Day: August 23, 2018

Osiris – Egyptian God of the Underworld

Osiris, the Egyptian god of the underworld, appears to have been a strong element in Egyptian mythology from the beginning. Before he became the Egyptian god of the underworld, Osiris had quite a history.

Who Was Osiris?

Osiris was the ancient Egyptian god of the dead, the underworld, and the afterlife. He is usually depicted as a man with green skin and a beard associated with the pharaoh, wearing a crown with two large ostrich feathers, and legs partially wrapped like a mummy. In his hands he holds a flail and a symbolic crook.

His Names

Osiris is a Latin word. In Egyptian hieroglyphs the traditional rendering of the name is Wsjr. Some Egyptologists refer to the deity as Aser, Ausar, Asar, Asari, Ausir, Ausare, Usire, Usir, Wser, or Wesir. The English translation of the name is Almighty or The Powerful…

To read the rest of this article on Orisis please click on the following link: Osiris – The God of the Underworld

Gods of Ancient Egypt – Osiris

Osiris (Asir) was the first son of Geb and Nut and the brother of Set, Horus (the elder), Isis and Nephthys. He was one of the most prominent gods of the Heliopolitan Ennead, but his worship pre-dated the development of this fairly complex philosophy. Although Atum was installed as the head of the Ennead by the priests of Heliopolis, Osiris was considered to be the king of the underworld, and is the only deity who is referred to simply as “god”. This gives us some indication of his prominence and popularity.

The oldest religious texts known to us refer to him as the great god of the dead, who once possessed human form and lived upon earth. After his murder by Set he became the king of the underworld and presided over the judgment of dead souls. In order to enter his kingdom, the deceased had to undertake a perilous journey (aided by spells and amulets) to the hall of judgment where their heart was balanced against the feather of Ma´at (justice or balance). It is important to distinguish this from the Christian view of judgment. The ancient Egyptians were a pragmatic people. A person was not expected to be perfect, just balanced. An example of this is the “negative confession” (in which the deceased listed all of the evil things he had not done during his lifetime, i.e. “I never murdered anyone”) which indicates that it was more a case of convincing Osiris that you deserved admission rather than passively awaiting judgment.

To read the rest of this article please click on this link: Orisis

THE WORSHIP OF OSIRIS – THE OSIRIAN MYSTERIES

(This article is about the modern day worship of Osiris)

The worship of Osiris spanned thousands of years and took many forms. He went from being a local god to one whose myths reached Greco-Roman world and beyond. He merged with other deities and his myths evolved over time.

But now I want to delve into what we call the Osirian or Osiris Mysteries, which was part of the worship of Osiris.

As with any mystery religion, there is a part of it that is secretive and reserved only for initiates, and initiates of course were those who underwent initiation rites, which were also kept secret.

But in the worship of Osiris and the ceremonial performances of the Osiris Mysteries, …

To read the rest of this article please click on the following link: Osiris – Modern Day