The Mysteries of Horus and Set (part 1)

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Hadit
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The Mysteries of Horus and Set (part 1)

Post by Hadit »

The story of Horus and Set is very well known, perhaps the best known story of the Egyptians. These entities and their story are extremely important to understanding religion, and especially for understanding occultism. Yet all most of us see are a single, perverted version of the story that originated long after the beings in question, and have been lost and twisted repeatedly over millennium. Having looked into these topics in extreme depth, I would like to discuss these famous Neteru.

Let us start from the recent to ancient, understanding more of the mysteries as we go along. It is commonly understood that Set was the brother and murder of Osiris, who sexually assaulted then battled Osiris’ child Horus, Horus eventually winning kingship over Egypt. One of the most basic reasons this is appealing is because it fits snuggly with Christian culture and morality, clear lines being drawn between “good” and “evil”, with Osiris/Horus being an obvious precursor of Christ. These similarities should be more than enough reason for the occultist to doubt this version of the story. The Cult of Osiris played a role so massive it is hard to conceive, both in Egypt all the way to modern religion. It gave us our first heaven-like afterlife, our first true villain god, the original Solar religion, our first savior god, the list goes on. But this story needs to be disregarded specifically because it is so blatantly distorted. At the end of the New Kingdom period, Set became fully demonized due to the foreign rules the Egyptians hates. The Coptics only took this farther, though many of their rituals do make reference to Set under other names. Prior to this massive downfall, the religion of Osiris had dominated Egyptian thought since the early dynasties, and we can even see where the Pyramid Texts have been altered in order to make them more Osirian. As Egypt grew, this very early and useful religious philosophy spread throughout and became dominate, forever changing Egyptian from their Stellar to Solar religions.

There is also the issue of Horus the Younger vs. Horus the Elder. Horus the Younger is the son of Osiris and Isis, and considered to be the 10th deity to come out of the Ennead. Horus the Younger is essentially the same as Osiris, but reborn and ruling the world of Life as opposed to Osiris ruling the world of Death. This may seem confusing, and it is important to pause to discuss the Egyptian understanding of the gods, the Neteru. The Egyptians did not believe in physical beings who had dramas in the ways of other religions. Rather, the Neteru are similar to, and likely the inspiration of, Platonic Forms. So to say Horus the Younger is a lower manifestation of Osiris is not as nonsensical as it seems. Think of gnostic Aeons, for comparison. Horus the Younger represents a less pure version of what Osiris does, from rulership to stasis. Understanding the Neteru also helps us understand that Horus the Younger is a perversion of Horus the Elder, the original Horus. Much like Christianity adopting religious dates or saviours from other religions to make it more accessible, the Osirians repurposed Horus the Elder to promote their own religion, where this timeless and ancient god was actually the son of Osiris. The idea of Horus the Younger must also be discarded with the rest of the Osirian interpretation of the myth.

So what was Horus the Elder, and what was Its relationship to Set? The Cults of Horus and Set are the two oldest known cults in human history. Far predating Egypt, we find the two cults already established in pre-historical Egypt. The ancients did not see Horus and Set as eternal enemies, but rather Horus and Set represented the fundamental duality that the Egyptians saw in all things. Horus and Set were, themselves, the foundation of all Egyptian religion. It is true that Horus and Set were seen as light and dark, day and night, stability and chaos, tradition and confusion, but there was no concept of them being “good” or “evil”. They were both necessary. There was also a unity between them, rather than the division commonly represented. Again, the Osirian myth must be discarded. This clears up many of the issues, such as how Egypt didn’t view any Neteru as evil, or how there was no prolonged combat or anything close between any of the other gods. In fact, it’s likely that Horus and Set never were originally fighting until the Osirian religion wrote it as such. Rather, studies of the myth suggest that the relationship between Horus and Set was originally a romantic, consensual one. The original myth actually promotes the idea of a union of Horus and Set, which produces Thoth. We will get to this in a minute. Horus fills Set with his sperm, which in the end brings about Thoth. Further, the eye represented the power of Horus, where the testicles were the power of Set. Set attained power from Horus, the power of Order, and Horus attained power from Set, the power of Creation and Change. This is similar to the Ying-Yang, where the white side contains a black dot and visa versa. Together these two forces create Thoth, he who writes the universe into existence.

Remember how the Neteru are similar to Platonic Forms? It should not be thought that two beings were conceived as literally having sex to create another. Rather, the Form of Order, mixed with the form of Change/Chaos, gives birth to the Cosmos, to all reality. This is the basic duality. Thoth is the Neteru/Form of the Creator or Creation, brought about from the interaction of Order and Chaos. This is foundational Egyptian thought. Rather than a myth similar to that of Christianity and Solar religions, we see that the story of Horus and Set is much more Egyptian in nature, perhaps somewhat anticlimactically. So to sum up thus far, Horus and Set, un-perverted, were the foundational polarity of the universe, which unites to create all the cosmos. As Neteru/Forms, all other Neteru should be understood as manifestations of the two. Anubis, for example, is a lesser manifestation of Set, which explains why Set is understood as his “father” and the two are sometimes used interchangeably in texts. It is also why Ra has the same head as Horus, for Solar religion is a worship of Order/Horus, which the Egyptian state publically promoted.

In modern occultism the paths of Horus and Set are understood by two words: Thelema and Xeper. This can also be right and left hand path, white and black magic, Solar and Stellar religion, etc and so on. Thelema, as brought forth by Crowley, refers to “will” as in the “will of God”. The goal of K&C and magick in Thelema are discover one’s “proper place” in the cosmos and follow it like a planet follows its orbit. This is openly understood as a religion of Horus, the Neteru of Order. Obstacles and problems are eliminated when you simply fall in line with Thelema, like following the Tao. Xeper was brought forth by the ancient Egyptians originally, but rediscovered by Aquino and expounded upon by him and his fellows. Xeper means “to come into being”, and is represented by the scarab Khepri, god of remanifestation. I long wondered why Thelema was important to Xeper, and with the understanding of the Horus/Set myth it becomes clear that Thelema was only part of the picture. Hell, so much is hinted at throughout the Book of the Law. We have to know what we want, but also reach out and achieve it. We can’t simply discover who our circumstances suggest we be, we have to discover what we truly want and work towards it, work to Xeper. Thelema is a passive state of understanding, knowing your place in Order and falling in line. Of course this will lead to less obstacles, just like arguing with Nazi ideology was a surefire way to land yourself in a concentration camp. But the occultist is not just interested in knowning and obeying, but doing and Becoming. The common myth of Horus and Set makes us believe that we should fall in with the order, and most groups from Abrahamic religions to Crowleyan religions accept this interpretation. But this is a perversion, not what was meant, and needs to be readdressed.

**Note:** there will be a part two of this post addressing Horus and Set further.
Beloved of Set

Daremo
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Re: The Mysteries of Horus and Set (part 1)

Post by Daremo »

I was looking for part 2 but didn't find it. Did you post a part 2 I am interested in hearing more. Based on the description I had to wonder then is it possible that the eye may actually be a vaginal symbol but due to the patriarchal interpretations that it lost its feminine connotations? Curious if true. What you explain sounds a great deal like a story about shiva and I think it was Parvati but I cant find it again for the proper terms and names. The story revolved around Parrvatis father thinking essentially that shiva was just a dirty hippy because of his asthetic lifestyle of taking drugs and surviving alone in the woods, where parvati's father was a holy man and king. He followed the path which name I can't find now but is baisically follow the letter of the law and tradition. It was pretty much organised religion versus the individual process of union. My understanding is that it is still a major divide and debate within the hindu culture and sounds alot like the horus and set division and methodology. I found the parallels interesting and the fact that the battle between the 2 ideologies is present in many cultures as a dividing line.
My experience with thelema has indicated the opposite of what you propose in the above. I am not saying your point of view is wrong just that I have had a different interpretation of the law proposed in Thelema. That being said I do think it applies to Thelema as a religion but that imho is different than Thelema in practice. My experience is that Thelema bucks tradition, spits in the face of it if need be in order to persue ones own path as opposed to bowing down to the will of others. If chaos be personified as an entity then isn't one bowing down before chaos when they adopt that path. We are surrounded by traditions and people that tell us what we must do and how to act, my impression of thelema is to step out of that box and find what works for the self instead of following the prescribed laws set forth by others, and even in the supposed surrendering unto the true will the very act may put you at odds with much of the current flow of the universe around you. It seems more Set like in that regard. To move with the universe in order to direct the flow as opposed to giving up your individuality to be drowned by it. Again my experience may differ from yours so its just a different point of view and nothing more. I appreciate the insight gave me alot of food for thought thanks.

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