Egypt. Cult of Isis

Isis (Isis, Isis, Iset, Ise, Isi) is one of the most revered and great goddesses of the ancient world. Isis absorbs into her image the strongest values ​​and abilities of a woman: wisdom, sincere femininity, power, the lunar principle, fidelity, mystical powers, motherhood, love and sexuality, support. It represents the lunar image of the reflection of sunlight.

Her lover invariably remained the god Osiris, the ruler of the pharaohs, and subsequently the ruler of the afterlife. She was both his sister and wife. She fell in love with her husband in the womb, and subsequently did not change her decision and always supported him.
It is worth noting that the love here between brother and sister is spiritual in nature. Isis had already chosen her husband when they were both not yet born, but were in a formless state; such souls are called relatives by purpose.
Isis gave birth to a son who was the crown ruler of Egypt. Isis, like Osiris himself, was the daughter of “heaven () and earth (the god Geb).”

Symbolism

Isis was depicted as a beautiful woman with bird wings, on whose head was a symbol of the royal throne (in other versions, a solar disk framed by a cow). The sacred animal of the queen of Egypt was the great white cow of Heliopolis.
Other well-known attributes are the “Teth” amulet (or “Isis knot”), the scepter (a symbol of power), and in some cases the cross of life Ankh.
Often depicted as a woman breastfeeding a baby, the son of Horus or the pharaohs.

Divine Functions

• Isis primarily represents woman in all aspects, as mother and spouse. Its functions of maintaining life and fertility are connected with this. Helps women during childbirth.
• The owner of great magical powers, the mistress of spells, as well as such qualities as flexibility, endurance and cunning. The magic of life and resurrection was especially emphasized in the myths about the scattered parts of Osiris. It holds the keys to influence the forces of the Universe.
• Acts as the progenitor of people, the mistress of the Universe
• A mentor to women in teaching them the feminine arts. According to the ideas of the ancient Egyptians, it was she who taught women to weave, spin, heal ailments, and educate. She is the founder of the institution of marriage.

Energy channel of ISIDA

In communication with Isis, she appeared in the form of a strong, focused woman in a white dress with gold jewelry.

What does the channel of the goddess Isis give?

1. A wise mentor for women in various areas of life. Will teach you how to properly manage a household, be tactful and measured
2. Increases mental abilities, develops attention
3. Charges with strong energy a woman who is realized or knows what to do
4. Isis's task is to support a woman's family
5. Develops female magical abilities (intuition, attraction, female charms, abundance, beauty, sexuality, female power in a good sense, managing your life and others).

Additionally: The channel works only with women.

Energy connection occurs using technology. The channel is given forever.

Cult

The most significant centers of veneration were the cities of Hebet (not preserved today), the temple on the island of Philae in the south of Egypt, Dendera, Koptos, Abydos, and there were also temples in other regions of Egypt. It was believed that Isis was connected in a special way with Sirius, where her spiritual essence is located.
Later, her cult began to spread further and temples dedicated to her arose outside of Egypt in Italy, Rome, Nubia, and Athens.

Titles

Bears the epithet “Beautiful”; “Great with charms, first among the gods”; "Mistress of the Gods." Having received the name Ra, which means the most powerful magical powers, she began to be called: “She who knows Ra in his own name.” In cosmic terms, it correlates with the star Sirius in the constellation Canis Major, which is why it bears another title, “Mistress of the Stars.”
"Mother of the Pharaohs"

The Egyptian goddess Isis serves as a model for understanding the ancient ideal of a woman. This is one of the few cults that went beyond Egypt. In the Hellenistic era, and then in Roman times, it was revered throughout the Mediterranean. Moreover, this cult was a serious rival of early Christianity.

In ancient Egypt, Isis was known as the goddess of fertility, wind, water and navigation. She was considered a symbol of marital fidelity and femininity. The Egyptians believed that if a wife cheated on her husband, Isis would definitely punish her. In addition, the named goddess was included in the list of deities who patronize medicine. In some descriptions she is also presented as the mistress of scorpions. In myths, Isis appears as the daughter of Geb and Nut, the great-granddaughter of Ra, as well as the sister and wife of Osiris.

The ancient Egyptians believed that this goddess gave people bees, created wedding dresses and taught women how to reap, weave and spin. In addition, she was the patroness of women in labor and determined the fate of newborn kings. It was believed that the goddess was present at the birth of the future ruler, helping the queen to relieve herself from pregnancy.

The Greeks and Romans called her “she who has a thousand names.” As for the meaning of the name of the goddess, it literally translates as “throne”. Isis personified the power of the pharaoh and was considered the heavenly mother of the current ruler, who provided him with the throne. It is interesting that Isis, like the Babylonian Ishtar, was originally an evil goddess, at enmity even with her son. But over time, she turns into a beneficent mistress, a loving wife and mother.

How was Isis portrayed?

Most often, the goddess appears in an anthropomorphic form, that is, she looks like an ordinary woman. Most of all, the Egyptians were attracted to the image of Isis as the “divine mother.” A huge number of statues and drawings have been preserved representing her as a mother breastfeeding her baby.

The symbol of the goddess was the royal throne, so it was often placed on her head. Sometimes she looked like Hathor, who was known for her headdress surrounded by cow horns. The celestial manifestation of Isis was the star Sirius. Since she patronized sailors, images of her with a boat in her hands have been preserved. It is worth mentioning the veil of Isis - a veil that personifies her vitality.

Isis, like her sister Nephthys, was often depicted as a falcon or a woman with wings. It was believed that by flapping her wings she created wind. In the form of a falcon, she mourned the deceased Osiris, so she was often depicted on sarcophagi as the protector of the deceased. The kneeling image of the goddess indicates that she mourns each deceased as she once mourned her beloved husband Osiris. Isis and Osiris have always been an example for the Egyptians of the relationship between husband and wife.

How was Isis revered?

Since Isis was the patroness of women in labor, when a baby was born, those present offered prayers to her, and later brought gifts. This goddess was called upon in times of trouble, her name was spoken to protect children and family. The Book of the Dead contains hymns of Isis. The most common symbol of the goddess was the tet amulet, also known as the “Isis knot”. It was usually made from red minerals.

The oldest cult center of the goddess was discovered in the northern part of the Nile Delta, and more specifically in the city of Buto. Temples of Isis were located in many Egyptian cities, but she was most revered in Koptos, Abydos, Dendera and on the island of Philae. In the latter area, the goddess was revered until the 6th century AD. Back in the 4th century AD. The Roman Emperor Diocletian visited this place, hoping to find out the future. The famous religious building was destroyed by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I.

Myths about Isis

Myths about Osiris and Isis. Most of the stories about Isis are closely intertwined with the legends about Osiris, her husband and brother. She usually acts as a devoted wife. In particular, after he killed Osiris, she, having found the dead body of her husband, conceived a son, Horus, from him. There was an idea that the Nile overflowed due to the tears of Isis, grieving for her husband. It was this goddess who resurrected Osiris using a magic spell. According to one version, the famous Egyptian ankh cross is a combination of the symbols of Osiris and Isis.

Myths about Isis and Horus. The son of Osiris and Isis appeared in a reed nest in the swamps of the Nile Delta. Egyptian mythology details the time when Horus was raised by Isis. When her son grew up, she fiercely defended his rights to the royal throne and, in the end, achieved her goal. She always helped Horus in his clashes with Set. Although the mythological biography of the goddess contains a mention of how she once took the side of Set. Horus did not forgive the betrayal and cut off his mother's head.

Both in Egypt and throughout the ancient world, Isis's relationship with Osiris and Horus was considered an example of family virtues. At the same time, the example of Isis clearly shows what a high position women occupied in Egypt. For example, when Osiris went to wander the world, his wife wisely ruled the country.

The role of the cult of Isis in history

No deity of Ancient Egypt, with the possible exception of Serapis, was as widely known in the Greco-Roman world as Isis. Long before our era, her temples existed in many Greek cities, and later in Rome and Pompeii. Plutarch himself wrote about her with great reverence. In the ancient world, the Egyptian goddess was identified with Athena, Persephone and Selene.

The Mysteries of Isis were known in Spain, Gaul, and Britain. True, in the mentioned regions the cult of the goddess acquired an immoral form. The most surprising thing is that the described cult was of considerable importance for the formation of Christian dogma. The image of the Mother of God with a baby in her arms, revered by most Christian denominations, goes back to the image of Isis with the baby Horus.

The goddess Isis (in some sources Isis) is one of the main deities of Ancient Egypt. She was one of the nine main gods of the Heliopolis pantheon (Ennead). She was the daughter of the earth god Geb and the sky goddess Nut. She had brothers Osiris, Set and a sister Nephthys. She was considered the goddess of fertility, patronized children, the oppressed, the poor and at the same time was merciful to the rich. She personified motherhood and femininity. She was the mother of the sun and sky god Horus and, accordingly, the mother of the Egyptian pharaohs, since they were the incarnation of the god Horus on earth.

Horus's father was Osiris, since it was with him that Isis tied herself in marriage, becoming the wife of her brother. He reigned on earth after his great-grandfather Ra, grandfather Shu and father Geb. He ruled wisely and taught people various crafts. It was under him that agriculture, gardening and winemaking arose. But brother Set, who symbolized sandstorms, chaos, war and death, began to envy Osiris and wanted to rule the earth himself.

He killed his own brother and began to reign in his place. The body of the unfortunate man was cut into 14 pieces and scattered in different directions. Some fell to the ground, others into the reeds, and others into the water. When the faithful wife Isis learned about the death of her husband, she fell into terrible grief and began searching for the body of her murdered betrothed. She found all 14 pieces and put them together. But it was not in her power to fasten the individual parts of the body so that they again became a single whole.

The old god Ra, sailing in a solar bark, saw the suffering and inconsolable grief of his great-granddaughter. His soul was filled with pity, and he sent Anubis, a guide to the kingdom of the dead, to Isis. Here we need to make a small digression and explain who Anubis is. He was the son of Osiris and Nephthys. But how did it happen that Nephthys gave birth to a child from Osiris, who was married to another goddess? She herself was Seth's wife, and therefore there is double adultery on her face.

Alas, this is so, but, as they say, you cannot command your heart, and therefore even the gods had unsightly situations in those distant times. Nephthys fell in love with her brother Osiris, but he remained faithful to his wife. And then the goddess, languishing from love feelings, took the form of Isis when she was absent, and lay down with Osiris on the wedding bed. As a result of this connection, Anubis was born.

But Seth could see the baby, and a terrible scandal would arise. Therefore, Nephthys took the baby by the legs and threw him far, far into the reed thickets. But the child did not die. The goddess Isis found him, raised him, and then placed him in the underworld to act as a guide to the world of the dead. And after the murder of Osiris, the god Ra sent Anubis to his actual mother in order to provide her with all possible assistance.

Anubis makes a mummy from the remains of Osiris

And we must admit that the guide to the kingdom of the dead greatly helped the goddess who saved his life. He mummified the remains of Osiris, and thus the very first mummy of Ancient Egypt appeared. Isis examined Anubis's creation and discovered that the mummy did not have a phallus. Apparently it was eaten by fish swimming in the Great Nile. Then the goddess fashioned a phallus from clay, stuck it to the mummy, cast spells, and, lo and behold, it fused to the mummified remains.

But this was not enough for the widowed goddess. She wanted a child from her deceased husband, so that he would avenge his father on the treacherous Seth. But how to do that? For gods and goddesses, nothing is impossible. Isis turned into one of her incarnations, the bird Hat - a huge female kite. The mighty bird lay down on the mummy, spread its wings, croaked magic spells and became pregnant. After some time, the goddess gave birth to Horus. He became retribution for his father's death and his only legal heir.

The goddess Isis hid Horus in the swamps of the Nile Delta until he matured. Having become strong and resilient, he put on snow-white sandals and set out to take revenge on Seth. For eighty years they fought, inflicting various injuries on each other. Other gods and goddesses watched this battle. Seth tore out one of Horus's eyes, but Anubis grabbed him and buried him on the side of the mountain, and it was covered with vines. And Seth lost one of his legs in this terrible confrontation. Eventually, the gods recognized Horus as the rightful heir of Osiris. This decision was written down on papyrus by the god of wisdom and knowledge, Thoth.

Horus becomes the ruler of the earth, and Set is expelled to the far south into the desert. Thus, the son took revenge for the murder of his father, but this seemed not enough to him. He took his left eye out of the ground, breathed life into it, and put this life-giving power into the mouth of the mummy of Osiris. After this, Osiris resurrected to the joy of everyone and especially Isis. But now there is another ruler on earth, and the father goes underground to rule the kingdom of the dead (Amenti), and the son remains on earth to rule the kingdom of the living.

Horus married the goddess of the sky, love and beauty, Hathor. She gave birth to four sons: Hapi, Duamutef, Amset, Quebehsenuf. They became reliable defenders of their father and grandfather. Horus was the last god to rule the earth. After him, power passed to the pharaohs. They began to be considered the living embodiment of this god. And Isis was always present at the birth of the next pharaoh and patronized him until his death.

It was popular not only in Ancient Egypt, but also among the ancient Greeks and Romans. The name of the goddess from Egyptian mythology was known in the Mediterranean until our era. Only with the advent of Christianity, which began the fight against paganism, was the ancient Egyptian goddess forgotten. She was depicted with the royal throne on her head, since it was one of the main symbols of power. Her sacred animal was the white cow from Heliopolis, which gave birth to the sacred bull Alice.

The “Isis knot” was considered the goddess’s amulet. It symbolized the knot of her belt and represented well-being and life. She commanded gold, since it was as incorruptible as the goddess Isis herself. She was revered as the ruler of the western part of the sky and the protector of the western side of the sarcophagi with the bodies of the dead. She was credited with witchcraft and the ability to heal people from any disease.

Shrines to this goddess were built throughout Egypt. A beautiful temple stood in Kifta (in ancient times Gebtu, 43 km from Luxor). And in Dandara (60 km from Luxor) Isis was born, as the ancient Egyptians believed. Therefore, one of the main centers of veneration was located there. In Abydos (98 km from Dandara, the most important religious center), a triad was revered, which included Isis, Osiris and Horus.

Entrance to the temple of the goddess Isis

The most luxurious sanctuary was located on the island of Philae (1st cataract of the Nile, 1200 km to the mouth of the Nile). This sanctuary was a place of worship until the reign of the Byzantine emperor Flavius ​​Justinian (527-565). Only under this ruler was the pagan cult building subjected to re-illumination and made into the Church of the Virgin Mary. The ancient reliefs were gradually destroyed by monks and iconoclasts.

From Isis came the ancient Greek name Isidore, meaning “gift of Isis.” Subsequently, the name Sidor appeared in Rus' from this name. Nowadays no one is called that, but in vain. A person with that name would have come under the protection of a powerful ancient Egyptian goddess. But she protected and preserved the pharaohs, protected their wealth and healed them from illnesses. She personified not only strength, but also selflessness, kindness, and love. And all this is precisely what is missing in our world..

“Come to me, draw close to me, for my lips hold the secret of returning to life. I am the daughter of God, famous in my city for being able to make a poisonous snake retreat. My father taught me this spell, for I am his own, beloved daughter.”
From the text of Metternich's Stele.

In 1735, at the ruins of ancient Koptos, Vitalino Donati, an Italian collector and professor of botany, acquired a pile of stone fragments, among which was the delightful face of a statue of an unknown woman. For almost two centuries, the unknown fragments were stored in a box, which, by the will of fate, ended up in the basement of the Egyptian Museum in Turin and was forgotten. Only in 1930 was the old purchase remembered and the dust was wiped off the box. Despite the fact that some fragments were lost, the statue was restored in the form envisioned by the sculptor, a truly brilliant creator.

The statue depicted a woman, or rather, the goddess Isis, standing; in her hands the goddess holds the scepter of power, she is wearing a thin long dress with wide translucent straps covering her chest, decorated with false lotus flowers. On the goddess's head is a tall headdress in the form of cow horns and a solar disk. The goddess's face, with narrow almond-shaped eyes and a barely noticeable smile, is strikingly beautiful. Thanks to the talent of the master, the famous Queen Teye, wife of Amenhotep III, whose family roots went back to this region, and therefore treated it with special respect and attention, was imprinted in the guise of the goddess Isis, “Lady of Koptos,” thanks to the talent of the master. Koptos was one of the cities where the Sed ceremony of Amenhotep III was celebrated, intended to renew his vitality and connections with the world of the deities; New sanctuaries were built here, decorated with specially made statues of deities. Among them was an amazingly beautiful statue of the goddess Isis.
In the hall of the Egyptian Museum in Turin, she stands among other sculptures of the New Kingdom, again forgotten against the background of cracked walls, deprived of light, with a dusty tablet at her knees, as if immersed in sleep. Through the haze of gray, matte stone one can see the striking gaze of a goddess, a queen, a woman who once ruled the minds of peoples, who bloodlessly conquered Rome with her wisdom and who for centuries “speaked” about piety and eternal life.
In 1997, Italy was rocked by the exhibition “Isis. Myth. Mystery, Magic”, dedicated to the greatest goddess of antiquity. They started talking about her again, an excellent catalog was published, which collected images of the “great mother of the gods”, amazing in their diversity, which became for the West not just a symbol of the land of the pharaohs, but also the greatest shrine that inspired the later cults of the mother goddess. However, although they sang of the goddess under other names, they did not even come close to that deep understanding of her essence, which was born in Egypt, was later lost and again attracts our contemporaries, who are trying to “lift the veil.”

The pull of the Great Mother

The image of Isis, which became cornerstone for the history of Egyptian civilization, especially at the final stage of its existence, absorbed all the imagery and multi-layered symbolism of the Egyptian worldview. An ancient mother goddess, depicted back in the pre-dynastic era in the guise of a dancing woman with a bird's face and arms raised up, as if imitating the shape of the horns of a sacred cow, the hypostasis and complement of Hathor, she “gains” her name in written sources only during the V Dynasty in the Pyramid Texts , where, together with Osiris, she becomes the guarantor of eternal and never-ending life for the deceased. Later, during the VI dynasty, we meet the name of her priest, Neferq, nicknamed Pepiankh, who lived in the region of the Central Egyptian city of Kusa, in whose title the name of Isis was theologically associated with the name of Hathor, a goddess whose name has been known to us since ancient times. Until the New Kingdom, its images, with the exception of paintings on the sarcophagi of the XI-XII dynasties, are not known to us, and yet in the Pyramid Texts alone it is mentioned more than seventy times, and in the Sarcophagus Texts even more often, which indicates its significance.
The symbol of the goddess that makes up her name is a throne, a symbol of royal power, on which the pharaoh sits, thereby descending on the knees of his Eternal mother, just as her son Horus, whose embodiment every king was, sat on the knees of Isis. This throne is a magical power that gives the pharaoh royalty and magical protection, this is what makes him a pharaoh. In the Egyptian language, the name of Isis was associated with a root meaning "to have power", which allows us to interpret the name of Osiris, which, as is known, also included the hieroglyph for the throne. Another important meaning of the name of the goddess is “place”, which in the case of the divine world can also be interpreted as a “place of veneration” of the deity, a place in which the reunification of the earthly world and the heavenly world occurs at the moment of the cult action, a place where a transition from the existing reality into transcendental regions known only to the gods, and vice versa.
Isis, the pan-Egyptian goddess, came from the Delta from a city considered one of the largest places of her cult, and was called Hebet by the Egyptians, Iseion by the Greeks, and Iseum by the Romans. Today, the ruins of the temple of the goddess built by Nectaneb II at Behbeit el-Hagar, as the place was called by the Arabs, still present a magnificent sight, awaiting exploration. The reign of the XXX dynasty became an era of special veneration of the goddess. The temples of Iseum and the monastery of Isis on the island of Philae surpassed all her other cult centers. However, other places of her veneration are well known: the temple of Isis “Lady of the Pyramid” in Giza, at the foot of the pyramid of Queen Henutsen, wife of Khufu; sanctuary in the grand temple of Seti I at Abydos; a small temple of Euergetes I and Berenice, dedicated to the goddess in the suburbs of Aswan; the temple of Augustus, built at Dendera on the site where, according to legend, Nut gave birth to Isis and, finally, the abode of the goddess at Deir el-Sheluit, south of Medinet Abu in Thebes.
Isis embodied the Egyptian dream of the ideal of femininity and motherhood. A faithful and loving wife, sacrificial for the sake of her husband, wandering throughout Egypt and foreign countries in search of the body of her beloved husband, killed by his brother, an all-powerful sorceress, conceiving her child from a dead body, revived only for a moment, and, finally, a mother who raised in the swamps Ah-bit of the son of Horus, who provided him with life and protection, burning incense before him, according to the Pyramid Texts, so that “he could walk on the earth in his white sandals and see his father, Osiris,” the goddess at the same time a truly human and superhuman feat , shortly before the new era, surpassed all other Egyptian goddesses and became a symbol of Egypt, which, as you know, was also perceived by the ancients as a female being, the legal wife of the pharaoh. Isis, who has contained the seed of Osiris, is thereby pregnant with the “future,” the heir to the kingdom, who, at the same time, is her husband, reborn in the guise of his son:
“The flame is beating, the gods are in fear, for Isis conceived from the seed of her brother Osiris. She says: “Oh, you gods! Behold, I am Isis, the sister of Osiris, who wept for the father of the gods... His seed in my womb, I created the image of a god in an egg as my son, the one who heads the Ennead. He will rule this country, the inheritance of his father Geb... Come, oh you gods, protect him in my womb for the one you know in your hearts. He is your lord, God, the one who is in his egg, lapis lazuli-haired in appearance, the ruler of the gods... I am Isis, more divine and sacred than all the gods, for God is in this womb of mine and he is the seed of Osiris.”
The story of the human goddess, who thereby gave the common Egyptian hope of gaining immortality, is incredibly vital and, at the same time, mystical. Dressed in mourning robes, the mourner Dzherit is the “falcon,” the witch-queen, all-powerful with her spell, capable of reviving the dead and the mother who fears for her son, who “made” a “nest” of reeds for her child, Isis is the unsurpassed height of the Egyptian faith in femininity, the true “mother.” God" over the millennia of the existence of Egyptian culture, which, in contrast to the Christian understanding of the image of the Mother of God, was not an earthly woman who received a divine spirit, but a goddess who descended to man in her mercy. Isis is associated with the celestial sphere by ideas about her as the goddess of the horizon, who, together with her sister, Nephthys, shifts the solar god from the day boat to the night boat, standing at the great gates of the West, i.e. the afterlife. Like Sepedet or Sirius, the brightest star of the firmament, proclaiming the flood of the Nile during its heliacal rising, previously unseen during the 70 days of mourning for Osiris, Isis is depicted wearing a golden crown of feathers, standing in a boat behind the boat of her husband Orion, whom the Egyptians understood as a hypostasis of Osiris. Isis-Sepedet is also the ruler of destinies, called “Year” in later texts, since on the day Sirius appeared in the sky, which was considered the birthday of Isis, the fate of the coming year was predicted, and not only the fate of living people and the king, but also, possibly, the fate of Egypt itself.
Isis is also an image of suffering, the goddess whose legs Ra himself breaks, whose own son Horus cuts off the head in a rage, who from him, who has taken possession of his own mother, gives birth to four sons - the spirits Imseti, Hepi, Duamutef and Kebehsenuf, protectors of the entrails of the dead; the same Chorus in another myth cuts off her hand, later replacing it with the limb of a cow. The diversity and all-manifestation of the goddess, characteristic of the largest deities of the Egyptian religion, makes it possible to see her in almost every female deity. In Koptos, Isis becomes the mother of Min, identified with Horus and, at the same time, his wife; in Assiut she appears as the mother of Upuat, who gave birth to him from Osiris. Moreover, as the “great mother of God”, i.e. Hora, she is identified with Hathor, becoming her second person in the Greco-Roman era and taking from her typical iconography in the New Kingdom: cow horns and a solar disk between them, mounted on the head, as a sign that the goddess is a great cow, flesh which became the sky, standing above the earthly world.
However, no matter how rich the iconography and symbolism of the goddess may be, the main aspect of the image of Isis lies precisely in the cycle of Osiric legends. It is in the actions of Isis, her words and her spells that lies the secret of rebirth and victory over death, the secret of the sacred milk with which she feeds the deceased king in the Pyramid Texts, and with which she pours libations every ten days on the forbidden island of Bige, revered as the main tomb of Osiris .
The sarcophagus, which contains the body of the murdered Osiris, is also identified not only with the body of Nut, the mother of God, but also with Isis, who, bending in the form of a bird over the mummy of her husband, envelops him with her divine wings, giving healing and protection. As Shentait - “weaving infinity”, Isis appears as perhaps the main figure of the ceremonial of the rebirth of Osiris in the month of Khoyak, the great giver of life, the ancient goddess of the funeral cult, participation in which will forever remain one of her integral functions. The name of the mediator goddess, associated with the underworld, is not included in any of the tephoric names in the Old Kingdom, nor, indeed, are the names of other deities closely associated with the funeral cult. Along with the development of ideas about the identification of each deceased with Osiris and the democratization of the royal funeral ritual, individual elements of which become publicly available, the image of Isis acquires a truly grandiose scope. The figure of the goddess appears at the foot of the sarcophagi, while the image of her sister Nephthys appears at the head; the goddess, together with other great protectors - Neith, Nephthys and Selket, protects the entrails of the deceased and his canopic jars, together with Nut herself, since the era of the Pyramid Texts, gives him rebirth:
“Isis will turn to you and Nephthys will speak to you. Right-voiced spirits will come to you, bowed, and will kiss the ground at your feet, in awe of you... And you will go out to your heavenly mother Nut; She will take your hand and lead you along the road to the horizon, to the place where Ra resides. The double doors of heaven will be open for you..."
As the goddess protector of the dead, Isis was identified with Imentet, the goddess of the Beautiful West, the hypostasis of Hathor, often depicted at the bottom of the sarcophagi of private individuals and personifying the sands of the western desert, the space where the sun dies, where the dead are buried and where, at the same time, the path of deity and man begins to revival. On behalf of Isis, who spread her arms in a gesture of protection at the ark with the canopic jars of Tutankhamun, found in his tomb, the king is given the protection of the goddess that was endowed on Osiris:
"I came. I will hide my son in my arms, the Lord of both lands, Nebheprur, the right-voiced one. I will be his protection in eternity, just as I am for Osiris...”
Isis and Nephthys, goddesses of the horizons, introduce the deceased king to the journey of the sun on boats, an echo of ideas about which were the giant ships made of cedar wood, discovered in hiding places at the foot of the pyramid of Khufu:
“You will go out and you will go down, going down with Nephthys, and you will become dark with the boat of the night sun. You will go out and you will go down, going out with Isis, rising with the morning boat of the sun.”
It was the border possessions, the fact that she gave birth to an earthly son from a father who was in the afterlife and became the “path” through which the descent into the world of the deity took place, as well as power in the kingdom of the living and in the space of the dead that later made Isis the object of a mystery cult, majestic and soulful, which became one of the most interesting phenomena of the religious ecumene of Greco-Roman times.
As the guarantee of life and its continuation, Isis reaches in the Egyptian worldview and, in particular, in the rituals of the temple at Behbeit el-Hagar, to the level of an androgynous creator god, an all-creating entity who proclaims the indivisibility of her state with the words:
“I, who have become a man, remain a woman.”
The “bird” who has made her “nest” in the swamps of the Delta, Isis appears as “a woman who knows magic words”, who, despite the fact that “her heart turned away from millions of people and turned to millions of gods,” it is for people that she finds salvation from the poison of snakes and scorpions, witchcraft and corruption, having gone through all these trials with the baby Horus in his arms. The goddess here is not only favorable to the one asking, but also perspicacious and omniscient, closest to the image of a simple woman who brings wisdom. Spells calling on Isis for help in case of danger were also used by early Christians, for whom the destruction of the face of the goddess in ancient sanctuaries did not prevent, nevertheless, from using the sacred knowledge of their ancestors. The goddess, appearing both in the guise of a “beautiful-faced, perfect-eyed” woman and as a bird, cow, snake or female hippopotamus, is merciful to both people and gods: at the sixth hour of the night she, together with Heka, the god of magic, drags the boat of the Sun God through the dangerous space of the Duat.
The goddess, depicted with a baby on her knees, with winged arms protecting her husband, or kneeling with her hand raised to her face in a gesture of crying, was for Egypt, and later for the entire Mediterranean, the true embodiment of hope for salvation and help for mortals in the difficulties of their earthly life existence. However, we often only guess about the functions of Isis and the complexity and diversity of her appearance “only proves the fact that the ancient deities should not be perceived as a direct reflection of any functions or concepts, sometimes possessing all the wealth of contradictions and diversity inherent in the living and full of this life of beings." It was precisely because of this enduring vitality that Isis outlived Egypt itself and became the goddess of another civilization, filling new images with the power of her legend about the protector of her beloved husband, the mistress of “words of power”:
“His sister gave him her protection,
She led away his enemies,
Stopped the deeds of the adversary with the power of her lips,
Beautiful in speech, whose words will never be defeated,
Effective with orders,
Good Isis, who protected her brother,
Searching for him tirelessly,
Walked around this land crying,
Who knew no rest until he was found,
Who created the shadow with her feathers,
Who created the north wind with her wings,
Rejoicing, having revived her brother,
Raising the fatigue of the weary,
She who took his seed and gave him an heir,
In secret, the child was breastfed,
In the place where he was, unknown to anyone..."

(c) Solkin V.V. Pillars of Heaven. Hidden Egypt. - M., 2006, p. 350-365. Footnotes omitted.

Miraculous words: the goddess Isis prayer in full description from all the sources we found.

Goddess ISIS. Ed. In those ancient times, when the civilization of Atlantis was in its prime, a wonderful favorable climate and high vibrations of the Earth allowed us, Gods and Goddesses, to Live in the dense human body. We learned about your life, but also taught you, people. They taught us to love, to give, to thank the LORD for the Gift of Life. I composed this Ode in My heart, I put in the whole gamut of My feelings, all My Love for the LORD. I have always lived for them. We communicated with Him as with the Most Dear One in Our Life. And the Lord has always gifted us all with His boundless Great Love.

My Ode to the LORD! Meaningful translation.

My LORD HIGH, I praise You!

GREAT LORD, I praise You!

Everything that You created is beautiful.

YOU Know about every Soul and You warm every Soul with Your Light.

ONE LORD, I praise You!

LORD ALMIGHTY, I praise You!

You gave us Life, breathed and sealed the Fire of Your Love,

And Your Love burns in our hearts, the fire does not go out, giving Life and Light.

LORD HIGH, I praise You!

ONE LORD, I praise You!

YOU Created the Universes - Your Life is everywhere.

YOU created the stars and beautiful worlds - It’s all YOU,

Wherever we turn our gaze, Your Love and Power are everywhere.

O MY HIGH GOD, I praise You!

O MY INDEPENDENT LORD, I praise You!

I ask You, Great GOD, do not leave Me when My spirit weakens.

Give me strength, GREAT GOD ALMIGHTY,

And then I will be able to give myself completely to you,

So that YOU can enjoy My Love for You.

OH GOD HIGH, I praise You!

My LORD, My LORD, YOU are our Life,

YOU are the Great Light, My Soul and My Life,

I belong to You alone, YOU alone are my LORD,

OH GOD HIGH, MY LORD.

There is no one More Beautiful and Powerful than YOU, My Lord.

Shine with the Great Light in the Soul, My GOD ALMIGHTY,

And Your Light will never fade, because YOU ARE IMMORTAL, ETERNAL

May My Ode warm your hearts, your souls, cleanse you from fear, doubts and lies, from the demons that torment your souls. I put all the power of My Love into these lines in order to fill you all with My Light. Let My words become a huge attraction of Divine Light and Love. Let your aura and the aura of your Earth shine, be cleansed, and filled with grace and peace.

Goddess Isis prayer

FOURTH HOUR OF THE NIGHT ISIS AS GODDESS OF LOVE

Isis-Astarte. Isis-Inanna. Isis-Aphrodite. These three deities symbolize the sensual and romantic aspects of the cult of Isis. According to myth, Isis and Osiris first united in the womb of their mother, driven by an irresistible passion. Their union, both romantic and erotic, was the model of an exemplary marriage for the ancient Egyptians. As spouses, they gave their people all the arts and crafts of civilization: agriculture, music, construction, weaving, writing, brewing. Separated by tragedy, Isis and Osiris maintain a connection with each other even beyond life and death.

Osiris and Isis

The story of the death and dismemberment of Osiris seems to deny the sensuality of their union, but in fact it provides an opportunity for rebirth, or rather, for the restoration of the life-giving power of the phallus and the birth of a new life. This is in stark contrast to other myths, such as Cybele, where a person was required to sacrifice his own flesh for spiritual blessing.

Isis's actions after the death of Osiris, when she brought him back to life long enough to conceive Horus, are taken by some authors as evidence that Isis encouraged her followers to be sexually aggressive.

The outer courts of the temples of Isis were sometimes condemned as places intended for secret meetings of lovers. At the same time, many admirers and especially the priests of Isis took a vow of chastity and abstained from intimate relationships for a long time. One priestess swore to Isis that she would remain a virgin until her death; there is also evidence that many women took a ten-day vow of abstinence before the festival in honor of the goddess.

Cybele, ancient mother goddess who demanded human sacrifices

When examining mythology in general, it becomes clear that few divine consorts experienced passionate love for each other, especially in the pantheons of Northern Europe and Scandinavia. In Egyptian mythology, gods and goddesses are endowed with strong individual traits, but among them there are no spouses who have the same feelings for each other as Isis and Osiris. Their mirror image is the unhappy marriage of Set and Nephthys, who does not love her husband and yearns for Osiris.

ISIS AND LOVE SPELLS

There is no doubt that Isis hears and answers prayers asking for love. By turning to Isis with a request for a strong and happy relationship with your partner, you trust her will. But what about love spells addressed to a specific person? Obviously, they are unethical because they violate the principle of free will. Should we abstain from such things? We believe so. If you stand before the altar and ask Isis for love, but secretly hope that she will satisfy your desire for a specific person, then you are actually casting a love spell aimed at that person. You can pretend as much as you like that this was not your intention, but you will still be disingenuous.

Engraving of the famous Venus de Milo, 19th century. Venus/Aphrodite was often associated with Isis

Prayer for unrequited love

O great Isis,

Hear my prayer.

Know what's deep in my heart

The fire of love for___ burns.

The ways of the heart are inscrutable,

And I turn to you for advice and support.

If my love is for___

Seems true in your eyes

Let ____ know that his (her) views make me happy,

Let him (her) know that I admire his (her) speech,

Let him (her) know that I yearn for the touch of his (her) hands

And I want love and happiness for both of us.

If my feeling is unpleasant for___,

Let my heart be freed from desire for him (her);

If you find my love unworthy,

Free my heart from her

Take her power - this is my gift to you.

Let there be new joy

And freedom from all sorrow.

O great Isis,

Hear my prayer!

Collect a few items - photographs, letters or other things that remind you of your loved one (or someone you would like to love). This could be a real person you know, a historical character, a movie actor, or the image of an “ideal partner” created in your imagination. Moreover, the images or objects do not need to be reminiscent of one person; it will be even better if they remind you of at least three different people.

Look at the objects. Decide which aspect of each image is most attractive to you. Perhaps a photograph of a movie star reflects your ideal of physical fitness, or a quote from a love lyric matches your idea of ​​how your chosen one should best express his feelings. A souvenir left over from a first date can remind you of the first moments of falling in love, of those feelings that you would like to experience again. One person attracts you with his honesty, another with his outstanding work ethic. Ask for all the qualities you want in your partner. If you have a person in mind who has most of these qualities, use his image to embody them, but with the caveat that you are looking for a partner who is similar to this person, and not him.

Choose an incense or perfume scent that reminds you of your “ideal partner.” Take a shower or bath and dress as if you were getting ready to meet your loved one. Burn some incense (alternatively, use perfume), light a candle, and stand in front of your chosen items. Breathe deeply, holding your breath a little each time you inhale.

You who guide loving hearts,

I ask you, in your glory and power

Look over the earth with your divine gaze

And let me know about

Who will welcome my love.

(Select the appropriate lines.)

Who resembles ___ in appearance,

Who has [quality]___,

Who will give me back the feeling that I knew since ___,

(Add additional lines if necessary.)

Look into my soul and heart

Let me know what will bring me true joy,

Let me love someone who will return my love

Let me hug someone who finds happiness in my arms.

O great Isis,

Hear my prayer!

The cycle of myths about the Olympian gods contains many examples of lust, violence and arranged marriages, but stories of true love between gods are quite rare. An exception is the story of Eros and Psyche, mentioned by Apuleius in connection with the cult of Isis, when he writes about his initiation into the mysteries of Isis and Osiris.

Eros and Psyche

In this story, the beautiful Psyche becomes the wife of the invisible and mysterious Eros, who comes to her every day, but only at night and in the dark, warning his beloved that she should not see him without a cover. For some time, Psyche enjoys intimacy with Eros, but then her jealous sisters convince her that she has married a terrible monster who is going to harm her. They incite her to kill her husband. One fateful night, Psyche lights a lamp to see the monster, but instead sees a beautiful young man. At the sight of his beauty, she trembles, and a few drops of hot oil fall on Eros’s skin. He wakes up in pain, sees the knife she is holding in her hand, and runs away in horror.

Eros returns to his mother Venus/Aphrodite, who heals his wounds and tyranns Psyche in every possible way. After several difficult tasks, she orders Psyche to descend to the Lower World and take from Persephone a box containing a piece of her beauty. Psyche does not know about the intentions of Venus, who hopes that the girl will not survive the dangers of the journey. But she manages to achieve her goal thanks to the instructions of the talking tower, from which she wanted to throw herself down to commit suicide. Having received the box from Persephone, Psyche opens it in the hope of regaining the love of Eros, but instead falls into a deep sleep, indistinguishable from death.

Eros, healed from his wounds, yearns for his beloved and looks for her everywhere. He awakens Psyche by pricking her with an arrow from his quiver, and then flies off to convince Jupiter to take his side in a dispute with an angry Venus. In the end they manage to pacify Venus. Psyche and Eros marry, and soon they have a daughter, who is called Pleasure. For the full text of the myth, with detailed comments, see Erich Neumann’s book “Cupid and Psyche: Mental Development

* Erich Neumann, “Cupid and Psyche: the psychic development of the feminine.” Ed. Princeton University, New Jersey, 1971.

Pischea returns from the Underworld with a box that Venus/Aphrodite ordered her to take from Persephone

The juxtaposition of religion with novels about love may seem strange. However, romantic love represents the cornerstone of the cult of Isis. This theme is developed in a number of ancient stories that combine features of modern action, adventure and sentimental novels. The central characters of these stories are usually lovers who are forcibly separated by pirates, kidnappers, robbers, barbarian tribal leaders, natural disasters, malicious relatives, etc. Firm in their faith and love for each other, the lovers are eventually reunited and live happily ever after . With minor changes, such stories may well form the basis of plots for modern films or take their rightful place on bookstore shelves.

One such story is “The Ephesian Woman” by Xenophon, which tells the story of the hardships of two lovers. The main character Antiya strives to maintain chastity for her lover Garbokram. She is so beautiful that she is considered the incarnation of the goddess Artemis (in the description, Artemis appears as a double of Isis). Antia stubbornly defends her honor in front of numerous suitors, while Garbokram is captured and almost dies on the banks of the Nile. When they are finally united under the blessing of Isis, Antia greets Garbokram with a ritual kiss similar to the kiss of Isis reviving Osiris. The time for chastity had passed, and we are told that "from then on their life became one long holiday."

In this case, Antia takes the lead in intimate relationships. In his book Isis in the Greco-Roman World, R. E. Witt gives the following quote: “She pressed her lips to his in a long kiss, and with that kiss all the thoughts that filled their minds were transmitted from one soul to another.” Witt suggests that Antia thus imitates Isis resurrecting Osiris*.

* R. E. Witt, “Isis in the Greco-Roman World.” Ed. Cornell University, New York, 1971.

Isis in the novel by D.H. Lawrence

In his last book, The Moor and the Man Who Died, D.H. Lawrence combined and contrasted the theme of resurrection in the cult of Isis with the Christian faith. Lawrence, in essence, was a pagan and an apologist for ancient cults and mysteries. He introduced the concept of sacred love and sensuality into the Western world of that time.

* D.H. Lawrence, "The Moor and the Man Who Died." New York, 1953.

In Lawrence's novel, Christ manages to survive the crucifixion, but becomes mentally and spiritually detached from everything that happened before. He leaves those who knew him and goes on a journey, where he accidentally meets a priestess of Isis, who maintains a small temple dedicated to the goddess. For a long time she has especially honored Isis the Seeker, who travels in search of Osiris. In Christ she finds her Osiris and introduces him to the spiritual side of sensuality and carnal love. Jesus experiences another resurrection - this time through the joys and hardships of everyday life rather than through death. They conceive a child. Although the hostility of the priestess's relatives forces them to separate, Jesus promises to return to his beloved. (The connection between Christ, Osiris and Isis is seen from a different perspective in Christa Kinsler's The Moon Beneath Her Feet*,

* Christa Kinsler, The Moon Beneath Her Feet: The Story of Mary Magdalene Who Served the Great Mother. San Francisco, 1991

Lawrence was not the first writer in whose books erotic moments overshadowed the deeper meaning of the narrative, which, however, contributed to their popularity and wide dissemination. The most complete description of initiation into the mysteries of Isis that has come down to us belongs to Apuleius in his novel The Golden Ass, or Metamorphoses. This work is popular because of its openly erotic scenes. During the Middle Ages, this novel was copied in scriptoriums of monasteries throughout Europe; numerous handwritten copies have survived to this day.

Dion Fortune's magical novels also bear the influence of Lawrence's works. In her novel The Winged Bull she implicitly acknowledges this fact by choosing for the main character, Ursula Brenguin, the same name that Lawrence used for the heroine of his novel Women in Love.

Magical Novels by Dion Fortune

Dion Fortune's novels, especially Moon Magic, The Sea Priestess and The Winged Bull, tell the story of the magic that is born when the relationship between a man and a woman is fully developed, with a clear polarization of roles. The relationships she describes can rightfully be called romantic, but this romance is devoid of sentimentality: love and passion are valuable not in themselves, but as a means for spiritual development, opening up endless opportunities for self-realization. The heroes of her novels play the roles of priestesses and priests; they initiate and instruct each other in the tradition of the ancient cult of Isis.

Dion Fortune believed that reading her novels would be a kind of literary initiation into the mystery of Isis. Since that was her intention, I am not trying to retell the content of her novels. They led me to believe in Isis, and I strongly encourage anyone with an interest in Isis to read them. I myself re-read them every year and almost always find new revelations that I missed or could not fully understand last time.

The life of an active priest/priestess couple is not easy by any standard; the relationship between a man and a woman is fragile enough without the additional responsibility that religious and spiritual improvement entails. But the ultimate goal - the creation of a harmonious couple capable of not only ensuring their own evolution, but also helping other people find enlightenment - is worthy of the effort.

How to prepare for such a difficult task? You need to start not with the search for an ideal partner, as one might think, and not with random acquaintances and separations in the hope of finding the desired person. In order to act effectively with a partner, a person must first learn to be independent. Each of us must soberly evaluate our qualities, since they will still manifest themselves later, and often not quite in the way we would like.

Ignoring any pole in the “human battery” leads to a short circuit, which manifests itself in various ailments, both mental and physical (although from a spiritual point of view there is no difference between them). This leads to sexual deviance, violence, depression, overwork and creative paralysis.

People who lead very active lives and achieve success in the material world may experience constraint and discomfort in the spiritual world. Women sometimes feel echoes of this conflict in their monthly cycles; Some researchers believe that the symptoms of PMS (premenstrual syndrome) and other disorders can be significantly reduced if women get more sleep on certain days each month. For men whose activity manifests itself in the outside world, conflict more often occurs in the form of physical ailments, which also weaken and intensify at regular intervals.

EXERCISE TO DEVELOP POLARITY

Imagine yourself as an ideal person who embodies traits that are opposite of yours in everyday life.

If you are passive and shy, imagine the most dynamic and outgoing person you can imagine. If you are always busy and creating so many new projects that even the thought of rest seems depressing to you, imagine a lonely philosopher, serene in his contemplation.

Pay attention to the image you create in your mind's eye. What is this person wearing? What is his facial expression? What environment is he in? Does it seem like he knows you? If not, introduce yourself to your creation. Tell him that you admire his qualities and want to ask him for advice from time to time. Listen to what he has to say to you. Think about situations in which you could turn to your other self for help. If you want, you can take notes or draw sketches.

You may need more than one character to create a cohesive personality. In my imagination there are at least two: a cheerful, principled man who is not afraid to defend his point of view in any circumstances, and an elegant dark-haired priestess, as mysterious and calm as the Lotus Pond that I imagine behind her.

By the way, perfect balance is not an end in itself. You need to rise to a new level of awareness that allows you to evaluate situations comprehensively, switching from one approach to another. Experience and circumstances dictate to you which aspects of your personality should dominate at a given time.

The earth is the source of love and fertility. Earthly Isis appears before us in a darker aspect, which must be realized, accepted and included in our sensory experience. The more vibrant aspects of the goddess will remain inaccessible to us unless we understand the depth and richness of Earthly Isis. The short meditation below can serve as a starting point for this understanding.

Many Egyptian temples have underground rooms and corridors that are in direct contact with the primal forces of the Earth. When starting this meditation, you need to remember that on the other side of the planet there are star fields, and deep inside it there is a hot core, the “inner Sun”.

We are created by the Earth: our bodies consist of star dust, which was once compacted under the influence of the Sun and formed the blue sphere of our common home. The Earth's source material came from the stars and will return to them at the appointed time to begin a new cycle.

In any initiation, the final transition is considered a breakthrough into another sphere of existence. With the Earth we enter the sphere of the stars; in the fierce flame of the Sun we find a force that resists the cold of interstellar spaces; in stellar initiation we learn the unifying fabric of the Universe; in the initiation of waters and tides we find the structure that envelops chaos.

Earthly Isis is a black goddess, charred by underground fire, dark and fertile, like Nile silt. She is powerful and terrible; its driving force is not life, but existence. All things that exist and have a tangible form are in her possession. She owns crystals, columns of stalagmites and the harsh silence of granite: everything is ancient and motionless, eternal, not counting the moments of creation or destruction.

Her sensuality is expressed in a rough unity of two principles; later, much later, subtle emotions and etheric threads will appear connecting her priestesses and priests. However, without her, the Lady of Darkness, there is nothing. She moves lava flows and erects mountain ranges inextricably linked with the flesh of the earth. It gives rise to lines and shapes.

From primordial times, the children of the Earth carved and painted on the walls of caves what their higher feelings whispered to them about the coming of the great goddess who would reign over the world. But this is still a long way off; while she silently rules the unconscious being and the primordial beauty of the young planet. After thousands and millions of years, she will take on the bright image of the One who will become the Patroness of Humanity. In the meantime, she stores and protects things that seem soulless and lifeless to us. Life and death are one for her - there is no sorrow, no suffering. Someday we will recognize in her a goddess who learned to love and knew the bitterness of loss. Now she is lost in the endless distance of time, and there is no one who could realize her presence. She has no prayers, only commands: live, exist. Contemplate the cycle of stars in the sky, feel the heavy trembling of the earth’s depths.