(42) Isis is shown with her son Horus in her arms. She is crowned with the lunar orb, ornamented with the horns of rams or bulls. Orus, or Horus as he is more generally known, was the son of Isis and Osiris. He was the god of time, hours, days, and this narrow span of life recognized as mortal existence. In all probability, the four sons of Horus represent the four kingdoms of Nature. It was Horus who finally avenged the murder of his father, Osiris, by slaying Typhon, the spirit of Evil.

(366) 626 To say: O Osiris N., stand up, lift thyself up; 626 thy mother Nut has brought thee forth; Geb has wiped thy mouth for thee. 626 The Great Ennead avenge thee; 626 they put for thee thine enemy under thee. 627 Carry thou (him who is) greater than thou, said they to him, in thy name of "He of the Great Saw Palace." 627 Lift (him up who is) greater than thou, said they, in thy name of "He of the Great Land Nome." 628 Thy two sisters Isis and Nephthys come to thee; they heal thee 628 complete and great, in thy name of "Great Black," 628 fresh and great, in thy name of "Great Green." 629 Behold, thou art great and round like the "Great Round"; 629 behold, thou are bent around, and art round like the "Circle which encircles the nb.wt"; 629 behold, thou art round and great like the "Great Circle which sets." 630 Isis and Nephthys protected thee in Si�t, 630 even their lord in thee, in thy name of "Lord of Si�t"; 630 even their god in thee, in thy name of "God." 631 a. They adore thee, so that thou shalt not (again) withdraw from them, in thy name of "Dw-ntr" (or, "divine Dw"); 631 they take care of thee, so that thou mayest not (again) be angry, in thy name of "Dndr.w-boat." 632 Thy sister comes to thee, rejoicing for love of thee. 632 Thou hast placed her on thy phallus, 632 that thy seed may go into her, (while) it is pointed like Sothis. 632 Horus the pointed has come forth from thee as Horus who was in Sothis. 633 Thou art pleased with him, in his name of "Spirit who was in the Dndr.w-boat"; 633 he avenges thee, in his name of "Horus, the son, who avenges his father."

(10) After Osiris, here symbolized as the sun, had become King of Egypt and had given to his people the full advantage of his intellectual light, he continued his path through the heavens, visiting the peoples of other nations and converting all with whom he came in contact. Plutarch further asserts that the Greeks recognized in Osiris the same person whom they revered under the names of Dionysos and Bacchus. While he was away from his country, his brother, Typhon, the Evil One, like the Loki of Scandinavia, plotted against the Sun God to destroy him. Gathering seventy-two persons as fellow conspirators, he attained his nefarious end in a most subtle manner. He had a wonderful ornamented box made just the size of the body of Osiris. This he brought into a banquet hall where the gods and goddesses were feasting together. All admired the beautiful chest, and Typhon promised to give it to the one whose body fitted it most perfectly. One after another lay down in the box, but in disappointment

(60) It will yet be proved that the Table of Isis is directly connected with Egyptian Gnosticism, for in a Gnostic papyrus preserved in the Bodleian Library there is a direct reference to the twelve Fathers or Paternities beneath whom are twelve Fountains. (See Egyptian Magic by S.S.D.D.) That the lower panel represents the underworld is further emphasized by the two gates--the great gate of the East and the great gate of the West--for in the Chaldean theology the sun rises and sets through gates in the underworld, where it wanders during the hours of darkness. As Plato was for thirteen years under the instruction of the Magi Patheneith, Ochoaps, Sechtnouphis, and Etymon of Sebbennithis, his philosophy consequently is permeated with the Chaldean and Egyptian system of triads. The Bembine Table is a diagrammatic exposition of the so-called Platonic philosophy, for in its design is epitomized the entire theory of mystic cosmogony and generation. The most valuable guide to the interpretation of this Table is the Commentaries of Proclus on the Theology of Plato. The Chaldean Oracles of Zoroaster also contains many allusions to the theogonic principles which are demonstrated by the Table.

(4) Hermes, which is the name of my forebear, whose home is in a place called after him, doth aid and guard all mortal [men] who come to him from every side. As for Osiris’ [spouse]; how many are the blessings that we know Isis bestows when she’s propitious; how many does she injure when she’s wrath! For that the terrene and the cosmic Gods are easily enraged, in that they are created and composed of the two natures.

(4) Apuleius in the eleventh book of The Golden Ass ascribes to the goddess the following statement concerning her powers and attributes: "Behold, * *, I, moved by thy prayers, am present with thee; I, who am Nature, the parent of things, the queen of all the elements, the primordial progeny of ages, the supreme of Divinities, the sovereign of the spirits of the dead, the first of the celestials, and the uniform resemblance of Gods and Goddesses. I, who rule by my nod the luminous summits of the heavens, the salubrious breezes of the sea, and the deplorable silences of the realms beneath, and whose one divinity the whole orb of the earth venerates under a manifold form, by different rites and a variety of appellations. Hence the primogenial Phrygians call me Pessinuntica, the mother of the Gods, the Attic Aborigines, Cecropian Minerva; the floating Cyprians, Paphian Venus; the arrow-bearing Cretans, Diana Dictynna; the three-tongued Sicilians, Stygian Proserpine; and the Eleusinians, the ancient Goddess Ceres. Some also call me Juno, others Bellona, others Hecate, and others Rhamnusia. And those who are illuminated by the incipient rays of that divinity the Sun, when he rises, viz. the Ethiopians, the Arii, and the Egyptians skilled in ancient learning, worshipping me by ceremonies perfectly appropriate, call me by my true name, Queen Isis."

(676) 2007 To say: Thy water belongs to thee, thine abundance belongs to thee, thine efflux belongs to thee, 2007 which issues from Osiris. 2008 Collect thy bones; arrange thy limbs; 2008 shake off thy dust; untie thy bandages. 2009 The tomb is open for thee; the double doors of the coffin are undone for thee; 2009 the double doors of heaven are open for thee. 2009 "Hail," says Isis; "(come) in peace," says Nephthys, 2009 when they see their brother at the feast of Atum. 2010 These thy libations, Osiris, are in Busiris, in Grg.w-b(.f ); 2010 thy soul is in thy body; thy might is behind thee; remain chief of (or, master of) thy powers. 2011 Raise thyself up, N., 2011 travel over the southern regions; travel over the northern regions; 2011 be thou powerful over the powers that are in thee. 2011 Thy spirits, the jackals, are given thee which Horus of Hierakonpolis has given to thee. 2012 Raise thyself up, N., be seated on thy firm (or, copper) throne. 2012 Anubis, who is chief of the divine pavillion (s-ntr), has commanded 2012 thy purification with thy eight nm.t-jars and (thy) eight `b.tjars, which come from the s-ntr. 2013 Thou art a god who supports the sky, who beautifies the earth. 2013 The mnt.t-woman laments for thee; the great min.t mourns for thee; 2014 arms agitate for thee; feet tremble for thee, 2014 when thou ascendest as a star, as the morning star. 2014 He comes to thee, his father; he comes to thee, Geb; 2015 take his hand, let him sit upon the great seat; 2015 let him unite with the two mt-lakes of b.w; 2015 purify his mouth with natron on the lap of Mnti-'irti; 2015 purify his nails, upper and lower. 2016 Let one do for him what thou didst do for his brother, Osiris, . on the day of counting the bones, 2016 of making firm the sandals, of ferrying over the lake Rd-wr. 2017 To thee come the wise and the understanding; 2017 thou art called to the southern 'itr.t-palace; 2017 to thee come (the gods of) the full northern 'itr.t-palace, with a salutation. 54. TEXTS OF MISCELLANEOUS CONTENTS,

(649) 1830 To say: Osiris N., Geb has given thee all the gods, 1830 that they may unite with thee. Thou hast power over them; 1830 and they fraternize with thee, in their name of "n.wt"; 1830 they have not rejected thee in their name of ["The two 'itr.tpalaces"]. 1831 Osiris N., Horus has assigned them to thee, united (them). 1831a + 1. He has encircled for thee all the gods in the embrace of thy two arms, 1831a + 2. together with their lands, together with all their possessions, 1831a + 3. that they may do service of courtier, as thy "bodyguard." 1831a + 4. O N., thou art a great god; 1831a + 5. thou art great, thou art bent around like the "Circle which encircles the nb.wt." 1831 Osiris N., behold, thou art avenged, thou livest; thou movest daily. 1831 Osiris N., there is no discord in thee. 1831 d. Osiris, N., thou art the ka of all the gods. 1832 Horus has avenged thee; thou art become his ka. 1832a + 1. O Osiris N., thou art a god, the power of all the gods. 1832 An eye has gone forth from thy head like the "Great-in-charms" of Upper Egypt. 1832b + 1. He has given to thee as his eye in thy forehead as the "Great-in-charms" of Upper Egypt. 1832b + 2. An eye has gone forth from thy head (in) Lower Egypt. 1832b + 3. Thou dawnest as Horus, king of Lower Egypt; they are fraternizing with thee, 1832b + 4. in alliance with Horus, king of Lower Egypt. 1832b + 5. Thou dawnest as king of Upper and Lower Egypt. 1832b + 6. Thou art powerful over the gods, also their kas. 1832b + 7. O Osiris N., thou art the two souls, thou shalt not die; 1832b + 8. Osiris N., thou hast spoken; thou hast rejoiced, Osiris N. 1832b + 9. Thou hast a ba, Osiris N.; thou hast life, Osiris N.; 1832b + 10. thou art powerful; thou destroyest thine enemies, Osiris N. 1832b + 11. Horus, thou hast made peace (to be) with Osiris N.- 1832b + 12. peace be upon her. 1832b + 13. Thou hast put thy regard upon her. 1832b + 14. May peace be to thee, which he gives to thee, (to) thy head.

(303) 464 To say: Gods of the West, gods of the East, gods of the South, gods of the North- 464 these four pure reed-floats, which ye placed for Osiris, 464 for his ascension to heaven, 465 that he might ferry over to b.w, while his son Horus was at hand (at his fingers), 465 (whom) he reared and whom he caused to dawn as a great god in b.w, 465 place them for N. 466 Art thou Horus, son of Osiris? Art thou, O N., the god, the eldest, son of Hathor? 466 Art thou the seed of Geb? 467 Osiris has ordained that N. dawn as a second Horus. 467 Those four souls (spirits), who are in Heliopolis, have written it 467 in the register of the two Great Gods who are in b.w.

(53) "Plato writes that it is needful for the philosopher to know how the seven circles beneath the first one are arranged according to the Egyptians. The first triad of fire denotes life; the second, water, over which rule the Ibimorphous divinities; and the third, air, ruled by Nephta. From the fire the heavens were created, from the water the earth, and air was the mediator between them. In the Sephira Yetzirah it is said that from the three originate the seven, i. e., the height, the depth, the East, the West, the North, and the South, and the Holy Temple in the center sustaining them all. Is not the Holy Temple in the center the great throne of the many-formed Spirit of Nature which is shown in the middle of the Tablet? What are the seven triads but the seven Powers that rule over the world? Psellus writes: 'The Egyptians worshipped the triad of faith, truth, and love; and the seven fountains: the Sun as ruler--the fountain of matter; then the fountain of the archangels; the fountain of the senses; of judgment; of lightning; of reflections; and of characters of unknown composition. They say that the highest material fountains are those of Apollo, Osiris, and Mercury--the fountains of the centers of the elements. 'Thus, they understood by the Sun as ruler the solar world; by the material archangelic, the lunar world; by the fountain of the senses, the world of Saturn; by judgment, Jupiter; by lightning, Mars; by that of the reflections, or mirrors, the world of Venus; by the fountain of characters, the world of Mercury. All these are shown by the figures in the center pane of the Tablet."

(482) 1002 To say: O father, Osiris N., 1002 raise thyself from thy left side, put thyself on thy right side, 1002 toward this fresh water, which I have given to thee. 1003 O father, Osiris N., 1003 raise thyself from thy left side, put thyself on thy right side, 1003 toward this warm bread, which I have made for thee. 1004 O father, Osiris N., 1004 the double doors of heaven are open for thee; the double doors of the bows are open for thee. 1004 The gods of Buto are filled with compassion 1004 when they come to Osiris at the voice of lamentation of Isis and Nephthys. 1005 The Souls of Buto dance for thee; 1005 they beat their flesh for thee; they smite their arms for thee; 1005 they dishevel their hair for thee; 1005 they say to Osiris: 1006. "Thou art gone, thou art come; thou art awake, thou wast asleep; thou remainest alive. 1007 Stand up, see this; stand up, hear this, 1007 what thy son has done for thee, what Horus has done for thee. 1007 He beats him who beats thee; he binds him who binds thee; 1008 he puts him under his great daughter who is in dm. 1008 (it is) thy great sister who collected thy flesh, who gathered thy hands, 1008 who sought thee, who found thee upon thy side on the shore of Ndi.t, 1009 so that mourning ceased in the two 'itr.t-palaces." 1009 Ye gods, speak to him, bring him to you. 1009 But thou shalt ascend to heaven; thou shalt become Wp.w.wt. 1010 Thy son Horus leads thee on the ways of heaven. 1010 Heaven is given to thee; earth is given to thee; the Marsh of Reeds is given to thee, 1010 together with those two great gods who come from Heliopolis.

(45) Frequently the statue of Isis was accompanied by the figure of a large black and white ox. The ox represents either Osiris as Taurus, the bull of the zodiac, or Apis, an animal sacred to Osiris because of its peculiar markings and colorings. Among the Egyptians, the bull was a beast of burden. Hence the presence of the animal was a reminder of the labors patiently performed by Nature that all creatures may have life and health. Harpocrates, the God of Silence, holding his fingers to his mouth, often accompanies the statue of Isis. He warns all to keep the secrets of the wise from those unfit to know them.

(7) Several authors have attempted to prove that Isis, Osiris, Typhon, Nephthys, and Aroueris (Thoth, or Mercury) were grandchildren of the great Jewish patriarch Noah by his son Ham. But as the story of Noah and his ark is a cosmic allegory concerning the repopulation of planets at the beginning of each world period, this only makes it less likely that they were historical personages. According to Robert Fludd, the sun has three properties--life, light, and heat. These three vivify and vitalize the three worlds--spiritual, intellectual, and material. Therefore, it is said "from one light, three lights," i. e. the first three Master Masons. In all probability, Osiris represents the third, or material, aspect of solar activity, which by its beneficent influences vitalizes and enlivens the flora and fauna of the earth. Osiris is not the sun, but the sun is symbolic of the vital principle of Nature, which the ancients knew as Osiris. His symbol, therefore, was an opened eye, in honor of the Great Eye of the universe, the sun. Opposed to the active, radiant principle of impregnating fire, hear, and motion was the passive, receptive principle of Nature.

(76) 51 Osiris, N., take to thyself the eye of Horus, with which he brought and carried the gods. Tw.t-oil.

(9) And Semele, the daughter of Cadmus, too, bore an illustrious son, Dionysus, the joy-inspiring, when she mingled with him in love." Cadmus, the father of Semele, came to Thebes in the time of Lynceus, and was the inventor of the Greek letters. Triopas was a contemporary of Isis, in the seventh generation from Inachus. And Isis, who is the same as Io, is so called, it is said, from her going (ienai) roaming over the whole earth. Her, Istrus, in his work on the migration of the Egyptians, calls the daughter of Prometheus. Prometheus lived in the time of Triopas, in the seventh generation after Moses. So that Moses appears to have flourished even before the birth of men, according to the chronology of the Greeks. Leon, who treated of the Egyptian divinities, says that Isis by the Greeks was called Ceres, who lived in the time of Lynceus, in the eleventh generation after Moses. And Apis the king of Argos built Memphis, as Aristippus says in the first book of the Arcadica. And Aristeas the Argive says that he was named Serapis, and that it is he that the Egyptians worship.

(454) 847 To say: Osiris N., thou hast encircled every god in thine arms, 847 their lands, all their possessions. 847 Osiris N., thou art great, thou art bent around like the circle which encircles the nb.wt.

(14) "The Logos-figure described is a composite picture of the seven sacred planets: he has the snowy-white hair of Kronos ('Father Time'), the blazing eyes of 'wide-seeing' Zeus, the sword of Arcs, the shining face of Helios, and the chiton and girdle of Aphrodite; his feet are of mercury, the metal sacred to Hermes, and his voice is like the murmur of the ocean's waves (the 'many waters'), alluding to Selene, the Moon-Goddess of the four seasons and of the waters."

(1) Jesus continued and said: "Hearken then, that I may tell you their mystery. It came to pass then, when Yew had thus bound them, that he drew forth a power out of the great Invisible and bound it to him who is called Kronos. And he drew another power out of Ipsantachounchaïnchoucheōch, who is one of the three triple-powered gods, and bound it to Arēs. And he drew a power out of Chaïnchōōōch, who also is one of the three triple-powered gods, and bound it to Hermēs. Again he drew a power out of the Pistis the Sophia daughter of Barbēlō and bound it to Aphroditē.

(15) Typhon was later slain in battle by the son of Osiris. Some of the Egyptians believed that the souls of the gods were taken to heaven, where they shone forth as stars. It was supposed that the soul of Isis gleamed from the Dog Star, while Typhon became the constellation of the Bear. It is doubtful, however, whether this idea was ever generally accepted.

(9) In the ancient world the year had 360 days. The five extra days were gathered together by the God of Cosmic Intelligence to serve as the birthdays of the five gods and goddesses who are called the sons and daughters of Ham. Upon the first of these special days Osiris was born and upon the fourth of them Isis. (The number four shows the relation that this goddess bears to the earth and its elements.) Typhon, the Egyptian Demon or Spirit of the Adversary, was born upon the third day. Typhon is often symbolized by a crocodile; sometimes his body is a combination of crocodile and hog. Isis stands for knowledge and wisdom, and according to Plutarch the word Typhon means insolence and pride. Egotism, self-centeredness, and pride are the deadly enemies of understanding and truth. This part of the allegory is revealed.