(urth) The Osiris complex

[David Stockhoff]

Because each of us is able to go to Wikipedia to look up the myths James 
has discussed and yet get completely different impressions, I thought I 
would dump for discussion here some ANNOTATED bits and pieces I found 
compelling for the entries "Osiris" "Nephthys" "Isis" and "Dionysus." 
Please comment as much as you want.

It strikes me that the myth is not applied rigidly but rather fits in 
many ways other than simply chronological. I also need to say that the 
Wiki material is probably MUCH less suggestive than whatever source 
Wolfe used!

James, if you haven't written this theory up for Ultan's Library, you 
should.

Osiris:

The original form of the myth states that Osiris was killed by a wooden 
sarcophagus secretly being made to his measurements by Seth, who was 
jealous of Osiris's position as king, and so plotted to kill him and 
take his place. A party had been held where the coffin was offered to 
whoever could fit inside. A few people tried to fit in, but to no avail. 
Osiris was encouraged to try, but as soon as he lay back, the lid 
slammed on him and was locked. It was then sealed with lead and thrown 
into the Nile.

[This is the Whorl and Typhon]

Upon hearing that Osiris was gone, Isis set out to look for him.

[James has identified Isis with Khypris, Pas's daughter, though Echidna 
is his wife]

She was afraid that without proper ceremonies and burial Osiris would 
not be able to go to the place of the dead. She later learned that the 
coffin had floated down the Nile river up to the coast of Byblos (now in 
modern day Lebanon) and became embedded in the trunk of a cedar tree.

[Green and Blue]

She also learned that the cedar tree had been taken and used as a pillar 
to support a palace for the king of Byblos. When traveling back, along 
the Nile River, she left the coffin in an area of marshland. Seth, while 
hunting, finds Osiris' coffin and dismembered him into 14 parts, 
scattering them across the land of Egypt. Each part represented one of 
the 14 full moons (each year has 12 to 14 full moons).

[Pas does this himself, but he has help reassembling himself. In one 
interpretation, there are 13 moons and 13 parts but something else was 
needed to bring Osiris to life. Whatever.]

Once again Isis set out to look for the pieces and she was able to find 
13 of the 14 parts, with the help of Nephthys, Seth's sister-wife, but 
was unable to find the 14th, as it had been eaten by a fish. Instead, 
she fashioned a phallus out of gold and sang a song around Osiris until 
he came back to life.

[I am wondering if Nephthys is Hyacinth, another rebirth figure. Note 
also the fish (!) and the singing. I also wonder how much of this 
extends beyond Silk's scanning into Pas into BSS, since Silk himself 
dies and lives on. If Silk is in some sense Pas by being Typhon, then 
some of Osiris's story could also apply to Silk.]

Isis:
Consequently, the story became that before resurrecting Osiris, Isis put 
together 13 of the 14 parts, but was unable to find the 14th, his 
phallus, which was eaten by the oxyrhynchus fish (a fish with an unusual 
curved snout resembling depictions of Set). So Isis created a phallus 
for him, and then attempted to revive him. In some versions, Isis sang a 
song around Osiris until he came back to life. She then took the form of 
a kite and flew around his body in order to conceive Horus. In other 
tellings of the story, Isis grows wings and hovers over Osiris. She 
breathes life into him in order to revive him and conceive Horus. Being 
simultaneously alive and dead, Osiris became the god and king of the 
afterlife.

[Note the bird flying around Osiris. I also think "simultaneously alive 
and dead" is a striking phrase.]

Isis was worshipped as the ideal mother and wife as well as the matron 
of nature and magic. She was the friend of slaves, sinners, artisans, 
and the downtrodden....

[One or more of the Mayteras ....]

Nephthys:

Nephthys was typically paired with her sister Isis in funerary rites 
because of their role as protectors of the mummy and the god Osiris and 
as the sister-wife of Seth.

As the primary "nursing mother" of the incarnate Pharaonic-god, Horus, 
Nephthys also was considered to be the nurse of the reigning Pharaoh 
himself.[7]

[I don;t see this as very Hyacinth-like ...]

Though other goddesses could assume this role, Nephthys was most usually 
portrayed in this function. In contrast Nephthys is sometimes featured 
as a rather ferocious and dangerous divinity, capable of incinerating 
the enemies of the Pharaoh with her fiery breath.[8]

[but this is totally Hy with the azoth]

Thus, Nephthys was also seen in the Pyramid Texts as a supportive cosmic 
force occupying the night-bark on the journey of Ra, the majestic sun 
god, particularly when he entered Duat at the transitional time of dusk, 
or twilight. Isis was Ra's companion at the coming of dawn.

[A few suggestive elements here; the night-bark makes me think of the 
Whorl again. The sun is of course reborn daily.]

Nephthys was also considered a festive deity whose rites could mandate 
the liberal consumption of beer. In various reliefs at Edfu, Dendera, 
and Behbeit, Nephthys is depicted receiving lavish beer-offerings from 
the Pharaoh, which she would "return", using her power as a beer-goddess 
"that [the pharaoh] may have joy with no hangover." Elsewhere at Edfu, 
for example, Nephthys is a goddess who gives the Pharaoh power to see 
"that which is hidden by moonlight." This fits well with more general 
textual themes that consider Nephthys to be a goddess whose unique 
domain was darkness, or the perilous edges of the desert.

[I don't know about beer, but there is a suggestion of the Outsider.]

Dionysus:

[The Osiris myth was exported to Greece, which had its own rebirth 
cycles. The Sun Cycle itself is of course at its heart a rebirth cycle.]

god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness and 
ecstasy in Greek mythology. .... In some cults, he arrives from the 
east, as an Asiatic foreigner; and in others, from Ethiopia in the South.

[Specific to Silk and the Outsider:]

He is a god of epiphany, "the god that comes", and his "foreignness" as 
an arriving outsider-god ...

[ahem]

... may be inherent and essential to his cults. He is a major, popular 
figure of Greek mythology and religion, and is included in some lists of 
the twelve Olympians. His festivals were the driving force behind the 
development of Greek theater.

[Everything the gods do on the Whorl is theater and ventriloquism.]
The earliest cult images of Dionysus show a mature male, bearded and 
robed. He holds a fennel staff, tipped with a pine-cone and known as a 
thyrsus.

[Another reason I suspect Silkhorn continues to play out mythical themes 
begun in BLS. Only Quetzal and Incanto have staffs.]

Later images show him as a beardless, sensuous, naked or half-naked 
youth: the literature describes him as womanly or "man-womanish".[6] In 
its fully developed form, his central cult imagery shows his triumphant, 
disorderly arrival or return, as if from some place beyond the borders 
of the known and civilized. His procession (thiasus) is made up of wild 
female followers (maenads) and ithyphallic, bearded satyrs. Some are 
armed with the thyrsus, some dance or play music. The god himself is 
drawn in a chariot, usually by exotic beasts such as lions or tigers, 
and is sometimes attended by a bearded, drunken Silenus. This procession 
is presumed to be the cult model for the human followers of his 
Dionysian Mysteries. In his Thracian mysteries, he wears the bassaris or 
fox-skin, symbolizing a new life. Dionysus is represented by city 
religions as the protector of those who do not belong to conventional 
society and thus symbolizes everything which is chaotic, dangerous and 
unexpected, everything which escapes human reason and which can only be 
attributed to the unforeseeable action of the gods.