The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third Edition, Vol. 02 of 12)Frazer, James George
Religion
The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third Edition, Vol. 02 of 12)
Frazer, James George
Magic; Mythology; Religion; Superstition
Straightway his Majesty went towards her, took
possession of her, placed his heart in her, and shewed himself to her in
his divine form. And upon his coming she was uplifted at the sight of
his beauty, the love of the god ran through all her limbs, and the smell
of the god and his breath were full of the perfumes of Pounit. And thus
saith the royal spouse, the royal mother Ahmasi (or Moutemouaa), in
presence of the majesty of this glorious god, Ammon, lord of Karnak,
lord of Thebes, ‘Twice great are thy souls! It is noble to behold thy
countenance when thou joinest thyself to my majesty in all grace! Thy
dew impregnates all my limbs.’ Then, when the majesty of the god had
accomplished all his desire with her, Ammon, the lord of the two lands,
said to her: ‘_She who is joined to Ammon, the first of the nobles_,
verily, such shall be the name of the daughter who shall open thy womb,
since such is the course of the words that came forth from thy mouth.
She shall reign in righteousness in all the earth, for my soul is hers,
my heart is hers, my will is hers, my crown is hers, truly, that she may
rule over the two lands, that she may guide the souls of all living.’”
[Sidenote: Nativity of the divine Egyptian kings represented on the
monuments.] After the begetting of the divine child—for we must remember
that the kings and queens of Egypt were regarded as divinities in their
lifetime—another series of scenes represents the fashioning of its body
and its birth. The god Khnoumou, who in the beginning of time moulded
gods and men on his potter’s wheel, is seen seated at his wheel
modelling the future king or queen and their doubles—those spiritual
duplicates or external souls which were believed to hover invisible
about both men and gods all through life. In front of Khnoumou kneels
Hiqit, the frog-headed goddess, “the great magician”; she is holding out
to the newly-created figures the symbol of life, the _crux ansata_ ♀, in
order that they may breathe and live. Another scene represents the
birth. At Deir el Bahari the queen has already been delivered, and is
presenting her daughter to several goddesses, who have acted the part of
midwives. At Luxor the double of the royal infant is born first; the
goddesses who serve as nurses have him in their arms, and the midwives
are preparing to receive the real child. Behind the queen are the
goddesses who watch over childbirth, led by Isis and Nephthys; and all
around the spirits of the East, the West, the North, and the South are
presenting the symbol of life or uttering acclamations. In a corner the
grotesque god Bes and the female hippopotamus Api keep off all evil
influence and every malignant spirit.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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