When the God of Air, Shoo, seperated his children Nut and Geb (heaven and
earth) of each other, the Sky-Goddess Nut was pregnant with four children:
Isis and Osiris, Nephtys and Set. It is told of Isis and Osiris they were
already in love when still in her mother's womb.
By order of their father Geb, Osiris and Isis became King and Queen of Egypt
after the Sun-God Re had departed to heaven. It is told that they were the
first to teach men farmership and gave them law and order. When Egypt was
civilised, Osiris started a journey to teach the other people about
civilisation (he went not as a warrior but convinced by talkings and the play
of his harp). Meanwhile Isis reigned Egypt alone.
But Isis was not a talented Queen only but also a skilled mage. By trick she
got knowledge of the secret True Name of the Sun-God (meaning she now had
power over him), and it was her magic besides the force of her brother Set
which protected the barque of the Sun-God Re from evil chaos when travelling
through the underworld each night.
When Osiris returned from his mission, his brother Set was envious about his
success. There are different reports about Osiris' death, some tell he drunk
in the river Nile, other tell he was killed and thrown in the Nile when Set
started a revolution against him. However, Set usurped the throne of Egypt and
imprisoned his sister Isis. But she quickly escaped an started a search for
her dead brother and beloved Osiris.
On her wandering, Isis came to Phoenicia where the waves had driven dead
Osiris. The trunk of an ereike tree had grown around him. The Goddess gave no
hint of her true nature but served the queen of Phoenicia as a nurse, asking
for no reward but the tree-trunk of the ereike. Then she returned.
Hided in the papyrus reed of Lower Egypt, she opened the trunk and cried for
dead Osiris. By her Divine Power she revived osiris, and they loved each other
begetting the Falcon-God Horus. Nevertheless it was not the wish of Osiris to
be back on earth but to reign the Other World to give all men a guaranty of
resurrection like his own.
Meanwhile Set obscured there was something going on. He found the body of
Osiris when Isis was not there, broke it into 14 parts and scattered them all
over Egypt. Therefore it is told Osiris has 14 graves. Isis found and
collected all of the parts and made the body whole again.
Hided in the reed, she gave birth to her son Horus and grew him up. Horus
became a skilled warrior. When he was old enough, Isis went with him to the
Court of the Ninehood of the Gods to claim the throne of Egypt for his own.
This became known as the "Dispute of Horus and Seth", a juidical hearing
taking decades and a number of stages of appeal. Horus argued his inheritance
and Set his de-facto power. Finally Isis fooled Set out and he unknowingly
judged himself. Now the Court of the Gods could do nothing else but accept
Horus as King of Egypt.
With her Beloved left in the Other World, Isis swore not to marry again on
earth. She lived for a long time in Egypt, being a Wise Woman and Mage before
she departed to heaven.
In the religion of ancient Egypt this mythology and its connected cult started
as only one among numerous others. But Isis and Osiris soon became popular,
and in the classical period (when, among others, the pharaohs Tut-Ankh-Amen
and Ramses reigned) it was common to identify the dead king with Osiris to
guarantee his resurrection. This funeral rite step by step also became
available for all people of Egypt.
When in the late egyptean period the greeks entered Egypt, they were
fascinated by Isis and Osiris. Men felt a deep affect about the sorrow of
Isis, who searched for her Beloved, grew up her son and disputed for his right
against all circumstances. Isis was identified with greek Demeter and became
known outside Egypt. The process was accelerated during the Roman Empire. In
the late Empire, the most widespread religion was that of Isis (besides the
cult of Mithras). Temples of Isis have been exvacated in London, St. Alban
(Britain), St. Gallen (Switzerland), Cologne and Mainz (Germany) just to name
some.
When Christian Belief became a state religion in Rome it already had
assimilated some characteristics of the elder religions (resurrection, divine
son, worship of light). Todays worship of the Virgin Mary in southern Europe
(and following the spanish conquerors to middle and south America) roots
directly in the worship of Isis. "Isis Lactans", carrying young Horus changed
to Mary holding the child Jesus. There are still some very old roman churches
where it is visible a horned crown has been erased above Isis' head, adding
crosses instead. Some song collections of middle ages, among it the "Cantigas
de Santa Maria" are based upon ancient hymns to Isis.
And today, not only the members of the Fellowship of Isis worship Isis
directly again, but also some five million catholics who want to see the
Virgin Mary as the female aspect of the Christian God, if not as the Goddess
herself.
Isis is alive!
[1] Regula, DeTraci: Mysteries of Isis.
Llewyn Publ., St.Paul MN, 1996.
[2] Zingsem, Vera: Göttinnen großer Kulturen.
DTV, München 1999.
[3] Brunner-Traut, Emma: Altägyptische Märchen.
Bechtermünz Verlag, Augsburg, 1998.
[4] Apuleius of Medauros: Metamorphoses XI:2-13
[5] Plutarch: De Iside et Osiride 12-20
[6] Diodoros Siculus: Historia Mundi I:11-22
[7] Witteyer, Marion: Göttlicher Baugrund.
Initiative Römisches Mainz e. V.,
Mainz, 2003.