September 29, 2005

5:42 p.m.

More Dreams about Ancient Gods

During a self-reiki treatment today I drifted off a few times, and came back once with the phrase, "the god Seth," in my ears. So naturally I looked it up and indeed there was not only an Egyptian god named Seth, but also a third son of Adam. Here are some tidbits about the deity, taken from various articles:

Seth

God of chaos who embodied the principle of hostility if not of outright evil. Seth was usually depicted in human form with a head of indeterminate origin, though said to resemble that of an aardvark. He had a curved snout, erect square-tipped ears, and a long forked tail. Sometimes he was represented in entirely animal form with a body similar to that of a greyhound.

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Often, a pharaoh preparing for war would invoke the spirit of Seth, the god of the unyielding, fierce desert, in order to overpower his enemies.

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We have observed that through some process not thoroughly understood at the present time, the adherents of the older faith had succeeded in reinstating their Deity. The powers of Nature had come to be represented by Typhon Seth. It was the God of Death and of Life, of Destruction and Regeneration. The simoom of the desert and the cold of winter were Seth, as were also the genial powers of Spring. We are informed by various writers that Typhon Seth was feminine. She was the early God of the Jews. In other words, the Jews were formerly worshippers of a female Deity. Jehovah, Iav, was originally female.

(This article goes on to show how the disintegration of Seth's reputation over the centuries contributed to the denigration of women. How about that?)

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Seth is most famous for the fratricide of his brother Osiris and the attempted murder of his brother's son, Horus. Horus survived though and avenged his father's death by ruling all of Egypt and exiling Seth to the desert for all time. ...Seth was never a completely evil figure though. He protected the sun barge of Re, his benefactor during the struggles with Horus, during its nightly journey through the underworld and he fights the snake-like monster Apep. Also, for a short time during the 19th Dynasty respect grew for Seth as he was seen as a god who restrained the forces of the desert. Many pharaohs at this time took Seth's name as a part of their own, with names such at "Seti".

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It sounds like he got a mixed rap, like so many gods. You just don't know what really happened. Other gods get jealous, they slander, they spread rumours. Sure, he ripped out Horus's eye, but he fixed it and gave it back. But there are grudges... Next thing you know, he's the god of chaos and destruction. And I don't know why the pantheon seems to parade so randomly by my dream-door. I also heard another phrase but that search produced nothing.

Off to the band's house now, back on Sunday.