The &"Perfected&" Horus
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I have the most recent (I think) edition of Crowley's edition of the Goetia. It has all of the notes and stuff by HB. A question arose for me from reading the notes to the Preliminary Invocation.
One line of the invocation reads, "Thou art Osorronophris". A note, indicated as coming from Crowley's comments in his own vellum copy of the book, identifies Osorronophris as Asar-Un-Nefer. From the GD 0=0 ritual, we recognize him as Osiris Onophris. So far, so good.
A second part of the note, indicated as coming from Gerald Yorke's copying of notes by Crowley, identifies Asar-Un-Nefer as the "perfected" Osiris, representing both the Hierophant and the candidate in the 0=0 ritual. Not from the notes: The pefected Osiris announces himself after all of the elements return to the altar, indicated the elemental reintegration of the candidate. Returning tot he notes: Thelemites will replace the perfected Osiris with the perfected Horus, which the note identifies as Ra-Hoor-Khuit.
My question: Why Ra-Hoor-Khuit as the perfected Horus, rather than Heru-Ra-Ha, who represents both the babe and the conquering child? For that matter, what does a "perfected" Horus mean? Osiris attains perfection through being ripped apart into his elemental pieces, purifying and consecrating them, and then reassembling them. What corresponding process can we attribute to Horus?
Anyone have any thoughts? Is this all a red herring?
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Sasha,
Nefer is a word that is often translated as 'beautiful'. Nofret (or Nefret), a common ancient Egyptian woman's name, means 'pretty' or 'beautiful', and the name Nefretiti means 'The Beautiful Woman has Come".
Osiris was/is seen in visions as a god of stunning beauty - he was sometimes referred to as Osiris the Beautiful. So he would be perfected when in that state, but I don't believe the word itself is normally translated today as 'perfected'.
It's not a huge stretch to see a Beautiful God as being of Tiphereth (= Beauty), with all that implies in the initiatory process.
I'm sure there are deeper meanings here than I can see. But Ra-Hoor-Khuit is the active principle so it would be He who initiates in the dynamic sense.
Edward
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Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
I question this approach. I understand the thread of thinking that led Yorke in that direction, but I find it suspect.
Osiris, before his death, was meant to signify specifically natural humanity - particularly the maturing Ruach, but then (as a transcendental symbol) the evolution through which that passes. Horus already represents "the next generation" of ourselves and is already a transcendental symbol, a "stand-in" for the HGA, etc. His age (in his various incarnations) is a symbol of the maturity of that awakening in us.
Nonetheless, since the question was raised...
I have no problem with RHK as "perfected" (1) because I see the Thelemic forms of the Horus archetype already having that quality and (2) because he has matured, i.e., is the seed-idea newborn in Harpocrates having come to maturity. OTOH, sure, Heru-Ra-Ha is more abstracted and therefore "higher." Even more, we can turn to Hrumachis as a form so transcendental that it is used as a symbol of that which spans all the aeons, being a (currently useful) token of each "new dawn" that breaks upon humanity.
I agree with you on your root interpretation, I think, but will paraphrase it to make sure: Osiris is the symbol of the cross, the 4. Horus is the symbol of the Pentagram, the 5. Osiris in life is the Elemental Cycle of the First Order of the traditional Order, where one is taken apart into pieces and relies on the Portal to reintegrate them. Isis then pulls off the magick that completes him - adds "his secret 5th part" - and in his post mortem formulations he has become perfected by the addition of the 5th. OTOH, Horus already fulfills that - in Temple of Thelema we sacramentally show Horus, the 5, as that which completes and thereby transcends the 4-ness of Osiris - and, therefore, is the natural next step.
Compare the original formulations in the early A.'.A.'. grades: The 1=10 (Malkuth) initiation is of the Four Elements and the highest ideal is a form of Osiris. The 2=9 (Yesod) initiation adds something from beyond that framework and introduces Horus as the new high ideal, specifically manifested as separate aspects at the four quarters which are integrated in Ra-Hoor-Khuit as the central fifth about which they are placed.
FWIW.