#eye of ra

[esoteric44ngel]

[thequeer07puss]

What exactly IS the Eye of Ra?

Ra, the creator, the Sun, the one who emerged from his own will, once plucked out his eye, worried about the disappearance of his children Shu and Tefnut, and placed it upon his head as the uraeus when it stomped in anger at having been replaced by the Lord. He did so once again, enraged at the disobedience of early humans, and in the form of Sekhmet the Eye of Ra raged until its rampage was stopped by the cleverness of the gods, whereupon she turned into the benevolent Hathor/Bastet. Such stories we heard about the Eye of the creator, the instrument and indicator of his will, but what is she, what role does she have?

The Eye of Ra as an extension of him

As the name implies, the Eye of Ra is quite literally, his eye, a part of him, made from his purest essence. She is the part of him that dwells on earth while he is in the sky and that regulates mortal affairs. Perhaps the “Eye” is not literal, but in the metaphorical sense of her function as a spy or a representative of Ra among humans (the Egyptians were, after all, fans of wordplay). This may be why so many functions of the Eye of Ra are related to human affairs: birth, marriage, love, joy, war, plague, healing…all these functions and aspects to distribute his blessings (and curses) to humanity while he rolls on the back of the Heavenly Cow.

The Eye of Ra as an assistant to him

On the Atet boat, the Lord, his uraeus circling the sun disk shining on his forehead, is not alone. He is attended by a flurry of deities. Among them, Heka with their knowledge of magical words, Sia with their powerful psyche, Hu with an equally prolific tongue, and most brilliant of them all, the Eye of Ra, in the form of Hathor or Bastet, his aide and attendant, his very own daughter, who helps him ride on the back of the Heavenly Cow, and even sometimes IS the Heavenly Cow, in the form of Mehet-Weret, from whose back the Lord brings his light to the world. Her undying fealty is essential to keeping the world running and mortals living.

The Eye of Ra as his consort and counterpart

Depending on who you ask, the goddess Hathor is Ra’s mother, his sister, his wife or his daughter. Similarly, the goddess Raet-Tawy is quite literally a female Ra, Ra as a goddess, an aspect of his Eye that seems to be just him in a female version. Through his Eye, maybe Ra makes himself our mother, as well as our father when he is in Heaven. Maybe the heavenly aspect of the creator feels male, but their aspect on earth is female, maybe the Eye of Ra IS Ra’s form on earth. Maybe Ra’s eye, cares for the world as our mother (for we are Ra’s children and she was the first mother), our shepherd (for we are Ra’s cattle), because she helped to create us as much as Ra did. Maybe she is one of the many, many kas of the infinite mystery that is our creator, one expressed in a variety of ways that blend with each other while staying perfectly distinct.

This last bit actually terrifies me a little. It is a thought that fills me with awe and makes so much sense while tying the rest of my tirade together. The thought of just how vast, how strange and truly unknowable Ra is —how any of the gods is, to be honest— fills me with awe, reverence and a little fear as I contemplate the god that made this world. The one who is male and female on his kas, the one who is our father and mother, whose presence in the sky is the sun, and whose presence on earth is in love, joy, pleasure, healing, but also rage, plague, death and desolation. How versatile in interpretation is the concept of the Eye of Ra, who is a being made directly from him, while being independent and different from him.

[servantofthegodss]

Dua Wadjet, Wep Tawy 🙏

Praise Wadjet, the one who delimits the Lands

Praise thee, Great of Magic

Praise the Protector of Horus

Praise the Noble Serpent who flowed forth from the Eye

[a-d-nox]

sekhmet, goddess of vengeance (asteroid 5381)

Sekhmet means "she who is powerful". It is believed that she was created from the fire of Ra's eye when he looked at earth and saw the disloyalty of humanity. His ire towards humankind made her a weapon; she was meant to destroy those who were disobedient to the gods. She became ruthless and had a great bloodlust; she killed so many people that Ra had to devise a plan to calm her. He gave her a mixture of red wine and blood - she drank it believing that it was purely blood and became more peaceful. In some versions, she passes out and Ra removes part of her essence to create Bast or Hathor. After the drink (in either version), she was less bloodthirsty and more manageable. IN MY OPINION Sekhmet in your chart can represent a) where you are powerful, b) where you seek vengeance, c) where your wrath gets the better of you, d) where you are ruthless, and/or e) where a part of you is missing after a moment in life where you are too angry/powerful.

i encourage you to look into the aspects of sekhmet along with the sign, degree, and house placement. for the more advanced astrologers, take a look at the persona chart of sekhmet AND/OR add the other characters involved to see how they support or impede sekhmet!

OTHER RELATED ASTEROIDS: hathor (2340) and athor (161)!

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[ladyurticariathinblood]

Dark academia battle bag.

The bag is very stiff leather, so this beast killed my fingers. But I'll probably still find things I need to add to it.

If there's interest I'll share links to where I got everything. Except the dragon patch; I've had that since about 1998.

[writing-for-life]

Alloha, my Goddess of Sandman Knowledge! I hope you are well and enjoying the weekend! Yesterday I (and maybe other Sandman fans ) learned from Neil that Death didn't have her iconic eye swirl until Season of Mists - and it seems true ... I have that Death compilation book and there's a mix of her with and without that swirl and I wonder if YOU have any theories about that. Does it come along with our Dream "issue" (then why did she enter the family meeting with it or was not marked with the swirl at the beginning of Overture) or what is the deeper meaning? Thank you in advance - can't wait for your answer!

Hello friend, thanks for sliding into my inbox 🖤

Controversial opinion: While the symbolism of the Eye of Horus/Ra (more about that in a sec) is most definitely not random, just like the symbolism of the Ankh, I think when and if she wears it actually is. It’s a goth fashion choice ^jk

[That’s why I always inwardly laugh when people get their knickers in a twist about Kirby not wearing it in S1, because a) Death didn’t have one in the comics in The Sound of her Wings and b) I firmly believe it’s a just a choice. She can take it or leave it. She didn’t need “gothed up more” because Kirby literally wore what she wore in The Sound of her Wings: A black tank and black trousers.]

There’s certainly a trend that she doesn’t have it the further back we go chronologically, but even that is just a trend.

The Heart of a Star (earliest in the timeline, ~3-4billion years ago:

First Vortex (we don’t know when exactly, but it’s after The Heart of a Star and “aeons ago”):

And I guess for both of the above it could also be argued that they are clearly before ancient Egypt and wouldn’t have any cultural reference either. She wears the ankh in both though, so we can almost immediately scrap that thought again. But let’s just roll with it from app. 3,000 BC onwards…

Roundabout 900/800 BC (Orpheus’ Wedding/the aftermath):

But:

And you can’t even say she only wears it when “the topic” comes up, because then she’d probably also wear it in the first one above.

1389:

But—1864:

1915:

And to those who say she’s been consistently wearing it since 1990/SoM—nope. This is Brief Lives 1992:

So I think it’s rather random, and I personally don’t put too much stock in it other than thinking she puts it on when she feels like it. Or rather: When the artist thinks of it.

As for the symbolism:

It actually matters if you wear it on your left eye (Horus) or on your right (Ra), or both. They both used to be called Eye of Horus very far back in Egyptian history but eventually became distinct.

The Eye of Horus (left) has strong links to funeral rites (there’s a whole story about Horus offering his eye to Osiris to protect/sustain him in the afterlife). That’s why I always think it should have been on her other eye in The Kindly Ones and The Wake (she wears it on her right in both), but that’s just me being a hairsplitter, and you could find reasons for both if you wanted to.

It makes sense for Hob I guess (bottom row second), so maybe they didn’t want to create the illusion of continuity errors 🤣 How cool would it have been though if Zulli had shown a transition from left eye (afterlife) to both eyes like Talbot in Song of Orpheus(afterlife/life) to right eye (life)?

The Eye of Ra (right) is generally also about giving and sustaining life, but not so much the afterlife. It has much stronger symbolic ties to life on earth. It also has stronger ties to the feminine, and despite being called “Eye of Ra”, it is often also linked to goddesses like Wedjat (both eyes are also called “wedjat eye”), Bast or Hathor.

If you wear it on both, there’s a lot to be said about balance (male/female, moon/sun etc). They used to be called Horus’ lunar (left) and solar (right) eye, for example.

So I guess you could put a lot of stock in the fact that she often wears it on her right eye (more tied to life on earth), but also on her left (more tied to death), or even on both, and find meaning in that. And that she actually wears the Eye of Ra (life and the feminine) more often than the Eye of Horus (but not exclusively).

But mostly, I feel it’s just random and the choice of whoever draws her 🤣

@klarahimmeltheendless ask answered

[dee-the-red-witch]

Cyberpunk eye of ra? Sure. Why not.

Feel like this belongs on someone's shoulder blade.

[father-of-the-void]

All things are beheld in the Eye of God. We are his bodies. His time moves in our bellies. There is no season in which heaven does not hold the shape of its beloved, no time in which the earth does not sing. Under the Sun, flamingos nod and bow and walk. Birds of the air spin in countless exhaled breaths. We are growing, remembering, forgetting, becoming. The many are one face changing expression.

The Eye is everywhere. There is no act it does not see, no desire it can not hold, no secret that can not be known. The heavens speak. The flame bursts on your cheeks. Things are possible. In a moment we live a million years, a thousand lives in a breath.

Behold the Eye that holds you. Without hands, it made you. You will be its hands. Without tongue, you become its tongue. Your work is its will. If what you make – your body, your love, your peace – is good, it shall be looked on by gods and endure forever.

When the Eye opens, I look back.

— The Book of Coming Forth by Day, Egyptian Book of the Dead

[magnet-magnett]

Excerebration

[toyoll]

Lady of the Red Garment

Sekhmet has always been near and dear to me, so is always easy for me to draw. I needed something simple to hurtle this most recent art block!

[nickysfacts]

All praise the goddess Sekhmet, who exemplified the unstoppable power of femininity!𓁴

[thelucidlabyrinth]

The Eyes of Horus and Ra

Ra and Horus are the focal points of a few of the oldest stories ever told. Horus is the son of the god and goddess Osiris and Isis. Ra, on the other hand, is the Egyptian sun god. Each of them is connected to the very roots of Ancient Egypt and mytholog

Horus and Ra in MythologyThe Story of HorusHorus’ Family HistoryCosmic Conflict of Horus and SetThe Story of RaHorus and Ra in SymbolismFeminine PrinciplesMasculine Principles Symbols have been an integral part of human civilization since time began for humanity. They hold immense power, conveying deeper meanings and connecting us to ancient wisdom and beliefs. Two symbols, that are still…

[calamity-jane-doe]

So blue, so broken, paper doll decays

[saganssorcery]

Hail Ra!

By 🎨Sagans Sorcery 🔥🖌️

[violetmoondaughter]

The eye

The eye symbol was used since antiquity as an apotropaic talisman to protect from evil spirits. Eye is associated with vision, clarity and with the experience of the sensible world and the underworld.

The symbol is also associated to knowledge, in ancient Greece it was related to the Glaukopis Athena, the goddess of wisdom and her association with the birds of prey such as Owls, Crows and Seagulls. The glimmering eye that can see and perceive things from this world and from the other and that is always watching and judging. In ancient Greece this concept was also used in ritual mask such as the Gorgoneion or the primeval representations of the divine presence of Dionysus. Traditional talismans such as the Nazar and the Mati probably took its origins from these ancient traditions or even from previous Mesopotamian origins. Eyes were depicted on vases, temples doors, ships, and charms to protect humans from negative energies such as the evil eye, the envious gaze, and malevolent spirits.

In ancient Egypt the eye symbol was depicted as the two specular eyes of Horus and Ra and represented well-being, healing, and protection. Egyptian texts say that Horus's right eye was the sun and his left eye the moon. The symbol was connected with the myth of the conflict between Horus and his uncle Set in which his rival tore out one of Horus's eyes and the eye was subsequently returned to Horus with the assistance of the god Thoth. Horus subsequently offered the eye to his deceased father Osiris, and its revitalizing power sustained Osiris in the afterlife.

The right eye, the solar eye was also called the Wedjat and represented the eye of Ra. This eye was seen as a feminine extension of the god, a Goddess with both protective and destructive powers representing the benevolent and damaging energy of the sun. It is also equated with the red light that appears before sunrise, and with the morning star that precedes and signals the sun's arrival. The power of this goddess stands in the representation of the womb in which the sun god enters at sunset, impregnating her and setting the stage for his rebirth at sunrise. Consequently, the eye, as womb and mother of the child form of Ra, is also the consort of the adult Ra. This goddess is sometimes associated with feline and reptile form goddesses like Hathor and Sekhmet and with the Uraeus symbol, the cobra. These totemic animals incarnate the ferocious and protective energy of the dark feminine and, in the myths, the Wedjat is often used as a protecting or destructive weapon by the Sun god.

In German mythology the god Odin sacrificed his eye to obtain knowledge becoming the wisest god and achieving the magical knowledge. The sacrifice of the eye represents the loss of the vision in order to obtain an enhanced perception. The God exchanged a profane mode of perception, for a sacred mode of perception informed by divine, ancestral wisdom. In this case the eye symbolize once again wisdom and Odin is also associated with birds of prey and psychopomp birds such as ravens and their magical abilities to perceive and move through the veils of the worlds.

In many oriental religious traditions, the eye of wisdom is depicted by the Third eye, a mystical invisible eye, located on the forehead, which provides perception beyond ordinary sight. The third eye refers to the gate that leads to the inner realms and spaces of higher consciousness. In spirituality, the third eye often symbolizes a state of enlightenment. It often associated with religious visions, clairvoyance, the ability to observe chakras and auras, precognition, and out-of-body experiences.

Eye also recalls to the female breast and to the egg cell symbolizing the portal of life, the ancestral creative energy, and its protection power. In modern days the eye symbol is still used as a protection amulet representing the ability of seeing through things, the mystical knowledge, and warding power against evil.

[acrystalwitch]

🩸 👁️ Dua Sekhmet 🔥☀️