Hathor, the Sycamore and the Sacred Garden
The Scent of Life
Hathor is the mistress of the sycamore, which diffuses the scent of life in Egyptian symbolism. It is the tree of knowledge, connected to the world of the living. It is the vertical axis that grants access to the sacred garden.
The guardian constellations of the garden are the Great Bear and the Bull. They represent the attributes of the feminine. These two constellations revolve around the axis of the world.
In the traditions, they appear in the form of the dragon and the hippopotamus, which later evolved into the figures of Leviathan and Behemoth. Later still, the synthesis of the two gave rise to the symbol of the scarlet woman, the red woman.
The scarlet woman stands in opposition to man, for she comes from the first creation, which lost its status through a new beginning. Found again in the lower world, she ontologically embodies the dimension of the South (the Queen of the South), who must return to the light. Once she emerges from the darkness, the South becomes the place of living waters, the place of blessing. The scarlet woman, allegorically, is like the emerald with a red heart.
Perfumed Elixirs, Mediators of Love and Knowledge
Scarlet is the ruby, here compared to the fruit (knowledge) of the mandrake, which is red. The root of the mandrake refers to a human body. The mandrake has five petals (symbol of the precession of the equinoxes) and was cultivated in royal palaces. The ontological function of this fruit is to unlock the brain by creating the union of knowledge and divine intellect.
Scarlet is the allusion to the drop of blood, that by which man is constituted. It is the act of entering one’s heart.
Canopus, the Earth and the Boat of the Soul
Osiris, God of Resurrection Perfumes
The constellation Argo corresponds to the fifty heads of light and the hundred eyes of the peacock’s tail. It lies between Gemini and Cancer (the gate of humankind). In Egyptian mythology, Canopus is the archetype of Osiris, who governs the planets (our solar system), while Sirius is the archetype of Isis, who governs the Earth (our zodiac).
The star Canopus in the constellation Argo was, for the ancient Egyptians, the brightest star of our solar system. Because of the inclination of the Earth’s axis and the precession of the equinoxes, the brightness of this sun is partly veiled to us. The axis must be straightened to behold it again.
For the Egyptians, the universe is composed of planets navigating through space. Red stars are the image of the Divine Spirit. The Earth, joined to the Sun, is the boat that advances toward its destination.
Isis, Mistress of Perfumes and Sacred Ointments
The boat is the constellation Argo, which sheltered Isis and Osiris during the flood. The cycles of Sirius and Canopus were closely observed, for their joint risings announced great cataclysms and floods.
Sirius has the symbol of the arrow, and Canopus the plumb line, used to measure the constellations. Together, the two stars measure the abysses, the dimension of the South. When they are aligned, they also represent the polar axis.
The heliacal rising of Canopus follows that of Sirius. The Sothic calendar also celebrated the heliacal rising of Canopus, forty‑five days after that of Sirius. Its festival took place between September 1st and 10th. Sirius marked the beginning of the year and announced the flooding of the Nile.
The Boat Carries the Perfume to the Soul
This Earth‑boat is comparable to the solar barque, which saves souls and remains in contact with the divine. It is the ark that faces the flood, the refuge of humanity, the rectitude of divine law within man awaiting a new cycle. The ark is the hope of saving one’s soul, which at the end of the journey sees the sea divide into twelve.
Like the boat entering the Sea of Reeds, humanity turns upon itself to reach the place of the rebirth of the spirit — like a rose and its thorn. The spirit is renewed like an angel, the twin of the body. Together, they become one with the divine principle.
Perfumed Ointments Nourish and Awaken the Ka
For the Egyptians, this twin is the cosmic double, the Ka. The primary meaning is that the Ka is a matrix — the first (before the soul takes on a body). This principle is symbolized (soul and body) by the constellation of Taurus and the star Vega.
The constellation of Taurus has its own zodiac with its central sun, Aldebaran, one of the four fixed stars of the sky. The ancient Egyptians also called it the Ka, the primordial matrix of the living waters.
The two twins correspond to a physical reality and an ontological reality. The purpose of man is to connect these two planes through the magic of the heart, called He‑ka.
HE is the symbol of the Ancient of Days. HEKA is the total accord with the divine and the earthly plane, according to the sacred sound of the polar axis, called Hyperborea.
The Two Poles of Creation
Before creation, Egyptian tradition explains that a lioness goddess (Sekhmet) created, with the Noun, two human beings, two twins. This weaving goddess made for them a white cloak woven with wisdom, with a role assigned to each.
The white cloak of the twins refers to the Milky Way. The Milky Way is the image of the white substance separating the two hemispheres of the brain, and also of the seminal fluid. This principle is symbolically called the spermatic word, the creative verb, and the sacred sound.
Sound is the divine breath; it is linked to perfumes.
The sound of the depths is TA. This sound symbolizes the sacred mound, the green island of origins, the cradle of the Bennu (sacred bird reaching the sacred mound called Ta Tenen).
Sekhmet placed one twin on the right and the other on the left:
The one on the right was to create the mountains and watch over the solidity of the Earth. To oversee rotation, stability, and above all to participate in the restoration of the sacred axis. This is the mission of the right eye, the North Pole.
The one on the left, the South Pole, was to watch over the sound of the creator, distributed along the entire terrestrial axis, and harmonize life around this axis.
According to this principle, Egypt was called Ta Meri or Ta Mori: the mother of mothers, the mother of the world, the land of measures, the navel of the world, and the boat of the soul.
Osiris as the Spine of the Ancient World
This vertical axis is compared to the human spine, which symbolizes peace. It conducts electricity and releases the divine breath.
The function of this axis is to purify the waters (the dimension of the South), and its symbol is copper. The transformation of this water, in symbolism, is the baptism of the newborn and the resurrection of the soul. Baptismal water is lustral water.