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Level 8 - Vociferous
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: south africa
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Re: aenima- problem 8
1.4 The 4th Hour :
"The one belonging to Rosetau.
Secret paths of Rosetau. The divine gate
He cannot pass them, but it is (only) his voice which they hear.
Path entered by the corpse of Sokar-upon-his-sand.
Secret image which can neither be seen nor beheld.
Secret path entered by Anubis to conceal the corpse of Osiris.
Secret path of the edge of the Imhet."
The Five Texts in the Desert Path, 4th Hour, 352 - 353.
Name of the Cavern : "With living forms" ;
Name of the Gate : "Which hides the towing" ;
Name of the goddess : "The great one in the Duat" / "She who is great in her power" ;
Structural features : towed snake Bark, knives cutting registers, sarcophagus ;
Main visual semantic : desert of Rosetau, land of Sokar ;
Theme : darkness and silence : the ultimate isolation of Solar power.
cutting through the registers - Drawing by A.G. Shedid (digitally enhanced) - Hornung (1999).
The 4th Hour begins with an abrupt scene change. The Solar bark, transformed into a Serpent bark, is on a narrow stretch of water running in a vast desert, the Earth of Sokar "he upon his sand", the Lord of the mysterious ways of Rosetau. This desert is populated by gigantic serpent monsters.
The Sungod is back in his bark, as is the Sun disk upon his head (lost in the 2th Hour). If in the 3th Hour he had been absent from the scene, while the texts affirmed Re was on all four boats, now his icon is back, but the texts explain he cannot be seen ! A remarkable juxtaposition.
The scepter in Re's hand has changed. It too has become a serpent, indicative of his commanding power over the serpent world. To journey this dark hour, filled with all kinds of serpents, Re needs to control them. The zigzag "serpentine" path (cf. The Five Texts in the Desert Path) underpins the awkward motility of the Solar bark.
The region of Rosetau is linked with death and the god Sokar, a funerary form of Osiris, linked with mummification, entombment and the mysteries of the Duat (cf. the sarcophagi moving downwards). The secret, mysterious, hidden doors etc. remind of the devices found in the Book of the Two Ways (Coffin Texts, Spells 1029 to 1185). Knowing the proper names guaranteed full protection in the Duat.
"SPELL FOR THE PATHS OF ROSETAU.
These paths here are in confusion. Every one of them is opposed to its fellow. It is those who know them who will find their paths. They are high on the flint walls which are in Rosetau, which is both on water and on land."
Coffin Texts, Spell 1072.
"(...) I have opened up Rosetau that I may ease the suffering of Osiris ..."
CT, Spell 1079.
"This is the sealed thing which is in darkness, with fire about it, which contains the efflux of Osiris, and it is put in Rosetau. It has been hidden since it fell from him, and it is what came down from him on to the desert of sand. It meant that what belonged to him was put in Rosetau."
CT, Spell 1080.
In this hour, Re is repeatedly blocked by doors called "knife", cutting the way into pieces. Re utters words of power without seeing those he wakes up from their slumber of near-death, nor can they see him, for he turned into a dark Sun. In this deepest hour of darkness, Re can no longer see the inhabitants of the Duat. They hear him, but no one answers Re. Absence of light and silence overpower his soul.
Because of this thick darkness, his Left Eye has been injured, but it is protected by Thoth and "he who is upon his sand", Sokar himself, anticipating its healing. The old myth of the battle between Horus and Seth (with Horus loosing his Left Eye restored by Thoth) is transposed and placed at the preliminaries of the process of regeneration. Total darkness and silence (symbolized by Sokar) and knowledge of the words of power (symbolized by Thoth) accommodate the process of healing initiated. Renewal & rebirths are preluded by thick darkness & isolation. In Yoga, during dark retreat, parallel experiences & processes ensue.
At the end of the 4th Hour, another radical change occurs, for Re has to make a non-linear jump to enter the 5th Hour. The change of scenery introduced at the beginning of the 4th Hour acts as preliminary to a more radical alteration of experienced reality introduced with the 5th. For a sacred space is at hand, and a radical transition is about to occur.
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