The Death of Osiris

Ra, the Sun God, made Osiris and Isis the King and Queen of Egypt. They brought wisdom and understanding to the people of Egypt. However, Seth was jealous of their power, and this would lead to the death of Osiris.

One day, Osiris decided that He should share the wealth and prosperity of Egypt with the other, surrounding lands. While He was gone, He put Isis in charge of the Kingdom of Egypt.

While Osiris was away, Seth was making friends with disgruntled courtiers. They were greedy and wanted things to be more prosperous for them. Seth promised that when He took the throne of Osiris, He would reward them greatly.

When Osiris returned, there was much rejoicing. The celebration of Osiris's return went on for several days. Seth waited in the background for the perfect opportunity to steal the throne of Osiris.

Finally, Seth's opportunity came. A banquet would be held at the royal palace; however, Queen Isis would not be present. That was what Seth had been waiting for. Without Isis to watch him, He would be able to put his plan into action.

Before the banquet began, Seth had his disgruntled courtiers, who also attended the banquet, spread rumors about a fabulous chest that belonged to Seth. They said that it was richer and finer than anything even Osiris owned.

When Seth finally arrived (late so as to make a grand entrance), everyone was talking about His chest. His brother, Osiris, curious to know if the rumors were true, asked Seth. Seth confirmed the existence of a chest and promised to bring out the chest once the eating had finished.

Finally, as the banquet was about to end, Seth had a group of servants bring out the chest. The rumors had been true. The chest was indeed beautiful and awe-inspiring.

When the chest was brought out, Seth said he would hold a contest. Whoever could fit perfectly inside of the chest would be able to keep the chest as his prize!

Everybody tried to fit in the chest. Some were too tall and some were too short. Finally, the only person who had not tried was Osiris. Seth convinced Osiris to give it a shot, and Osiris agreed. However, Osiris didn't know that Seth had had the chest made to fit him exactly, in order to make the perfect coffin.

Once Osiris was inside of the chest, Seth and his conspirators gathered around the coffin. Seth slammed down the lid and drew the heavy bolts into place. He sealed the chest shut with molten lead in order to make the chest air-tight.

Seth declared that there was no winner of the contest and that the chest would remain in his possession. His greedy allies lifted the chest and carried it away. Osiris lay inside of the chest. It was such a perfect fit that there was no room for Osiris to move and alert others of his presence.

Because the chest was air-tight, the air ran out and Osiris suffocated. Without touching his brother, Seth has murdered Osiris.

In the darkness, the coffin was thrown into the Nile and Seth announced the Death of Osiris this next morning. Then Seth was crowned King.

When Isis heard of Osiris's death, she was overcome with grief. She cut her hair and wore widow's clothes, but she knew she had to find out what had happened to Osiris and where his body went.

Seth ordered Isis out of the palace. She went from village to village looking for information on the death of Osiris. She heard many rumors, eventually to only be told the truth by children.

The children told Isis that they had seen men throw a beautiful chest into the Nile at night. They heard the men boasting of how the chest contained the body of the dead king.

So Isis followed the Nile, hoping that the chest had washed upon shore; but she followed the Nile all the way to the sea and did not see the chest. So she returned along the coastline northward and heard reports of a beautiful chest floating in the sea. She was convinced she would find the chest soon.

Isis followed reports of the chest until one day; she reached the kingdom of Byblos. There the people gossiped, not of a chest, but of a tamarisk tree that had grown overnight. The King of Byblos had had the tree cut down to be used as a pillar for his palace. Isis was convinced that this tree had something to do with the coffin of Osiris and hurried to the palace.

While waiting outside of the palace, a number of maids belonging to the Queen came out. The maids noticed that Isis was not from that region and so went over to her to see if she had any gossip to share.

While the maids were there, Isis offered the braid their hair in the latest styles from Egypt. When Isis had finished the maids were so pleased with their hair, they were reluctant to leave.

When the Queen saw the beautiful hair of her maids and smelled the beautiful fragrance Isis had left from breathing on them, she sent for Isis at once. Isis braided and perfumed the hair of the Queen just as she had done for the maids. The Queen was so impressed that she invited Isis to stay.

That night, Isis went into the room that held the great pillar of the tree. As soon as she touched the pillar she knew what had happened. Her husband's coffin had washed ashore and become entangled in the roots of a young tamarisk tree. Though dead, some of Osiris's power had seeped from the coffin and caused the tree to grow enormous. Osiris's body had been trapped in the very center of the tree and now rested in the pillar in the King's palace.

The Queen became very fond of Isis, and Isis became very fond of the Queen and her infant son. Isis became the nanny of the son and by night, grieved for her husband at the pillar.

As time went on, Isis could not bear to thought of the infant prince dying like Osiris had. So she began bringing the baby with her to her nightly visits at the pillar. She started a magical fire that burned with the flames of mortality. Every night Isis placed the baby in the fire and a little bit of the boys mortality burned away, eventually making him immortal.

But the Queen, troubled by the reports of Isis's nightly visits, burst in one night only to see her son apparently burning in a fire. She grabbed her son away and accused Isis or sorcery.

Understanding her fear, Isis explained who she was and what she had been doing. Because the Queen had taken the boy from the fire, he could no longer live forever. The Queen was saddened by this and asked the Goddess how she could serve her.

Isis asked for permission to remove the pillar and the King and Queen allowed her to do so. She cut out the coffin of Osiris and the King and Queen gave her the finest ship in their fleet and a crew to sail it for her so that she may return home.

When Isis arrived back on land, she ordered the crew to take the chest into the desert away from prying eyes. Then she carried it to the swamps of Butto, in case Seth found out Isis had discovered the chest.

From time to time, Isis would open the chest and look at Osiris. He looked so peaceful, it appeared as if her were sleeping.

Because Seth had spies everywhere, he soon learned of the chests location. So one night, while Isis was sleeping, Seth appeared at the body of his brother. Because Osiris looked so whole and perfect, Seth feared that Isis would be able to restore him to life. So Seth removed the body and cut it into 14 pieces, scattering them all across Egypt.

When Isis found out what had happened, she cried out with such despair that the sound reached her sister Nephthys. Feeling sorry for her sister, Nephthys agreed to help Isis locate all of the pieces of Osiris's body. It took many years but eventually all the pieces were recovered (except for the phallus).

Through the help of other Gods (Ra or Anubis) Isis and Nephthys were able to bring Osiris back to life, where he then ruled as God of the Underworld.

Isis and the 7 Scorpions

Whenever Isis left Horus in the evening while they were in hiding in the papyrus swamps near Buto, she was accompanied by seven scorpions. Three of the scorpions preceded her, Petet, Tjetet, and Matet and

made sure that the path ahead was safe. At her side were the scorpions, Mesetet and Mesetetef. Bringing up the rear were Tefen and Befen.

Every night, Isis warned her companions to be extremely cautious as to avoid alerting Seth as to where she was. She would remind them not to speak to anyone they met along the way.

One night, Isis was traveling to the Town of the Two Sisters in the Nile Delta. A wealthy noblewoman saw the strange party arrive and quickly shut the door to her house. The scorpions were enraged at her rude behavior and decide to teach the woman a lesson. In preparation, six of the scorpions gave their individual poisons to Tefen who loaded his stinger with it. Meanwhile, a humble peasant girl had offered her simple home as a refuge to Isis.

The scorpions anger was not ameliorated by the young girl's kindness toward their mistress, and Tefen snuck out of the house. He crawled under the door of the noblewoman's house and stung her son. Distraught, the woman wandered through the town seeking help for her child who was on the verge of death.

Isis heard the woman's cries for help. Although the woman was unkind to her, Isis could not bear the thought of the death of an innocent child and left with the woman to help her son. Isis held the boy in her arms and spoke words of great magic. She named each of the scorpions and thereby dominated them; rendering their combined poison to be harmless in the child.

The noblewoman was humbled by Isis' unconditional kindness and offered all of her worldly wealth to Isis and the peasant girl who had shown hospitality to a stranger.

Isis and the Secret Name of Ra

Isis was clever. Her heart was more cunning than a million men; She was wiser than a million gods. There was only one thing She did not know in heaven and earth. Isis purposed in her heart to learn the one thing She still lacked, the secret name of Ra Ra entered every day at the head of His entourage, taking His place on the throne of the two horizons. Though divine, old age caused him to drool. He spat here and there, leaving his spittle fallen upon the soil. Isis took it and the earth it moistened, and kneaded it with Her hand. She built the mud into a snake with a sharp tongue. Then she left it at the crossroads path which the great god used to go throughout the Two Lands.

Now, Ra the great god appeared with the gods in His entourage accompanying Him, so that He might stroll as on every day. At the crossroads as He walked, the snake bit Him. It then came forth from Him and vanished among the grass. When the divine god could gain His voice, the noise of His mighty crying reached the heavens. The Entourage of His Ennead said: What is it? What is it? But He could not find His voice to answer about it. His lips were trembling, and His body shuddered. The poison took possession of his flesh as the Nile takes possession of the land after it.

When the great god had composed His heart, He cried out to His Companions: "Come to me, all you gods who came into being in my body, who came forth from me, that I may make known to you what has happened. Something painful has stabbed me. My heart does not recognize it, my eyes have not seen it, my hand did not make it, and I do not recognize it in all that I have made. I have not tasted a pain like unto it, and there is nothing more painful than it.

I am abounding in names and abounding in forms. My forms exist as every god; I am called Atum and Heru-of-Praise. My father and my mother told me my name, but it was hidden in my body before I was born, in order that the power of a male of female magician might not be made to play against me. While I was going out of doors to see what I had made, and to stroll in the Two Lands which I have created, something has stung me---I know not what. It is not really fire; it is not really water. My heart is on fire, my body is trembling, and my body is beginning to chill.

Let the children of the gods be brought to me, the beneficent of speech, who know their magic spells, whose wisdom reaches the heavens."

So the children of the gods came, every one of them having his mourning, but Isis came with Her skill, Her speech having the breath of life, Her utterances expelling pain, and Her words reviving him whose

throat was constricted. She said, "What is it, what is it, my divine father? Whata snake stabbed weakness into you? One of your children lifted up his head against you? Then I shall cast it down with effective magic. I shall make it retreat at the sight of your rays."

The holy god opened his mouth: "It is that I was going along the way, strolling in the Two Lands and the foreign countries, for my heart desired to see what I had created, when I was bitten a snake, without seeing it. It is not really fire; it is not really water; but I am colder than water, I am hotter than fire. My entire body is sweating, while I am shivering. My eye is not steadfast, and I cannot see. The heavens are beating upon my face as at the time of summer."

Then Isis said, "Tell me your name, my divine father, for a person lives whose name one recites (Heka)."

And Ra replied, "I am he who made heaven and earth, who knotted together the mountains, and created what is thereon. I am he who made the waters, so that the Heavenly Cow might come into being. I am he who made the bull for the cow, so that sexual pleasures might come into being. I am he who made the heaven and the mysteries of the two horizons, so that the soul of the gods might be placed therein. I am he who opened his eyes. So that light might come into being, who closed his eyes, so that darkness might come into being, in conformance with whose command the Nile flows, but whose name the gods have not learned. I am he who made the hours, so that days might come into being. I am he who opened the year and created the river. I am he who made the living fire, in order to bring into being the work of the palace. I am Khepri in the morning, Re at noon, and Atum who is in the evening."

But the poison was not checked in its course, and the great god did not recover.

Then Isis said to Ra: "Your name is not really among these which you have told me. If you tell me it, the poison will come forth, for a person whose name is pronounced, lives."

The poison burned with a burning. It was more powerful than flame or fire.

Then the majesty of Ra said: "Let your ears be given to me, daughter Isis that my name may come forth from my body into your body. The most divine among the gods concealed it, so that my place might be wide in the Barque of Millions of Years. If there should take place a first time of its issuing from my

heart, tell it to your son Horus, after you threaten him with an oath of the god, and have placed the god in his eyes."

The great god then divulged his name to Isis, the Great Goddess of Magic.

Isis then spoke this Healing spell and cast out the poison from Ra's body and majesty: "Come forth from Ra! Come forth from the burning god at my spell! It is I who acts; it is I who sends the message. Come upon the ground, O mighty poison! Behold, the great god has divulged his name, and Ra is living, the poison is dead, through the speech of Aset the Great, the Mistress of the Gods, who knows Ra by his name."

From then on, Isis knew the secret name of Ra. She understood the power that the revelation carried and did not abuse. She hid the information away in her mind, only to be used when she most desperately needed it.

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