Ancient Psychedelia: Alien Gods & Mushroom Goddesses
Online Book - Chapter 10, Page 172
Back to Online Book Mainpage / Next Page (Chapter 10, Page 173)
| Neith is associated with Hathor through her son, Ra and has been a part of the Egyptian pantheon since at least the 1st Dynasty. (108) Neith is also similar to Nut, being a sky goddess. She was said to be the “Creator of the Universe” and all it contained. She was also called “The Mighty Mother Who Gave Birth to Ra,” the “Great Lady,” the “Lady of Heaven” and the “Queen of the Gods.” She was said to be self-born and even brought forth Ra without the aid of a husband. (109) One of her epithets was the “Cow of Heaven.” She was usually depicted carrying a scepter and an ankh, and on her head she wore a red crown. (110) Neith was also a healing deity, with a temple at Sais which doubled as a healing center and medical school which was destroyed then restored during the Persian occupation. (111) Heka or “Hike” was an Egyptian patron of medicine and magic. The Egyptian term for magic was Heka, deriving from Ka “soul.” Both Heka’s name and the word magic were depicted as a twist of flax and two upraised arms. According to legend, Heka fought and killed two serpents and therefore these became his symbols, thousands of years prior to Asclepius or Hermes and reminiscent of the iconography of Lamashtu (14c). He was held to be the son of Menhet and Khnum together forming the Triad of Latopolis (Esna) in Upper Egypt. In Heliopolis, Khnum was associated with Atum, therefore he was the son of Atum as well. Doctors in Egypt were also magicians and priests, so practitioners of Heka were called “Priests of Hike.” (112) Hike was held in high esteem as magic was sacrosanct and unchangeable, the oldest and most pronounced aspect of the so-called religion. (113) There was possibly even a deified version of Hike, who some speculate, might have been a form of Thoth, a “god of Magical Formulas” mentioned in the Pyramid Texts, being represented by a Sphinx, bearing a scourge, a shepherd’s staff and a scepter of venerability or life. (114) By the 18th Dynasty Astarte had become a goddess of healing in Egypt, referred to as “Astar of Syria.” (115) On a stela in Turin they are associated: “Qedesh, Lady of Heaven, Mistress of All the gods, the Eye of Re, without her peer.” (113) Astarte also appears to have been coupled with Chemosh, the national god of Moab. A Moabite stone from 830 BC, discovered in 1868 has inscribed on it the combination of the deities as “Ashtar-Chemosh.” (116) I cannot help but think about the linguistic connection to Ashur/Shamash. Likely, Ashtar/Chemosh is a variation of this original deity. Is this where the “Ashtar Command” of New Age alien lore originated? Egyptian rulers were replaced by Greeks during an occupation of Egypt in the Ptolemaic Dynasty that lasted almost 300 years from 305 to 30 BC. Ptolemy I, upon taking the throne in Egypt, assumed the surname of “Saviour.” (117) The Egyptian civilization had the greatest impact of all on early Greek culture. |
Temples at Karnak display mushrooms on the undersides of giant mushroom shaped towers (38a, c). Artifacts of the misc. category which display mushroom symbolism include a bronze mirror handle of a nude woman, 18th Dynasty, c. 1550-1295 BC (36b); Egyptian Coptic Terracotta figurines (36c); a dagger with the name of king Apophis, from the Cairo Museum (36g); and a Menat necklace, c. 700-300 BC (36h). (38a) Karnak Temple, Egypt   (38c) Karnak Temple, Egypt (108) Budge, I, 475 (109) Budge, I, 459 (110) Healing Gods, p. 71; Gardiner, in ERE viii, 268 (111) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neith (112) http://egyptian-gods.org/egyptian-gods-heka/ ; Mariette, Les Mastabas de ‘’ ancient empire, p. 23 (113) Budge, Egyptian Magic, London, 1901, i, 13 (114) Healing Gods, p. 24; Wiedemann, Magie und Zauberei im Agypten, p. 23 (115) The Hebrew Goddess; ANET, 250 (116) ibid, p. 55-56; ANET 320 (117) Middle Ages Revisited, p. 14 |
Go Back to Page 171