Aeon418
Curtains!!! Where did you get that from?ravenest said:
Book of Law Study Group 1.1
Always Wondering
Could someone please explain who is who on the stele?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Stele_of_revealing.jpg
Not that the pictures of Crowley weren't amusing.
AW
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Stele_of_revealing.jpg
Not that the pictures of Crowley weren't amusing.
AW
Alta
That's the Wizard of Oz, right?ravenest said:
Aeon418
From the perspective of Thelema:Always Wondering said:
1) The bending woman is Nuit.
2) The winged globe is Hadit.
3) The falcon headed seated figure is Ra Hoor Khuit.
4) The standing guy is Ankh-af-na-Khonsu.
From the Egyptian perspective:
1) The bending woman is Nut.
2) The winged globe is Behdet.
3) The falcon headed seated figure is Re-Horakhty.
4) The standing guy is still Ankh-af-na-Khonsu.
Always Wondering
Aeon418 said:
Oh, there she is, just like the Aeon card. I didn't notice her there.
Thanks again.
AW
Abrac
Since you asked, this might be a good time to introduce this information.Always Wondering said:Could someone please explain who is who on the stele?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Stele_of_revealing.jpg
Not that the pictures of Crowley weren't amusing.
AW
The figure standing on the right is Ankh-af-na-khonsu, a deceased priest for whom the monument was made. The arched figure across the top is the Egyptian goddess Nuit. The winged disk is Horus Behdety, a form of Horus the Elder worshipped at Behdet. Crowley calls it "Hadit." The seated figure is the God Ra-Horakhty, sometimes called Heru-Aakhuti. Crowley calls it "Ra-Hoor-Khuit."
Crowley's descriptions of Ra-Hoor-Khuit seem to resemble Horus the Younger, son of Osiris and Isis. But Horus the Younger is always depicted with the double crown of upper and lower Egypt and the figure on the Stele has a sun disk on its head. Furthermore, the hieroglyphics identify this figure as, "Ra-Hor-Akhti, Chieftan of the Gods." Here is picture of the relevant hieroglyphics with an explanation of their meaning. The literal translation would read, "Ra-Horus, the shining light on the horizon, chieftan of the gods," the implication being that of the rising sun. It is not "Horus of the two horizons" as it is sometimes called. If this were the case there would be two "horizon" symbols rather than one.
The variant spellings of Hor-Akhti and Heru-Aakhuti are based on the letters Ah, Ak and T. They are simply two different ways of expressing the same thing. There is no such thing as Ra-Hoor-Khuit in Egyptian. This can probably be attributed to a misunderstanding on the part of the translator and a further misunderstanding on Crowley's part as to how the mistranslation should be pronounced, but in any case, it is not Horus the Younger.
Thelema is built around an Osirian mythos along with Horus the Younger, but the the Stele is acually based on Horus the Elder and Ra-Horakhty, the brother of Osiris. This is not meant to discredit Crowley or the BoL in any way, but it's good to have all the facts at least.
Grigori
Aeon418 said:
Thanks Aeon, that makes the difference clear to me. I wonder then, could you equate Hadit with Kether (the point) and Nuit with the veils? That seems more appropriate.
Grigori
Abrac said:
I think its interesting to compare the figures on the Stele, with the depiction given on the Aeon card. Crowley made a number of changes, that make it clear the details on the Stele are much less important than the details in the BoL.
The depiction of Horus the Younger, can be seen on the Aeon card. (also known as Hoor-pa-kraat, or Harpocrates) superimposed over Ra-Hoor-Khuit. Crowley saw both as different aspects of the same god, and not part of the greater Egyptian pantheon which is irrelevant to Thelema.
The active aspect, Ra-Hoor-Khuit, has also been changed to be more consistent with the text of the BoL, and less consistent with the Stele.
Always Wondering
The hieroglyphic meanings and your explainations are helpful Arabic. There seem to be subtle (to me) differences and a lot of bird heads. Hard to tell them all apart with my golden dawn book.
Great idea Similia. I'm going to have another look at the Aeon tonight.
AW
Hard to tell them all apart with my golden dawn book.Great idea Similia. I'm going to have another look at the Aeon tonight.
AW
Abrac
Hi similia, yes I see what you're saying. The child Horus, Hoor-pa-kraat, is on the Aeon card. This does seem to clarify somewhat the idea of Horus the Younger and illustrates the two aspects of the same entity. Ra-Horakhty is still basically unchanged though. It seems obvious to me that Crowley's orientation with regard to Egyptian theology was toward the Osirian mythos, thus he believed Ra-Horakhty was Horus the Younger. Nonetheless, this doesn't change the philosophical structure of Thelema itself, as you mentioned.
