Hymn to Osiris

"Homage to thee, Osiris, Lord of eternity, King of the Gods, whose names are manifold, whose forms are holy, thou being of hidden form in the temples, whose Ka is holy. Thou art the governor of Tattu (Busiris), and also the mighty one in Sekhem (Letopolis). Thou art the Lord to whom praises are ascribed in the nome of Ati, thou art the Prince of divine food in Anu. Thou art the Lord who is commemorated in Maati, the Hidden Soul, the Lord of Qerrt (Elephantine), the Ruler supreme in White Wall (Memphis). Thou art the Soul of Ra, his own body, and hast thy place of rest in Henensu (Herakleopolis). Thou art the beneficent one, and art praised in Nart. Thou makest thy soul to be raised up. Thou art the Lord of the Great House in Khemenu (Hermopolis). Thou art the mighty one of victories in Shas-hetep, the Lord of eternity, the Governor of Abydos. The path of his throne is in Ta-tcheser (a part of Abydos). Thy name is established in the mouths of men. Thou art the substance of Two Lands (Egypt). Thou art Tem, the feeder of Kau (Doubles), the Governor of the Companies of the gods. Thou art the beneficent Spirit among the spirits. The god of the Celestial Ocean (Nu) draweth from thee his waters. Thou sendest forth the north wind at eventide, and breath from thy nostrils to the satisfaction of thy heart. Thy heart reneweth its youth, thou producest the.... The stars in the celestial heights are obedient unto thee, and the great doors of the sky open themselves before thee. Thou art he to whom praises are ascribed in the southern heaven, and thanks are given for thee in the northern heaven. The imperishable stars are under thy supervision, and the stars which never set are thy thrones. Offerings appear before thee at the decree of Keb. The Companies of the Gods praise thee, and the gods of the Tuat (Other World) smell the earth in paying homage to thee. The uttermost parts of the earth bow before thee, and the limits of the skies entreat thee with supplications when they see thee. The holy ones are overcome before thee, and all Egypt offereth thanksgiving unto thee when it meeteth Thy Majesty. Thou art a shining Spirit-Body, the governor of Spirit-Bodies; permanent is thy rank, established is thy rule. Thou art the well-doing Sekhem (Power) of the Company of the Gods, gracious is thy face, and beloved by him that seeth it. Thy fear is set in all the lands by reason of thy perfect love, and they cry out to thy name making it the first of names, and all people make offerings to thee. Thou art the lord who art commemorated in heaven and upon earth. Many are the cries which are made to thee at the Uak festival, and with one heart and voice Egypt raiseth cries of joy to thee.

"Thou art the Great Chief, the first among thy brethren, the Prince of the Company of the Gods, the stablisher of Right and Truth throughout the World, the Son who was set on the great throne of his father Keb. Thou art the beloved of thy mother Nut, the mighty one of valour, who overthrew the Sebau-fiend. Thou didst stand up and smite thine enemy, and set thy fear in thine adversary. Thou dost bring the boundaries of the mountains. Thy heart is fixed, thy legs are set firm. Thou art the heir of Keb and of the sovereignty of the Two Lands (Egypt). He (Keb) hath seen his splendours, he hath decreed for him the guidance of the world by thy hand as long as times endure. Thou hast made this earth with thy hand, and the waters, and the winds, and the vegetation, and all the cattle, and all the feathered fowl, and all the fish, and all the creeping things, and all the wild animals therof. The desert is the lawful possession of the son of Nut. The Two Lands (Egypt) are content to crown thee upon the throne of thy father, like Ra.

"Thou rollest up into the horizon, thou hast set light over the darkness, thou sendest forth air from thy plumes, and thou floodest the Two Lands like the Disk at daybreak. Thy crown penetrateth the height of heaven, thou art the companion of the stars, and the guide of every god. Thou art beneficent in decree and speech, the favoured one of the Great Company of the Gods, and the beloved of the Little Company of the Gods.

His sister [Isis] hath protected him, and hath repulsed the fiends, and turned aside calamities (of evil). She uttered the spell with the magical power of her mouth. Her tongue was perfect, and it never halted at a word. Beneficent in command and word was Isis, the woman of magical spells, the advocate of her brother. She sought him untiringly, she wandered round and round about this earth in sorrow, and she alighted not without finding him. She made light with her feathers, she created air with her wings, and she uttered the death wail for her brother. She raised up the inactive members of whose heart was still, she drew from him his essence, she made an heir, she reared the child in loneliness, and the place where he was not known, and he grew in strength and stature, and his hand was mighty in the House of Keb. The Company of the Gods rejoiced, rejoiced, at the coming of Horus, the son of Osiris, whose heart was firm, the triumphant, the son of Isis, the heir of Osiris."

Papurys of Ani
Egyptian Book of the Dead
Translated by E. A. Wallis Budge

Tarot - Justice

Basic Symbols

The Justice figure seated or standing, scales in one hand (usually left), upraised sword in the other hand. Sometimes blindfolded.

Basic Tarot Story

The Fool is looking for a new path, a new aspiration and inspiration for his life. Sitting uncertain at a cross-roads, he notices a blind wise woman listening to two brothers argue over an inheritance. They have come to her for judgement. One brother has the whole inheritance, the other has nothing. "I ask that all of it be given to me," the poor brother demands, "Not only because I have a better right to it, but because I will not be wasteful with it, as he is!" But the rich brother protests, "It is rightfully mine and that's all that should matter, not what I do with it!" The woman listens, then awards half of the rich brother's inheritance to the poor brother. The Fool thinks this only fair, but neither brother is happy. The rich one hates losing half his wealth, and the poor one feels he ought to have gotten all.

"You were fair," he remarks to the woman after they have left. "Yes, I was," she answers plainly. "With only half the inheritance, the rich one will stop being so wasteful. And the poor one will have as much as he needs. Even though they cannot see it, this decision was good for both."

The Fool thinks on this, and new insight on his own life comes to mind. He realizes that he has spent his life achieving worldly ambitions, physical goods, while leaving his spiritual self to starve, primarily because he didn't want to make the sacrifices necessary to feed his spiritual self. Now, he sees that this is necessary, the only path he has not walked, one he must walk to regain his equilibrium. Thanking the woman, he heads out with new purpose. It is time to balance his own inner scales.

Basic Tarot Meaning

With Libra as its ruling sign, Justice is about cold, objective balance through reason or natural force. This is the card that tells the Querent that they can't keep smoking and drinking without consequences to their health. It is the card that advises cutting out waste and insists that the Querent make adjustments, do whatever is necessary to bring things back into balance, physically, emotionally, socially, spiritually. In a more mundane sense, this card may signal a court case, legal documents, adjustments in a marriage or partnership. The outcome of all of these may not be exactly what the Querent wants, but it will be a scrupulously fair outcome. If the card is reversed, it can indicate bias, obstruction of the law, or legal complications.

Thirteen's Observations

I think Justice is a good card (as compared to Strength) to stand as the first of the next ten cards of the Major Arcana. The reason I think it right is because with it we move from the physical world (first ten cards) into the metaphysical world (next ten). When I look at Justice, I always see the two worlds balanced on her scales. "You've spent all your time in one," she seems to be saying, time to move into the other and balance things out."

One thing to remember about the Justice card is that it is not about punishment, good, bad, right or wrong. It i's about adjustment. The sword suggests that sometimes this won't be pleasant. Justice pares things down with that sword so that the scales end up equal. The message is to do what's necessary, no matter how hard, how disagreeable, in order to gain, or re-gain equilibrium. It is not a nice card, but in its way, it is a very wise card.

source: http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/

The Second Coming of Vampires in 'Salem's Lot

One of the books that I had the pleasure to read recently is 'Salem's Lot written by the master of horror Stephen King. In my opinion, it is a masterpiece of vampiric and gothic literature. King as a scholar himself and reader of this kind of literature creates his own vampiric myth. He actually transforms the old-type vampire like Count Dracula to the contemporary, cruel and beast-like 20th century vampire, a vampire that emerges from the gross vampiric movies and cheap comics editions.

His writing is alluring and enchanting, it is frightening and tense... It is a well-written novel with many literary allusions that makes it pretty interesting to the well-informed reader. Without losing its horror point the novel has parts that will make us smile and parts that will make us even laugh. But not for a moment we aren't going to believe that vampires may not be a possibility... A thrilling novel, that's what it is.

In the novel we encounter some very old and common gothic motifs, such as the function of the house, The Marsten House, as trasmitter of the bad energy in the town, the house as carrier of the cruel things that happened inside it, the house as a reference point to the madness that runs in the minds of its owners. 'Salem's Lot is a town haunted by a house and the vampires are the mere result of its malignity...

Moreover, the whole city itself is a vampire that lurks in the night, a town where everything is well kept from the light of truth; echoes lying in the air like the signals that travelling from the old telephone wires. The city knows the darkness that is hidden within and when the vampire appears everything is ready for it flourish. Most of the town people are ready to embrace the darkness, ready to manifest its existence... and this realisation creates fear and discomfort to the reader because in an instance the familiar becomes unfamiliar and his deepest fears come to the light...

Another common motif is the role of the female in the novel represented by Susan Norton. She is a girl who doesn't fear as she should the filthy "Count" and finally she is trapped by him later to be proved that she was merely an instrument to him.

I could go on for ages writing about all the motives that run through the novel since it is written on purpose to remind us of the old gothic literature. However, it succeeded in being a whole literature text on its own that respects the old texts and that tries to tell also its own story...

Finally, I found more details about the novel and I would like to share them with you:

’Salem’s Lot is a horror novel by Stephen King, written in 1975. It was King’s second published novel. The book was adapted into a 1979 TV miniseries of the same name, starring David Soul and James Mason. A sequel film, A Return to Salem’s Lot, was made in 1987. A new miniseries was made in 2004, starring Rob Lowe, Andre Braugher and James Cromwell.

The title King originally chose was Second Coming, but he later decided on Jerusalem’s Lot. The publishers, Doubleday, shortened it to the current title, thinking the author's choice sounded too religious.

In a 1999 preface to the book, King discussed the importance of Dracula and formulated a theory that The Lord of the Rings was “just a slightly sunnier version of Stoker’s Dracula, with Frodo playing Jonathan Harker, Gandalf playing Abraham Van Helsing and Sauron playing the Count himself.”

The Legacy

Salem’s Lot was the first of King’s books to have a huge cast of characters, a trait that would appear again in later books such as The Stand. The town of Jerusalem’s Lot would also serve as a prototype for later fictional towns of King’s writing, namely Castle Rock, Maine and Derry, Maine.

King revisited the character Father Callahan, the local priest whose faith falters in the dreadful presence of Barlow, in his The Dark Tower series. He appears in Wolves of the Calla, Song of Susannah, and The Dark Tower, and provides insights into his experiences after being exiled from 'Salem's Lot. In addition, the central characters of the Dark Tower books acquire an actual copy of ’Salem’s Lot at the end of Wolves of the Calla, which leads them to seek out King himself in one of the many realities featured in the series.

’Salem’s Lot was also the first novel by King in which the main character is a writer, a device he would use again in a number of novels and short stories.

Mark Petrie's chant used for repelling the vampiric Danny Glick is reused in another King novel, It.

At one point, Mears explains his experience in the Marsten house, including seeing the body of the dead previous occupant. Mears describes it as being a leftover or a remnant of what had happened there, just like the haunting of the Overlook Hotel in King's The Shining.

The exit sign for the town off Interstate 295 (now part of I-95), is noticed by characters driving past it in Pet Sematary and Dreamcatcher.

source: wikipedia

If I Was Your Vampire - Marilyn Manson

6 AM, Christmas morning
No shadows
No reflections here
Lie cheek to cheek in your cold embrace.

It started so tragic as a slaughterhouse
She pressed the knife against your heart
And say that 'I love you' so much you must kill me now.
I love you so much you must kill me now...

If I was your vampire
Slim as the moon
Instead of killing time
We'll have each other till the sun.

If I was your vampire
Death waits for no one.
Put my hands across your face
Because I think our time has come.

Digging your smile apart with my spade tongue
And the hole is where the heart is
We built this tomb together
I will fill it alone.

Beyond the pale
Everything's black no turning back

If I was your vampire
Slim as the moon
Instead of killing time
We'll have each other till the sun.

If I was your vampire
Death waits for no one.
Put my hands across your face
Because I think our time has come.

Blood stained sheets in the shape of your heart
This is where it starts
This is where it will end
Here comes the moon again.

Six nineteen and I know I'm ready.
Drive me off the mountain
You'll Burn and I'll eat your ashes.
Impossible we're seducing our corpse.

If I was your vampire
Slim as the moon
Instead of killing time
We'll have each other till the sun.

If I was your vampire
Death waits for no one.
Put my hands across your face
Because I think our time has come.

This is where it starts
This is where it will end
Here comes the moon again.

Oh! Snatched Away in Beauty's Bloom - Lord Byron

Oh! snatched away in beauty's bloom,
On thee shall press no ponderous tomb;
But on thy turf shall roses rear
Their leaves, the earliest of the year;
And the wild cypress wave in tender gloom:

And oft by yon blue gushing stream
Shall Sorrow lean her drooping head,
And feed deep thought with many a dream,
And lingering pause and lightly tread;
Fond wretch! as if her step disturbed the dead!

Away! ye know that tears are vain,
That death nor heeds nor hears distress:
Will this unteach us to complain?
Or make one mourner weep the less?
And thou -who tell'st me to forget,
Thy looks are wan, thine eyes are wet.

Tarot - The Wheel of Fortune

Basic Card Symbols

A wheel turning clockwise with rising/falling figures or beasts on it. Waite also includes a good many hebrew letters and alchemical symbols. Often there is a sphinx perched atop the wheel.

Basic Tarot Story

From out of hiding comes the Fool, into the sunlight, as if being pulled up from some low, dark point on a wheel. It is time for a change. Staff in hand, he heads back out into the world, expecting nothing. But, strangely, things seem to happen to him as the hours go by, good things. Wandering by water wheel a woman offers him a drink in a golden chalice, and then urges him to keep the cup, just because she likes him; as he wanders by a windmill, he stops to watch a young man swinging a sword; when he expresses his admiration of the weapon, the young man presses it into his hand, insisting that he take it.

And finally, when he comes upon a rich merchant sitting in a wagon, right over one of the wheels, the man hands him a bag of money. "I like giving away money," explains the Merchant, "and I decided, just randomly, that the tenth person who walked past me today would get this money. You're the tenth." The Fool hardly thought he could still be surprised, but he is. It is as if everything good that he ever did in his life is being paid back to him, three-fold. All luck this day is his.

Basic Tarot Meaning

With Jupiter as its ruling planet, the Wheel of Fortune is all about big things, luck, change, fortune. Almost always good fortune. Almost every definition of this card indicates abundance, happiness, elevation, luck. A change that just happens, and brings with it great joy.

Thirteen's Observations

As much as the Tarot is about what a Querent can do to change their life or self, there are cards that admit that sometimes you just get lucky. This card can mean movement, change and evolution, but its primary meaning always seems to say that such changes will seem to come out of the blue, a stroke of good, unexpected fortune. The person you're reading for is going to get that money, that job, that promotion, that special person, that break they've been waiting for. Call it Karmic payback for all the good things they've done in life, destiny or just luck, but whatever lotteries are out there, large or small, they've just won one.

source: http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/