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Anthropocosmos: An Introduction
–Part I–
Mathematical and Astronomical
Symbolism
–Part II –
Psychological Symbolism
–Part III–
Spiritual Symbolism
(Luke 11:34-36)
By Christian Irigaray
2017
The Eye of Horus:
An Initiation into Pharaonic Wisdom Anthropocosmos: An Introduction
Anthropocosmos: An Introduction
Man is Cosmos, and to express the so we may read the functions of nature and
Harmony or Beauty of human nature the the universe as an image of the psychic
Egyptians said Nefer . Plato, a student in and spiritual functions at work within.
Egypt, uses the word ‘Beauty’ (Kalos) to Here the “gods” are seen as vital functions
refer to the order in the world.1 The in man, and the whole of Nature is read in
hieroglyph for the word Nefer is a spiritual or sacred language. The purpose
symbolized by a musical instrument which of this philosophy is that the reader of the
is implying a sense of harmony by its archetypes may know himself, by
visual or ideographic form. Let us consider reflecting on natural functions as workings
that the myth relating to the Eye of Horus within. The Egyptians were masters of this
describes the fracturing of Osiris, and yet archaic and sacred language
he is evoked by the name of Un-Nefer
, meaning “Harmonic Being” or
“Beautiful Being”. Thus we are dealing
with a harmony accomplished by a
dynamic equilibrium in our being.
The meaning of the Eye of Horus is
religious and spiritual, and its meaning can
only be comprehended in this archaic
language to which Pharaonic art is
dedicated: a transformation of
consciousness in Man.
We learn from Plutarch that the
Egyptian myths of the Eye of Horus, speak
of Horus (Spiritual Man) as having two
eyes, symbolically represented by the
Sun and the Moon.2 The legend of
Cosmic Man with his eyes as the sun and Purusha Uttamah
moon is also present in Hindu scripture Supreme or Cosmic Person In Hindu Religion
and art, and one may contemplate the
analogy between Cosmic Man described in You are the Supreme, Imperishable,
Pharaonic Egypt and India as Purusha, Who one must recognize in the world.
the Cosmic Person “whose eyes are the You are the Treasure;
Sun and Moon”. Eternal Guardian of the Law.
In this paper we will focus on the Your Being is Eternal,
Pharaonic idea behind the Eye of Horus, That is what I see.
the Wedjat, making allusions to other
notions of a similar kind in other spiritual I see you without a beginning,
cultures, with the intention of exposing the Without middle or end.
archetypal language involved. The Your energy is infinite;
philosophy of anthropocosmos is based on For eyes you have the Sun and Moon.
the archaic notion that Man is Cosmos, and Your mouth is blazing Fire,
And with it you heat the Universe.3
1
See the terminology of “Kalos Kagathos” καλὸς
κἀγαθός used in Greece for a parallel to the
.
Egyptian concept or Idea Nefer .
2 3
Plutarch, De Isis et Osiris, Chapter 52. Bhagavad Gita 11:18-19.
2
The Eye of Horus:
An Initiation into Pharaonic Wisdom Anthropocosmos: An Introduction
3
The Eye of Horus:
An Initiation into Pharaonic Wisdom Part I – Mathematical and Astronomical Symbolism
5
The Eye of Horus:
An Initiation into Pharaonic Wisdom Part II – The Psychological Symbolism
9
We will explain this towards the end of this work,
“lose” a minute of time in using any of the two when we deal with the spiritual meaning of the Eye
formulas. of Horus.
6
The Eye of Horus:
An Initiation into Pharaonic Wisdom Part II – The Psychological Symbolism
utter vain lamentations! But the cause and Plato speaks of the “invariable
purpose of that best good, as we must revolutions” (i.e. the ideal or perfect
maintain, is this,—that God devised and revolutions) which would mean an
bestowed upon us vision to the end that we intelligible 360 day year and a 30 day
might behold the revolutions of Reason in month, as opposed to a sterile
the Heaven and use them for the revolvings
contemplation of the “perturbable” (i.e.
of the reasoning that is within us, these
being akin to those, the perturbable to the irrational) 365.242… and 29.53059…
imperturbable; and that, through learning values.
and sharing in calculations which are
correct by their nature, by imitation of the Let us concede that the arithmetic and
absolutely unvarying revolutions of the astrological symbolism of the Eye of
God, we might stabilize the variable Horus shows us that:
revolutions within ourselves.10
These latter words of Plato come to be 1) The 63/64 fraction can be used to
significant when we speak of the figure the period of a Lunation by 30 x
“irrational” and “rational” when we refer 63/64 = 29.53125 days.
to numbers or astronomical periods. The 2) That there is a mathematical link to
archaic method does study the science of φ, because 309 is half of 618, or φ-1 x
movement in the heavens (astronomy) in 1000 /2
itself because it is not a finality in Man’s 3) And a second link to φ embedded
life to learn mathematical descriptions of arithmetically in the dynamics of Soli-
sensorial movements. In the archaic mind, Lunar periods.
this science or knowledge is only useful to
Man as long as it holds a relation to the The question that might be asked then
evolutionary process of Man becoming is what all this has to do with the Eye of
Un-Nefer : the Harmonic Being. There is Horus? In order to answer this we must
a religious and spiritual dimension to look at the meaning of the Wedjat as a
science that needs to be observed and it is Lunar Eye and as symbolic of psychic or
beyond the secular-atheistic mentality cognitive functions.
because it requires a sense of God. The
sense of cosmosis as a return to Unity is
fundamental here in order that one does
not fall into “statistical” or “anecdotal”
astronomy or science in a general sense.
This secular science is, as we have
mentioned in this work, science as a
finality instead of Man’s well being
through science or knowledge as a means.
Plato teaches that the function of vision
is ultimately related to philosophical
contemplation because it has allowed Man
to contemplate harmonic cycles of time
inscribed in the movements of the planets
and stars, and these cycles, in turn, allow
for “the art of number” and lead to the
contemplation, as he says, of “the
revolutions of Reason in Heaven”.
10
Plato, Timaeus 46e-47c.
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An Initiation into Pharaonic Wisdom Part II – The Psychological Symbolism
As we mentioned in the astronomical India. The sem priests which were so often
symbolism in part I, the Wedjat and its depicted in the secret rites of ancient Egypt
mysterious arithmetic value of 63:64 is show this tuff of hair in broad daylight,
embedded in calculations of the Lunation and yet its association to cognitive
period, and it is also related to a myth functions cannot be revealed by the
where Horus, in trying to revenge the inconsiderate observer which neglects the
death of his father Osiris, loses his left power of religious symbolism.
(lunar) eye in a battle against Seth. The The Hindu association of the solar and
loss of the left eye Wedjat in the lunar eyes in the Purusha or Cosmic Being
Egyptian mythology symbolizes a loss of (part I) is basically identical to the
vision, but more specifically a loss of Pharaonic mythology which places them in
holistic or holy vision which allows for Horus, but one must consider here that the
the reunion or reconciliation of two sacred science of Cosmic Man and why
opposites in Unity.11 The value of φ in the the eyes are said to be the Sun and Moon
mathematical and astronomical allegory is goes way beyond a simple “poetic”
that φ is the perfect reciprocal because of expression. While the function of vision is
its relationship to 1 or Unity. In a being brought forwards in appearance
philosophical language, φ is the symbol under the soli-lunar analogy of the eyes, it
for the consciousness which brings the is in reality symbolic of mental or
reconciliation of opposites, by the power psychic contemplation with both
of Unity or 1. hemispheres of the brain at once.
The reconciliation of Horus and Seth In his Temple of Man, R.A. Schwaller
brings back the horian vision, a “double de Lubicz has shown how the eyes were
vision” both lunar ans solar,but the only associated to lunar and solar functions in
divine power or neter capable of bringing Pharaonic Egypt, but fundamentally so in a
this forth is Toth, the Wisdom of God. manner made analogous to the proper
Now, these “two minds” –or “two cognitive functions of the hemispheres of
hearts” as the Egyptians say– are related the brain.
to the modern studies of brain functions
of the right and left hemispheres. In The eye is the only nerve that comes out to
the surface of the body, the only one we can
particular, the right and lunar
observe in its living function. It blossoms
hemisphere represents the holistic or holy into a sphere filled with white crystalline
vision. This science of human cognitive liquid. It os sensitive to light, to the effect
functions has been known by the world’s of fire, and reacts to colors.
religions for ages. An example that is It is the sense that informs us directly of
illustrative is the peackok’s plume, for volume and that demonstrates the function
example, said to protrude from the right of intelligence through the crossing, there
hemisphere of Lord Krishna in Hinduism. being a unification and at the same time an
The royal peackok’s feathers resemple the exchange between the two eyes.
Supreme Being with eyes seeing in all The eye is the “sense du jour,” that is, of
directions. We should mention, for the visible sun. The right eye is, as is the
left side of the brain in man, sensitive to
example, that the Egyptian sem priests
that which is positive and affirmative, while
used a long tuft of hair extending from the the left eye is related to the right side of the
right (lunar) hemisphere of the head, in a brain and is sensitive to that which is
similar symbolism as the brahmins of negative. There is a crossing between the
left and right eyes and the left and right
11
This psychological problem in the history of lobes of the brain. The center of the optical
religious ideas is fundamental to spiritual nerve is an empty channel that conducts the
teachings, and it is mentioned by Jung as complexio vital, nervous energy. These are already
oppositorum, while Mircea Eliade calls it sufficient reasons to motivate us to the use
coincidentia oppositorum.
9
The Eye of Horus:
An Initiation into Pharaonic Wisdom Part II – The Psychological Symbolism
of the eye as a symbol for, among other In the Book of Coming Forth By Day,
things, the capacity of volume. The animal there is one particular use of this
with optical brain is the bird, and among hieroglyph in the context of the two
birds the falcon (in Egypt) corresponds
Eyes of Horus which is of interest to us
best to the array of noble qualities that can
be symbolized as “eye.” here. In the papyrus of Nebseni, we read:
The two eyes are our two luminaries. While
one is solar and the other lunar in function, Hail beautiful face, Lord of sight,
both eyes nevertheless belong to the sun, Bound by Ptak-Sokar,
the left to the morning sun, the right to the Raised high by Anubis,
evening sun…12 To whom Shu has given the supports,
Beautiful face in whom the gods are;
Your right eye is the Night [Evening] Boat
The “crossing” of functions between
msktt,
eyes and brain hemispheres accompanies Your left eye is the Day [Morning] Boat
the well known fact that the motor mandt1516
functions of the left hemisphere of man are
regulated by the right hemisphere and vice In Egyptian mythology, the Day or
versa.13 The crossing itself, as far as the Morning Boat (Mandt), related to the left
eyes and sight is concerned, takes place in eye, represented the course of Ra from sunrise
the optic chiasm: an X shaped corpus to noon, while the Night or Evening Boat
placed right before the pituitary gland. (related to the right eye) represented the
The “crossing” between eyes and course of Ra from noon to sunset.
cognitive functions of the hemispheres The cosmic dome, of which our cranium is
the image on Earth, is thus split in half like the
of the brain are symbolized by the
hemispheres of the brain by a moment of
hieroglyph .14 “midday”, and the circuit runs from left
hemisphere to right hemisphere as Schwaller
says: “the left to the morning sun, the right to
the evening sun…” A direction of evolution in
thought (from sunrise to sunset) is being
suggested to the initiate, and the cosmic
person is made to face south.17
We speak today of “western” and
“eastern” mentalities implying a way of
15
Stephen Quirke, Going out in Daylight – prt m
hrw, (2013), page 373. Thanks to Charles Herzer
for this correction.
16
Wallis Budge, The Egyptian Book of the Dead,
p.359, Plates XXXIII and XXXIV [p. 437 y 581
spanish version] has a different translation:
12 Hail to thee, thou Beautiful One, the Lord!
R.A. Schwaller de Lubicz, The Temple of Man,
Vol. 1, p.108-109. Thou hast been gazed upon by the Sun's eye,
13 Thou hast been bound up by Ptah-Seker;
Schwaller de Lubicz has also pointed out to the
significance of the right-handed and left-handed Thou hast been made whole by Anubis;
gestures in consideration of the crossing, an Breath hath been given unto thee by Shu,
important contribution to the reading of Pharaonic And thou hast been raised up
art. By the Beautiful One [Nefer ], the prince of
14
This does not mean that the invention of the eternity.
symbol was necessarily a copying the physical Thou hast thine eyes:
image of the optic chasm: instead, it means that the Thy right eye is in the Sektet boat,
X is an archetypal geometry which means And thy left eye is in the Atet boat.
17
“crossing” in itself, and this geometrical meaning is The crossing of this would produce a facing
behind all physical patterns of nature which express northwards, to the celestial pole, symbolic of the
it. Axis Mundi and the location of eternity.
10
The Eye of Horus:
An Initiation into Pharaonic Wisdom Part II – The Psychological Symbolism
thinking, but in reality all humans have In the Myth f Horus and Seth, the latter
both “western” and “eastern” mentalities. symbolizes the power or effect of
“Western” and “Eastern” cultures impose incarnation, the incubation of
a priority for one mode of conceiving the consciousness in a sensorial and mental or
world over another because they are the psychic reality. This is described by the
product of Man. Truth is found by using Osirian dismemberment, for
“two eyes instead of one”, such is the consciousness, although immortal, has
Gnostic teaching of Jesus in the Gospel of become fractions. So the power of Seth to
Thomas. impair Horus by taking his Lunar Eye the
We should note that, geographically, on Wedjat , demands that a reconstitution
Earth, the “western” and “eastern” worlds of “fissured” or “stolen” cognitive
are linked (or divided) by the meridian of functions in Man. Seth has the eye or
the Nile River.18 The Nile, quite vision in his grasp until Horus is able to
symbolically, divides and bonds “eastern” recover it through the power of Toth. If
and “western” mentalities. It represents the it were not for the power of Toth, the
crossing point, the point where two paths battle between Horus and Seth would not
are interconnected, as in the figure of the come to an end, and the soul is destined to
X, of the optic chasm. The Pituitary gland the osirian cycle which is reincarnation.
is the physical organ which represents this We cannot fail to point out how important
psychic center in the body. The it is that Toth: the neter representing
hieroglyphic name of the Atet Boat in the God’s Intelligence, is the one that allows
text above is written with the four for the reconciliation of the reciprocal
hieroglyphs and we may powers of Horus and Seth. This is not
appreciate that the left eye (i.e. the one that something that Man can achieve by
Horus loses to Seth in the myth, and which himself, for as an image of the Supreme
symbolizes the right hemisphere functions Being, the “gods” or neteru are the cosmic
of the brain) is evoked by this symbolism functions living in him, and to control
of the “crossing” in the name of the them he must return to his innermost
barge which “carries” the lunar eye. Origin and Unity.
The Eye of Horus that is lost in the Cerebral acrobatics will do nothing to
Pharaonic mythology is the left eye, the solve this fundamental cosmic question for
“lunar” eye and refers then to a right Man because it is the coming together of a
hemisphere ‘vision’; or holy unified vision by both hemispheres which
contemplation. The Moon, being the is always evoked as the best and just kind
reflection of solar light for our world, is of vision. This is a repeated theme in
able to “see” in the night, and during that spiritual cultures around the world, the
time of night (which is incarnation or coincidentia oppositorum spoken of by
natural consciousness), the Spiritual Sun Mircea Eliade, the complexio oppositorum
(Ra) remains invisible and can only be of Carl Jung. We are dealing with a
perceived indirectly through the reflection problem with a root in spiritual and
of the Moon.19 The very waxing and religious science, not natural science, and
waning of the Moon is visually significant such high standards of knowing penetrate
of cyclical life as opposed to eternal and even beyond the psychological. For this
immutable light of the Sun (Ra). reason, the meaning and value of the Eye
of Horus can only be grasped In the
original religious language which it
18
In the ancient world, Alexandria, Egypt, marked belongs to.
the 0° meridian which today is situated some 30° to The moment of conjunction between
the west and known as the Greenwitch meridian. Sun and Moon makes for moments of
19
This is the idea behind a “third” world of Duat as eclipses and new moons in this
“underworld” in the ancient Egyptian religion.
11
The Eye of Horus:
An Initiation into Pharaonic Wisdom Part II – The Psychological Symbolism
astrological analogy, and this moment is Pyramid Texts in the sarcophagus chamber
symbolized by the “god” Khonsu in of Unas’ pyramid. Here we are told about
Ancient Egypt, a divinity of which we the solution to a problem that is natural to
have spoken of in another work entitled Man and it is a problem of the dysfunction
“The Ka of His Mother”.20 The eclipse as provoked by excess or defect of a given
the coming together of Sun and Moon is hemisphere of mental activity. This
significant. In Plato, Gorgias 513a, relation is enough to see that we are
Socrates speaks of an ancient myth telling speaking of ‘vision’ in a metaphorical
of the ability of women in Thessaly to sense which actually means a state of
produce an eclipse by the use of magic. In consciousness. Again we point to the fact
Thessaly there was an ancient cult to the the function of repairing the lunar or holy
goddess Hekate, a word no doubt vision is performed by an act of divine
borrowed from the Egyptian “Heka”, knowledge (Toth): a cognitive act of
translated as “magic” in most books of “seeing” with both hemispheres of mind
Egyptology. The myth of the women of which only occurs when one does not
Thessaly said that those who practiced cancel the religious: the human fusion
magic would lose their sight or suffer a with Unity, normally personified as a
paralysis of the body. Supreme Being.
For now, let us observe that the In as far as the psychic or mental order
moment of full moon, which is the of the Eye of Horus, it is demanded that
opposition of Sun and Moon, was also one achieve the equilibrium of vision
significant in the mythology referring wherein one does not deny all
alegorically to human consciousness. It is metaphysical and divine qualities of the
at the moment of full moon that both universe by an excess of analytical and
luminaries are crossed in the horizon or sensorial (solar) consciousness, nor does
Akhet. The “Horizon” or “Spirit World” is one deny the manifest reality of the
in itself a crossing point of Heaven and physical or material consciousness by total
Earth, and both Sun and Moon fully holistic idealism (which is excess of lunar
illuminated on the Horizon is quite consciousness).
significant. This fully spiritual vision with Just to make a final comparison, the
both “solar” and “lunar” contemplation Norse myth of Odin, the legendary king of
was itself evoked in the astrological Asgard, tells us that the great king of the
parables and mystery rituals of Ancient gods traded an eye in return for divine
Egypt as recorded by Plutarch: knowledge, and the archetype is rather
interesting as it is always a question of
In the sacred hymns of Osiris they call knowing and seeing, but repeatedly
upon him who is hidden in the arms of the associated to the myth which describes the
Sun; and on the thirtieth of the month loss of an eye or, in this case, the sacrifice
Epiphi they celebrate the birthday of the of a vision in order to achieve a complete
Eyes of Horus, at the time when the Moon or holy vision which grants divine wisdom
and the Sun are in a perfectly straight
and kingship.
line, since they regard not only the Moon
but also the Sun as the eye and light of
Horus.21
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The Eye of Horus:
An Initiation into Pharaonic Wisdom Part II – The Psychological Symbolism
If your right eye causes you to stumble, Jesus said to them: “When you make the
gouge it out and throw it away. It is better two into one, and when you make the inner
for you to lose one part of your body than like the outer and the outer like the inner,
for your whole body to be thrown into and the upper like the lower, and when you
hell.22 make male and female, when you make
eyes in place of an eye, a hand in place of a
We cannot take this teaching literally in hand, a foot in place of a foot, an image in
any way. We should notice how the place of an image, then you will enter.23
Master speaks in two ways: “one part”
which is fractioned, analytical, solar In the Christian Gospel, the right eye is
perception; and then we read “your whole mentioned as a possible cause for
body”, so it is holistic (lunar) perception stumbling, and because of the principle of
being referred to. No quick analysis of crossing we saw in part II, it is understood
these words or any other among the to be the solar consciousness related to the
Gospels of Christ will reveal its true and left hemisphere of the brain, just as much
originally religious meaning, and so it is as the “body” spoken of is the entirety of
true for Egypt. our being, not only the physical aspect, but
Here, in the Gospel, we are taught to the whole “Church” or “Temple of Man”:
give favor to “the whole body” lest we “Don't you know that you yourselves are
wish to suffer, and it is a call towards the God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells
liberation from ‘solar’ blindness which is in your midst?” (1 Cor. 3:16). Don't you
sensorial and cerebral blindness brought realize that your body is the temple of the
about by perpetual analysis or division. Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was
This is the “right eye” mentioned to make
one stumble.
23
The Gospel of Thomas, 22:4-7, Meyer et. al., The
22
Matthew, 5:29. Nag Hammadi Sctiptures, p.142-143.
The Eye of Horus:
An Initiation into Pharaonic Wisdom Part III – The Spiritual Symbolism
given to you by God? You do not belong contemplation and experience of being
to yourself (1 Cor. 6:19) which counterbalances the exalted solar
The left hemisphere of the brain, vision poured into the world by our sense
symbolized by the right eye, is the organs. It is this latter ‘lunar’ right-
analytical, masculine, solar vision which hemisphere vision or state of awareness
penetrates and dissects in order to make which we must take care not to neglect in
apparent what is different: the platonic our course of learning as psychic beings
“other”. Man only sees division and when we walk in the darkness of the
difference through this ‘eye’ and this leads incarnate night.
to his alienation form the religious So far has been our presentation of the
experience of Unity in God. psychic symbolism of the Eye of Horus.
This solar and masculine aspect is a But we have also spoken of the dual
polarization of Spirit, and it serves as the vision, the unity of “lunar” and “solar”
basis for sensorial awareness and eyes, and catalogued this as the highest ans
imaginative and abstract (conceptual) spiritual “vision”.
experiences of the world, but being incited In Hindu myth, Lord Shiva is
into an excess in Man through bad culture associated to the lunar aspect of vision.
on the divine nature of things –as Socrates Shiva performs the famous nataraja dance
has it in the Republic–, the solar vision in the ring of fire: one of the most famous
brings a delusion of material and sensorial images of Hinduism where the deva poses
reality as the single and whole of reality. It one leg over the body of a dwarf
is not this “right eye” that allows for such representing ignorance.
contemplation, however. Shiva is known as ‘the destroyer of
This natural blindness of Man is best illusion’, and this destruction of ignorance
expressed by the concept of Maya in is performed by the agent of Fire (Agni).
Hindu religion, the great illusion of the In ancient times, Fire was often the
sensorial and mental (psychic) world of element associated to vision through
differentiation lacking Unity. The excess divine knowledge. In the Bhagavad Gita,
of solar vision constrains all motivation, we read:
ideals, and goals in human life for the
purpose of sense gratifications and mental He who observes inaction in action, and
comfort. So the Buddha taught that action in inaction, he is enlightened among
attachment to mental formations men. He is a true yogui and is united
(ideologies) is one of the greatest (yuktah), and so he realizes the totality of
action (karma) correctly.
hindrances for enlightenment, and Socrates
He whose projects are absent of greed,
agreed.
and whose actions are burned In the Fire
The lunar ‘eye’ Wedjat , of holistic of Knowledge (Jñana-Agni) – he is
and unified consciousness is associated to considered wise by the learned.24
the right hemisphere of the brain, and it is
active in religious thinking, mantra Just as the blazing fire reduces all to ashes,
chanting, teamwork, collective and Oh Arjuna!, so the Fire of Knowledge
synchronized activity, and music in a (Jñana-Agni) reduces to ashes all karma.
general sense because this aspect of spirit Indeed, there is nothing in this world that
is sensitive to Harmony and Beauty, Nefer will purify like Knowledge (Jñana). He who
becomes perfected in this yoga, in time
. This “mentality” allows for a perception knows the Atman.25
of the inner and mostly unconscious realm
of psychic activity, and thus it is connected
to creative imagination, mythology,
fantasy, and archetypal symbolism. The 24
Bhagavad Gita, 4.18-19
Wedjat allows for a form of 25
Bhagavad Gita 4.37-38.
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The Eye of Horus:
An Initiation into Pharaonic Wisdom Part III – The Spiritual Symbolism
In Hindu Tantra, the Bindu Chakra is Plato was, he surely would have not
represented by the crescent disk of the written these remarks concerning the
moon (a symbol of Shiva). The late Swami mystic doctrines of old and the value of
Satyananda tells us of this Bindu that it archaic mythology. The Aristotelian
feeds the whole optic system and that it is attitude, blinded under the solar vision of
the seat of amrit: the nectar of analysis and naturalism, considers myth as
immortality.26 This “nectar” is one which a matter “not worth while to consider
the Greek poet Hesiod refers to as honey seriously”, but the reality of ancient
fire in his writings as old as 700 BC.27 It is symbolism is best approached in a
on this subject of a mysterious nectar of different fashion than to leave under no
immortality that Aristotle –that consideration that which is “beyond our
philosopher most reverenced by comprehension”.
rationalists and the lovers of infinite In the same fragment of the Egyptian
analysis– stumbled upon and gave up his Book of Coming Forth By Day quoted
hopes on the ancient mentality and myth as before where the two eyes are made to
a way of instruction. travel in barges, the text continues to
In his Metaphysics, Aristotle says: describe some interesting similarities to
that Bindu Chakra located at the back of
The school of Hesiod, and all the the head in Hindu Tantra:
cosmologists, considered only what was
convincing to themselves, and gave no
consideration to us. For they make the first
principles gods or generated from gods,
and say that whatever did not taste of the
nectar and ambrosia became mortal—
clearly using these terms in a sense
significant to themselves; but as regards
the actual applications of these causes their
statements are beyond our comprehension.
For if it is for pleasure that the gods
partake of them, the nectar and ambrosia
are in no sense causes of their existence;
but if it is to support life, how can gods
who require nourishment be eternal?
However, it is not worth while to consider
seriously the subtleties of mythologists; we
must ascertain by cross-examining those
who offer demonstration of their statements
why exactly things which are derived from
the same principles are some of an eternal
Black diorite statue of Kafra from
nature and some perishable.28 the IVth dynasty.
(Cairo Museum, CG 14)
If Aristotle had been initiated in
Egyptian or Greek mysteries as his teacher The back of thy head is in good case
In the presence of the sacred falcon.
26
Thy fingers are established
Satyananda, Kundalini Tantra, p.25; 181-188. By written decree,
The development of this idea is found in our work In the presence of the lord of Khemennu
“The Ka of His Mother” quoted earlier.
27 [i.e. Toth, the lord of the Ogdoad of
Hesiod, Theogony, 563 (Μελιησι πυρος) This is
the ‘fire’ which Zeus removed from Man, and
Hermopolis],
which Prometheus steals from Zeus in order to give And Thoth giveth unto thee
it to mankind. The speech of the sacred books.
28
Aristotle, Metaphysics, Book 4 [1000a].
16
The Eye of Horus:
An Initiation into Pharaonic Wisdom Part III – The Spiritual Symbolism
Thy hair is in good case in the presence of just before the symbolic offerings are
Ptah-Seker.29 presented.30
There is much mention to anointment
The back of the head is of course the in these utterances: a Judeo-Christian
location where the brain functions of symbol of enlightenment known to us by
vision are located, namely, in the occipital the Hebrew and Greek terms Messiah and
lobe of the brain. It is precisely at this Christos. Both mean “the anointed one”.
location where a famous image of the The most informative of such utterances
Horus falcon is seen to protect the pharaoh from the Pyramid of Unas says:
Khafra in an Old Kingdom sculpture of
the IV Dynasty (2613–2494 BC). Ointment, ointment, where should you be?
The Eye of Horus plays a role in the You on Horus’s forehead, where should
pyramid texts which is very important in you be?
relation to gaining the insight that delivers You were on Horus’s forehead,
Man to the spiritual way of life, and it But I will put you on this Unas’s forehead.
speaks of a sort of unified vision granted You shall make it pleasant for him,
Wearing you; you shall spiritualize him,
by Toth who recovers the fractured
Wearing you; you shall make him have
Wadjet . control of his body;
As we said, most of the pyramid texts You shall put his ferocity in the eyes of all
speaking of the Eye of Horus are depicted the spirits [akhu] who shall look at him
on the North wall of the sarcophagus And everyone who hears his name as
chamber in the pyramid of Unas, and well.31
North is well known to be the direction of
immortality in Egyptian mysteries as it is The recovered Eye of Horus is placed
related to the celestial pole, the fixed point on the forehead of Pharaoh, inasmuch as it
of the Axis Mundi and the region of the is said to be placed in the mouth of Osiris-
“immortal stars” which never set on the Unas. Jeremy Naydler, in his fabulous
horizon or pass into the Duat. These Shamanic Wisdom in the Pyramid Texts
“immortal stars” of Pharaonic mysteries tells us that the opening of the mouth
once again evoke a cosmological parable ceremony amongst the ancient Egyptians
symbolically meaning that they do not “was essentially involved with opening a
know the cyclical revolution of birth and channel between the spirit world and
death (the osirian cycle) through the physical world”.32
occultation by the horizon. North is the From the pyramid texts of Pepi II (c.
way in which the pyramid opens and 2216 or c. 2184 BC), whose name as
symbolically directs the soul or Ba of Nefer-Ka-Ra means “Beautiful-is-the-Ka-
pharaoh to the celestial pole through a of-Ra” we read:
narrow ascending corridor that signifies
the final escape from ‘the tomb’ (the Pepi Neferkare!
mineral or physical prison of I am your son; I am Horus.
consciousness). I have come having gotten for you
On the North wall of the sarcophagus Horus’s two eyes of his body:
Seize them, combine them to yourself.
chamber in the pyramid of Unas, most of
I have gathered them to you;
the 118 utterances inscribed refer to the I have joined them to you complete.
Eye of Horus. We read there, for example,
how Toth appears with the Eye of Horus
30
The Pyramid Texts, Utterance 82.
29 31
Wallis Budge, The Egyptian Book of the Dead, The Pyramid Texts, Utterance 77.
32
p.359, Plates XXXIII and XXXIV [p. 437 y 581 en Naydler, Jeremy, Shamanic Wisdom in the
español] Pyramid Texts, p.191.
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The Eye of Horus:
An Initiation into Pharaonic Wisdom Part III – The Spiritual Symbolism
Horus [has placed] them before this Pepi oil as a lamp. In mentioning the Messiah
Neferkare, under the cryptic name of “Son of Man”
That they may lead this Pepi to the Cool (the Ben-Adam of the Old Testament
Waters, prophets), the teaching of the Master in the
With Horus, [to the sky with] the Great Gospel of Mary is clear:
God [Ra],
And save this Pepi from all his opponents.
Acquire my peace within yourselves.
Be on your guard so that no one deceives
[Oh] Osiris Pepi Neferkare,
you by saying,
I have gotten you Horus’s two eyes,
‘Look over here’ or ‘Look over there.’
Which spread out his heart:
For the Son of Man exists within you.
Gather them to you, seize them for yourself.
Follow it. Those who search for it will find
it.34
[Oh] Horus in Osiris Pepi,
I have gotten for you Horus’s two eyes,
Which spread out his heart: To seek within ourselves is a mystic
Gather them to you, seize them for yourself. journey which requires a kind of holy
vision of the universe and a religious
Oh, Pepi! I am Horus. contemplation of life. Such a vision cannot
I have come having gotten you Horus’s be grasped by cerebral effort, it is
two eyes, impossible to reach with a fissured and
Which spread out his heart: “osirian vision” which is of a psychic
Gather them to you, seize them for nature.
yourself.33 The Horian Vision, supreme vision of
reality in Pharaonic mysticism is religious,
The placing of the Eye of Horus on the as it involves the Unity of the Supreme
forehead is of course symbolizing Being, Amún/Atum. There is no resolution
enlightenment by knowledge, and it is the to the psychic complex of Seth vs. Horus
same meaning of the Book of Revelations without a standard of Unity, and Pharaonic
or Apocalypse of John where “the chosen spiritual culture resolved this cosmic
ones” receive a mark on the forehead dispute in Man with the divine vision of a
allowing their identification by the higher Supreme Being, like many if not most
powers of the angels of God. This religious traditions have.
symbolism is linked to the third eye of It is a well attested fact that Yoga is the
Hindu Tantra, whose Chakra is Ajna. It is art of restraining sensorial consciousness
at this location on the brow in which the in order to awaken our “third eye” or Ajna,
reconciliation of opposite polarities of so that we may look within ourselves and
spirit is possible. experience the hidden aspects of our
The texts from the Pyramid of Pepi II human constitution which is ultimately
speak of a vision which “spreads out the divine.35 It is this prophetic “vision” which
heart”, so it is not merely a cerebral vision the myth of the Eye of Horus refers to, as
that comes by abstraction or imagination well as the doctrines of Krishna from the
alone, but one which widens Bhagavad Gita where prince Arjuna is
understanding through “an intelligence of given divine sight (divyam caksu).36
the heart” which is intuitive. Lord Krishna says:
The spiritualizing power of the Eye of
Horus is related to ointment: a messianic The Yogi, always engaging the mind thus
symbolism relating to what is hidden and (in the practice of Yoga),
dormant within us lest it be anointed with
34
The Gospel of Mary, BG 8502,1 (8,11–9,5), from
The Nag Hammadi Scriptures, p.742.
33 35
The Pyramid Texts, Utt. 106. (From the From Bhaghavad Gita 2.58.
36
pyramid of Pepi II 295a-b.) Bhagavad Gita 11.9.
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The Eye of Horus:
An Initiation into Pharaonic Wisdom Part III – The Spiritual Symbolism
19
The Eye of Horus:
An Initiation into Pharaonic Wisdom Part III – The Spiritual Symbolism
He is too secretive
For His Majesty to be revealed,
He is too great to be enquired after,
Too powerful to be known.
39
Ibid., 200:1-33.
20