“I am the guardian of the Threshold of Osiris,” answered the voice.
“What is the password?”
My father knew the answer and called it out three times, yet only silence ensued. I shuffled, feeling impatient, wondering if he’d given the wrong word. Then the door slid aside without effort. Two priestesses met us in silence and removed my elaborate clothing, replacing it with a simple yellow sheath. One stood behind me and touched the base of my spine.
The other lithe woman with clear green eyes stood before me and chanted a sacred prayer with her palms up. I felt the energy pour like a river from her hands into my body, sending warm rushes up and down my backbone. It made me wish it would never end.
The woman in the yellow sheath escorted me along a long winding flight of stairs that led downward in a dizzying spiral, deep into the womb of the Per Neter. On and on we walked, our way lit only by flaming torches upon the cavernous wall. Although my father didn’t accompany me, I could feel his presence. Finally, when we reached the last step, a grand hallway was revealed, decorated with colorful murals. There before us stood a Djed Pillar of Osiris.
Nervous grasshoppers jumped in my stomach. I felt invisible in the magnificence of this stupendous sight. The craftsmen of Khemit created one awe-inspiring work after another, yet I never took for granted the mystery or majesty of my heritage.
“Welcome to Skhet-Aaru; you have entered into the realm of Supreme Peace, the abode of Osiris,” said a thin priest with an angular face. “Is this candidate worthy?” He looked at the priestess.
She nodded.
“Who will represent her?”
Silence. The priestess looked at the ground.
I gulped.
“I will represent this candidate,” replied my father, who stepped from a dark corner. “She has been judged worthy to receive her second initiation into the mysteries of Osiris.”
The frail priest spread his palms. “Then I shall receive her into the order of Osiris. Merit-Aten, Akh of the Aten, hear these words. ‘Osiris, whose word is spoken in the truth of Ma’at, says: I have come unto you to experience your harmony. My hands extend in joyous welcoming. I have come from the heavenly realms. I abide where the cedar tree cannot subsist, where the acacia tree does not extend roots, and where the earth will not produce plants or vegetation. Entering into the realm of hidden things, I am in opposition to the Deity Set. Osiris has come into the abode, and he has viewed the hidden and secret things. Do you stand before us in truth?’
“Yes, I am a begotten daughter of Ma’at,” I replied, remembering the line from the sacred texts.
“Daughter, what is the meaning of the place where the cedar tree cannot subsist?”
I hesitated, not quite sure of the meaning, then the answer resounded within my head. I heard a silent voice reveal all. “The place where nothing grows is the place of absolute stillness. Where the celestial waters from whence creation arose.”
“As the progeny of Akhenaten, Pharaoh of Khemit, Lord of the Two Lands, by right of birth you will bear witness to the Akheru Shentiu, the Art of Divine Celestial Utterance.”
Before me, the High Priest of Osiris lifted up his arms and closed his eyes. In praise to the creator of the Divine Order, he emitted a sound that pierced the all-encompassing darkness with its clarity. A single ray of bright light inexplicably penetrated the Per Neter and slowly descended to the ground before me. The rhythmic pulse of the cosmic universe beat like my heart, loud and strong, harmonizing like one pulse. The High Priest puffed his breath out, aligning his eternal body to the resonance of the crystalline mirrors in the temple.
“When we breathe out, we give life and utterance to the tone. Breathing in the pulse. Breathing out the pulse,” he explained.
A form materialized: first feet, then legs, then more until a full being towered over me. A man of gargantuan proportions, with skin the color of deepest green, stood clothed in a sparkling golden sheath. My heart pounded in my ears. I nearly swooned. He looked as if he’d stepped off the mural on the wall. Osiris wore the elongated crown that symbolized the primordial light, with the two golden ostrich plumes on each side signifying the truth of Ma’at. The gold cobra, Shemtiu Ma’ati, represented the alignment of the adornment of the rays of the Garment of Light.
“Osiris,” I said and with a humble gesture I dropped to my knees, my head touching the floor and my hands outstretched in submission to this apparition. Before me stood the Deity who’d been imprisoned in a sarcophagus by his brother Set.
“Arise,” replied the Osiris in a voice not of this earth. “You may proceed to the Djedu and kneel.”
I had to concentrate so that the shock of this vision didn’t throw me off course. Instead, I walked with head tall, steps regal, breath controlled, and kneeled before the great black basalt Djedu pillar that glinted in the light of the twin flames.
“What is the meaning of the Djedu?” asked Osiris.
Grand Djed Amunhotep symbolized the trunk of the tree from which all branches of our family grew. His lineage had been the backbone of our dynasty. Again, my inner voice gave me clarity. “The Duat or the underworld and the abode of Osiris. You are the pillar symbolizing the awakened human soul. And when your brother Set locked you in a sarcophagus, one day a tree grew from your body to represent that life is renewed.”
“Why are you here?”
“I am here to learn the Shenti,” I said with conviction. “The Spiritual Mysteries are the path of understanding of the Trinity and the nature of the creation of the universe.”
The priest held up a stone table. “Read this stelae.”
“I came from the divine soul, one deity three,” I replied.
“Name a trinity of deities,” Osiris ordered and stared at me with intensity. My hands trembled. My heart pounded.
“Osiris, Isis, and Horus,” I answered.
“Where do my clothes symbolize the Shenti?” asked the High Priest.
Netri once told me the meaning of the Shenti. I couldn’t remember. Not his crown, nor his robes. His sandals? No. Again, that voice within my head spoke: the tie. “Your belt?”
The High Priest and my father wore the same linen belt with the Apis bull tail of Amentii hanging down behind.
“Now, I shall reveal the true meaning of the tail,” replied the High Priest. “The Apis bull represents the constellation of Taurus. In that constellation resides the Seven Sisters of the Pleiades, or, the seven Hathor cows which were begat by me, Osiris. The same as the seven temples of Light into which you will become first a Neophyte, next an Adept, then finally an Initiate.”
“I give thanks for this teaching,” I said, awed.
“You are deemed worthy to receive the first Osirian initiation,” replied the High Priest.
“You may proceed,” said the Deity Osiris.
My father presented me with a rough hewn stone. “Beloved One, accept this as a representation of one who seeks the wisdom but has not yet been chiseled to perfection.” Pentu stepped from the shadows on my right, and they marched me along to the North-West corner of the room and motioned me to deposit my stone upon a pile of other stones from Neophytes of ages past. We turned in a sharp right angle near the edge of the room and made our exit in silence.
* * *
Full of light, I emerged renewed from the Per Neter. I wanted to float away and touch the heavens because I couldn’t contain my ecstasy. First, I walked with reverence as I imagined a dignified Neophyte should, but my feet had a dance of their own. I skipped, letting my hands float upon the moist breeze. The path of palm trees bowed to me, offering drom dates as their gift. The thick air was now scented with acacia flowers and Gray-winged black birds cackled their conciliatory greetings like little servants at my beck and call. I am one with you birds of the air. I am one with you fish of the sea. I am one with you every rock, flower, and tree. There isn’t a part of me that isn’t of you. Lost in my own world, I skipped through gardens that were radiant in the light of the full moon.
Every breath divine. I am alive.
A drum beat somewhere in the distance, echoing my heart. It drew me toward a path, which I followed until I happened upon a circle of priests and priestesses. Amaret, at that very moment, stepped from the gathering and acknowledged me. She beckoned me, and I glided toward her. She bent and kissed me upon the head. “You did well.”
I glanced at her with surprise, but then realized that of course she would know all that had occurred tonight. “Thank you.”
“You must join this celebration of the moon, and celebrate your success.” she said, removing her arm from around me and turning back to the circle. Priestesses and priests engaged in a raucous ceremony around the bluster of orange flame. “Behold the Purifying Fire of Isis.” Mesmerized by the fire, I thought it odd when seven plumes rose from the stone pit. ‘Seven flames, seven sisters, seven Pleiades, seven Hathor cows.’
“Neophyte. Purify yourself within the flaming heart of Isis.” Amaret pushed me forward.
My embarrassment overshadowed my desire to partake. But the rhythm of the drums enveloped me, the harp enthralled me, the flute enchanted me, and the sistrum excited me. I swirled and merged with the wave of dancers. We ebbed and flowed among ourselves, circling the sacred blaze. Tongues of fire flicked skyward, seductively stroking the stars. Overheated dancers threw their garments aside, making their movements of passion even more fervent and primal. I blushed. Everyone communed in this trance dance.
I flung my sheath into the darkness, dismissing all royal protocol. For the first time I felt free and unfettered. Men and women swung their bodies in unison, bare of breast and bottom, groins unconcealed, free to pay homage to Isis. Tonight Grand Djedti wouldn’t admonish me and Meti wouldn’t be jealous of me. Joy, such joy like I had never known. No one demanded anything.
The flames rose, crackling, snapping at the luminous orb, burning ever brighter. That fire, hot and desirous, revealed glowering eyes, backward arching horns, and cloven hooves.
Just as my inhibitions had been devoured, something evil now devoured the moon. The globe that cast its nightly radiance upon the shadows had been wounded. That blasted ram sucked out the last drops of moon beams turning the orb to a bloody mass. A wrathful red night singed the sky.
A naked elder woman fell to her knees. “Renew us!”
The young man next to me cast his hands to the heavens. “Regurgitate our moon!”
Sit-Amun’s face flashed for a moment and imposed itself over the fiery apparition.
“I see your every move,” she warned, and that horrific ram exploded in a ball of fire. Her evil voice boomed through the sky.
The young man stepped in front of me, thrusting his hands skyward, but the fire lit him up like a burning torch drenched with oil. I shrieked as everyone scattered in chaos, weeping about our stolen moon. There was no certainty that Sit-Amun would ever return the alabaster plate to the sky. Because of me we were cast into darkness.
“Come to me, Merit-Aten,” said a familiar seductive voice shrouded in mystery. Only a hint of a female form was revealed.
“Who is it?” I tried to see through the gloom of the dark courtyard.
Everyone had fled. “Where are you?”
“Over here.”
A figure turned around, cloaked in the dull fog.
“Sit-Amun!”
“Fear me not. I have not come to harm you,” she said.
“I do not believe you.” I stepped back trying to shield my face and naked body. She held out her hands to prove she had no weapon. “I come with an offer.”
Raising my eyes in a bronze cold glare, “What could you offer me?”
Sit-Amun softened her stance. “You and I are so much alike. Your mother rejects you. You have no friends. They do not understand you. And those you love have been taken away.”
“You have taken away the things I love,” I said with fists clenched as images of Hep-Mut and Asgat wove through my mind.
“I did not really take them.”
“You killed them!” I pointed at her, my lips grew thin. I bared my teeth.
“Do you want them back?”
My heartbeat quickened. “They are in the Duat. How could I get them back?”
“You could have the greatest power ever known. I could teach you to command the elements to do your bidding. You could bring Hep-Mut and your little cat back to life.”
My eyes grew wide. “How?”
“You could have anything you want. You could command respect from your mother, and your friends. No one will ever mock you, or your intelligence. You could be even more powerful than I. Let me teach you.”
I narrowed my eyes and crossed my arms. “Why should I trust you?”
“What has happened in the past was only to test you to see if you would break. But you did not. You have proven that you are worthy of my gift.” She reached into her cloak.
“I do not want anything from you.” I staggered back, sure she would produce a weapon.
“Everyone desires something. You want to save your family. I will not harm your family, and I shall give you a token as proof of my word.” Sit-Amun revealed something swaddled in a shimmery cloth. She unwrapped a crescent-shaped moonstone. Little bursts of fiery rainbows ignited when she blew upon it.
“This carries unimaginable power. When you call upon it, unfathomable magic will be at your command. No one can hurt you without being hurt themselves. I want you to have it and you will not ever feel pain again.”
The token mesmerized me. I reached out to claim her gift.
She pulled it back just out of reach, taunting me. “What will you give me?”
“What do you want?”
“You desire to have your beloved Hep-Mut and cat returned. I wish for Mery-Ptah to be returned to me. That seems only fair, does it not?”
“How can I do that? My father sent him away to the rock quarries in Aswan,” I said, realizing that what she wanted would be impossible. “I cannot do that.” “Make a decision, or I will not return the moon to the sky. Everyone will be cast into darkness because of you.”
“No! You cannot do that,” I pleaded.
She smiled and opened her palm again to reveal the enticing gift. “You will find a way. Daughters can always work magic upon their fathers.” I glanced at her burnt and missing fingernails and wondered if they hurt much.
“Merit-Aten, what do you have there?” asked Netri, as he sorted through the scrolls.
“Nothing,” I lied, and stuffed my amulet into my sheath. “Just a pretty rock I found.” I averted my eyes, fearing he would intuit my transgression.
“Come join us. We will receive the final blessing, and I have news concerning the future,” he said as Pentu approached. We returned to the sanctuary of Osiris inside the Per Ba-Temple.
“The Priests of Abydos are in allegiance to the royal family and to the will of Aten,” the High Priest said with a tight smile. “We sing of the luminance of our beloved Aten. May you be protected here in the sanctuary of Abydos for eons and eons. May you intone the pathways to all hidden wisdom and be blessed forever and ever.”
The Pharaoh bowed in acknowledgement of the prayer of protection bestowed upon him, upon us.
The High Priest turned to the men surrounding us. “Our Pharaoh Akhenaten has issued a Royal decree. He wishes for me to inform this fraternal order that he intends for Merit-Aten to become the First High Priestess of Osiris.”
The gasps of horror echoed in the underground chamber. My father smiled, unmoved. My face burned. Angry eyes burrowed into my soul. If the men didn’t approve, perhaps this was bad judgment on our part.
Shadow of the Sun (The Shadow Saga) Page 23