Earliest Egyptian Chemical Manuscripts
Edited and Prepared by Prof. Hamed A. Ead
Although Egypt is generally recognized as the mother of chemical and alchemical arts, unfortunately her monuments and literature have left only a few records which explain these arts. Some of these ideas that have been transmitted to us through Greek and Roman sources do not enable us to discriminate between the matter derived from Egypt and the confused interpretation or additions of the early Greek alchemists.
History tells us that about 290 A.D, the Emperor Diocletian passed a decree providing for the destruction of works and ancient books on alchemical arts as well as on gold and silver throughout the empire, so as to prevent the makers of gold and silver from a massing richness which might enable them to organize revolts against the empire. This decree resulted in the disappearance of a mass of literature which doubtless would have furnished us with much insight into the early history of chemicals arts and ideas.
Discovery of the Earliest Egyptian Chemical Manuscripts
Part of the Stockholm Papyrus
Leyden Papyrus and Stockholm Papyrus
Fortunately, there have been saved to our times two important Egyptian works on chemicals processes; the earliest original sources on such subjects discovered at Thebes (South Egypt), and both formed part of a collection of Egyptian papyrus manuscripts written in Greek and collected in the early years of the nineteenth by Johann d’ Anastay, vice-consul of Sweden at Alexandria.
The main part of this collection was sold in 1828 by the collector to the Netherlands government and was deposited in the University of Leyden. In 1885, C. Leemans completed the publication of a critical edition of the texts with a Latin translation of a number of these manuscripts, including both works mentioned above.
It is known as the Papyrus X of Leyden.
The French chemist Marcelin Berhelot who was interested in the history of the early chemistry, subjected this Papyrus to critical analysis and published a translation of his results into French with extensive notes and commentaries.
On the basis of philological and paleographic evidence, he concluded that it dated back to about the end of the Third Century A.D. , however it is manifestly a copy a work previously written, as slight errors evidently due to copyist, are found. That the original is later than the First Century A.D. is certain as it included extracts from the Materia Media of Dioscorides. The work is a collection of chemical recipes and directions for :
Making metallic alloys
Imitations of gold, silver or electrum
Dyeing and other related arts
In 1913 at Upsala, Otto Lagercrantz published the Greek text with a translation into German of a similar Egyptian papyrus ;the "Papyrus Graecus Holmienis." This work like the Leyden manuscript is a collection of recipes for alloys, metal working, dyeing, imitations of precious stones and similar arts. Investigation revealed that this manuscript also came from Swedish vice consul at Alexandria, d’Anastasy, presented by him to the Swedish Academy of Antiquities of Stockholm. Here it slumbered apparently unnoticed until 1906 when it was transferred to the Victoria Museum at Upsala.
Examination and comparison with the Leyden Papyrus made it evident that the new papyrus was not only identical, but in all probability was in part at least written by the same hand. Both papyri were in remarkably well preserved condition. Both gave internal evidence of having been copied from other originals. Berthelot has suggested that the Papyrus X had been preserved in the mummy case of an Egyptian chemist, and Lagercrantz agreed in the opinion and is probably made as deluxe copies for the purpose of being entombed with their former owner in accordance with a common custom of placing in the tomb articles formerly owned or used by the deceased. The two manuscripts were taken together from an interesting collection of laboratory recipes of the kinds which Diocletain ordered destroyed and which apparently were very generally destroyed . The date ascribed to them is about the time of the decree of Diocletain, and it may be presumed that, in the mummy case, they escaped the execution of that decree.
The laboratory manuals from which these copies were made, were written not for public information but for the guidance of the workers. The recipes themselves are often very detailed directions, but often also were hints or suggestions, sometimes elliptical to such an extent as to give no clear idea of the process as carried out.
The Leyedn papyrus compress about seventy five recipes pertaining to the making of alloys, for soldering metals, for coloring the surfaces of metals, for testing the quality of or purify of metals, or for imitating the precious metals.
There are fifteen recipes for writing in gold or silver in imitation of gold and silver writing. There are eleven recipes for dyeing stuffs in purple or other colors. The last eleven paragraphs are extracts from the Materia Medica of Dioscorides, relating to the minerals or materials used in the processes involved.
Berthelot notes that the artisan who used these notes while a practical worker in metals, especially the metals used by the jewelers, seemed to be a stranger to the arts of enamels and of artificial gems.
It is, therefore, of great interest to discover that the Stockholm papyrus supplements the Leyden recipes in this direction. The Stockholm manuscript contains in all about a hundred and fifty recipes.
Of these, only nine deal metals and alloys, while over sixty relate to dyeing and about seventy to the production of artificial gems. Some ten others deal with the whitening of off-color pearls or the making of artificial pearls.
It has been noticed that there is practically only a duplication of recipes contained in each of the manuscripts, and very similar recipes occur in both. The recipes in both are empirical with no evidences of any occult theories, nor any of that obscurity of language which is so characteristic of the later alchemists.
The parts dealing with the metals are largely with the metals are largely concerned with transmutation of gold, silver or electrum from cheaper materials, or with giving an external or superficial colour of gold or silver to cheaper metal. There seems to be no self -deception in these matters. On the contrary, there are often claims that the product will answer the usual tests for genuine products, or that they will deceive even the artisans. The vocabulary of materials used is practically that of Dioscorides, with few changes in the meaning used of such terms as are used by him, although at times the Latin equivalence of Vitruvius and Pliny have been employed.
There is little to be found in these manuscripts which suggests that there has been less specifically described by them, but the papyri in the more definite and detailed directions they give, throw a very interesting light upon the somewhat limited fields of industrial chemistry, of which they treat.
Examples will best serve to illustrate the character of the recipes and of the knowledge of practical chemistry which underlines them.
The following are some selections of the Papyrus of Leyden, as found in the previously mentioned translation of Berhelot:
Manufacture of asem (electrum)
Tin, 12 drachmas; quicksilver, 4 drachmas; earth of Chios, 2drachmas. To the melted tin add the powdered earth, then add the mereury, stir with an iron, and put it into use. (This, then, is a tin amalgam intended to give the appearance of asem or silver. The earth of Chios as described by Pliny appears to have been a white clay. Pliny says it was used by women as a cosmetic.)
The doubling (diplosis) of asem
Take refined copper (chalchos) 40 drachmas, asem 8 drachmas, button tin 40 drachmas. The copper is first melted and after two heatings the tin and finally the asem is added. When all is softened, remelt several times and cool by means of the preceding composition. Clean with coupholith(tale or selenite according to Berthelot). The tripling (triplosis)is effected by the same process, the weights being proportioned in conformity with what has been directed above.(This recipe would yield a pale yellow bronze containing mercury if ,as seems probable.)
Purification of tin
Liquid pitch and bitumen, one part of each. Throw it on and melt and stir. Of dry pitch 20 drachmas, bitumen12 drachmas. ( This is manifestly a process of obtaining an unoxidized clean tin for further use.)
Manufacture of asem
Take soft tin in small pieces, four times purified. Take of it four parts of pure white copper (or bronze "chachos"), and one part of asem. Melt and after casting, clean several times and make what you will with it. This will be asem of the first quality which will deceive even the artisans. (Copper was whitened by the ancients sometimes by alloying with arsenic. A recipe in this papyrus gives directions for this whitening of copper.)
Augmentation of gold
To augment gold, take Tracian cademia, make the mixture with the cademia in crusts; or cademia of Gaul misy and sinopian red, equal parts to that of gold. When the gold has been put into the furnace and has become of good color, throw in these two ingredients and removing (the gold) let it cool and the gold will be doubled.
(Cademia, it will be remembered, is the impure zinc oxide, containing sometimes lead and copper oxides, from the furnaces in which brass was smelted. Misy was the partly oxidized iron or coper pyrites, essentially basic sulphates of iron and copper. Synoppian red was haematite. This mixture, assuming the reducing action of the fuel in the furnace, or of any other reducing agent not specified in the recipe would yield an alloy of gold and zinc, with some copper and perhaps some lead.)
To make asem
Carefully purify lead with pitch and bitumen, or tin as well; mix cademia and litharge in equal parts with the lead. Stir till the mixture becomes solid. It can be used like natural asem. [Reduction in the furnace must here also assumed. The soft white alloy so obtained must have been a cheap and poor substitute for electrum or silver.]
Preparation of chrysocolla ( solder for gold)
The solder for gold is prepared thus; Copper of Cyprus 4 parts, asem 2 parts, gold 1 part. The copper is melted first, then the asem and finally the gold. [It will be recalled that the term "chrysocolla" was applied also to malachite, verdigris and copper acetate, all of these being used for soldering gold.]
To determine the purity of tin
Having melted it, place paper (papyrus) underneath it and pour it out. [If the paper is scorched the tin contains lead.]
To make asem black as obsidian
Asem, 2parts, lead, 4 parts. Place in an earthen vessel, throw on it a triple weight of native sulphur, and having put into the furnace, melt. After withdrawing from the furnace, beat and make what you will. If you wish to make figured objects of beaten or cast metal, polish and cut it. It does not rust.
[This process yields a metallic mass blackened with sulphides of lead and similar to the black silver bronze as described by Pliny.]
To give objects of copper the appearance of gold, so that neither the feel, nor rubbing on the touchstone can detect it, to serve especially for a ring of fine appearance.
Gold and lead are reduced to fine powder like flour, 2 parts lead to 1 of gold. When mixed, they are mixed with gum and the ring covered with this mixture and heated. The operation is repeated several times till the article has taken the color. It is difficult to detect because rubbing gives the mark or ("scratch") of a genuine article, and the heat consumes the lead and not the gold.
[This is an interesting process of gold plating by using lead instead of mercury, the lead being oxidized and volatilized in the heating.]
Test for purity of gold
Re-melt and heat it. If pure, it keeps its color after heating, and remains like a coin. If it becomes whiter, it contains silver, if it becomes rough and hard, it contains copper and tin, if it softens and blackens, it contains lead.
To gild silver in a durable way
Take quicksilver and gold leaf, making to the consistency of wax. Clean the vase with alum, and taking a little of the waxy material spread it on the vase with the polisher and let it stand to fix. Do this 5 times. Take the vase with a linen cloth so that it be not soiled, and removing it from the coals, prepare ashes, smooth with the polisher and use it as a gold vase. It will stand the test for real gold.
[ The recipes for writing with letters of gold vary much according to the material upon which they were to be applied, as also with respect to their relative durability.]
To write in letters of gold
Take quicksilver, pour it into a suitable vase and add gold leaf. When the gold appears dissolved in the quicksilver, shake well, add a little gum, one grain for example, and letting it stand, write in letters of gold.
Cheaper imitations of gold writings were also used as illustrated in the following:
Orpiment of gold color, 20 drachmas; powdered glass, 4 staters; or white of egg, 2 staters; white gum, 20 staters; safran…. After writing let it dry and polish with a tooth.
[An animal’s tooth used by jewelers for polishing up till now. In other recipes, the yellow or gold color is obtained by sulphur mixed with gum; the "bile of the tortoise," or of the calf, "very bitter," serves also for the color. These maybe secret trade names for some substances of different character.]
Dyeing Processes in Leyden and Stockholm Papyri
The processes of dyeing are treated much more fully in the Swedish papyrus than in the Leyden one, and can better be discussed in connection with that work. Here you will find a comparison of dyeing processes in both papri***:
Leyden papyrus
Preparation of purple: Break in small pieces Phrygian Stone; bring to a boil and having immersed the wool, leave it till becomes cool, then throwing into the vessel 1mina of algae, boil and throw in the wool and letting cool, wash it in sea- water to purple coloration. The Phyrygian stone is roasted before breaking.
Stockholm papyrus
Purple-Roast and boil Phrygian stone. Let the wool stay in till cold. Then take it out; put into another vessel orseille (sea-wood or algae) and amranth, on emina of each, boil and let the wool cool in it. ***It is a pretty evidence(as Berthelot said) that the two recipes are practically the same, the first one helps us to understand the other.
Phrygian Stone
It is considered by Berthelot probably to have been an alunite, or basic sulphate of aluminium and potassium.
While Pliny describes it as a porous stone resembling pumice which is saturated with wine and then calcined at red heat and quenched in sweet wine-the operation is three times repeated.
Its only use is in dyeing cloths
The algae used are manifestly the source of the dyestuff were probably lichens such as were formerly much used and which yield the dyestuff called archil or orseille.
The notes on dyeing form an important part of the Stockholm papyrus, and furnish more specific information as to methods and materials employed than any other source of information as to the dyeing processes in use in Egypt in ancient times.
The recipes are almost exclusively devoted to the dyeing of wool. The colors range from purple and reds to rose, yellow, green, and blue, though the greater number of recipes have to do with purple.
That term with the ancients, includes deep red and even red brown as well as purples proper.
Hints for testing the quality of dyestuffs
Woad should be heavy and dark blue if good, if light and whitish, it is not good.
Syrian Kermes -crush those which are best colored and lightest, those which are black or spotted white are bad. Rub up with soda and dissolve the fine colored.
Rub up the best colored madder and so make the test. Purple colored and fast orseille is purple snail-colored, but the white spotted and the black is not good.
When you rub up very fine colored orseille take and hold it in your hand.(A rough color test on palm of the hand )
Alum must be moist and very white, but that which contains saltness is not fit.
Of "flowers of copper" that fit for use should be either dark blue, a very green leek-color or in general possess a very fine color (Flowers of copper, the flos aeris of pliny, seems generally to be used for the copper oxide)
Methods For Whitening Pearls
Method 1:
If the pearls have a brownish tint as if smoked, it is directed to make a solution of honey in water, to add fig roots pounded f, and to boil down the mixture. Spread it on the pearls as and let it harden, then remove it and wipe off with a linen cloth. If the pearls are not yet white, repeat the process.
Method 2:
Mordant or roughen the pearls by letting them stand in the "urine of a young boy" then covering them with "alum" and let what remains of the mordant dry. They are then put into an earthen vessel with "quicksilver" and "fresh bitch’s milk" . Everything was then heated together, the process being regulated . It was cautioned to apply the fuel externally and to maintain a gentle fire .
Notice: lippmann suggested that "quicksilver" above mentioned cannot be mercury, but was probably some finely divided substance of pearly or silvery character, calculated to give the pearly luster .
**A curious method given for whitening a pearl is that of causing it to be swallowed by a cock, afterwards killing the cock and recovering the pearl, "when it will be found to be white."
Method of making Artificial Pearls:
one recipe of the Swedish papyrus that gives the earliest account of methods of making artificial pearls is as follows: Mordant or roughen crystal in the urine of a young boy and powdered alum, then dip it in "quicksilver" and woman’s milk.
The word "crystal" often meant with the ancient quartz crystal, but it is very evident that with the authors of these notes the term was used in a more comprehensive sense to include other transparent or translucent stones. This use is very evident in the many recipes for imitation of precious stones, where the processes involve a degree of porosity or absorbed power towards colored solutions not possessed either by quartz crystal or by glass, while certain agents, micas, alabasters or other stones possess this property . In case of the above recipe, it is doubtful whether any such mordanting would in a reasonable time roughen the surface of real quartz adequately. The "quicksilver" here mentioned is evidently the same substance of pearly luster previously referred to.
A more elaborate process for making artificial pearls is the following, suggesting the modern "Roman Pearls." : "Take a stone easily pulverized, as glimmer, and pulverize it. Take gum tragacanth and soften it f or ten days in cow’s milk. When it is soften, dissolve it till it becomes thick like glue. Melt Tyrrhenian wax. Take also the white of an egg and "quicksilver." There must be two parts of "quicksilver" and three parts of stone, but all of other materials one Part each. Mix (the stone and wax), and knead the mixture with the "quicksilver." Soften the paste in the solution of gum and the contents of the egg.
Mix in this way the whole liquid with the paste. Then make the pearls which you wish according to pattern. The paste will soon be like stone. Make deep round impressions and bore them while moist. Let the pearls solidify and polish them well. Treated as they should be, they will excel the natural.
Trade Names of Materials Used in the Recipes
The use of the trade names for the purpose of concealing the character of the substance used where secrecy seemed desirable was not unknown at that period.
There is a passage in Leyden papyrus concerning this and says that: " Interpretation drawn from the sacred writers employ for the purpose of putting at fault the curiosity of the vulgar. The plants and other things which they make use of for the images of the gods have been designated by them in such a way that for lack of understanding they perform a vain labor in following a false path. But we have drawn the interpretation of much of the description and hidden meanings." The secret names as the later alchemists used extensively: "blood of the serpent," "blood of Hephaistos," "blood of Vesta," "blood of lion," "blood of Hercules," "bone of the phyasimian," etc. . It is very probable that the term "quicksilver" in the preceding recipe takes its name from a similarity in appearance rather than from the deliberate attempt to mystify, for those recipes are for the artisan himself, not for the public, but it is also possible that some special constituents of these recipes were intentionally so named as to avoid advertising unnecessarily the more valuable secrets of their business.
The "blood of the dragon’ for the red resin of the ptreocarpusdraco is doubtless a surviving remnant of the fanciful names used for mystification. The Swedish papyrus has a few other names of the same character, though in general its vocabulary is plain and direct. Thus the Greek word for garlic is used to designate human feces, sometimes used in mordanting wool . The manuscript itself gives this translation .
The term "blood of the dove" used in the papyrus, Von Lhppmann has identified from other sources as meaning red lead or sometimes cinnabar.
KEMETIC SCIENCE
Positive Progress Through The Benevolent Use Of Knowledge
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Monday, March 30, 2009
African knowledge on video- Einstein relativity linking Dongon of Mali knowledge of the solar system and more
Spirit of Sankofa writes......
Em-Hotep*
Watching ancient knowledge by venue of video, can make learning a little more interesting. Especially, for those of us that enjoy reading about it.
So let take advantage of every option out there.
Enjoy these are a selection of great videos pack with knowledge.
Know ThySelf!
-----------
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3QZhQ-mrkE&feature=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaqudrS0o-I&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8UHeE9Riqw&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e13LSzOeG1U&feature=related
Em-Hotep*
Watching ancient knowledge by venue of video, can make learning a little more interesting. Especially, for those of us that enjoy reading about it.
So let take advantage of every option out there.
Enjoy these are a selection of great videos pack with knowledge.
Know ThySelf!
-----------
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3QZhQ-mrkE&feature=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaqudrS0o-I&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8UHeE9Riqw&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e13LSzOeG1U&feature=related
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Ma'at, Goddess of Truth, Balance, Order....
Spirit of Sankofa writes.........
This is one of the most important deity's of the Egyptian mind-set. This particular Goddess represented universal "Harmony". In fact she was Harmony! If she wouldn't have existed the world would be in total chaos.. Ma'at was the solid reason the sun rised, the earth's movement. Without Ma'at there would be no balance. In other words...the ying yang of life.
"Know Thyself"
----------------
Ma'at, Goddess of Truth, Balance, Order...
Ma'at, Symbol of Order
Ma'at, unlike Hathor and Nephthys, seemed to be more of a concept than an actual goddess. Her name, literally, meant 'truth' in Egyptian. She was truth, order, balance and justice personified. She was harmony, she was what was right, she was what things should be. It was thought that if Ma'at didn't exist, the universe would become chaos, once again!
Ma'at was a solid ground of reality.
For the Egyptian believed that the universe was above everything else an ordered and rational place. It functioned with predictability and regularity; the cycles of the universe always remained constant; in the moral sphere, purity was rewarded and sin was punished. Both morally and physically, the universe was in perfect balance. Because of Ma'at, the Egyptians knew that the universe, that everything in the universe, worked on a pattern, just as, later on, the Greeks called the underlying order of the universe logos (meaning, order, pattern).
"In the beginning was the logos *, and the logos * was with God and the logos * was God." - John 1:1 * Logos was the 'Word', another name for Jesus.
Egypt, then, was seen to be nothing without Ma'at.
Ma'at was reality, the solid grounding of reality that made the Sun rise, the stars shine, the river flood and mankind think. The universe itself, all the world around them, was sacred in the ancient view. "Ethics" is an issue of human will and human permission. It is a function of the human world of duality. What is "ethical" for one group is sin for another. But Ma'at, the reality that made all groups what they are is transcendent of ethics, just as a rock or a flower is amoral, a-ethical, without "truth or falsehood." How can a flower be "false" or "ethical." It just is. How can the universe be "ethical or moral, right or wrong"? It simply is. That is Ma'at. Despite being a winged goddess (like Nephthys ), she was judge at the Egyptian underworld at the Halls of Ma'ati or Halls of the Double Ma'at .
The dead person's heart was placed on a scale, balanced by Ma'at herself, or by the Feather of Ma'at (her symbol that she wore on her head was an ostrich feather).
Thoth (god of writing and scribes) weighed the heart... if the deceased had been found to not have followed the concept of ma'at during his life (if he had lied or cheated or killed or done anything against ma'at) his heart was devoured by a demon (she was called Ammut - Devouress of the Dead) and he died the final death. If the heart weighed the same as Ma'at, the deceased was allowed to go on to the afterlife.
In life, it was the pharaohs' duty to uphold ma'at. "I have done Ma'at" has been spoken by several pharaohs, as well as being called "beloved of Ma'at".
The ruler who forcibly emphasizes his adherence to Maat on his monuments in Akhenaten — the very king whom later pharaohs considered to have deviated immensely from her laws. Ma'at, as would be logical, was also was the justice meeted out in ancient Egyptial law courts. It is likely that a "Priest of Ma'at" referred to people who were involved in the justice system, as well as being priests of the goddess herself.
There is a small temple dedicated to Ma'at (in ruins) at Karnak. The temple is inside Precinct of Montu, the smallest of three enclosures at Karnak. The temple seems to have been built by Hatshepsut , then reconstructed by Thuthmose III. You can see a computer reconstruction of Ma'at's temple at http://www.ifrance.com/homann/t3maatec.jpg .
Ma'at did not exist until Ra rose from the waters of Nun (various gods and goddesses of Chaos). She was known as a Neter goddess, and as such, was described as a daughter of Ra. But without Ma'at, Egyptians believed that Nun would reclaim the universe. She was also thought to be the wife of Thoth, moon god and god of the wisdom.
She was, really, the most important deity of them all.
Em-Hotep!
Translated - Welcome in Peace*
This is one of the most important deity's of the Egyptian mind-set. This particular Goddess represented universal "Harmony". In fact she was Harmony! If she wouldn't have existed the world would be in total chaos.. Ma'at was the solid reason the sun rised, the earth's movement. Without Ma'at there would be no balance. In other words...the ying yang of life.
"Know Thyself"
----------------
Ma'at, Goddess of Truth, Balance, Order...
Ma'at, Symbol of Order
Ma'at, unlike Hathor and Nephthys, seemed to be more of a concept than an actual goddess. Her name, literally, meant 'truth' in Egyptian. She was truth, order, balance and justice personified. She was harmony, she was what was right, she was what things should be. It was thought that if Ma'at didn't exist, the universe would become chaos, once again!
Ma'at was a solid ground of reality.
For the Egyptian believed that the universe was above everything else an ordered and rational place. It functioned with predictability and regularity; the cycles of the universe always remained constant; in the moral sphere, purity was rewarded and sin was punished. Both morally and physically, the universe was in perfect balance. Because of Ma'at, the Egyptians knew that the universe, that everything in the universe, worked on a pattern, just as, later on, the Greeks called the underlying order of the universe logos (meaning, order, pattern).
"In the beginning was the logos *, and the logos * was with God and the logos * was God." - John 1:1 * Logos was the 'Word', another name for Jesus.
Egypt, then, was seen to be nothing without Ma'at.
Ma'at was reality, the solid grounding of reality that made the Sun rise, the stars shine, the river flood and mankind think. The universe itself, all the world around them, was sacred in the ancient view. "Ethics" is an issue of human will and human permission. It is a function of the human world of duality. What is "ethical" for one group is sin for another. But Ma'at, the reality that made all groups what they are is transcendent of ethics, just as a rock or a flower is amoral, a-ethical, without "truth or falsehood." How can a flower be "false" or "ethical." It just is. How can the universe be "ethical or moral, right or wrong"? It simply is. That is Ma'at. Despite being a winged goddess (like Nephthys ), she was judge at the Egyptian underworld at the Halls of Ma'ati or Halls of the Double Ma'at .
The dead person's heart was placed on a scale, balanced by Ma'at herself, or by the Feather of Ma'at (her symbol that she wore on her head was an ostrich feather).
Thoth (god of writing and scribes) weighed the heart... if the deceased had been found to not have followed the concept of ma'at during his life (if he had lied or cheated or killed or done anything against ma'at) his heart was devoured by a demon (she was called Ammut - Devouress of the Dead) and he died the final death. If the heart weighed the same as Ma'at, the deceased was allowed to go on to the afterlife.
In life, it was the pharaohs' duty to uphold ma'at. "I have done Ma'at" has been spoken by several pharaohs, as well as being called "beloved of Ma'at".
The ruler who forcibly emphasizes his adherence to Maat on his monuments in Akhenaten — the very king whom later pharaohs considered to have deviated immensely from her laws. Ma'at, as would be logical, was also was the justice meeted out in ancient Egyptial law courts. It is likely that a "Priest of Ma'at" referred to people who were involved in the justice system, as well as being priests of the goddess herself.
There is a small temple dedicated to Ma'at (in ruins) at Karnak. The temple is inside Precinct of Montu, the smallest of three enclosures at Karnak. The temple seems to have been built by Hatshepsut , then reconstructed by Thuthmose III. You can see a computer reconstruction of Ma'at's temple at http://www.ifrance.com/homann/t3maatec.jpg .
Ma'at did not exist until Ra rose from the waters of Nun (various gods and goddesses of Chaos). She was known as a Neter goddess, and as such, was described as a daughter of Ra. But without Ma'at, Egyptians believed that Nun would reclaim the universe. She was also thought to be the wife of Thoth, moon god and god of the wisdom.
She was, really, the most important deity of them all.
Em-Hotep!
Translated - Welcome in Peace*
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Lotus Flower- Symbol of Purity and Great Beauty.
Lotus Flower - Symbol of Purity and Great Beauty!
What makes the lotus flower so special?
The lotus flower is one of the most ancient and deepest symbols of our planet. The lotus flower grows in muddy water and rises above the surface to bloom with remarkable beauty. At night the flower closes and sinks underwater, at dawn it rises and opens again. Untouched by the impurity, lotus symbolizes the purity of heart and mind. The lotus flower represents long life, health, honor and good luck.
The lotus (Sanskrit and Tibetan padma) is one of the Eight Auspicious Symbols and one of the most poignant representations of Buddhist teaching.
The roots of a lotus are in the mud, the stem grows up through the water, and the heavily scented flower lies pristinely above the water, basking in the sunlight. This pattern of growth signifies the progress of the soul from the primeval mud of materialism, through the waters of experience, and into the bright sunshine of enlightenment.
Though there are other water plants that bloom above the water, it is only the lotus which, owing to the strength of its stem, regularly rises eight to twelve inches above the surface.
According to the Lalitavistara, "the spirit of the best of men is spotless, like the lotus in the muddy water which does not adhere to it."
According to another scholar, "in esoteric Buddhism, the heart of the beings is like an unopened lotus: when the virtues of the Buddha develop therein, the lotus blossoms; that is why the Buddha sits on a lotus bloom."
The lotus is one of Buddhism's best recognized motifs and appears in all kinds of Buddhist art across all Buddhist cultures. Scrolling lotuses often embellish Buddhist textiles, ceramics and architecture.
Every important Buddhist deity is associated in some manner with the lotus, either being seated upon a lotus in full bloom or holding one in their hands. In some images of standing Buddhas, each foot rests on a separate lotus.
The lotus does not grow in Tibet and so Tibetan art has only stylized versions of it, yet it appears frequently with Tibetan deities and among the Eight Auspicious Symbols.
The color of the lotus has an important bearing on the symbology associated with it:
White Lotus (Skt. pundarika; Tib. pad ma dkar po): This represents the state of spiritual perfection and total mental purity (bodhi). It is associated with the White Tara and proclaims her perfect nature, a quality which is reinforced by the color of her body.
Pink Lotus (Skt. padma; Tib. pad ma dmar po): This the supreme lotus, generally reserved for the highest deity. Thus naturally it is associated with the Great Buddha himself.
Red Lotus (Skt. kamala; Tib: pad ma chu skyes): This signifies the original nature and purity of the heart (hrdya). It is the lotus of love, compassion, passion and all other qualities of the heart. It is the flower of Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of compassion.
Blue Lotus (Skt. utpala; Tib. ut pa la): This is a symbol of the victory of the spirit over the senses, and signifies the wisdom of knowledge. Not surprisingly, it is the preferred flower of Manjushri, the bodhisattva of wisdom.
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The lotus flower appeared in legends originating from ancient Egypt. It played an important part in ancient Egyptian religion. The pure white lotus flower, the only plant to fruit and flower simultaneously, emerges from the depths of the muddy swamp. Growing from the mud at the bottom of ponds and streams, the exquisite Lotus flower rises above the water and is usually white or pink with 15 or more oval, spreading petals, and a peculiar, flat seedcase at its center.
Sesen A Lotus Flower. This is a symbol of the sun, of creation and rebirth. Because at night the flower closes and sinks underwater, at dawn it rises and opens again. According to one creation myth it was a giant lotus which first rose out of the watery chaos at the beginning of time. From this giant lotus the sun itself rose on the first day. A symbol of Upper Egypt .The lotus flower played a prominent role in the version of the creation story that originated in Heliopolis. Before the universe came into being, there was an infinite ocean of inert water which constituted the primeval being named Nun. Out of Nun emerged a lotus flower, together with a single mound of dry land. The lotus blossoms opened, and out stepped the self-created sun god, Atum, as a child. A slightly different version of the creation story originated in Hermopolis. In that version, the sun god who formed himself from the chaos of Nun emerged from the lotus petals as Ra. The lotus is a flower which opens and closes each day. His history went on to say that the petals of the lotus blossom enfolded him when he returned to it each night.
The lotus flower has been featured extensively throughout the art of ancient Egypt. In various works of art, you may see it held in the hand of a god or human, serving as a border to outline a section of the artwork, unfolding to reveal various gods or humans, and many other depictions. The ancient Egyptians from the 4th dynasty greatly valued the sacred lotus, in religious ceremonies and funerals. The ancient Egyptians developed the art of counting to a high degree, but their system of numeration was very crude. For example, the number 1,000 was symbolized by a picture of a lotus flower, and the number 2,000 was symbolized by a picture of two lotus flowers growing out of a bush.
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Lotuses are 5 species of water lilies, three in the genus Nymphaea and two in Nelumbo; both genera are members of the water-lily family, Nymphaea lotus, the Egyptian white lotus, is believed to be the original sacred lotus of ancient Egypt. It and the Egyptian blue lotus, N. caerulea, were often pictured in ancient Egyptian art.
The common Egyptian "lotus" is actually correctly called a water lily: the white lotus opens at dusk, the blue water lilly opens in the morning.
The white lotus is a shallow-water, night-blooming plant with a creeping rootstock (rhizome) that sends up long-stalked, nearly circular, dark green leathery leaves, which float on the surface. The flowers, up to 25 cm (10 in) across, remain open until midday. The blue lotus is a smaller, less showy day-blooming plant.
The Lotus flower has for thousands of years symbolized spiritual enlightenment. Indeed, this flower essence's purpose is to accelerate spiritual evolvement and enhance healing on every level within the system.
The blue lotus was native to the Nile and used to be abundant. Its narrow, pointed petals and round, spotted leaves appear as the more common lotus in every conceivable opportunity for Egyptian artistic imagery. Often the leaf spots are not shown, or even the leaf.
The white lotus' rounded petals appear with round, scalloped edge leaves. The red lotus was introduced to Egypt from Persia in later dynasties.
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The Legend of the Lotus
Because lotuses grow out of the mud pure and clean, like morning dew from Heaven or water in springtime from a flower creek, lotus decorations and designs are everywhere the eye turns.
Chinese poets also use lotus flowers to inspire people to continue striving through difficulties and to show their best part to the outside world, no matter how bad the circumstances may be. This is understood as being just like the lotus flower, bringing beauty and light from the murky darkness at the bottom of the pond.
Another symbolic characteristic of the lotus flower leads from the observation that the plant's stalk is easy to bend in two, but is very hard to break because of its many strong sinuous fibres. Poets use this to represent a close unbreakable relationship between two lovers or the members within a family, showing that no matter how far away they might live nothing can really separate them in heart.
In Buddhism the lotus flower symbolizes faithfulness. The golden lotus that is mentioned in Buddhist sutras has two meanings, one is the symbol for the achievement of enlightenment and the other points towards a real flower which is beyond our normal perception.
The influence of a lotus flower painting is to open us up to beauty and light. A good lotus flower painting can act as a reminder of the miracle of beauty, light and life. This reminder, communicated on an emotional level, is said to aid both spiritual and practical understanding of Tao, the world and our place in it.
Chinese poets also use lotus flowers to inspire people to continue striving through difficulties and to show their best part to the outside world, no matter how bad the circumstances may be. This is understood as being just like the lotus flower, bringing beauty and light from the murky darkness at the bottom of the pond.
Lotuses are perhaps the most spectacular plants in aquatic environments. The Chinese say that, once having seen the growing lotus, you never forget it. The lotus flowers have color from red, pink, pale yellow to creamy white. A separate, long, tubular stalk supports each flower and each large round leaf.
The sacred Lotus, Nelumbo nucifera, is an extreme important spiritual symbol in Eastern religions. It represents purity, divine wisdom, and the individual's progress from the lowest to the highest state of consciousness.
Seeded in muddy waters, the lotus rises above the mud and produces beautiful and fragrant flowers. The big showy bloom may be 8-12 inches (20-30 cm) in diameter. The flowers open for just three days. Then each petal falls silently into the water, one by one, at a short period. The large green seed head or pod remains on the top of the stalk for a long time, and gradually turning to dark color and ripe. The seeds impeded in the cone-shape pod with flat surface at the top. The pod then reverts to the water, where it floats face down, allowing seeds to take hold in the mud. The seeds then germinate in the following Spring and give rise to new lotus plants.
All parts of lotus are edible. The immature seeds can be eaten raw or cooked, they have chestnut like flavor. Ripe seeds are roasted and ground into flour, or boiled to extract oil. Lotus roots produce starchy tubers and have the flavor of sweet potato. The young, unrolled leaves are cooked as a vegetable.
Lotus seeds have very hard, impermeable seed coats, and can remain viable for very long time. Sacred Lotus seeds, the most long-lived of all angiosperm seeds, have been known to germinate after more than 400 years! American Lotus (Nelumbo lutea) can germinate after a dormancy of 200 years, and recently, lotus seeds of 1,200 years from China had been germinated! What's an incredible plant!
Bright blooms from the muck
"Purity, trustworthiness, the Buddha, the virtuous man: these are what the lotus signifies," writes Huang Yung-chuan, assistant director of the National Museum of History, in his book Chinese Flower Arranging. Buddhism came to China in the Wei and Jin dynasties, at which time the lotus, which had been simply a source of food, became a symbol for purity and the subject of many poems.
"Bathing in the clear water of the spiritual pond, the lotus' roots dig deep into the soil." For the literati, the lotus represented distancing oneself from vulgarity. It was a metaphor that related to contemporary utopian notions, but was surely connected as well to the Buddhist ideal of "keeping apart from the world, like the lotus."
"My Love for the Lotus" by the Song scholar Zhou Dun-yi has exerted an influence on the Chinese down to the present. In this essay, the lotus is compared to a man of great virtue for being able to live in muck without being tainted by it. Qian Zhong-shu, a Republican-era writer, wrote that Zhou's "inspirations" stemmed from Buddhist ideas.
Buddhism explores how to transcend the troubles of human existence, to leave behind the sea of pain, the house of fire that is human existence. Becoming Buddha-like is the highest ideal. Out of the muck the lotus springs forth beautiful blooms, much as Buddhas free themselves from worldly worries. In the Middle Works of Hinayana Sutra, the Buddha says, "In this way the human heart doesn't give rise to evil desires or evil thoughts. It's like the blue, red and white lotuses that grow in the water but bear no water."
Chinese literati believe that a lotus is a pure world unto itself in which both body and soul are clean. According to the book Jian Nan Shi Gao, when the Song dynasty poet Lu Yu was 78 years old, he once dreamt that an ancient spoke to him: "I am the lotus scholar and responsible for the mirror lake," he said. "But now I am leaving, and I was wondering if you could take my place minding the moonlight, wind and dew and protecting the lotuses?
Every month you will receive 1000 jugs of wine in payment." Afterwards Lu couldn't forget this beautiful dream. A few years later, when he was very ill, he had another dream in which he walked amid 10,000 acres of lotus flowers. Lu's dreams can be said to combine Buddhist, Confucian and Taoist elements.
Muck is a field of blessing
In comparison to the literati's notions about not getting tainted by the mud, the Buddhist description of the lotus leaving the muck has even broader meaning.
Mahayana Buddhism stresses finding a release from worldly affairs while in the world, taking the path of a bodhisattva amid the five filths of the world. The bodhisattvas take the human masses as their "field of blessing"-the muck is luck, evil is good, pollution is purity and no clear dichotomies can be made. Hence, Mahayana Buddhism stresses the idea that "this flower doesn't grow in the highlands but rather it blooms in the vile swamps." The root and flower merge into one, in which there is no distinction between pollution and purity.
Apart from pursuing inner cultivation, meditation and deep thought, experiencing muck is also a form of cultivation, for it tests one's ability to endure misfortune and to sacrifice. Only by going to hell and being tempered by fire there, can one rise to religious exaltation and radiate the brightest and most beautiful light.
Collectively, the numerous different descriptions of the lotus are fitting, in that each lotus bloom is a magnificent world in itself. It is quite natural that images of the lotus are everywhere to be found in Buddhist lands.
In one of the Dunhuang Caves, you can find yourself surrounded on four sides by the petals of a giant lotus decoration, in which one peaceful Buddha after another sits in front of its own huge lotus petal. Since lotus petals and leaves have unusual shapes, you can always tell when a lotus flower is being depicted no matter if it has been stretched long, pressed flat, or molded into a square. Apart from actual representations of lotus flowers, petals and leaves, the ways gourds, dahlias, pomegranates and a variety of other fruits were depicted "were all adaptations and extensions of lotus designs," notes Lu.
White flowers from heaven
When Chan (Zen) Buddhism bloomed in China, the lotus did not lose stature, but Buddhist art became more subdued, and the use of color in depictions of the lotus declined. After the Song dynasty, folk culture grabbed hold of the lotus with gusto, giving it symbolic meaning that was no longer purely religious.
In mass-produced art works, fat babies danced while holding lotus leaves or lotus flowers. These were used in the hope that people would give birth to several boys in succession (a Chinese character meaning "one after another" is a homonym for the character meaning lotus). And the lotus leaves provide protection for goldfish under them, which to the Chinese symbolize abundance year after year. In the folk uses of lotus flowers it is often hard to discern whether there is any connection to religious belief. For instance, in the Tang dynasty one Buddhist deity was depicted as a baby holding a lotus flower and laughing. On a festival for unmarried women on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, children would come out onto the city streets and imitate him. Is this deity somehow connected to the idea that lotuses would help mothers produce boys?
"Chinese flower arranging also has roots in the Northern Dynasties' Buddhist 'flower offering' ceremony," writes Huang Yung-chun, assistant director of the National Museum of History.
Down to the present, even if Chinese don't understand the Lotus Sutra or lotus-related Zen esoterica, they will surely know that you light lotus lanterns on the Ghost Festival and that Songzi Niangniang allowed the Gold Boy and Jade Girl to get on a lotus and float to the world of men. In which case it's not hard to imagine that a small lotus pedestal can remove bad karma, direct souls of the deceased to proceed with reincarnation, and help cultivate one's inner spirit.
Purity, not fragrance and beauty
Nitpicking botanists might note that a lot of the explanations Buddhists have for the lotus are now far removed from the realities of the living ecology. When the lotus flowers, its ovule, cupule and shape are beginning to form but are not fully mature. This entomophilous flower requires insects to gather pollen in order for its fruit to ripen, and thus to say that it flowers while bearing fruit is not strictly accurate. Yang Yuan-po, who has researched water plants, says that the unusual platform-like cupule is shaped the way it is to attract bugs to its pollen, rather than to get human beings to imagine what it would be like to sit on it.
As for the way the lotus and the water lily close up, nimosa grass does the same thing. Chen Chin-yuan, a graduate student in the department of horticulture at National Taiwan University, says that flowers close up to make it easier for the plants to control their inner circulation of water, so as to avoid being affected by the weather, the humidity or even being touched by people.
The Diamond Sutra urges people to "cultivate the heart of a Buddha, by living nowhere." Hence, don't clutch tight to phenomena of this world and to things you are not supposed to desire.
Letting go of the lotus pedestal to find enlightenment is similar to the idea that you can only get to land by leaving your boat!
The Lotus Effect (the lotus flower's physical properties).
Author: Hans Christian Von Baeyer
January, 2000
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THE LOTUS FLOWER IS REVERnED throughout the world. Its name is actually shared by a number of different plants with blossoms of various colors, but the most celebrated in art and literature is the sacred white lotus of the Hindus: Nelumbo nucifera. Its huge, almond-shaped petals form a shallow bowl around a seedpod that is vaguely reminiscent of the nozzle of a sprinkling can. This magnificent blossom, rising on a tall stalk from a flat base of large, round leaves, is endowed with an exotic aura. In Buddhist tradition, lotus blossoms mark each of the seven steps in ten directions taken, paradoxically, by the newborn Buddha. But without a doubt the color of the lotus--or, more properly, its utter absence of color--a blinding whiteness that speaks of unblemished purity, underlies its magical allure.
The lotus was an important icon in ancient Egypt, the inspiration for the Phoenician capitals that preceded the Ionic order of design, the sacred flower of Hindu religions and the object of the principal mantra of Tibetan Buddhism: om mani padme hum, which means "Hail, jewel in the lotus." Given the mechanical efficiency of prayer wheels that symbolically repeat those words without pause, the lotus may be the most frequently invoked plant in the world. In various parts of the world it has been a symbol of fertility, birth, beauty, sunlight, transcendence, sexuality and the resurrection of the dead. A twelfth-century Sanskrit poem extols Brahma, "the lotus of whose navel forms thus our universe." But above all, the lotus represents purity.
What an enchanting paradox, then, that the lotus grows in muddy waters, emerging from them unblemished and untouched by pollution.
An ancient Indian text refers explicitly to that wonderful quality:
The white lotus, born in the water and grown in the water, rises beyond the water and remains unsoiled by the water.
Thus, monks, the [Buddha], born in the world, grown up in the world, after having conquered the world, remains unsoiled by the world.
The surface of the lotus leaf is covered with a dense layer of pointy little moguls. The botanists had stumbled upon the secret of the lotus. To celebrate their discovery, Barthlott coined the term lotus effect.
To demonstrate the phenomenon dramatically, Barthlott likes to squeeze a droplet of water-soluble liquid glue onto a lotus leaf. He smears the droplet a little with his finger, then steps back to watch.
The glue quickly pulls itself back together, reforming the droplet, and the droplet rolls off the leaf at a stately pace. Not even glue can stick to an area as small as the tip of a microscopic mogul.
Just as impressive is Barthlott's demonstration of the cleaning power of water: when a lotus leaf is covered with a dusting of fine powdered clay, and a drop of water is added, the water rolls downhill, gathering dust as it moves. In its wake is a long, clean path, like the shiny trail of a snail.
SO THERE YOU HAVE IT, THE SECRET of the sacred lotus: its purity derives from its nubbly surface. Is that all?
For me, the opposite is true. When I see a lotus blossom now, or, what is more likely, the leaf of a cauliflower or tulip, I marvel at the ingenuity of nature in bringing forth, after a hundred million years of evolution, such pristine beauty through such an exquisite design. My awareness enhances my appreciation.
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Sources:
www.religionfacts.com
http://www.platinumlotus.com
www.ka-gold-jewelry.com
www.kingtutshop.com
What makes the lotus flower so special?
The lotus flower is one of the most ancient and deepest symbols of our planet. The lotus flower grows in muddy water and rises above the surface to bloom with remarkable beauty. At night the flower closes and sinks underwater, at dawn it rises and opens again. Untouched by the impurity, lotus symbolizes the purity of heart and mind. The lotus flower represents long life, health, honor and good luck.
The lotus (Sanskrit and Tibetan padma) is one of the Eight Auspicious Symbols and one of the most poignant representations of Buddhist teaching.
The roots of a lotus are in the mud, the stem grows up through the water, and the heavily scented flower lies pristinely above the water, basking in the sunlight. This pattern of growth signifies the progress of the soul from the primeval mud of materialism, through the waters of experience, and into the bright sunshine of enlightenment.
Though there are other water plants that bloom above the water, it is only the lotus which, owing to the strength of its stem, regularly rises eight to twelve inches above the surface.
According to the Lalitavistara, "the spirit of the best of men is spotless, like the lotus in the muddy water which does not adhere to it."
According to another scholar, "in esoteric Buddhism, the heart of the beings is like an unopened lotus: when the virtues of the Buddha develop therein, the lotus blossoms; that is why the Buddha sits on a lotus bloom."
The lotus is one of Buddhism's best recognized motifs and appears in all kinds of Buddhist art across all Buddhist cultures. Scrolling lotuses often embellish Buddhist textiles, ceramics and architecture.
Every important Buddhist deity is associated in some manner with the lotus, either being seated upon a lotus in full bloom or holding one in their hands. In some images of standing Buddhas, each foot rests on a separate lotus.
The lotus does not grow in Tibet and so Tibetan art has only stylized versions of it, yet it appears frequently with Tibetan deities and among the Eight Auspicious Symbols.
The color of the lotus has an important bearing on the symbology associated with it:
White Lotus (Skt. pundarika; Tib. pad ma dkar po): This represents the state of spiritual perfection and total mental purity (bodhi). It is associated with the White Tara and proclaims her perfect nature, a quality which is reinforced by the color of her body.
Pink Lotus (Skt. padma; Tib. pad ma dmar po): This the supreme lotus, generally reserved for the highest deity. Thus naturally it is associated with the Great Buddha himself.
Red Lotus (Skt. kamala; Tib: pad ma chu skyes): This signifies the original nature and purity of the heart (hrdya). It is the lotus of love, compassion, passion and all other qualities of the heart. It is the flower of Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of compassion.
Blue Lotus (Skt. utpala; Tib. ut pa la): This is a symbol of the victory of the spirit over the senses, and signifies the wisdom of knowledge. Not surprisingly, it is the preferred flower of Manjushri, the bodhisattva of wisdom.
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The lotus flower appeared in legends originating from ancient Egypt. It played an important part in ancient Egyptian religion. The pure white lotus flower, the only plant to fruit and flower simultaneously, emerges from the depths of the muddy swamp. Growing from the mud at the bottom of ponds and streams, the exquisite Lotus flower rises above the water and is usually white or pink with 15 or more oval, spreading petals, and a peculiar, flat seedcase at its center.
Sesen A Lotus Flower. This is a symbol of the sun, of creation and rebirth. Because at night the flower closes and sinks underwater, at dawn it rises and opens again. According to one creation myth it was a giant lotus which first rose out of the watery chaos at the beginning of time. From this giant lotus the sun itself rose on the first day. A symbol of Upper Egypt .The lotus flower played a prominent role in the version of the creation story that originated in Heliopolis. Before the universe came into being, there was an infinite ocean of inert water which constituted the primeval being named Nun. Out of Nun emerged a lotus flower, together with a single mound of dry land. The lotus blossoms opened, and out stepped the self-created sun god, Atum, as a child. A slightly different version of the creation story originated in Hermopolis. In that version, the sun god who formed himself from the chaos of Nun emerged from the lotus petals as Ra. The lotus is a flower which opens and closes each day. His history went on to say that the petals of the lotus blossom enfolded him when he returned to it each night.
The lotus flower has been featured extensively throughout the art of ancient Egypt. In various works of art, you may see it held in the hand of a god or human, serving as a border to outline a section of the artwork, unfolding to reveal various gods or humans, and many other depictions. The ancient Egyptians from the 4th dynasty greatly valued the sacred lotus, in religious ceremonies and funerals. The ancient Egyptians developed the art of counting to a high degree, but their system of numeration was very crude. For example, the number 1,000 was symbolized by a picture of a lotus flower, and the number 2,000 was symbolized by a picture of two lotus flowers growing out of a bush.
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Lotuses are 5 species of water lilies, three in the genus Nymphaea and two in Nelumbo; both genera are members of the water-lily family, Nymphaea lotus, the Egyptian white lotus, is believed to be the original sacred lotus of ancient Egypt. It and the Egyptian blue lotus, N. caerulea, were often pictured in ancient Egyptian art.
The common Egyptian "lotus" is actually correctly called a water lily: the white lotus opens at dusk, the blue water lilly opens in the morning.
The white lotus is a shallow-water, night-blooming plant with a creeping rootstock (rhizome) that sends up long-stalked, nearly circular, dark green leathery leaves, which float on the surface. The flowers, up to 25 cm (10 in) across, remain open until midday. The blue lotus is a smaller, less showy day-blooming plant.
The Lotus flower has for thousands of years symbolized spiritual enlightenment. Indeed, this flower essence's purpose is to accelerate spiritual evolvement and enhance healing on every level within the system.
The blue lotus was native to the Nile and used to be abundant. Its narrow, pointed petals and round, spotted leaves appear as the more common lotus in every conceivable opportunity for Egyptian artistic imagery. Often the leaf spots are not shown, or even the leaf.
The white lotus' rounded petals appear with round, scalloped edge leaves. The red lotus was introduced to Egypt from Persia in later dynasties.
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The Legend of the Lotus
Because lotuses grow out of the mud pure and clean, like morning dew from Heaven or water in springtime from a flower creek, lotus decorations and designs are everywhere the eye turns.
Chinese poets also use lotus flowers to inspire people to continue striving through difficulties and to show their best part to the outside world, no matter how bad the circumstances may be. This is understood as being just like the lotus flower, bringing beauty and light from the murky darkness at the bottom of the pond.
Another symbolic characteristic of the lotus flower leads from the observation that the plant's stalk is easy to bend in two, but is very hard to break because of its many strong sinuous fibres. Poets use this to represent a close unbreakable relationship between two lovers or the members within a family, showing that no matter how far away they might live nothing can really separate them in heart.
In Buddhism the lotus flower symbolizes faithfulness. The golden lotus that is mentioned in Buddhist sutras has two meanings, one is the symbol for the achievement of enlightenment and the other points towards a real flower which is beyond our normal perception.
The influence of a lotus flower painting is to open us up to beauty and light. A good lotus flower painting can act as a reminder of the miracle of beauty, light and life. This reminder, communicated on an emotional level, is said to aid both spiritual and practical understanding of Tao, the world and our place in it.
Chinese poets also use lotus flowers to inspire people to continue striving through difficulties and to show their best part to the outside world, no matter how bad the circumstances may be. This is understood as being just like the lotus flower, bringing beauty and light from the murky darkness at the bottom of the pond.
Lotuses are perhaps the most spectacular plants in aquatic environments. The Chinese say that, once having seen the growing lotus, you never forget it. The lotus flowers have color from red, pink, pale yellow to creamy white. A separate, long, tubular stalk supports each flower and each large round leaf.
The sacred Lotus, Nelumbo nucifera, is an extreme important spiritual symbol in Eastern religions. It represents purity, divine wisdom, and the individual's progress from the lowest to the highest state of consciousness.
Seeded in muddy waters, the lotus rises above the mud and produces beautiful and fragrant flowers. The big showy bloom may be 8-12 inches (20-30 cm) in diameter. The flowers open for just three days. Then each petal falls silently into the water, one by one, at a short period. The large green seed head or pod remains on the top of the stalk for a long time, and gradually turning to dark color and ripe. The seeds impeded in the cone-shape pod with flat surface at the top. The pod then reverts to the water, where it floats face down, allowing seeds to take hold in the mud. The seeds then germinate in the following Spring and give rise to new lotus plants.
All parts of lotus are edible. The immature seeds can be eaten raw or cooked, they have chestnut like flavor. Ripe seeds are roasted and ground into flour, or boiled to extract oil. Lotus roots produce starchy tubers and have the flavor of sweet potato. The young, unrolled leaves are cooked as a vegetable.
Lotus seeds have very hard, impermeable seed coats, and can remain viable for very long time. Sacred Lotus seeds, the most long-lived of all angiosperm seeds, have been known to germinate after more than 400 years! American Lotus (Nelumbo lutea) can germinate after a dormancy of 200 years, and recently, lotus seeds of 1,200 years from China had been germinated! What's an incredible plant!
Bright blooms from the muck
"Purity, trustworthiness, the Buddha, the virtuous man: these are what the lotus signifies," writes Huang Yung-chuan, assistant director of the National Museum of History, in his book Chinese Flower Arranging. Buddhism came to China in the Wei and Jin dynasties, at which time the lotus, which had been simply a source of food, became a symbol for purity and the subject of many poems.
"Bathing in the clear water of the spiritual pond, the lotus' roots dig deep into the soil." For the literati, the lotus represented distancing oneself from vulgarity. It was a metaphor that related to contemporary utopian notions, but was surely connected as well to the Buddhist ideal of "keeping apart from the world, like the lotus."
"My Love for the Lotus" by the Song scholar Zhou Dun-yi has exerted an influence on the Chinese down to the present. In this essay, the lotus is compared to a man of great virtue for being able to live in muck without being tainted by it. Qian Zhong-shu, a Republican-era writer, wrote that Zhou's "inspirations" stemmed from Buddhist ideas.
Buddhism explores how to transcend the troubles of human existence, to leave behind the sea of pain, the house of fire that is human existence. Becoming Buddha-like is the highest ideal. Out of the muck the lotus springs forth beautiful blooms, much as Buddhas free themselves from worldly worries. In the Middle Works of Hinayana Sutra, the Buddha says, "In this way the human heart doesn't give rise to evil desires or evil thoughts. It's like the blue, red and white lotuses that grow in the water but bear no water."
Chinese literati believe that a lotus is a pure world unto itself in which both body and soul are clean. According to the book Jian Nan Shi Gao, when the Song dynasty poet Lu Yu was 78 years old, he once dreamt that an ancient spoke to him: "I am the lotus scholar and responsible for the mirror lake," he said. "But now I am leaving, and I was wondering if you could take my place minding the moonlight, wind and dew and protecting the lotuses?
Every month you will receive 1000 jugs of wine in payment." Afterwards Lu couldn't forget this beautiful dream. A few years later, when he was very ill, he had another dream in which he walked amid 10,000 acres of lotus flowers. Lu's dreams can be said to combine Buddhist, Confucian and Taoist elements.
Muck is a field of blessing
In comparison to the literati's notions about not getting tainted by the mud, the Buddhist description of the lotus leaving the muck has even broader meaning.
Mahayana Buddhism stresses finding a release from worldly affairs while in the world, taking the path of a bodhisattva amid the five filths of the world. The bodhisattvas take the human masses as their "field of blessing"-the muck is luck, evil is good, pollution is purity and no clear dichotomies can be made. Hence, Mahayana Buddhism stresses the idea that "this flower doesn't grow in the highlands but rather it blooms in the vile swamps." The root and flower merge into one, in which there is no distinction between pollution and purity.
Apart from pursuing inner cultivation, meditation and deep thought, experiencing muck is also a form of cultivation, for it tests one's ability to endure misfortune and to sacrifice. Only by going to hell and being tempered by fire there, can one rise to religious exaltation and radiate the brightest and most beautiful light.
Collectively, the numerous different descriptions of the lotus are fitting, in that each lotus bloom is a magnificent world in itself. It is quite natural that images of the lotus are everywhere to be found in Buddhist lands.
In one of the Dunhuang Caves, you can find yourself surrounded on four sides by the petals of a giant lotus decoration, in which one peaceful Buddha after another sits in front of its own huge lotus petal. Since lotus petals and leaves have unusual shapes, you can always tell when a lotus flower is being depicted no matter if it has been stretched long, pressed flat, or molded into a square. Apart from actual representations of lotus flowers, petals and leaves, the ways gourds, dahlias, pomegranates and a variety of other fruits were depicted "were all adaptations and extensions of lotus designs," notes Lu.
White flowers from heaven
When Chan (Zen) Buddhism bloomed in China, the lotus did not lose stature, but Buddhist art became more subdued, and the use of color in depictions of the lotus declined. After the Song dynasty, folk culture grabbed hold of the lotus with gusto, giving it symbolic meaning that was no longer purely religious.
In mass-produced art works, fat babies danced while holding lotus leaves or lotus flowers. These were used in the hope that people would give birth to several boys in succession (a Chinese character meaning "one after another" is a homonym for the character meaning lotus). And the lotus leaves provide protection for goldfish under them, which to the Chinese symbolize abundance year after year. In the folk uses of lotus flowers it is often hard to discern whether there is any connection to religious belief. For instance, in the Tang dynasty one Buddhist deity was depicted as a baby holding a lotus flower and laughing. On a festival for unmarried women on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, children would come out onto the city streets and imitate him. Is this deity somehow connected to the idea that lotuses would help mothers produce boys?
"Chinese flower arranging also has roots in the Northern Dynasties' Buddhist 'flower offering' ceremony," writes Huang Yung-chun, assistant director of the National Museum of History.
Down to the present, even if Chinese don't understand the Lotus Sutra or lotus-related Zen esoterica, they will surely know that you light lotus lanterns on the Ghost Festival and that Songzi Niangniang allowed the Gold Boy and Jade Girl to get on a lotus and float to the world of men. In which case it's not hard to imagine that a small lotus pedestal can remove bad karma, direct souls of the deceased to proceed with reincarnation, and help cultivate one's inner spirit.
Purity, not fragrance and beauty
Nitpicking botanists might note that a lot of the explanations Buddhists have for the lotus are now far removed from the realities of the living ecology. When the lotus flowers, its ovule, cupule and shape are beginning to form but are not fully mature. This entomophilous flower requires insects to gather pollen in order for its fruit to ripen, and thus to say that it flowers while bearing fruit is not strictly accurate. Yang Yuan-po, who has researched water plants, says that the unusual platform-like cupule is shaped the way it is to attract bugs to its pollen, rather than to get human beings to imagine what it would be like to sit on it.
As for the way the lotus and the water lily close up, nimosa grass does the same thing. Chen Chin-yuan, a graduate student in the department of horticulture at National Taiwan University, says that flowers close up to make it easier for the plants to control their inner circulation of water, so as to avoid being affected by the weather, the humidity or even being touched by people.
The Diamond Sutra urges people to "cultivate the heart of a Buddha, by living nowhere." Hence, don't clutch tight to phenomena of this world and to things you are not supposed to desire.
Letting go of the lotus pedestal to find enlightenment is similar to the idea that you can only get to land by leaving your boat!
The Lotus Effect (the lotus flower's physical properties).
Author: Hans Christian Von Baeyer
January, 2000
-----------------------------------------------
THE LOTUS FLOWER IS REVERnED throughout the world. Its name is actually shared by a number of different plants with blossoms of various colors, but the most celebrated in art and literature is the sacred white lotus of the Hindus: Nelumbo nucifera. Its huge, almond-shaped petals form a shallow bowl around a seedpod that is vaguely reminiscent of the nozzle of a sprinkling can. This magnificent blossom, rising on a tall stalk from a flat base of large, round leaves, is endowed with an exotic aura. In Buddhist tradition, lotus blossoms mark each of the seven steps in ten directions taken, paradoxically, by the newborn Buddha. But without a doubt the color of the lotus--or, more properly, its utter absence of color--a blinding whiteness that speaks of unblemished purity, underlies its magical allure.
The lotus was an important icon in ancient Egypt, the inspiration for the Phoenician capitals that preceded the Ionic order of design, the sacred flower of Hindu religions and the object of the principal mantra of Tibetan Buddhism: om mani padme hum, which means "Hail, jewel in the lotus." Given the mechanical efficiency of prayer wheels that symbolically repeat those words without pause, the lotus may be the most frequently invoked plant in the world. In various parts of the world it has been a symbol of fertility, birth, beauty, sunlight, transcendence, sexuality and the resurrection of the dead. A twelfth-century Sanskrit poem extols Brahma, "the lotus of whose navel forms thus our universe." But above all, the lotus represents purity.
What an enchanting paradox, then, that the lotus grows in muddy waters, emerging from them unblemished and untouched by pollution.
An ancient Indian text refers explicitly to that wonderful quality:
The white lotus, born in the water and grown in the water, rises beyond the water and remains unsoiled by the water.
Thus, monks, the [Buddha], born in the world, grown up in the world, after having conquered the world, remains unsoiled by the world.
The surface of the lotus leaf is covered with a dense layer of pointy little moguls. The botanists had stumbled upon the secret of the lotus. To celebrate their discovery, Barthlott coined the term lotus effect.
To demonstrate the phenomenon dramatically, Barthlott likes to squeeze a droplet of water-soluble liquid glue onto a lotus leaf. He smears the droplet a little with his finger, then steps back to watch.
The glue quickly pulls itself back together, reforming the droplet, and the droplet rolls off the leaf at a stately pace. Not even glue can stick to an area as small as the tip of a microscopic mogul.
Just as impressive is Barthlott's demonstration of the cleaning power of water: when a lotus leaf is covered with a dusting of fine powdered clay, and a drop of water is added, the water rolls downhill, gathering dust as it moves. In its wake is a long, clean path, like the shiny trail of a snail.
SO THERE YOU HAVE IT, THE SECRET of the sacred lotus: its purity derives from its nubbly surface. Is that all?
For me, the opposite is true. When I see a lotus blossom now, or, what is more likely, the leaf of a cauliflower or tulip, I marvel at the ingenuity of nature in bringing forth, after a hundred million years of evolution, such pristine beauty through such an exquisite design. My awareness enhances my appreciation.
-----------------------------------------------
Sources:
www.religionfacts.com
http://www.platinumlotus.com
www.ka-gold-jewelry.com
www.kingtutshop.com
Sunday, March 15, 2009
The Hour Watcher
Mehetra was a young priestess in a ancient Egyptian temple. She had trained for years to become a priestess ,and took her position very seriously. Mehetra main responsiibility was to help another priest in everyday matters. She also participated in regular festivals. In the festivals Mehetra would follow the priest, chanting and shaking her sistrum.- (An instrument played by selected women in ancient Egypt).
When Mehetra was not busy she liked to watch, her people go about their duties in the temple. There was one priest in particular,who Mehetra liked to follow.
His name was Amenemopet. He was the 'wenuty', the (hour-watch priest). He was in charge of making sure the temple ritual were performed on time throughout the year. During the day, Amenemopet watched the sun's position in the sky. Ordinary people worked out their time of day in the same way, but the others had less experience and training than Amenemopet. At night Amen carefully watched the water clock, as the evening fell, the clock was filled with water. During the night, water dropped out of a hole at the bottom. Amen checked the water level during the night, in order to work out when the temple ritual was performed. One day Mehetra met Amenemopet walking across the courtyard, of the temple. The 'world is in chaos' he said 'The stars and earth are moving against each other. Sopdet has risen but, it is not yet first of the month of the flood season, Amen shook his head. He pointed to the wall. Mehetra saw a list carved into the wall in hieroglyphs. This calendar keeps track of all the ways throughout the year. It tells me that it is not yet time for the new years festval. The Star Sopdet has risen the flood is coming. I must consult the high peiest. Follow me, he said, to Mehetra. Amen raced through the temple. He stopped in front of a carved wall and pointed to a list of cartouches. (More about the kings list). This problem was first noticed when they were alive, he pointed to a line of cartouches. That was many years ago....and the problems are only getting worst. Amen shook his head again. Then he turned to Mehetra... go now child, I must be alone to think. Mehetra studied the wall in front of her. Each cartouche contain the name of a pharoah.
Did this problem with the calendar really mean that the world was in chaos?
Then her eyes fell upon a clear carving of a Shen sign. The Shen stood for eternity. It had been carved into the wall to show that the Egyptian world will continued forever. Mehetre knewthe priest would work out the problem. So that the heavens and the calendar on the temple wall were in harmony. Mehetra turned and walked out to the temple courtyard. The sun was shining down brightly. As Mehetra began to do her duties...she wondered if Amen would know what was happening, the next time she saw him.
-------
What was happening?
This is a fictional story. However, it is based on something we know actually happened in ancient Egypt.
The ancient Egyptians used two different calendars. One was the agricultural calendar. The other was a man-made administrative calendar.
The agricultural year was based on the observation of the stars. Every year, the star 'Sopdet' appeared at dawn in the middle of July, signalling the new year and the start of the flood season.
The administrative calendar was a fixed calendar. The ancient Egyptians created this calendar by observing the movement of groups of stars called 'decans'.
Every ten days, a new decan appeared on the horizon. There were 36 decans in a year, making 360 days per year. Then, the ancient Egyptians added on five days at the end of the year as the birthdays of the gods Osiris, Isis, Nephthys, Seth and Horus.
Since a year is actually about 365.25 days, this calendar was just a little bit off every year. The ancient Egyptians knew the calendar was not accurate, and that every year the problem was getting worse. However, it was a fixed calendar, (one that had even been carved onto the walls of temples), and it was not easy to change.
However, over many hundreds of years, the calendar was so far off that the summer and winter months were reversed. This calendar had to be adjusted many times throughout ancient Egyptian history to keep it accurate.
Em-Hotep Welcome in Peace.
When Mehetra was not busy she liked to watch, her people go about their duties in the temple. There was one priest in particular,who Mehetra liked to follow.
His name was Amenemopet. He was the 'wenuty', the (hour-watch priest). He was in charge of making sure the temple ritual were performed on time throughout the year. During the day, Amenemopet watched the sun's position in the sky. Ordinary people worked out their time of day in the same way, but the others had less experience and training than Amenemopet. At night Amen carefully watched the water clock, as the evening fell, the clock was filled with water. During the night, water dropped out of a hole at the bottom. Amen checked the water level during the night, in order to work out when the temple ritual was performed. One day Mehetra met Amenemopet walking across the courtyard, of the temple. The 'world is in chaos' he said 'The stars and earth are moving against each other. Sopdet has risen but, it is not yet first of the month of the flood season, Amen shook his head. He pointed to the wall. Mehetra saw a list carved into the wall in hieroglyphs. This calendar keeps track of all the ways throughout the year. It tells me that it is not yet time for the new years festval. The Star Sopdet has risen the flood is coming. I must consult the high peiest. Follow me, he said, to Mehetra. Amen raced through the temple. He stopped in front of a carved wall and pointed to a list of cartouches. (More about the kings list). This problem was first noticed when they were alive, he pointed to a line of cartouches. That was many years ago....and the problems are only getting worst. Amen shook his head again. Then he turned to Mehetra... go now child, I must be alone to think. Mehetra studied the wall in front of her. Each cartouche contain the name of a pharoah.
Did this problem with the calendar really mean that the world was in chaos?
Then her eyes fell upon a clear carving of a Shen sign. The Shen stood for eternity. It had been carved into the wall to show that the Egyptian world will continued forever. Mehetre knewthe priest would work out the problem. So that the heavens and the calendar on the temple wall were in harmony. Mehetra turned and walked out to the temple courtyard. The sun was shining down brightly. As Mehetra began to do her duties...she wondered if Amen would know what was happening, the next time she saw him.
-------
What was happening?
This is a fictional story. However, it is based on something we know actually happened in ancient Egypt.
The ancient Egyptians used two different calendars. One was the agricultural calendar. The other was a man-made administrative calendar.
The agricultural year was based on the observation of the stars. Every year, the star 'Sopdet' appeared at dawn in the middle of July, signalling the new year and the start of the flood season.
The administrative calendar was a fixed calendar. The ancient Egyptians created this calendar by observing the movement of groups of stars called 'decans'.
Every ten days, a new decan appeared on the horizon. There were 36 decans in a year, making 360 days per year. Then, the ancient Egyptians added on five days at the end of the year as the birthdays of the gods Osiris, Isis, Nephthys, Seth and Horus.
Since a year is actually about 365.25 days, this calendar was just a little bit off every year. The ancient Egyptians knew the calendar was not accurate, and that every year the problem was getting worse. However, it was a fixed calendar, (one that had even been carved onto the walls of temples), and it was not easy to change.
However, over many hundreds of years, the calendar was so far off that the summer and winter months were reversed. This calendar had to be adjusted many times throughout ancient Egyptian history to keep it accurate.
Em-Hotep Welcome in Peace.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
MALE FEMALE
ATUM
SHU TEFNUT
(The Air) (The water)
GEB NUT
(The earth) (The sky)
ASARU ASET SUTUKH NEBT-HET
(Osiris) (Isis) (Set) (Nephthys)
___________________________________________
According to the people of Annu... (Heliopolitans). Atum emerged from thge chaotic waters of Nun and then produced all the Neteru without the benefit of a mate. His son Shu. The neteru of the air, was the result of a divine sneeze.
The people od HEYTAHKA (Memphites) One upped the people of Annu by declaring NETER ptah , the father of Atum.
The people of KHEMENNU (Hermopolitians) and the people of Wa-Set (Thesbans) shared Amun. As a Major divine force.
In some instances, However the ancient Egyptians greatly influenced in their definition of divinty by the movements of Sun, Moon and the Stars.
For ex....... As the ancient Egyptians observed the daily movement of the Sun, they knew that the Sky Netert swallowed the sun at night, and gave birth to it in the morning. Depending on where she lived.
The woman called the sky goddess Hat-Hor (Hathor- The Divine Cow).
These Neteru were equated with the Milky Way. During the third millenium BCE. in that era.
During the Spring and Fall Equinoxs, The Milky Way arched acrossed the mid-section of the sky. Touching the earth at the Exact points where the Sun appeared to rise and Set.
Therefore, on those days , the Sun actually appeared to set into and emerge from it's Mother The Milky Way.
ATUM
SHU TEFNUT
(The Air) (The water)
GEB NUT
(The earth) (The sky)
ASARU ASET SUTUKH NEBT-HET
(Osiris) (Isis) (Set) (Nephthys)
___________________________________________
According to the people of Annu... (Heliopolitans). Atum emerged from thge chaotic waters of Nun and then produced all the Neteru without the benefit of a mate. His son Shu. The neteru of the air, was the result of a divine sneeze.
The people od HEYTAHKA (Memphites) One upped the people of Annu by declaring NETER ptah , the father of Atum.
The people of KHEMENNU (Hermopolitians) and the people of Wa-Set (Thesbans) shared Amun. As a Major divine force.
In some instances, However the ancient Egyptians greatly influenced in their definition of divinty by the movements of Sun, Moon and the Stars.
For ex....... As the ancient Egyptians observed the daily movement of the Sun, they knew that the Sky Netert swallowed the sun at night, and gave birth to it in the morning. Depending on where she lived.
The woman called the sky goddess Hat-Hor (Hathor- The Divine Cow).
These Neteru were equated with the Milky Way. During the third millenium BCE. in that era.
During the Spring and Fall Equinoxs, The Milky Way arched acrossed the mid-section of the sky. Touching the earth at the Exact points where the Sun appeared to rise and Set.
Therefore, on those days , the Sun actually appeared to set into and emerge from it's Mother The Milky Way.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Temple of Hathor- Dendera
Spirit of Sankofa writes.......
Hathor was the wife of god Horus .
She became the goddess of the sky and fertility. Dendera was a beautiful place, of healing. Actually an ancient healing center. So exquisite, the Romans built statues beside Egyptian gods and pharoahs.
Read about the roof chapel, that is dedicated to Osiriis. Whick details a sundial and circular zodiac.
Interesting reading.
Hotep
-----------------
Dendera Edfu
Giza to Dahshur Kom Ombo
Temple of Hathor, Dendera
The Temple of Hathor Dendera. Photo
Back of the Temple of Hathor. .
Face of Hathor. Photo Templar1307 .
Capitals with faces of Hathor. Photo Andrew .
The Temple of Hathor at Dendera, on the Nile north of Luxor, is one of the latest Egyptian temples. Dedicated to the wife of the god Horus, it was built in Roman times and its decorations include Roman emperors alongside Egyptian gods. Along with Abydos further north, Dendera is a popular day trip from Luxor .
History
The Temple of Hathor was built between 30 BC and 14 AD, making it one of the youngest Egyptian temples. However, it was built on top of an older temple, the date of which remains unclear. It is probable that the design of the later temple is based on that of the older one.
Dendera was an ancient healing center , comparable to a Greek Asklepion or the Catholic Lourdes . Hathor, wife of Horus, was the goddess of the sky, fertility and healing, and the rituals performed by her priestesses included the use of a sistrum, or rattle.
What to See
The Temple of Hathor is boxy in shape and surrounded by a portico with thick columns and walls about half as tall as the roof. There are many reliefs of figures and rituals on the exterior of the temple, including pharaohs, Egyptian deities, and Roman emperors.
Inside, the most fascinating sight is the roof chapel dedicated to Osiris, which contains a sundial and circular zodiac . The zodiac, a replica of the original that is now in the Louvre, consists of two superimposed constellations. One is centered on the geographical north pole, the other on the true north pole. An axis passes through Pisces, confirming what we know from archaeological evidence: it was built in the age of Pisces , just over 2,000 years ago.
Interestingly, two hieroglyphs on the edge of the zodiac seem to indicate that another axis passed through the beginning of the age of Taurus (about 4,000 BC; a thousand years before dynastic Egypt). This may be a clue to the great age of the first temple that stood here.
Among the many other structures here are the remains of a 5th-century Christian basilica , an excellent example of early Coptic church architecture. There is also a sanatorium , where pilgrims could bathe in the sacred waters or take holy water — which had been run over magical texts to infuse it with power — home with them.
Location Map
Sources
Colin Wilson, Atlas of Holy Places and Sacred Sites (DK, 1996).
Dendera and the Temple of Hathor - Tour Egypt - includes floor plan and site plan
More Information
Private Tour to Dendara and Abydos
Virtual Tour of Dendera - Egypt Voyager
Dendera Zodiacs
The Dendera Reliefs
Popular categories: Ancient Mysteries , Biblical Sites , Cathedrals , Catholic Shrines , Footsteps of Jesus , Luther Sites
Popular sites:
Hathor was the wife of god Horus .
She became the goddess of the sky and fertility. Dendera was a beautiful place, of healing. Actually an ancient healing center. So exquisite, the Romans built statues beside Egyptian gods and pharoahs.
Read about the roof chapel, that is dedicated to Osiriis. Whick details a sundial and circular zodiac.
Interesting reading.
Hotep
-----------------
Dendera Edfu
Giza to Dahshur Kom Ombo
Temple of Hathor, Dendera
The Temple of Hathor Dendera. Photo
Back of the Temple of Hathor. .
Face of Hathor. Photo Templar1307 .
Capitals with faces of Hathor. Photo Andrew .
The Temple of Hathor at Dendera, on the Nile north of Luxor, is one of the latest Egyptian temples. Dedicated to the wife of the god Horus, it was built in Roman times and its decorations include Roman emperors alongside Egyptian gods. Along with Abydos further north, Dendera is a popular day trip from Luxor .
History
The Temple of Hathor was built between 30 BC and 14 AD, making it one of the youngest Egyptian temples. However, it was built on top of an older temple, the date of which remains unclear. It is probable that the design of the later temple is based on that of the older one.
Dendera was an ancient healing center , comparable to a Greek Asklepion or the Catholic Lourdes . Hathor, wife of Horus, was the goddess of the sky, fertility and healing, and the rituals performed by her priestesses included the use of a sistrum, or rattle.
What to See
The Temple of Hathor is boxy in shape and surrounded by a portico with thick columns and walls about half as tall as the roof. There are many reliefs of figures and rituals on the exterior of the temple, including pharaohs, Egyptian deities, and Roman emperors.
Inside, the most fascinating sight is the roof chapel dedicated to Osiris, which contains a sundial and circular zodiac . The zodiac, a replica of the original that is now in the Louvre, consists of two superimposed constellations. One is centered on the geographical north pole, the other on the true north pole. An axis passes through Pisces, confirming what we know from archaeological evidence: it was built in the age of Pisces , just over 2,000 years ago.
Interestingly, two hieroglyphs on the edge of the zodiac seem to indicate that another axis passed through the beginning of the age of Taurus (about 4,000 BC; a thousand years before dynastic Egypt). This may be a clue to the great age of the first temple that stood here.
Among the many other structures here are the remains of a 5th-century Christian basilica , an excellent example of early Coptic church architecture. There is also a sanatorium , where pilgrims could bathe in the sacred waters or take holy water — which had been run over magical texts to infuse it with power — home with them.
Location Map
Sources
Colin Wilson, Atlas of Holy Places and Sacred Sites (DK, 1996).
Dendera and the Temple of Hathor - Tour Egypt - includes floor plan and site plan
More Information
Private Tour to Dendara and Abydos
Virtual Tour of Dendera - Egypt Voyager
Dendera Zodiacs
The Dendera Reliefs
Popular categories: Ancient Mysteries , Biblical Sites , Cathedrals , Catholic Shrines , Footsteps of Jesus , Luther Sites
Popular sites:
Sunday, March 1, 2009
The Temple of Man
Spirit of Sankofa writes....
This is truly an educational piece that is so enlightening. Filled with substance. There are tons of important douments pertaining to Africa's historical achievements. For the most part, most of western culture is based upon Africa's mindset.
This study is of great porportions. It has inspired me to research even deeper for more lost treasures that are'nt plainly revealed. Un raveling the Mystery of Harmony, and man's denial of it.
Egyptian philosophies there are older than western cultue. Interesting concepts and belief systems. In other words... Useful Things Established Forever. Synthesis of the mystcal function of Phi.
Another eye opener was to discover the lunar part of the wadjet, Haket is identfied with the measure of volume.
There is much information out there that fail to even scratch the surface let alone begin to tell the truth about the significant role Africa's beginings benefit the world at time. These are several of the intellectual foods our people need tol absorb. To enable us tofuther comprehend where these concepts originated from.
Read more below inorder to grasps a better understanding of the truth
Hotep- Know Thyself! _________
Luxor
The Temple of Man
"In order for the indefinite volume of a sphere to become form, at least three directions must be defined, the polar axis and the four directions of the equatorial cross. This is the reason for the whole of the celestial mechanics, ordered by numbers that form a marvelous system and for which they are key." Schwaller de Lubicz The Temple of Man
Schwaller de Lubicz moved to Egypt in 1935 with his wife Isha and her daughter Lucy Lamy. Together, they measured and mapped the Temple at Luxor, including floors, ceilings, walls, columns, and everything else that might yield information as regards Sacred Geometry and proportion.
For the next fifteen years they would study the ancient Temples of Egypt, mostly The Luxor Temple, and document their findings for the world to study. The French speaking family would produce their first works in Paris, then little by little their works were translated into English and other world languages. The famed Temple of Man would not be released in English until the winter of 1998, nearly fifty years after it was completed in French.
The story here pales in comparison the the study presented by Schwaller and his family, but hopefully we can share enough information to introduce you to the ingenious work of this brilliant individual, his wife and her daughter.
To his friends and students he was affectionately know as "Aor" and so we will call him Aor.
"Man denies the magic of harmony…therefore, loving what he habitually knows. .... As this habituation perpetuates itself, suffering ensues..... Vital suffering is consciousness undergoing the process of surpassing itself. This is the Magic of Harmony."
"Esoterically, that is, from the outside, and therefore objectively, we see the world from the wrong side. We see the spherical bodies turning, and their centrifugal forces seems to us to be active, acting against the centripetal force that apparently plays a passive role. Seen Vitally from the inside, exactly the opposite is true."
"Nourishing space flows toward the center, not like a fluid towards a solid, but like the spiral currents of an immaterial sphere that appears to be solid at a certain degree of density defined by the central coagulating activity. "
"These falling spirals occur according to the Golden Number; they can easily be constructed on a 1:Ø rectangle, as can the spirals of a snails shell. The Golden Number is Phi which is represented by the symbol Ø , and .618 numerically. One, relative to Ø would produce 1.618" Aor
Figure synthesis of the mystical function Phi.
a.) Following construction of a quarter arc, any diameter of a circle, equal to 1, when rotated around one of its ends will have its opposite end at a distance of 1/Ø from its original circumference .
b.) The double square results from this function, whereas the usual demonstration of Øby a double square is but one geometrical resolution of the arithmetical proposition Square root of 5+1/2
From this function, which is the result of a cycle, innumerable forms emerge.
The wedjat eye and the subdivision of the hekat . The hekat , considered as a unit of capacity for the measure of grains (thus of a lunar capacity), is subdivided into sixty-four parts. The Symbols used to express these subdivisions are derived from the ancient myth according to which the eye of Horus was fragmented by Seth.
Later Thoth (Hermes, Mercury), symbolized by the ibis, miraculously "filled" or "completed" the eye, bringing together its parts so that the eye reacquired its title "the whole eye" or "the healthy eye". Of the two eyes, it is then the lunar one that is identified with the measure of volume.
The hekat is subdivided into 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, 1/32, and 1/64. The fractions added together make 63/64 with 1/64 missing. At right is a hieroglyph from the Luxor Temple showing part of the hekat .
Click on the image above for larger version.
The Temple of Luxor was planned from the very beginning to be bent in this odd shaped curve, derived from Phi, Phi² , and Phi³. [Remember that Phi = .618]
The idea of following the sun in its precession is an understatement compared to the amount of information contained in the proportions of this great Temple, but let's not loose sight of this fact.
Aor teaches us that the human cannon is 19 "palms" in height, up to the point of the pineal gland. [See enlarged diagram ] The palm is the width across the hand.
There must have been a great reason for Schwaller de Lubicz to leave the cushy trimmings of a Geneva research facility, provided to he and his followers. In 1935 he went to Luxor and immediately learned something, although we have little but conjecture about what that something might have been. He went back to Geneva and packed his bags and returned to Luxor to spend the better part of the next fifteen years.
While at Luxor he wrote many books on the subject of the proportions of the Temple, and their relationship to alchemical processes. Unfortunately it would be another fifty years before his most important work, The Temple of Man would be translated into English.
The Spiritual representations of the hieroglyphs at Luxor abound. Here we see the personification of the Ankh, right bottom, with arms holding a staff. To the left we see the Uas scepter, personified as human and holding another staff. Above the Uas we see the personification of Ka with raised hands depicting Spirit.
The Ankh to the left seems to have been added as an afterthought, perhaps by the Coptics who inhabited the Temple in the Ptolemaic era.
Most of the fluted columns are filled with hieroglyphs and cartouches of the men who built the Temple. To the right of center, there is a hieroglyph of Hese, the ancient scribe noted by the ink well.
This is truly an educational piece that is so enlightening. Filled with substance. There are tons of important douments pertaining to Africa's historical achievements. For the most part, most of western culture is based upon Africa's mindset.
This study is of great porportions. It has inspired me to research even deeper for more lost treasures that are'nt plainly revealed. Un raveling the Mystery of Harmony, and man's denial of it.
Egyptian philosophies there are older than western cultue. Interesting concepts and belief systems. In other words... Useful Things Established Forever. Synthesis of the mystcal function of Phi.
Another eye opener was to discover the lunar part of the wadjet, Haket is identfied with the measure of volume.
There is much information out there that fail to even scratch the surface let alone begin to tell the truth about the significant role Africa's beginings benefit the world at time. These are several of the intellectual foods our people need tol absorb. To enable us tofuther comprehend where these concepts originated from.
Read more below inorder to grasps a better understanding of the truth
Hotep- Know Thyself! _________
Luxor
The Temple of Man
"In order for the indefinite volume of a sphere to become form, at least three directions must be defined, the polar axis and the four directions of the equatorial cross. This is the reason for the whole of the celestial mechanics, ordered by numbers that form a marvelous system and for which they are key." Schwaller de Lubicz The Temple of Man
Schwaller de Lubicz moved to Egypt in 1935 with his wife Isha and her daughter Lucy Lamy. Together, they measured and mapped the Temple at Luxor, including floors, ceilings, walls, columns, and everything else that might yield information as regards Sacred Geometry and proportion.
For the next fifteen years they would study the ancient Temples of Egypt, mostly The Luxor Temple, and document their findings for the world to study. The French speaking family would produce their first works in Paris, then little by little their works were translated into English and other world languages. The famed Temple of Man would not be released in English until the winter of 1998, nearly fifty years after it was completed in French.
The story here pales in comparison the the study presented by Schwaller and his family, but hopefully we can share enough information to introduce you to the ingenious work of this brilliant individual, his wife and her daughter.
To his friends and students he was affectionately know as "Aor" and so we will call him Aor.
"Man denies the magic of harmony…therefore, loving what he habitually knows. .... As this habituation perpetuates itself, suffering ensues..... Vital suffering is consciousness undergoing the process of surpassing itself. This is the Magic of Harmony."
"Esoterically, that is, from the outside, and therefore objectively, we see the world from the wrong side. We see the spherical bodies turning, and their centrifugal forces seems to us to be active, acting against the centripetal force that apparently plays a passive role. Seen Vitally from the inside, exactly the opposite is true."
"Nourishing space flows toward the center, not like a fluid towards a solid, but like the spiral currents of an immaterial sphere that appears to be solid at a certain degree of density defined by the central coagulating activity. "
"These falling spirals occur according to the Golden Number; they can easily be constructed on a 1:Ø rectangle, as can the spirals of a snails shell. The Golden Number is Phi which is represented by the symbol Ø , and .618 numerically. One, relative to Ø would produce 1.618" Aor
Figure synthesis of the mystical function Phi.
a.) Following construction of a quarter arc, any diameter of a circle, equal to 1, when rotated around one of its ends will have its opposite end at a distance of 1/Ø from its original circumference .
b.) The double square results from this function, whereas the usual demonstration of Øby a double square is but one geometrical resolution of the arithmetical proposition Square root of 5+1/2
From this function, which is the result of a cycle, innumerable forms emerge.
The wedjat eye and the subdivision of the hekat . The hekat , considered as a unit of capacity for the measure of grains (thus of a lunar capacity), is subdivided into sixty-four parts. The Symbols used to express these subdivisions are derived from the ancient myth according to which the eye of Horus was fragmented by Seth.
Later Thoth (Hermes, Mercury), symbolized by the ibis, miraculously "filled" or "completed" the eye, bringing together its parts so that the eye reacquired its title "the whole eye" or "the healthy eye". Of the two eyes, it is then the lunar one that is identified with the measure of volume.
The hekat is subdivided into 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, 1/32, and 1/64. The fractions added together make 63/64 with 1/64 missing. At right is a hieroglyph from the Luxor Temple showing part of the hekat .
Click on the image above for larger version.
The Temple of Luxor was planned from the very beginning to be bent in this odd shaped curve, derived from Phi, Phi² , and Phi³. [Remember that Phi = .618]
The idea of following the sun in its precession is an understatement compared to the amount of information contained in the proportions of this great Temple, but let's not loose sight of this fact.
Aor teaches us that the human cannon is 19 "palms" in height, up to the point of the pineal gland. [See enlarged diagram ] The palm is the width across the hand.
There must have been a great reason for Schwaller de Lubicz to leave the cushy trimmings of a Geneva research facility, provided to he and his followers. In 1935 he went to Luxor and immediately learned something, although we have little but conjecture about what that something might have been. He went back to Geneva and packed his bags and returned to Luxor to spend the better part of the next fifteen years.
While at Luxor he wrote many books on the subject of the proportions of the Temple, and their relationship to alchemical processes. Unfortunately it would be another fifty years before his most important work, The Temple of Man would be translated into English.
The Spiritual representations of the hieroglyphs at Luxor abound. Here we see the personification of the Ankh, right bottom, with arms holding a staff. To the left we see the Uas scepter, personified as human and holding another staff. Above the Uas we see the personification of Ka with raised hands depicting Spirit.
The Ankh to the left seems to have been added as an afterthought, perhaps by the Coptics who inhabited the Temple in the Ptolemaic era.
Most of the fluted columns are filled with hieroglyphs and cartouches of the men who built the Temple. To the right of center, there is a hieroglyph of Hese, the ancient scribe noted by the ink well.
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