Passages similar to: Egyptian Book of the Dead — Chapter L
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Ancient Egyptian
Egyptian Book of the Dead
Chapter L (4.)
The fastenings of the hinder part of my head were fastened by Nu, on the first time of my beholding the Law in virtue of which the gods and their symbols come into existence
The Deceased King Triumphs Over His Enemies And Is Recognized By The Gods, Utterances 260-262 (260)
316 To say: O Geb, bull of Nut, N. is a Horus, heir of his father. 316 N. is the goer, the comer, the fourth of these four gods, 316 who have brought...
(260) 316 To say: O Geb, bull of Nut, N. is a Horus, heir of his father. 316 N. is the goer, the comer, the fourth of these four gods, 316 who have brought water (and) made themselves clean, who rejoice over the "power" of their fathers. 316 He desires that he be justified by that which he has done. 317 Since Tfn and Tefnut have judged N.; since the Two Truths have heard (him); 317 since Shu has been advocate (tongue); since the Two Truths have given verdict; 317 he has encompassed the thrones of Geb, he has raised himself to that which he wished. 318 (So now that) his limbs are united, which were hidden (in the grave), 318 he unites himself with those who are in Nun. He puts an end to his words in Heliopolis, 318 as N. goes forth on that day in the true form of an . 319 N. destroys battle; he punishes revolt. 319 N. goes forth (as) the protector of truth; he brings her, for she is with him. 319 Those who were furious, (now) busy themselves for him; those who are in Nun, (now) give life over to him. 320 The refuge of N. is in his eye; the protection of N. is in his eye; 320 the power of N. is in his eye; the strength of N. is in his eye. 321 O gods of South, North, West, East, respect N., fear him; 321 he has sat in the t of the two courts. 321 That uraeus-serpent dnn-wt.t might have burned you, for she attained your heart, 322 you (they) who might have come to N. as an adversary; come to him (as a friend), come to him. 322 N. is the dd of his father, the nb of his mother. 323 The abomination of N. is to walk in darkness, 323 lest he see those who are upside down. 323 N. will come forth in this day; he will bring truth with him. 323 N. will not be delivered up to your flame, O gods.
Chapter 2: An Introduction, shewing how men may come to apprehend The Divine, and the Natural, Being. And further of the two Qualities. (49)
The head signifieth heaven; the same is grown on the body, by the veins, passages and going forth of powers; and so all the powers come again from...
(49) The head signifieth heaven; the same is grown on the body, by the veins, passages and going forth of powers; and so all the powers come again from the head and brain into the body, into the fountainveins or arteries of the flesh.
[Asclepius] What dost thou call, Thrice-greatest one, the heads of things, or sources of beginnings? [Trismegistus] Great are the mysteries which I...
(1) [Asclepius] What dost thou call, Thrice-greatest one, the heads of things, or sources of beginnings?
[Trismegistus] Great are the mysteries which I reveal to thee, divine the secrets I disclose; and so I make beginning of this thing with prayers for Heaven’s favour. The hierarchies of Gods are numerous; and of them all one class is called the Noumenal, the other [class] the Sensible. The former are called Noumenal, not for the reason that they’re thought to lie beyond our senses; for these are just the Gods we sense more truly than the ones we call the visible,—just as our argument will prove, and thou, if thou attend, wilt be made fit to see. For that a lofty reasoning, and much more one that is too godlike for the mental grasp of [average] men, if that the speaker’s words are not received with more attentive service of the ears,—will fly and flow beyond them; or rather will flow back [again], and mingle with the streams of its own source.
We must rather, therefore, say, that sounds and melodies are appropriately consecrated to the Gods. There is, also, an alliance in these sounds and...
(2) We must rather, therefore, say, that sounds and melodies are appropriately consecrated to the Gods. There is, also, an alliance in these sounds and melodies to the proper orders and powers of the several Gods, to the motions in the universe itself, and to the harmonious sounds which proceed from the motions. Conformably, therefore, to such like adaptations of melodies to the Gods, the Gods themselves become present. For there is not any thing which intercepts; so that whatever has but a casual similitude to, directly participates of, them . A perfect possession, likewise, immediately takes place, and a plenitude of a more excellent essence and power. Not that the body and the soul are in each other, and sympathize, and are copassive with the melodies; but because the inspiration of the Gods is not separated from divine harmony, but is originally adapted and allied to it, on this account it is participated by it in appropriate measures. Hence also, it is excited and restrained according to the several orders of the Gods. But this inspiration must by no means be called an ablation, purgation, or medicine. For it is not primarily implanted in us from a certain disease, or excess, or redundance; but the whole principle and participation of it are supernally derived from the Gods.
THE oldest, the most profound, the most universal of all symbols is the human body. The Greeks, Persians, Egyptians, and Hindus considered a...
(1) THE oldest, the most profound, the most universal of all symbols is the human body. The Greeks, Persians, Egyptians, and Hindus considered a philosophical analysis of man's triune nature to be an indispensable part of ethical and religious training. The Mysteries of every nation taught that the laws, elements, and powers of the universe were epitomized in the human constitution; that everything which existed outside of man had its analogue within man. The universe, being immeasurable in its immensity and inconceivable in its profundity, was beyond mortal estimation. Even the gods themselves could comprehend but a part of the inaccessible glory which was their source. When temporarily permeated with divine enthusiasm, man may transcend for a brief moment the limitations of his own personality and behold in part that celestial effulgence in which all creation is bathed. But even in his periods of greatest illumination man is incapable of imprinting upon the substance of his rational soul a perfect image of the multiform expression of celestial activity.
If the mind reels before something thus alien to all we know, we must take our stand on the things of this realm and strive thence to see. But, in...
(7) If the mind reels before something thus alien to all we know, we must take our stand on the things of this realm and strive thence to see. But, in the looking, beware of throwing outward; this Principle does not lie away somewhere leaving the rest void; to those of power to reach, it is present; to the inapt, absent. In our daily affairs we cannot hold an object in mind if we have given ourselves elsewhere, occupied upon some other matter; that very thing must be before us to be truly the object of observation. So here also; preoccupied by the impress of something else, we are withheld under that pressure from becoming aware of The Unity; a mind gripped and fastened by some definite thing cannot take the print of the very contrary. As Matter, it is agreed, must be void of quality in order to accept the types of the universe, so and much more must the soul be kept formless if there is to be no infixed impediment to prevent it being brimmed and lit by the Primal Principle.
In sum, we must withdraw from all the extern, pointed wholly inwards; no leaning to the outer; the total of things ignored, first in their relation to us and later in the very idea; the self put out of mind in the contemplation of the Supreme; all the commerce so closely There that, if report were possible, one might become to others reporter of that communion.
Such converse, we may suppose, was that of Minos, thence known as the Familiar of Zeus; and in that memory he established the laws which report it, enlarged to that task by his vision There. Some, on the other hand, there will be to disdain such citizen service, choosing to remain in the higher: these will be those that have seen much.
God- we read- is outside of none, present unperceived to all; we break away from Him, or rather from ourselves; what we turn from we cannot reach; astray ourselves, we cannot go in search of another; a child distraught will not recognise its father; to find ourselves is to know our source.
683 To say: N. is pure, his ka is pure. 683 How well is N., how well is N.--the bodily health of Horus! 683 How well is N., how well is, N.--the...
(390) 683 To say: N. is pure, his ka is pure. 683 How well is N., how well is N.--the bodily health of Horus! 683 How well is N., how well is, N.--the bodily health of Set! 683 The bodily health of N. is (to be) between you. 684 It is N. who stretched the cord (of a bow) as Horus, who draw the string as Osiris. 684 It is that one (the dead) who has gone; it is this one (Osiris) who comes (again). 685 Art thou Horus? A face is upon thee; thou shalt be set on thy head. 685 Art thou Set? A face is upon thee; thou shalt be laid on thy back. 685 This foot of N. [which he has placed upon thee is the] foot of Mfd.t; 685 [that] hand of N., which he has placed upon thee, is the hand of Mfd.t, who lives in the "house of life." 686 N. strikes thee in thy face, 686 so that thy saliva runs away. [He ------- so that] thy cheek ---. 686 iw-serpent, lie down; n`w-serpent, glide away.
The connascent perception, therefore, of the perpetual attendance of the Gods, will be assimilated to them. Hence, as they have an existence which is...
(3) The connascent perception, therefore, of the perpetual attendance of the Gods, will be assimilated to them. Hence, as they have an existence which is always invariably the same, thus also the human soul is conjoined to them by knowledge, according to a sameness of subsistence; by no means pursuing through conjecture, or opinion, or a syllogistic process, all which originate in time, an essence which is above all these, but through the pure and blameless intellections which the soul received from eternity from the Gods, becoming united to them. You, however, seem to think, that there is the same knowledge of divine natures as of any thing else, and that one thing, rather than another, may be granted from opposites, in the same manner as it is usual to do in dialectic discussions. There is, however, no similitude whatever between the two kinds of knowledge. For the knowledge of divine natures is different from that of other things, and is separated from all opposition. It likewise neither subsists in being now granted, or in becoming to be, but was from eternity, uniformly consubsistent with the soul. And thus much I say to you concerning the first principle in us, from which it is necessary those should begin who speak or hear any thing about the natures that are superior to us.
It becometh you to hasten unto the Light, and to the Rays of the Father, from whom was sent unto you a Soul (Psyche) endued with much mind (Nous).
(160) It becometh you to hasten unto the Light, and to the Rays of the Father, from whom was sent unto you a Soul (Psyche) endued with much mind (Nous).
The Deceased King Arrives In Heaven Where He Is Established, Utterances 244-259 (252)
Ye see him (how) he becomes as, a great god. 272 Introduce N. with trembling; adorn N., 273 who has honoured ye all, (as) he commanded mankind (also t...
(252) 272 To say: Lift up your head, ye gods, who are in the Dw.t, 272 for N. is come. Ye see him (how) he becomes as, a great god. 272 Introduce N. with trembling; adorn N., 273 who has honoured ye all, (as) he commanded mankind (also to do). 273 N. judges those who live in the midst of the land of R`, 273 as N. speaks to this pure land, wherein he has established his residence, with the judge of the two gods, 274 N. is mighty in his presence; N. bears the m-sceptre, when he (Thot) would reject N. 274 N. sits with those who row R`. 274 N. commands the good, and he (Thot) does it, (for) N. is the Great God.
A Series Of Old Heliopolitan Texts Partly Osirianized, Utterances 213-222 (221)
196 To say: O N.t (Crown of Lower Egypt), O 'Inw (Crown of Lower Egypt), O Great One (Crown of Lower Egypt), 196 O Great-in-magic (Crown of Lower...
(221) 196 To say: O N.t (Crown of Lower Egypt), O 'Inw (Crown of Lower Egypt), O Great One (Crown of Lower Egypt), 196 O Great-in-magic (Crown of Lower Egypt), O Nsr.t (Uraeus), 197 make thou the terror of N. to be like the terror of thee; 197 make thou the awe of N. to be like the awe of thee; 197 make thou the respect for N. to be like the respect for thee; 197 make thou the love for N. to be like the love for thee; 197 make thou that his `b-sceptre be at the head of the living; make thou that his m-sceptre be at the head of the spirits; 197 make thou that his blade be firm against his enemies. 198 O 'Inw-Crown, thou has come forth from him as he came forth from thee. 198 The great 'I.t has given birth to thee, the 'I.t-wt.t has adorned thee; 198 the 'I.t-wt.t has given birth to thee, the great 'I.t has adorned thee, 198 for as for thee, thou art like Horus, who fought in protection of his eye.
Miscellaneous Texts Chiefly About The Deceased King's Reception And Life In Heaven, Utterances 523-533 (524)
1233 To say: N. is pure with the purification which Horus did to his eye. 1233 N. is Thot who avenges thee (the eye); N. is not Set who seizes it....
(524) 1233 To say: N. is pure with the purification which Horus did to his eye. 1233 N. is Thot who avenges thee (the eye); N. is not Set who seizes it. 1233 Rejoice, O gods; rejoice, O Two Enneads. 1234 Let Horus approach N. 1234 N. is crowned with the white crown, the eye of Horus wherewith he is powerful. 1234 The gods rejoice for him who ascends. 1235 The face of N. is as that of a jackal; the two arms of N. are as those of a falcon; 1235 the extremities of the wings of N. are as those of Thot. 1235 May Geb let N. fly to heaven, 1235 that this N. may take the eye of Horus, to himself! 1236 N. has penetrated your frontier, ye dead; 1236 N. has overturned your boundary stones, ye who are before and with Osiris; 1236 N. has conjured the paths of Set; 1236 N. has passed by the messengers of Osiris. 1237 No god can hold N.; 1237 no opponent stands in the way of N. 1237 N. is Thot, the strongest of the gods; 1237 Atum calls N. to heaven for life. 1237 N. has taken the eye of Horus to himself! 1238 N. is the son of Khnum; there is nothing evil which N. has done. 1238 Weighty is this word before thee, O R`. 1238 Hear it, bull of the Ennead. 1239 Open the way of N.; enlarge the place of N. before the gods. 1239 N. has taken the eye of Horus to himself; N. has attached to himself that which went forth from his head. 1240 N. has caused him to see with both his eyes complete, 1240 that he may punish his enemies therewith. 1240 Horus has taken his eye and has given it to N. 1241 His odour is the odour of a god; the odour of the eye of Horus appertains to the flesh of N. 1241 N. is in front with it; N. sits upon your great throne, O gods; 1241 N. is side by side with Atum, between the two sceptres. 1242 N. is the wnnw (messenger?) of the gods in search of the eye of Horus; 1242 N. searched for it at Buto; he found it at Heliopolis; 1242 N. snatched it from the head of Set, at the place where they fought. 1243 Horus, give thine arm to N.; Horus take to thyself thine eye; 1243 it mounts up to thee; it ascends to thee; it comes to thee, N., for life; 1243 the eye of Horus comes to thee with N., before N., for ever.
Texts Of Miscellaneous Contents, Utterances 611-626 (611)
1724 To say: Thou who livest art living, father, in this thy name of "With the gods"; 1724 thou shalt dawn as Wepwawet, a soul at the head of the...
(611) 1724 To say: Thou who livest art living, father, in this thy name of "With the gods"; 1724 thou shalt dawn as Wepwawet, a soul at the head of the living, 1724 that mighty one at the head of the spirits. 1725 The king N. is a d-wr, who is at your head, spirits; 1725 the king N. is the great mighty-one, who is at your head, spirits; 1725 the king N. is a Thot among you, gods. 1726 The bolt is drawn for thee, 1726 (the bolt) to the two ram-portals, which hold people back. 1726 Thou countest enemies; thou takest the hand of the imperishable stars. 1727 Thine eyes are open; thine ears are open; 1727 enter into the house of the guardian; let thy father Geb guard thee. 1728 The water-holes are united for thee; the lakes are brought together for thee, 1728 for Horus who will avenge his father, for king N. who will avenge his body. 1729 A vulture greater than thou (does) triple homage to thee. 1729 It is agreeable to thy nose on account of the smell of the 'i.twt.t-crown.
Miscellaneous Utterances On The Career Of The Deceased King In The Hereafter, Utterances 317-337 (328)
537 To say: N. is the exalted, who is in the forefront, who lifts up the brow; 537 the star before which the gods bow, before which the Two Enneads...
(328) 537 To say: N. is the exalted, who is in the forefront, who lifts up the brow; 537 the star before which the gods bow, before which the Two Enneads tremble. 537 It is the hand of N. which will lift him (N.) up.
From this cause, therefore, the perfectly incorporeal Gods are united to the sensible Gods that have bodies. For the visible Gods also are external...
(6) From this cause, therefore, the perfectly incorporeal Gods are united to the sensible Gods that have bodies. For the visible Gods also are external to bodies, and on this account are in the intelligible world; and the intelligible Gods, through their infinite union, comprehend in themselves the visible Gods; and both are established according to a common union and one energy. In a similar manner, also, this is the illustrious prerogative of the cause and orderly distribution of the Gods, on which account the same union of all the divinities extends from on high, as far as to the end of the divine order. But if this deserves to be doubted, the contrary would be wonderful, viz. that there should not be this union of the visible and intelligible Gods. And thus much concerning the contact with, and establishment of, the sensible in the intelligible Gods.
I think, therefore, that those ancient sages, who sought to secure the presence of divine beings by the erection of shrines and statues, showed...
(11) I think, therefore, that those ancient sages, who sought to secure the presence of divine beings by the erection of shrines and statues, showed insight into the nature of the All; they perceived that, though this Soul is everywhere tractable, its presence will be secured all the more readily when an appropriate receptacle is elaborated, a place especially capable of receiving some portion or phase of it, something reproducing it, or representing it, and serving like a mirror to catch an image of it.
It belongs to the nature of the All to make its entire content reproduce, most felicitously, the Reason-Principles in which it participates; every particular thing is the image within matter of a Reason-Principle which itself images a pre-material Reason-Principle: thus every particular entity is linked to that Divine Being in whose likeness it is made, the divine principle which the soul contemplated and contained in the act of each creation. Such mediation and representation there must have been since it was equally impossible for the created to be without share in the Supreme, and for the Supreme to descend into the created.
The Intellectual-Principle in the Supreme has ever been the sun of that sphere- let us accept that as the type of the creative Logos- and immediately upon it follows the Soul depending from it, stationary Soul from stationary Intelligence. But the Soul borders also upon the sun of this sphere, and it becomes the medium by which all is linked to the overworld; it plays the part of an interpreter between what emanates from that sphere down to this lower universe, and what rises- as far as, through soul, anything can- from the lower to the highest.
Nothing, in fact, is far away from anything; things are not remote: there is, no doubt, the aloofness of difference and of mingled natures as against the unmingled; but selfhood has nothing to do with spatial position, and in unity itself there may still be distinction.
These Beings are divine in virtue of cleaving to the Supreme, because, by the medium of the Soul thought of as descending they remain linked with the Primal Soul, and through it are veritably what they are called and possess the vision of the Intellectual Principle, the single object of contemplation to that soul in which they have their being.
Being impelled, therefore, from another principle, viz. from the world and the mundane Gods, from the arrangement of the four elements in the world,...
(1) Being impelled, therefore, from another principle, viz. from the world and the mundane Gods, from the arrangement of the four elements in the world, and the association of the elements according to [appropriate] measures, and also from the orderly circulation of bodies about centres, we shall have an easy ascent to the truth of the piety respecting sacrifices. For if we are in the world, are contained as parts in the universe, are primarily produced by it, and perfected by the total powers that are in it, and if we consist of its elements, and receive from it a certain portion of life and nature; if this be the case, it is not proper to pass beyond the world and the mundane orders. We must admit, therefore, that in each part of the world there is this visible body, and that there are also incorporeal powers, which are divided about bodies. Hence the law of religion distributes similars to similars, and thus extends from on high, through wholes, as far as to the last of things; assigning, indeed, incorporeals to incorporeals, but bodies to bodies, and this commensurately to the nature of each. If, however, some theurgist should participate of the supermundane Gods, which is the rarest of all things, he, indeed, in the worship of the Gods will transcend both bodies and matter; being united to the Gods by a supermundane power. But that which happens to one person with difficulty and late, and at the end of the sacerdotal office, ought not to be promulgated as common to all men; nor ought it to be made a thing common to those who are commencing theurgic operations, nor to those who have made a middle proficiency in it. For these, after a manner, pay a corporeal-formed attention to sanctity.
Chapter 16: Of the noble Mind of the Understanding, Senses and Thoughts. Of the threefold Spirit and Will, and of the Tincture of the Inclination, and what is inbred in a Child in the Mother's Body [or Womb.] Of the Image of God, and of the bestial Image, and of the Image of the Abyss of Hell, and Similitude of the Devil, to be searched for, and found out in a [any] one Man. The noble Gate of the noble Virgin. And also the Gate of the Woman of this World, highly to be considered. (19)
All this the Glimpse [or Discovery] of the Senses brings into the Will of the Mind [and sets it] before the King, before the Light of the Life, and...
(19) All this the Glimpse [or Discovery] of the Senses brings into the Will of the Mind [and sets it] before the King, before the Light of the Life, and there it is tried. And the King gives it first to the Eyes, which must see what God is among all these, and what pleases them. And here now begins the wonderful Form [or Framing] of Man, 1 out of the Complexions, where the Constellation has formed the Child in the Mother' Body [or Womb] so variously in its Regions. For according to what the Constellation, in the Time of the Incarnation of the Child, in the Wheel that stands therein, and has its Aspect, (when the Dwelling of the four Elements, and the House of the Stars in the Head, in the Brains, are built by the Fiat,) according to that is the Virtue also in the Brains, and so in the Heart, Gall, Lungs, and Liver; and according to that is the Inclination of the Region of the Air; and according to that also a Tincture springs up, to [be] a Dwelling of the Life, as may be seen in the wonderful [Variety in the] Senses and Forms [or Shapes] of Men.
What then [it may be said], does not the summit of the sacrific art recur to the most principal one of the whole multitude of Gods, and at one and...
(1) What then [it may be said], does not the summit of the sacrific art recur to the most principal one of the whole multitude of Gods, and at one and the same time worship the many essences and principles that are [rooted and concentred] in it? Entirely so, but this happens at the latest period, and to a very few, and we must be satisfied if it takes place when the sun of life is setting. Our present discussion, however, does not ordain laws for a man of this kind; for he is superior to all law; but it promulgates a law such as that of which we are now speaking, to those who are in want of a certain divine legislation. It says, therefore, that as the world has one coarrangement from many orders, thus also it is necessary that the consummation of sacrifices, being never failing and entire, should be conjoined to the whole order of more excellent natures. If, however, the world is multiform, and all perfect, and is united from many orders, it is also necessary that sacred operations should imitate its omniform variety through the whole of the powers which they employ. Hence, in a similar manner, since the things which surround us are all-various, it is not fit that we should be connected with the divine causes that preside over them, from a certain part which they contain. Nor is it proper that we should ascend imperfectly to the primordial causes of them.
Chapter 19: Of the Entering of the Souls to God, and of the wicked Souls Entering into Perdition. Of the Gate of the Body's Breaking off [or Parting] from the Soul. (10)
Man's Image born of a Woman, here in this Life, is in a threefold Form, and stands in three Principles [or Beginnings;] viz. the Soul, that has its...
(10) Man's Image born of a Woman, here in this Life, is in a threefold Form, and stands in three Principles [or Beginnings;] viz. the Soul, that has its Original out of the first Principle, out of the strong and sour Might of the Eternity; and it swims [or moves] between two Principles, begirt with the third [Principle;] it reaches with its original Root into the Depth of the Eternity, in the Source [or Quality] where God the Father from Eternity enters (through the Gates of the Breaking through, and Opening) in himself, into the Light of Joy; and it is in the Band, where God calls himself a jealous, angry and austere God, and is a Sparkle out of the Omnipotence, appearing in the great Wonders of the Wisdom of God, through the dear Virgin of Chastity; and with the Form of the first Principle [it stands] in the Gate of the Sourness of Eternity [mingled, united, or] qualified with the Region of the Sun and Stars, and begirt with the four Elements; and the holy Element (viz. the Root of the four Elements) that is the Body of the Soul, in the second Principle, in the Gate [before or] towards God; and according to the Spirit of this World, the Region of the Stars is the Body of the Soul; and the Production of the four Elements is the Source-house, [or House of Operation,] or the Spirit of this World, which kindles the Region, so that it [springs forth or] operates. 1 1. And thus the Soul lives in such a threefold Source [or working Quality,] being bound with three Cords, and is drawn of all three. The first Cord is the Band of Eternity, generated in the Rising up of the Anxiety, and reaches the Abyss of Hell. The second Cord is the Kingdom of Heaven, generated through the Gates of the Deep in the Father, and regenerated out of the Birth of Sins, through the Humanity of Christ, and there the Soul also (in the Incarnation of Jesus Christ the Son of God) is tied up, and is drawn by the dear Virgin, in the Word of God. The third Cord is the Kingdom of the Stars, qualifying [or mingling] with the Soul, and it is hard drawn and held by the four Elements, and carried and led by them.