ANCIENT EGYPTIAN METAPHYSICS

[RickWagnerTX]

MICHAEL POE



ANCIENT EGYPTIAN METAPHYSICS



Many requests for me to do some teaching (largely from a book

that I am now writing on ancient Egyptian Metaphysics and Personal

Worship) about metaphysics, worship and the ancient Egyptian trad-

itions. To start off, I want to briefly quote some ancient Egyptian

philosophers to give you the gist of ancient Egyptian philosophy and

Metaphysics. The next note I enter will be on general comments on

ancient Egyptian metaphysics. The material I will use is NOT from

Masonic or Rosecrucian but from authentic Egyptian sources. In many

cases I can quote the exact sources, most are translations of papyrus,

temples, tombs, etc. Having studied the subject for 33 years, gotten a

degree on the subject, and working on the book for 10 years, I will

p*filtered* on some of what I have learned. All of the translations are from

Egyptologists and Archaeologists. To quote an old Egyptian philosopher

(found written on his tomb), Ptah hotep :



"To give a few words of Truth,

And what you make of Them will be your Test."



From the College of Priests House of the Temple of Horus at Edfu:



"The Lamp of Wisdom burns steadily,

If the soil that feeds it be reality.

If the oil that feeds the lamp be Love,

The beloved will meet the Lord or Lady

and be blessed.

(Lord or Lady means personal God or Goddess, ed.)



If the air that feeds the Flame be Truth,

The Breath of He who breathes will inhale Wisdom.



If the Spirit enters the Flame,

The Fire will be as bright as a Star."



Next little lesson; what is a hymn when I mention one or quote

one (which I will from time to time)?



The hymns of Egypt tell of the nature and workings of the God/-

dess they glorify. They mention his /her name and his/her ties to a

locality, allude to the myths and describe his/her appearance and

powers and attributes.



A occult tradition is like a journey. Before one ventures onto

any unknown journey it is best to have an idea of the dangers and

preventive protection. Ancient Egypt had 14 traditions. I will, in

these notes, outline them all.



To share another "wisdom texts" as the ancient Egyptian philos-

ophy is called: This one is from Kagemni, whose tomb can be visited at

Sakkara, as is known as one of the wisest men around.

This text is for a student in order for him to select the right

metaphysical teacher.













"He who is a Priest of the Living,

whom a Neter* favors

Like the Bennu on the Obelisk,"

Performs Right Actions without seeking a reward for them.

Such a Teacher lives a life of true piety.



He seeks no gain from any good deed he does,

But sets his Heart only on the Neter's service.

He has comp*filtered*ion upon all Living creatures.



He holds fast to the Neter's name and inspires

others to meditate on it.*

He accepts joy and sorrow with an equal mind.

He is always happy and never set apart from his Neter.



To him gold and dross are as one;

Nectar and poison are as one

The King and the beggar are as one."



* 1. Neter - Neter is the ancient Egyptian word, that we would

equate with God or Goddess. But Neter's exact translation is "Abstract

Principle" or "Divine Principle" and is not a male or female word.



* 2. Bennu on the Obelisk - the Bennu bird is the Egyptian

Phoenix, which lives in Arabia, and comes every 500 years to built a

nest on an obelisk where it lays an egg, and when the egg starts

hatching, it dies in its own flames, and is reborn from the egg. The

obelisk is the Egyptian symbol of the first ray of sun light striking

the earth, and when built, is usually covered in gold or electrum. The

top of the obelisk is like a pyramid and is called the Pyramidion; and

the pyramids are all representations of the suns first light on the

Newly Born Earth.



* 3. "He holds fast to the Neter's name and inspires others to

meditate on it." - In addition to the common name of any god, like

Heru for Horus, they also have a hidden name, a name of power, that

the priest/esses use in ritual and meditation.



----------



PRIESTS AND PRIESTESSES

How did a person become a priest/ess in ancient Egypt?



Well, each family had their own family worship area, the size of

which is wholly dependent upon the size of the house they lived in.

More about this when we get into the path of the Aait-Shesheta.

Therefore, in each family, someone had to act as the family priest/-

ess. If the father or mother was a priest/ess, then he or she was the

family religious leader, in charge of the family rituals. If the

parents were not initiated priest/esses, then usually the Elder Son

acted as the religious leader. However, in some nomes (or states),

matrilineal descent (through the female) was a tradition so the Eldest

Daughter was the religious leader.













The only schools, including most crafts, were taught in the

temple colleges. A child would be sent to a college to learn a craft

between the ages of 6-10. If the family had a tradition of priest/-

esses then usually the children would go to the temple college to be

interviewed and tested for the priesthood. Exactly how the priest/-

esses at the college tested the would be initiate is not well known

yet, but we do know that usually the following priests would be

involved:



1. A Divine Scribe (reader and writer initiate)

2. A Prophet (who uses divination of some sort and inner visions)

3. A Purification Priest

4. A Priest of Anubis (or some other sort related to traveling in

Egyptian heavens (astral plane directly related to Egyptian

heavens).



Every Egyptian temple had 2 types of staff, a magical one and a

working one (working meaning the scribes, bakers and people who run

the every day part).



If the would be initiate was found wanting in the magical staff

(called People of the Circle, which we will get to when we talk about

temple organization), the person may be sent back, or taught a craft,

or go into the working temple staff.



One of the first things that any initiate is taught is Egyptian

Philosophy, which is really less like Voltaire, and more like Ethics

and Conscious. The would be priest needs to come up with his own

ethics or philosophy before embarking on to magical training.



Therefore ethics and morals was the beginning of the training. If

one had to make a "Readers Digest Condensed" version of all of the

Egyptian ethics and philosophy teachings it would be; as one Egyptian

Philosopher put it (but not quite as well).



Do anything you want, but only in moderation, and while doing so,

do not harm anyone physically or psychology.



Almost exactly like the Wiccan motto : Do what they wilt, but

harm none.



But to the ancient Egyptian, theirs also says, "don't harm

yourself, and don't go overboard on anything: Moderation.



----------



DIVINATION OF BES, BAST, OR HATHOR

(from Leyden Papyrus)



Use a divining bowl of pottery. Use green or some vegetable based

ink. Preferable to use hieroglyphics, but try it a few times without

them and use english (but if you can, do as the Egyptians do) Write

your request or formula in base and inner sides of bowl using the

vegetable ink. Also write in either Bes, Bast, or Hathor's name three













times while meditating on the goddess and your request. (pick one

goddess, not all three)



Pour consecrated water in it to dissolve the writing.

Swallow water

Go to sleep



(If you can sleep in a temple, sacred area, so much the better,

otherwise at home, and record your dreams when you wake up.)



A divination bowl, in Egypt, was specially made for the purpose;

however, if you're not a potter, pottering around, find one out of

pottery, usable (no lead based paint or in the clay), about the size

of rice bowl. Consecrate and bless it, and viola, a divining bowl.



Back in those days, green paint was either a vegetable dye or

green ochre. They didn't use the ochre, but a vegetable dye would

work. Although I know of people who specifically prepare a vegetable

ink (macerated herbs in a small bowl of water), a food coloring would

be okey, but I would still suggest using a mortar and pestle and

grinding some herbs you specially selected, and putting it into the

food colored water and let it seep for a bit, and then use that. It

would definitely be closer to the spirit of the occasion. I know, next

you are going to ask, what herbs?



Well, the ancient Egyptians had comfrey and you can heal thyself

at the same time. Lettuce was considered an aphrodisiac, sacred to Min

(so if your request or question is along that line, add that); they

also used mint a lot.



----------



A BRIEF HISTORY OF EGYPT



Egypt wasn't always a thin ribbon of life surrounded by desert.

From 200,000 to 10,000 bce most of what is now known as the Sahara

desert used to be verdant gr*filtered*lands and plains with many trees and

several rivers. There was an accumulation of different cultures down

to 5,000 bce.



From 6,000-4,000 bce different belief structures, and both

matrilineal and patrilineal societies existed along the Nile, for by

then the Sahara was rapidly turning to desert and the cultures went to

the only remaining source of water, the Life Giving Nile. Agriculture

was already developed, and irrigation systems in use. There was

already predominant Goddess and God worship in these societies.



From 4,000-3,100 bce, Egypt now evolved into states, between

36-44 of them, called Nomes. From time to time, Egypt became united

into two kingdoms, the Upper Kingdom, from about Aswan down to Cairo,

with its capital at Nekhen, whose chief god was a goddess, Nekhebit,

the Vulture Goddess; and Lower Egypt in the Delta with it's capital at

Uatchet, whose chief god was also a goddess, Uatchet.













Nekhebit, the Vulture Goddess was an Earth Mother, and considered

very maternal (the type of vultures in Egypt are very maternal birds).

She also symbolized regeneration of life, from Death comes Life, as

the vulture is one of the few animals that can survive and mainly

subsists on bodies of animals that would poison others.



Uatchet, the Snake Goddess, was also venerated as protection from

snakes, and of fertility (snakes lay many eggs).



The two goddess, Nekhebit and Uatchet, Vulture and Snake goddess

became the part of the crown over the third eye, look at the two on

most crowns of egypt. Later, the snake goddess became *filtered*ociated with

the Serpent Fire of the Egyptian equivalent of the Kundalini, and it's

power came out at the third eye, instead of the top of the head (which

became *filtered*ociated with another god).



The worship of Hathor, Amon, Thoth, Horus, Bast, Sekhmet and a

few others have already been well established. Isis is yet to be found

or mentioned.



The first three Dynasties: I



The 1st king, Narmer, united the kingdoms forever (after a brief

unification prior), and on the famous palette of Narmer is found not

only the Nome standards (our equivalents of flags), but the 1st known

name of Hathor.



The 2nd king of the 1st Dynasty established the right of women to

rule Egypt.



It was during the 1st Dynasty that a woman ruled Egypt, to take

that into perspective, if the US followed that, we would have a woman

president well before the Civil War. She was one of

the 11 women to rule one of the greatest civilizations in the world.

And it, like most of the others, was peaceful.



Rights of women were established. they could marry and divorce;

there was no community property; women could establish their own

businesses without a man's consent or cosignature; they could conduct

them before, during and after marriage. Married couples were con-

sidered co-partners and co-equals. Pregnant women, by law, had to be

taken care of by the husband or the police came and beat him up!



----------



ANCIENT EGYPTIAN ASTRAL HEAVEN(S)



Ancient Egypt had more than one heaven, and most of their heavens

were subdivided into sections or parts akin to, and probably best

equated with the astral plane.



As the astral plane has many different levels, the lowest next to

the earthly plane, and highest sections up to and p*filtered* most of earth's

religions concept of heaven, the astral plane is like a onion with the

material world in the center, and the layers going outward (or inward,













or higher, or whatever). As most religions heavens are manifested in

the astral plane, they are also separate from each other.



This is also true in Egyptian heavens of the astral plane. The

Book of the Dead (a misnomer as the egyptians never called it that),

lists the sections of the Heaven of Osiris. As you read the book, you

also see that there is a specific way to get to the heaven and through

it.



There is an ancient Egyptian writing from a scribe that says, in

effect: "If you don't use the specific directions to get to a par-

ticular heaven, you won't get there but to a false heaven."



As most of us are aware, the astral plane is composed and made up

of the thoughtforms of mankind and of the gods, hence, there is an

Egyptian heaven that was formed by the thousands of people who have

conceptualized it since the beginning of the 1800's, made stronger

through the Rosecrucians and Blavatsky's, and into the modern metaphy-

sical movement. But it is NOT the ancient Egyptian heaven. Hence, you

can't simply just astrally project in order to get to a real Egyptian

heaven.



You have to follow the directions by the ancient Egyptians in

order to make it to one of their specific heavens.



You may even have to change your astral form to conform to a

certain type in order to enter. For example, one of the ways to get to

the Horus heaven is to have project to the Nile, and do certain things

in order for a boat with a hawk on it to come over to the bank and

pick you up to take you to the Horus Heaven.



One of the things you have to do, and not the only thing, in

order to get into the Heaven of Isis is to change your astral body

into the shape of a bird, a Swallow!



So if someone, no matter how much you respect them, tells you

that they dreamed or astrally projected to astral Egypt, they are

wrong, unless they know the specific ways to do it. The Egyptians

then, have a sort of astral lock on the proverbial doors to the

entrance of their heavens, and you can't just blindingly end up there

without the right keys to get there. I can probably safely say that no

more than a couple of dozen people in the last century have been able

to enter these heavens, and no one who has written a book about

Egyptian metaphysics has (including Eliz. Hatch who wrote Initiation;

who knows nothing about Ptahhotep).



The teachers are still pretty much in the Egyptian heavens,

waiting to teach the student who is able to get there.



Although the ancient Egyptians had the wherewithal to go into

drug induced states (they had mandrake and poppies for medicine), I

have yet to find one example of them using them for magic or astral

projection.













Astral sight was taught before astral projection, using tech-

niques that we still use today.



Several techniques that are used today in astral projection today

were also used in astral projection then, but usually, a priest led

the student in the first several experiences in order for the student

to get used to the experience and feelings *filtered*ociated with projection

to a particular heaven.



Therefore the guided trips were first used. Usually the first

trips were done in the temples (easier to do with all of the power

already resident in the temples). Some, like the priests of Horus were

also done by the Nile's edge, the student going into a sleep, the

priest astrally projecting and drawing the students astral body and

consciousness out doing what is necessary for the Horus boat to arrive

on the astral Nile, then going on the trip through the Horus heaven.

Sometimes it was done out in the desert.



Once when I was in Egypt, after finding a Eye of Horus between

the pillars of the temple of the ka of Ptahhotep, I went into the

Se*filtered*um (desert underground chambers for the burials of the Serapis

bulls; talk about sensory deprivation! Light wouldn't go farther than

20' and normal talking didn't extend past 30-40'.) and in the Serap-

eum, while sitting down next to the stone coffin of one of the bulls I

instantaneously, and lack of trying on my part, astrally projected. I

found myself several hundred feet over the desert at Sakkara and flew

to the Nile and commenced on a trip to an Egyptian heaven.



When a teacher died, such as Imhotep, he went to the appropriate

heaven and taught from there (according to the ancient Egyptians, who

said that at that point their teachers on earth would astrally project

to the heaven to be taught by him). At that point, all priest/esses

called him Master, or another appropriate remark. Since apparently

there was much connections between the two worlds, the priest/esses

knew when Imhotep finally left the astral heaven to ascend beyond and

into the world of the god/desses. At that point Imhotep on earth was

called a God (this process is found in a papyrus fragment translated

courtesy of the French Institute of Archeology of Cairo).



Hence, if you know when Imhotep or some other lived, and know

that after death he was called a master, then the earliest time that

he, or she, started being called a God was the time he moved out of

the astral plane.



Some other traditions use the symbology of ladders as an *filtered*ogy

of the ascent to their astral plane. Each rung represents a god or

goddess to invoke, the ladder is always held by two gods, which

symbolize the type of path being used. In some other traditions, there

was a way to ascend through the astral plane and into the spiritual

realm, reserved for the higher priests who have p*filtered*ed the Guardian of

the Threshold. These traditions can be found when you go to Egypt for

in some of the temples the staircase to the roof will have a god/dess

for each step, symbolizing those that you will need to ascend to the

spiritual plane.













Certain god/desses and spiritual beings can *filtered*ist or deter you

from your astral trip.



THE HELPERS: Anubis is one of the best. Hathor is also great, for

she gives you magical power during your astral projection. The god Seb

supplies all a person needs to astrally travel in many places. The god

Seb, Shu, the goddesses Nut and Tefnut defend people during their

journeys.



There was also the Souls of the West, Souls of the East; Lady of

the Evening, Calf of the Goddess (Morning Star), Souls of several

different cities for their special heavens; The Catcher of Gods, the

Divine Being who Examines Gods for Men, the God who Binds Gods.





THOSE THAT YOU WANT TO AVOID: The Unmentionable Terrible Serpent

(with Lovecraftian powers and would be great in his novels, like

Chuthulu or Hastor the Unspeakable, occasionally used in Black Magic,

which apparently was very uncommon in Egypt) I won't give you his

name.



There is of course, Apep, Apophis, and a few specific to each of

the heavens, but are usually particular to the Osirian heaven (Reading

the Book of the Dead will give you a great idea about them).



A zoomorphic projection is when you astrally project then change

your astral body into a zoomorphic figure in order to get to specific

egyptian astral heavens. An example is turning your astral body into a

swallow to get to Isis's heaven, or into a hawk to get to one of

Horus's heavens.



Following the Eastern Tradition of the astral plane, the Egyp-

tians have an almost exact duplicate of the concept. Basically it says

that there is a plane of existence between the realm of the high gods

and earth, called the astral plane, which has layers like an onion.

The astral plane is made up of the mind stuff of heaven and earth

dwellers alike and is as real as both. To the Eastern people, all the

heavens of all the religions are there. To both Egyptian and Easter-

ners, to get there you astrally project or out of body experience.

Although the Egyptians had a more elaborate version.



The Egyptians, therefore, which had several religious traditions,

of which Isis plays in a couple) had several heavens. These were

usually conceived of in layers or parts, corresponding to the layers

of the astral plane. In Heliopolis there were 12 layers or planes to

their heaven.



Each tradition had a different heaven and a different way of

getting there. The temples trained the people how to do it at home, at

the temple, or elsewhere.



Sometimes more than just the astral body took the trip, there was

also a spiritual body, the soul, the spirit and other forms.













According to ancient Egyptian practices, you can project your

astral body, soul, spirit, or spiritual body. However, there is no

ritual to do all at once, probably because it would kill the person.

Of course the sa is considered the spiritual power of a person and the

animating force of the body. As long as you have the sa and one of the

three (soul, spirit or spiritual body) you're body can still live

during the projections.



The Egyptians are the only ones that I am aware of (other than a

very few Native American tribes) that even project the spirit or the

spiritual body or the soul.



Altered state of consciousness was used in Egypt, usually by NOT

using drugs, although they did have mandrake, poppies and hemp (used

in medicine as an anaesthetic). What was taught differed by tradition,

and what kind of altered state differed also. For example: A scribe of

Anubis: Does he want to become a doctor/priest, a mummification

priest, or a priest/guide to the astral plane? If the latter, then he

is taught the basics of the Egyptian astral planes and how each one

differs, and how each tradition of Egypt has a different path to their

own. He is taught how to astrally project, and then his teacher will

project and take him on a guided tour. Eventually he will astrally

project to the Anubis temple in the astral plane and receive higher

knowledge from their teachers. Eventually he will teach others to

project, and lead them on journeys. No one except probably about 15

people know how to astrally project to an ancient Egyptian astral

plane. The form you take, the route you take, what you see determines

if you will get there, and if you don't know these things, according

to the Egyptians you will not reach the plane. Instead you will end up

on an astral plane of Egypt created by people who lived from the 1700-

1800's on, such as Golden Dawn people, Rosecrucians, Wicca people. Is

there an astral plane? It's up to you. I have my own opinion. My

opinions are almost always based on experts in their own fields.



----------



ANCIENT EGYPTIAN INITIATIONS



The mysteries and initiations varied from temple to temple. In

the Lesser Mysteries of Isis there is preparatory instruction, medi-

tation within the temple and introduction to the sanctuary for par-

ticipation in a performance of drama of death and resurrection.



In today's society, there are many groups that give initiations,

but the initiation usually fails, and usually for the following

reasons;



1. The group doing the initiation does not know enough to do one

successfully (usually through lack of full knowledge of their trad-

ition).

2. Incomplete preparation of the Initiate.

3. Incomplete preparation of the group.

4. Incomplete Initiatory Ceremonies or process.

5. Initiation Rituals becomes a bad play at best.













6. The people directing the Initiations weren't properly prepared

or initiated in their own initiation.



In Egypt, they allowed for self-initiation (but only for some

levels). All cognition, after all, comes from the inside. We

are therefore initiated only by ourselves, the master or teacher gives

us the Key.



In some Egyptian initiations the goal is the receive the Sa, the

innate virtue or power of the gods as a sort of fluid (or magnetic

fluid or aura). It is transmitted by the God's (I will sometimes say

God, but take it as either God or Goddess) hands through touch or

p*filtered*es on the neck or spine of the individual. This operation is

called the Satapu-sa.



"The Summit is the Apex of the Mountains height, but there are

both Summit and Valley, hence, something exists which causes both.

Equally there is within you that which wants to lift itself despite

the animal instincts, and also that which wants to remain earthly.

Summit and Valley, are 2 powers manifested. If there were not these

two there would be only one. Since there are two

there are also all the others which sprang from these, the other

Neters or Gods/desses."



"One should p*filtered* through complexity in order to exhaust the

various possibilities until the awakening of the consciousness which

leads towards simplicity; it is on intermediate phase between dream

and reality."



"If the essence and perfection of all good are comprehended in

the god/desses, and if you adhere to a more excellent nature, you will

obtain a union with them, the contemplation of truth, and the posses-

sion of intellect. A knowledge of the gods is accompanied with a

conversion to and knowledge of ourselves."



I'll let you contemplate that one for awhile. Written on the

college walls of the Temple of Horus at Edfu.



The Egyptian path can be considered (as defined by Frankfort) as;



1. Evolution = Ignorance

2 Destruction = Knowledge

3 Dissolution = Experience

4 Reintegration = Understanding

5 Integration = Wisdom



FROM: JANA HOLLINGSWORTH

Dear Michael, Not only was this the usual excellent note on Egypt, but

I was most impressed by your concise description of failed initi-

ations. You have touched on a topic only a few Pagans are willing to

think about. Too often initiation in Wiccan and other Pagan groups has

become a spiritually meaningless ritual, and the worst part is that

people don't even know the difference. Then there are all these

novices with no qualifications "self-initiating" themselves. I was

once initiated as a Dianic Witch, but it didn't "take." I never refer













to myself as a Witch or a Wiccan. I am a Pagan, and I don't need to be

initiated for that.

So many who use the name Wiccan

Could use, in the pants, a good kickin'.

A Pagan I am!

I'd give each dam

Self-proclaimed Wiccan a lickin'.

Jana, Pagan and Proud!



FROM: MICHAEL POE

Except for those very few hereditary witches, most of Wicca is

new (1940s and later) and as such, much of it is from books and people

who taught themselves from books and then taught others. All of the

spiritual exercises and goals that need to be done to be truly init-

iated are usually missing (unless you are lucky enough to be one of

the few who was disciplined enough to intuitively done all the right

things first. I have been to many Wiccan initiations and while a few

have been magical, none have been fully effective, and most have been

more like a Catholic m*filtered*, all pomp and circumstance and no magic.

That's also essentially true of white people learning shamanism, they

don't get the teachers that really know.



Ancient Egypt had 14 traditions in which the majority of them

were magical ones. After more than 30 years of studying ancient Egypt,

even I can't tell you about the proper initiations of several of the

traditions; but at least I now have the spiritual exercises and whole

initiations for some of the them and in the group that I am involved,

we have done a couple of them.



Most wicca systems that I am aware of need to spend more time on

the spiritual and magical development of the individual. Some ancient

Egyptian systems took a minimum of a year to two years of spiritual

exercises before the person cast their first

spell. The priests had the ability to make people astrally project at

will, for example.



It's also a mistake being too eclectic. For example, Mercury is

equated with Thoth by the Greeks and Romans, but while they did share

some powers and attributes, they were not the same. 8 track tapes and

regular c*filtered*ettes both play music, but try putting a 8 track tape into

a c*filtered*ette

player!



Isis, for example, is never invoked as a Great Mother Goddess

unless she is holding baby Horus. NEVER! I have seen many wiccan

ceremonies where they use the wrong Egyptian god/desses in their

rituals, or the wrong god/desses forms for the powers they are invok-

ing. Remember, that despite some current thinking that it's only the

*filtered*ociation in your mind that counts, and if you want to invoke

Sekhmet with a knife (for example) as a gentle mother goddess, she

will appear as that; it just isn't so. This is coming from people who

have never been properly initiated.



the prevailing thought up to 10 years ago is that if a form and

function of a god/dess has been worshipped for thousands of years by













hundreds of thousands of individuals, including those properly in-

itiated, then that form and function will always override what one

individual or group over a few years may invoke. The thoughtform was

constructed in the Astral plane and is extremely strong, and a few

people who have decided that (usually through ignorance) he/she had a

different form or function, will never be able to compete with the

stronger form. Which is probably why many eclectic wiccan magic

doesn't work or work well. They don't know what they are drawing from,

and instead of trying to get the vast astral power out there to work

for them, it works against them, or else their own little power will

be the only power they will be able to tap into. Michael



----------



FROM: BRENDA RYAN I was wondering about those temples that have been

moved, do they still retain the power. Is it in the temple building

itself or in the ground upon which the temple stands? As you know, the

temple at Abu Simbel had been moved during the building of the Aswan

Dam but I think you mentioned it one time as a power spot. Also, I was

more impressed with the temples and tombs in Upper Egypt than in the

pyramids and the Sphinx. In fact, the Great Pyramid was musty smelling

and claustrophobic so I didn't go all the way up. My friend thought I

was missing out on the opportunity of a lifetime, but I just wasn't

impressed. I didn't "feel" anything there. The tombs in the Valley of

the Kings were another matter. I felt completely comfortable going all

the way down in the tombs that were open and was much more in awe of

the whole area.



FROM: MICHAEL POE To make a short answer long, let me

respond by this: Back in pre-dynastic times, the priest/-

esses had no stone temples, they worked outside (or later,

in mud and dabble temples) and cast circles; hence their

name; "People of the Circle". Eventually they had temples of

sun dried brick, but still retained the name.

During the Dynastic period they were building temples

out of stone. Now the stone temples, if you have seen them,

are covered with figures of the gods and goddesses and

religious texts and invocations. The walls became the

psychic circle of protection and were imbued with their own

power. Despite the fact that the magical group no longer

needed to cast circles for protection from without or raise

power within (as the temples walls did that), they were

still called the "People of the Circle". Some traditions

just won't die! So, yes, the temples themselves, despite

having been moved, are still full of power as the walls

themselves is the stone circle of power. Now you might ask,

well, that makes sense, magic being used in them for thou-

sands of years, but what about the power spot it was orig-

inally built over, if any? Well, of course, the temple,

being built over the power spot and with all the magic

working in it for hundreds or thousands of years, the power

from the spot would seep into the temples walls. That power

would still be there if the temple was rebuilt. Remember

that the ancient Egyptians would sometimes take an older

temple apart and incorporate the stones into the walls of













another temple far away. That is the method of getting

stones already imbued with power and "precharging" the new

temple with power. So yes, any temple that has been moved

still retains it's power. Michael



Imagine if you will, a temple 2/3 of a mile long and 1/4 mile

wide, 6 stories tall. The courtyard, big enough for over 4 football

fields surrounded by a high, 2 story wall. You enter through 20 foot

high doors encased in gold into the courtyard at night. The courtyard

is done in highly polished black granite, so well polished that it

reflects the milky way. It is like walking in space! In the middle of

the courtyard is a full size tree, made with trunk and branches of

blue lapis lazuli, and leaves of turquoise. A dream you say? No, for

it was the Temple of Ra at Heliopolis, built around 1800-1900 bc, and

shown to Greeks during 500-200 bc. And if you think that was a truly

magical and awe inspiring courtyard, imagine what was inside the huge

covered temple that took up over 1/2 of the area! Complete with it's

secret corridors and chambers, etc.



Also, you are familiar with Egyptian temples in Egypt, but did

you know that Egyptian temples also existed in Lebanon, Syria, Greece,

Delos, Crete, Italy, Spain, France, Britain and Germany?



The ancient Egyptians in addition to doctors, also had special-

ized surgeons, psychologists, OBGYN's, midwives, vets,

brain surgeons (with 80% success rate in trepanning, dentists, herb-

alists, in addition to their botanists and ethnographers.



The Temple is the House of God. The Body of Man is the House of

God, therefore the Temple is the Body of Man.

(from temple of Amon).



In nature, everything is linked with everything else, and you are

a part of nature. Observe outside, observe inside, you begin to see

the relations between things.





The ancient Egyptians didn't worship animals. They had sacred

animals, but what they worship was the Divine Principle made manifest

in that animal. Hence, the Serapis bull symbolized the Divine Prin-

ciple of Strength. The Baboon of Thoth for two things: Society (bab-

oons have, among the animals, one of the most complex societies), and

of Contemplation (Baboons will sit and watch the Sun rise, among other

things). Horus with the Hawk, one who sees or watches the earth from

above, and sees it extremely well (hawks and birds of prey have a

binocular vision of about 7x

power); Hence the celestial Horus eyes were the Sun and the Moon. The

attributes of Bast and of the Cat is very close.



And so, to the Egyptian, while man is an example of ALL the

powers of all the god/desses; certain animals manifest specific

powers, and manifest them more than man. Hence they worship the power

behind the animals. Observe outside, observe inside, you begin to see

the relations between things.













An animal does not reason, it experiences directly. Man is

deceived by the incomplete testimony of his senses and his reason and

has allowed the instinctive consciousness to atrophy without having

learned to use his intuitive faculties which to the Egyptians, is the

wisdom of the heart. Therefore there are ancient rituals to strengthen

the heart.



Raise your eyes to know what relates to the laws of the heavens,

Look around you to study the principles of nature,

Look inside you to determine your attributes, to integrate your

personality, and identify it with the heavens and nature,

One can cast your heart ahead on the Chosen Way,

then go and retrieve it, and let your steps loyally follow its voice.

The Egyptian Way of Life is of Harmony;

Within the All-Inclusive Unity of God/desses,

Nature and Society;

Man can move with Dignity, Safety and Happiness.



The Egyptian essential Unity in the conviction that man can find

immortality and peace by becoming part, or as one, with the perennial

cyclic rhythms of Nature, a recurring movement, part of the estab-

lished and unchanging Order of the Universe.



With the occasional exception, I will start posting notes on the

different traditions; The Ceremonial Tradition, the Philosophical, The

Arts and Crafts, the Hermetic like, the Wiccan like, the Alchemical,

etc.



Stuck in between will be the occasional hymn to a god/dess,

observations on astronomical god/desses; parts of man, temple struc-

ture, etc. Make any comments or questions that you want that are

related. Michael Ankh em Maat



----------



THE PATH OF THE CRAFTSMEN IN ANCIENT EGYPT



One of the traditions in ancient Egypt was that of the artists

and craftsmen. All of the best artists and craftsmen were trained in

one place, the Temple of Ptah in Memphis (presently 20 min south of

Cairo). all other artists and craftsmen were usually trained at the

Temple or by people who were trained there.



These artists and craftsmen include: Architects, draftsmen, stone

workers (large stones and small), jewelers, painters, eventually gl*filtered*

workers, dyers, (but not weavers, who studied at the Temple of Neith

in the Delta). All the architects and draftsmen who produced all of

the pyramids, temples, palaces, royal tombs, and even forts were

trained here.



Have you noticed how all the men and women in paintings and

statues have a similar body? Unlike the Greeks, who wanted to show how

a persons body really looked like, the Egyptian were interested in

showing the "inner essence" of the person. Therefore only in the

background, the workers, and not the central family, are people shown













as they really were, crippled people, occasional starvation, over

weight persons, etc. Therefore the Egyptians were interested in the

"inner man (or woman)".



Look at a book on Egyptian art and check out what the god/desses

are holding or wearing. That is important to see what powers and

attributes are being portrayed. For example, if Bes is holding a

knife, she/he becomes a protector and avenger; if holding a sistrum,

he/she (it's hard sometimes to tell which *filtered* Bes is), becomes the

God/desses of joy, pleasure, music, dance, and another kind of protec-

tor; if holding other objects or wearing other outfits, she/he becomes

a Protector of Women and of the Family, of Mothers. The same holds

true with all of the other gods and goddesses. Hence, Isis can be a

Mother Goddess or a Goddess of Women, or of the Visible World depen-

ding on what she is wearing or carrying. All of this is taught by the

temple of Ptah to the artists.



The similar thing occurs with amulets and talismans. Some amulets

and talismans are always shown in a certain color or always made of

certain material. The Buckle of Isis is almost always of red carnelian

or garnets. The Ankh is almost never down in silver (because the ankh

is *filtered*ociated with the Sun, and gold is the metal of the Sun).



The temple of Amon at Luxor is patterned after a human body; in

fact, in the sanctuary part, if you observe the stones in the floor,

you see that two different stones were used. If you had an archaeolog-

ical map of the temple with the floor stones shown, and color in the

darker stones, you end up with a huge side profile of a face! So the

Temple of God reflected the Temple of Man!



Ptah had other powers and attributes than just artists and

craftsmen (he was one of the Great Creator Gods), and was married to

Sekhmet (who was into other traditions including healing). Ptah is

also *filtered*ociated with the Science and Art of Alchemy. Their offspring

is Nefertum, the God of perfumes and aromatherapy, and of the Lotus.



As you will see in future discussions, more than one god/dess is

*filtered*ociated with a tradition. Ptah is one of the few gods who ever

since predynastic periods, was always portrayed as a human.



Remember that most of the popular literature is from material of

the New Kingdom and later periods. By then Horus was *filtered*ociated in the

popular ancient Egyptian mind as the son of Isis, and especially

popular as that during the Greco-Roman period.



----------



RITUALS and RITUAL ELEMENTS



How many times do you get into a Book of Shadows and look at the

rituals? How many of these rituals are complete from opening or

drawing the circle, invocation of the four directions, blessings,

consecrations, invocation, and closing? And how many are incomplete;

in other words, missing some of the elements to the rituals, but maybe

referring to use a certain 4 direction invocation or closing rite? Or













missing complete elements; such as a hymn or invocation to a Goddess

but no rituals around it?



To the major ancient Egyptian temple colleges, the elements of

ritual were emphasized. A magician, priest/ess, magic worker



at home would end up with several invocations to the four quarters,

several closings, etc.



To the Egyptian; The Way of the Ritual; it's chief god/dess to be

invoked and the way the ritual is to be directed (weather magic for

example) will determine which other ritual elements are used.



Also remember that the Egyptians had generic ritual elements,

usually blessings, consecrations and hymns. A generic hymn to a

goddesses will have spaces in which the goddesses name, titles and

some of her powers would be included.





There were more than one set of god/desses for the four

directions; and even the direction that you started your ritual

changes with the orientation of the ritual.



For example; if you wanted to do a ritual for fertility of the

land, you start off facing south (the Life Giving Nile), then West (to

appease the desert), then North (symbol of fertility), then the East

(rising sun, cosmic fertility), then back to South. Naturally if you

are solar oriented using gods like Amon, Ra, Horus, and goddesses like

Sekhmet or Bast, you started with the east and work your way around

(clockwise).



If you are invoking a goddess in your ritual you DO NOT invoke

the four sons of Horus, UNLESS it is Isis or Nepthys that you are

invoking. There are 2 sets of goddesses of the four directions, and

one of the sets would do better.



There are at least three different sets of gods for the four

directions, more, since Thoth has his own set, as does some cities.



I have a hand written 35 page list of powers and the god/desses

*filtered*ociated with them. It probably corresponds to a book listed in the

Library of the Temple of Horus called "The Book of God and Goddesses

and their Powers".



So a magician at home would have more of a recipe collection of

ritual elements rather than a book of Shadows of complete rituals, and

would have the know how of how to put them together. I have about

3,000 such recipes, from Astral projection to Zoomorphic projections,

including blessings, opening and closing rites, spells, divination,

consecration, initiation, weather, tantric, etc. The Pyramid Texts

contain about 700 more, and the Coffin Texts, over 1,200 more. Orig-

inal, not new.



----------













BAST



The only fully developed cult of the cat existed in Egypt and it

lasted for over 3,000 years. No one knows when the cat was first

sanctified in Egypt.



Bast wasn't *filtered*ociated with Isis until the New Kingdom, about

1600 bce and later. When *filtered*ociated with Isis it came to be recognized

as the incarnation of deity, and it was the daughter of Isis and her

husband, the sun-god Osiris (Osiris was also a Moon-god) (Isis was

also a Sun/Moon/Earth Goddess by then).



The worship of Bast overlapped that of Isis, Hathor, Mut and

others depending on the district in Egypt.



Bast had a solar son, Nefer-tum (He is *filtered*ociated with unguents,

perfumes, aromatherapy, alchemy, Lotus) by the Sun God Amen-Ra, and

Khensu, the Moon God, by Ptah.



Bast or Bastet, was originally a lion headed goddess, *filtered*ociated

in powers and attributes with Sekhmet and Tefnut, and as such, Bastet

has powers of ferocity and rapacity.



It is her later cat-headed form that Bastet became so immensely

popular, although she never ceased to be worshiped as a lion headed

goddess.



The earliest known portrait of Bastet was found in a temple of

the 5th dynasty, a lion-headed goddess who was known a "Bastet, lady

of Ankh-taui." One of the earliest forms of her as a cat headed

goddess is in a papyrus of the 21st dynasty.



Bast cult center was at Bubastis, situated east of the Nile

delta, and hence, Bast became known as the "Lady of the East" (also

because of her *filtered*ociation with the sun).



She then, is almost without exception, invoked while facing the

East, and is one of the Goddesses of the Four Directions.



In the XII dynasty, Middle Kingdom, she had her own temple at

Bubastis. In the 22nd dynasty, about 950 bce, she was known as the

Lady of Bubastis and became an immense power in Egypt, due to the

Pharaohs embracing her as a national goddess.



The temple of Bastet has been vividly described by the historian

Heroditus, who travelled in Egypt about 450 bce. It stood in the

center of the city of Bubastis and was virtually on an island, since

it was surrounded (except at its entrance) by c*filtered*s from the Nile,

which were a hundred feet wide and overhung with trees. While the

houses were gradually raised, the temple remained on its original

level so that the whole city commanded a view down into it.



The temple was a building in the form of a square, and was made

of red granite. Stone walls carved with figures surrounded the sacred

enclosure, which consisted of a grove of very tall trees within which













was hidden a shrine. In the center of the shrine was a statue of Bast.

Note: this is the only temple in Egypt known to have had a sacred

grove of trees in the center of it, and a shrine in the center. There

are other sacred groves, some with shrines; but instead of being

inside of temples, these are all out in the open.



Cats were found within the sacred temple area and were ritually

fed. Temple maidens carried cats or kittens in baskets. April and May

were the chief festivals and rituals for Bast.



All cats were revered in the Temple of Bast. Now the question is,

what kind of cats did the Egyptians have?



Orange cats

Orange stripped cats

A Tabby Type

Black Cats

Gray cats



And an Abyssinian (I used to do well in spelling!) type.

Of course, Bast is also *filtered*ociated with Lioness, so small cubs and

adult lionesses were also sacred to her.



Of the principal Egyptian festivals, that of Bast was one of the

most popular. Herodotus describes how, in April and May, thousands of

men and women set off on the pilgrimage in parties which crowded into

numerous boats. The voyage was *filtered* if not positively orgiastic. Men

played the flute, women a type of cymbal called crotala, and all

joined in singing and hand-clapping. As they p*filtered*ed towns, the boats

drew near to the banks and the women shouted bawdy jokes, often

flinging their clothes up over their heads.



Eventually they arrived at Bubastis, sacrificing many animals,

and consuming vast quantities of wine.



Cats were portrayed in every conceivable activity, sculptured

every material from gold to mud, and in every size from colossal to

minute size.



A orange brown cat is depicted on tomb walls, and so is a ginger

cat, and grey tabbies.



During the Bubastite period (XXII dynasty), cat cemeteries became

popular, and a huge profusion of cat amulets were being made.



During the entire time of Egypt, household cats were treated with

the greatest respect. Many of them were bejewelled, and they were

allowed to eat from the same dishes as their owners. Sick cats were

tended with solicitude, and stray cats were fed with bread soaked in

milk and with fish caught in the Nile and chopped up for them.



Cats love basking in patches of sunlight, and Bast was first

worshipped as a form of the sun, the source and sustainer of life and

light. Some of the Egyptians believed that when the Sun went down, a

combat of cosmic proportions took place in the underworld. One of the













legends had a persea tree with a cat with a knife leaping on a spotted

serpent and cutting off its head. During solar eclipses people would

gather in the streets and shake knives and rattle sistrums in an

effort to spur on the celestial cat and to terrify the threatening

serpent in their struggle beside the Tree of Life.



From the cat's identification with the sun arisen the "cat's

cradle", a name given to certain string-games. The cats cradle was

used to control the movement of the Sun through sympathetic magic.



Sekhmet was combined with Bast and Ra for a triparte goddess

combining the attributes and powers of all three. It was a combination

made for ceremonial magic only, as there is no public worship of

Sekhmet-Bast-Ra at an individual level.



Are you soaking this all in with no questions?

Remember the story about the cat and the Persea

tree that I just related? You should have asked

about the Persea tree and if this Egyptian Tree of

Life is or can be grown in the U.S. and if we know

it by another name. Come on, ask, come on,

come, after all, its the Cat's Meow!

There are two sacred trees in ancient Egypt. I

mean SACRED! One is the acacia (which varieties

grows all over the US.

The other is the Persea. There are only 2 variet-

ies of Persea in the entire world. One is the

Egyptian persea, which I have no idea if it bears

fruit. The other variety of Persea (which by

Egyptian thought would be just as sacred) bears

fruit. The other varieties common name is AVOCADO!

That's right, the avocado is a sacred tree of the

ancient Egyptians. So the next time that you are

preparing to eat guacamole, remember that you are

eating a sacred dip! The green avocado would

probably also be sacred to Osiris and any other

god/dess of vegetation. The ancient Egyptians

usually made their wands out of acacia or persea,

so if you have any of these trees, you can make

yourself an Egyptian wand. Also remember that if

you trim your tree, use the branches in the firep-

lace for a sacred fire!



----------



To relate a story, true: When I was married my

wife and I brought home a tabby, and a very young

boy, about 5 came up and wanted to pet the cat. He

asked me what was her name, and I replied that we

haven't named it yet, what would he suggest? He

said Abaton. I replied that I would consider it,

thinking that it was a strange name for a kid to

come up with ("out of the mouths of babes...).

About 3 days later, I was going over a book of

[Advertizing]