Isis

“ For thee are the two, Isis and Nephthys—do thou strengthen us, for they ponder on thy image.
Thy limbs are as mutilated unto thee; they seek to bind together thy dead body.
No calamity cometh to them when approaching to thee with hair unbound!
Come thou to us entirely, for thou rememberest:
Thou comest with thy attributes before the land; modify thy power.
For thy peace is proclaimed to us, oh lord, heir of the two thrones, god alone excellent, designed of the gods: every god adoreth thee!
Thou comest; it is thy temple; fear not, beloved of Ra, beloved of thy two images ”

“ Every year, towards the middle of June, Isis, mourning for Osiris, let fall into it one of the tears which she shed over her brother, and thereupon the river swelled and descended upon earth. Isis has had no devotees for centuries, and her very name is unknown to the descendants of her worshippers; but the tradition of her fertilizing tears has survived her memory. Even to this day, every one in Egypt, Mussulman or Christian, knows that a divine drop falls from heaven during the night between the 17th and 18th of June, and forthwith brings about the rise of the Nile. ”

“ O Ayesha, she said in a honeyed voice, priestess of Isis of the Egyptians, sworn to the barren worship of Isis and fed on the ashes of her unprofitable wisdom, know that I am Aphrodite of the Greeks whom many times thou hast mocked and defied, and Queen of the breathing world, as Isis is Queen of the world that is dead. ”

“ Such, we may suppose, was Isis in the olden time, a rustic Corn-Mother adored with uncouth rites by Egyptian swains. But the homely features of the clownish goddess could hardly be traced in the refined, the saintly form which, spiritualised by ages of religious evolution, she presented to her worshippers of after days as the true wife, the tender mother, the beneficent queen of nature, encircled with the nimbus of moral purity, of immemorial and mysterious sanctity. ”

“ Isis, a celebrated deity of the Egyptians, daughter of Saturn and Rhea, according to Diodorus of Sicily. Some suppose her to be the same as Io, who was changed into a cow, and restored to her human form in Egypt, where she taught agriculture, and governed the people with mildness and equity, for which reason she received divine honours after death. According to some traditions mentioned by Plutarch, Isis married her brother Osiris, and was pregnant by him even before she had left her mother’s womb. ”

“ These are names, mere names that divide us; but if you were called anything else than Agne—Ismene, for instance, or Eudoxia—would you be at all different from what you are?—There you see—no, stay where you are—you must listen while I tell you that Isis, the much—maligned Isis, is nothing and represents nothing but the kindly influences of the Divinity, on nature and on human life. What she embodies to us is the abstraction which you call the loving-kindness of the Father, revealed in his manifold gifts, wherever we turn our eyes. ”

“ The queen's eyes, which a moment before gleamed with pride, were filled with tears. All at once she bent and kissed her son's hand, saying with emotion,
"Thou art, indeed, the son of Isis and Osiris, and I did well when I yielded thee to the goddess. Egypt at last has a ruler."
From that time the worthy lady never appealed to her son in any question. And when she was asked for protection, she answered,
"I am the servant of his holiness and I advise you to carry out his commands without resistance. All he does comes from inspiration of the gods. And who can oppose the gods?" ”

“ In Egyptian mythology, the tablets represent Isis as a bird. “For she is Isis, the charmer, the avenger of her brother, who seeks him without failing, who traverses the earth with lamentations, without resting 96before she has found him—creating the light with her feathers, producing the wind with her wings, celebrating the sacred dances, and depositing her brother in the tomb ... raising the remains of the god, with immovable heart ... she makes him grow, his arm becomes strong in the great dwelling.” ”

“ When Isis first found the body, where it had floated ashore near Byblos, a shrub of erica or tamarisk near it had, by the virtue of the body, shot up into a tree around it, and protected it; and hence our sprig of acacia. Isis was also aided in her search by Anubis, in the shape of a dog. He was Sirius or the Dog-Star, the friend and counsellor of Osiris, and the inventor of language, grammar, astronomy, surveying, arithmetic, music, and medical science; the first maker of laws; and who taught the worship of the Gods, and the building of Temples. ”

“ It is my humble opinion that my critic has misconceived the position of the Egyptian Isis. What is really meant by saying that Isis represented "the Eighth sphere" it is not easy to understand. She further says that Isis is not a principle but an influence. In spite of my critic's assurance to the contrary, I um unable to find any authority for these assertions in her introductory essay. ”

“ It is a ruin now, and Isis has departed from Egypt, though still under the Power that fashioned it and her: she rules the world, for she is Nature’s self. Of that shrine a certain man, a Greek, Kallikrates by name, was chief priest, chosen for her service by the favour of the goddess, vowed to her eternally and to her alone, by the dreadful oath that might not be broken without punishment as eternal.
“In the flame thou sawest that priest, and here at thy side he stands, re-born, to fulfil his destiny and ours. ”

“ We find there a Hera, who wore, so to speak, the mantle of Isis, besides carrying the spoils of one or more personages enrolled in the Golden Book of the old Pelasgian dynasties. Nothing could be more natural than a decapitation of the Egyptian Isis, not penally but for her honour. She might consequently appear with the human head; but, not to break sharply with the traditions of the people, the cow-head, and even the cow figure, might nevertheless be retained as symbols of religion. ”

“ He then commanded that all the gods who had any knowledge of magical spells should come to him, and when they came, Isis, the great lady of spells, the destroyer of diseases, and the reviver of the dead, came with them. Turning to Rā she said, “What hath happened, O divine Father?” and in answer the god told her that a serpent had bitten him, that he was hotter than fire and colder than water, that his limbs quaked, and that he was losing the power of sight. Then Isis said to him with guile, “Divine Father, tell me thy name, for he who uttereth his own name shall live.” ”

“ Isis was the great and beneficent goddess and mother, whose influence and love pervaded all heaven and earth and the abode of the dead, and she was the personification of the great feminine, creative power which conceived, and brought forth every living creature and thing, from the gods in heaven to man on the earth, and to the insect on the ground; what she brought forth she protected, and cared for, and fed, and nourished, and she employed her life in using her power graciously and successfully, not only in creating new beings but in restoring those that were dead. ”

“ It was not, however, till May 29th, 1834, that it was publicly announced in the dedication of the first volume of the Isis. An outbreak of cholera in the city of London gave to the authorities of the gaol an excuse to keep out all visitors. This was truly an unexpected blow to both, but to poor Isis it was almost a killing blow. Carlile had to find courage and fortitude for them both. The letters that passed daily between them were of the most affectionate character, and Isis poured out her soul in love and adoration through them. ”

“ Thus Isis is a giver of life and food to the dead in the Duat—that is, she brings with her the fresh air of heaven into the underworld—and as the air-god Tezcatlipoca was identified with justice, so Isis is identified with Maāt, the goddess of justice.
Winged Isis (The wings are in the attitude of protecting Horus) —Photo W.A. Mansell & Co.
Isis may also typify the wind of morning, from which the sun is born. In most countries at the moment of sunrise a wind springs up which may be said to usher the sun into existence. ”

“ In another inscription, on the south wall of the small temple of Isis, the birth of Isis is described thus: “On this beautiful day, ‘of the night of the child in its cradle,’ on the great festival during which the world is re-adjusted, or balanced (sekhek en ta) , the bringing forth of Isis takes place in the interior or centre of Anet (Tentyra) by the goddess Ap, the great, in the chamber of Ap, in the form of a dark red female person, the Khnum ankh, the lovely. Her mother, Nut, exclaimed at the sight of her: behold, (As is) I have become a mother. Thence the origin of the name Isis.... ”

“ Verily the lord Ra thundered and growled thereat, and he ordered thy slaughter to be carried out. Get thee back, Seba fiend! Hail! Hail!"
II.—THE NARRATIVE OF ISIS. I am Isis, [and] I have come forth from the dwelling (or, prison) wherein my brother Set placed me. Behold the god Thoth, the great god, the Chief of Maat [FN#203] [both] in heaven and on the earth, said unto me, "Come now, O Isis, thou goddess, moreover it is a good thing to hearken, [FN#204] [for there is] life to one who shall be guided [by the advice] of another. ”

“ Save for impostors, and legitimate imaginative writers, no one has yet lifted the veil of Isis. That mystical ceremony by which a priest was consecrated to the goddess, or made an arch adept, was thought to be hopelessly lost, or, by others, to be a myth devised by the priesthood to awe the ignorant masses. In fact, we know little of the entire religion but its outward form. Of that occult lore so widely attributed to its votaries we know nothing—absolutely nothing! ”

“ Isis and Nephthys weave magical protection for thee in the city of Saut, for thee their lord, in thy name of ‘Lord of Saut,’ for their god, in thy name of ‘God.’ They praise thee; go not thou far from them in thy name of ‘Tua.’ They present offerings to thee; he not wroth in thy name of ‘Tchentru.’ Thy sister Isis cometh to thee rejoicing in her love for thee. ”

“ Isis is one of those deities who from fortuitous and other circumstances are fated to achieve greatness. From a Libyan spirit connected in some manner with the growth of the crops, she rose to such supreme importance during her reign of nearly four thousand years in Egypt that every description of attribute was heaped upon her in abundance. This is invariably the case with successful deities. ”

“ Of all the Egyptian religious beliefs that existed from the Prehistoric period down into Roman times, the oldest and the one most held in veneration was that connected with the worship of Osiris, Isis and Horus. These three, though primarily only local gods, at an early period became prominent deities of all Egypt; and the cult of Isis, more particularly, remained a favourite always, rivalling even that of Osiris in later times. ”

“ It is a kind of heron, either the Ardea cinerea, which is common in Egypt, or else some similar species.
The goddess whom we are accustomed to regard as inseparable from him, Isis the cow, or woman with cow's horns, had not always belonged to him. Originally she was an independent deity, dwelling at Bûto in the midst of the ponds of Adhû. She had neither husband nor lover, but had spontaneously conceived and given birth to a son, whom she suckled among the reeds—a lesser Horus who was called Harsiîsît, Horus the son of Isis, to distinguish him from Haroêris. ”

“ In the temples of Isis services were held at daybreak and in the early afternoon daily, and everywhere these were attended by crowds of people. The holy water used in the libations and for sprinkling the people was Nile water, specially imported from Egypt, and to the votaries of the goddess it symbolized the seed of the god Osiris, which germinated and brought forth fruit through the spells of the goddess Isis. The festivals and processions of Isis were everywhere most popular, and were enjoyed by learned and unlearned alike. ”

“ But as for Isis, and the gods associated with her, all peoples own them and are familiar with them, although they have learned not so very long ago to call some of them by the names which come from the Egyptians ”

“ These two ancient deities, as some authors observe, comprehended all nature, and all the gods of the heathens. Isis was the Venus of Cyprus, the Minerva of Athens, the Cybele of the Phrygians, the Ceres of Eleusis, the Proserpine of Sicily, the Diana of Crete, the Bellona of the Romans, &c. Osiris and Isis reigned conjointly in Egypt; but the rebellion of Typhon the brother of Osiris proved fatal to this sovereign. See: Osiris and Typhon. The ox and cow were the symbols of Osiris and Isis, because these deities, while on earth, had diligently applied themselves in cultivating the earth. ”

“ Dressed in the robes of Isis I worshipped in the temple of Isis with my boy playing the part of Horus on my bosom. It is a crime that can never be forgiven to a Hebrew woman, Ana, for my God is a jealous God. Yet it is true that Ki tricked me. ”

“ Isis typified that beatitude. The goddess, in whose mysteries were taught both the immortality of the soul and the secret of its migrations, was one of Ishtar’s many avatars, the only one whose attributes accorded even remotely with the divine. Egypt adored her. There were other gods. There was Osiris, the father; Horus, the son, who with Isis formed the trinity which India and Persia both possessed, and which [Pg 88] Byzance afterward perpetuated. There were other gods also, a hierarchy of great idle divinities with, beneath them, cohorts of inferior fiends. But the great light was Isis. ”