The God(s) Of Egypt, The One and the Many Options

Greetings,

This is mainly for those of you who have worked with the Egytian ntr , but of course anyone who has any insight is urged to reply.

At the end of the 19th C. and beginning of 20th C. when E.A. Wallis Budge was the keeper of Egyptian Antiquities at the British Museum there was a prevailing concept that the Egyptian deities were all personified aspects of the one “true” God. Of course Budge was a product of his time as this theory was also put forth by other leading German and French Egyptologists (Lepsius, Mariette, Pierret,etc.). Outside the realm of academia, this belief also prevailed in the occult circles of the time as a means to reconcile the many gods of the Egyptians with the YHVH of the Judeo-Christian tradition. The thousands of Egyptian deities were interpreted along a similar vein to the multiple names of God in that they represented the plurality through which the One could be comprehended.

Now, more recently Egyptologists (Hornung, Baines, Silverman, Shafer, Lesko, Quirke, etc.) are moving away from this interpretation and see the ntr of the Egyptians as local and regional deifications of the forces of nature. Through syncretism (i.e. Amen + Re = Amen-Re) spurred largely by political reasons these multiple regional gods became more singular through time. There is a slightly sinister overtone to these recent interpretations as they boil down to the human struggle for control and manipulation of the masses through a singular source of power (particularly relevant in the 18th Dynasty). Nonetheless, I'm sure 100 years down the line, people will look at these interpretations as reflective of our own unstable religio-political atmosphere.

Now here is the catch (I’m quoting from Le Page Renouf):

“Throughout the whole range of ancient Egyptian literature, no facts appear to be more certainly proved than these: (1) that the doctrine of one God and that of many gods were taught by the same men; (2) that no inconsistency between the two doctrines was thought of.” (Lectures, p. 92)

Given our modern concepts of God, nothing could be more contradictory…right?

It is, however, a true statement. Whether you look at the Hermopolitan , Heliopolitan, or Memphite cosmologies the various uses of the word ntr (i.e. ‘god’) and epithets in association vary tremendously. In one inscription you may have Amen (Amun) called the “one true hidden God” (in the Judeo-Christian sense) alongside wr-ntrt Isis (the great goddess Isis) and a little further down sps-ntr Wepwawet (the glorious god Wepwawet). The mix and match of singular and plural doctrines of God or gods is of little concern to the Egyptian scribes, or somehow they have managed to reconcile both concepts into something which we cannot entirely grasp.

If you have read this far, and I still have your attention, here are my questions. What are your views on the singular and plural aspects of Egyptian divinities? How do you reconcile these in your Magical workings?

My interest in this is because I am currently working with an Egyptian ntr, and have come to the realization that there is an underlying duality (and even multiplicity) in his nature. He appears to me as one being, but there are moments when he can be two and even three distinct divinities which are somehow still one... or maybe, he is an aspect of the One???

Anyway, do post your thoughts.

F

This post has been edited by Faustopheles: Dec 11 2006, 10:39 PM

Greetings Seraphim and Joseph,

You both seem to agree that the Many can be a reflection of the One, or at least that the many can reflect one. I think I am also in agreement. Good stuff Seraphim pointing out that the Egyptians deified the sunrise, noon, and sunset. Indeed, different aspects of the same one. Joseph, I’m quite fond of your Egregor analogy, which springs an interesting theosophical question. Are each ntr a condensed thought-form of the divine Godhead? Or are they human thought-forms through which we interact with the divine?

I think an Egyptian priest might argue that while the ntr has the power to control events on earth, the priest/magician has the power to control the ntr. So again, does this mean the ntr were emanated from God for man, or created by man to play God? And of course is their a God (a One) for the Egyptians, or is God the totality of the ntr?

Here the Egyptian cosmogonies are not too clear; some ntr (i.e. Osiris, Set, Isis, Nepthys) appear to be early humans somewhat Adam-Eve and Cane-Abel archetypes promoted to gods in later periods. After all Osiris’ tomb was believed to have been at Abydos…why would a god need a tomb? This is also the case with Imhotep, Djoser’s royal architect who is deified in the New Kingdom. And of course there is Pharaoh. Clearly the Egyptians had the power to create their own gods!

But, what about those other ntr, such as Shu, Tefnut, Geb, Re, and others who from their beginnings are the agents responsible for cosmological order? Surely, these cannot be created by man as these are the very forces that bind our universe together. These are perhaps the Egregors of the Creator (i.e Ptah or Atum ) who through speech, breath, or masturbation (depending on the version told) manifest their thoughts and energy into the personified forces of the cosmos.

And now we are left with these Creators themselves, are they the different regional versions of the Godhead? I find it hard to believe that a civilization could have flourished for 3000 years having multiple interpretations of the One…after all, our modern civilizations have only been around for hundreds of years and we are on the verge of destroying one another for this very reason. Perhaps even these ntr are to be understood as aspects of the omnipotent nameless One, condensed into divine thought, divine speech, and divine action to fulfill the role of creator.

All Egyptian creation myths begin with the chaotic primordial waters (Nun), representing the limitless potential of matter. The Hermopolitan cosmogony is perhaps one of the most philosophical in origin as it tries to explain the nature of this chaotic and limitless primordial expanse through eight aspects (four duality pairs). It is the separation of these eight ntr that begins the process of creation. Here there is no One per say, unless the One is the totality of the eight aspects, i.e. the potential for order in the primordial chaos…this seeds a pantheistic interpretation of God (which I find quite alluring). It is perhaps through this approach where we can see how the dual doctrine of many gods and the One God can exist side by side with no contradiction between the two. That is because one is the totality of the other.

What is clear, however, is that the word “gods” does not do the ntr justice- at least our modern conception of the word. It is entirely too simplistic. The Egyptian sources tell us that there are primordial ntr who will themselves into self-creation, there are ntr created by other ntr, and there are ntr created through human worship. In the end one law holds true across the ntr, and that is the efficacy of magic as this is the means through which they create and are created. Anyway, I am rambling… daydreaming of what it would be like to be ancient Egyptian theologian!

Thanks for your responses.

F