Aset learns the Secret Name of Ra

This story comes from two papyri dated to the 19th Dynasty, one, the Turin Magical Papyrus from Lower Egypt, which contains the more complete text, and the other, the Chester Beatty text, found near Thebes at Deir el-Medina. The story tells of Isis using her great Magic skills to poison the God Ra, Lord of all, in order to attain from Him the Secret Name which was known to no man or god before. The text served as an incantation and remedy against snake and scorpion bite, as seen in the instructions included at the end:

The spell of the divine god, Ra, [Atum],who came into being by himself, who made heaven, earth, water, the breath of life, fire, gods, men, small and large cattle, creeping things, birds and fishes, the king of men and gods at one time, abounding in names, unknown to that god and unknown to this god.

Aset/Isis was clever. Her heart was more cunning than a million men; She was wiser than a million gods; more discerning than a million of the Akh. Only one thing She did not know in heaven and earth. Aset purposed in her heart to learn the one thing She still lacked, the name of the august god, Ra

Ra entered every day at the head of His entourage, taking His place on the throne of the two horizons. Though divine, old age caused him to drool. He spat here and there, leaving his spittle fallen upon the soil. Isis took it and the earth it moistened, and kneaded it with Her hand. She built the mud into an august snake with a sharp tongue. Then she left it at the crossroads past which the great god used to go throughout the Two Lands.

Now, Ra the great god appeared with the gods in His entourage accompanying Him, so that He might stroll as on every day. At the crossroads as He walked, the snake bit Him. It then came forth from Him and vanished among the grass. When the divine god could gain His voice, the noise of His mighty crying reached the heavens. The Entourage of His Ennead said: “What is it? What is it?” But He could not find His voice to answer about it. His lips were trembling, and His body shuddered. The poison took possession of his flesh as the Nile takes possession of the land after it.

When the great god had composed His heart, He cried out to His Companions: "Come to me, all you gods who came into being in my body, who came forth from me, that I may make known to you what has happened. Something painful has stabbed me. My heart does not recognize it, my eyes have not seen it, my hand did not make it, and I do not recognize it in all that I have made. I have not tasted a pain like unto it, and there is nothing more painful than it.

I am abounding in names and abounding in forms. My forms exist as every god; I am called Atum and Heru-of-Praise. My father and my mother told me my name, but it was hidden in my body before I was born, in order that the power of a male of female magician might not be made to play against me. While I was going out of doors to see what I had made, and to stroll in the Two Lands which I have created, something has stung me---I know not what. It is not really fire; it is not really water. My heart is on fire, my body is trembling, and my body is beginning to chill.

Let the children of the gods be brought to me, the beneficent of speech, who know their magic spells, whose wisdom reaches the heavens."

So the children of the gods came, every one of them having his mourning, but Aset came with Her skill, Her speech having the breath of life, Her utterances expelling pain, and Her words reviving him whose throat was constricted. She said, "What is it, what is it, my divine father? What—a snake stabbed weakness into you? One of your children lifted up his head against you? Then I shall cast it down with effective magic. I shall make it retreat at the sight of your rays."

The holy god opened his mouth: "It is that I was going along the way, strolling in the Two Lands and the foreign countries, for my heart desired to see what I had created, when I was bitten a snake, without seeing it. It is not really fire; it is not really water; but I am colder than water, I am hotter than fire. My entire body is sweating, while I am shivering. My eye is not steadfast, and I cannot see. The heavens are beating upon my face as at the time of summer."

Then Aset said, "Tell me your name, my divine father, for a person lives whose name one recites (Heka)."

And Ra replied, "I am he who made heaven and earth, who knotted together the mountains, and created what is thereon. I am he who made the waters, so that the Heavenly Cow might come into being. I am he who made the bull for the cow, so that sexual pleasures might come into being. I am he who made the heaven and the mysteries of the two horizons, so that the soul of the gods might be placed therein. I am he who opened his eyes. So that light might come into being, who closed his eyes, so that darkness might come into being, in conformance with whose command the Nile flows, but whose name the gods have not learned. I am he who made the hours, so that days might come into being. I am he who opened the year and created the river. I am he who made the living fire, in order to bring into being the work of the palace. I am Khepri in the morning, Re at noon, and Atum who is in the evening."

But the poison was not checked in its course, and the great god did not recover.

Then Isis said to Ra: "Your name is not really among these which you have told me. If you tell me it, the poison will come forth, for a person whose name is pronounced, lives."

The poison burned with a burning. It was more powerful than flame or fire.

Then the majesty of Ra said: "Let your ears be given to me, daughter Aset/Isis, that my name may come forth from my body into your body. The most divine among the gods concealed it, so that my place might be wide in the Barque of Millions of Years. If there should take place a first time of its issuing from my heart, tell it to your son Heru, after you threaten him with an oath of the god, and have placed the god in his eyes."

The great god then divulged his name to Aset, the Great of Magic.

Isis then spoke this Healing spell and cast out the poison from Ra's body and majesty: "Come forth from Ra! Come forth from the burning god at my spell! It is I who acts; it is I who sends the message. Come upon the ground, O mighty poison! Behold, the great god has divulged his name, and Ra is living, the poison is dead, through the speech of Aset the Great, the Mistress of the Gods, who knows Ra by his name."

Words to be spoken over an image of Atum-Ra and of Horus-of-Praise, over a figure of Isis, and an image of Horus, painted on the hand of the one afflicted by the bite, and licked off, or, written on strips of linen and placed at the throat of him who was bitten, or may be added into beer and drunk by the one bitten. It is what kills the poison-really effective, a million times.

Source: Ancient Egyptian Texts Relating to the Old Testament, ed. by James Pritchard

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Copyright 2002  by Khenmetaset. All texts contained herein are from annotated sources unless otherwise noted. The background was created by Tina Houk, and is used with grateful appreciation. These pages are for educational purposes only. Any coments may be directed to Khenmetaset at khenmetaset@per-aset.org.