Before this miracle all is deathly still, the Gods and humankind hide their faces, and the silver Stars wear a cloak of timid light. The Two Banks dare not show their zeal for the Moon's renewal, nor shout for the return of the Sun-God, the flesh of the Ram...now enshrined in the writhing body of the time-devouring serpent Mehen.
Where is Heaven, and where is Earth, when you are one of the Blessed Dead, bound in the trappings of the Goddess Tayet, Who weaves, weaves, weaves...Who brings back the lost forms of those ensnared by death, Whose delicate hands recall the bodies of the Gods and brings deification to kings. Let me be among those whose forms are renewed, whose bodies become light and join the radiance of the Imperishable Stars!
Where is the Goddess Auset (Isis) on this night of healing the Wedjat Eye? For is not the Wedjat Eye none other than the body of Her beloved Ausir, the Beautiful God, Who traversed the Duwat and returned to Her as the Awakened One? Within Her embrace He becomes the seed-bearing God, enthused with love, animated by Her passion and filled with desire. It is this desire that bursts the Two Banks in the form of the Holy River...raging from dark South to red North...bringing together the reed and the lotus-lily.
And this is the Mystery of Becoming, which fills the House of Auset and causes the Netjeru to rejoice, for the gift which She brings forth is the Sun, the Celestial Falcon, Whose light-body is the Ka of His Father and Whose Eye is the reconciliation of the Two Banks...one dark, the other vibrantly light. And this is the crucible of the Wedjat Eye, which seals darkness in light and brings the Heavenly Vault together with the fructifying Earth.
O Nebet-Hut, O Nephthys! You are the Lady of the Mansion of Heaven, wherein doth shine the majesty of the Falcon-Bodied One, wherein is bestowed the luminescence of the Sun-God, wherein is forged the Whole, perfect and unsullied Eye of the Green One. O Nebet-Hut, O Goddess, the body of the resilient Stars, upon Whose face is the veil of the Sacred West! Let me follow in Your footsteps and traverse the dark banks onto the Eastern shore. Let me know light again, and follow the path of the stars in order to rejoin the Ark of beloved Ra!
I gaze up at the sky, now spattered with stars and suspended with the silver-dark orb of the Moon, awaiting its rebirth at the time of the Six Day Feast. Lost has been the body of Ausir, Whose light had been diminished and Whose rule shattered by the ascendancy of Set. All created things perish. All forms dissipate. What is young grows old. But come again, O life, for the Ka is eternal, and its presence indestructible. When one unites with one's Ka is immortality assured, and death but an inconvenience that falls away like the dew of early morning.
The Offering: My body is clad in pure white linen, for white is the color of the Gods, and linen is the fabric which the Goddess Tayet wove for Ausir (Osiris) when He became Wen-Nefer, the Perfect One. The weaving of Tayet has created the form of the Perfect One, the cocoon in which the Sleeping One awakes into His new life, having passed through the transformations of Ra in that dark house they call the Duwat.
My mouth has been rinsed with natron-salt, for natron is the substance of miracles, purifying the flesh, curing ills, and forming the Wedjat Eye upon which the Gods sup. The lacerations of Ausir were healed by the divine salt, putting His flesh back together again, as even the Wedjat Eye was put back together again after it had been wounded. Tonight the Wedjat Eye is darkened after its manifestation of fullness, and the Great Magician Djehuty (Thoth) waits patiently in the shadows, from where He shall coax the light of the Wedjat Eye to come forth again.
I place pellets of the finest myrrh on the fire, carrying my heart in my hand into the Presences of the Gods. The Netjeru receive all things good and pure, and give all things good and pure. I kiss the Earth in the Presences of the Gods, and I salute my Goddess, the Lady of the House, Nebet-Hut (Nephthys), Who stands at the head of the coffin of Ausir. She receives the smoke, She receives the myrrh, it's heady fragrance cascading like a veil over Her perfect form.
I say: Homage to You, O Nebet-Hut, at the forehead of the Perfect One, Whose lips kiss the brow of Wen-Nefer, Whose shining locks weave the Magic of Becoming, Whose tears bring back the dead and grant the boon of everlasting life, Whose darkness clothes the naked, Whose light follows after the Great Goddess Auset, guiding the weary traveler to that perfect place of mooring like the hallowed Ark of Ra in the West!
How beautiful You are to see, and how satisfying You are to gaze upon! How beautiful to see Your flame. Welcome! You awake in peace, O Lady of the House, and the incense upon the flame is in peace. You awaken in peace, O Companion of the Perfect One! The flame of the incense is in peace, and You awaken in peace. The White Eye of Heru (Horus) is in peace, and Your countenance is provided with the god-making fragrance diffused therefrom. The incense-flame of the Eye of Heru is with You, O Goddess!
My Goddess comes forth from the West, where She is the companion of the Lord of Amentet. Though Her limbs are dark as the haze of incense smoke surrounding Her, She is clothed in dazzling white linen, with a white and red kerchief tied about Her hair, and the golden Goddess Wadjet flaring up from Her noble brow. Essence of lotus floats about Her, and Her swarthy face is as the countenance of the New Moon...a silver light falling away from its smooth edges, casting a magic lamp over all in its path. Soft are Her words, yet trailed by authority, for She is the Sister of Auset and the secret companion of Ausir...from Whose loins She gathered up a son in secret. He too comes, and the night air is suffused with their power.
The Oracle: These are the words of the Goddess Nebet-Hut: I come from water, and yet the water from which I emerge is the Water of the Sky, where Ra in the East plunges His beetle feet, where Ptah the Father and Mother of the Gods awoke to find that in His heart existed everything that has come into existence. Lo! I am the dark body of the vault at midnight, where the ram-flesh of Ra has His battle with the serpent-demon, where the Stars go to rest but come again...where Shu and Tefnut are born and where Sokar resides in the Cavern of the Duwat.
I have embraced Ausir in secret in order to bring into being His first and secret Son, Who is in His Wrappings, from Whom the ways are opened and men go forth to their Kas. I followed after the Entourage of Ausir, and when my Lord was intoxicated with power I sought Him and loved Him, and from the passion of His body I drew forth seed...and it was from this seed that I created a child to be the living image of His Father.
Behold, I am the vessel of eternal life, for the Son Who came forth from my womb is the Lord of the Mysteries, Whose feet traverse all the secrets and upon Whom the God Djehuty has bestowed the secret knowledge. Thus they call Him, "Opener of Ways", and it is known that He is my son...but He is also the Son of Ausir, Who passed away and yet came back to life as a man filled with the seed of god-making. And it was from His holy seed that a god came into being, the Lord of all the Mysteries, the Keeper of the Sacred West's Portal.
Come now into my embrace, for, like Ausir, I shall lay upon you as the Great Kite, and cause you to join with your Ka, the carrier of the life beyond life...that life they call the Hallowed West. Thus did I lay upon the body of my Beloved, and cause Him to deliver His own eternal form into me, and they called Him "Binder". And it is known that I am Mother of the Mysteries and Lady of the Secret House, Whose words are written in the vault of the night sky, when Ra the Lord of the Sky mounts the hidden path of the West and journeys down into the mouth of His mother.
Come, come again...all that has passed away shall return, and all that has perished shall be renewed in their Kas, which are the hidden fire of quickening to the one who has gone down into the hidden West. Awake, awaken...O you who have slumbered! Release yourself from your trappings and join the face of the Sun in its glory, Heru-Akhuty, Whose face glimmers like turquoise and Whose sunbeams shine like gold. Those in the Sacred West receive you, the thighs of Nuit welcome you. A glittering net of gold is cast upon the waters to bind your enemies, and I have removed your obstacles for you!
My daughters...all my daughters, listen to me! I was with my sister Auset on the riverbank at the place called 'Life of the Two Lands', where stood the Mansion of the Soul of Ptah, and this was the place where entered my beloved Ausir into the House of Sokar. In the midst of the waters the body of Ausir was drowned, the Great One upon His side...falling...fallling down into the darkness of the cavern. And Heru the Elder gave a great cry, and Auset the Great Enchantress gave a great cry...for Ausir our beloved was drowned in His waters!
Thus I said to Ausir, "We come, we come and we take You! We embrace your limbs, and shroud your body with the Magic of Tayet...She weaves for You the Heqa of Becoming...She weaves about You the shining locks of Your Twin Sisters...a net of Stars, Imperishable! A ladder to the Sky, Whose doors are thrown wide open for You! If You sleep, I am the one who will awaken You! If You are in darkness, I am the one who will become Your light! If You are thirsty, I am the one who shall offer You the milk of my breast! If You suffer...if You are wounded...if your two eyes become bleary...it is I who shall heal your wounds and bring back together the members of yours that have been divided. You come into being again! You come forth by day again! You emerge into the light again! I am your lover, and within my body shall your seed spring forth from the green Earth again!"
My sons...all my sons, listen to me! I embraced my brother Ausir in secret, His love swelling in my thighs and His seed holding fast in my womb. I set myself upon His loins like a great winged kite, and worked the secret of Becoming. I gathered together my Magic, nourished Heqa, and it was from this miracle that the 'One Who Sits Upon His Mount' came forth into the land of the living. Anpu (Anubis), You are the image of your Father Wen-Nefer, the Great God, the King of Eternity and Lord of Everlasting...the God who passes millions of years in His lifetime...King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Ruler of Rulers, the Lord of the Sacred Land! You are the hidden flame in the West, Whose burning sets at rest the violent ones...Whose Magic placates the wicked and forbids the demons from encroaching the Land of the Just.
Those who call upon You are saved from the trials of the Duat...they are not buried in darkness, nor do they know the second death. You have come from the Mount of the West shining like a newly born Star...falling to Earth like the iron of heaven...Your power is secreted within the Earth, yet mirrored in heaven at the time when Nuit swallows the body of Her own father!
My children...all my children...the Children of Geb and Nuit, listen to me! I am Nebet-Hut, Whose arms enfold you, Whose wings encircle you...Whose powers enliven your members with the fluid of life. I breathe the sacred breath that held the Heavens and the Earth fast in the beginning, from which the Gods came forth into being...from which all creeping creatures came into existence. I am one of the Imperishable Stars woven throughout the body of Nuit, casting my light eternally upon the living...eternally living as the light of the Blessed Dead. As I took the sleeping form of Ausir into my embrace, encircling Him with the Heqa of a God...so shall I embrace and encircle you...so shall I weave about you the power of a Netjer...the Heqa of living gods, which shall cast forever away the presence of death...which shall reawaken the sleeping and nourish the destitute. For I shall not suffer you to languish in the Land of the Dead forever...and the barren Earth shall spring forth green with His first fruits...the Magic of the First Occasion!
All text copyright © 2015 Rev. Ptahmassu Nofra-Uaa