This was my favorite temple experience for no other reason than my own attachment/interest in Horus. Horus was the son of Osiris and Isis. The basic story is Osiris was deceived, killed and dismembered by his brother Set (who I am sure evolved into Satan) who spread Osiris’ body parts all over the world. When finding out what happened, his wife Isis searched the heavens and the earth for the pieces of his body. After finding and putting all the pieces together, the sun god Horus was magically conceived. After a long fierce battle Horus defeated Set.
The name Horus is derived from the word Heru which is the name of the Egyptian or Kamitic version of the Tree of Life in the Qabalah. From the word Heru, we get hero, and we get characters such as Hercules, etc. In any mythology, religion or spiritual practice, if you have a character that dies and is resurrected, or through death is brought back in a higher form, he is considered a ‘solar deity’ because he is similar to the sun that rises and sets every day. Consequently, Jesus is considered a solar deity, Dionysus, and Buddha whose was human and became enlightened – the light shining from his soul. Without getting too complex, you can see similarities in other ways, for instance there is a connection between the twelve disciples of Jesus, the twelve tribes of Israel, the twelve labors of Hercules, etc.
Edfu is located on the west bank of the River Nile between Esna and Aswan. The temple of Horus was built in the Ptolemaic Dynasty approximately 237 -57 B.C. If gender identification is possible with temples, I would say that this temple looks more ‘masculine’ than the others. The walls surrounding the temple are approximately 50 feet high and 145 feet wide. The massive size of the temple reflected the prosperity of the dynasty. The outside courtyard of the temple looked like a huge dam. On the outside wall, there is a huge line drawing of Horus in a victorious battle against Set. When you go through the courtyard, you are visited by a huge metallic statue of Horus. Horus is usually represented by a falcon wearing a crown that represents his ruling of Upper Egypt. On one side of the Inner Sanctuary of the temple was a hieroglyph of Alexander the Great drawn as a pharaoh. The priests of the god Ammon declared him the son of Zeus, so he was called Zeus- Ammon.
Inside the vast temple, we did a ritual inside the section known as the Holy of Holies. I remembered when I was a Christian the stories in the Old Testament, where people were struck dead by the presence of the Lord if they entered the Holy of Holies and were not priests. I wondered how much of the Old Testament was influenced by Ancient Egyptian practices. This was the beginning of the expansion of my world view – seeing the connection of all myths, stories and practices. I began to see that there was a continuum of beliefs that are engrained in our collective consciousness that will be there as long as humankind exists. I imagine that 2000 years into the future, we will have these same stories even though the actual mechanisms of the stories may change.
As we surrounded the inner sanctuary, we were about to perform a ritual that was to resurrect the hero within us, the fiery determination to say ‘Yes’ to our lives and to defeat the darkness of fear that would keep us small. We envisioned what we wanted to create in our lives and did a loud, hard dance that represented our victory! We claimed it to be so and so it was!
The name Horus is derived from the word Heru which is the name of the Egyptian or Kamitic version of the Tree of Life in the Qabalah. From the word Heru, we get hero, and we get characters such as Hercules, etc. In any mythology, religion or spiritual practice, if you have a character that dies and is resurrected, or through death is brought back in a higher form, he is considered a ‘solar deity’ because he is similar to the sun that rises and sets every day. Consequently, Jesus is considered a solar deity, Dionysus, and Buddha whose was human and became enlightened – the light shining from his soul. Without getting too complex, you can see similarities in other ways, for instance there is a connection between the twelve disciples of Jesus, the twelve tribes of Israel, the twelve labors of Hercules, etc.
Edfu is located on the west bank of the River Nile between Esna and Aswan. The temple of Horus was built in the Ptolemaic Dynasty approximately 237 -57 B.C. If gender identification is possible with temples, I would say that this temple looks more ‘masculine’ than the others. The walls surrounding the temple are approximately 50 feet high and 145 feet wide. The massive size of the temple reflected the prosperity of the dynasty. The outside courtyard of the temple looked like a huge dam. On the outside wall, there is a huge line drawing of Horus in a victorious battle against Set. When you go through the courtyard, you are visited by a huge metallic statue of Horus. Horus is usually represented by a falcon wearing a crown that represents his ruling of Upper Egypt. On one side of the Inner Sanctuary of the temple was a hieroglyph of Alexander the Great drawn as a pharaoh. The priests of the god Ammon declared him the son of Zeus, so he was called Zeus- Ammon.
Inside the vast temple, we did a ritual inside the section known as the Holy of Holies. I remembered when I was a Christian the stories in the Old Testament, where people were struck dead by the presence of the Lord if they entered the Holy of Holies and were not priests. I wondered how much of the Old Testament was influenced by Ancient Egyptian practices. This was the beginning of the expansion of my world view – seeing the connection of all myths, stories and practices. I began to see that there was a continuum of beliefs that are engrained in our collective consciousness that will be there as long as humankind exists. I imagine that 2000 years into the future, we will have these same stories even though the actual mechanisms of the stories may change.
As we surrounded the inner sanctuary, we were about to perform a ritual that was to resurrect the hero within us, the fiery determination to say ‘Yes’ to our lives and to defeat the darkness of fear that would keep us small. We envisioned what we wanted to create in our lives and did a loud, hard dance that represented our victory! We claimed it to be so and so it was!
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