The Story of Osiris and Isis
IsisandOsiris
A long time ago, the god Osiris came to Egypt to rule as king. He brought the Egyptian people new laws and taught them how to farm well and live peacefully in their villages. Osiris was a very wise and powerful king and was loved and respected by the Egyptian people. Unfortunately, his brother Seth, was very jealous of his brother’s power in Egypt, and began to form a plan to kill Osiris and take over his throne.
Late one night, Seth tiptoed into Osiris’s bedroom. Careful to not wake up Osiris, or his queen, the goddess, Isis, Seth measured Osiris’s body from top to bottom and from side to side. The next morning, Seth took the measurements to a carpenter who made a beautiful wooden chest decorated with bright paint and sheets of gold.
That night, Seth threw a huge party, and invited Osiris as the guest of honour. The night was spent feasting, singing, dancing, and playing games. For the final game, Seth brought out the huge wooden chest. He announced that the first person to fit perfectly into the chest would be allowed to keep it.
One by one, each of Seth’s friends climbed into the chest. Unsurprisingly, no one was able to fit into the chest, which was made perfectly for Osiris. Finally, Seth and his friends convinced Osiris to try his luck with the chest. Osiris stepped into the chest and lay down. The chest fit him perfectly, just as Seth had planned. Just as Osiris lay down, Seth slammed the lid and sealed it shut. Seth and his friends took the chest down to the Nile River and dumped it in, knowing that Osiris would never be able to survive.
When Isis heard the news of her husband’s death she was extremely upset. She rushed to the riverbank, and after several days of searching, found the wooden chest. Isis opened it and removed the dead body of her beloved Osiris. Crying, Isis hid Osiris’ body in the river grass. She didn’t want Seth to find Osiris’s corpse before she could Seth perform the proper rituals that would allow him to pass into the Afterlife.
Late that night, Seth returned to the Nile, to make sure Osiris’s body had washed away. The chest was nowhere to be found, but after searching the riverbank grass, he found the body of his late brother. Furious, Seth cut Osiris’s body into fourteen pieces. To make sure that the body was never found again, he hurled the pieces all over Egypt.
The next morning, Isis returned to the river with her sister, Nepthys and her friends, to perform the necessary rituals, only to find Osiris’s body gone! Isis transformed into a huge bird and flew high over Egypt. Using her sharp vision, she was able to find all the pieces of the body to put Osiris back together. With the help of Nepthys, Thoth, and Anubis, Isis performed a great act of magic. Very carefully, they began to sew Osiris’s body back together. They worked together night after night. When the body was whole once again, they wrapped it head to toe in strips of linen, creating a mummy.
On the night of the full moon, Isis used powerful magic to bring her husband back to life. Osiris embraced Isis and thanked her sister and her friends. He told them he would not be able to stay in the world of the living. He explained that having died; he needed to travel to the world of the dead, where he would become the King of the Afterlife.
Before he left, Osiris told Isis not to worry. He told her that she would soon give birth to a son, Horus, who would defeat Seth and become a great protector of the Egyptian people. By taking back the throne from Seth, Horus would restore order and peace to the Universe.
When Horus was born, he was hidden away and kept safe from his evil uncle Seth. When he became of age, Horus finally confronted Seth, and they violently fought. During the fight Horus’ left eye was poked out, but magically came to life. Later on, the Wadjet, or eye of Horus became a powerful symbol to promote healing. Although Horus emerged victorious, there was still a large question of who legally had power to the throne.
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TheEyeofHorus”seesalltheuniverse Seth believed that as Osiris’ brother, he was the rightful ruler, but Horus argued that he should be proclaimed king, since he was Osiris’ legitimate heir. Ultimately, it was decided that Horus would rule on earth as King. Seth was banished forever.
Theosophy on Osiris, Isis and Horus
Understanding the riddle of Osiris
The greatest God of Egypt… self-existent and self-created god, the first manifesting deity (our third Logos), the “First Cause”. When differentiated and personified, he becomes Seth (Typhon) his brother, and Isis and Nephtys, his sisters, Horus his son and his other aspects.
He was born at Mount Sinai, the Nyssa of the O. T. (See Exodus xvii. 15), and buried at Abydos, after being killed by Typhon at the early age of twenty-eight, accordingtotheallegory. The four chief aspects of Osiris were
Osiris-Phtah (Light), the spiritual aspect;
Osiris-Horus (Mind), the intellectual manasicaspect;
Osiris-Lunus, the “Lunar” or psychic, astral aspect;
Osiris-Typhon, Daimonic, or physical, material, therefore passional turbulent aspect.
In these four aspects he symbolizes the dual EGO – the divine and the human, the spiritual and the terrestrial.
Of the many supreme gods, this Egyptian conception is the most suggestive and the grandest, as it embraces the whole range of physical and metaphysical thought. As a solar deity he had twelve minor gods under him the twelve signs of the Zodiac. … his seven dual aspects symbolized the fourteen members of his body Thus the god is blended in man, and the man is deified into a god.
A Phœnician inscription honours the mummy of Ta-Bai, priestess of 0siris-Eloh.“She did nothing against any one in anger. She spoke no falsehood against any one. Justified before Osiris, blessed be thou from before Osiris! Peace be to thee.”
He is “One of the Saviours or Deliverers of Humanity… As such he is born in the world. He came as a benefactor, to relieve man of trouble... In his efforts to do good he encounters evil... and he is temporarily overcome. He is killed... Osiris is buried. His tomb was the object of pilgrimage for thousands of years. But he did not rest in his grave. At the end of three days, or forty, he rose again and ascended to Heaven. This is the story of his Humanity.”
It also proves that the legend of Christ was found ready in almost all its details thousands of years before the Christian era, and that the Church fathers had, no greater difficulty than to simply apply it to a new personage.
Extracts from TheTheosophicalGlossary
Isis. In Egyptian Issa, the goddess Virgin-Mother; personified nature. In Egyptian or Koptic Uasi,the female reflection of Uuasar or Osiris. She is the “woman clothed with the sun” of the land of Chemi (Egypt; from where the word chemistrycomes).
Horus (Eg).The last in the line of divine Sovereigns in Egypt, said to be the son of Osiris and Isis. He is the great god “loved of Heaven”, the “beloved of the Sun, the offspring of the gods, the subjugator of the world”.
At the time of the Winter Solstice (our Christmas), his image, in the form of a small newly-born infant, was brought out from the sanctuary for the adoration of the worshipping crowds. …he is the “mystic Child of the Ark” or the argha,the symbol of the matrix.
Cosmically, he is the WinterSun. A tablet describes him as the “substance of his father”, Osiris, of whom he is an incarnation and also identical with him.
An ancient hymn says of him, “…He rules all human beings. The sun goes round according to his purpose. He brings forth abundance and dispenses it to all the earth. Every one adores his beauty. Sweet is his love in us.”
The Sacred Heart of Horus (a pear-like fruit kernel resembling the heart) is sometimes seen on the head of Isis, the mother of Horus. The Roman Catholics have since adopted the worship of the “sacred heart” of Jesus and of the Virgin Mary.
Extracts from TheTheosophicalGlossary
The death and resurrection of Osiris became a model for (and the journey of) every human being.… the dead person became an Osiris. Osiris having died and risen became the god and judge of the ‘dead’ (or the personality of the last life). TM page 156-7