"I am Nature, the Mother of All things
Mistress of the Elements,
Sovereign of the Spirit
Queen of the Dead,
Queen of the Immortals,
The single embodiment of all Goddesses and Gods,
Most exalted of the deities,
My will governs the movements of the stars,
The winds of the seas
And the dread silence of the underworld is disposed.
I am worshipped under many aspects,
Known by countless names.
I am Queen Isis"

Isis (y'-sis) is the Greek form of she who is known in Egypt as Aset. Most revered and best honored of all the Egyptian Goddesses she was worshipped longer than any other Goddess, from the origin of written history to the 5th century A.D. (A span of more than three thousand years.) Isis' popularity lasted far into the Roman era. She had her own priests/priestesses and thousands of temples erected in her honor. On the island of Philae in the Nile delta her largest temple was situated (it was transferred to the island Agilkia in 1975-1980 where it still exists today).

The tale of Isis and Osiris was so common in Egypt throughout the dynasties that it was never written down in it's entirety, it was assumed as part of the culture. In the 2nd century AD, the Greek traveler and biographer Plutarch gathered all the episodes, set it forth and presented it to a Temple of Isis priestess Klea. The history was confirmed by fragments of ancient text and the evidence of temples and monuments in various places all over Egypt.

Although Her worship began in ancient Egypt it later spread to Asia Minor, Great Britain and Europe. Her religion was a mystery cult in which She was revered as Queen of Heaven, Earth and the Underworld. Little is known of the religion, however, initiates reported powerful mystical experiences and were ensured of everlasting life by devotion to Isis. Isis assumed the characteristics of many lesser-known Goddesses, thus becoming worshipped as the universal Goddess who was all-encompassing in her feminine attributes and power: She was the original personification of the throne (her name is written with the hieroglyph for throne), and as such no pharaoh could rule except through her authority. Divinity itself, Isis' power is symbolized by the seat of all government, wisdom and truth on Earth and in Heaven. Remember her Egyptian name "A-set", the seat. Beginning with the New Kingdom and progressing afterward She is also portrayed wearing the solar disk between the cow horns atop her head (normally attributed to Het-Hert [Greek: Hathor]). This image is sometimes combined with the uraeus and the vulture headdress normally attributed to Mut, the wife of Amen. In addition, she is shown with the child Horus sitting on her lap. Isis is sometimes depicted as a kite flying above the mummified body of Osiris. She is often seen as "the Winged Being". Isis, the "Lady of Life," also holds the Ankh, the symbol of eternal life.

Isis was credited with teaching the secrets of agriculture, law, weaving and the medicinal arts. She is celebrated as a powerful and magical healer, being gifted with the ability to cure mind, body, emotion and spirit. Another of her titles is Divine Physician. Isis taught her priestesses techniques of healing, including the preparation of medicines for contraception, fertility and relief from pain. In the Hellenistic time Isis was worshipped as the protrectress of sailors. To see a complete list of Her divine names and titles go to the Litany of The Goddess.

In the beginning everywhere was water and water was everywhere and the name of the waters was Nun. Out of the primordial waters of the dark abyss a hill began to rise; it was "The Mound of the First Time" and it was the first time of light. The name of the high hill was Atum, the "Complete One". This happened in the beginning and it happened every day in the birth of the sun from the primordial abyss of night and every year in the rising of the land from the inundating waters of the Nile.

Atum generated the male Shu (Air, Life, Space, Light) and the female Tefnut (Moisture, Order). They give birth to Nut (Sky) and Geb (Earth). Shu lifts his daughter The Sky Goddess away from his son Geb (the Earth God), supporting her so she can give birth to the stars.

Nut and Ra (an aspect of Atum) are married as he (the sun) passes through her (the sky) for all times. Ra the sun God is also God of Time. But Nut fell in love with Geb the Earth God and coupled with Him and became pregnant. When Ra perceived that His wife had been unfaithful to Him He cursed Her, saying "You may give birth in no month and no year." In this way He hoped to prevent Her from bringing forth the progeny of the Earth.

Nut labored in her fullness of pregnancy for eons as the babies grew to maturity in her womb. Never allowing to birth was a great agony for the mother and children. Later the Goddess had another lover who was Thoth, the magician. He played draughts (a gambling game) with the Moon and won the seventy-second part of Her light. He made five days out of this light (for that is a seventy-second part of the 29 days of illumination of each of the twelve lunar months), and put them together outside of all Her months. He added these five days to the Egyptian year of three hundred and sixty days. This is the mythical origin of the five supplementary days which the Egyptians annually inserted at the end of each year to establish harmony between lunar and solar time. On these five days regarded as outside the year of twelve months, the curse of the sun God did not rest, and accordingly Nut was able to bear Her children in these five days out of time.

On the first day was born Osiris, first son of the Sun. At his nativity a voice rang out proclaiming: " The Lord of All advances to the light." On the second day was born the elder Horus, the second son of the Sun who immediately flew away into the sky in the form of a falcon. On the third day was born Set, who with a blow burst in an untimely fashion from His mother's side and leapt forth. On the fourth day was born Isis, in the regions that are ever moist. On the fifth day was born Nephthys. After birth Nephthys became the wife of Set but Isis and Osiris had loved each other even in the darkness of the womb before they were born. Some attribute Horus to their coupling within the womb. They remained always in love.

Osiris, the king of Egypt, and Isis, his queen, were beloved by all their people. Reigning as king on Earth, Osiris freed the Egyptians from savagery, gave them laws and taught them to worship the Gods. Before his time the Egyptians had been cannibals. Isis discovered wheat and barley growing wild, and Osiris introduced the cultivation of these grains amongst his people, who forthwith abandoned cannibalism. Osiris was also the first to gather fruits from the trees, to train the vine to poles and to tread grapes. He was kind and just and he gave them laws to live by. Eager to communicate his discoveries to all mankind, he committed the whole of government to Isis as he traveled over the world, diffusing the blessings of civilization and agriculture wherever he went. In harsh climates where the vine wouldn't grow he taught the inhabitants to cultivate barley and brew beer. Loaded with wealth from the grateful nations he returned to Egypt victorious and was hailed as a deity for his gifts to humanity. But his brother Set was jealous and with seventy-two others plotted against him to take over the throne. Queen Isis was constantly on her guard when Osiris traveled around his kingdom, she never felt safe from Set's scheming.

One day Osiris held a banquet for his court and as he was kind and just Set was also invited. This was the moment Set had long awaited. Together with his accomplices he could set his plan in motion. Having taken the measure of his good brother's body by stealth, he had built and decorated a coffin of the exact same size. After much feasting and drinking he began to describe this wonderous coffin that he "had been given", and soon enough he was asked to have it brought in for people to see. It was indeed beautiful, made of the finest wood, gilded and painted. He promised to give it as a gift to whomever fitted into it exactly . They all tried it one after another but none would fit. Lastly Osiris stepped up to take his turn. As he lay down the conspirators sped forward to quickly nail the lid into place and secure it with molten solder. While the rest of the court was held back it was immediately spirited away and thrown into the Nile where the current carried it downstream. This happened on the seventeenth day of the month of Athyr, when the sun is in the sign of Scorpio, in the eight and twentieth year of the reign or the life of Osiris.

Isis overcome with grief, cut off a length of her hair, dressed herself in mourning attire and wandered disconsolately up and down the Nile seeking her husband's body. She searched everywhere, all over Kemet and beyond without finding a trace. By advice of a God she took refuge in the papyrus swamps of the Delta. Meanwhile the coffin containing Osiris had floated down the river, away out to sea, eventually drifting ashore at Byblos, on the coast of Syria. She wandered for a long time, weeping and searching for the casket, and often she heard rumors that a golden casket had been seen floating by some village. So she kept following after until she left Egypt and came into the land of Byblos. One day she heard some children saying that they had seen the golden coffin that had lodged in a Erica bush which had shot up suddenly. Here the rumors spoke about a wonderful tree that had started to grow quickly on the shore. Isis understood then that the coffin had floated ashore and gotten stuck in the bush. Nurtured by the divine presence of Osiris´ body, the bush had sprouted and grown into a large tree which was so beautiful and fragrant that the king of Byblos had it cut down and fashioned into a pillar of the palace.

In the guise of a humble servant with tear stained face Isis waited at the well. To none would she speak until she met the Queen's maidens whom she greeted kindly. She offered to plait their hair and breathed on them her own divine scent so that they were surrounded with a wondrous perfume. When the Queen beheld the braided tresses and smelled the intoxicating aroma of her handmaidens she urged them to bring this stranger before her. She invited Isis into her home and made her nursemaid for her son, the prince.

Soon enough Isis found the tree trunk that enclosed her husband´s coffin. She kept vigil every night while the little prince slept, she went into the room where the pillar containing the coffin and she wept and mourned for her husband within. And every day she looked after the little prince, suckling him with her finger instead of her breast, shortly she became so fond of him, that she decided to make him immortal.

In the night she brought him to the pillar where the casket was hidden. There she lit a fire and speaking the magic words she laid down the sleeping boy in the flames. The fire started to burn away all that was human in him, but she did not watch over him, she turned herself into a swallow and began to fly around the pillar, wailing and mourning over her dead husband. The queen, who slept nearby, awoke one night to the smell of the fire, and hastened to the room. When she saw her child surrounded with flames, she raised a cry of horror. The swallow turned back into a woman revealing herself as Goddess as the magical fire died. Isis admitted to the queen her purpose and told her that now it was impossible for the prince to become immortal. The queen regretted her ignorance and asked how she could repay Isis. Isis asked for the pillar containing the coffin. She instantly hewed it into pieces so that the sarcophagus could be removed. She wailed and mourned at the sight of the coffin so loud and long that one of the Queen's children died of fright.

In time Isis wrapped the trunk of the tree in fine linen, drenched it with aromatic oils, and returned it to the queen to keep in the temple of Byblos where it is worshipped to this day. Then she left Byblos by boat and headed for Egypt taking the Queen's eldest child with her. On the journey, she opened the coffin, lying her face on his she embraced Osiris, kissed him and wept for him. Meanwhile the child crept up behind her to see what she was about. She turned in anger and so frightened was the child that he fell into the Nile and drowned. The coffin was resealed as she continued on her way home through the marshlands to bury him.

Upon her arrival Isis hid the coffin in the remote marshes and went to visit in Buto with her son/brother Horus (the elder). While she was away Set and his men discovered the coffin as they hunted wild boar by moonlight. When he happened upon the casket, Set recognized it, realized his treachery had been found out and feared that Isis would punish him. While she was away he broke into it and tore Osiris´ body into fourteen separate pieces which he scattered from one end of the Nile to the other. Only then did he feel safe that Isis would not be able to find them.

When Isis returned and saw the empty casket, her cry of anguish shook Heaven and Earth. She called out to her sister Nephthys (sister/wife of Set) who came to console her and once more she traveled in search of Osiris, now with Nephthys by her side. They were also accompanied by Anubis (jackal headed son of Nephthys from an illicit affair with Osiris whom she tricked in the dark). Some think this is why Set bore such malice towards Osiris. The company also included Thoth with his power and discriminating nature. Helped by the intuitive nose of Anubis and all the others they tracked Osiris.

For many long, sorrowful years Isis searched the lands and her sister went with her everywhere. Wherever they found a piece of Osiris´ body, they erected an altar, giving thanks to the Gods and performing rites that were ever afterward practiced as funeral rites in Egypt. All the parts were found except for the phallus which had been thrown into the Nile and eaten by a fish. Isis appealed to Thoth who fashioned a phallus out of wood. Bringing all the thirteen body parts together in magic she prayed. Thus Isis succeeded, through her prayers to Ra, and her powerful magic, in restoring life to Osiris - for one night of love in which Horus (the younger) was conceived.

Once the funeral rites were observed, the body wrapped and anointed, all the prayers prayed, Isis in the form of the kite fanned her wings over the broken body. This image of the kite connected with the cry of the bird – a sound very much like that of a mourner. In reviving the body she gained for Osiris the reign as King of the dead in the nether worlds. There he bore the titles of Lord of the underworld, Lord of Eternity, Ruler of the Dead. There too, in the Great Hall of Two Truths, assisted by forty-two assessors, one from each of the principal districts of Egypt, he presided as judge at the trial of the souls of the departed. Each made it's solemn confession to him and their heart was weighed in the balance of justice against a feather. Either they received the reward of life eternal or the appropriate punishment of their sins.

Isis, wishing her husband's grave to be unknown as well as his name to be honored by all the peoples of Egypt, thought of a plan. She molded human images out of wax and spices corresponding to the stature of Osiris, round each of the pieces of his body. Then she called in priests according to their family lineage and asked them to take an oath never to reveal the trust which was about to repose in them. To each of them privately she said, "To you alone I entrust the burial of the body of Osiris. Bury him in your own land and honor him as a God. Chose an animal to dedicate to Osiris. Honor it in life with the same honors given to Osiris and when it dies grant it the same burial rites." From this came the tradition of the sacred bulls of Apes. She gave to each a third part of land to be used by them in service and worship of the Gods. Accordingly the priests desirous of the benefits of hosting Osiris, seeking to gratify the queen and moved by the prospect of gain, carried out all the instructions of Isis thinking they were the only one to bury the body of Osiris in their region. In this way the memory and worship of Osiris was insured.

In the marshlands of Chemmis she gave birth to the son of Osiris, Horus the younger. His childhood was filled with dangers and Isis had to hide his existence so that Set should not discover him and suspect that a son of Osiris had been born that would take revenge on Set when he grew to manhood. No matter how Isis tried to watch constantly over him, Set found them and lured them into a spinning-mill, pretending to Isis it was for her own safety. She had no chance to flee with the young child, but eventually Thoth, the god of Wisdom saw her need and came to her aid. In the dark of the night Thoth helped Isis out of her prison.

He sent seven magical scorpions, led by Tefen to help and to guard her on her way. And so, for the third time, Isis set out wandering, now carrying her baby son in her arms. After many days of traveling she reached a town, where she stopped by a big, wealthy-looking house and asked for food and a resting-place. But the rich woman was scared by the sight of the seven scorpions that accompanied them, and closed the door on Isis. When she wearily prepared to walk on, a poor fisher woman approached them and offered them to share her meager meal. While Isis rested, Tefen and the rest of the scorpions decided to take their revenge on the rich woman who had denied them help, and during the night Tefen crept into her house and stung her child. When the child cried out of pain and woke the other, she ran in search of help, carrying the small child in her arms, but no one knew what to do. Her cries woke Isis, who soon found out what had been done, and, looking down at her own child, who slept calmly, she felt pity for the mother and called for her to come so that she could help her. And Isis ordered the poison of Tefen to leave the body of the boy and at once the fever left him and his breath became easy again. When the mother understood whom she had refused, she became very agitated, and collected all her possessions and carried them over to the poor woman's house, trying to make amends for her pride. Isis rejoiced on behalf of the poor woman, and the next day she resumed her journey.

When they reached the marshes of Chemmis, where Thoth had told her to go, she hid Horus in the papyri and lotus thickets. There she had to leave him to go begging for food. But for the third time Set found out about them, and as he could not pass unseen through the brushes, he transformed himself into a snake. That way he could reach the child, sting it and then get quickly away. One day, when Isis returned to the hiding place, she found her child lying lifeless on his back and she could hardly hear his heartbeat. She did not know what kind of illness had struck her son, and when she began working with her magic, her power had deserted her. She was alone, her husband was dead, none of the Gods were there to help her and she despaired. She took Horus in her arms and ran to the village nearby and the fishermen who lived there took pity on her and tried everything they could to heal the child, but nothing helped. Then someone brought a wise woman who examined Horus closely, consoled Isis and said that it must be Set who had disguised himself as a snake or a scorpion and poisoned the child. Isis understood that the woman was right and that this must somehow be the doings of Set and her anger rose within her. She let out such a wail that the Earth shook and the sunboat stopped its course, for Isis knew the secret name of Ra, the King of the Gods. When he heard Isis cry and noticed that his sunboat had stopped so that there was no more light on the lands, he sent Thoth to find out what had happened. Isis told Thoth that Horus had been poisoned by Set and that she wished she had died together with Osiris. She had lived on only to see Horus grow up and take revenge on Set for Osiris´ death, but now there was no reason for her to live any longer. Toth consoled her and began to utter his powerful words and after a while the poison was driven out from Horus' body and he was brought back to life again. But Isis and the child had to stay in the marshlands until Horus was grown enough to revenge his father and take the throne back from Set. To make sure they were safe, Thoth ordered the people of the marshes and all birds and animals who lived there to keep watch over them. And while Isis rejoiced, Thoth returned to the Heavens and to the sunboat.

During the contendings of Horus and Set, Horus lost his left eye, which Thoth healed and Set his testicle. Their battles took place over three days and three nights, the gestation period of the moon's darkness, which appears in all cultures when issues of death and life hang in the balance. Horus finally overcame Set and gave him in chains to Isis to put to death. However she took pity on him and released him. Horus, enraged with his mother, cut off her head but Thoth replaced it with a cow's head.

After all the physical fighting Set hurled insults accusing Horus of being illegitimate, creating an issue of who would inherit the thrown. Formerly inheritance came through the mother, which would have given Set as the brother to Isis precedence over Horus. The council ruled in favor of Horus. Horus was judged rightful heir and the patrilineal principal was established. Horus was crowned the new King and Set made to serve the new order.

Horus journeyed to the Underworld to deliver the news to Osiris, awaken him and set his soul in motion. He presented him with the eye that was torn out in the struggle, which restored Osiris to eternal life and became known as the Wedjet-eye, the Eye of Eternity, which protected from all harm. As Osiris revived, the spirit of life and growth awakened and the new year began, renewing the cycle of life on Earth that happens in each year when the Nile floods and receeds.

Through Isis, walk the Earth path more elegantly.

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