The Ten Keys

The Ten Keys
http://maat.sofiatopia.org/ten_keys.htm
Ancient Egyptian Roots

of the Principia Hermetica
Aegyptus imago sit caeli
by Wim van den Dungen
"Do You not know, Asclepius,

that Egypt is an image of
heaven, or, to speak more
exactly, in Egypt all the
operations of the powers which
rule and work in heaven have
been transferred to Earth below
?"
Asclepius III, 24b.
I, King Pepi, am THOTH, the mightiest of the gods ...

Py r ami d T ex ts , 12 37.
I, said he, am POIMANDRES, the Mind of the Sovereignty.

Co r pu s H e rm eti cu m (C H), Li bel l u s I ( P oi man d r e s) , B o ok 1 .2
"Do You not know that You have become a God,

and son of the One, even as I have ?"
CH , Li b el l u s X III, 1 4.
Abstract
Introduction
1 The mental origin of the world and of man.

2 Corresponding harmonics.
3 Dynamics of alternation.
4 Bi-polarity and complementarity.
5 Cyclic repolarisation.
6 Cause and effect.
7 Gender.
8 The astrology of the Ogdoad.
9 The magic of the Ennead.
10 The alchemy of the Decad.
Epilogue : the Ancient Egyptian Mystery Tradition ?

Bibliography
"Content is Atum, father of the gods.

Content are Shu and Tefnut.
Content are Geb and Nut.
Content are Osiris and [Isis].
Content are Seth and Neith.
Content are all the gods who are in the sky.
Content are all the gods who are on Earth, who are in the flat -lands.
Content are all the southern and northern gods.
Content are all the western and eastern gods.
Content are all the gods of the nomes.
Content are all the gods of the towns.
With this great and might word, which issued from the mouth of THOTH for
Osiris, the Treasurer of L ife, Seal-bearer of the gods, Anubis, who claims hearts,
claims Osiris King Pepi ...
Hear O THOTH, in whom is the peace of the gods ...

Py r ami d T ex ts , 1 521 - 152 4 & 14 65
THOTH
The meaning of Thoth's name

("DHwtii" or "Djehuti") is lost. He
is represented by the hieroglyph
of the Ibis on a standard ( Ibis
religiosa). In Babylon, he was
called "Tichut". Some proposed
"he of Djehout" (an unknown
city), but Hopfner (1914) believes
"DHw" was the oldest name of the
Ibis ("hbj"). Thoth would then
THOTH
mean "he who has the nature of

the Ibis". As early as the Pyramid
god of scribes, science, magic, time,
Texts (ca. 2400 BCE), Pharaoh is
medicine, reckoning, cults, wisdom,
said to be carried over the
the peace of the gods and companion

of MAAT
dr awi n g by St ph an e R o ssi n i (19 92)
celestial river on the wings of

Thoth, considered to be the
mightiest of the gods.
From the early 3th century BCE,

the epithet "Thoth great, great,
great"("DHwtii aA, aA, aA") is
found at Esna in Upper Egypt,
whereas the expression "Thoth the
great, the great, the
great" ("DHwtii pA aA, pA aA, pA
aA") is part of Demotic texts
outside Memphis, dating from the
early 2nd century BCE (cf. the
Greek "Hermes Trismegistos").
Other writings suggest a link
between Hermetism and the
cosmology of Hermopolis (and its
Ogdoad).
Another, less common, pictogram for Thoth was the squatting baboon, who
greeted the dawning Sun with cries of jubilation.
Abstract
The religion of Ancient Egypt has been reconstructed by the Greeks (in the
Hermetica), by the Abrahamic tradition (in their Scriptures) and by the Western
Mystery Tradition (Hermeticism). But these reconstructions are flawed. The
Hermetic teachings incorporate an un -Egyptian view on the mysteries (stressing

the mind at the expense of the body). The protagonists of the revealed religions
(Judaism, Christianity & Islam), as well as the initiators of Hermeticism, were
unable to read the hieroglyphs, and if they did, only allegorical, explaining the
obscure with more obscurity. Only the last two hundred years has a reliable
historical reconstruction become available, offering a basic historical framework.
Not the Qabalah (Jewish or Christian), but the Ancient Egyptian Mystery Tradition
(or Kemetism) is the backbone of the Western Tradition. Instead of H ermeticism,
a return to Hermetism is invisaged. To approach Kemetism today, ten Hermetic
principles are isolated. Each is associated with a fundamental teaching found in
Egyptian texts. This exercise is possible because the Hermetica are rooted in the
native Egyptian religion, albeit Hellenized. The authors were Egyptians still able
to read the "words of the gods". In this way, the Western Tradition may finally
stretch its roots in perennial soil, first in Alexandrian thought and from there in
the native Eg yptian tradition, its natural ally.
Introduction
historical Hermetism : religio mentis
The influence of Ancient Egypt on Greek philosophy as well as the history of the
rise ofHermetism have been discussed elsewhere. These studies showed the
presence of three fundamental phases :
1. native Hermopolitan theology : as early as the Old Kingdom (ca. 2670 2198 BCE), the perennial worship of the native Egyptian Thoth, "the
mightiest of the gods", was centered in Hermopolis ("Hermoupolis Magna").
Although the contents of this theology is only know from Ptolemaic sources,
"Khnum Khemenu", "the Eight town" (also called "Per -Djehuty", the "house
of Thoth") existed in the Vth Dynasty (ca. 2487 - 2348 BCE) and was
associated with the Ogdoad or company of eight precreational gods (frog
heads) & goddesses (serpent -headed). A few of them were mentioned in
the Pyramid Texts, but the complete list is first mentione d in the Middle
Kingdom (ca. 1938 - 1759 BCE). These deities emerged from Nun (the
primordial, undifferentiated ocean) and constituted the soul of Thoth. They
may also be understood as further characteriza tions of this dark, unlimited
pre-creational realm : Amun and Amaunet (hiddenness), Heh and Heket or
Huh and Hauhet (eternity), Kek and Keket or Kuk and Kauket (darkness),
Nun and Nunet or Nun and Naunet (primordial chaos). Hermopolitan
theology will provi de the framework for Ptolemaic Hermetism. Other textual
traces of this worship are found in the Coffin Texts, the Book of the
Dead and the Books of the Netherworld , whereas in the Late Period (ca. 664
- 30 BCE), its theology was written down on the walls o f more than one
Ptolemaic temple (ca. 332 - 30 BCE). Because Thoth was Lord of Time, he
was associated with astrology, in particular when the astral science of
Chaldea entered Egypt (at the end of the Third Intermediate Period, ca.
1075 - 664 BCE) ;
2. historical Hermetism : or the identification of Thoth, "Thrice Greatest", with
Hermes Trismegistus, who, in his philosophical teachings, is Greek and
human (although Egyptian elements persist), but who assumed, in the
technical Hermetica, the cosmicity of the na tive Egyptian Thoth. The
technical Hermetica are attested under the Ptolemies, and the existence, in
the first century BCE, of an Alexandrian multi -cultural Hermetic Lodge is
likely. The philosophical sources are the 17 treatises of the Corpus
Hermeticum, the LatinAsclepius, the Armenian Hermetic Definitions and the
Coptic Hermetica found at Nag Hammadi, in particular The Eighth and the
Ninth Sphere (Codex VI.6), which all date from the first centuries CE. It is
possible to see Hermetism as a "gnosticism" ( for "gnosis", i.e. direct
spiritual insight, is all -important). But Hermetic gnosticism is particular to
imperial Alexandrian culture, for the notion of an evil demiurge (as in
Christian Gnosticism) is not present. Constituted by Egyptian, Greek and
Jewish elements, Hermetism will influence Judaism (the Merkabah mystics of
the Jewish gnostics of Alexandria), Christianity (Clement of Alexandria, the
Greek Fathers, the " Orientale Lumen") and the Islam (the Hermetic star
worshippers of Harran and Sufism) ;
3. literary Hermeticism : Renaissance Hermeticism produced a fictional
Trismegistus as the Godhead of its esoteric concept of the world as an
organic whole, with an intimate sympathy between its material (natural) and
spiritual (supernatural) components. This view was consistent with

the humanistic phase of modernism , which was followed by a mechanization
of the world and the "enlight enment" of the 18th century. These new forces
ousted all formative & final causes from their physical inquiries, and
reduced the four Aristotelian categories of determination (material,
efficient, formal and final cause) to material & efficient causes only .
Astrology, magic and alchemy were deemed scientifically backward &
religiously suspect. " Actio-in-distans" was deemed impossible, and Paganism
was Satanical. In 1666, Colbert evicts astrology from the Academy of
Sciences (the court -astrologer Morin de Vi llefranche, 1583 - 1656, was
concealed behind a curtain in the royal apartment at the time when the
future Grand Monarque was born). In the nineteenth century, under the
influence of the morbid but exotical fancies of the
Romantics,Hermeticism became part of Rosicrucianism, Freemasonry,
Theosophy and generalized egyptomania (cf. Golden Dawn, Thelemism,
Pyramidology, etc.). Today it returns as the ideological core of the
expanding New Age religion.
Before the first, steady interactions between Greek & Egyptian culture emerged
(ca. 670 BCE), the "Hermetic" particularities of Late New
Kingdom henotheist theology were inscribed on the Shabaka Stone and elucidated
in its Memphite theology. This XXVth Dynasty (ca. 716 - 702 BCE) stone copy of
an important Ramesside papyrus scroll, contained thoughts which look
remarkably like those developed in the contexts of the Platonic, Philonic and
Christian "logos". More than a century ago, Breasted wrote regarding the
Memphite theology :
"The above conception of the world forms quite a sufficient ba sis for suggesting
that the later notions of nous and logos, hitherto supposed to have been
introduced into Egypt from abroad at a much later date, were present at this
early period. Thus the Greek tradition of the origin of their philosophy in Egypt
undoubtedly contains more of the truth than has in recent years been conceded.
(...) The habit, later so prevalent among the Greeks, of interpreting
philosophically the function and relations of the Egyptian gods (...) had already
begun in Egypt before the earl iest Greek philosophers were born ..." - B r e as t ed ,
1901 , p. 54 .
Indeed, the Greek words "nous" ("mind, thinking, perceiving") and "nos"
("perceive, observe, recognize, understand"), could b e derived from the Egyptian
"nu" ("nw"), "to see, look, perceive, observe" :
"Nu", "nw" with D6,

the determinative for
action with eyes.
Keep guard over,
watch, look, tend,
guide, care for,
shepherd.
Incidentally, the
adze was used in the
"Opening of the
Mouth".
On the one hand, according to Stricker (1949), the Corpus Hermeticum is a

codification of the Egyptian religion. Ptolemy I Soter (304 - 282 BCE) and his son
Ptolemy II Philadelphus (282 - 246 BCE) promised to publish the secret literature
of the three groups of citizens of Egypt : native Egyptians, Greeks and Jews. For
him, Hermetism is the Greek version of a redaction of Egyptian literature. Its
form is Greek, but its contents is Egyptian (the Septuagint being the equivalent
Jewish redaction). On the other hand, father Festugire (1945) claims
the CHcontains extremely little Egyptian elements, except for the conte xt, the
ideas expressed being those of popular Greek thought, a mixture of Platonism,
Aristotelism and Stoicism ... Both positions are avoided. Most agree
the CH contains no Christian elements (the opposite is true - cf. the influence of
Philonic thought i n particular and Alexandrian philosophy in general on the
apostle Paul - Quispel, 1992).
Let us conjecture the emergence, under the first three Ptolemies, of a Greek
elitist version of the Egyptian religion, a Graeco -Egyptian religion, and this
among the upper native classes (of priest, scribes, administrators & high -skilled
workmen). This Graeco -Egyptian religion would be based in Alexandria and

Memphis, and (at first) entail a strong empha sis on the native component. It
emerged in the priestly scribal class and had its focus on Thoth, who created the
world by means of his Divine words, in accord with the verbal tradition founding
Egypt. For the Greeks, Thoth was "Hermes, Trismegistos", indicative of both his
antiquity and greatness. Because of the important influence of the native
intellectual milieu on the genesis of this Alexandro -Egyptian cultural
form, "Graeco -Egyptian religion turns ou t to be based on a profound imbalance,
in favour of the autochthonous, between its two constituent elements." (Fowden,
1986, p.19). Zandee (1992, p.161) mentions a Hermetical text going back to the
third century BCE and for Petrie (1908) at least some passages of the Corpus
Hermeticum had to refer to the Persian p eriod ... This feature proves to be
essential in a possible thematical reconstruction.
But, the Hellenization entailed by using the Greek language and participating in
the syncretic Alexandrian intellectual climate (the Mouseion and Serapeion),
should not be underestimated, and makes Stricker's proposals too unlikely. These
native Egyptians must have been proud of their Hermopolitan &
Memphite theologies (both verbal & scribal ), but eventually accepted to
incorporate uncompromisingly un-Egyptian elements in their Hermetism (like the
popular Greek denial of the physical body, evasive mysteries and an elusive,
vague description of the afterlife). The imp ortance of the Netherworld is no
longer felt.
Many other Greek themes are to be found in the Corpus Hermeticum, showing
Festugire was not completely wrong. In a study of Zandee published in 1992,
the Egyptian influence was confirmed, although besides the negative view on the
body, he also identified the depreciation of the world, the celestial voyage of the
soul (or mystical initiation - cf. Mah, 1992) and reincarnation as Hermetic
teachings not to be found in Ancient Egypt. To this list could be added the
Hermetic variant of the Greek mysteries and magical techniques aimed to compel
the will of the gods (impossible in Ancien t Egypt). Indeed, the difference
between Egyptian initiation and Greek mysteries is pertinent (the attitude of the
worshipper as well as the responsiveness of the deities differ).
We may argue t hat the technical Hermetica are rooted in perennial Egyptian
traditions likemagic ("heka") and the "books of Thoth". It is probable that, at
least insofar as medicine & magic were concerned, this indeed w as the case ? The
philosophical Hermetica also share certain features with the Egyptian wisdomdiscourses or instruction genre .
Hermetism is not a "Sammelbecken" (heterogeneous doctrines), nor a single

synthesis, but an autonomous mode of discourse, a "way of Hermes"
(Iamblichus), more theological than philosophical (like Plotinus, who -compared
to Plato - was more religious than political) and foremost (in number) "technical"
: astrology, magic & alchemy. This Graeco-Egyptian religion was influenced by
three major players : the Greeks, the native Egyptians and the Jews. It could
define its own path precisely because of its roots in the Ancient Egyptian Mystery
Tradition, to which most of its members adhered . In its mature stage, Hermetism
manifested the religion of the mind (" religio mentis") of Mediterranean Antiquity.
This Late Hellenistic Hermetism would survive and eventually fire the European
Renaissance and humanism. But the " ad fontes" principle of the latter only
returned to Late Hellenism. Antiquity would remain unavailable for several
centuries. Not unlike Spinoza's " amor intellectualis Dei", philosophical Hermetism
gave body to an intellectual love for the One, albeit in modo antiquo, and never
without magic & alchemy. In the 17th century, this technical side was left behind
by the European academia, whereas the philosophical Hermetica became part of
Hermeticism and its various branches.
The "gnosis" of Hermetism (the secret it shared through initi ation) was an
ecstasy born out of cognitive activities, involving trance, contemplation, ritual,
music and astrology. In Hermetism, astrology served as the bridge between the
purely technical Hermetica -magic, medicine - and the theological & philosophical
Hermetica. Astrology was concerned with the timing of events, both festive,
initiatory or individual.
"It is certain that the Hermetics had no cult, with priests, sacrifices, processions
and the like. But the texts suggest the existence of (small) Hermeti c
'communities', conventicles, groups or lodges, in which individual experiences
and insights were collectively celebrated with rituals, hymns and prayers." Qu i s p el , 1 992 /19 9 4, p .15 .
The Corpus Hermeticum and the Graeco -Egyptian religion of which it was the
chief extant codification, was a spiritual way in its own right. Alexandrian
Hermetism was a mixture of Greek thought with genuine Egyptian religious
traditions. Scholars have pointed t o the reverence for the creative word ,
the magical power of divine statues, the wisdom literature , the bi-sexual nature
of god, the one and the many, the Sun as creator , the cosmos as an ordered
whole and also noted Jewish components and imagery. In this paper, other
important Egyptian themes will be put forward.
the core teachings of Hermetism
Hermetic ontology distinguished between three sp heres of being : God, the world
(of the Deities, minerals, plants & animals) and man. These were sympathetically
interlinked (X.22 -23), allowing us to glimpse His genius in these beauties (V.1 8), God is also conceived as the creator of All rather than Him self the All (i.e.
pan-en-theism instead of pantheism), and immanentism is not exclusive.
Hermetism tried to rise from "episteme" towards "gnosis", i.e. from
knowledge about God to knowledge of Him ("cognoscere Deum / cognitia Dei").
God is best known and worshipped in the absolute purity of silence (as the
Pythagoreans had claimed, and the Ancient Egyptians had stressed for millennia -
cf. Hymns to Amun). Like Late Ramesside Amun -theology, Hermetism

was henotheist, but in a rational mode of cognition : the One God was deemed
essentially hidden (cf. the Nun) but manifest in "millions of appearanc es" and
Deities (cf. Atum -Re and the Ennead).
Hermes tells Tat (XIII), that "the tent" or "tabernacle" of the Earthly body was
formed by the circle of the Zodiac (XIII.12 & Ascl.35) and dominated by fate,
who's decrees, according to the astrologers, were unbreakable. The seven planets
represented the "perfect movements" of the Deities, the unalterable "will of the
Gods" as expressed in predictable astral phenomena. Magicians tried to compel
this will, while Hermetism did not try to resist fate, but irrever siblymoved beyond
it. The existence of the Deities was acknowledged (they belonged to the order of
creation and were the object of sacrifices and processions and the celestial
Powers ruling the astrological septet). Indeed, the Deities, Hermes and God were
situated in the eighth, ninth and tenth sphere (Ogdoad, Ennead and Decad). The
"eighth" involved purification, Self -knowledge and the direct "gnostic" experience
of the "Nous" as "logos", whereas in the "ninth" man was deified by assuming
God's attributes, as did the Godman Hermes, in particular His Universal Mind, the
Divine Nous, Intellect or "soul of God" (XII.9). The "tenth" or Decad was God
Himself for Himself.
In Ancient Egypt, man and the pantheon had never been directly in touch. Firstly,
because the spirit of the deities remained for ever in the sky (the light of the
stars), and secondly because gods only converse with gods. The only exception
was Pharaoh, the mediator between mankind and the deities, for he himself was
the son of the creator god Re and daily returned, by voice -offerings of truth &
justice, the order of being back to its origin, hereby sustaining creation and
sealing the unity of the "Two Lands", namely Egypt as "image of the world".
In Hermetism, man, the most glorious of God's c reations, was animated by a

Divine spark and was therefore -in the depth of his being - truly Divine (I.2, I.30
& XIII.14). In man, the divide between God and the world was bridged, and so to
awaken him to his own Inner Being, was the goal of Hermetic initi ation & ritual.
Every man and woman is a Deity.
"Hermes : Do You not know that You have become of God, and son of the One,
even as I have ?"
Ignorance crippled man (VII), and this is overcome by helping him to understand
his true, Divine nature, bringing him to know God and discovering his own
Divinity (X.9). The crucial choice is therefore a choice between the "material"
world (ruled by the seven Powers of fate) and the "spiritual" Perfect Man,
between the corporeal/visible and the incorporeal/invisible. The attainment of
Self-knowledge (exposure to the true Self) is described in terms of "rebirth"
("palingenesia" - XIII), viewed as a bursting into a new plane of existence,
namely the "Ogdoadic nature", previously unsuspected and po tential.
"I rejoice, my son, that You are like to bring forth fruit. Out of the Truth will
spring up in You the immortal brood of virtue, for by the working of mind, You
have come to know yourself and your Father."
CH , Li b el l u s X III, 2 2a.
Palingenesia l iberates the soul and is a reversal of physical birth (which

imprisoned the soul in the body). This spiritual birth leads (thanks to the
presence of a spiritual master and an initiatory father/son -relationship) to the
soul's perfection through the knowledg e of God, a "baptism in intellect" (IV.3 -4).
In the process of purification and Self -knowledge, traditional rituals may have
been used, but the higher mysteries (the Hermetic initiation proper) involved a
"mental" or "spiritual" sacrifice (I.31), the offer ing of hymns of praise and
thanksgiving. The ritual and the noetic were thus fully integrated.
Indeed, the "Nous", the Divine intellect or "soul of God", binds together the
hierarchy of God, the world (of the Deities, minerals, plants & animals) and man.
In particular, "Nous" is the way of the human soul to free itself from the snares
of the flesh and be illuminated by the "light" of the "gnosis", for indeed, God is
experienced as light. A "good Nous" will be able to repel the assaults of the
world. The sp iritual master becomes a personification of this Divine intellect. The
master becomes one with the Divine Nous ("I am Mind") in the initiation of his
disciple. In Hermetism, this "Nous" is personified by Hermes Trismegistus, the

Universal Mind of the "high est Power" (situated on the Enneadic plane).
the Hermetic Divine triad
In Ancient Egyptian theology, divine triads were used to express the divine
family-unit, usually composed out of Pharaoh (the son) and a divine couple
(father & mother), legitimizing his rule as divine king. Pharaoh Akhenaten had
introduced a monotheistic triad (exclusive and against all other deities) : Aten,
Akhenaten and Nefertiti. In Heliopolis, the original triad was Atum, Shu and
Tefnut, in Memphis, Ptah, Sekhmet and Nefe rtem emerged, whereas Thebes
worshipped Amun, Mut and Khonsu. The trinity naturally developed into three or
one Ennead.
In Hermetic triad reads as :

1. God, the Unbegotten One, the essence of being, the Father of All - the
"Decad" ;
2. Nous, the First Intellect , the Self-Begotten One, the Mind or Light of God the "Ennead" ;
3. Logos, the "son" from "Nous", the Begotten One above the Seven Archons the "Ogdoad".
The One Entity or God (the "Tenth") is known to Its creation as the One Mind or
Hermes which contains the "noetic" root of every individual existing thing (cf.
Plato, Spinoza). This Divine Mind (the attributes or names of the nameless God)
allows all things to be sympathetic transformations (adaptations, modi) of God.
LOGOS
The "logos" is a "hol y word", coming forth from the
Light of the Divine Nous, the Ninth Sphere of Being,
situated between the Decad of God Himself and the
Ogdoad of the blessed souls, fixed stars and the
Deities.
Hermetism
(1) Decad : God Himself ;
(2) Ennead : Divine Nous, Light, Godm an Hermes
Autogenes ;
(3) Ogdoad : Logos or "son of God" ;
(4) Hebdomad : the Seven Governors of the world.
Hermetism is initiatory because it wants to elevate the soul to the level of

its true Divine nature. Palingenesia is an ascension while alive. Rebirth implies
more than just a confrontation with the Gods (as in Ancient Egypt), but a true
interaction between Perfect Man and -thanks to the Presence of Mind - God. This
interaction leads to a total emergence of the Divine spark in man and hence to
his Deification (finally being completely his own Divine Self and thus himself "a
God", a being permanently realizing the Enneadic nature (XIII.3,10 & 14). This
highest state may be attained in the afterlife, although the Ogdoadic nature may
be realized while ali ve on Earth.
"Man is a Divine being, not to be compared with the other Earthly beings, but
with those who are called Gods, up in the heavens. Rather, if one must dare to
speak the truth, man truly is established above even these Gods, or at least fully
their equal. After all, none of the celestial Gods will leave the heavenly frontiers
and descend to Earth ; yet man ascends even into heavens, and measured them,
and knows their heights and depths, and everything else about them he learns
with exactitude, an d, supreme marvel, he even has no need to leave the Earth to
establish himself upon high, so far does his power extend ! We must thus dare to
say : Earthly man is a mortal God, the celestial God is an immortal Man. And so
it is through these two, the world and man, that all things exist ; but they were
all created by the One."
CH , Li b el l u s X , 24 - 2 5.
The Hermetic triad can be traced back to Egyptian sources thus :

1. the one god alone, pre -existing before creation as the primordial ocean of
Nun ;
2. the self-creative creator (in the form of Atum -Re), emerging out of the Nun
(hatching out of his egg) as the origin of everything and the "father of the
gods ;
3. the unique "son of god" or Pharaoh, who mediates between the realm of the
deities (sky) and the realm of huma ns (Earth).
In this scheme, 10 ontological layers, strata or realms are posited : One
supernatural Divine triad ("agennetos, autogennetos, gennetos") and Seven
natural "powers of fate" or "archons". Hermetism is a gnosticism because it
claims knowledge of God is possible. To know God one has to merge with
Universal Mind, conveying a "special" light, causing a private and inner
illumination or "gnosis". The purified soul is absorbed into God and realizes its
own Divinity. Hermetism is a "way of immortality" (X.7). But as an Alexandro Egyptian gnosticism, Hermetism did not introduce "evil" in the archons : God our
Father is Good and His creation (including His Deities) is beautiful, the crucial
moral choice is up to the individual.
"For from thee, the unbegot ten one, the begotten one came into being. The birth
of the self-begotten one is through thee, giving birth to all begotten things that
exists." - R obi n s o n , 198 4, p .29 4.
The Hermetic Divine triad is modalistic and subordinates the hierarchy of being.
God (10 : the Decad) is the first and ultimate level of existence, the One existing
for Unity Alone (the Absolute in its Absoluteness). God (the incomprehensible,
unrevealable and unknowable Fa ther) is unborn, the " Logos autogenes" and the
"son of Nous" born. What this is can not be said (cf. apophasis : absolute silence,
no tales). Hermes (9 : the Ennead) is Self -begotten (not created or generated by
God) and is the "soul" of God, the mode of G od's holding together His creation by
Universal Mind (Nous) and Word (logos). The Begotten One (8 : the Ogdoad),
again a level lower, has no power of Self -generation, and is part of the process of
time and space (this "son" is the "world" or "logos" given by Hermes as master,
teacher and father). This level of the Perfect(ed) Human beings is higher than
the Deities (or at least equal to them).
The Seven Archons, ruling fate and subordinated to supernatural command, are
beautiful and good (demons may exists , but there is no evil God). That evil exists
at all is due to man's nature and his slavish prostrations before his physical
passions & vices. Clouding his true nature, these evils cause ignorance and make
man subject to the fatal blows of the blind planet ary forces, measured by
astrologers and manipulated by magicians. On their own, both astrologers and
magi fail to reach the Hermetic goal of life : "gnosis" or an inner awakening in
the light coming forth from God's Mind, i.e. an entrance in the supernatur al
strata of being (the Ogdoad, which borders the natural world, and the Ennead).
"{O my Father}, yesterday You promised me that You would bring my mind into
the eighth and afterwards You would bring me into the ninth. You said that this is
the order of the tradition." - R obi n s on , 198 4, p .29 2.
Resisting fate binds one to fate. Only the Divine light of "gnosis" allows the soul
to move beyond nature and abide in the supernatural. Here, fate has no hold, for
the Gods never leave their heaven, and, as Paracelsus would claim centuries
earlier : the wise command the stars !
literary Hermeticism and the Western Tradition : a few highlights
The earliest links made between Egyptian wisdom and Christianity appear in the
writings of Clement of Alexandria (150 - 215), Origen of Alexandria (185 - 254)
and Augustine of Hippo (354 - 430).
"As early as Origen's Contra Celsus (I, 28), we encounter the claim that it was in
Egypt, and specifically as an adult laborer, that Jesus had learned all the magical
arts with which he worked miracles and on which he based his divinity. The
tradition also occurred in early rabbinic literature, but it was of course
suppressed in official Christianity." - H o rn u n g , 200 1, pp.7 6 - 7 7.
Indeed, Morton (1978) writes :
"The rabbinic report that in Egypt Jesus was tattooed with magic spells does not
appear in polemic material, but is cited as a known fact in discussion of a legal
question by a rabbi who was probably born about t he time of the crucifixion. The
antiquity of the source, type of citation, connection with the report that he was
in Egypt, and agreement with Egyptian magical practices are considerable
arguments in its favor." - M o rt on , 1 978 , p p. 150 - 151 .
The link between Egyptian wisdom, under the guise of Hermetism, Christianity
and Islam is also pertinent and often forgotten.
"The mystical powers of Hermes exerted themselves far beyond the Pagan world
of Late Antiquity, transmuting medieval Christian and Islamic understanding of
the relationship between rational knowledge and revelation." - G r e e n , 199 2, p .85 .
This explains why, when Arab translations overflowed Europe, Hermetic concepts
came along.
"The Sabaeans in Harran, who were without a sacred scripture under Islam, in
order to count as a 'people of the Book', elevated the Corpus Hermeticum into
such a holy book in the ninth century , thereby contributing to the continued
existence of Hermetic texts among the Arab writers." - H o rn u n g , 20 0 1, pp .53 .
The first elements of literary Hermeticism were probably introduced in W estern

Europe by the Knight Templars (an order initiated in 1118). This powerful
organization would pass on "the light of the Orient" to Rosicrucianism and
Freemasonry. Both drew on the translations of the Corpus Hermeticum , available
as early as 1471, but also on alchemy, centuries older.
"The first Latin texts on alchemy were translated from Arabic in the 12th century,
and included the Septem tractatus Hermetis Sapientia Triplicis and the Liber de
Compositione Alchemiae of Morienus. A leitmotif that occurs with respect of the
Arabic and Latin alchemical texts is the discovery in an underground chamber or
crypt of a stela made of marble, ebony or emerald, with mysterious writing or
symbols on it." - Bu r n e tt, Ch ( U ck o & Ch ampi on , 20 03 , p. 94).
the Order of the Temple
Jerusalem fell to the curved swords of Islam in 638 AD. In 1095, Pope Urban II
decided to incite the sovereigns of the West to recapture the city. He wanted to
bring together the Eastern (Orthodox) and Western (Roman) strains of
Christianity, a scandalous divide caused by a fundamental dogmatic difference
about the nature of the Holy Spirit (who, in the Eastern Church, does not proceed
from the Son as in the Filioquist West). In 1099, the year Godefroy de Bouillon of
Flanders conquered the city, the Pope died. It would be recaptured in 1244.
According to Templar tradition, the Order of the Knights Templar was founded by
Huges de Payns, a 48 year old nobleman, and eight other Knights. They took
their vows on the 12th of June 1118 a t the Castle of Arginy in the County of
Rhne. The nine Knights were devoted to Christ and pledged to ensure the safety
of the pilgrims to Jerusalem and the protection of the Holy Sepulchre. The Grand
Master was very successful and obtained gifts of land a nd property to start the
order.
By 1129, the Templar Order was established in Europe. The battle standard of
the Order, the Gonfalon Beauceant or Beauseant was a red eight -pointed cross,
the "Croix patte gueules", on a background of white and black squa res. Their
motto was : Non nobis Domine, non nobis, sed Nomini Tua da gloriam . The seal
of the Order was the design of two horsemen on the same horse, indicating the
vow of poverty, the fraternity as well as the dual role of monk and warrior.
When Pope Ho norius died in 1130, Bernard of St. Clairvaux supported the man
who became Innocent II, to the great advantage of the Order, for eventually his
Templars were subject to no authority save the Pope's. Their Order became a
state within states and enjoyed cons iderable freedom, endowed with incredible
wealth. The purity of these ideals were compromised by the politics of the Near
East. Although the inner order retained the ideal, the outer structures failed.
This inner order had access to "heretical" knowledge . Hermetical doctrines taught
them the universe was conditioned by the laws of sound, color, number, weight
and measure. Impregnated with the " Orientale Lumen", studying the "sciences of
the Moors", Jewish Qabalah & Muslim Sufism and helped by Arab transla tions,
they were able to read unknown Greek & Latin authors and drink from the grand
reservoir of Mediterranean and Hellenistic spirituality. Eventually, new
technologies were learned. These were introduced in the West, fertilized Christian
culture, transformed the architecture of churches & cathedrals and enlightened
the intelligentsia of their time. Hence, the Templar Order helped prepare the
European Renaissance ...
In 1312, during a Council held in Vienne, Pope Clement V, backed by the King of
France (who had been refused by the Order) abolished the Order of the Knights
Templar. After this, the Order lost central command, and various groups were
created, like the Order of Montesa in Spain (1317), the Order of Christ in
Portugal (1319) and the Elder Brot hers of the Rose Cross in France (returning
from Scotland). These "Frres Ans de la Rose -Croix" (1317) drew up a new
Templar Rule adopted by a college of 33 men, renewed and maintained by co option.
Templars made links with troubadours, alchemists, qaba lists and Muslims, in
particular certain Muslim brotherhoods (the flowering of Sufism, the mysticism of
Islam, was conterminous with the rise of the Knights Templar). It was one of the
tasks of St. Bernard and his Templars, to bring Judaism, Christianity and Islam
together, and in this intention they saw the work of the Paraclete. They also
worked to allow the latter to manifest in this world again and strove for the
"Return of the Christ in Solar Gl ory". This was accepted by both Judaism (the
coming of the Messiah), Christianity (the "Parousia") and Islam (prophet Jesus,
the "Word" of Allah, returning to judge the world). Templars are called to
sacrifice the selfish aspect of their natures, so the sp irit of Christ may manifest
in them in victu.
the Zohar
Before the entry of the Hermetica on the European scene, Jewish

gnosticism made its move. In the Sepher Zohar (Book of Splendor), the "classic"
of Jewish mysticism, a commentary on the Torah is presented. Written in
Aramaic, it was purported t o be the teachings of the 2nd century Palestinian
Rabbi Shimon ben Yohai. During the time of Roman persecution, so its legend
relates, Rabbi Shimon hid in a cave for 13 years, studying the Torah with his son.
During this time, he is said to have been inspi red by God to write the Zohar ...
Around the same time, the Corpus Hermeticum was codified.
In the 13th century, a Spanish Jew by the name of Moshe de Leon (according to
Graetz "a base and despicable swindler" ) claimed to have discovered the text,
and it was subsequently published and distributed throughout the Jewish world.
This strategy of finding so -called "lost texts" would become a standard approach
(only in the previous century would it make real science, cf. the Qumran scrolls
and the Nag Hammadi li brary). The influence of the Zohar was considerable, also
on members of the Western Tradition. Eventually, its basic scheme, the "Tree of
Life", would be viewed as the backbone of Western spirituality ...
"... the level of abstraction reached by cabalisti c thought was foreign to the
Egyptian mindset. Nevertheless, in later esoterica, we constantly find a link
between Egyptosophy and cabala, and the connection between Moses and
Egyptian wisdom to be found in many Christian writers is also relevant to our
theme." - H o rn u n g , 200 1, p .80 .
Unfortunately for the literalists, historian Gershom Scholem made clear de Leon
himself was the most likely author of the Zohar. He had forged its ancient
origins. Among other things, but most importantly, Scholem noticed frequent
errors in Aramaic grammar and its highly suspicious traces of Spanish words and
sentence patterns ! There is no real mention of this book in any Jewish literature
until the 13th century . Moreover, recent studies showed how early qabalah
(cf. Sepher Bahir , Sepher Yetzirah ) was influenced by the Greeks, in particular
the mathematical mysticism of Pythagoras (the Sephiroth and the G reek Decad,
numerology and Merkabah mysticism - Barry, 1999). It even contains elements of
Egyptian thought, introducing precreation and describing it in identical negative
terms as had the Egyptians (cf.Nun and "Ain Soph Aur ").
"... it is sufficient to note that Hebrew Qabalist doctrines reached their pinnacle
of importance in Judaism in Europe during the Middle Ages. Consequently they
also had a huge influence on Western magical tradition, which drew heavily on
Jewish esoteric lore, and as a source for the inner gnosis of orthodox Christian
thought." - B ar r y , 19 99 , p .1 85 .
In the best case scenario, Jewish mysticism cannot claim roots earlier than the
Second Temple and in general the impact of Hellenism (Hermetism and Philonic
thought) on Judaism has been largely underes timated by orthodox Jews.
Rabbinical Judaism as a whole may well be the product of a Hellenistic
interpretation of the available scriptural sources (by themselves posing
considerable historical problems regarding authenticity).
"Of the large number of Heb rew sacred writings, the canon of books that were
eventually selected for the Hebrew Bible, or 'Old Testament', as the Christians
later called it, was only established after the fall of Jerusalem to the Romans in
70 CE, by surviving rabbis at Jamnia who we re anxious to preserve their religion
from the catastrophe of the failed Jewish revolt."
Ba r ry , 19 99 , p .1 75 .
the first translation of the Corpus Hermeticum
"The thirteenth century saw a renaissance of pyramids and sphinxes. (...) the
first western representation of the pyramids appeared in San Marco in Venice,
but they were believed to be the granaries of Joseph, and thus not part of an
esoteric tradition." - H or n u n g , 2001 , p .83 .
In Florence, a new Platonic Academy had been founded in 1459. It tried to

resume the traditions of the Athenian Academy closed by emperor Justinian in
529. Around 1460 CE, Brother Leonardo of Pisto ia brought a Greek manuscript
from Macedonia to Florence. Cosimo de' Medici was fascinated and asked his
Plato expert Marsilio Ficino (1433 - 1499) to stop translating Plato in order to
look into these texts. In 1463, even before finishing his Latin versio n of the
works of Plato, he translated them, which took him only a few months. For
Fincino, the CH contained a philosophy older than Plato's.
This Latin version of the Corpus Hermeticum was extremely influential, especially
its first treatise, the Poimandres, circulating in many copies before it was
published in Treviso in 1471 together with the other books as Liber de potestate
et sapientia Dei (On the Power and Wisdom of God). Fincino also translated
the On the Mysteries of the Egyptians by Iamblichus, and the latter's Opera
omnia, published in Basel in 1561. The original Greek version of the CHwas
published in Paris in 1554.
H e rm e s T ri s m egi stu s
Gi o van n i di S t ef an o, 14 88 , D om Si en a
When the Renaissance finally flowered over Europe, Hermes Trismegistos was
already the patron saint of occult knowledge, a mythical figure crowning literary
Hermeticism.
"In 1612, G. Crosmann put the likenesses of the ten most famous naturalists,
physicians, and alchemists in the bay window of the town pharmacy in the old
Hanseatic city of Lemgo. Here, we find Dioscorides, Aristotle, Galen, and
Hippocrates ; the sixth is the turbaned Hermes Trismegistos, and the tenth is
Paraclesus - a beautiful example of how Hermes continued to be treated as a
historical personage." - H orn u n g , 2 001 , p .9 1.
Freemasonry
In the records of the city of London, the term "freemason" appears as early as
1375. In those days, this referred to working masons permitted to freely travel
the country at a time when the feudal system shackled most peasants closely to
the land. They gathered in groups to work on large projects, moving from one
finished castle or cathedral to the planning and building of the next. For mutual
protection, educa tion, and training, they bound themselves together into a local
lodge - the building, put up at a construction site, where workmen could eat and
rest. Eventually, a lodge came to signify a group of masons based in a particular
locality. The premier Grand L odge was formed in England in 1717, the official
date of theorganization of the various lodges and the start of Freemasonry
proper.
Although the style of Masonic ritual suggest Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Templar,
Rosicrucian and qabalistic origins, nothing l ess is true. A historical link cannot be
established and given the fact that in those days no Mason was able to read
Egyptian, no direct connection with Egyptian spirituality was available.
Unmistakably, the Founding Fathers of Masonry incorporated Egyptia n symbols in
their various rituals and grades, as every one dollar bill makes clear. These
archaisms prove the need of Freemasonry to root its teachings and practices in a
nonexistent, fictional historical past in order to give itself, its rituals and
precepts an air of antiquity. This is especially the case in the Romantic era, when
exotic tastes became fashionable. With Freemasonry, egyptomania no longer
served isolated individuals & groups, but fed the ruling classes, who were
desperately trying to cope with the antagonisms and lack of humanity of
emergent capitalism and the religious wars raging in Europe since the days of
Luther (1483 - 1546). Freemasonry and its founding myth was deemed the
alternative of the educated. The God of revelation was also th e "Great Architect",
and in every lodge a Bible or a Koran was present. This to show the "God of the
philosophers" was not a priori in conflict with the God of revelation. But the
Roman Church was antagonistic, as could be expected.
As a system of personal growth within a closed community of kindred spirits,

Freemasonry survived to this day, divided between those who accept God and
those who do not, between those who see symbols as instruments of growth and
those who use them as gates to occult regions of the universe, etc. However, its
basic humanistic outlook is warranted by the existence of atheist Masons,
recruiting among politicians, academics, journalists, lawyers, judges, well -to-do
artists and the captains of industry. Masonry has become (or has al ways been ?)
conservative and opaque. Its non -transparant and non -democratic (military)
features may run against non -strategic, open communication, which is the
foundation of social -economical justice and equality. Sociologically, Freemasonry
is more of an interest group than a spiritual organization, although some lay
claim to precisely the opposite. As none of the original Egyptian teachings were
available to its Founding Fathers, Masonry, in order to accommodate the new
times ahead, is bound to be reform ed.
the Rosicrucian Order
As a system of belief, Rosicrucianism came to the notice of the general public in

the 17th century. In the two Rosicrucian Manifestoes, a mysterious personage
called "Christian Rosenkreutz" is mentioned. But according to legen d, the
symbolism of the Rose and the Cross was first displayed in 11th century Spain.
During a fierce battle against the Moors, an Aragonese Knight named Arista saw a
cross of light in the sky with a rose on each of its arms. A monastery to
commemorate his victory was erected and time later an Order of Chivalry with
the emblem of these Roses and the Cross founding the monastery. The Rose and
the Cross appeared in the banner of Raymond VI, Count of Toulouse when he
tried to defend the Cathars against the arm ies of Pope Innocent III. It was in the
form of a cross, described as "de gueules la croix et pommette d'or" ("gueule"
means "red", derived from the Arabic "gul", which means "rose"). The emblem of
the Cross with the red Rose in the middle square became the emblem of the
Rosicrucian movement and its many orders, lodges and societies.
In the Fama Fraternitatis (or Laudable Fraternity of the Rosy Cross), Christian
Rosenkreutz is said to have journeyed to Damascus, Damcar, Egypt and Fez. He
met those in possession of "secret teachings". He synthesized the best of these
teachings and went to Spain. Finally, he returned to Germany and chose three
men with whom he founded an order, meant to instruct its members in the
knowledge he had obtained in the Middle Ea st. So the typical founding myth
goes. After the publication of the Manifestos, the Rosicrucians influenced the
culture of Western Europe.
Rosicrucianism developed along two lines, on the one hand, the scientists,
intellectuals and reformers in the socia l, political and philosophical fields (like
Descartes and Boyle) and, on the other hand, those (like Fludd, Dee, Comenius
and Ashmole) concerned with occultism and mysticism (cf. the distinction
between philosophical and technical Hermetica). In France, Ro sicrucianism had a
revival climaxing in the early 19th and the first years of the 20th century.
Especially Martinez de Pasqually (1727 - 1774), Louis -Claude de Saint Martin
(1743 - 1803) and Papus (1865 - 1918) are noted.
the Golden Dawn
In 1865, and Englishman named Robert Wentforth Little founded an esoteric

society, the Rosicrucian Society in Anglia. Membership was limited to Master
Masons. When Little died in 1878, three men took over, a retired medical doctor,
William Woodman (1828 - 1891), a coroner, Wynn Westcott (1848 - 1925) and
Samuel Liddell "MacGregor" Mathers (1854 - 1918), who, as a young man, spent
much of his time in the British Museum, working through piles of dusty
manuscripts. He translated three Mediev al magical texts : The Greater Key of
King Solomon, The Kaballah Unveiled and The Book of the Sacred Magic of
Abramelin the Mage .
In 1887, so the story goes, Westcott received from Reverend Woodward, an

elderly parson and author on Freemasonry, a set of c ipher manuscripts. He asked
the clairvoyant and inspired Mathers to assist him (one legend says both men
forged the document, in another Westcott found it on a bookstall in Farringdon
Street, and in yet another the document was inherited).
Both men found the code of the cipher was contained in a work of Trithemius, the
influentialSteganographia extolled by John Dee (1527 - 1608), the Elizabethan

scholar and astrologer of Queen Elisabeth I. It concer ned "angel-magic" and Dee
had secured a copy of it in Antwerp. They uncovered skeletons of rituals and
Mathers expanded them. Together they started the Golden Dawn (GD), a secret
Victorian society aiming to harbor true Rosicrucianism and allow its members to
accomplish the Great Work. A complete system of ritual magic based on the
history of Western occultism was practiced. In contrast with the Masonic policy of
the Rosicrucian Society, the order admitted women members as equals. Its
members were recruited from every circle of life.
In these rituals, Egyptian, Jewish, Greek & Christian elements were combined.
However, the combination of these various traditions led to depletion. A spiritual
tradition is as strong as it is pure, i.e. devoid of notions, ideas , concepts,
symbols, beliefs, rituals etc. foreign to it. Although syncretism may be
intellectually satisfying, it hinders spiritual emancipation. This is certainly true if
the elements combined are very different, as is the case here. Because Mathers
was unable to read Egyptian texts, he could not make the crucial distinction
between the Egyptian approach and the Hellenistic view (incorporated in Judaism,
Christianity, Islam, Hermetism and Hermeticism). Neither could he isolate the
native Egyptian elements present in historical Hermetism. By nevertheless
incorporating Egyptian deities (in particular the Osiris -cycle), the GD walked the
path of egyptomania.
Aleister Crowley
Aleister Crowley (1875 - 1947) entered the GD in 1898, introduced to the order
by George Cecil Jones (1873 - 1953). The influence of this "Hermetic Order"
shaped his life. He continued to ferment the teachings of the GD until he died. I n
fact, he considered himself and his Thelemic Order of the Silver Star to be its
lawful heir.
The problems between Crowley and the Adepts of the order started in December
1899 (the first time he met Mathers), i.e. by the time he had taken his Portal
grade, the preliminary to the crucial Adept Minor degree. When, in September
1900, he applied to be advanced to the level of Adepthood, the College of Adepts
refused.
They disliked Crowley, his attitudes and way of life. Some of them probably did
not believe an adept should drink, have fun, fornicate and raising hell with
enthusiasm. His scandalous reputation won the disapproval of his seniors, who
were in their right to refuse him. So, in the same month, Crowley went to Paris,
and was initiated in the Ahathoor Temple by Mathers himself ! Between Paris and
London a deep schism had been in the making and now tensions truly exploded.
When the London adepts heard Mathers had initiated him, the breach was
complete. When applying for the lectures he was now entitl ed, he was again
refused and physically thrown out. To Florence Farr, Yeats and many others,
Crowley was an outcast, an opportunist who had endangered the link with
Mathers. He promptly notified Mathers and the latter arranged a meeting with the
"rebels" in London. Crowley acted as Mathers' plenipotentiary, and to protect
himself, dressed up in the garb of Highland chieftain, concealing his face with a
heavy black mask. Clearly Mathers had been a poor judge of characters, raising
lunatic power freaks to Ade pthood ...
The GD did not recover from the insanity and within a few years became a
dispersed organization, with several Temples conducted by different groupings of
men, each appointing their own Chiefs. Waite kept the Isis -Urania Temple, but in
1914 he closed it down.
Next, Crowley invented his own egyptomanic movement. In Cairo in 1904, the
"minister" of Re dictated a new revelation to him, the "Book of the Law" !
Crowley became the "prophet" of the New Age of Horus ! The two major Egyptian
deities he incorporated were the sky -goddess Nut and Horus of Edfu ("Hadit").
Had he known the cults of Ancient Egypt well enough, he would have realized
they had no revelation or dogma, and certainly no "holy" books (for hieroglyphic
writing itself was sacred). Was Crowley's "law" a concoction of his own power
driven subconscious mind ? In 1909, he called in the "demon of demons" and
turned Satanic. The psychosis had become irreversible ...
Do these highlights show the scope of the phantasies, fictions and lies
incorporated into the Western Tradition since the start of the Renaissance ?
Indeed, to identify the backbone of this Tradition with the Qabalah was the
outstanding mistake prompted by the fraud of Moses de Leon. This has
perturbated thousands of excellent min ds, causing them to constantly replay
their own illusions, and loose, unlike Rabbi Akiba, after entering the "garden of
delights", their sight, reason or faith in God.
"The impeding turn of the millennium nourishes hopes of a new spiritual light for
humankind in the aspirations of many. Egypt will surely play a role in such
developments in both its forms : pharaonic Egypt and the esoteric -Hermetic
Egypt. There has been increasing talk of the relevance of the Hermetic
Weltanschauung as a point of view that can contribute to making sense of our
modern world by seeking a direct connection with the original wisdom of the
oldest cultures and with the core idea of all esoteric thought, according to which
the ancient wisdom continues to be valid even in a world th at has been
transformed." - H o rn u n g , 20 01, p p. 2 00 - 20 1.
Kemetism
Can we today turn the page ? Can a spiritual movement emerge which focuses on
a thematical reconstruction of Ancient Egypt ian spirituality, and this based on the
evidence of contemporary science regarding Ancient Egyptian religious practice in
general and its basic ritual matrix in particular ? Several individuals work along
those lines, coupling study with ritual practice ( Hope, 1986, Schueler,
1989, Clark, 2003, Draco, 2003).
In such a "Kemetic" reconstruction, no Jewish, Greek, Hermetic, Christian or

Hermeticist elements should persist. Is this really possible, and if so, is such
spirituality indeed the truebackbone of our Western Tradition ? The advantage
being the isolation of a tradition untouched by what today may be called "foreign
elements".
Such an exercise is not easy (not to speak of the contextual limitations of any
author). For Hermetism did retain parts of the Egyptian Mystery Tradition, and in
a lesser degree, the same goes for Hermeticism, and yes, even for the revealed
religions, Christianity first. The thematical reconstruction sought is approached in
two steps :
1. the influence of Egyptian spiritualit y on Alexandrian Hermetism ;
2. the form of the basic matrix of native Egyptian religion.
In this paper, the first step is dealt with. The second will only be touched in the
Epilogue. In the following ten paragraphs, we study ten basic notions of
Hermetism (in other forms present in the mix of Hermeticism and in the
"mystical" traditions of the religions). We try to find their Ancient Egyptian
equivalent "in embryo" :
mentalism : the gods, the world and humanity are the outcome of Divine
thought ;
correspondence : the same characteristics apply to each unity or plane of
the world ;
change : nothing remains the same, everything vibrates, nothing is at rest ;
polarity : everything has two poles, there are two sides to everything ;
rhythm : all things have their t ides, rise and fall, advance and retreat, act
and react ;
cause & effect : everything happens according to law, there is no

coincidence ;
gender : male and female are in every body and mind, but not in the soul ;
timing : everything happens when the time i s ripe, things start at the right
time ;
intent : nature works according to a purposeful plan, pure will masters the
stars ;
transformation : everything can be transformed into something else,

opposites meet.
In earlier studies, the special cognitive features of Ancient
Egyptian thought, language &literature have been explained. Grosso modo , these
imply the difference between rational thought , initiated by the Greeks, and ante rationality. The latter is the mode of thought of pre -Greek Antiquity and of
societies untouched by the linearizing streak of the Hellenes . Before the advent
of rationality, three modes of thought prevailed, as Piaget, genetical
epistemology andneurophilosophy made clear. These are mythical, pre -rational

and proto-rational thought, in which the Ancient Egyptians excelled. Clearly
Hermetism was codified using Greek conceptual rationality (giving birth to the
influential systems of Plato and Aristotle). Hence, if we try to correlate these
concepts with their native Egyptian equivalent, this cognitive difference has to be
taken into account, and th e multiplicity of approaches characterizing Egyptian
thought has to be made an integral part of the equation. So because of this
crucial difference, in all my translations of Egyptian texts and commentary, terms
related to the Divine are not capitalized (i .e. god, gods, goddess, goddesses,
divine, and pantheon), while in Hermetism and all rational discourses they are.
This in accord with the contextualizing feature of anterationality, while rationality
always puts context between brackets, and by doing so a rticulates an abstract,
theoretical concept of the Divine.
Th oth a s th e s c ri be o f t ru th
Pap y ru s o f T au kh e ri t - XX Ith D yn a st y - ca . 107 5 - 9 45 B C E.
1 The mental origin of the world and of man : Ptah.
Sh aba ka S to n e : L IN E 48 : "th e g od s w h o man i f e st i n P tah "

begi n n i n g o f th e M e mph i s t h e ol ogy - ca . 710 B C E .
"Indeed, the lips of Pharaoh Merenre are as the Two Enneads. This Pharaoh is the
Great Speech."
"The tongue of this Pharaoh Pepi is the pilot in charge of the Bark of
Righteousness & Truth."
"There comes into

being in the mind ;
there comes into being
by the tongue. (It is)
as the image of Atum
!
Ptah is the very great,

who gives life to all
the gods and their
kas. It all in this mind
and by this tongue.
Horus (as mind) came

into being in him
(Ptah) ; Thoth (as
tongue) came into
being in him as Ptah.
Line 53
Life power came into
being in the mind and
by the tongue and in
all limbs, in
accordance with the
teaching that it (the
mind) is in all bodies
and it (the tongue) is
in every mouth of all
gods, all men, all
flocks, all creeping
things and whatever
lives ; thinking
whatever the mind (of
Ptah as Horus) wishes
and commanding
whatever the tongue
(of Ptah as Thoth)
wishes !"
M emph i s Th e ol og y , l i n es
53 - 5 4
"God is not devoid of sense and thought, as in time to come some men w ill think
he is ; those who speak thus of God blaspheme through excess of reverence."
CH , Li b el l u s IX, 9 .
"Mind, my son Tat, is of the very substance of God, if indeed there is a substance
of God ; and of what nature that substance is, God alone precisely knows. Mind
then is not severed from the substantiality of God, but is, so to speak, spread
everywhere from that source, as the light of the Sun is spread far and wide."
CH , Li b el l u s X II, 1.
"... Mind, the Father of all, he who is Life and Light, gave bi rth to Man, a Being
like to Himself. In men, this mind is {the cause of Divinity}. Hence, some men
are Divine, and the humanity of such men is near to Deity ..."
CH , Li b el l u s I, 12 .
"God is not Mind then, but the cause to which Mind owes its being."
CH , Li b el l u s II, 1 3.
"But if You have the power to see with the eyes of the Mind, then, my son, He
will manifest himself to You. For the Lord manifests Himself ungrudgingly through
all of the universe, and You can behold God's image with your eyes, and lay hol d
on it with your hands."
CH , Li b el l u s V , 2.
"... it is as thoughts which God thinks, that all things are contained in Him."
CH , Li b el l u s X I, 2 0.
Sources : Pyramid Texts , ca. 2348 to 2205 BCE, Shabaka Stone, ca. 710 BCE, Corpus
Hermeticum , ca. 100 BCE - 270 CE.
The universe is a mental creation of The All.
In Heliopolis, the supreme creator -god is conceived as a differentiating totality

("tm" or Atum) emerging out of an infinite sea of possibilities (" Nun"), in
Alexandria, it is a Unity producing a Decad.
By thought & speech, Ptah conceives the world "in the image" of Atum. The
Egyptian distinction between the precreational totality (Nun > Atum) and the
"heart and tongue" (Ptah) of the divine, returns in Herme tism as the unknowable
Decad of God and the Enneadic Light of the Divine Nous. In Hermetism, this
Divine Nous is autogenous, while in Egyptian thought, Atum is.
MENTALISM
(1) Nun : everlasting, undifferentiated ocean
Egyptian
thought
of inertia ;
(2) Atum : autogenous origin of the totality
of order ;
(3) Pantheon : active forces fashioning
creation ;
(4) Horus-Pharaoh : the divine on Earth.
(1) Decad : God Himself ;

(2) Ennead : autogenous, creative Divine
Hermetism
Nous ;
(3) Ogdoad : Divine Logos fashioning
creation ;
(4) Hebdomad : forces ruling the world.
Both Memphis and Alexandria underline the importance of the spoken and written
word. Already in the Old Kingdom, Pharaoh was the Great Speech and
his magic powerful, and dreaded, even by the deities. But in Late Ramesside
Memphite theology, Ptah was the true primordial "god of gods", supercedi ng
Atum, in who's "image" (of totality) the universe was created (as demiurge), and
establishing the supremacy of the divine word and speech. Memphite theology is
explicit : every thing was made by Ptah 's mind and spoken words.
Likewise, in Hermetism, the Divine Logos is the "son of God" coming forth from
the Light of the Divine Nous, the teacher who, not unlike the one evoked in
the Maxims of Good Discourse , gives his pupil access to the Divine Nous, a direct
experience (gnosis) of the Godman Hermes. The idealist notion of the universe as
a mental creation of The All, making all mind, being typical for Hermetism. The
fact this teacher is "Ogdoadic " and not "Hebdomadic" (as was Pharaoh), may
refer to the Greek escape from fate and the physical world (whereas the
Egyptians saw the divine at work in all planes of creation).
The magical power of words is acknowledged by both traditions. Magic involves

the power of efficiency (effectiveness) and the ability to counter every possible
inertia and opposition, executing intent to its full capacity.
Especially Pharaoh is the "Great Magician", who is able, like the gods, to create
by means of speech. He alon e was the "son of Re", divine and able to encounter
the deities face to face. His voice -offerings to Maat ensured the continuity of
creation. By speaking the right words, the whole of creation could be
rejuvenated. Likewise (but on another ontological leve l), the "son of God", the
Ogdoadic teacher, brings the pupil directly in contact with the Enneadic Light of
Nous.
Also soteriologically, speech was all -important. In Egyptian funerary literature,

judgment depended upon the lightness of the heart ("ib"), and those who had
abused their tongues made their hearts heavier than the feather of truth. They
would see their names ("rn") annihilated, their essence obliterated.
The parallels drawn do not allow for an identification of both traditions, as major
category-shifts occur. Indeed, together with the rejection of the physical bodyn
(cf. infra), mentalism is an outstanding feature of the Hermetica.
Nevertheless, in the overall semantic pattern major points overlap. The

mentalism of Hermetism was not implanted on the native Egyptian intellectuals
part of the Hermetic lodge "from above", but could make use of the available,
longstanding verbal tradition of Egypt, linearize and "perfect" it in Greek style ...
2 Corresponding harmonics : Maat.
Ph a ra oh S eti I o ff e ri n g Maat
aft e r Ab yd o s t empl e - X IXth D yn a st y - c a. 12 90 - 127 9 BC E .
"May You shine as Re, repress wrongdoing, cause Maat to stand behind Re, shine
every day for him who is in the horizon of the sky."
"Collect what belongs to truth, for truth is what the King says."
"Thus said Atum : Tefnut is my living daughter, and she is with her brother Shu.
'Living One' is his name, 'Truth' is her name. I live with my two children, I live
with my two twins, being in their midst, one near my back and the other near my
belly. 'Life' lies down with 'Truth', my daughter, one within me and the other
behind me. I stand up between them, their arms being about me."
Co f fi n T e xt s , sp el l 80, 32 .
"... your food is Maat, your drink is Maat, your bread is Maat, your bear is Maat.
The oil of your head is Maat, the clothing of your body is Maat, You inhale
incense in the form of Maat, the breathe of your nostrils is Maat."
Ri tu al o f th e Dai l y C u l t , M o r et , 19 02, p . 141 .
"O Re, generator of Maat, it is to him that we offer her. Place Maat in my mind,
so that I may make her rise to your Ka, for I know You live by her and that it is
You who has created her body."
T omb of N ef e rh ot e p , Da vi e s, pl at e 37 .
"... all things are one, and the One is all things, seeing that all things were in the
Creator before he created them all. And rightly has it been said of Hi m that He is
all things, for all things are parts of Him."
As cl epi u s I, 2a .
"Thus mortal things are joined to things immortal, and things perceptible by
sense are linked to things beyond the reach of sense ; but the supreme control is
subject to the will of the Master who is high above all. And this being so, all
things are linked together, and connected one with another in a chain extending
from the lowest to the highest ; so that we see that they are not many, or
rather, that all are one."
As cl epi u s III, 19 c.
"Do You not know, Asclepius, that Egypt is an image of heaven, or, to speak
more exactly, in Egypt all the operations of the powers which rule and work in
heaven have been transferred to Earth below ?"
As cl epi u s III, 24b .
"There are these three the n : God, Cosmos and Man. The Cosmos is contained in
God, and man is contained in the Cosmos. The Cosmos is the son of God, man is
son of the Cosmos, and grandson, so to speak, of God."
CH , Li b el l u s X , 14b .
"There is communion between soul and soul. The so uls of the Gods are in
communion with those of men, and the souls of men with those of the creatures
without reason. The higher have the lower in their charge ; Gods take care of
men, and men take care of creatures without reason. And God takes care of all ;
for He is higher than all. The Cosmos then is subject to God ; man is subject to
the Cosmos ; the creatures without reason are subject to man ; and God is above
all, and watches over all. The Divine forces are, so to speak, radiations emitted
by God ; the forces that work birth and growth are radiations emitted by the
Cosmos ; the arts and crafts are radiations emitted by man."
"That which is Below corresponds to that which is Above, and that which is Above
corresponds to that which is Below, to accomplish the miracles of the One
Entity."
Tabu l a Sm a rag di n a , 2 .
Sources : Pyramid Texts , ca. 2348 to 2205 BCE, Coffin Texts , ca. 1938 - 1759
BCE, Ritual of the Daily Cult , the temple Seti I at Abydos (ca. 1290 - 1279 BCE) &
Berlin Papyrus of the cult Amun and Mut at Karnak, East Thebes, first part of the XXIIth
Dynasty (ca. 945 - 800 BCE), Tomb of the Official Neferhotep (Theban N50), ca. 1319
- 1307 BCE, Asclepius , ca. 270 CE , Corpus Hermeticum, ca. 100 BCE - 270 CE, T abula
Smaragdina , ca. 100 CE, Papyrus of Ani, ca. 1250 BCE.
The universe is not a collection of disjecta membra , but an organic whole held
together by the law of life (Shu) and truth (Tefnut/Maat), serving the order of
light (Atum). This cosmicity of creation is represented by Maat, the "daughter of
Re", a deity simultaneous with the universe, and a personification of the law of
dynamic equilibrium between all units of creation. The purpose of creation being
the dynamics of moving equilibriums within the margins of a recurrent cycle,
perpetuated for ever (cf. eternity -within-everlastingness, the "neheh" time of
Atum in the "djed" time of Nun).
In Heliopolitan thought, the Ennead "in the sky" cares for the "10th" or Horus "on
Earth", the latter being the overseeing quality of the "great house" or Pharaoh,
the divine "nesu" or king, the unity of the Two Lands. By offering Maat to his
father Re, the king guarantees the blessings of the gods and the survival of the
created order, always on the verge of collapsing back into the chaos of Nun. In
himself, the divine kings assembles the whole of nature, and keeps the balance
within the margins of truth & justice.
"Said he (Anubis) that is in the tomb :
'Pay attention to the decision of truth

and the plummet of the balance, according to its stance !'"
Pap y ru s o f An i , Pl at e 3 - e a rl y X IX th Dy n ast y - c a. 1 250 B C E - B ri ti sh M u s eu m
In Hermetism, the harmony, agreement or correspondence between all planes of

manifestation are acknowledged. As everything in the universe emanates from
the same source, the same laws apply to each unity or combination of units. In
this approach, planes, or groups of degrees of manifestation are distinguished,
and these can be traced back to Ancien t Egyptian conceptions.
CORRESPONDENCE
(1) the precreational plane : Nun ;
Egyptian
(2) the spiritual plane : Atum ;
thought
(3) the mental plane : the Pantheon ;

(4) the physical plane : Pharaoh.
(1) the precreational plane : the Decad

;
Hermetism
(2) the noetic plane : the Ennead ;

(3) the logoic plane : the Ogdoad ;
(4) the physical plane : the Hebdomad.
In Heliopolitan thought, all things emerge with Atum out of Nun, and so creation
is divine. In the Platonic conception, before God created, ordered (geometrized)
the world, the elements preexisted in a state of chaos and formlessness. The
world of ideas are the eternal forms of the Good. In Egyptian thought, the
Ennead of Atum (the series of 8 deities headed by the autogenitor), are "divine
generatio ns" who shape the conditions (space & moist), the structure (sky and
Earth) and the drama of the universe (the Osiris -cycle). In physical reality,
Horus-Pharaoh unites every part of creation, for he is both "of the sky" and alive
"on Earth", both a god and a human being. This dual nature allows him to
mediate between higher and lower and to inspire the deities to take care of
Egypt, for he alone is able to "offer Maat" and satisfy Atum -Re, the supreme
creator-god.
3 Dynamics of alternation : Re.
P ect o r al o f Tu tan kh amu n 's Th r on e Na m e

"L o rd o f th e T ran sf o rm ati on s o f R e"
XV IIIth D yn ast y - c a. 13 33 - 132 3 BC E .
"I am Khepera in the morning, Re at the time of his stand still (culmination), and
Atum in the evening."
Th e L eg en d o f R e an d Isi s .
"Pharaoh Wenis' lifetime is eternal repetition. His limit is eternal duration."

Py r ami d T ex ts , 41 2, C an n i bal H ymn .
"When You ascend from the horizon, my scepter will be in my hand as one who
rows your bark, O Re."
Py r ami d T ex ts , 36 8 .
"When he is sluggish, noses clog,

everyone is poor.
As the sacred loaves are pared,
a million peri sh among men.
When he plunders, the whole land rages,
great and small roar.

People change according to his coming,
when Khnum has fashioned him.
When he floods, Earth rejoices,
every belly jubilates,
every jawbone takes on laughter,
every tooth is bared."
H ymn t o H ap y , X II, 1.
"The movement of the Cosmos itself consists of a twofold working ; life is infused
into the Cosmos from without by eternity ; and the Cosmos infuses life into all
things that are within it, distributing all things according to fixed and determined
relations of number and time, by the operation of the Sun and the movements of
the stars. (...) The process of time is regulated by a fixed order ; and time in its
ordered course renews all things in the Cosmos by alternation. All things bei ng
subject to this process, there is nothing that stands fast, nothing fixed, nothing
free from change, among the things which come into being, neither among those
in heaven nor among those on Earth. God alone stands unmoved ..."
As cl epi u s III, 30 .
"The Cosmos also is ever -existent, but it exists in process of becoming. It is ever
becoming, in that the qualities and magnitudes of things are ever coming into
being. It is therefore in motion, for all becoming is material movement. That
which is incorporeal a nd motionless works the material movement ..."

"Everything that exists (materially), is subject to change ..."

Sto ba eu s , E x c er pt X I, aph o ri s m 9.
Sources : Pyramid Texts , ca. 2348 to 2205 BCE, Legend of Re and Isis , ca. 1200 BCE
(XIXth Dynasty),Hymn to Hapy, ca. 1938 - 1759 BCE (XIIth Dynasty or Middle
Kingdom), Asclepius, ca. 270 CE, Corpus Hermeticum , ca. 100 BCE - 270 CE, Strobaei
Hermetica, ca. 500 CE.
In both traditions, the Sun was all -important. The Egyptians identified the d isk of
the Sun (the Aten) with the visible aspect of the creator -god Atum-Re. The
Hermetics saw the Sun as the creator of all good things and the ruler of all
ordered movement (cf. the cycles of the planet s). These and other diurnal and
annual cycles, underline the constant change and the restless condition of
creation. The movement of the Sun is an example of change itself, for Re is
constantly (re)transformed. He is a beautiful youth at dawn and an old ma n at
dusk. He is rejuvenated during the 6th Hour of the Night (cf. the Amduat). The
view of Egypt as a symbol of endurance is true, but only if by it is meant,
adaptation to continuous, eternal cyclic p rocess. In spiritual terms, this implies a
return to the first time ("zep tepi") when Atum creates all things for ever and
ever (namely an entry into his eternity -in-everlastingness).
Light is a powerful metaphor. The vibration of the radiation emitted by the Sun is
not constant, neither is the light of the scintillating stars. Dawn and dusk unveil
the splendors of vibrating colors. Various levels of vibration are observed and by
way of this image, upper and lower, the sky and the Earth, macrocosmos and
microcosmos may be seen as a differentiated organic whole, with various strata
of vibrations interacting with each other and forming layers of co -relative rates.
The planes of reality are planes of vibration, so many differentiations between
spirit (sky) and Earth. Only Pharaoh lives his life on all planes : he is a physical
incarnation of Horus and the "son of Re" and so divine. In the Hermetica, only
Hermes, the Divine Nous has proximity to the Decad, the essence of God, unity.
The power of the Sun and th e other stars is the origin of the life of the universe.
This is the movement of the Cosmos "from within". Nun and Atum are the
movement "from without", the possibility of rejuvenation of all things, Re
included (cf. the Amduat).
The Nile with its annual inundation was another crucial (Sothic) process. Every
year Egypt herself was transformed. Large stretches of water would cover the
land and it would seem as if the primordial waters had come back. In most major
temples, the Nile would enter the hypostyle hall with its high pillars (with
founding myths inscribed on its high walls) and so recreate the mythic scene of
the first time. The sanctuary with its "sanctum sanctorum", built on a height,
would remain dry and symbolize the effect of the presence of the soul of the
deity, making the risen land ("ta -tenen") escape the waters. Too much water
would devastate the area and cause famine (too little had the same effect). The
margins of the balance (of Maat) had to be respected, or the whole of Egypt was
in serious trouble. When these waters withdrew, fertile black silt was left behind
(cf. "kmt", or "black" land). Every year in mid July this Sothic cycle star ted again
with the Heliacal rising of the star Sirius, linking stellar and Solar phenomena
with this life -bearing agricultural, and festive event, the "good Nile" given by the
gods to Pharaoh because of the latter's offerings, in particular Maat, i.e. trut h &
justice, to his father Re, and by doing so linking up all phenomena of nature.
CHANGE
Stability is continuous change, the
endless repetition of the cycle of
Atum-Re, his continuous, ongoing
Egyptian
thought
creation on the first occurrence ("zep

tepi"), the beginning of time hidden
in the everlastingness of the vast &
inert waters of Nun. Also : the
endless diurnal and nocturnal cycle
of Re.
All things being subject to change,

there is nothing that stands fast,
nothing fixed, nothing free from
Hermetism
change, among the things which

come into being, neither among
those in heaven nor among those on
Earth. God alone stands unmoved.
Those who see Ancient Egypt as an outstanding example of stability, en durance

and everlastingness have to realize the "Djed Pillar Festival" was a cultic
celebration of the symbol and power of stability repeated every year . Indeed, it
was held annually in Egypt and was a time of spiritual rejuvenation for
everybody. The prie sts raised the "djed pillar" on the first day of "shemu" (the
season of harvest on the Nile). The people then paid homage to the symbol and
conducted mock battles between good and evil. Oxen were driven around the
walls of the capital, honoring the foundin g of the original capital, Memphis, the
"white walls". With the harvest, the physical proof of Egypt's endurance had been
given ...
4 Bi-polarity & complementarity : Horus versus Seth.
H o ru s an d S eth p e ct o ral
Da sh u r - X IIth D yn a st y - ca . 193 8 - 1 75 9 B C E .
"To say : Hail to You, Ladder of the god ! Hail to You, Ladder of Seth ! Stand up,
Ladder of the god ! Stand up, Ladder of Seth ! Stand up, Ladder of Horus, which
was made for Osiris (so) t hat he might ascend on it to the sky and escort Re !"
"I, Pharaoh Wenis, ascend on this ladder which my father Re made for me. Horus
and Seth take hold of my hands a nd take me to the Netherworld."
"O Pharaoh Teti, Horus has come that he may seek You, he has caused Thoth to
turn back the followers of Seth for You, and he has brough t them to You
altogether. He has driven back the heart of Seth for You, for You are greater than
he. You have gone forth in front of him, your nature is superior to his ..."
Py r ami d T ex ts , 5 75 - 5 76 .
"O Osiris King Teti, mount up to Horus, betake yourself to him, do not be far
from him. Horus has come that he may recognize You. He has smitten Seth for
You bound, and You are his fate. Horus has driven him off for You, for You are
greater than he ..."
Py r ami d T ex ts , 5 86 - 5 87 .
"Isis has reassembled You (Osiris the King), the heart of Horus is glad about You
in this your name of 'Foremost of the Westerners', and it is Horu s who will make
good what Seth has done to You."
"To say : Awake for Horus ! Arise against Seth !"

"Geb commanded that the Ennead gather to him. He judged between Horus and
Seth ; he ended their quarrel. He installed Seth as King of Upper Egypt in the
land of Upper Egypt, at the place where he was born, in Su (near Herakleopolis).
And Geb made Horus King of Lower Egypt in the land of Lower Egypt, at the place
where his father was drowned, which is the "Division -of-the-Two-Lands" (near
Memphis). Thus Horus stood over one region, and Seth stood over one region.
They made peace over t he Two Lands at Ayan (opposite Cairo). That was the
division of the Two Lands.

Sh aba ka S to n e , l i n es 7 - 9 .
"Then Horus stood over the land. He is the uniter of this land, proclaimed in the
great name : Tenen, South -of-his-Wall, Lord of Eternity. Then sprouted the two
Great in Magic upon his head. He is Horus who arose as King of Upper and Lower
Egypt, who united the Two Lands in the Nome of the (White) Wall, the place in
which the Two Lands were united . Reed (heraldic plant for Upper Egypt) and
papyrus (heraldic plant for Lower Egypt) were placed on the double door of the
House of Ptah. That means : Horus and Seth, pacified and united. They
fraternized so as to cease quarreling wherever they may be, bei ng united in the
House of Ptah, the 'Balance of the Two Lands' in which Upper and Lower Egypt
had been weighed."
Sh aba ka S to n e , l i n es 13 c - 16 c.
"... and the Sun is the begetter of all good, the rule r of all ordered movement,
and governor of the seven worlds. Look at the Moon, who outstrips all the other
planets in her course, the instrument by which birth and growth are wrought, the
worker of change in matter here below. (...) Note how the Moon, as s he goes her
round, divides the immortals from the mortals."
CH , Li b el l u s X I, 7 .
"All bodies then of which the coming -into-being is followed by destruction must
necessarily be accompanied by two movements, namely, the movement worked

by the soul, by which bodies are moved in space, and the movement worked by
nature, by which bodies are made to grow and to waste away, and are resolved
into their elements when they have been destroyed. Thus I define the movement
of perishable bodies."
Sto ba eu s, E x c er pt IVA, 3 .
Sources : Pyramid Texts , ca. 2348 to 2205 BCE, Shabaka Stone, ca. 710 BCE, Corpus
Hermeticum , ca. 100 BCE - 270 CE, Strobaei Hermetica , ca. 500 CE.
All manifested things have two sides, with manifold degrees between two
extremes. Growth and corrupti on, good and evil, light and darkness, Sun and
Moon are fundament for the order of creation. This principle dominates all
possible areas of Egyptian thought. Politically (Upper versus Lower Egypt),
physically (desert versus fertile land), economically (a " good" versus a sluggish
or plundering Nile), ethically ("isefet" versus "maat"), metaphysically (deities in
the sky versus Pharaoh on Earth), theologically (Horus versus Seth) and funerary
("feather of Maat" versus "heart", heavenly versus terrestrial Nile ), duality and
its transcendence play an essential role.
Even before creation, at the first occurrence, when Atum self -creates, his unity is
only fugal, for as soon as the creator -god hatches out of his egg, he splits in two
deities : Shu and Tefnut. Also in Memphis duality was revered ; Ptah created all
by simultaneously thinking (heart, mind) and speaking (tongue, speech), and not
(as the Greeks would have it) by thinking first and then acting (contemplation
before action).
Of all dualities, the polarit y between Horus and Seth was the most thematized,
for it involved the founding of the Pharaonic State itself. Pharaoh as the "Lord of
the Two Lands" kept Egypt together and physically represented its unity. In his
royal titulary, his most important throne name was always preceded by "King of
the Dual Kingdom". Probably this duality also represented the political realities of
the Predynastic Period, with two major chieftains confronting each other (the
"followers of Seth" in the South and the "followers of H orus" in the North).
This polarity was not static. Between Horus and Seth various stages may be
discerned. The original, unending conflict (with various evils done to both) is
stopped by giving each its domain, but with no avail. The battle recommences
until the goddess Geb or Neith decides in favour of Horus and Seth is punished
(he has to carry Osiris and every night he reverses what Apophis, the gigantic
snake of chaos, tries to do to Re, namely to stop his course by drinking up the
Nile).
In fact, in the Pyramid Texts , we find traces of the cult of Seth, deemed to
assist, together with Horus, Pharaoh in the afterlife. Pharaoh himself is the unity
of both, as well as the "power of powers" (cf. Cannibal Hymn) transcending both.
In the Late Period, Horus and Seth form one deity, further proof of both the bi polarity as the step beyond it.
POLARITY & COMPLEMENTARITY

Pharaoh, as "Lord of the Two Lands"
guarantees the unity necessary to
Egyptian
thought
mediate the dual nature of all things,

symbolized by Horus and Seth,
manifestations of the two sides of
the same (Horus -Seth).
All poles are complementarities as

Sun and Moon, manifestations of the
Hermetism
same principle - differences consist

of varying degrees between two
poles.
The presence of Seth is another element pointing to the complemental polarity in

a creation envisioned as an ordered, organic whole. Atum -Re and his Ennead is
completed by the "good" Horus, the king of Egypt and "son" of his m urdered
father (the "good" Osiris, "Ausir" or "many eyed", who is "wennofer", "eternally
good"). Indeed, the cause of "isefet" (evil) is found within the Ennead ! Evil is
deified and opposed to the good. Seth is the cause of disruption and chaos. All
possible turbulence and havoc are attributed to him and his followers. Seth is not
absence of being or goodness, but the positive presence of active evil, natural
(storms) and moral (murder, sodomy). He has a cult, priests and followers,
among which Pharaohs. R ejecting or negating the powers and strength of evil (cf.
the "privatio boni" of Plotinus) does not stop it. Only by giving evil its name and
place can it be made useful to the purposes of creation and order (like Seth
carrying Osiris or protecting Re agai nst Apophis, his own demonical servant, in
the 7th Hour of the Duat). While Seth is perverse and enjoys wickedness,
Apophis is the ultimate evil step : utter annihilation. With this concept, Egyptian
thought reached the "bottom of the pit" and found its ultimate negative symbol
for the anti -life scheme present in creation. Apophis was never worshipped, had
no sacred cult area, but was ritually execrated or killed for thousands of years.
Here the rejectio n is absolute. The "enemies of Re" were imagined walking on
their heads, burning in pits or eating faeces and drinking urine. Apt metaphors
for a complete reversal of the conditions of the scheme of life.
5 Cyclic repolarisation : Osiris.
O si ri s an oi n ted & r e j u v en at e d b y Ph a ra oh S eti I

Abyd o s t em pl e - X IXth D yn a st y - ca . 1 290 - 127 9 BC E .
"Ascend and descend.

Descend with Nephthys, sink into darkness with the Night -bark.
Ascend and desc end.
Ascend with Isis, rise with the Day -bark."
"Pharaoh's lifetime is eternal repetition. His limit is eternal duration."
Py r ami d T ex ts , 41 2, C an n i bal H ymn . "
"To say : O my father Pharaoh Merenre, I have come and I bring You green ey epaint. I bring to You the green eye -paint which Horus gave to Osiris. I give You
to my father Pharaoh Merenre, just as Horus gave You to his father Osiris. Horus
has filled his Empty Eye with his Full Eye."
Py r ami d T ex ts , 1 681 - 168 2.
"Raise yourself, O my father Osiris King Merenre, for You are alive."
"To say : Osiris awakes, the languid god wak es up, the god stands up, the god
has power in his body."
"O Osiris, the inundation comes, the flood hastens, Geb engenders. I have
mourned You at the tomb, I have s mitten him who harmed You with scourges.
May You come to life, may You raise yourself because of your strength."
Py r ami d T ex ts , 2 111 - 211 2.
"Evil is fled, crime is gone.

The land has pe ace under its Lord.
Maat is established for her Lord.
One turns the back on falsehood.
May You be content, Wennofer !

The son of Isis has received the crown.
His father's rank was assigned to him.
In the Hall of Geb Re spoke, Thoth wrote,
the council asse nted, your father Geb decreed for You,
one did according to his word."
G r eat H ymn t o O si ri s .
"Coming into being is the beginning of destruction, and destruction is the

beginning of coming into being."
Sto ba eu s , E x c er pt X I, aph o ri s m 35.
"Such is the new birth of the Cosmos, it is a making again of all things good, a
holy and awe -striking restoration of all nature, and it is wrought in the process of
time by the eternal will of God."
As cl epi u s III, 26a .
Sources : Pyramid Texts , ca. 2348 to 2205 BCE, Great Hymn to Osiris , ca. 1539 - 1292
BCE, Stela of Amenmose (XVIIIth Dynasty), Asclepius , ca. 270 CE, Strobaei Hermetica ,
ca. 500 CE.
By themselves, the cycle of Re and the Sothic rhythm are outstanding examples
of ebb and flow, the pendulum -swing manifest in all things. This inner mechanism
of nature was identified with Osiris, and the various phases of his life parallel
what happens in the natural world, in particular in the agricultural life associated
with the inundation of the Nile. The myth of Osiris s ummarizes the fundamental
rhythms lived by man, nature and the deities.
Essential in this mythology was the restoration of Osiris by his son Horus. The
latter had his Left Eye damaged in the battle with Seth, but it was healed by
Thoth. He then brings hi s Restored Eye, the Wedjat, or Eye of Wellness, to his
weary father, who, already in the Netherworld, resurrects there to become king
again (but of the underworld). This act of giving the Eye of Horus, encompasses
all material offerings, of which it is the sublime example. Together with "voice offerings", the Eye of Horus was the most powerful way to establish contact with
the gods.
Osiris is the good King of Egypt : Osiris lives on Earth and establishes all
good things, he brings civilization to Egypt and is loved by all, except Seth
and his followers ;
Osiris assassinated, dismembered and scattered : Osiris is killed by his

brother Seth and his body scattered all over Egypt ;
Osiris reassembled and rean imated by Isis : his wife and sister Isis
recollects his body (except his penis) and revivifies it ;
Osiris inseminates Isis who gives birth to Horus : before Osiris goes to the
Duat, Isis, the Great Sorceress, is able to take his seed and give birth to
Horus ;
Osiris avenged by his son : although in his youth Horus was sodomized by
his evil uncle, he grows up with the help of Isis and prepares to avenge his
father by fighting Seth ;
Osiris resurrected by Horus : his Left Eye restored by Thoth, Horus is
declared King of Egypt and descends into the Netherworld to bring his Eye
of Wellness to his father, so as to resurrect him and restore all his powers ;
Osiris "King of the Netherworld" : Osiris reassembled, reanimated and
finally resurrected by Horus is enth roned in the Netherworld as its king. In

this capacity, he judges the dead and nobody is able to move further
without being judged by him. He is the guarantee, on yonder side of
existence, of rejuvenation and an eternal life featuring the best of this life .
Although destruction and death are part of the natural order, and thus
inescapable, a deeper logic may be found, for all destruction is the beginning of
renewal, the coming into being of something totally new. In this sense, death is a
way to become more and more spiritual and an entry into a new state of
existence, as Osiris shows. However, this is not automatic, for without the help
of the living (Horus), the dead are weary and unhappy. Life and death are
intimately linked and the needs of the dead are satisfied by the restoration
brought about by the lovingkindness of the living, who take the trouble to
"descend" and meet the dead on their own plane, offering them the life -bearing
power of the "Eye of Horus", the ultimate tool of restoration and renewal . A
direct relationship between father and son, between the power to create and its
offspring underlines Egyptian theology since Ptahhotep. The deceased Pharaoh is
not dead but alive. When reaching t he sky of Re, he makes sure his son is
blessed by a "good Nile", and so may become a powerful king in his own right.
The best outcome is given when the son excels his father, as the Maxims of Good
Discourse underline.
RHYTHM
Birth, growth, decay, death and
Egyptian
thought
rebirth are the fundamental phases

of the natural process of light and
life. Death is part of the equation
and the precondition of rebirth.
Hermetism
Everything has tides, rise and fall

and manifest a pendulum -swing.
The Osiris -cycle shows how death and judgment are linked. Nobody enters the
Osirian heaven, if what has been said, thought, intended and willed during life is
heavier than the feather of truth. In the Hall of M aat, the great balance records
the differences between truth and falsehood, between a justified life and one of
evil. All 42 nomes have sent their assessors. There is no place where evil is done
unnoticed, for the eyes of the gods see it all. If and only i f the feather of Maat is
heavier, and truth prevailed, will the deceased become fully operational and
effective in the afterlife. If after having done mistakes, nothing is rectified and
Pharaoh has not been served well, then the heart betrays the soul and the name
of the deceased is lost and the parts of man disconnected and scattered. We
know the evil we do and we pay if truth has not been restored. Nature offers
rejuvenation and eternal life, but it also harbors damnation, extended tortures
and utter anni hilation.
Although the CH speaks of a "world beyond the grave" (Libellus XI, 20), the
Greek preconceptions of death are clearly present. An extensive study of this
world is absent. The Greeks prefer not to speak of the afterlife, although mention
is made of the fact dissolution of the body is not death. Dissolution does not lead
to destruction, but to renewal. If the level of the Ogdoad may be reached during
life on Earth, the Ennead is reserved for the afterlife. Also in Egypt the "akh" state was reached in the afterlife. However, how this life has to be envisioned is
not mentioned by the Greeks, neither is Osiris, judgment or the elaborated vision
of the afterlife offered by Archaic Greek theology (in Late Hellenism a moral
perspective was added).
6 Cause and effect : Horus & Pharaoh.
Statu e of N ect an eb o II a n d H o ru s
XXXt h Dyn a sty - 36 0 - 34 3 BC E
"To say : I am Horus, O Osiris King Neferkare, I will not let You suffer. Go forth,
wake up for me and guard yourself !"
"O Osiris King Neferkare, Horus has put his Eye on your brow in its name of
Great-of-Magic."
"To say : This is this Eye of Horus which he gave to Osiris ; give it to him that he
may provide his face with it."
"For at the time when each one of us is born and made alive, th e daemons who
are at that moment on duty as ministers of birth take charge of us, -that is, the
daemons who are subject to some one planet. For the planets replace one
another from moment to moment ; they do not go on working without change,
but succeed one another in rotation."
CH , Li b el l u s X V I, 15 .
"The Cosmos moves within the very life of eternity, and is contained in that very
eternity whence all life issues. And for this reason it is impossible that it should
at any time come to a stand, or be destroy ed, since it is walled in and bound
together, so to speak, by eternal life."
As cl epi u s III, 29 c.
Sources : Pyramid Texts , ca. 2348 to 2205 BCE, Asclepius , ca. 270 CE, Corpus
Hermeticum , ca. 100 BCE - 270 CE.
In Greek philosophy, theoretical issues were common. The abstract, linearizing

mind always categorizes. In terms of physical reality, Aristotle introduced four
categories of determination or "causes", to wit : material, formal, efficient and
final cause. For Hermetism, the causes determining our liv es are astrological.
Planets have natures and these cause propensities in humans. These lead homo
communis astray. Only if the rational part of a man's soul is illumined by gnosis
will the effect of daemons be annihilated. This is rare, for most are led an d
driven by daemons, setting their hearts and passions on their satisfaction and
accommodation. The daemons thus govern our life on Earth using our bodies as
instruments. This government is called "destiny". "Gnosis" liberates us from
these causes, but is difficult to acquire. In terms of salvic efficiency, Antiquity
has no mass psychology, although the Egyptian, Greek and Roman populace is
entertained by regular festivities. Paulinian Christianity will be the first universal
religion, addressing humanity as a whole. Its success is largely due to its
simplicity and the collective anxiety -relief it gave en masse , and this irrespective
of social class. Indeed, baptism and faith in the Cross of Christ is called for, and
not expensive, cryptic and elaborated rituals.
In Ancient Egypt, the deities were in charge of reality. The most evident "cause"
of life being a "good Nile". The blessings procured by the "god of the city" were
the result of cultic offeri ngs by the diving king (and his representatives, who
assumed his divinity). Because Pharaoh offered Maat to Re, health, life &
prosperity would endure. Hence, Pharaoh, the sole god and witness on Earth, is
the first cause of happiness. In periods when the Two Lands are divided, a return
to chaos is imminent, for the gods turn away from Egypt.
Cause and effect are approached in the image of the Eye of Horus. Although
brought back to life by Isis & Thoth, he is weary and inert. His cries are heard by
his son, king Horus, who descends in the Netherworld. Because he brings his Eye
of Wellness (the Wedjat restored by Thoth), his father is rejuvenated and
enthroned as king of the Duat. In the Late Period, when Pharaoh became more of
an institution than the direct guarantee of the proper order of things, the will of
the gods and in particular that of the "king of the gods", Amun, became all powerful. No longer was Pharaoh on Earth, but in the sky. Amun Pharaoh i s the
cause of it all. He decides and manifests his decisions by oracular means.
CAUSE AND EFFECT

Horus-Pharaoh is the terrestrial
cause of life, prosperity & health. He
guarantees a "good Nile" and is the
Egyptian
thought
representative of Re and the dei ties

on Earth. In the Later Period, fate
and destiny cause events and both
rest in the hands of the deities, in
particular their king Amun. It is the
Eye of Horus which causes Osiris to

complete his restoration and become
king of the dead.
Everything on Earth is caused by the

movements of the planets. Our
destiny is fixed and only gnosis, the
Hermetism
Light of God, sets us free.

Determinism is inevitable as long as
our bodies are the instruments of
the planets, as in most human
beings.
Add to this the in fluence of Chaldaean astrology, and we come full circle : the
Deities decide and delegate their power to the planets, each being in charge of a
portion of fate and destiny. Both rule life, and nobody knows what the Deities will
decide next. Not oracles, bu t the astral logic of planetary constellations decides
how the commoners live and die. Most humans are not liberated, but chained to
their constellations. The better predictions are, the less free man is. Those who
have gnosis are no longer subject to thei r fate, but decide for themselves.
7 Gender : Osiris, Isis & Nephthys.
Pap y ru s o f An i - Pl a te 4
Th e O si ri s S c ri be An i , O si ri s , Isi s & N e p h th y s
X IXt h Dyn a sty , c a. 1250 B C E .
"Geb has brought your two sisters to your side for You, namely Isis and Nephthys
..."
"Your two sisters Isis and Nephthys come to You that they may make You hale
..."
"Bring me the milk of Isis, the flood of Nephthys, the overspill of the lake, the
surge of the sea, life, prosperity, health, happiness, bread, beer, clothing, and
food, that I, Pharaoh Teti, may live thereby."
"To say : Raise yourself, O King ! You have your water, You have your
inundation, You have your milk which is from the breasts of mother I sis."
"Isis speaks to You, Nephthys calls to You, the spirits come to You bowing and
they kiss the Earth at your feet because of the dread of You, O King, in the town s
of Sia."
"Isis conceives me, Nephthys begets me, and I sit on the Great Throne which the
gods have made."
"'Endure !' says Isis.

'In peace !' says Nephthys, when they see their brother."
"To say : I, Pharaoh Wenis, have inundated the land wh ich came forth from the
lake, I have torn out the papyrus -plant, I have satisfied the Two Lands, I have
united the Two Lands, I have joined my mother the Great Wild Cow."
"Adoration of the King of Upper and Lower Egypt,

who lives by Maat, the Lord of the Two Lands,
Nefer-kheperu-Re, Sole-one-of-Re,
the Son of Re who lives by Maat, Lord of Crowns,
Akhenaten, great in his lifetime
and of the beloved great Queen,
Lady of the Two Lands : Nefer -nefru-Aten Nefertiti,
who lives in health and youth forever !"
G r eat H ymn t o th e Ate n , i n tr odu cti o n .
"O You, who make semen grow in women,

who creates people from sperm,
who feeds the son in his mother's womb,
who soothes him to still his tears.
You nurse in the womb !
Giver of breath to nourish all creatures.
When the child emerges from the womb
to breathe on the day of his birth,
You open wide his mouth to supply his needs."
G r eat H ymn t o th e Ate n , 33 - 39 .
"O beauteous one, O cow, O great one,
O great magician, O splendid lady, O gold of gods !

The King reveres You, Pharaoh, give that he live !
O queen of gods, he reveres You, give that he live ! (...)
Behold what is in his inmost,
though his mouth speaks not.
His heart is straight, his inmost open,
no darkness is in his breast !
He reveres You, O queen of gods !
Give that he live !"
H ymn s t o H ath o r , II I.
"He, filled with all the fecundity of both sexes in one, and ever teeming with his
own goodness, unceasingly brings into all that he has willed to generate, and all
that he wills is good. From his Divine being has sprung the goodness of all things
in this world below, and hen ce it is that all things are productive, and that their
procreative power is adequate to ensure that all shall hereafter be as it is now,
and as it has been in the past."
As cl epi u s III, 20b .
"... the type persists unchanged, but generates at successive in stants copies of
itself as numerous and different as are the moments in the revolutions of the
sphere of heaven. For the sphere of heaven changes as it revolves, but the type
neither changes nor revolves. Thus the generic forms persist unchanged, but the
individuals, for all their sameness of generic form, yet differ one from another."
"The Earth is ever passing through many changes of form. It generates produce,
it nourishes the product it has generated, it yields all manner of crops, w ith
manifold differences of quality and quantity, and above all, it puts forth many
sorts of trees, differing in the scent of their flowers and the taste of their fruits."
"The body is a mixture of the elements, that is, of earth, water , air and fire. And
so, since the body of the female has in its composition an excess of the fluid
element and the cold element, and a deficiency of the dry element and the cold
element, the result is that the soul which is enclosed in a bodily frame of th is
nature is melting and voluptuous, just as in males one finds the reverse ..."
Sto ba eu s, E x c er pt X X IV , 8 - 9.
Sources : Pyramid Texts , ca. 2348 to 2205 BCE, Great Hymn to the Aten , ca. 1353 1336 BCE, Hymns to Hathor , Graeco- Roman Period, Dendera, 54 BCE, Asclepius , ca.
270 CE, Strobaei Hermetica, ca. 500 CE.
If we compare the situation of women in Ancient Egypt with that of the

surrounding cultures, we are struck by the fundamental, relative equality
between men and women. Because of this, it has be en argued Egypt was in fact a
matriarchy, which is not the case. Sources show monogamy was the rule, with
exceptions caused by the high level of child mortality and usually limited to the
royals (as were marriages between sister and brother).
Although Pharaoh was a male, women assured dynastic change. This may well go
back to Predynastic times, when the "great goddess" (Hathor) ruled supreme in
the affairs of fertility, growth & family. The rise of divine kingship implied the
assimilation by Pharaoh of th e power of the great fertility goddess , a fact found
in the myths associated with the "Two Ladies", a title found in the royal titulary
and referring to the two goddesses on the brow of the "nemes" worn b y the king,
adorned by a vulture (Nekhbet) and a cobra ( Wadjet), associated with Upper and
Lower Egypt respectively. These protective deities, Wadjet in particular, were
connected with Atum, who's enraged eye was transformed into this fire -spitting
royal cobra. Pharaoh Akhenaten went a step further, and allowed his wife to
become the third person in his monotheist Atenite trinity : Aten, Akhenaten &
Nefertiti.
GENDER
Egyptian
thought
Except for the bisexual Atum, all

gods have their consort. Male and
female are the two sides of the
balance. Every day the male Pharaoh

offers Maat, truth and justice, the
daughter of Re and consort of Thoth.
Because of this, creation endures.
Male and female are a mixture of the

elements out of which all physical
Hermetism
phenomena are composed. Air and

Fire are masculine, Water and Earth
feminine.
Among the deities, goddesses enjoyed an identical status. Not only do all go ds
have consorts, except Atum, an autogenous bisexual, who masturbates to create
the world, but the protective role of the goddesses springs to the fore in the
Osiris-cycle. In the Duat, Osiris is assisted by Isis and Nephthys, but before his
enthronement, Osiris would never have been resurrected by Horus without Isis
(his wife & sister). Next to her all -important role, Hathor also remained a major
goddess from the Predynastic Period until the end of the Pharaonic Period, and
many others may be identified ( Nut, Maat, Mut, Neith, Sekhmet, Satet, Sechat,
to name the most popular). Pharaoh, a mighty bull, assimilates the female
powers and by doing so excels in masculinity : he is Horus and the only son of Re
alive on Earth.
Although the majority of Egyptian ar t and texts are foremost male -dominated
activities and male images and concerns are far more prominent, women are
more represented in the documentation in later times than they are in the Old
Kingdom. Their sacerdotal role was enduring and powerful, and of an exceptional
status in the whole of Antiquity.
8 The astrology of the Ogdoad : Thoth.
Ci rcu l a r Z odi a c o f D en d e r a wi th e cl i pse s , c on st el l ati on s, d e c an s & pl an et s

r o of Ha th or T empl e - P tol emai c P e ri od - Se pt emb e r 25 , 52 B C E
c ol o r ed d ra wi n g b y u n kn own a rti s t
"Do not set your heart on wealth !
There is no ignoring Shay and Renenet !"

In st ru cti o n o f Am en em apt , ch apt e r 7 , 1 - 2.
"For Pharaoh is the great power that overpowers the powers.

Pharaoh is a sacred image, the most sacred image
of the sacred images of the Great One.
Whom he finds in his way, him he devours bit by bit.
Pharaoh's place is at the head of all the noble ones who are in the horizon.
For Pharaoh is a god, older than the oldest.
Thousands revolve around him, hundreds offer to him.
There is given to him a warrant as a great power by Orion, the father of the
gods."
Py r ami d T ex ts , 40 6 - 40 7.
C ei l i n g wi th 36 d e ca n s - t o mb of Ph a ra o h S eti I
X IXt h Dyn a sty - Lu x o r - Val l ey of th e K i n gs
"This Earthly tent, my son, out of which we have passed forth, has been put
together by the working of the Zodiac, which produces manifold forms of one and
the same thing to lead men astray ; and as the Signs of which the Zodiac
consists are twelve in number, the forms produced by it, my son, fall into twelve
divisions."
"And the first Mind, that Min d which is Life and Light, being bisexual, gave birth
to another Mind, a Maker of Things. And this second Mind made out of fire and air
seven Administrators, who encompass with their orbits the world perceived by
sense, and their administration is called D estiny."
CH , Li b el l u s I, 9.
"The seven spheres, as they are called, have as their Ruler the Deity called
Fortune or Destiny, who changes all things according to the law of natural
growth, working with a fixity which is immutable, and which yet is varied b y
everlasting movement."
CH , A s cl epi u s , II I, 1 9b.
"... the Sun receives from God, through the intelligible Cosmos, the influx of
good (that is, of life -giving energy), with which he is supplied."
CH , Li b el l u s X V I, 17 .
"If You wish to see Him, think on th e Sun, think on the course of the Moon, think
on the order of the stars. Who is it that maintains that order ?"
CH , Li b el l u s V , 3.
"... You see, my son, through how many bodily things in succession we have to
make our way, and through how many troops of d aemons and courses of stars,
that we may press on to the one and only God."
CH , Li b el l u s IV, 8b .
"And thereupon, having been stripped of all that was wrought upon him by the
structure of the heavens, he ascends to the substance of the eighth sphere,
being now possessed of his own proper power, and he sings, together with those
who dwell there, hymning the Father, and they that are there rejoice with him at
his coming. (...) they (the men ascending to this sphere) give themselves up to
the Powers, and becoming Powers themselves, they enter into God. This is the
Good. This is consummation for those who have got gnosis."
CH , Li b el l u s I, 26 a.
Sources : Pyramid Texts , ca. 2348 to 2205 BCE, Instruction of Amenemapt , ca. 1292 1075 BCE,Corpus Hermeticum , ca. 100 BCE - 270 CE.
In the aftermath of Alexander's conquest, Greeks had settled in Persia and their
migration to Egypt brought Chaldaean stellar science (astronomy plus astrology)
to Alexandria (and from there to Rome). In Egypt, oracular practices were
already very common. Since the end of the New Kingdom (ca. 1075 BCE), these
ways had gained importance, in particular the oracular rule of Amun and his
priests. Add astrology, and the will of the gods can be inferred by predicting and
understanding celestial events. This astral religion had two sides : a technical
one involving measurement (astronomy) and an "oracular", "prophetic" one
dealing with inter -subjective meaning attributed to all kinds of astral cycles
(astrology).
The notion astronomical phenomena are relevant symbols was not new to the
Egyptians. The linking of the Nile flood with the rising of Sirius, the Sothic year,
the Lunar tides, the Heliacal decans, the hours, the calendars and the integral
relationship in Late Egyptian religion between the stars and the gods mentioned
by Plutarch (On Isis and Osiris ), manifest the stellar practices of the priesthood.
Already in the Old Kingdom, stellar phenomena were an integral part of the
funerary ideology of Pharaoh (cf. the orientation and shafts of the Great Pyramid
and other monuments). Decans adorn IXth & Xth Dynasty (cf. 2160 - 1980 BCE)
sarcophagi, which shows the Antiquity of this astronomical division based on
myth, ritual and religion. With the decline of the institution of divine kingship in
the Late Ramesside Period, the rule of the deities became supreme, both in the
sky as on Earth. Amun was "king of the gods", but also Pharaoh. He ruled Egypt
by means of oracles ...
The projection of meaning on the movements of the seven planets (or deities :
Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn), allowing for predictions in
individual royal affairs (like birth & death), was foreign to Egyptian astrology. In
his Commentary on the Timaeus (Diehl - 3.151), Proclus (412 - 485 CE) wrote
that Theophrastus (ca. 372 - 280 BCE) had said his Chaldaean contemporaries
had a theory predicting every event in the life and death of an individual human
being, rather than just general, collective effects, such as good or bad weather.
In ca. 280 BCE, Berossus, pries t of Marduk, presented to king Antiochus I
hisBabylonaika , or treatise on Chaldaean astral doctrine. The earliest individual
horoscope dates from 410 BCE, whereas a cuneiform tablet dated 523 BCE
indicates the ability to calculate monthly ephemerides for t he Sun and Moon, the
conjunctions of the planets and of the planets with each other, as well as
eclipses. The Babylonian idea making individuals subject to stellar conditions
(genethialogical astrology) was un -Egyptian, although the power of fate was
acknowledged.
Egyptian priests studied Chaldaean astrology and under the Ptolemies the
discipline flourished. Astrology was attributed to Hermes and identified with the
planet Mercury. It became an integral part of Hermetism, and acted as the
cement between po pular magic and the learned Hermetica, between "practice"
and "knowledge" and involved proper timing. In the Ptolemaic empire, astrology
became prominent and fused with the existing fatalistic tendencies to become a
stellar fatalism. This same happened on a larger scale, for Late Hellenism was a
period of great insecurity and doubt. That the misfortunes of fate could be
predicted was too good to be true. All depends on the will of the Gods, but can
their will be read in the sky ? Moreover, the planets were conceived as the
physical manifestations of the Pantheon ruling the affairs of Earth. Not only
prediction, but praise & prayer could be offered to change the course of events
(magic). These beliefs, belonging to the technical Hermetica, made astrology so
popular in the Hellenistic age, prone to feelings of alienation and the pressing
impact of the Deities fate and fortune ... the Egyptian deities Shay and Renenet.
Traditional astrology got recorded by Claude Ptolemy (born towards the end of
the first century CE) in his Tetrabiblos & the Centiloquim. In Demotic papyri of
the Roman period, we find versions of texts going back to the mid -second
century BCE. They concern kings of Egypt and wars with Syria and Parthia. The
earliest papyrus horoscope concerns a b irth in 10 BCE, while the first horoscope
preserved in a literary texts deals with a birth in 72 BCE. The most interesting
Ptolemaic monumental piece called the "Zodiac of Dendera", recording the event
of Ptolemy XII Neos Dionysos Auletes founding a new Ha thor temple at Dendera
(the 16th of July 54 BCE). In fact, it is the world's first monumental founding
horoscope or "election horoscope", erected for the 25th of September 52 BCE (at
the time of a unique Lunar eclipse). A plaster copy of it can be seen in the
Hathor Temple, the original having been removed by Sebastien Saulnier in 1820
to the Bibliothque Nationale, Paris, and now in the Museum of the Louvre (D38).
The Hellenistic astrologers saw themselves as men of religion, priests of an astral

faith, using a sacred cult to rise above the seven planets (Hebdomad) ruling fate
and -reassured of the Divine nature of our mind - to resist and curtail the power
of these "archons" of the created world. The traditional Greek "evasion" from the
cave was "mechanize d" in a series of astral initiations (Moon, Mars, Mercury,
Jupiter, Venus, Saturn and Sun) associated with the voces magicae and the
harmony of the spheres. The need to "escape" this world is clearly an un Egyptian element in the Hermetic equation (cf. Discourse of a Man with his Ba ).
In Egypt, Shay was the personification of destiny and god of life -span, fate &
fortune, who, in the Ptolemaic Period, was identified with "Agatho Daimon", the
Hellenistic fort une-telling serpent Deity. In the Old Kingdom, "Renenutet"
("rnnwtt") was a goddess of the harvest and a divine nurse ("rnnt"), but also a
guardian of the king identified with the royal uraeus and Pharaoh's "robe". In the
New Kingdom Litany of Re , this goddess appears in the underworld as the "Lady
of Justification", and in the Late Period, she decides many of the events in an
individual's life.
In native Egyptian religion, the "Ogdoad" is a company of eighth precreational

deities, at the head of which sta nds Thoth. These fashion the primordial egg out
of which creation hatches by the word of Thoth.
In Hermetism, the "Hebdomad", the fate -driven part of nature, is below the
"Ogdoad", just as "7" is smaller than "8". Indeed, there are no inner semantics
between the Egyptian and the Hermetic use of the words "ogdoad" and "ennead".
For Hermes, the Ogdoad is the realm of illumination, associated with the fixed
stars, the Deities and the blessed souls (the gnostics). It can be reached while in
the physical body . This sphere is the presence of Hermes as human teacher or
"logos", the "holy word" coming forth from the Light of the Divine Nous. Because
of this, the Ogdoad and the Ennead are intimately connected. For the Word
brings the Light and this Light is Hermes as the Mind of God. And he who sees
the Mind of God becomes the Mind of God, but not in this life ...
In Egypt, the deities and the fixed stars were the "akhu" or "spirits" of Atum -Re,
the supreme creator -god. Pharaoh ascended to this sky through the Nor thern
shaft or through the entrance to his tomb. This light of these circumpolar stars
was deemed to be the house of these spirits. In the Old Kingdom, this type of
transformation was Pharaoh's afterlife privilege and involved his sublime
attainment of the "power of powers", being more powerful than the gods.
9 The order of the Ennead : Atum.
Atu m at th e m om en t of au t oc r e ati on
"To say : Atum is he who (once) came into being, who masturbated in Heliopolis.
He took his phallus in his grasp that he might create orgasm by means of it, and
so were born the twins Shu and Tefnut."
"There is nothing more Divin e than mind, nothing more potent in its operation,
nothing more apt to unite men to Gods, and Gods to men."
CH , Li b el l u s X , 23 .
"If then You do not make yourself equal to God, You cannot apprehend God ; for
like is known by like. Leap clear of all that is corporeal, and make yourself grow
to a like expanse with that greatness which is beyond all measure ; rise above all
time, and become eternal ; then You will apprehend God."
CH , Li b el l u s X I, 2 0b .
"... some men are Divine, and the humanity of such men is near to Deity, for the
Agathos Daimon said : 'Gods are immortal men, and men are mortal God'."
CH , Li b el l u s X II, 1.
"I am not now the man I was. I have been born again in Mind, and the bodily
shape which was mine before has been put away from me. I am no longer an
object colored and tangible, a thing of spatial dimensions. I am now alien to all
this, and to all that You perceive when You gaze with bodily eyesight. To such
eyes as yours, my son, I am not now visible. - Tat. Father, You have driven me
to raving madness ..."
CH , Li b el l u s X III, 4 .
"Father, now that I see in mind, I see myself to be the All. I am in heaven and in
Earth, in water and in air, I am in beasts and plants, I am a babe in the womb,
and one that is not yet conceived, and one that has b een born. I am present
everywhere ... - Hermes. Now, my son, You know what the Rebirth is."
"The physical body, which is an object of sense, differs widely from that other
body, which is of the nature of true Being. The one is disso luble, the other is
indissoluble. The one is mortal, the other is immortal."
Sources : Pyramid Texts , ca. 2348 to 2205 BCE, Asclepius , ca. 270 CE.
The Heliopolitan Ennead is an order of creation in three generations of deities

presided by Atum (the Egyptian creator -god). The Ennead of Hermetism is the
Light of Nous, the order of God's Mind. Both Atum and Hermes are autogenous.
The structure of the Ennead of Atum is the structure of creation, for the deities
are natural differentia ls. The Mind of God is an architecture of perfect ideas
(Plato). These are crude parallels. In salvic terms, the differences between Greek
and Egyptian ways are considerable.
In the salvic scheme of Hermetism, the stern Greek component is outstanding :

one has to rise above Hebdomadic nature to find Ogdoadic peace and Enneadic
Deification, master the body to escape fate, but die to be Deified. These
differences also undermine any attempt to identify Greek mysteries (and
initiation) with their Egyptian coun terparts. Spiritually, Greek philosophy and
religion is escapists and neglectful of the (idealized) body, and the Greek
mysteries constantly reject the physical body to give weight to the mind and the
spirit. The body is deemed corrupt and passionate, the mind serene and
contemplative. The body is the "prison" of the soul, the "tent" or "tabernacle".
The material world of becoming is a fleeting shadow, a pale reflection of the
world of ideas (Plato). Only contemplative life fulfills human existence (Aristot le).
The body is the prison or tomb of the soul, the cosmos its cave or cavern
(Plotinus).
In Egypt, an Oriental mindset prevailed : the ritualized body (or mummy) is a

gateway for the deceased to remain in contact with the living. Although the
spirits (" akhu") remain "in the sky", their mediating factors (double & soul) may
dwell on Earth and animate our lives here. Our ancestors move to and fro, for
they have a ritual reference (the mummy) and a "false door". A whole spiritual
economy was set in place to ritualize and standardize these constant interactions
between the "dead" and the living. Egyptians wrote letters to the dead and got
dreams from them. The dead were as alive as the living, although their ways
were subtle, invisible and magical. In this co ntext, the initiate did not die to be
reborn, but he gazed upon Osiris to be rejuvenated as he had been. The dead
were not lost spectres or fleeting images in the Hades with a few elect in the
Empyreum. Every deceased who could pay for the rituals was an " Osiris NN" who
could hope for final justification and spiritualization.
Already by the end of the Dark Age, the Greek cultural form had persistent
"Aryan", Indo-European characteristics of its own. These help explain the stern
and gloomy interpretation of death in Greek civilization.
linearization : Mycenan megaron, geometrical designs, mathematical form

and peripteros ;
anthropocentrism : warrior leaders, individual aristocrats, poets, sophoi and

teachers ;
fixed vowels : the categories of the real sound are written down &
transmitted ;
dialogal mentality : the Archaic Greeks enjoyed talking, writing & discussing
(with strong arguments) ;
undogmatic religion : the Archaic Greeks had no sacred books and hence no
dogmatic orthodoxy ;
cultural affirmation : the Archaic Greeks were a young people who needed to
affirm their identity, they were spontaneous & cheerful ;
cultural approbation & improvement : the Archaic Greeks accepted to be

taught and were eager to learn, driven by a Divine discontent.
According to Homeric belief, when somebody died, his or her vital breath or
"psyche" left the body to enter the Hades. This dark and gloomy place was ruled
by the king of the dead, the Roman Pluto. Once it had fled the body, the psyche
merely existed as a phantom ima ge, at time perceptible but always untouchable.
The wall separating the living from the dead was deemed impenetrable. Crossing
the river of death (Styxs) caused one to forget everything. A concept of
punishments for the wicked and rewards for the virtuous did not, at first, play a
dominant role. This typical Indo-European sense of separation, rupture, cleavage,
schism etc. between life and death will remain a dominant feature and return in
literature, philosophy, drama and science. It was absent in Egyptian religion
(although skeptic voices also left their traces). Egypt rooted its spirituality in
recurrent cycles, not in ongoing linear growth.
On the one hand, Egyptian religion was not individualistic, but the major concern
of the Pharaonic State. On the o ther hand, wisdom discourses and induction
rituals are intimate and personal. Hermetism combines the two : the temple
becomes the lodge and its "workings" (knowledge and practice) involve highly
individual initiations (comparable in Egypt with the conjectured "seeing of Osiris"
- cf. Osireon). But these Hermetic initiations are un -Egyptian, and stress the
individual escape from the Hebdomad to reach the Ogdoad. Greek unworldliness
and demonisation of matter mixed with Christianity, influenced the Jewish
Qabalah and reemerged in Hermeticism. With modern science, the naturalistic

mindset returned and the superstitions and myths of "past ages" were boldly left
behind to raise to power the myth of no myth.
10 The alchemy of the Decad : Amun.
Amu n p r ot ec ti n g T u t an kh amu n
1336 - 13 27 B C E
"O You, the great god, whose name is unknown."

P y ra mi d T e xt s , 2 76.
"Opened are the double doors of the horizon, drawn back are its bolts."
"Secret of manifestations and sparkling of shape.

Marvellous God, rich in forms.
All gods boast of Him,
to magnify themselves in His beauty,
to the extent of His Divinity."
H ymn s t o A mu n , 20 0
"He is this Ptah who proclaims by the great name : Tenen. He who united this
land of the South as King of Upper Egypt and this land of the Delta as King of
Lower Egypt. He indeed begat Atum who gave birth to the Enn ead."
Sh aba ka S to n e , l i n es 3 - 6 .
"One is Amun,
who keeps himself concealed from them,
who hides himself from the gods,
no one knowing his nature.
He is more remote than the sky,

He is deeper than the netherworld.
None of the gods knows his true form.

His image is not unfolded in the papyrus rolls.
Nothing certain is testified about him.
He is too secretive
for his Majesty to be revealed.
He is too great to be enquired after,
too powerful to be known ."
H ymn s t o A mu n , 20 0.
"Such is He who is too great to be named God. He is hidden, yet most manifest.
He is apprehensible by thought alone, yet we can see Him with our eyes. He is
bodiless, and yet has many bodies, or rather, is embodied in all bodies. There is
nothing that He is not, for all things that exist are even He. For this reason all
names are names of Him, because all things come from Him, their one Father,
and for this reason He has no name, b ecause He is the Father of all."
CH , Li b el l u s V , 10a .
"... the Decad, my son, is the number by which soul is generated. Life and light
united are a Unit ; and the number One is the source of the Decad. It is
reasonable then that the Unity contains in itse lf the Decad."

"God is everlasting, God is eternal. That he should come into being, or should
ever have come into being, is impossible. He is, he was, he will be for ever. Such
is God's being : He is wholly self -generated."
As cl epi u s II, 1 4.
"And I see the eighth and the souls that are in it and the angels singing a hymn
to the ninth and its powers. And I see Him who has power of them all, creating
those (that are) in the spirit. It is advantageous from (now on) that we keep
silence in a reverent posture. Do not speak about the vision from now on. It is
proper to (sing a hymn) to the Father until the day to quit (the) body."
Th e Di s c ou rs e on th e Ei gh th a n d Ni n th , 59 - 6 0 ( R obi n s on ) .
Sources : Pyramid Texts , ca. 2348 to 2205 BCE, Shabaka Stone , ca. 710 BCE, Hymns to
Amun, ca.1213 BCE, Asclepius, ca. 270 CE, The Discourse of the Eighth and Ninth , ca.
second century CE.
Both native Egyptian religion and Hermetism embra ce henotheism (One in all
Divine Beings & all Divine Beings as One). The former in an ante -rational way,
the latter with full support of Greek conceptual rationality (in both its idealistic
and realistic variants).
The essence of God is hidden and nameless. The existence of God is visible
everywhere, although only known by thought. Everything is a manifestation of
the Divine Mind. The Decad cannot be experienced. Even the Ennead is best for
after this life. The Ogdoad is a secret gnosis available to initiates of Hermes only.
All other humans are driven by astral determinism. This highly elitist way reflects
the exclusivist tendencies of Greek initiation, imagining a symbolical death before
rebirth, a rejection of the gross, evil body before the illumination by the Light of
the Nous. In general, the soteriology of Antiquity is elitist, exclusivist, naturalist
(no order of grace) and an upper classes phenomenon. In the afterlife, slaves
surely perished and the poor benefitted from the goodness of Amun.
Officially, only Pharaoh was able to offer to the deities, for gods only
communicate with other gods, and the divine king was the son of Re and an
incarnation of Horus. When entering the "naos" or "hol y of holies" ("kAs") and
performing adjacent rituals, the "hem netjer" or "servant of the god", who was
not a god but who represented the king (in a large temple this would be the high
priest), assumed the form or image ("iri") of the divine king (and his titulary
deities). The king is the "10th" added to the Ennead of Atum, for as Horus, he is
the justified successor of his father. In Pharaoh, the "mystery" of divine
incarnation abided, for he was the only deity incarnated in a human body. In this
way, he prefigured Hermes and Christ.
Amun, the "king of the gods" is "one, hidden and millions". In the Old Kingdom,
the great unknown god is invoked. Behind all deities, a hidden, primordial and
ultimate nameless great deity is imagined. At first, this supreme deity is situated
before all possible nature, for preexistent. He belongs to the precreational realm.
In the New Kingdom, Amun is also present in every possible manifestation, he is
before nature and in every nature.
Epilogue
Ancient Egyptian Mysteries ?
"an kh " th e Eg ypti an si gn f o r l i fe

po s s es s ed b y ev e r y dei ty
Egyptian religion is a celebration of life. This love of life is so pronounced, that

even death is but another way of living. Indeed, the origin of life is deemed
precreational, for with Atum r ising out of Nun, the "first occurrence" ("zep tepi")
begins, which is the start of space, life (Shu), truth, order (Tefnut) and light
(Re). Religion, ritual, induction and initiation always involve a retu rn to this
primordial time of maximum efficient power, in essence limitless, eternal and
everlasting. This golden time of the gods, the true fount of life, is present in our
world as "the horizon" ("Axt" or "akhet") or the junction of Earth and sky.
Moreover, the horizon is where the spirit -state is attained, an interstitial area
where the "mystery" of transformation occurs, allowing the divine king (in this
life and in the next) to rise to the Imperishable Stars of the Northern sky, and
the ordinary deceased to attain the spirit -state.
"May You (Atum-Re and Pharaoh) rise from the Akhet,

from the place through which You become Akh."
There is no irreversible separation o r wall between the dead and the living. If the
living take care for the tombs of the dead, the latter will be able to return to the
physical plane to interact with those living there. The living do not communicate
with the essence of the deceased, for the spirits (the "akhu") exist in the bliss of
their celestial, starry light. They are free and effective and so able to interact
with Earth by means of the "ba" and the "ka", their operational aspects. Spirit life being the highest form of life, the attainmen t of this "akh -state" was the
crucial postmortem event (the form allowing the deceased to live effectively in
the afterlife). At first only Pharaoh could attain it, but eventually every justified
deceased had a soul and so could hope to become a noble dead , although the
unjustified would never enter the Field of Reeds and other heavenly abodes. They
would be annihilated (not reincarnated).
On Earth, only Pharaoh was a living spirit, a mortal god. When his body died, the
divine spirit would rise up, move th rough the underworld and ascend to heaven.
Arrived there, he would make sure the new Horus -Pharaoh would be given a
"good Nile", underlining his justification. The tomb had a two -way function : via
the North (or the West), the deceased king would ascend an d his "ba" and "ka"
would descend. Likewise, the temple was gateway to and fro heaven. Egypt as
the "image of the sky" is literal : each of the hundreds of temples was a
stargate.
Recently, Naydler (2005), by suspending the funerary interpretation, made clear

that the Pyramid Texts in general and the Unas texts in particular, reveal an
experiential dimension, and so also represent this-life initiatic experiences
consciously sought by the divi ne king (cf.Egyptian initiatio n). These may be
classified in two categories : Osirian rejuvenation (cf. the texts of the burial chamber), already at work in the Sed festival, and Heliopolitan asc ension (cf. the
texts in the antechamber). To this may be added, that in the New Kingdom, both
Lunar and Solar spiritual economies were refined ; the way of Osiris in the
Osireon and the Netherworld Books (cf. Amduat), and the way of Re in the New
Solar Theology of both Atenismand Amenism. Both the Amduat (cf. the 6th Hour)
and the Pyramid Texts testify that the core of the Osirian Ceremony involved
rejuvenation (found in the pit of darkness).
The Egyptian "mysteries" are the inner secrets of this religion, divided in
mortuary temples, henceforward called temples for the royal cult, and cult
temples, or the "horizon" of a divine being (the expression "double doors of the
horizon" refers to the two doors of the shrine of the cult statue, kept hidden in
the sanctum sanctorum ). The former were intended to rejuvenate the living
Horus-king (by identifying wi th Osiris) and, after death, to sustain the link with
the deified deceased, the latter involved the service of a divine being at work in
"its domain". Examples are the elaborated Morning Rituals, taking place at dawn
in the sanctuary of every temple, in an d around the "naos", and the famous
"Opening of the Mouth". Although most of the fine details of these rituals are
lost, the records do keep some of the highlights "frozen" in stone or on papyrus
and thanks to the Egyptian love of words , a large number of spells and texts
inform us about what was said and done (cf. Pyramid Texts , Coffin Texts , Book of
the Dead, Amduat, Book of Gates ). In tune with Egyptian visual thought, these
icons provide further inform ation and suggest many parallels, embedded in the
hieroglyphic script (as the following determinatives make clear). The historical
reconstruction hence offers a basic ritual matrix.
Ritual Postures
Semantics
A7 - "wrd" - tire, exhaustion
non-activity, inertia, funerary

rituals and lamentations
A16 - "ksi" - bow down
honoring the deities and the divine

king and rites of submission and
respect
A59 - "sHr" - drive away, execrate
ritual banishments, execrations
A6 - "wab" - pure, clean
preparing for ritual, purifications
A4 - "dwA" - supplicate, adore
paying homage (praise) and acts

of supplication
A8 - "hnw" - jubilation
commemoration of the victory of

Horus over Seth, the Henu Rite
A26 - "nis" - summon, call, invoke
formal invocation of the deities

and the noble dead
A32 - "xbi" - dance, jubilate
expressions of joy and happiness

in the presence of the divine
A30 - "dwA" - praise, supplicate,

adore
reciting hymns and giving praise

to the deities and Pharaoh
A28 - "Hai" - high, joy, rejoice,

laud
highest expression of celebration

and spiritual joy
Let us summarize the historical and methodological situation of the Egyptian

tradition. Historically, distinguish between four theo -ontological models of the
Divine :
1. Semitic model : God is One and Alone. He, the sole, singular God, is an
unknown and unknowable Divine Person, Who Wills good and evil alike
(cf. Judaism & Islam) ;
2. Greek model : God is a Principle of principles, the best of the best (Plato),
the unmoved mover (Aristotle), the One even ecstasy does not reveal,
impersonal and in no way evil or tainted by absence or privation of being
(Plotinus), the First Intellect (Ibn Sina), a "God of the philosophers"
(Whitehead). This abstract God figures in intellectual theologies, humanism
& atheism. In the latter, by the " alpha privativum" of the Divine, as in atheism, an absolute term is produced, but this ti me by negation instead of
by affirmation. God is reduced to an abstract & absolute "no -absolute". But
for the Greek populace, the deities are anthropomorphic and display a
variety of human passions and interests ;
3. Christian model : God is One essence in Th ree Persons : God the Father
revealed by God's incarnated Son, Jesus Christ, because, in and with God
the Deifying Holy Spirit (either only from the Father, as in the Orthodox
East, or from both Father and Son, as in the West). A God of Love, never
impersonal, always without evil (pure of heart) and sole cause of goodness
(Christianity ) ;
4. Oriental model : God, The All, is One sheer Being pr esent in every part of
creation in terms of a manifold of impersonal & personal Divine Self manifestations (theophanies or modes of the One), as we see in Ancient
Egypt, Alexandrian Hermetism, Hinduism(Vedanta), Jainism, Buddhism,
Taoism and Hermeticism.
Egyptian religion belongs to the Oriental group of religions. The Divine is not
unknowable and not exclusively personal. God is hidden and unveiled, one and
many. More than just an abstract principle, God may become a Person, but no
theophany is ruled out, and so God may also manifest as a real (like Anubis) or
fabulous animal (like Seth), an artifact (like the crowns), a concept (like Maat,
Sia, Hu etc) or a deified human (like Imhotep). Many Deities are at work as parts
of nature, and each is a Perfect Manifestation, Appearance, Aspect or Attribute of
the same God, who is The All but also hidden in all, as Graeco -Egyptian
Hermetism affirms.
Most Greeks worshipped anthropomorphic deities, and more than one Greek
intellectual (living ou tside Egypt and misunderstanding the deeper purpose of the
association) ridiculed Egypt's animal -faced deities. Greek Gods were like
immortal humans, the Egyptian deities represented archetypal natural

differentials. Egyptian Orientalism and the Greek ment ality had overlapping
verbal & linguistic interests (cf. the study of literature in Alexandria), but
different iconic sensitivities and logical tastes. The Greeks idealized the body and
rejected death, the Egyptians understood the body as an expression of the spirit
and embraced death as a portal to more life. Pre-Socratic Greece also sought the
root and the law of the universe (cf. Thales, Anaximander, Pythagoras) and had
found its first answers in Low er Egypt (Neukratis and Memphis).
Regarding method this. Before contemporary Egyptology could do its work and
articulate a historical reconstruction based on the available evidence and its
scientific interpretations, Ancient Egypt was the object of three major flawed
reconstructions :
the Hellenistic reconstruction : Ancient Egyptian religion, after
having influenced the Greeks , was eventually Hellenized. The cults of Osiris
and Isis, as well as Hermetism, evidence the survival of Hellenized forms of
the native Egyptian ways. But the Greeks intermixed their somber, linear
and isolationist views of the hereafter with the extended Egyptian funerary
rituals. The ecstatic "catharsis", "away from the body" mystique of their
mysteries was escapist and directly influenced Judaism (Qabalah),
Christianity (unworldliness) and Islam (the best is given after death). The
role of Anubis as "guide of the dead" and initiator and Osiris as "king of the
dead" was reinterpreted in terms of the Greek religious attitude. The
Egyptian mysteries were seen as leading to another, better plane of

existence, away from the limitations and boundaries of the material plane.
The Greeks longed for a contemplative life, devoid of material duties and
suffering. Theory was more appreciated than practice. Hence, material life
on Earth, which fed the passions, had to be bridled and finally transcended.
In this perspective, death heralded the final disconnection with the body, a
state the Egyptians tried to avoid at all costs. Their religious attitude
was un-Greek and in no way theoretical or abstract. In Egyptian religion,
material life was spiritualized to make it eternal. Death was rebir th in the
afterlife. And "voluntary death" was a spiritual dismemberment to a
spiritualization of consciousness here and now. In the Graeco -Roman mind,
nobody returned to Earth, the escape was final. Death brought rupture and
disconnection, no return. When , for literary reasons or to close a play with a
"Deus ex machina", a spectre of the dead or a Deity appeared, then surely
only vaguely and mostly to announce something bad or worse. This stern
and lifeless vision of death (which befell all except the Deit ies) is already at
work in Homer, who's poetry suggests Mycenan roots (cf. the Mycenan
Age, ca. 1600 - 1100 BCE). The "morbid", funerary interpretation of the
Egyptian tradition is therefore largely Hellenocentric. It denies Ancient
Egyptian religion its mystics and ecstatics.
the Scriptural reconstruction : the so-called "religions of the book"
(Judaism, Christianity& Islam), introduced their own narrow angle : Egypt

as the home of taskmasters, idols & polytheists. In their "revealed"
scriptures, these religions condemned Egyptian religion, although none of

their protagonists were able t o read Egyptian (Moses is not of history but of
memory) and misunderstood when they tried. When Egypt turned Christian,
the old religious structures were destroyed and most Egyptian deities
transformed into demons (cf. "Amun" in Medieval Goetia and Solomon ic
magic). The cult of Isis became the worship of Mary, and the resurrection of
Osiris was transformed into the spirituality of the cosmic Christ, represented
on Earth by the Pope (the Christian Pharaoh and Emperor). The old
trinitarian concepts of Deity d eveloped in Egypt, became the "Holy Trinity"
... It is remarkable to see how the canonized versions of these so -called
"revealed" scriptures were written decades after their founders had died
(Moses, Jesus and Mohammed wrote nothing). Moreover, although th ese
traditions rejected the Egyptian view of the world, they nevertheless
continued to cherish Egypt as the home of perennial wisdom, science, magic
and mysteries, albeit allegorical and Pagan. These revelations were also
Hellenized (Judaism with the Septuagint, Christianity because of the Greek
authors of the gospel of Christ, who himself spoke Aramaic, and Islam with
the impact of the Greek "falsafa" on theology and jurisprudence, as well as
Hermes of Harran on Sufism).
the Renaissancist reconstruction : when the Renaissance started in Italy,

and the work of the Arab translators began to influence intellectual life in
Europe, the allegorical interpretation of hieroglyphs (initiated by the
Egyptian priests of the Late Hellenistic Period), brought on stage a fictional
approach of the Egyptian heritage. This would continue to operate despite

Champollion cracking the code (in 1824) and demonstrating how the
hieroglyphic signs were not allegorical but primarily phonetical. Between the
XIIIth century (the end of the influential Templar movement with its
"magical" tenets, the invention of the new Jewish Qabalah by Moses ben de
Leon - cf. the Sepher Zohar and the influential Solomonic magic) and the
XVIIth century (the start of Hermeticism, Freemasonry and the Rosicrucian
movements) the allegorical interpretation of Ancient Egypt initiated
egyptomania, a fictional approach of things Egyptian, devoid of any
appreciation of the basic ritual matrix (cf. the historica l reconstruction). For
example,Seleem (2004, p.10) gives 50.509 BCE for the so -called emigration
of the "priesthood of Atlantis" to Egypt !
Although all contemporary thematical reconstructio ns of the Egyptian mysteries,
based on modern Egyptology, make use of rational thought, we have to avoid
introducing Hellenistic bias, in particular with regard to the neglect of the body
and the physical plane of existence. In tune with nature, the Egypti ans are
interested in recurrent cycles, not in linear expansion. To witness the ongoing
rejuvenation of creation being the heart of Pharaoh and his intent. To know
nature is to understand the intricate delicacy of its movements and to organize
life in tune with it. No radical change is envisioned, for natural process has its
own natural timing. Catastrophe and inventive changes are periods of stress and
disruption. The Egyptians must have hated these loud Greeks with their reckless,
inquisitive and ever -expanding spirits and at time violent and perverse morals.
(a very old Egyptian priest exclaims :)

"Solon ! Solon ! You Greeks are always children !
An old Greek does not exist !"
Pl ato , Ti ma eu s , 22 , my i tal i cs.
The revealed religions added a vile theological component to the Greek neglect of
death (and the idealization of the physical form of the body) : sin. To reach God,
the body and its appetites had to be mortified, for they were deemed the source
of sin and stood between man and his salvation. Not only i s the body a prison, it
is also a wild beast and the natural ally of Shaitan, Satan or Iblis (the Seth of
Egypt ?). Clearly, those who adhere to such exoteric ideas cannot comprehend
Egyptian spirituality and its enjoyment of all parts of the body, now and in the
afterlife. They are unable to address darkness and evil with serene minds and
remain unfit to wander in the abysses of nature. The Oriental view on evil may be
in tune with the Semitic mind (for both understand evil as God's will), but both
differ on how to deal with it. The revealed religions exclude Satan from man's
salvation, while in Egypt, Seth was subject to worship.
Because contemporary Egyptology provides a historical reconstruction based on

the evidence, it is not called to speculate. This is not its task, for it works with
and for a scientific knowledge base of the available evidence, an intersubjective
consensus based on the facts. We may ask it to organize its objects of study in
function of the main themes covered by the Ancient Egyptia ns themselves, and in
this religion plays a prominent role. Maybe such a systematic and generalizing
approach is still lacking. Insofar a series of hangovers are eliminated

(antiquarian mentality, geosentimentalism, Europacentrism, Hellenocentrism,
Afrocentrism, etc.), Egyptology is the best ally of the philosopher of religion as
well as the esotericist and the Kemetist.
Let us first consider the case of the philosopher. Mysticology, the study of the
knowledge -manipulation of mystics (cf. my Kennis en Minne-Mystiek, 1994),
describes the process underpinning spiritual growth, as three -tiered
: purification, totalization, actionalization and recognized that these stages gave
rise to alternative canonized superstructures by the many religions of humanity,
while the experiential register is fundamental.
These phases are first put into evidenced by the cave -art of the Upper Paleolithic
and its religious implications.
These three stages are :
1. "the entry" : the tunnel : the process of differentiation from light to
darkness ;
2. "the sanctum" : the cathedral : the secluded place of the mystery of
the hidden light ;
3. "the exit" : the return : the process of integration from darkness to light .
Before reaching the gig antic underground rock cathedral within the holy mound,
the Cro -Magnon, or Homo sapiens sapiens (from 100.000 till ca. 10.000
BCE), crawls a considerable distance through a twisting, narrrowing, pitch black

tunnel underneath tones of solid rock. The heart of the mountain is one or
several caves lit with fires, with a variety of known, unknown and phantastic
animals painted on high walls and maybe animated by the resounding echoes of
the fierce rhythms of beated stalactites ... Are strange men running around in
unseen outfits, shouting, dancing or otherwise occupied ? The Dancing
Sorcerer of Trois Frres perhaps, directing, in this grand natural galleries within
the sacred mound, the secret dance of the powers that be , i.e. the supernatural
spirits of the ance stors and the deities. Why do these Palaeolithic ritualists seek
the same darkness of deep, dreamless sleep and death as the stage for their
activities ?
The underlying purpose of this drama of darkness is religious and magical. The
former reconnects the archaic, mythical layer of consciousness, predominant in
Upper Palaeolithic and Neolithic humanity, with the primordial, archetypal powers
or differentials of nature, the types representing the "nature" of the natural
order. The latter protects against the dark, dangerous side of the natural order,
and aims at its successful manipulation by means of this "nature of natures" .
Prehistoric consciousness projects this outwards, and perceives it as the living,
animated existence of ceaseless repetitions and cons tant types. The latter are
only "typical coordinations" within its psychomorphy perceptions of the natural
environment, particularly the "psychophysics" of water (food) and light
(darkness). Over time, mythical notions of these psychomorph experiences take
form. These eventually become natural "stereotypes", the gods and goddesses of
archaic polytheism. These deities represent the unchanging in the constantly
changing, the stability of change in the life of wanderers and farmers alike.
Light and darkness are the physical underpinning of the cave mysteries. The cave
is a protected mediating area were the human and the archetypes of nature
touch. Its heart is an uterus, a place of new birth. The tunnel is a crawl or
passage -way between stages & stations of li fe and the otherworld (the beforelife
and the afterlife), the path of the seed to the ovary. In the natural darkness of
the sanctum, events such as the death of a hunter could be relived and the
causes combatted in a symbolical, allegorical way. Initiation s could happen. The
womb was the temple of the great goddess, she who enfolds nature as a whole.
The Cro -Magnon were the first to use grand rock cathedrals and their difficult
entrances to invoke the experience of symbolical death and the
subsequent initiation into a new, more powerful, rejuvenated state of
consciousness, enabling one to move to a higher, stronger mode of being and
awareness of being . Perhaps a better hunter, healer and leader of others. These
superior hominids were able to artistically sy mbolize their religious and magical
experiences, and thus shape spiritual traditions and eventually develop notions
like heaven, hell, god and goddess, as well as shamanism (the conscious control
of trance) and later priesthood (the specialization of magic o-religious activities in
more centralized village societies). Their common experiences shaped the earliest
myths.
The Pyramid Texts as well as the Amduat confirm this architecture. After
purifications and offerings to the deities, the king (or the "ba of Re") is identified
with Osiris to rejuvenate and to be reborn as "the living Horus" (the risen Sun).
Performed during earthly life, this ceremony in itself duplicates the three steps :
taking on the Osiris form, totalizing the Osiris form, return from the Osiris form
to the Horus form. These totalizations makes him stand beyond the fundamental
difference providing the energy to the process in the Duat, namely Horus versus
Seth, righteousness versus wickedness, conscious good versus conscious evil.
Lastly, Osiris the king ascends to the heaven of Re and is assimilated by Re. This
last phase was the sole concern of Akhenaten, who was the unique son of Re
without reference to Osiris or Amun (the "hidden" deit ies).
To operationalize and perform the rituals without initiating a new Egyptian

religion is the task of the philosopher of religion interested in the living spiritual
realities rather than their exoteric cast. In the case of a dead religion, an
exceptio nal condition can be tested : are the ruins of a powerful religion effective
enough to allow it to work its magic ? This approach is more in tune with
participant observation than any phenomenological reduction (of the natural
world) could be. But if an es oteric "lodge" beguiles the philosopher, to him a
"church" is anathema.
And Hermeticism ? Can egyptomania contribute ? Maybe to warn future Kemetists

of the dangers of fusing traditions as well as the futility of comparing systems in
the actual practice o f religion (in ritual, magic & prayer) ? Even in the Golden
Dawn and its heir, Egyptian elements were combined with Babylonian, Jewish,
Greek, Christian and Hermeticist sources.
The ultimate spiritual system is no Qabalah of Qabalah, as abstraction and

rationality summon, but the articulation of a clean, pure and efficient celebration
of the fundamental mystery of religion. In Egypt, this mystery of life involves
constant rejuvenation and the spiritualization of all things material (and vice
versa). This rejuvenation is brought by an inundation guaranteed by Horus Pharaoh, the eternal witness. The "black land", the residue left after the waters
receded, is the fertile ground feeding the new cycle. Because of their syncretism,
Hermeticists have depleted the original thought form and were blind for the
ecology and economy of the Kemetic intention. Because of the meddle,
egyptomania is to be avoided.
What is the form of the basic ritual matrix provided by the historical
reconstruction ? The various ritual acti vities have been discussed elsewhere. Let
us summarize the overall intentions of Kemetism. Ritual is not there to escape
life on Earth or to compel the Deities (the Greek flaw at work in Hermetism).
Ritual is not a reenactment of a covenant and man is not called to rectify
("tikun") the flaws of nature (as in Judaism). Nor is there a special "order of
grace" installed by the Cross of Christ and addressed by ritual (as in

Christianity). The creator -god is not evil (as in Gnosticism).
This brings to the fore the fundamental trait of the Oriental concept of the
Divine. The Deities, the dramatis personae of nature, are a series of "powers" or
natural differentials with fixed laws in their retinue. They are born, culminate,
withdraw, die and are reborn every day together with Re (cf. Amduat). They are
the recurrent cycles of nature given form in symbolical, analogical and visual
ways. Rituals are then a series of "natural operations" with automatic results " de
opere operato". Once these natural powers are understood and available, an
efficient and irreversible (magical) outcome ensues which no for ce stops. The
"will of the gods" is therefore the sum total of natural processes and their
inevitable results. No supernatural "order of grace" is posited, for the deities
themselves participate in the eternal cycle of Atum -Re (who destroys creation to
start it all over again ad infinitum ). There is no apocalypse, for the ultimate state
is eternal recurrence. Identical ideas are found in Buddhism and Taoism. By
contrast, the Graeco -Abrahamic tradition has elaborated on a monolithic,
ontological & moral conc ept of God. In such a moralizing system, what is more
subtle is also better (cf. evil as " privatio boni"). The violent final outcome being
the "New Jerusalem", a new, ideal world order ...
"Kemetism" (from "kmt", the native name of Egypt) refers to reviv als of the
Ancient Egyptian religion developing in Europe and the United States from the
1970s. These approaches often involve a historical "reconstruction" of Ancient

Egypt, filling in the obvious "gaps" with material which ante -dates the tradition,
like Hermetism and/or Hermeticism. New grammatical insights & better
translations point the way to different reconstructions, and the process is
ongoing and per definition incomplete.
Clearly contemporary Kemetism cannot just reproduce the Ancient Egyptian

tradition. Firstly, because only a basic outline of it is left, and secondly because
Kemetism embraces rational thought. Lastly, Pharaoh is reinterpret ed as
representing the individual, witnessing "Higher Self", and so accommodates a
personal approach of the mysteries (no longer the privilege of a small number of
priest).
Kemetic spirituality attunes with and benefits from natural cycles. Three
fundamental movements are thus integrated : the daily movement of the Earth
(Horus-Pharaoh) around its axis (causing diurnal and nocturnal hemispheres as
well as the rising of 36 decans, stars and planets), the monthly movement of the
Moon (Osiris) around the Eart h and the yearly movement of the Earth around the
Sun (Atum-Re). In fact, all Kemetic rituals follow these rhythms, which provide
the form or syntax of the rituals (as well as their timing). The Lunar rites give
rise to what could be called the "Ceremony o f Becoming Osiris", whereas the
Solar ceremony is one of Ascension to Re.
Qua content, the fundamental operation consists in returning to the "first

occurrence", the golden age of the Deities, and harvest the energy -surplus
available there. Only in this t ime of no time will common offerings and voice offerings, as Maat herself, be truly effective. This pleases the Deities enough for
them to dispatch their souls and vital power. Every time this happens, nature is
rejuvenated by the additional energy enterin g creation (and the body) from the
surrounding lifeless eternal waters (Nun) and their autogenous potential (Atum).
One is thus more and more perfected (made more and more efficient) and this
natural process continues, here and in the hereafter, until one becomes a God,
i.e. one of the Powers of nature.
"Do not reveal the rituals You see in all mystery in the temples."
H o ru s T em pl e - Ed fu - Ch a s si n at , 1 928 , p.3 61 .
At the ultimate point where Deities produce Deities, the Kemetic intention has
been fulfilled and only silence prevails.
initiated : 12 III 2005 - last update : 02 XII 2010 version n2
Wim van den Dungen

Antwerp, 2005 - 2015.

The Ten Keys

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The Ten Keys

Ancient Egyptian Roots

by Wim van den Dungen

"Do You not know, Asclepius,

I, King Pepi, am THOTH, the mightiest of the gods ...

I, said he, am POIMANDRES, the Mind of the Sovereignty.

"Do You not know that You have become a God,

1 The mental origin of the world and of man.

Epilogue : the Ancient Egyptian Mystery Tradition ?

"Content is Atum, father of the gods.

Hear O THOTH, in whom is the peace of the gods ...

The meaning of Thoth's name

mean "he who has the nature of

god of scribes, science, magic, time,

Texts (ca. 2400 BCE), Pharaoh is

medicine, reckoning, cults, wisdom,

said to be carried over the

the peace of the gods and companion

celestial river on the wings of

From the early 3th century BCE,

Hermetic teachings incorporate an un -Egyptian view on the mysteries (stressing

historical Hermetism : religio mentis

spiritual (supernatural) components. This view was consistent with

"Nu", "nw" with D6,

On the one hand, according to Stricker (1949), the Corpus Hermeticum is a

workmen). This Graeco -Egyptian religion would be based in Alexandria and

Hermetism is not a "Sammelbecken" (heterogeneous doctrines), nor a single

the core teachings of Hermetism

cf. Hymns to Amun). Like Late Ramesside Amun -theology, Hermetism

In Hermetism, man, the most glorious of God's c reations, was animated by a

namely the "Ogdoadic nature", previously unsuspected and po tential.

Palingenesia l iberates the soul and is a reversal of physical birth (which

disciple. In Hermetism, this "Nous" is personified by Hermes Trismegistus, the

the Hermetic Divine triad

In Hermetic triad reads as :

Hermetism is initiatory because it wants to elevate the soul to the level of

The Hermetic triad can be traced back to Egyptian sources thus :

literary Hermeticism and the Western Tradition : a few highlights

Indeed, Morton (1978) writes :

The first elements of literary Hermeticism were probably introduced in W estern

the Order of the Temple

Before the entry of the Hermetica on the European scene, Jewish

the first translation of the Corpus Hermeticum

In Florence, a new Platonic Academy had been founded in 1459. It tried to

As a system of personal growth within a closed community of kindred spirits,

the Rosicrucian Order

As a system of belief, Rosicrucianism came to the notice of the general public in

the Golden Dawn

In 1865, and Englishman named Robert Wentforth Little founded an esoteric

In 1887, so the story goes, Westcott received from Reverend Woodward, an

influentialSteganographia extolled by John Dee (1527 - 1608), the Elizabethan

In such a "Kemetic" reconstruction, no Jewish, Greek, Hermetic, Christian or

cause & effect : everything happens according to law, there is no

transformation : everything can be transformed into something else,

epistemology andneurophilosophy made clear. These are mythical, pre -rational

1 The mental origin of the world and of man : Ptah.

Sh aba ka S to n e : L IN E 48 : "th e g od s w h o man i f e st i n P tah "

"There comes into

Ptah is the very great,

Horus (as mind) came

The universe is a mental creation of The All.

In Heliopolis, the supreme creator -god is conceived as a differentiating totality

(1) Decad : God Himself ;

The magical power of words is acknowledged by both traditions. Magic involves