Sacred Geography of Egypt II

 Egypt: Golden Capsule Out of Time

The multiple correspondences ─ between heaven and earth, the directions of space, between the terrestrial Nile and the celestial Nile (the Milky Way) ─ are integrated with the "Mythical Time": the time of Beginnings and of the Gods, a time to which the Egyptians always tried to return, an ancient nostalgia always present in their history. That is why each new Pharaoh began his reign beginning with the year one, the first year. Egypt was a Golden Capsule, eternal, always repeated, a habitable place for gods, men and animals, beyond time.

The Course of the Nile and Osiris

Egypt and the Nile are one, the sacred river is the gift of the gods, its blessed waters represented by the figure of Hapi, with swollen breasts and a full belly, generous and always ready to nourish and give life to all the beings who drank from its waters.

Hapi, the god of del Nile

It is said that a certain tribe of Libyans, who settled in the Delta, refused to pay tribute to the Pharaoh. They claimed that they were not Egyptians. After consulting the Oracle of Siwa, famous throughout antiquity and in whose temple the god Amun spoke, he decided that all those who drank from the waters of the Nile were Egyptians. One was Egyptian not by race or descent, but by being part of the vast community settled that along its banks. The river meant irrigation, and the regulation of the use of its waters, the parcelling out of land, and hereditary and customary rights, it meant civilization in the face of an external world, beyond its borders, where misery, despotism and cruelty were commonplace. 

Ta Mery, the "beloved land", or also Kemet, the "black land" rich in silt, constituted Egypt. The living valley, with its three alternating seasons, its power of regeneration and life, was identified and became one with Osiris, the redeeming god and legendary king at the same time, who taught the people civilization, but above all the way to achieve immortality, overcome death and conquer eternity, like the life of the Nile itself.

The two lands are green because of you, in the presence of the Lord of the Confines (Osiris)... you, with a golden body, a blue head, and whose arms are turquoise...

[Book of the Dead, Hymn to Osiris]

Osiris is Egypt: his head is the blue sky, his golden chest the space through which the sun crosses the sky, and his arms are the turquoise waters of the river. Osiris was the fertility of the earth, the power of renewal. In other classical civilisations we find a parallel: the just and legitimate king makes the land flourish by his mere presence: “The King and the earth are one.” On the contrary, natural disasters, famine and devastation were considered the result of the destruction of the bond that united heaven and earth, the consequence of an unworthy king.

The first season of the year, called Akhet, lasted from about  19th of July to 15th of November, and was the season of the Flood, the arrival in abundance of the waters coming from upstream.

From the waters of the ocean, the Great Green One, and from primeval times, 

represented by the staff of hundreds of years in his hands, Hapi, the god of the Nile, 

emerges and transfers the Primordial Waters to the Waters of the River.

The second season was that of sowing, Peret, from 15th of November to 15th of March. It was the time of Germination. In the tombs a pot in the shape of Osiris was placed, a pot from which wheat sprouted in the midst of the darkness of death, as a promise of resurrection.

Osiris Nepra, germinating

The third season was the harvest, Shemu, from 15th of March to 13th of July, the time of harvest and threshing.

The one who becomes an Osiris, in the afterlife reaps what has been sown in life.
The paradise of the Egyptians was effective work on the spiritual plane.

The life of Osiris was the parallel to the life of the Valley and the Nile: recurring cycles of death and life, flood and drought. But, one must not confuse the Mythical Nile with the actual river. Thus, the physical Nile has its origin, as geography teaches us, in the depths of Black Africa, but the Mythical Nile, like Osiris himself, also has a particular magical birth in connection with its celestial mirror, the Celestial Nile known today as the Milky Way.

The island of Bigeh in the foreground, Philae in the background

South of Egypt, there is an island called Bigeh, located opposite the island of Philae. Bigeh was also called "Abaton", "the inaccessible", because it was considered a sacred and important island, and was also a sanctuary of Osiris with 365 altars, one for each day of the year dedicated to the god. Access to the island was only allowed to priests, who always entered there in silence.

In an underwater cave on this island was the mythical origin of the Nile. In this cave the symbol of the river's birth was engraved on the walls: Hapi, the Nile River, surrounded and protected by a snake, while he pours two jars of water, symbol of Aquarius.

This geographical point, the island of Bigeh, was the reflection on earth of the constellation of the Thigh, the Big Dipper. According to the legend, the body of Osiris was cut into 7 or 16 (1+6) parts, depending on the version, and  each part was buried in a different sacred place along the valley. But here at Bigeh, the constellation reflected his power in a special way. Osiris was the "one-legged god", because his body was the reflection of the same constellation, the Thigh:

Osiris and the constellation of the Thigh (Big Dipper)

From this magical place the influence of the stars of the Milky Way spread, making temples and sacred cities arise on the banks of the Nile along its magical path. The Egyptologist Georges Daressy (1864 – 1938) was the one who studied and mapped this distribution (see PDF attached, download Daressy.pdf) by assigning to each nome or province the sacred constellations and planets.

Walking along the banks of the Nile was like walking among the stars, finding a sacred place on its banks where Osiris had left his mark and memory. Today, in our bustling cities, we hardly remember to look up at the sky, if it can still be seen...

To be continued...