House of netting 

Court of Amen 16

 

House of the Net, Square 16

The figure holding a net may allude to BD 153, "Spell for
escaping from the Net within the Valley." It is a celestial fish net
"whose floats are towards the sky and whose sinkers towards the
earth," and was said to be manned by "earth gods" and "catchers who go
about in the midst of the waters."

The purpose of this net was to snare wandering souls that did not know
the correct pass-words and magic formulae. If this particular spell
was repeated over a model of the decead seated in a boat, it was
said that "his soul shall stay alive forever and not die again." 

Also see BD 113.

I think there may have been a rule specific to the game-play if you landed on this square in some versions - is discussed further in THE 31st GOD.
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Souls of Nekhen and the Hands of Horus.


There are several examples of the Fish motif in Dynastic Egypt. But I
think some closely resembling Christ on the fishing boat, fishers of
men theme, can be found in ancient "fish-trap" texts such as the following:

Knowing the Souls of Nekhen.

I know the mystery of Nekhen; it is the hands of Horus of his mother's
making which were thrown into the water, she saying "You shall be the
two severed portions of Horus after you have been found."
[snip]

And Sobek from the back of the waters said: "I have fished and ?I have
sought; they slipped from my hands upon the banks of the waters, but I
fished them up in the end with a fish-trap. Tat is how the fish-trap
came into being.

Knowing the mystery of Nehken.

Thus said Rah: "Has Sobek any fish as well as finding Horus hands for
him?" ... "Hidden are the mysteries concerning this fish-trap which
brought to us Horus's hands; the sight is made clear because of it in
the monthly and the half-monthly festival in this Tr-rmw."
[snip]

O you who are in Nekhen, power is given to me, and I know the mystery
of Nekhen; it is in the hands of Horus and what is in them, for I have
been introduced to the Souls of Nekhen. Open to me, that I may join
with Horus. CT 158.