House of horus

Court of Amen 30

HOUSE OF HORUS 30th and final square. Ra-Horakhty, (Rah of the horizon) is the newly coroneted Pharaoh, the sun at dawn. Out of the 30 squares, this is the only one facing against the direction of play, and Horus can be seen as the highest of 30. The numeral 'one' is often indicated on this square on boards where only the final squares are marked. The moment of the Sun's triumphant rising and rejuvenation at dawn.

But a central aim of Senet is for the human player to 'become a god'
either as the 31st god, leader of the Tribunal of 30; or as one of the
groups of Assessors of the three great centres, each sending 10
representatives (e.g. the souls of Heliopolis/ Anu).

Horus, defender of the dead and avenger of osiris, was a sky or heaven
god associated with the rising sun, as Ra (Ra-Atum, square 29) was
associated with the aging sun at sunset.

By passing beyond this (eighth, invisible soul) and safely off the
board the player representing the deceased had acheived their goal of
rising with the sun and "going forth by day" as a living soul.

Note how the Senet Gods and figures generally face the direction of the
game-procession .... except for this final House where Horus faces
back, suggesting an eternal cycle.

Changing into a Divine Hawk

I am master of his crown.
I am master of his radiance.
I advance towards the Henti boundaries of Heaven.
Horus is upon his thrones.
My face is like that of a divine hawk.
I am one who is equiped like his lord.
I shall come forth to Tetu (Busiris).
I shall see Osiris.
I shall live in his actual presence beneath Nut.
They shall see me.
I shall see the gods and the Eye of Horus burning with fire before me.
They shall reach out their hands to me.
I shall stand up.
I shall be master of him that would subject me to restraint.
They shall open the holy paths to me, they shall see my form, they
shall listen to my words.
++

ADORATION OF AMEN WHEN HE RISES AS RAH-HORAKHTI
by the brothers Suti and Hor, Thebes stela, 18th Dynasty.

Hail to you, Rah, perfect every day
Whose rise creates the dawn and creates the day
Like Khepri [scarab beetle] who toils endlessly.

Your rays will shine on faces of generations yet unborn
Finest gold does not compare with your splendor.
Self-made, you passage creates time
Creator uncreated.

Sole, solar, one. You traverse eternity.
You are above the ways. Overseeing the millions below.

Your splendor is that of the heavens
Your colour brighter than all others.

All watch while you cross the sky
When you set you are hidden from their sight.

Daily you show yourself at dawn
Protected are those who sail beneath your majesty.

In a brief day you complete your circuit
Hundreds, thousands, millions of miles
A moment to you is a day to us
It has passed when you depart our horizon.

You also support the hours of night
You command it without pause in your labour.

Through your light do all eyes see
They lack clarity when your majesty sets.

When you rise again at dawn
Your brightness illumines the eyes of creatures
When you set in the western mountain
They sleep as in a state of death.
++

SPELL FOR ENTERING INTO THE FIRE AND FOR COMING FORTH FROM THE FIRE
BEHIND THE SKY (related to Spell 247 I posted yesterday).

I am this one invisible of form in the midst of sunshine,
I enter into the fire, I come forth from the fire,
The sunshine has not pierced me,
Those who find the Great One have not burnt me,
Mine is the knife which cuts down him who is in the hand of Thoth.

I will not travel around and I have not traveled around,
For your arm is that of Horus,
Your arm is that of the Great One,
While the Sacred Eye, the Lady of Provisions, is powerful.

I enter into and come forth from the fire,
The sunshine has not pierced me,
Those who find the Great One have not burnt me,
Mine is the knife which cuts down him who is in the hand of Thoth.

I travel around her who is opposite to me,
For your arm is that of Horus the Great One,
And the Sacred Eye has power.

CT Spell 246, after Faulkner's transl.
++

Becoming Horus.
There is tumult in the sky, and we see something new,
say the primeval gods. Rah shines as Lord of the sunlight, he has put
the lords of the terrible ones into dread. The Enneads of Rah serve
him, they hear the voice of Rah when hew shouts with a voice of great
roaring.

I have taken possession of the sky, I have divided the firmament, I
will show the paths of Khepri, and the dwellers of the Netjerworld
will follow me. I shine and am seen in the east of the sky, I go to
rest in eternity, and I have acclaim when I have taken possession of
the horizon.

Spell 326, CT.
++

UTTERANCE 587. Pyramid Texts.

(An address to the Sun)
Hail to thee, Atum.
Hail to thee, Khepri, who created himself.
Thou art high, in this thy name of "Height" (Kah)
Thou comest into being, in thy name of "Khepri."

(An address to the Eye of Horus)
Hail to thee, eye of Horus, which he restored with his two hands
completely.
He does not make thee hearken to the West;
He does not make thee hearken to the East;
He does not make thee hearken to the South;
He does not make thee hearken to the North;
He does not make thee hearken to those who are in the middle of the land;
But thou harkenest to Horus.

It is he who restored thee; it is he who built thee up; it is he who
has set thee in order;
That you may do for him everything which he says unto thee, in every
place where he goes.
Thou carriest to him the all the waters which are in thee;
Thou carriest to him the fowl-bearing waters which are to be in thee;
Thou carriest to him the gifts which are in thee;
Thou carriest to him every tree which is to be in thee;
Thou carriest to him the bread and beer which is in thee;
Thou carriest to him the bread and beer which is to be in thee;
Thou carriest to him the gifts which are in thee;
Thou carriest to him the gifts which are to be in thee;
Thou carriest to him everything which is in thee;
Thou carriest to him everything which is to be in thee;
Thou carriest it to him to every place wherein his heart desires to be.

The doors stand fast upon thee like Inmutef;
They open not to the West; they open not to the East;
They open not to the North; they open not to the South;
They open not to those who are in the middle of the land;
But they will open to Horus.

It was, he who made them; it was he who made them stand fast;
It was he who rescued them from every evil which Set did to them;
It was he who settled thee, in this thy name of "Settlements";
It was he who went, doing obeisance; after thee, in this thy name of
"City";
It was he who rescued thee from every evil which Set did to thee.

Turn back, go, O Nut.
Geb commanded that thou go, in this thy name of "City."

THE KING SPEAKS

I am Horus, who adorned his eye with his two hands completely.
I restore thee with an adornment; thee who should be restored.
I set thee in order, for thee are his settlements;
I built thee as a city of mine,
That thou mayest do for every good thing which the heart of Horus loves,
That thou mayest do good for him, in every place where he goes.

Thou shalt not hearken to the West; thou shalt not hearken to the East;
Thou shalt not hearken to the North; thou shalt not hearken to the South;
Thou shalt not hearken to those who are in the middle of the land;
But thou shalt hearken to Horus; it is he who restored thee;
It is Horus who built thee; it is he who settled thee.
Thou doest for him everything which he says unto thee in every place
whither he goes.

Thou shalt lift up to me all the waters which are in thee;
Thou shalt lift up to me the fowl-bearing waters which are to be in thee;
Thou shalt lift up to me every tree which is in thee;
Thou shalt lift up to me every tree which is to be in thee;
Thou shalt lift up to me the food which is in thee;
Thou shalt lift up to me all food which is to be in thee;
Thou shalt lift up to me the offerings which are in thee;
Thou shalt lift up to me the offerings which are to be in thee;
Thou shalt lift up to me everything which is in thee;
Which thou carriest to me at any place my the heart desires to be.

It was I who made them; it was I who held them fast;
It was I who rescued them from all the evil which men did to them;
It was I who set thee aright, in this thy name of "Settlements";
It was I who went, before and after thee, in this thy name of "City";
It was I who rescued thee from all the evil which men did to thee.

Hearken to me alone; it is I who made thee.
Thou shalt not obey (or hearken to) the malefactor,
Him-of-the-sharp-knife.

This iss one of the texts from burial chamber of Pepi II, East Wall.
Yes, very sonorous. It was definitely recited by lector priests at the
burial, probably chanted as a litany, but perhaps there may have been
followers of Hathor with musical instruments as part of the funerary
rites.

Allen translates the title as "Address to the Sun at the Door of the
Duat," which is the most accurate. But I rather like Mercer's earlier
translation using archaic English, since the PT are very archaic texts
in their nature. Allen begins: "Greetings, Horus's eye, which he has
replaced by means of both his arms, &c." and I think he loses some of
the poetry, for which the extra clarity gained doesn't quite suffice.
++

THE BEGINNING OF THE CHAPTERS OF THE CEREMONIES OF THE GOD WHICH ARE TO BE PERFORMED IN THE HOUSE OF AMEN-RAH, THE KING OF ALL THE GODS, DAILY BY THE CHIEF Ab PRIEST IN HIS DAY

From the First Ceremony

"The Chapter of Striking a Fire"

[The following shall be said]
"Come thou, come thou in peace, O glorious Eye of Horus;
Be strong, renew thy youth in peace.
It shineth like Rah in the double-horizon,
And the power of Seth hiddeth itself straightway
before the Eye of Horus,
Which seizeth it and bringeth it,
And setteth it upon the seat of Horus.

The word of Horus is Ma'at by reason of his eye.
The Eye of Horus destroyeth the enemies of Amen-Rah,
The Lord of the Throne of the Two Lands,
In all their places.
{Suten cha hetepu}
I am pure."

I have more to say about this series of 53 ceremonies and formulae in The 31st God.
++

HORUS - The Saviour aka Heru-pa-khered (Horus the Younger)

Horus the Younger, Harpocrates to the Ptolemaic Greeks, is represented in the form of a youth wearing a lock of hair (a sign of youth) on the right of his head while sucking his finger. In addition, he usually wears the united crowns of Egypt, the crown of Upper Egypt and the crown of Lower Egypt. He is a form of the rising sun, representing its earliest light. During the New Kingdom the deity Horus the Younger (or Child) became popular, and he acted often as a saviour in the Kemetic afterlife.

Hymn to Horus to transfigure him, spoken on water or on land.
Words spoken by Thoth the nurturer of the God of Pe.

Hail God son of a God!
Hail heir son of an heir!
Hail bull son of a bull! born of the Goddess
Hail Horus emerged from Osiris,
Born of Isis the Goddess.

I have spoken with your name,
I have recited from your words of power,
I have spoken with your words of light,
I have conjured with your speech,
created by your heart.

It is your formulae which come from your mouth,
commanded for you by your father Geb
given to you by your mother Nut,
taught by your brother Khentykhem
to make your guard,
to repeat your protection,
to seal the mouth of every serpent of those in the sky,
those on the land,
those in the water,
to make people live,
to make the gods content,
to transfigure Rah in your glorifications.

Come to me quickly today
as you have made a boat sailing.
Repel for me every lion on the desert slope
every crocodile on the river,
every biting mouth in their cavern
Do it for me like the stone of the desert mountain,
Like the sherd edge in the street.
Remove for me the posion of the bite which is in every limb of the patient,
so that your words are not rejected on account of it.
See, your name is called today.

May you create the raising of your renown,
when you have lifted by your words of light.
May you cause the sufferer to live for me,
so that adoration is given to you by the populace.

The two Goddesses Right are adored in your forms,
All Gods are called in your likeness,
See, your name is called today.
I am Horus the saviour.

[Translation from the Horus Stelae, Late Period]