The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani) · 72 of 357 · tr. E.A. Wallis Budge
Chapter 8 (part 2)
Verily it shall be cast forth by my healing words of power, and I will drive it away from before the sight of thy sunbeams." The holy god opened his mouth and said, "I was passing along my path, and I was going through the two regions of my lands according to my heart's desire, to see that which I had created, when lo!
I was bitten by a serpent which I saw not.
Is it fire?
Is it water?
I am colder than water, I am hotter than fire.
All my flesh sweateth, I quake, my eye hath no strength, I cannot see the sky, and the sweat rusheth to my face even as in the time of summer." Then said Isis unto Ra, "O tell me thy name, holy father, for whosoever shall be delivered by thy name shall live." [And Ra said], "I have made the heavens and the earth, I have ordered the mountains, I have created all that is above them, I have made the water, I have made to come into being the great and wide sea, I have made the 'Bull of Legend of Ra and Isis.
his mother,' from whom spring the delights of love.
I have made the heavens, I have stretched out the two horizons like a curtain, and I have placed the soul of the gods within them.
I am he who, if he openeth his eyes, doth make the light, and, if he closeth them, darkness cometh into being.
At his command the Nile riseth, and the gods know not his name.
I have made the hours, I have created the days, I bring forward the festivals of the year, I create the Nile-flood.
I make the fire of life, and I provide food in the houses.
I am Khepera in the morning, I am Ra at noon, and I am Tmu at even." Meanwhile the poison was not taken away from his body, but it pierced deeper, and the great god could no longer walk.
Then said Isis unto Ra, "What thou hast said is not thy name.
O tell it unto me, and the poison shall depart; for he shall live whose name shall be revealed." Now the poison burned like fire, and it was fiercer than the flame and the furnace, and the majesty of the god said, "I consent that Isis shall search into me, and that my name shall pass from me into her." Then the god hid himself from the gods, and his place in the boat of millions of years was empty.
And when the time arrived for the heart of Ra to come forth, Isis spake unto her son Horus, saying, "The god hath bound himself by an oath to deliver up his two eyes" ( i.e.
, the sun and moon).
Thus was the name of the great god taken from him, and Isis, the lady of enchantments, said, "Depart, poison, go forth from Ra.
O eye of Horus, go forth from the god, and shine outside his mouth.
It is I who work, it is I who make to fall down upon the earth the vanquished poison; for the name of the great god hath been taken away from him.
May Ra live!
and may the poison die, may the poison die, and may Ra live!" These are the words of Isis, the great goddess, the queen of the gods, who knew Ra by his own name. Thus we see that even to the great god Ra were attributed all the weakness and frailty of mortal man; and that "gods" and "goddesses" were classed with beasts and reptiles, which could die and perish.
Pronoia — the doctrine that the divine actively orders the unfolding of the cosmos and human affairs toward intelligible ends, against pure chance or blind necessity.
Ra claims responsibility for ordering the cosmos, including the rising of the Nile and the creation of days and festivals.
The Egyptian principle of truth, balance, and right order underlying both the cosmos and human conduct; the parallel to Zoroastrian asha and Greek dike.
Ra's creative acts establish the fundamental order of the world, such as the Nile flood and the passage of time.
Iamblichean ritual practice that engages the gods directly through consecrated material symbols and actions, on the premise that divine power descends into properly prepared matter — distinct from philosophical contemplation alone.
Isis uses consecrated words and enchantments to engage divine power directly and alter the physical state of a god.