The Battle of the Gods

This is a story about the eighty-year battle to decide who would be ruler of the living.Many years ago, Seth, the god of chaos and destruction, became very jealous of his brother Osiris, for at the time Osiris was the Ruler of the Living, and was praised above all the others. Seth made up his mind that an end must come to this, and so he decided to kill his brother. When Seth found Osiris, Seth cut Osiris up into a thousand pieces and scattered them across the land of Egypt. Isis, the wife of Osiris, found the pieces and resurrected her husband long enough to become pregnant with her son, Horus. Osiris was taken to Anubis immediately, who embalmed and mummified him. Being a God, Osiris became the Ruler of the Dead, which helped Anubis so he could concentrate his energies on watching the souls and transporting them to the Underworld. For many years Isis protected the throne of the ruler of the living from Seth, but one day Seth over powered her. He was only stopped from taking the throne when Horus, Seth’s own nephew, now full grown, battled him for the title of Ruler. The battle lasted eighty years and was watched by all the other deities. By the end of the battle, both Horus and Seth had taken great damage. Horus had castrated Seth, while Seth had torn out one of Horus’ eyes. The judge of the battle was Geb, and he deemed Horus the winner. Seth, upon hearing this, fled from the area and went to live with Ra, and it became Seth’s duty to guard Ra on his nighttime journeys through the Underworld. Geb Restored Horus’ eye, and thus the Eye of Horus became a great symbol of protection throughout Egypt.

The Weighing of the Heart

The Weighing of the Heart ceremony is how the Gods deem who is worthy of entering the field of reeds, and who must be born to live another mortal life.Upon death, Anubis would take a mortal to the great hall. After passing many gates and doors, the mortal spirit would find itself in a huge rectangular room. In the presence of the Gods Osiris, Isis, Nepthys, Ma’at, and with Anubis presiding over the weighing itself, there were forty-two other witness gods all around the sides of the room watching. In the center would stand a great golden scale? On one side would be placed the Feather of Ma’at, the essence of truth, justice and harmony. On the other side, Anubis would place the heart of the mortal spirit. If the Heart weighed the same as the feather, that mortal spirit would be allowed to enter the Field of Reeds, a paradise in which the spirit would serve the gods before moving on to a better mortal life than the one before. If the heart was heavier, a demon-like creature would eat the heart, and the mortal spirit would be ravaged. The heavier the heart is, the worse the damage to the spirit. The spirit would then be sent back to live a life of poverty on the mortal plane, in effect everything done wrong in the last life would have to be corrected. This would happen through every life until the mortal was able to enter the Field of Reeds with a heart as light as a feather.

The Scarab:

The scarab beetle and the ankh are two symbols of eternal life and reincarnation. It was believed the scarab beetle had appeared out of nowhere, just as the creator god Atum had appeared out of nowhere, thus it was thought the scarab beetle was special. The scarab really gained importance when it was connected with the God Khepri. Khepri is concerned with the movement of the sun. As the sun rose each day, it was believed that is was Khepri who pushed the sun across the sky. The sun was Ra, and it was believed that at night Ra was swallowed by the sky goddess Nut and reborn again each morning. It was for these reasons that many believed Khepri the one who deemed when Ra was to be reborn, and was therefore made the God of Reincarnation. Khepri was represented by the scarab beetle, and this is why scarab beetles came to be the sacred symbols of reincarnation and eternal life of the spirit.

The Ankh:

The ankh is one of the most well known of the ancient Egyptian symbols. It is a cross with a loop on top, and was the ultimate symbol of the power of the Gods over life, death, and rebirth. All the deities are seen carrying this symbol in one wall painting or another, ad it was believed that if you wore an ankh amulet around your neck destructive forces like Seth could not touch you. As the gods never die, the ankh is considered the ultimate power symbol of eternal life.There are of course many more symbols of power in the ancient Egyptian religion. If you want to know more about these symbols, contact your local museum, library, or Internet connection. You will be sure to find some fascinating information on them.You will also find many variations of the battle of the Gods story. No version is incorrect, they simply changed in different regions and different times, but almost all end the same way, and in every version of the story it was indeed Horus who won.