by SUZAN STILL
To begin, you should know that the religion of Egypt is quite different from your Christian one. I am speaking here of the ancient beliefs of which you probably know very little, if anything at all. In some ways, they are so foreign to your beliefs as to seem heretical. Yet in another way, they may be quite comprehensible to you, since the progenitor god of the Egyptians, like your Christ, is a dying and resurrected god. For, like your Jesus, the god Osiris was unfairly murdered but then brought back to life.
Osiris, it is said, fell in love with his sister, Isis, while they were still in the womb of their mother. So they, who were brother and sister, god and goddess, became husband and wife, king and queen. It was they who taught the early people of Egypt the arts of civilization and raised them from brutish cannibals into a people sustained by agriculture and crowned by music, poetry and evolved religious practices.
Two siblings were born with them: Nepthys, their sister, and Set, their brother, who was the Lord of Evil. Set married Nepthys, for a god could only be wed to a goddess, never a mortal. But his hatred of both Isis and Osiris was great, and he plotted how he might kill Osiris and take over the land of Egypt for himself.
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With seventy-two conspirators, Set hatched a plan. He had a beautiful box made of cedar from Lebanon and ebony from the land of Punt, for in Egypt there are no woods hard enough for this purpose, but only the soft wood of the palm tree. The box was inlaid with precious stones and gold and was a work of wonder.
Next, Set and his evil friends prepared a great feast, to which they invited Osiris. So the great god-king came, to sit eating and drinking and jesting, surrounded all the while by a viper’s den of enemies. After everyone was well fed and loosened by drink, Set’s henchmen brought the amazing box into the feasting hall. Every eye was dazzled by it, including that of Osiris.
Now, Set made what seemed to be a host’s generous and playful offer: whoever could fit perfectly into the box would have it for his own. Of course, his cronies knew that the box was a perfect fit for Osiris alone, but they played along. One after another, they climbed into the box, to be found too short or too long or too wide or too skinny.
Finally, Osiris took his turn and found that the box fit him perfectly, whereupon he cried in triumph, “The box fits me! It is mine!” At which Set leapt forward with the quick suppleness of a beast and snarled, “The box is yours indeed, my brother—for all eternity!” And with that he slammed the top, and his helpers brought molten lead, with which they sealed the lid tight. And then the whole mob of them carried the box to the banks of the Nile and threw it into the river!
And so the brothers parted: Set, in triumph, to establish his rule over his brother’s kingdom, and Osiris, to die in the box, and be carried down the river to the sea. I can see that you are distressed, Blanche, by this story. And a terrible story it is, indeed. But it is not yet finished, and in the end you shall see that, just as with your beloved Savior, Osiris will live again. For the great wisdom of this tale is yet to be revealed.
So far, as you already have witnessed in your short life, we have a story of the triumph of evil over good. But the story never ends there, Blanche. Never. And the necessary containment of death, whether in a sepulcher or in a box, or at the hands of madmen who commit the bodies of their victims to torture, as with your parents, is only a predecessor to the great and triumphant flowering of life.
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Now, as you can imagine, when Isis heard what had befallen her love, she was undone with grief and rage. Leaving her court without a single attendant, she ran to the riverbank, hoping for sight of the golden box bobbing on the waters. But she was too late. The current of the river had already carried the box northward toward the sea.
Isis was undaunted. Following the bank of the river, she too traveled northward, asking each and every soul she passed along the way whether they had seen the box upon the waters. Each would answer that, indeed, they had seen this wondrous sight and it had passed them by, moving with the waters toward the sea. The children, especially, who played upon the banks of the river were eager to give an account, and later, to honor their helpfulness, Isis blessed all children that they should always speak words of truth and wisdom.
Many days Isis traveled down river in pursuit of her love. Her hair grew wild, her skin was burned by the sun, her clothing was in rags, but still she persisted. Nothing could deter her from finding Osiris, for nothing in this world, Blanche, is stronger than the bond and power of love.
Finally, Isis came to the sea. She stood upon the beach, her hair all tangled and flying in the wind, and surveyed the vast expanse of water before her. Truly, her heart must have been about to break with hopelessness. But we must remember that Isis was no mortal woman but a goddess, and that means she had powers of which we mere humans know nothing.
Let us call the power she used, there upon the bitter sands of her search, the powers of intuition or insight or revelation. Call it what we will, there was a voice inside her that said hope must not be lost and that turned her to her right, toward the east.
Again for many days, she journeyed along the coast, again collecting accounts from children, fishermen and other simple folk who plied the waves or lived close to the waters, of a passing marvel—a golden box that traveled eastward, as if propelled by the gods themselves. And so she traveled on, sun-blistered and ragged.
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Now, while Isis traveled thus, footsore and weary, Osiris in his box was making progress like a ship under sail. At last, his coffin—for that is what the glorious box had become—came to the coast of Phoenicia, near the capital city of Byblos, and there the waves cast it ashore, to land in the branches of a tamarisk tree.
This tree, stimulated by the energy of the god within the box, grew prodigiously and soon was of such girth that it encompassed the box completely. So poor Osiris was doubly encapsulated: first in the box, and then within the tree, so that it seemed he would never be found.
This all must sound fantastic to you, but you must remember that these are the doings of magic, the power that the gods use to effect their will and desire. And while there are those among us here in this cave this very day who are adept at such powers of visualization and thought-made-form, no one in the present time can match the magic wrought by those first beings.
Even your own Savior has said, ye are as gods, and it is so, dear Blanche, but we are weak and corrupt, compared with those mighty ones from the beginning of things when this story was made. And we must realize that Osiris allowed all this to transpire in order to demonstrate a most important universal principle: containment precedes regeneration. Remember this, child, should you ever find yourself again in captivity, for Osiris suffered, that you might know this.
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Now, it soon happened that news of this marvel, a tamarisk tree of unusual size and wonderful fragrance, traveled to the city of Byblos, and into the hearing of King Malcander and his queen, Astarte. Together they journeyed to the seashore to see this wonder for themselves. So impressed were they by this marvelous tree that they ordered it cut down on the spot, to be carried back to the palace. There, it was erected as a pillar in the throne room, a thing of beauty and mystery.
Finally, after many months of hard travel, Isis arrived at the shores of Phoenicia. There, the children excitedly told her of a wondrous tree that had suddenly grown by the shore, of so great a wonder that it had been visited by the king and queen. Hearing the fate of the tamarisk, Isis grew hopeful, for she suspected that only the presence of a god could work such a miracle upon a simple entity of nature.
Some say it was as she rested on the stump of that great tree and some that it was later, when she refreshed herself at a well in the city of Byblos, but at some point soon after her arrival, Isis encountered the young women who were in attendance upon Queen Astarte. Whether they came to the sea to bathe or to the well to draw water is of little importance. Isis, even in her state of dishevelment and bereavement, was a goddess still and the ma
idens of the court were drawn to her. It is what transpired from this fortuitous meeting that interests us today.
For this is one of the great truths of life, dear child—when you have traveled long and honestly upon a given road, be it a real road of dust, hunger and sweat, or a way involving much artistry and effort or one of great moral restraint and wisdom—the gods and goddesses, in their infinite mercy, will send helpers at the very moment when your own will and energy are depleted and all seems lost. So it was, as you have heard, with our dear Caspar of Nubia when, after long and terrible suffering, he was close to despair. And so it was with you, when you chose death over terrible defilement and fate flung you into our waiting arms. And so it was with Isis, who had traveled with such noble intention upon the hardest of roads, for now the gods decreed that she should have her reward.
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In her generosity, Isis saw that these maids of the court were yet untutored in the refinements of womanhood that she had so long nurtured among the people of Egypt. Taking pity on these roughly coiffed but kindly girls, she offered to plait their hair and they readily agreed. With delight they then rushed off to show Queen Astarte their newly styled hair, in the process drawing with them the divine scent of Isis that pervaded them like strong perfume.
The queen, enchanted both by the lovely hairdos and the scent that wafted around the girls, soon extracted from them how they had come by these refinements and sent a servant to invite Isis to the palace. Isis was in the guise of an old, bedraggled woman when she arrived, and still her essence was so sweet that the queen invited her, then and there, to become the nursemaid to her two children, young Prince Maneros and his baby brother, Dictys.
Isis accepted this assignment because, upon entering the palace, she knew her quest was at an end. She could sense the closeness of her love and she was determined to locate him. So she cared for the little princes by day and at night searched the palace for Osiris.
Before long, she discovered his essence exuding from the vast tamarisk pillar in the throne room. Confounded by its imprisoning structure, each night she turned herself into a swallow and flew round and round the pillar, crying her love in anguish to her husband and brother.
Isis was of such a sweet and loving nature that the little princes flourished under her sway. The baby Dictys especially was fond of her and she of him. So Isis made a decision such as only a goddess can make: she would confer immortality upon baby Dictys!
So each night, when she had tired of flying about the pillar, calling to Osiris, she did further magic. Taking baby Dictys by the heel while chanting mystical words, she would dip the infant into the flames of the evening fire, in the same way that an armorer would commit a sword to hot coals to temper the metal.
This was her routine for many days and nights, until one night when Queen Astarte discovered Isis in the act of holding her child into the flames! You can imagine, I’m sure, how it must have appeared to the frantic mother, who screamed that the new nursemaid was trying to kill the little prince!
A furor was raised in the palace of King Malcander that night and before the coming of the dawn, all was revealed. Isis showed herself in all her glory and reproached the queen for rupturing the magic that would have gifted her son immortality. For their part, the king and queen cowered before the radiance of the goddess and offered her whatever treasure she might wish in their kingdom. But Isis asked for only one thing, the great tamarisk pillar, which they granted her without hesitation.
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Immediately Isis caused the tree to be hewn open and discovered the golden box within it. At the sight of it, she threw herself down upon it with wails of such terrible anguish that it is said poor baby Dictys died of fright upon hearing them, thus punishing his mother for subverting the will of a goddess.
In fact, we now see the terrible side of the goddess, for every god and goddess possesses one. The good King Malcander now supplied Isis with a ship to return her and her treasure to Egypt, and sent young Prince Maneros to accompany her. But once they were at sea, Isis caught the boy spying on her as she opened the lid of the box to tend to Osiris. In a rage, with one blow-like glance of her eyes, she knocked him overboard and into the sea.
Soon, their ship was navigating across the mouth of the Phaedrus River, which was in flood. The force of the current was so powerful that it threatened to sweep the ship away from sight of land, out into the open sea. Isis was outraged by this impediment to her homeward journey. She shouted a curse at the river, which immediately dried up and has remained so ever since.
Such is the power of the goddess, my child. We mortals cannot comprehend it nor the morality that propels it. There are some who call the gods unjust and whimsical in their actions. But it is a universal law, which even the gods and goddesses cannot violate, that every curse shall lead to an even greater blessing. And so it was with Isis, whose one objective was to return Osiris, in all his benevolence, to the land of Egypt. And so, as we shall see, it eventually was with Set, whose black magic only conferred great blessings upon all, through his downfall.
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Some say Isis took Osiris to a cave and some that she hid him in the marshes of the delta. In any case, she stowed him away in a secret place and began working her magic over him. Because he was a god and incorruptible, his body was perfectly preserved and unblemished, even in death. And because she was a goddess, she knew the magic spells to return life to his lifeless body, even as your Savior Jesus is rumored to have done to Lazarus.
At last, Osiris’s eyes fluttered open and the first thing he beheld was the beautiful face of his beloved Isis. Immediately, while he was still in a barely conscious state, they desired one another, as couples sometimes do who have just awakened from sleep. After so long a separation, it was a joyous and passionate coupling, and Isis knew from the instant it occurred that she was pregnant with a son.
Afterward Osiris rested while Isis went to find food, leaving her love unattended. Now, it happened that Set and his henchmen were hunting that night, by the light of the moon, for Set was of a beastly disposition and felt most comfortable hidden in the cloak of night, as is often the case with evil ones. Imagine his amazement when, on the night wind, he smelled a whiff of his brother Osiris!
Like a wild predator, Set followed the scent until he arrived at the hiding place prepared by Isis. When he saw his brother alive and resting sweetly, Set flew into a titanic rage. He fell upon Osiris, rending his body into fourteen pieces. These he gave to his henchmen, telling them to distribute them as widely as possible, from one end of Egypt to the other, so that the parts could never again be reassembled. Off into the night loped these evildoers, bearing away the separate parts to be hidden.
When Isis returned, expecting the adored company of her love, she came instead upon an empty, blood-soaked box. How great was her anguish then! No consolation was possible. And here we see how great is the power of love. Exhausted and grieving as she was, she set forth immediately to discover what had happened to Osiris, with the sole intent of bringing him once more to life.
It did not take long for Isis to receive confirmation of the murder.The minions of Set could not stop bragging of their exploit, and Set himself went about shouting his triumph. The news was soon buzzing even among the lowly people of Egypt, how Set had brought his brother low for a second time.
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This time Isis enlisted the help of her sister Nepthys, who had left Set in disgust and horror because of his evil doing. They also begged aid from Nepthys’ son, Anubis, who turned himself into a jackal, so that he might use his delicate nose to sniff out the hidden parts of Osiris.
By day these three traveled on land, guarded by seven deadly scorpions. By night, they moved upon the broad breast of the Nile in the royal barge. So great was the radiance and power of the goddesses that crocodiles in the river and scavenger birds of the air refused to touch the pieces of the god.
Slowly, Isis recovered the parts of the dead Osiris. At each place where she
found a part, she caused a temple to be erected, honoring him. That is how there come to be thirteen holy temples dedicated to Osiris in the land of Egypt.
I see you are alert, dear child. The bread and cheese have served you well. For you are wondering now why there are only thirteen temples, when Osiris was rent into fourteen pieces. That is because one of the pieces was lost. The phallus of Osiris was thrown into the Nile and was swallowed by a fish! The loss of the phallus was divinely ordained, you see. It went into the great river that waters all Egypt and in this fashion inseminated the entire land, bringing fertility to humans, animals, and plants alike, and demonstrating, even in death, the dominion of Osiris over his brother Set.
Isis made Osiris a new phallus of cedar wood and gold, and through her magic, fused it to the reassembled body. But the soul of Osiris had been too long in the underworld, and even the magic of Isis could not return him to life on this earthly plane. His spirit had flown and taken up residence in the Hall of Timelessness, there to act as judge upon those traveling between this world and the next.
So Isis went to an island in the Nile called Philae, at the southernmost boundary of Egypt, close to the First Cataract. There she erected a great temple, the holiest of all, for there was where she had found Osiris’s heart, and it was there that she buried the body of her beloved, the god who had brought the joys of civilization to Egypt.
By then, Isis was heavy with child. It was time for her to give birth, but she was harried by Set and his hoard of evildoers. She was driven forth from the towns and took refuge in the swamps of the Nile delta, and there, accompanied only by wild dogs, she gave birth to their son Horus, who one day would avenge his father and mother against Set.