Ra, the Sun God

Ra, the Sun God

Ra, the sun god, takes three fundamental forms:

1. Khepri, the scarab beetle, who represents the rising sun,

2. Ra, the solar disc, who represents the midday sun, and

3. Atum, an old man leaning on a staff, who represents the setting sun.

Every morning, when the sun reaches Mount Manu, the westernmost mountain, the sky goddess Nut swallows it, at which point the god undertakes a perilous journey through the underworld in his night barque.

During that journey he is assailed by demons led by Apep, his enemy, who according to one myth is created at the very same moment as Ra himself. Just before dawn, Apep launches his most furious attack.

Every night, Ra, in the form of a cat, must cut off the serpent’s head before being reborn in the East from Nut, the universal mother. He then rises and crosses the sky until sunset, where Apep awaits him once more. Should Apep ever succeed in defeating Ra, the sun would not rise.

The daily cycle of death and resurrection symbolizes the vital cycle of humanity, which after death trusts in a new birth. From the Middle Kingdom onward, an invisible deity, Amun, “the hidden one,” is associated with Ra, the visible sun god, and together, as Amun-Ra, he is worshipped as king of all the gods.

The Secret Name of Ra

Ra created the world through words. However, one of those words — his secret name — he kept to himself.

Isis, the daughter of Geb and Nut, the earth and the sky, and wife of Osiris, resolved to learn the names of all things, so as to become as great as Ra himself. In the end, the only word she did not know was Ra’s secret name.

In order to trick Ra into giving her his name, Isis collected the saliva that had fallen from his mouth as day after day he crossed the sky (he was already old and drooled), and she shaped it into a serpent, which she left in his path.

Inevitably, it bit Ra, and he let out a terrible cry, trembled, and his sight grew dim.

Taking advantage of his pain, Isis offered him an antidote on the condition that he tell her the name... and so at last he caused his name to pass from his own heart into hers, granting her power over him.

Using Ra’s name, she commanded the poison to be driven out, leaving him safe and sound.

The text of this tale also served as a spell against poisoning. If the text was recited before images of Isis, Horus, and other gods, and if the patient was made to eat a piece of paper on which the spell had been written, success was guaranteed a million times over.