ANÁLISIS RESULTADOS ENCUESTA PÚBLICO EXTERNO

Africa this meant discovering and maintaining a connection with the Neteru, gods

and goddesses, because they are the cosmic forces of nature from which every living

being derives sustenance and vitality. In Kemet, the divinities presiding over the

health of individuals were Aset (Isis), Sekhmet (lioness aspect of Hetheru), Djehuti

and Heru. The doctors in ancient times invoked the power of these divinities to ef-

fect a recovery from disease, just as Aset cured and resurrected Asar, and Djehuti

cured Hetheru and Heru, not just physically, but also mentally and spiritually.

Therefore, some priests and priestesses of these divinities acted in the capacity of

doctors. In this volume we will explore the health teachings of these divinities.

Above left: Goddess Aset (Isis) nourishes Heru (spiritual aspirant) with wisdom and love. Right: Goddess Aset prays over the body of Asar and returns it back to live. (See the book Resurrecting Osiris by Muata Ashby.)

Above left: God Djehuti repairs the eye of Hetheru. Right: God Djehuti repairs the eye of Heru. (See the books The Glorious Light Meditation and Resurrecting Osiris by Muata Ashby.)

Left: Goddess Sekhmet, who is the power of the sundisk of Ra, the fire spitting eye (serpent of the sundisk) presides over the vital life forces which course through the body and support the life of every individual.

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Figure 4: The Ancient Egyptian Temple

The initiates are advanced spiritual aspirants, those who are initiated into the higher mysteries of life, the secrets of mystical spirituality. They are the priests and priestesses of the temple, who while inter- acting with the masses, are not part of mass culture. They follow strict rules regarding health, hygiene and spiritual disciplines not followed by the common men and women. The goddess Aset was known as the goddess of healing because, in the mythology of the Asarian Resurrection,47 she reconstituted the body of her husband Asar, after it had been mutilated by his jealous brother Set. Further, she en- gineered the resurrection of her son Heru, when he was bitten by a scorpion and killed, and she was known as the master of the words of power, which heal. At her temple, much more than the use of words of power were practiced within the healing arts. The following is a detailed look at those dis- ciplines of health maintenance and restoration.

While the general population was considered to be one of the healthiest groups of the ancient world, the spiritual initiates were required to keep even more strict dietary practices. The special diets of the Ancient Egyptian initiates were a highly guarded secret as were the inner meanings of the myths, which were acted out in the mystery rituals (Shetaut Neter). For this reason, many of the special Smai Tawi (Mystical-Yogic) practices, which included a special diet and meditation, were not committed to writing in an explicit fashion. Rather, they were committed to hieroglyphic form and carried on through the initiatic process. It was not until Greek historians and initiates of the Ancient Egyptian mystery schools began to write about their experiences that the more detailed aspects of the initiatic diets were available to a wider audience. The sect of Jews called the Essenes48 practiced an initiation period of two to three years and instituted purification diets and hygienic practices similar to those spoken about by Herodotus (484?-425 BCE) and Plutarch (46?-120 ACE). The Essenic health prac- tices were presented in the Essene Gospel of Peace.49

Plutarch, a student of the mysteries of Aset, reported that the initiates followed a strict diet made up of vegetables and fruits and abstained from particular kinds of foods (swine, sheep, fish, etc.) as well as indulgence of the carnal appetite. In the following excerpts Plutarch describes the purpose and procedure of the diet observed by the initiates of Aset, and the goal to be attained through the rigor- ous spiritual program. This next excerpt should be studied carefully.

To desire, therefore, and covet after truth, those truths more especially which concern the di- vine nature, is to aspire to be partakers of that nature itself (1), and to profess that all our studies and inquiries (2) are devoted to the acquisition of holiness. This occupation is surely more truly religious than any external (3) purifications or mere service of the temple can be (4). But more especially must such a disposition of mind be highly acceptable to that goddess to whose service you are dedicated, for her special characteristics are wisdom and foresight, and her very name seems to express the peculiar relation which she bears to knowledge. For “Isis” is a Greek word, and means “knowledge or wisdom,”(5) and “Typhon,’’ (Set) the name of her professed adversary, is also a Greek word, and means “ pride and insolence.”(6) This latter name is well adapted to one who, full of ignorance and error, tears in pieces (7) and conceals that holy doctrine (about Asar) which the goddess collects, compiles, and delivers to those who aspire after the most perfect participation in the divine nature. This doctrine

inculcates a steady perseverance in one uniform and temperate course of life (8), and an ab- stinence from particular kinds of foods (9), as well as from all indulgence of the carnal appet- ite (10), and it restrains the intemperate and voluptuous part within due bounds, and at the same time habituates her votaries to undergo those austere and rigid ceremonies which their religion obliges them to observe. The end and aim of all these toils and labors is the attain- ment of the knowledge of the First and Chief Being (11), who alone is the object of the under- standing of the mind; and this knowledge the goddess invites us to seek after, as being near and dwelling continually (12) with her. And this also is what the very name of her temple promiseth to us, that is to say, the knowledge and understanding of the eternal and self-exist- ent Being - now it is called “Iseion,” which suggests that if we approach the temple of the goddess rightly, we shall obtain the knowledge of that eternal and self existent Being.

Figure 5: The Forms of Goddess Aset (Isis)

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1- It is to be understood that spiritual aspiration implies seeking the union (Smai Tawi, mystical union-Yoga) with or becoming one with the thing being sought, because this is the only way to truly “know” partake of something. You can have opinions about what it is like to be a whale, but you would never exactly know until you become one with it, enfolding all that exists, is the one being worthy of veneration and identification. “Knowing” Neter (God) is the goal of all spiritual practices. This is the supreme goal, which must be kept in mind by a spiritual aspirant.

2- In order to discover the hidden nature of God, emphasis is placed on study and inquiry into the nature of things. Who am I? What is the universe composed of? Who is God? How am I related to God? These are the questions which when pursued, lead to the discovery of the Self (God). Those who do not engage in this form of inquiry will generate a reality for themselves according to their be- liefs. Some people believe they have the answers, that the universe is atoms and electrons or energy. Others believe that the body is the soul and that there is nothing else. Still others believe that the mind is the soul or that there is no soul and no God. The first qualification for serious aspiration is that you have a serious conviction that you are greater than just a finite individual mortal body, that you are an immortal being who is somehow mixed up with a temporal form (body). If this conviction is present, 111/524

then you are stepping on the road to enlightenment. The teachings will be useful to you. Those who hold other beliefs are being led by ignorance and lack of spiritual sensitivity as a result of their be- liefs. Thus, their beliefs will create a reality for them based on those beliefs. They will need to travel the road of nature, which will guide them in time toward the path of spiritual aspiration.

3-4 The plan prescribed by the teachings of Mystical spirituality (Smai Tawi – Yoga) is the only true means to effective spiritual development, because it leads to a revelation of the inner meanings of the teachings; therefore it is experiential, i.e., it is based on your own personal experience and not conjec- ture. Otherwise, worship and religious practices remain only at the level of ritualism and do not lead to enlightenment (Pert m Heru).

5-7 The Greek name Isis means “wisdom” which bestows the knowledge of the true Self of the initi- ate. In the Asarian (Osirian) Mysteries, when Set killed Asar by tearing him into pieces, he was sym- bolically tearing up the soul. However, Aset (Isis) restores the pieces of the soul (Asar). Set symbol- izes egoism: pride, anger, hatred, fear, jealousy, etc. Therefore, pride and insolence (Set-egoism) des- troy the soul and knowledge of the Self (Aset) restores it to its true nature. The Ancient Egyptian scriptures support the Greek name translation and meaning of the name Aset. One of the names of Aset is: Rekhåt or Rekhit meaning “knowledge personified”). Rekh is also a name of the God in the “duat” or Netherworld (astral plane) who possesses knowledge which can lead the soul to the abode of the Divine. The variation, Rekh-t , means Sage or learned person.

8- True spirituality cannot be pursued rashly or in a fanatical way by going to extremes. Smai Tawi, Mystical Spirituality, is a science of balance. It has been developed over a period of thousands of years with well established principles, which when followed, produce the desired effect of leading the initiate from darkness to light, ignorance to knowledge, an un-enlightened state to enlightenment. 9-10 The foods referred to are flesh foods (swine, sheep, fish, etc.), pulse,51 and salt (taken in large amounts). Indulgence in sexual activity has two relevant aspects. First, it intensifies the physical ex- perience of embodiment and distracts the mind by creating impressions in the subconscious and un- conscious, which will produce future cravings and desires. This state of mind renders the individual incapable of concentration on significant worldly or high spiritual achievements. Secondly, control of the sexual urge leads to control of the sexual Life Force energy,52 which can then be directed to- wards higher mental and spiritual achievement. Further, overindulgence in sexual activity tends to wear down the immunity as it wears down the mental capacity and one becomes a slave to sensual passions and susceptible to sexual and non-sex related diseases.

Chapter 30B of the Ancient Egyptian mystical text The Book of Coming Forth By Day states: This utterance53 shall be recited by a person purified and washed; one who has not eaten animal flesh or fish.

Chapter 137A of the Book of Coming Forth By Day states:

And behold, these things shall be performed by one who is clean, and is ceremoni- ally pure, a man who hath eaten neither meat nor fish, and who hath not had

intercourse with women (applies to female initiates not having intercourse with men as well).