Embodying Osiris
Osiris embodies the Mystery of life, death and rebirth
Osiris embodies the Mystery of life, death and rebirth
OSIRIS
Come to your house, Osiris!
Long, long have I not seen you
My heart mourns you.
Shall I not see you, Good King?
Come to your beloved
Gods and men look for you, weep for you together
While I can see I call to you . . .
EMBODYING OSIRIS:
The Secrets of Alchemical Transformation,
by Thom F. Cavalli
Iona Miller, Review for Alchemy Journal
Osiris Other Names: Oser, Aser, Asar, Usire Patron of: the Underworld, the dead, Initiates, past Pharaohs, agriculture (old form), fertility (old form).
Appearance: In his original form, a green-skinned man dressed in the raiment of a pharaoh. Following the Legend of Osiris, he appears as a green-skinned man in the form of a mummified pharaoh. He is often depicted wearing the atef crown with a pair of ram horns at its base.
Description: Throughout the height of Egyptian civilization, Osiris was the primary deity. In power, he was second only his father, Ra, and was the leader of the gods on earth. He was the husband of Isis and the father of Horus (and a number of other gods in some stories). Osiris resided in the underworld as the lord of the dead, as after being killed by Set, even though he was a god, he could no longer dwell in the land of the living.
After Osiris was killed, Isis resurrected him with the Ritual of Life, which was later given to the Egyptians so that they could give eternal life to all their dead. The spells and rituals cast by Isis, plus many others given to the people by the gods over the centuries, were collected into The Book of Going Forth by Day, colloquially known as The Book of the Dead.
In the underworld, Osiris sits on a great throne, where he is praised by the souls of the just. All those who pass the tests of the underworld become worthy to enter The Blessed Land, that part of the underworld that is like the land of the living, but without sorrow or pain. In some texts, in addition to the Judging of the Heart, Osiris passes final judgment over the dead, acting in this capacity as an Egyptian version of Radamanthus.
There is an interesting parallel between Osiris, a fertility/agriculture god, and the Greek Persephone, an agriculture goddess. Both end up in the underworld through treachery and both are kept there by "legal loopholes" in the laws of the gods. Persephone remains in the underworld for half a year because she tasted the food of the dead. Osiris remains in the underworld because Ma'at dictates that the dead, even dead gods, may not return to the land of the living.
Worshiped widely throughout all of Egypt, his cult center was Abydos.
The festival opened with a procession in the streets led by a priest wearing the mask of Anubis (Anpu). The soon-inebriated crowd re-enacted the murder of Osiris by his brother Set. Inside the temple, priests conducted private sacred rituals.
Two priestesses played the parts of Isis and her sister Nephthys, each reciting a solemn lamentation. The first day, the priests placed seeds in a coffin-like container with water and soil. On the third day of the festival the priests opened the container to reveal that the buried seeds, like Osiris, had germinated and come to life.
We all experience pain, loss, and grief, at some time in our lives. To experience that loss through the medium of a drama enables us to gain new insight about what we have gone through. By reliving the mysteries of Osiris we may, like Isis, find the power inside to conceive new life. We may, like Osiris, discover our own eternal, immortal nature, and rise to new life.
Long, long have I not seen you
My heart mourns you.
Shall I not see you, Good King?
Come to your beloved
Gods and men look for you, weep for you together
While I can see I call to you . . .
EMBODYING OSIRIS:
The Secrets of Alchemical Transformation,
by Thom F. Cavalli
Iona Miller, Review for Alchemy Journal
Osiris Other Names: Oser, Aser, Asar, Usire Patron of: the Underworld, the dead, Initiates, past Pharaohs, agriculture (old form), fertility (old form).
Appearance: In his original form, a green-skinned man dressed in the raiment of a pharaoh. Following the Legend of Osiris, he appears as a green-skinned man in the form of a mummified pharaoh. He is often depicted wearing the atef crown with a pair of ram horns at its base.
Description: Throughout the height of Egyptian civilization, Osiris was the primary deity. In power, he was second only his father, Ra, and was the leader of the gods on earth. He was the husband of Isis and the father of Horus (and a number of other gods in some stories). Osiris resided in the underworld as the lord of the dead, as after being killed by Set, even though he was a god, he could no longer dwell in the land of the living.
After Osiris was killed, Isis resurrected him with the Ritual of Life, which was later given to the Egyptians so that they could give eternal life to all their dead. The spells and rituals cast by Isis, plus many others given to the people by the gods over the centuries, were collected into The Book of Going Forth by Day, colloquially known as The Book of the Dead.
In the underworld, Osiris sits on a great throne, where he is praised by the souls of the just. All those who pass the tests of the underworld become worthy to enter The Blessed Land, that part of the underworld that is like the land of the living, but without sorrow or pain. In some texts, in addition to the Judging of the Heart, Osiris passes final judgment over the dead, acting in this capacity as an Egyptian version of Radamanthus.
There is an interesting parallel between Osiris, a fertility/agriculture god, and the Greek Persephone, an agriculture goddess. Both end up in the underworld through treachery and both are kept there by "legal loopholes" in the laws of the gods. Persephone remains in the underworld for half a year because she tasted the food of the dead. Osiris remains in the underworld because Ma'at dictates that the dead, even dead gods, may not return to the land of the living.
Worshiped widely throughout all of Egypt, his cult center was Abydos.
The festival opened with a procession in the streets led by a priest wearing the mask of Anubis (Anpu). The soon-inebriated crowd re-enacted the murder of Osiris by his brother Set. Inside the temple, priests conducted private sacred rituals.
Two priestesses played the parts of Isis and her sister Nephthys, each reciting a solemn lamentation. The first day, the priests placed seeds in a coffin-like container with water and soil. On the third day of the festival the priests opened the container to reveal that the buried seeds, like Osiris, had germinated and come to life.
We all experience pain, loss, and grief, at some time in our lives. To experience that loss through the medium of a drama enables us to gain new insight about what we have gone through. By reliving the mysteries of Osiris we may, like Isis, find the power inside to conceive new life. We may, like Osiris, discover our own eternal, immortal nature, and rise to new life.
Isis Raising Osiris, Io Miller, 24x36