Katherine, the crowns and serpents are specifically referred to as being "magical" in the pyramid texts, giving the King power to slay his enemies in the underworld. That is what Greg is referring to.
Quote
The king's prayer: "Ho crown of Lower Egypt! Ho red-crown! Ho Great Crown! Ho Crown great of magic! Ho Fiery Serpent! Grant that the dread of me be like the dread of you; grant that the fear of me be like the fear of you; grant that the acclaim of me be like the acclaim of you; grant that the love of me be like the love of you! Set by aba-scepter at the head of the living, set my sm-scepter at the head of the spirits, and grant that my sword prevail over my foes. Ho red-crown! If you have gone forth from me, so have I gone forth from you."
Reply by the crown: "If Ikhet the Great has borne you, Ikhet the Serpent has adorned you; if Ikhet the Serpent has borne you, Ikhet the Great has adorned you, because you are Horus encircled with the protection of his Eye."
Here he is talking to the serpent as the crown as distinct entities symbolic of magical power unto itself and the crown/serpent talks back to him. I don't see how this is not a specific reference to the red crown/serpent being a symbol for magical power.
I don't think that there is any question that the King is assigned his magical power by the Gods themselves, which is why most images of the Pharoah shows him with the gods, receiving their blessings or "power".
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Magical knowledge and power emanated from the gods and was bestowed upon their servants, the kings ...
Utterance of all the gods, [to] Amon-Re: "This thy daughter [Hatshepsut], who liveth, we are satisfied with her in life and peace. She is now thy daughter of thy form, whom thou hast begotten, prepared. Thou hast given to her thy soul, thy [...], thy [bounty], the magic powers of the diadem......
The coronation of Hatshepsut
Breasted Ancient Records of Egypt Part 2, § 220
Come glorious one; I have placed (thee) before me; that thou mayest see thy administration in the palace, and the excellent deeds of thy ka's that thou mayest assume thy royal dignity, glorious in thy magic, mighty in thy strength.
From: [
terraflex.co.il]
The coronation texts for the various kings that have survived offer clues to the role of the gods in transferring magical power to the pharoah:
Quote
“He [Amun-Ra] opened for me the doors
of heaven and unfolded the gates of the Akhet
[a place of spiritual transformation]. I rose to
heaven as a divine falcon and saw his secret
image in heaven. I worshipped his majesty. . . .
I was infused with all his akh-power [luminous
spiritual power] and instructed in the wisdom
of the gods.”
(Coronation text of Thutmosis III)
From: [
www.adrosampercrucem.org]
And actually, this document claims that the pharoah transforming himself into a falcon is a form of shamanism:
Quote
Anyone familiar with the literature of
shamanism will recognize a shamanic
undercurrent to this type of mystical
experience. One might say that it has a
shamanic “prototype,” for in this literature we
read of initiations in which the shaman
transforms into a bird (often an eagle), flies
up to the sky and becomes inwardly illumined
after encountering the Great God, and then
returns to his tribe with a newly acquired
spiritual knowledge.3
Seen in this light, it would appear that
during the coronation rites of the king,
Thutmose III had an experience similar to a
shamanic initiation, and was thus in touch
with a dimension of reality that was beyond
anything Napoleon knew. Because it does not
fit our preconceptions of how we would like
to see the great warrior Thutmose, it has been
“screened out” of the mainstream portrayal of
the king. It has indeed been screened out of
the mainstream portrayal of Egyptian culture
as such. Within Egyptology, there is still a
great reluctance to accept that either
mysticism or shamanism existed in ancient
Egypt: this is the line taken by most
Egyptologists today, with just one or two
exceptions. So it is hardly surprising that the
media follow suit.
From: [
www.adrosampercrucem.org]
Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 08/19/2007 06:26AM by Doug M.
