- THE EYE OF HORUS
- URAEUS: THE COBRA AS A SYMBOL OF THE GODDESS WADJET
- THE GODDESS WADJET, PROTECTOR OF EGYPT
- HORUS, THE SKY GOD (PEREGRINE FALCON)
- MATHEMATICS OF THE EYE OF HORUS
- EYE OF HORUS JEWELRY AS A SYMBOL OF PROTECTION
Image: The Wedjat, Later Called the Eye of Horus, by user Jeff Dahl, 25 November 2015, in Wikimedia Commons … https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eye_of_Horus_Right.svg … CC BY-SA 4.0 International … DESCRIPTION: “Eye of Horus (right eye). Following the sources, it must be the right eye (the left eye that is the original image has another meaning).”
Image: The Wedjat, Later Called the Eye of Horus, by user Jeff Dahl, 25 November 2015, in Wikimedia Commons … https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eye_of_Horus_Right.svg … CC BY-SA 4.0 International … DESCRIPTION: “Eye of Horus (right eye). Following the sources, it must be the right eye (the left eye that is the original image has another meaning).”
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Dear Ones,
I am suddenly fascinated with the Eye of Horus (aka Wadjet, Ujat, Oudjat). Here are a few things I found out.
As described below, the goddess Wadjet is sometimes portrayed as a lion or a serpent.
- In Egyptian mythology, the goddess Sekhmet, who represents the protective aspect of the nurturing goddess Hathor, is also portrayed as a lion. And so, one might derive that the feminine consists of two goddess-like qualities: that of protecting and that of nurturing.
- The other symbol of the goddess Wadjet, the serpent, is associated with the awakened kundalini. And so, one might derive that the awakened kundalini perfects, in women, their ability to protect men, children, and other women.
THE EYE OF HORUS
“The Eye of Horus is an ancient Egyptian symbol of protection, royal power and good health. The eye is personified in the goddess Wadjet (also written as Wedjat, … or Udjat“, … Uadjet, Wedjoyet, Edjo or Uto …). The Eye of Horus is similar to the Eye of Ra, which belongs to a different god, Ra, but represents many of the same concepts…
“In the relief shown [below], which is on the wall of the Hatshepsut Temple at Luxor, there are two images of Wadjet: one of her as the uraeus sun disk (see below subhead) with her head through an ankh and another where she precedes a Horus hawk wearing the double crown of united Egypt, representing the pharaoh whom she protects. (1)
Image: The Hawk of Pharaoh, Hatshepsuts Temple, Luxor, by Steve F-E-Cameron (Merlin-UK), 2006, in Wikimedia Commons … https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:S_F-E-CAMERON_Hatshepsut_Hawk.JPG … CC BY-SA 3.0 Unported
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“The name Wadjet is derived from ‘wadj’ meaning ‘green’, hence ‘the green one’, and was known to the Greeks and Romans as ‘uraeus’ from the Egyptian ‘iaret’ meaning ‘risen one’ from the image of a cobra rising up in protection…. Wadjet was one of the earliest of Egyptian deities who later became associated with other goddesses such as Bast, Sekhmet, Mut, and Hathor. She was the tutelary deity of Lower Egypt and the major Delta shrine the ‘per-nu’ was under her protection…. Hathor is also depicted with this eye….” (2)
URAEUS: THE COBRA AS A SYMBOL OF THE GODDESS WADJET
Image: “Green Glazed Cobra Amulet [in the form of Uraeus],” author not known, date not given, courtesy of Harrogate Museums and Arts, in Wikimedia Commons … https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Green_glazed_cobra_amulet_HARGM7405.JPG … CC BY-SA 4.0 International
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“The Uraeus … plural Uraei or Uraeuses; from the Greek οὐραῖος, ouraîos, ‘on its tail’; from Egyptian jʿr.t (iaret), ‘rearing cobra’) is the stylized, upright form of an Egyptian cobra (asp, serpent, or snake), used as a symbol of sovereignty, royalty, deity and divine authority in ancient Egypt.
“The Uraeus is a symbol for the goddess Wadjet. She was one of the earliest Egyptian deities and who often was depicted as a cobra….” (2)
THE GODDESS WADJET, PROTECTOR OF EGYPT
Image: “Wadjet-N 5139, anonymous, between 664 and 332 BC, in Wikimedia Commons … https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wadjet_N5139_mp3h8831.jpg … CC BY-SA France … DESCRIPTION: Wadjet as Wadjet-Bast, depicted as the body of a woman with a lioness head, wearing the uraeus.
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The Lion and the Kundalini Energy. As to the above image of Wadjet, note that the lion is also known as Sekhmet, the goddess who represents the protective aspect of the Egyptian nurturing goddess Hathor. Also, the serpent is associated with the awakened kundalini. And so, one might derive that the awakened kundalini perfects, in women, their ability to protect men, children, and other women.
“Wadjet … “green one”), … known to the Greek world as Uto (Οὐτώ/ or Βουτώ/Buto ) among other names, was originally the ancient local goddess of the city of Dep (Buto)…. It became part of the city that the Egyptians named Per-Wadjet (House of Wadjet) and the Greeks called Buto (Desouk now), … which was an important site in the Predynastic era of ancient Egypt and the cultural developments of the Paleolithic.
“She was said to be the patron and protector of Lower Egypt and upon unification with Upper Egypt, the joint protector and patron of all of Egypt ‘goddess’ of Upper Egypt. The image of Wadjet with the sun disk is called the uraeus, and it was the emblem on the crown of the rulers of Lower Egypt. She was also the protector of kings and of women in childbirth.
“As the patron goddess, she was associated with the land and depicted as a snake-headed woman or a snake—usually an Egyptian cobra, a venomous snake common to the region; sometimes she was depicted as a woman with two snake heads and, at other times, a snake with a woman’s head. Her oracle was in the renowned temple in Per-Wadjet that was dedicated to her worship and gave the city its name. This oracle may have been the source for the oracular tradition that spread to Greece from Egypt….
“An interpretation of the Milky Way was that it was the primal snake, Wadjet, the protector of Egypt. In this interpretation she was closely associated with Hathor and other early deities among the various aspects of the great mother goddess, including Mut and Naunet. The association with Hathor brought her son Horus into association also. The cult of Ra absorbed most of Horus’s traits and included the protective eye of Wadjet that had shown her association with Hathor.” (3)
HORUS, THE SKY GOD (PEREGRINE FALCON)
Image: “Horus, an ancient Egyptian falcon headed-deity,” by Jeff Dahl, 26 December 2007, in Wikimedia Commons … https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Horus_standing.svg … CC BY-SA 4.0 International … DESCRIPTION: “Horus was usually depicted wearing the double crown of kingship, but also appeared in a fully falcon form, among others. Ra, another falcon-headed deity, is distinguished by the presence of the sun disk on his head, but the ancient Egyptians often combined Re and Horus into the composite deity known as Re-Horakhty … Based on New Kingdom tomb paintings.”
Image: “Horus, an ancient Egyptian falcon headed-deity,” by Jeff Dahl, 26 December 2007, in Wikimedia Commons … https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Horus_standing.svg … CC BY-SA 4.0 International … DESCRIPTION: “Horus was usually depicted wearing the double crown of kingship, but also appeared in a fully falcon form, among others. Ra, another falcon-headed deity, is distinguished by the presence of the sun disk on his head, but the ancient Egyptians often combined Re and Horus into the composite deity known as Re-Horakhty … Based on New Kingdom tomb paintings.”
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“Horus was the ancient Egyptian sky god who was usually depicted as a falcon, most likely a lanner or peregrine falcon … His right eye was associated with the sun god, Ra. The eye symbol represents the marking around the eye of the falcon, including the ‘teardrop’ marking sometimes found below the eye. The mirror image, or left eye, sometimes represented the moon and the god Djehuti (Thoth)….
“In one myth, when Set and Horus were fighting for the throne after Osiris’s death, Set gouged out Horus’s left eye. The majority of the eye was restored by either Hathor or Thoth (with the last portion possibly being supplied magically). When Horus’s eye was recovered, he offered it to his father, Osiris, in hopes of restoring his life. Hence, the eye of Horus was often used to symbolise sacrifice, healing, restoration, and protection….” (1)
MATHEMATICS OF THE EYE OF HORUS
Image: Oudjat, by Benoît Stella alias BenduKiwi, date not given … in Wikimedia Commons … https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Oudjat.SVG … CC BY-SA 3.0 Unported
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“In Ancient Egyptian most fractions were written as the sum of two or more unit fractions (a fraction with 1 as the numerator), with scribes possessing tables of answers (see Rhind Mathematical Papyrus 2/n table)…. Thus instead of 3⁄4, one would write 1⁄2 + 1⁄4.
“Different parts of the Eye of Horus were thought to be used by the ancient Egyptians to represent one divided by the first six powers of two: …
- The right side of the eye = 1⁄2
The pupil = 1⁄4
The eyebrow = 1⁄8
The left side of the eye = 1⁄16
The curved tail = 1⁄32
The teardrop = 1⁄64
“The Rhind Mathematical Papyrus contains tables of ‘Horus Eye Fractions’….
“Studies from the 1970s to this day in Egyptian mathematics have clearly shown this theory was fallacious and Jim Ritter definitely showed it to be false in 2003…. The evolution of the symbols used in mathematics, although similar to the different parts of the Eye of Horus, is now known to be distinct.” (1)
EYE OF HORUS JEWELRY AS A SYMBOL OF PROTECTION
I found a pretty cool Eye of Horus silver pendant for $58 … http://www.ka-gold-jewelry.com/p-products/eye-of-horus-silver.php … To me it feels like it has protective power. It can also be purchased in gold, but that’s pretty pricey:
Image: Silver Eye-of-Horus Jewelry: http://www.ka-gold-jewelry.com/images/theme-bg/600/eye-of-horus-silver.jpg ..
In love, light and joy
This is Alice B. Clagett.
I Am of the Stars … and so are you!
Written and published on 25 April 2013; revised on 24 March 2020; revised on 16 March 2023
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FOOTNOTES
(1) from Link: “Eye of Horus,” in Wikipedia … https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_of_Horus … CC BY-SA 3.0 Unported
(2) from Link: “Uraeus,” in Wikimedia … https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uraeus … CC BY-SA 3.0 Unported
(3) from Link: “Wadjet” … https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wadjet … CC BY-SA 3.0 Unported
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0). Attribution: By Alice B. Clagett.
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eye of Horus, Egyptian religion, Horus, Sekhmet, Hathor, Wadjet, Uraeus, Sky God, lion as symbol, serpent as symbol, kundalini, shakti energy, Divine feminine, Milky Way,
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