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Level 8 - Vociferous
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: south africa
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Re: aenima- problem 8
The Twelve Hours : A Commentary
Burial chamber of the tomb of Pharaoh Tuthmosis III - ca. 1426 BCE.
On the walls, the Twelve Hours of the Book of the Hidden Chamber.
"Thus, the journey of the Sungod can also be seen as a symbolic representation of an inner psychic process of transformation and renewal."
Hornung & Abt, 2003, p.9.
Insofar as the "Ba of Re" is the effective, dynamical, motoric power of Re and Re is identified with the bright clarity of consciousness or sentience, his night-journey can be reconstructed as the process of clarification in the absence of light (what Re does in the Duat), of inner vision (the mummy of Osiris) and regeneration (rekindling) in the utter deep, dark desolation of the 4th to 6th Hour, of transformation (Khepri) & rejuvenation (by time-reversal) and of rebirth or reappearance (as Horus the Child on the Eastern horizon). The stages of this process run parallel with the three phases identified earlier as the three stages of the Upper Paleolithic cave mysteries :
"the entry" : the tunnel into the mountain : the process of differentiation from light to darkness : this corresponds with the First Phase (the West), digging into darkness, depleting sentient power to its utter limit ;
"the sanctum" : the rock cathedral in which the shamans dance : the secluded place of the mystery of the hidden light : this corresponds with the Second Phase (the South), and the Midnight Mystery, involving (a) the mummy of Osiris seen in the desert of Sokar & (b) the union of the Ba of Re with the corpse of Osiris (Re assuming the death posture) ;
"the return or exit" : returning to the outside world transformed : the process of integration from darkness to light : beginning slowly in the North (7th & 8th Hour), more momentum is gained in the East (9th to 12th Hour). Transformed (Khepri) and rejuvenated (Mehen-serpent), consciousness is refreshed to the point of being like that of a powerful youth, fully aware & radiant.
the Hours and their directions in the burial-chamber of Tuthmosis III
Although in the text the 12 hours are distributed in tune with the cardinal directions, only Tuthmosis III followed this scheme. Following these orientations, we arrive at an ideal rectangle, with Hours 1-4 in the West, 5-6 in the South, 7-8 in the North and 9-12 in the East. This rectangle reminds of the standard form of the Sed-festival court, used in one of the most important events of a king's reign : the Sed festival.
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