In her early life, Isis was a wise goddess, and her knowledge was on par with that of Ra, who created everything and ascended to the sky every day to sit upon the throne of the cosmos.
As the years went by, Ra grew old and his control weakened. His saliva began to drool and fall to the ground.
Isis collected this fallen saliva, mixed it with the earth, and fashioned it into a sacred serpent, which she placed on the path Ra took across the valley.
When Ra, accompanied by the deities of his court, came along, the serpent bit him with fiery venom.
The god cried out loudly, and his cries echoed through the heavens, causing the Ennead (the group of nine deities) to panic and ask, "What is this? What is this?"
Ra could not respond; his lips trembled, his body shook, and the poison took hold. He then appealed to the deities of the Ennead:
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| Isis and the Secret Name of Ra |
"I am the great son of the great one, bearer of the name given by my father. I have many names and forms, and my appearance is also in every god.
I am called Atum and Horus. My father and mother informed me of my name, but I hid it within my body, away from my children, fearing that a sorcerer might gain power over me.
While I was out observing what I had created and strolling over the land of the two lands I had made, I was bitten by something I do not recognize, neither fire nor water, but my heart burns and my body trembles.
May my divine children come with the blessed words of the gods who know magical spells and whose knowledge reaches the heavens."
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| Relief in der östlichen Seitenkapelle des Pronaos des Tempels des Chons im Tempelkomplex von Karnak, nördlich von Luxor, Ägypten | Date: 17 October 2014 | Source: Own work | Author: Olaf Tausch |
The gods hurried to him, with the younger deities weeping and mourning.
Isis approached him as if she knew nothing, and he revealed his plight to her.
She told him, "Tell me your sacred name, for a person is revived when called by their name." Ra listed his names and known attributes, but Isis replied, "Your true name is not among those names.
Reveal it to me, and I will call you by it, and the poison will leave you." Naturally, she did not mean his well-known name, Ra.
As the poison burned and spread through his body, Ra had no choice but to reveal his secret name to Isis. He told her, "Come closer, so my name may leave my body and enter yours." Thus, the great god revealed his hidden name to the great sorceress Isis. She then recited her magical incantation to expel the poison from Ra's body:
"Flow out, poison, depart from Ra and from Horus's eye, leave the god, O fiery one, by my spell.
I am the one who works, and I am the one who expels. Depart from me into the earth, O effective poison.
Look, the great god has revealed his name, Ra lives, and the poison is dead, according to the words of Isis, the great sorceress, mistress of the gods, who knows Ra by his name."
This myth illustrates several points, including that the origins of magic involve knowing a person's secret name.
Egyptians used two names for a person: one public and one secret, written on the wall of their tomb.
If this secret name was removed from the tomb, it could lead to their eternal death, as this name carried the element of eternal life for both humans and gods.
Ra then instructed the god Thoth to hurry to Geb and command him to tend to the serpents of Geb and control them with magical incantations.
Thoth was to bring them together with his son Osiris, who would protect their young. Ra continued to delegate his tasks through Thoth, whose light would dispel the darkness.
Thoth was also to restore order among the people, become the sacred priest, create the ibis-headed bird as Thoth's symbol, bring forth the moon, which is Thoth's planet, and bring forth the baboon with a dog’s head, which represents Thoth.
This myth indeed marks the end of the golden age when Ra lived among people before ascending to the sky due to the corruption of humanity.
He was lifted by Nut to create the celestial fields that later became the heavenly gardens for kings and the righteous.
From there, he rearranges the world through the god of wisdom, Thoth, his priest and minister.
For those who prefer visual content, you can watch the video below that covers the same topic in detail.