Aeon of Horus and Set

The Aeon of horus & set

printed in mektoub vol.3, num 6

The Organization [The Brotherhood of SeTh] that had contact me described itself as Thelemic, yet the mythos it glorifies is the brotherhood of Horus and Set. I had to point out that not only did Horus reject Set's advances, he avenged his manhood by tricking the latyter into a form of self-emasculation. Further, if Crowley had contemplated the union of these two deities, why would he have added to the above: "There is perhaps a magical second meaning to this verse [As brothers, fight ye! III:59], a reference to the ritual of which we find hints in the lengends of Cain and Abel, Esau and Jacob, Set and Osiris, etv. The elder brother within us, the Silent Self, must slay the younger brother, the conscious self, and he must be raised again incorruptable. --James M. Martin, "Gynergy, homosex and the Vama Marg" in Marylin Medusa #2 c. 1992

Response written 11 March 1993e.v.:

1. "Glorifies the brotherhood of Horus and Set." Well, yes and no. Were they even brothers, and if another relation existed, which is the more fundamentaly important to the work at hand. There were, fo course, two Horuses (primary, at least, with many aspects ranging the gap between the two), Horus the Elder (brother of Osiris, Nepthys, Set and Isis) and Horus the Younger (son of Osiris and Isis), and at time it is very difficult to determine which is being talked of historically. Most modern material and translations group the two together and thereby much confusion is clandestinely generated. The conflation of the two Horuses is, I think, a large problem in pop Egyptology. Two conflicting traditions existed in Dynastic Egypt: 1) Set as Horus's uncle and 2) Set as Horus's brother.

2. I get the feel, from your words, that a (mythic) focus on Set is anti-Thelemic. It is my opinion, actually, that the relation between the two is of primary import to the interpretation of the new Aeon. Any understnading of Horus is impossible without an understanding of Set. Dynastic succession was predicated on both. A pharaoh ruled by "the Set and Horus." If one was absent, then succession was interrupted. The Memphite ritual play shows their fighting to be merely representative of the distrubance between Heaven and Earth caused by the removal of the moderatore, the pharaoh. the pharaoh was ruler because he word both the white and red crowns (of Upper and Lower Egypt). At the end of the battle, it is important that the conflict is resolved. The resolution brings Horus, a sky god, into an earthly realm by giving him the throne; Set gets a new relation to the sky, because he is adopted by Ra-Herakhty [Ra-Hoor-Khuit]. The entrance to the temple of Ptah was flanked by the plant emblems of both Horus and Set, because only by their cooperative efforts was stability maintained. Kom Ombos architectually represents the relation between the two gods: the temple is split into two halves, Set and Horus, the two halves being united to form the templ whole.

Temple of Kom Ombos, Antonio Beato, c. 1890

Crowley, himself, points to Set as being the third 31 needed to complete the Aeonic equation. Shin = fire and Teth = Serpent. The Fiery Serpent, i.e. Kundalini. Their combination through the tarot trumps, Atu XX and Atu XI, represents the totality of Liber AL, the Gods, Sh, and the people, Teth. These form the third 31, AL and LA being the first two which make up 93 [LAShTAL]. (The Equinox of the Gods pp. 100-103]

3. The crown of the North is Horus and the South is Set, West (the dead) being Osiris and Isis the East. Can there be balance if three exist on the Square without the forth?

4. It is also not entirely correct to say that Horus rejected Set's advances. There are several versions where Isis told Horus he could not refuse his brother/uncle, but conseled against penetration, as this would disturb the balance between the two (placing one hierarchically/sexually above the other). There are yet other versions of the myth which depict Horus actually seeking out Set, desirous of his brother's embraces. It is modern Egyptologist's bias against Set, which have elevated the first myth above the others in standard mythologies.

These are just notes on an ongoing avenue. I can give a brief sketch of my personal view of the connection between Horus and Set in Thelemic terms. Are you familliar with Camille Paglia's Sexual Personae? The introduction is of the most relevance here; what she describes as the cthonic, nature as dark and lethal ("the dark crossroads of Hecate") is Set. He represents the cthonic, while Horus represents the sky. In both physical and psychological sense, Horus is the light and Set is the dark (night) side. Set, then, is the dark/inner half of one's nature. In this way, pseudo-Freudian sense, Set must be understood, delved into. When sex is repressed the natural erupts (Reich)--the more it is repressed the more violent the eruption. I take the riots in LA as a very good example of a Set-aeon "eruption." As shown in the succession myths and rituals, the balance between Set and Horus must be maintained. The reference from the Holy Books I would point to is "I reveal unto you a great mystery..." Liber XC 33-44. The alchemical wedding of Horus and Set.

Liber CCCLXX, line 7: "Set is his holy covenant..." What does it mean to be a covenant? A covenant is a promise against something, yes? Set is the promise against civil unrest and cosmic disaster.

There is also another particular relation between Horus and Hapocrates, and Set and Apep. It has a particular relation to Liber LXV.