The intersection of order and chaos/ The contentions of Heru and Set

Set the God of Confusion

The duality of Asar and Set 
 In the myth of Asar, the duality of Asar and set is that of life and death. Primevil time can be described as the time before the law of duality had arisen. The one precreation God Atum, the lord of all as the first act of creation brought forth the neteru in pairs. First the god Shu and the goddess Tefnut. Then Atum bore another pair: the earth god Geb and the sky goddess Nut. Who in turn produced Asar and Aset. However, Geb and Nut not only brought forth one male-female pair but two. Set and Nebthys being the second male-female twins to be brought into creation disturbed the harmonious development of creation. The birth of Set can be looked upon as the birth of confusion.
The birth of Set in itself disturbed the natural process of creation and was said to be irregular in itself. Plutarch said that "Set was born not in due season but with a blow he broke through his mother's side and leaped forth". The pyramid texts continue to provide the idea of Set's chaotic mode of creation by deliberately avoiding the word (msi; to be born) when referencing Set.
One of the more frequently used names for Set is "son of Nut" it is so common that no further addition is needed as an equivalent to Set. There is no evidence of a link between the two such as the one that exist between Heru and Aset. Set is not depicted as a child god and there is no trace of love on his part for his mother or vice versa. Many Texts cursing Set do not forget to mention that he was rejected by his mother. Due to his untimely birth, he can not stand independently from Nut. He remains a part of his mother as her excrement or her vomit. Asar represents the supreme soul the symbol of the divine higher self. Asar is killed by his brother Set who out of greed and jealousy craved to be the ruler of Kemet and not his brother Asar. It is the tenacity and abundant love Aset has for Asar that compels her to use all of the forces at her disposal to reassemble Asar after his brother dismembered him into fourteen pieces and distributed them all over Kemet. Aset, Nebthys and Djehuti use powerful magix (Heka) to bring Asar back into the realm of the living in order to have Asar impregnate Aset and for her to give birth to Heru an incarnation of his father Asar who will become the central most popular figure in the Asarian resurrection myth. An interesting note to this event is the phallus of Asar being unable to be reattached to his mortal form due to its being eaten by a fish after Set threw it in the Nile river. Djehuti constructed a phallus of gold and by means of magix was able to have it function as the penis and perform the reproductive act. 
During the pregnancy of Aset she is afraid of Set and hides away to protect the unborn Heru and this could be for good reason in that Set being of an untimely birth may cause abortions. In a Turin Papyrus Set states " I am a man of a million cubits, who's name is evil day. As for the day of giving birth or of conceiving, there is no giving birth and trees bear no fruit."
The disorders of Heru and Set
Many references to conflict between Heru and Set. They are given several epithets such as "The two men", "The two Lords", "The two Rivals" as well as "The Two Fighters". As the conflict is only briefly hinted at in religious texts it is difficult to form an accurate idea of the nature of the conflict between these two. The conflict has been confounded from scattered data of Heru and Set doing battle and wounding each other, one losing an eye the other his testicles. The details are not confirmed by more detailed sources such as the Contendings of Heru and Set. There not a word appears about the castration of Set. The religious symbolism of the eye and testicles bear a certain relation to the fight between the two gods. The attribution of homosexual acts between the two gods are mistranslations and misinterpretations by societies in Europe who did not understand the conceptual nature of the Medu Netcher and was bound by their own literal context of the texts. The Greek data tries to explain the eye of Heru becoming small due to sexual abuse by Set. The texts that state the many bites of snakes and scorpions and their venom being the semen of Set. The  Metternich Stele states " A woman comforts the distressed Aset by saying "Heru is protected from the malice of his brother. His followers do not injure him. Look for the reason why this happened, then Heru will live for his mother. Certainly, a scorpion has stung him or an evil snake has bitten him." Aset fears that it is not a common snake or scorpion that has bitten him she cries out " Behold Heru is in distress on account of the venom. The mischief is the deed of his brother." J G Griffiths calls the testicles a symbol of political power and the castration being the loss of sovereignty and had nothing tho do with sexual acts. The testicle symbol is the counterpart to the wd3t-eye of all things good and fruitful in sound and unimpaired condition. Set being connected too impaired testicles embodies the spirit of disorder, as the lord of unbridled forces in nature and civilization. Sexually he is placed as one who does not adhere to boundaries for he does not respect the boundaries of sexual intercourse. In Heru we find the perfected higher self at battle with the chaotic lower self. The myth has been so fragmented and adulterated that it is difficult to derive an intricate sequencing of all of the stories at this time and it would be incredulous to add or take away from its prime objective that is to present the struggle of man's virtues against his desires and that in all a balance must be struck between the higher self in a manner that sets man free from the fetters of set.

to be continued in part II

Maat is Truth

Ma'at
              was realised when justice was effected, and to be just meant to protect the weak from the strong and to accomplish equality (Assmann 1989: 60). The Egyptians used the word in a physical and moral sense and it came to mean “right, true, truth, real, genuine, upright, righteous, just, steadfast”, etc. (Budge 1969: 417) and all these conceptions were represented in Egyptian speech by the single word, ma‛at (Breasted 1934: 142). Perhaps we could add the word “justification” to them, since it seemed to Spangenberg (1991: 278) that Assmann would prefer to translate ma‛at as “justification”, and to refer to those who lived in accordance with ma‛at on an individual political or social level as “justified”.
The state derived authority and stability from the concept of ma‛at. It prevented the oppression of the poor and needy, and so the poor and needy were liberated by ma‛at (Spangenberg 1991: 278).

Righteousness
Ma‛at is usually translated as “truth, justice, order, or righteousness” (Knapp 1988: 103). For the ancient Egyptians, to be the righteous did not involve any moral or ethical idea. On the contrary, wrong actions appeared to them to be behavioural aberrations that impeded human beings from being happy because not conforming to ma‛at brought disharmony and unhappiness (Mancini 2004: 17-18).10

Belief
Ma‛at had a religious, ethical, and moral connection, since it was the guiding principle for all aspects of life and represented the values that all people sought (VerSteeg 2002: 21).
However, contrary to our modern religions based on texts, the Egyptian religion was based upon nature (Mancini 2004: 14) so the concept of ma‛at was not a religious one, as we understand the word “religion” today. Today, such a word implies a belief in something.

MA’AT and the MDW NFR of NEFERTI

By Mukasa Afrika Ma’at
http://www.mukasa.info/

Before you read any further, if you are a serious student of KMT/Nile Valley culture, if you understand that there is deep spiritual meaning behind translating the Mdw Ntr (hieroglyphs of Ancient Egypt), I want to encourage you to read the text entitled the Prophecies of Neferti. I also want to encourage you to study the text – characters, places, meaning, etc. I want to encourage you to get a Mdw Ntr dictionary such as that of Faulkner or Gardiner. When you get this dictionary, you’ll also need a book on the grammar of hieroglyphs. Gardiner’s is a grammar and dictionary combined. Once you have these resources, locate the transliteration and hieroglyphs of the text. This can be found in a number of places online. After you have these resources and you begin to research intensely, you will reach a point in your studies where you will no longer be dependent of the white Egyptologists’ translations to gain insight on the language of your ancestors. You will begin to question the translations of white Egyptologists on this text and the entire body of Nile Valley texts. If you are able to make these steps, you will begin to open a new realm of spiritual meaning from the Mdw Ntr (Divine Speech).

For full version
http://www.mukasa.info/

Khepri ( The Creator )

. . .In one Egyptian creation myth, the sun god Ra takes the form of Khepri, the scarab god who was usually credited as the great creative force of the universe. Khepri tells us,"Heaven and earth did not exist. And the things of the earth did not yet exist. I raised them out of Nu, from their stagnant state. I have made things out of that which I have already made, and they came from my mouth." It seems that Khepri is telling us that in the beginning there is nothing. He made the watery abyss known as Nu, from which he later draws the materials needed for the creation of everything.

. . . . .He goes on to say, "I found no place to stand. I cast a spell with my own heart to lay a foundation inMaat. I made everything . I was alone. I had not yet breathed the god Shu, and I had not yet spit up the goddess Tefnut. I worked alone." We learn that by the use of magic Khepri creates land with its foundation in Maat(law, order, and stability). We also learn that from this foundation many things came into being. At this point in time Khepri is alone. The sun, which was called the eye of Nu, was hidden by the children of Nu. It was a long time before these two deities, Shu and Tefnut were raised out of the watery chaos of their father, Nu. They brought with them their fathers eye, the sun. Khepri then wept profusely, and from his tears sprang men and women. The gods then made another eye, which probably represents the moon. After this Khepri created plants and herbs, animals, reptiles and crawling things. In the mean time Shu and Tefnut gave birth to Geb and Nut, who in turn gave birth to Osiris and Isis, Seth, Nephthys.

Adorations to the Divine in the form of The Rising Sun ( Ra-Khepri )

Ma'at the Goddess of Truth

Why we must build the temples of Ma'at. Is a very informative article written by Mukasa Afrika Ma'at. 

"Today, the children of Afrika have survived colonialism, slavery, and all of the horrors of inhumanity inflicted on our ancestors by invaders, slave traders, and blood thirsty foreigners who came to destroy. We have been shattered as a people in and outside of Afrika. The continental Afrikan may look down on the Afrikan descendent in America with scorn at the history of slavery which we suffered and fought against. However, the continental Afrikan must not forget the history of ancient invasion and the more modern colonial period which Afrikan nations suffered and fought against. Our divisions may conceal a shared history of pain and struggle. There is great need to rebirth the ancient concept of healing known as Ma’at." ~ Mukasa Afrika Ma'at

The Story of Egypt ( The Old Kingdom )

http://afrikantemple.blogspot.com/

The Presentation of Maat

Irynefer and his family before Ptah