Then the goddess disclosed herself and asked for the pillar which served to support the roof. If, then, the most noted of the philosophers, observing the riddle of the Divine in inanimate and incorporeal objects, have not thought it proper to treat anything with carelessness or disrespect, even more do I think that, in all likelihood, we should welcome those peculiar properties existent in natures which possess the power of perception and have a soul and feeling and character. Isis and Osiris, are the ones who civilize humanity, making them popular and prosperous.
They used wood because wood was scarce. Amazing Egyptian Gods This, then, is what I most approve in the accounts that are given regarding the animals held in honour. It is not that we should honour these, but that through these we should honour the Divine, since they are clearer mirrors of the Divine by their nature also, so that we should regard them as the instrument or device of the God who orders all things. This was a Sign to her about our generation awakening more and more to the concept of Soul Mates and Twin Flame. The Apis, together with a few other animals, seems to be sacred to Osiris;[4] but to Typhon they assign the largest number of animals. Some give his name as Masdes. Also, since she gave birth to Horus and helped him sit on his father’s throne, she became the Queen Mother of Egypt/Kemet (Mut Nsut in Medu Neter, the language of Kemet). If there befall a great and severe drought that brings on in excess either fatal diseases or other unwonted and extraordinary calamities, the priests, under cover of darkness, in silence and stealth, lead away some of the animals that are held in honour; and at first they but threaten and terrify the animals,[1] but if the drought still persists, they consecrate and sacrifice them, as if, forsooth, this were a means of punishing the deity, or at least a mighty rite of purification in matters of the highest importance! Most of the materials that are taken into this compound, inasmuch as they have aromatic properties, give forth a sweet emanation and a beneficent exhalation, by which the air is changed, and the body, being moved gently and softly[3] by the current, acquires a temperament conducive to sleep; and the distress and strain of our daily carking cares, as if they were knots, these exhalations relax and loosen without the aid of wine. Hence it is an excellent saying current among philosophers that they that have not learned to interpret rightly the sense of words are wont to bungle their actions. In these matters the Greeks are correct in saying and believing that the dove is the sacred bird of Aphroditê, that the serpent is sacred to Athena, the raven to Apollo, and the dog to Artemis—as Euripides[4] says.
But the great majority of the Egyptians, in doing service to the animals themselves and in treating them as gods, have not only filled their sacred offices with ridicule and derision, but this is the least of the evils connected with their silly practices.
And that is a very important thing. Thus it happened that Isis was sent for and became so intimate with the queen that the queen made her the nurse of her baby. Some say that the years of Osiris’s life, others that the years of his reign, were twenty-eight;[4] for that is the number of the moon’s illuminations, and in that number of days does she complete her cycle. Ra did not want to spend his time floating around, doing nothing, so he flew into the sky and became the sun. If, then, you listen to the stories about the gods in this way, accepting them from those who interpret the story reverently and philosophically, and if you always perform and observe the established rites of worship, and believe that no sacrifice that you can offer, no deed that you may do will be more likely to find favour with the gods than your belief in their true nature, you may avoid superstition which is no less an evil than atheism.[5]. Isis, however, to whom Typhon was delivered in chains, did not cause him to be put to death, but released him and let him go. When the young prince Horus heard what his uncle Set had done, although he was still only a boy, he tracked down his uncle Set and murdered him. Eudoxus says that, while many tombs of Osiris are spoken of in Egypt, his body lies in Busiris; for this was the place of his birth; moreover, Taphosiris[1] requires no comment, for the name itself means “the tomb of Osiris.” I pass over the cutting of wood,[2] the rending of linen, and the libations that are offered, for the reason that many of their secret rites are involved therein.