiris, who "shall not claim your heart, nor have power over your heart."5o While it might be odd for a dead king to have to be protected from Osiris, with whom he is supposed to be conjoined at death, this passage reminds us that if the king is / Page 206 / living, then it is essential that he not fall wholly under the power of Osiris. The aim is rather to come into direct relationship with the transcendent godhead Atum in his solar aspect, thereby rising beyond the danger of falling into too close an identification with either Horus on the one side, Seth on the other, or Osiris in between. (4) UTTERANCE 216: IN THE NIGHT BARK OF THE SUN The next utterance (utt. 216), in the middle of the south wall, marks the end of the first phase of the king's journey. Unas declares: I have come to you O Nephthys; I have come to you O Night Bark.51 Figure 7.16.(Omitted) A scene from the Sed festival of Amenhotep III, showing him traveling as Ra on the solar night bark with his queen. Tomb of Kheruef New Kingdom. We know from reliefs in the New Kingdom tomb of Kheruef that king Amenhotep III undertook a ritual journey in the night bark of the sun god Ra as part of his Sed festival rites. This probably took place on a lake construct~d near his palace at Malqata, and was meant ritually to reinforce the reality of his solar rebirth and his identification with Ra. The text that accompanies the depiction of this event states that these rites were a revival of ceremonies that were very ancient and were enacted "in accordance with writings of old."52 Since the Pyramid Texts were composed over a thousand years earlier, it is quite possible that these were the "writings of old" that the ceremonies of Amenhotep IIIl's Sed festival were based on. In figure 7.16, we / Page 207 /see Amenhotep portrayed as Ra himself, with his queen beside him, traveling on the night bark. While this was enacted as a ritual, the Pyramid Texts seem to be describing something much closer to the actual inner experience that lay behind, and determined, the outer form of the ritual. 53 Figure 7.17.(Omitted) Orion, Sothis, and the southern constellations. Sothis (Sirius), the celestial form of Isis, is on the left; Orion (with whom Osiris was identified) is next to her with the three stars of Orions belt above him; the stars of the southern constellations are to his right and in the midst of them, apparently, the solar boat, its occupants depicted above it. From the ceiling of the tomb of Senenmut at Deir el-Bahri, circa 1473 E.C. In the Unas text, it would seem that the king's identification with Ra at this juncture is to empower him as he descends into the dark netherworld (the Dwat). He prays that he may be remembered by Nephthys, whom he addresses as "She who remembers the kas," for he is himself about to be enveloped by the Underworld. Unas's entry into the Dwat is in the southwestern sky, where he follows the decanal constellations of Orion and Sirius as they are swallowed up or "encircled" by the Dwat. The southern constellations were thought to be governed by Osiris because they disappear for seventy days, going through a symbolic death followed by a rebirth when they reappear again. The leader of the southern constellations was regarded as Orion, with which Osiris was identified (fig. 7.17). Just as the / Page 208 / southern constellations enter the Dwat when they disappear from view, so Unas will be "encircled" by the Dwat. But this experience of being encompassed by the Dwat involves at the same time a process of purification in a mysterious region called the Akhet. Orion is encircled by the Dwat, When, living, he purifies himself in the Akhet. Sothis [Sirius] is encircled by the Dwat, When, living, she purifies herself in the Akhet. Unas is encircled by the Dwat, When, living, he purifies himself in the Akhet.54"
HORUS IS ON ON IS HORUS HORUS ZION ZION HORUS
"Now, Akhet is usually translated as "horizon," but it should be understood
as the place in which the king undergoes transformation into an akh, or "shining spirit."55 And this is the crucial expe(ience that is undergone here. It is the inward realization that one's essential nature is beyond the opposing principles of Horus and Seth and stems from a higher transcendent source. Thus at the end of utterance 216, the king commits himself "to the arms of my father, to the arms of Atum."56
UNAS OSIRIS OSIRIS UNAS ENTERS A SUN
(5) UTTERANCE 217: SOLARIZATION "In the utterance that follows (utt. 217) it is affirmed: "You [Atum-Ra and the king] shall traverse the sky being united in the darkness; you shall rise /
Page 209 / from the Akhet, from the place in which you have become akh."59 This statement is made four times in order to emphasize its importance. How are we to understand this "union in darkness" of the king and Atum-Ra? The union is occurring on the solar night bark in the depths of the Underwor!d, or Dwat. Here in these netherwotld depths, the king comes
to the place of renewal, the Akhet, where he is infused with the powers of
spiritual regeneration that the sun god taps each night. That which ensures the rebirth of the sun also ensures the rebirth of the king, for the king has become conjoined with the sun god. The king has become consciously connected with the self-regenerating energy of the sun god: He has become "solarized." Now, having incorporated into himself the solar energy of the sun god, he rises up from the Akhet as a "shining spirit"-an akh.60 (6) UTTERANCE 218: EMPOWERMENT Utterance 218 amplifies the same point: The power of the solarized Unas is greater than that of Osiris, to whom the utterance is addressed. It is cosmic, it extends over the four directions, over the heavens, over the Underworld (referred to as the Lower Sky), and over the earth.61 Once again the repeated references to the king's power extending over those who are on earth militates against a funerary interpretation of this utterance. It is concerned, on the contrary, with an exaltation of his power while still . alive, as the next utterance unequivocally affirms. (7) UTTERANCE 219: A LIVING OSIRIS The texts of the south wall conclude at the east end with utterance 219. This consists of an affirmation that we have already had cause to discuss in chapter 3, both in relation to problems in the funerary interpretation of the Pyramid Texts and in relation to the episode in the Sed festival "secret rites" in which the king has a visionary encounter with twelve deities. Unas, now identified once more with Osiris, is said to "live." The affirmation is made twelve times to major deities such as Atum, Shu, Tefnut, Geb, Nut, and so on, nearly all of whom appear before Osorkon during his Sed festival in the "secret rites" (fig. 3.4). It is then repeated twelve more times to twelve different manifestations of Osiris, beginning with Nunet, who / Page 210 / should possibly be understood as the the tomb personified.62 The same affirmation is thus repeated twenty-four times altogether. This drives home its message, which mirrors that of utterance 213 at the west end of the wall, where it is said that Unas has departed alive, not dead. Now, addressing each god in turn, it is reiterated that Unas is an Osiris, he is not dead, he lives, and furthermore he is not judged. The utterance begins by addressing Atum :
O Atum, this one here is your son Osiris,
OSIRIS UNAS OSIRIS A SUN
SHAMANIC WISDOM IN THE PYRAMID TEXTS THE MYSTICAL TRADITION OF ANCIENT EGYPT Jeremy Naydler 2005 Eliade has pointed out that one of the characteristics of shamans is that they "are able, here on earth and as often as they wish, to accomplish 'coming out of the body,' that is, the death that alone has power to transform the rest of mankind into 'birds'; shamans and sorcerers can enjoy the condition of 'souls,' of 'discarnate beings,' which is accessible to the profane only when they die."39
THE COSMIC SERPENT James Narby Page 54 / 55 "After multiple episodes, which would be too long to describehere, Harner became convinced he was dying. He tried call/ing out to his Conibo friends for an antidote without managing to pronounce a word" Page 71 "At this point I remembered Michael Harner's story. Had he not said that this information was reserved for the dead and dying"
THE MAGIC MOUNTAIN Thomas Mann 1875-1955 Page 466 "Had not the normal, since time was, lived on the achievements of the abnormal? Men consciously and
REMEMBERING OSIRIS Number, Gender, and the Word in Ancient Egyptian Representational Systems Tom Hare 1 999 THREE, TWO, ONE, ZERO Page185 /6 Among the Coffin Texts of the Middle Kingdom, for example, is a majestic and terrible spell for "Becoming Magic"; O noble ones in the presence of Lord Atum, When his million ka were there, protection for his retinue, And I am under the protection of the command of the Sole Lord, "O noble ones in the presence of Lord Atum, Here am I, come before you," "O noble ones in the presence of Lord 1234, Here am 9, come before 7," Page185 /6 Chapter 4 THREE, TWO, ONE, ZERO O noble ones in the presence of Lord 1234, When his million ka were there, protection for his retinue, And 9 am under the protection of the command of the Sole Lord,
I YOU ME GODS LOVE LOVE GODS ALL CREATORS CREATORS ALL
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