The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani) · 315 of 357 · tr. E.A. Wallis Budge
Chapter 43 (part 76)
These eight elements were called Nu and Nut, Heh and Hehet, Kek and Keket, and Enen and Enenet, or Khemennu, the "Eight," and they were considered as primeval fathers and mothers. They are often represented in the forms of four male and four female apes who stand in adoration and greet the rising sun with songs and hymns of praise, but they also appear as male and female human forms with the heads of frogs or serpents. The birth of light from the waters, and of fire from the moist mass of primeval matter, and of Ra from Nu, formed the starting point of all mythological speculations, conjectures, and theories of the Egyptian priests. The light of the sun gave birth to itself out of chaos, and the conception of the future world was depicted in Thoth the divine intelligence; when Thoth gave the word, what he commanded at once took place by means of Ptah and Khnemu, the visible representatives of the power which turned Thoth's command into deed.
Khnemu made the egg of the sun, and Ptah gave to the god of light a finished body. The first paut of the gods consisted of Shu, Tefnut, Seb, Nut, Osiris, Isis, Set, Nephthys and Horus, and their governor Tmu or Atmu. Egyptian account of the Creation.
In a late copy of a work entitled the "Book of knowing the evolutions of Ra, the god Neb-er-tcher, the "lord of the company of the gods," records the story of the creation and of the birth of the gods:--"I am he who evolved himself under the form of the god Khepera, I, the evolver of the evolutions evolved myself, the evolver of all evolutions, after many evolutions and developments which came forth from my mouth. No heaven existed, and no earth, and no terrestrial animals or reptiles had come into being.
I formed them out of the inert mass of watery matter, I found no place whereon to stand .
.
.
.
.
I was alone, and the gods Shu and Tefnut had not gone forth from me; there existed [1.
Brugsch, Religion , pp.
128, 129.
2.
Ibid.
, p.
132.
3.
Ibid.
, p.
140.
4.
Ibid.
, p.
142.
5.
Ibid.
, p.
148.
6.
Ibid.
, pp.
149, 152.
7.
Ibid.
, p.
158.
8.
Ibid.
, p.
160.
9.
Ibid.
, p.
161.
10.
Ibid.
, p.
163.
11.
Ibid.
, p.
187.
12 The variant version says, "I developed myself from the primeval matter which I had made." and adds, "My name is Osiris, ###, the substance of primeval matter."] "none other who worked with me.
I laid the foundations of all things by my will, and all things evolved themselves therefrom. I united myself to my shadow, and I sent forth Shu and Tefnut out from myself; thus from being one god I became three, and Shu and Tefnut gave birth to Nut and Seb, and Nut gave birth to Osiris, Horus-Khent-an-maa, Sut, Isis, and Nephthys, at one birth, one after the other, and their children multiply upon this earth." Summary of theories.
Attributing human characteristics, emotions, or form to the divine; embodied divine imagery.
[auto] The text attributes human characteristics to the divine, describing Tmu as a 'father,' creation from his 'own body,' and the spirit feeling 'desire.'
Narratives or doctrines of cosmic origin — how heaven, earth, and the primordial deities first came into being. The Kojiki's deities born alone on the Plain of High Heaven, Voluspo's Ginnungagap, Genesis's tohu wa-bohu, the Timaeus's Demiurge fashioning the Receptacle, the Hesiodic Theogony, the Kalevala's egg-cosmogony, Egyptian Nun-and-Atum. Distinct from emanation_hierarchy (structural-ontological cascade), letters_of_creation (mechanism of creation), and apocatastasis/frashokereti (end-state restoration); cosmogony is temporally-narrative beginning.
The entire passage is a narrative of cosmic origin — the primeval waters, the birth of light and fire, the self-evolution of the god, and the genealogical unfolding of the divine generations — making cosmogony the central theme.
The doctrine that God has no parts, divisions, or composite attributes; pure undivided being.
The self-evolving god is described as 'alone' before any differentiation, with no parts or divisions — 'I was alone' and 'I laid the foundations of all things by my will' present a pure undivided being prior to all emanation.
A chain of divine beings or principles flowing downward from a single transcendent source (the One or the Father), each level less perfect than the one above.
[auto] The passage describes a generative chain where Tmu creates Shu and Tefnut, followed by Seb and Nut, and then Osiris and Isis, establishing a downward flow of divine beings.
The Hermetic doctrine that a masculine-feminine generative principle operates on every plane of being, not only the biological — present at all times as a structural feature of creation itself. Distinct from divine_marriage (a specific reunification event or symbol) and aeons (paired divine beings arranged in syzygies, not a universal structural claim).
The masculine-feminine generative principle operates structurally at every level: the eight are four male and four female, Shu and Tefnut are a pair, Seb and Nut are a pair, and all further generations proceed through male-female pairing.
The doctrine that the cosmos unfolds as a structured descent of spirit into matter — a directional process traced stage by stage from an unconditioned principle down through successive planes to full materialization — complemented by its own eventual return ('evolution'). Distinct from emanation_hierarchy (the static structure of the resulting levels of the cascade) and cosmogony (a single originating event rather than an ongoing staged process) in naming the directional cosmic PROCESS of descent itself, paired with its own complementary ascent.
The passage traces a directional process from the undivided one through successive stages of differentiation (one → three → five → nine), a structured descent from unconditioned unity to multiplicity.
The divine reason, word, or ordering principle through which the universe was created; mediates between the transcendent God and the material world.
[auto] The text explicitly states that the primeval spirit's 'word woke to life the world,' aligning with the concept of a divine ordering principle or word effecting creation.
The absolutely simple, undivided first principle from which all multiplicity and existence flows.
[auto] The passage identifies a single 'divine primeval spirit' or 'boundless primeval mass' as the sole source from which all existence and gods emerge.
The doctrine and practice that spoken or sung word carries causal-magical force — that uttering names, formulas, songs, or incantations alters reality directly rather than merely communicating about it. Vainamoinen's runo-songs that move mountains and command iron, Norse galdr, Vedic mantra, Shinto kotodama, the magician's barbarous names in the Greek Magical Papyri, Iamblichean arcane signatures and inexplicable symbols, biblical creation-by-word. Distinct from sacred_names (the ontological power of names themselves) and prayer (address to the divine); word_power_incantation is the magical-causal efficacy of the spoken word as such.
The passage explicitly states that when Thoth 'gave the word, what he commanded at once took place,' and that the god's evolutions 'came forth from my mouth,' making the spoken word the direct causal agent of creation.