http://SaturnianCosmology.Org/ mirrored file For complete access to all the files of this collection see http://SaturnianCosmology.org/search.php ========================================================== *_CONTENDINGS OF HORUS AND SET_* *Ennead Opens: **Horus/Heru Declared King, Set Challenges.* This is the judging of Heru and Set, mysterious in forms and the mightiest of the princes and lords who ever existed. [Heru] the young god was seated before Ra, the Lord of All, and claimed the office of his father Wesir, (he of beautiful appearance, the son of Ptah, who brightens the netherworld with his complexion), while Djehuty offered the Eye to the great prince of Iunu. Then spoke Shu, the son of Ra, in the presence of Ra, the great prince of Iunu: /“Justice rules over sheer strength. Do justice by saying: “Award the office to Heru.”/ Then Djehuty said to the Ennead: /“It is correct a million times!” / Then Aset uttered a loud shriek and was much delighted. And she came before the Lord of All and said, “/North wind, go west, bring the news to Wennofer/!” [a name of Wesir meaning "he who is beneficent"] Then said Shu, son of Ra, /“Presenting the Eye to Heru seems right to the Ennead.”/ But Ra, Lord of All, said, /“What is the meaning of this, you making decisions on your own?”/ Ra was silent for a long moment, being furious with the Ennead because he wanted to give the office to Set, the son of Nut and great of strength. Then Set, son of Nut, said, /“Send him outside with me, and I will let you see my hand prevail over his hand in the presence of the Ennead, since there is no other known method of dispossessing him.”/ Djehuty replied, “Shall we give the office of Wesir to Set, while his son Heru lives?” And Onuris cried out before the Ennead: /“What shall we do?” / And Ra, great prince of Iunu, said /“Summon Banebdjede, the great living god, that he may judge between Heru and Set, and stop them quarreling every day.”/ So they brought Banebdjede, the great god who dwells in Sehel, along with Ptah-Tatenen. And Banebdjede replied, /“Do not have us exercise judgment in ignorance. Write and send a letter to Nit the Great and Oldest One, Mother of the Gods, and what she says we will do.”/ *Nit Makes Judgment* So Djehuty wrote this letter to Nit: /“The King of Upper and Lower Egypt: Ra-Atum, beloved of Djehuty, the Lord of the Two Lands; the Aten who illumines the Two Lands with his hue, the Hapy mighty in his rising, Ra-Harakhti, to Nit the Eldest, the divine mother, who shone on the first time, is alive, in health, and young. The living Ba of the Lord of All, the Bull of Iunu who is the good King of Egypt, says as follows: “I your servant spend the night on behalf of Wesir taking counsel for the Two Lands every day, while Sobek endures forever. What shall we do about these two people who for eighty years now have been before the tribunal, and no one knows how to judge between them? Please write us what we should do.”/ Then Nit the Great, the God’s Mother, replied to the Ennead, /“Give the office of Wesir to his son Heru, and don’t commit such blatant wrongs which are illegal! Or I shall get angry and the sky will crash to the ground! The Lord of All, the Bull in Iunu, should double Set’s possessions and give him Anat and Astarte, your two daughters, and place Heru on the seat of his father!”/ Ennead Opens <#EnneadOpens> Back to Dom ain When Djehuty received the letter from Nit he read it out in the presence of Ra, Lord of All, and the entire Ennead. They all proclaimed loudly: /“This goddess is right!” / But Ra was still angry at Heru and told him: /“You are feeble in body and this office is too big for you, you boy, whose breath is still bad.”/ Then Onuris became exceedingly angry as did the Ennead, the Council of Thirty. The god Baba got up and said to Ra-Harakhti, /“Your shrine is empty!” / Ra-Harakhti took offense at the insult offered him by Baba, and lay down on his back, heartsick. And the Ennead shouted loudly at Baba and told him, /“Go away! This is an exceeding great offense you have done!”/ And they all departed to their tents. But Ra spent a day lying on his back in his tent, heartsick and alone. After a long while, Hethert, Lady of the Southern Sycamore, came and stood before her father, Ra, Lord of All. And she uncovered her nakedness, exposing herself before his eyes. Thereupon the great god laughed at her antics, got up and returned to sit with the great Ennead. Set, son of Nut, great in strength, said /“I am Set, greatest of strength amongst the Ennead, for I slay the enemy of Ra every day, standing on the prow of the Barque of Millions, and no other god is able to do that. I should receive the office of Wesir!”/ And they all said /“Set, the son of Nut is correct.”/ But Onuris, Djehuty, and Banebdjed cried out, “/Should the office be given to a mere lad, while Set, the elder relative, is here at hand?” / Then Heru, son of Aset, said: /“It is not good to cheat me before the Ennead and deprive me of the office of my father Wesir!”/ Thereupon Aset became angry with the Ennead, and swore by the god in their presence, saying, /“By my mother Nit, and as Ptah-Tatenen lives, these matters should be submitted before Ra, the great prince of Iunu, and also, Khepri who resides in his barque.”/ The Ennead said to her, /“Don’t be angry. Rights will be given to him who is right. All that you have said will be done.”/ Set then got angry with the Ennead because of their words to Aset the Great, the divine Mother, and said to them, swearing, /“I will take my scepter of 4,500 pounds and kill one of you each day. I will not come in to the tribunal as long as Aset is still in it.” / Back to Domain Ra-Harakhti then said to them, /“Ferry across to the Island-in-the-Middle and judge between them there. Tell Nemty /[sometimes written as Anty] /the ferryman not to ferry across any woman who looks like Aset.”/ And the Ennead ferried across to the Island and sat down to bread. Then Aset transformed herself into an old woman, walking with a hobble and wearing a gold ring on her hand, and came over and approached Nemty, the ferryman. She said to Nemty, /“Ferry me across to the Island-in-the-Middle, so that I may give this bowl of porridge for the young boy tending cattle therein. He has been there five days and is hungry.” / Nemty told her he was ordered not to ferry across any woman. He asked what she would offer him. Aset offered him cake, which Nemty refused. Aset then offered him the gold ring on her hand. And he took it and ferried Aset across to the Island-in-the-Middle. Now, as Aset walked under the trees, Set saw her as she drew near. So Aset used her magic and transformed herself into a beautiful maiden. And Set desired her deeply. And he left the Ennead and approached her, to be with her. Aset said to him, /“Listen to my story, great lord. I was wife to a cattleman, with whom I had a son. My husband died, and the boy tended the cattle in his turn. But then a stranger came, sat down in my stable, and said to my son, ‘I will beat you and take your father’s cattle and throw you out.’ Now, good sir, I wish to make you my son’s protector.”/ Set said to her, /“Shall one give the cattle to the stranger, while the son of the owner is still here?”/ Then Aset changed herself into a kite, and flew up to perch in an acacia tree. She called to Set saying, /“Be ashamed! Your own mouth has said it, and your own cleverness has judged you. What more can you say now?” / Set became ashamed and went to Ra-Harakhti and told him that Aset had appeared and had tricked him and what he had replied to her, that the stranger should be beaten with a stick, evicted, and the son be put in his father’s position. Ra-Harakhti told Set, /“See you have judged yourself. What more do you want then?” / Set replied that Nemty the ferryman should be punished because he ferried Aset across to the Island. So Nemty was brought before the Ennead, and his toes removed. And he foreswore gold from that time on. Back to Domain Ra-Harakhti and Atum, the Lord of All, wrote then to the Ennead saying, /“Are you going to keep these two youths spend their lives in court? Place the White Crown on the head of Heru son of Aset and appoint him to the office of his father Wesir.”/ Then Set became terribly angry and swore that he would remove the White Crown from Heru and cast him into the water so that Set could continue to contend with him. Set told Heru, /“Let us change into hippopotamuses and swim to the bottom of the sea, and he who comes out after three whole months shall be awarded the office of Ruler.”/ Aset sat weeping and said, /“Set will kill my son, Heru.”/ And she took yarn and made a line of rope, fetched a portion of copper and made it into a harpoon. She tied the line to it and hurled it into the water. But the copper barb bit into the body of Heru her son. And Heru cried aloud, saying, /“Come to me mother Aset, my mother! Tell your weapon to release me your son!”/ Aset shrieked and told her copper barb to release Heru her son. And she again hurled the harpoon into the water and this time it entered the body of Set. Set shrieked saying, /“What have I done against you, my sister Aset? Tell your weapon to release me, I am your brother Set.” / And Aset took pity on her brother Set and told her weapon to release him. Heru, son of Aset, became furious at his mother, and took his cleaver in his hand. He cut off the head of his mother Aset, took it in his arms, and went up the mountain. Aset transformed herself into a statue of flint with no head. And when Ra-Harakhti learned what Heru had done, he desired to punish him, and went with the Ennead to search for Heru and punish him. Now Heru was lying under a tree, and Set came upon him, wrestled with him and removed both his eyes and buried them there on the mountain. Toward morning, the two eyes bloomed into bulbs and became lotuses. Set then went to Ra-Harakhti and denied having found Heru. Then Hethert, Mistress of the Southern Sycamore, found Heru as he lay weeping. She caught a gazelle, milked it, and said to Heru, /“Open your eyes, that I may put this milk in.”/ And when she had done as she said, Heru opened his eyes and he found that they were healed. Hethert went and told Ra-Harakhti that she had found Heru after Set had deprived him of his eyes and had restored him to health. Back to Domain The Ennead said, /“Summon Heru and Set that they may be judged.”/ The Lord of All told Heru and Set to stop quarreling without end every day. So Set said to Heru, /“Come let us make celebration in my house.”/ And Heru went to the house of Set. At evening time, as Heru lay down to bed, Set came to him, and placed his stiffened member between the thighs of Heru. But Heru placed his hands between his thighs and caught the semen of Set. Heru went to his mother and showed her the semen on his hand. Aset cried out and took a knife and cut off Heru’s hands, throwing them into the water, and gave him new hands. Then she took some ointment, stiffened Heru’s member and caught the semen in a pot. In the morning she went with Heru to the garden of Set and sprinkled the semen of Heru on the lettuce that Set would eat. When Set ate of the lettuce he became pregnant with the semen of Heru. Then Set called Heru into the court with him so they could be judged. Set told the Ennead, /“Let the office of ruler be given to me now, because I have done a man’s deed against him.”/ The Ennead cried out and spat against Heru. And Heru laughed and said, /“Set has spoken falsely. Summon Set’s semen, and my semen, and we shall see from whence each comes.”/ Djehuty, lord of writing, true scribe of the Ennead, laid his hand on the arm of Heru and said, /“Come out, semen of Set.”/ And it answered him from the water in the midst of the marsh. And Djehuty put his hand on the arm of Set and said, /“Come out, semen of Heru.”/ And it said, /“Where shall I come out?” / Djehuty said, /“Come out of his ear.”/ And the semen replied, /“Shall I come out of his ear, I who am a divine seed?” / And Djehuty said, /“Come out from the top of his head.”/ And the semen came out as a golden sun-disk on the head of Set. Set became very angry and lifted his hand to seize the sun-disk, but Djehuty took it away and placed it as a crown upon his own head. Back To Domain And the Ennead declared, /“Heru is right and Set is wrong.”/ Set swore and said, /“He shall not be yet given the office. We shall go outside together and build ships of stone and race each other. The one who wins shall be awarded the office of Ruler.”/ Heru built himself a boat of pine, plastered it over with gypsum, and launched it in the evening. Set thought the boat was truly stone and built his own out of a mountain top. They each set out their ships before the Ennead. Set’s boat sank. So he transformed himself into a hippopotamus and scuttled Heru’s boat. Heru then brought his harpoon and struck at Set. So Heru took his weapons and sailed his boat downstream to Sais to consult with Nit the Great, the God’s Mother. And he told her how he and Set had been quarreling for eighty years in the court and how the Ennead could not judge between them. Djehuty then said to the Lord of All to send to Wesir so that he could judge between Heru and Set. So Djehuty wrote this to Wesir: /“The Bull, Hunting Lion, The Two Ladies, protecting the gods and subduing the Two Lands, Gold Heru, who invented mankind in the beginning; King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Bull who dwells in On, Son of Ptah, Benefactor of the Two Banks, appearing as father of his Ennead while he eats of gold and glaze, Life, Prosperity and health! Please tell us what we should do about Heru and Set so that we do not act in ignorance.”/ When Wesir the King, son of Ra, Great in Bounty and Lord of Sustenance, received this letter he cried out aloud. He replied to the Ennead, /“Why is my son Heru being cheated when it was I who made you strong? It was I who made barley and emmer to sustain the gods and cattle when no other god or goddess could do so?”/ Ra-Harakhti replied, /“If you had not existed, if you had not been born, barley and emmer would yet exist.”/ Wesir wrote back: /“All you have done and what the Ennead has done is very good. Maat has been allowed to sink into the netherworld. Please consider, the land in which I am is filled with savage-looking messengers who do not fear any god or goddess. I have but to release them and they will bring me the heart of every evildoer. What can it mean, me here in the West while you are all there? Who among you is mightier than I?”/ Djehuty read this letter to the Ennead, who declared Wesir right. Heru was declared in the right against Set. Then Atum called for Set to be brought before him in fetters. And Aset brought Set fettered before Atum. Atum asked Set, /“Why have you resisted being judged and have taken for yourself the office of Heru?”/ But Set said, /“Let Heru be summoned and be awarded the office of his father Wesir.” / So they brought Heru, and placed the White Crown upon his head and he was installed in the office of Wesir. And they declared to him, /“You are the good king of Egypt! You are the good lord of all the lands forever and ever!”/ Then Aset shrieked aloud and declared, /“You are the good king. My heart is in joy. You have illumined the earth with your countenance.”/ Then Ptah the Great, South of his Wall, Lord of Memphis, said, /“What shall we do for Set, now that Heru has been placed on the seat of Wesir?”/ Ra-Harakhti said, /“Let Set be given to me to dwell with me and be my son. And he shall thunder in the sky and be feared.”/ And the Ennead said to Ra-Harakhti: /“Heru has risen as Ruler!” / And Ra-Harakhti rejoiced and declared, /“Celebrate throughout the land for Heru, son of Aset.”/ And Aset said, /“Heru has risen as Ruler, life, prosperity and health! The Ennead is in feast, heaven in joy! They take garlands seeing Heru, son of Aset Risen as great Ruler of Egypt. The hearts of the Ennead exult, The entire land rejoices. As they see Heru, son of Aset, given the office of his father, Wesir, lord of Busiris!”/ THE END Back To Domain