By James Donahue

There is a story in Egyptian mythology that goes like this: The goddess Isis married her older brother Osiris and they were deeply in love. Set, a demon of envy, set about to destroy their happiness. Set murdered Osiris. Then, to prevent the possibility of his resurrection, he dismembered Osiris' body and scattered the parts in various places along the Nile River.

When Isis learned what Set had done, she asked Troth, the god of Eternity, to stop the flow of time for a while. With time stopped, Isis traveled up and down the banks of the Nile, recovering all of Osiris' body parts except his penis before the sun set. She performed the Black Rite, bringing Osiris back to life. After that Troth gave birth to Time again, and history continued on. Horus is the immaculately conceived child of this love between Isis and Osiris.

Since Osiris was considered a God by the Egyptians, Horus was perceived as the son of God. There are many other interesting parallels between the mythological life of Horus and the life of Jesus Christ, who came along thousands of years later.

Horus was born in a cave. The announcement of his birth was made by an angel. The event was marked by the morning star Sirius and witnessed by shepherds and three solar deities. The child was paraded through the streets at the time of the winter solstice

A ruler named Herut attempted to have the child Horus murdered but God told Isis to “hide thyself with thy child.” Horus began his work at the age of 30 after he was baptized by Anup the Baptiser in the river Eridanus. Anup later was beheaded.

Horus was tempted by his arch-rival Set on a mountain. During his “ministry” he had twelve disciples who traveled with him as he cast out demons, healed the sick, restored sight to the blind, raised the Lazarus from the grave and walked on water. He was transfigured on a mountain.

He was crucified along with two thieves, buried in a tomb, descended into Hell, and was resurrected after three days. He was known as the good shepherd, the lamb of God, the bread of life, the son of man, the Word, the fisher. His Zodiac sign was Pisces, the fish.

Followers believed Horus would return to Earth and reign for a 1,000-year Millennium.

In his introduction to The Book of the Law, a brilliant and catastrophic work penned in 1904, Aleister Crowley described the world from the eyes of the occultist. He said the world was then entering the Age of Horus, and therefore is going through a period of violent change.

Crowley explained that certain vast stars, or "aggregates of experience," may be described as gods. Each god has been in charge of the destinies of the Earth for periods of about 2,000 years. In the history of the world, Crowley said it is believed there have only been three such Gods. They are:

--"Isis, the mother, when the Universe was conceived as simple nourishment drawn directly from her; this period is marked by matriarchal government." In other words, women ruled the governments of the world. They were seen as goddesses.

--Osiris, the father, began his reign about 500 BC. At this time the Universe was imagined as catastrophic. Crowley said love, death and resurrection were the ways by which individuals built up experience. Kings ruled the earth during this period.

--Now Horus, the child, is coming into power. Crowley wrote: "this period involves the recognition of the individual as the unit of society. Every event, including death, is only one more accretion to our experience, freely willed by ourselves from the beginning and therefore also predestined."

Horus is a combination of twin gods called Ra-Hoor-Khuit and Hoor-Paar-Kraat. He is symbolized as a hawk-headed god when on his throne. The image of the twins also symbolizes the duality of the human brain and the call for mankind to evolve to a point where both hemispheres of the brain are working collectively.

Crowley wrote the following description of the regime under Horus in 1904. He said:

"Everywhere his government is taking root. Observe for yourselves the decay of the sense of sin, the growth of innocence and irresponsibility, the strange modifications of the reproductive instinct with a tendency to become bi-sexual or epicene, the childlike confidence in progress combined with a nightmare fear of catastrophe, against which we are yet half unwilling to take precautions. Consider the outcrop of dictatorships, only possible when moral growth is in its earliest stages, and the prevalence of infantile cults like Communism, Fascism, Pacifism, health crazes, occultism in nearly all its forms, religions sentimentalized to a point of practical extinction. Consider the popularity of the cinema, the wireless, the football pools and guessing competitions, all devices for soothing fractious infants, no seed of purpose in them. Consider sport, the babyish enthusiasms and rages which it excites, whole nations disturbed by disputes between  boys. Consider war, the atrocities which occur daily and leave us unmoved and hardly worried. We are children." 

The prophetic description of our world came to pass during Crowley’s lifetime.

There are other depictions of Horus that have significance, especially among the esoteric. As an infant, Horus was Harpokrates, or the new born son, or sun at the end of the winter solstice. He was pictured in ancient Egyptian art as being suckled by Isis, or seated on lily pads with his finger at his lips. He has thus been called the god of silence.