Who is she really?

· Key 21 and Other Mythological Attributions

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  1. Nephthys

1a. Particular Customs & Relationships in Egyptian Myth

Nephthys

Here the woman of the 21st tarot card is also a representation of Nephthys. Nephthys comes from a rich mythology in Egypt sister of Isis who was wife to the sun god Osiris and a sister-wife to the god Set. In ancient Egyptian it was very common to have these incestual relationships with mythological characters. Incest in mythology represented not physically sexual acts but more like gods joining attributes to share in a Celestial "Hieros Gamos", or bridal chamber. In ancient Egypt for example a "father" could represent any male, and "mother" any female. Where "brother" and "sister" are involved it is a lesser of the mother-father parental and more childlike boys and girls or specific roles in Egyptian society.

As Nephthys was the "sister" of Isis she could have been indicated as a lover wife mistress niece or aunt. the roles go as far as we can imagine, even a best friend that is a woman can be inferred from this name and so can be attributed to an egyptian "sisterhood".

In the royal family however there was some incestual relationships to create a pure and controllable blood line for succession.

· Nephthys and Her Relationship to Other Known Deities and Figures in Egyptian Mythology in Particular Reference to Gnostic Texts of Nag Hammadi

Nephyhys was the mother wife of Set a god that was symbolic of apep or Apophis the god ruled the chaos and darkness. In creation account in Genesis it says "The lord seen the world was chaotic 'tohu' and without form 'bohu'. In lurianic Kabbalah it was called the tzimtzum

In chaos and darkness existed the Egyptian god Apep-Set which the Egyptians said fought Osiris in the underworld to steal the light of the Sun and keep it from bringing life to the egyptians as it shone across the Nile. Every night Osiris would fight his opponent with the help of the mummified souls and kings of Egypt to keep at bay the destroyer of the light Apep or Apophis.

Very much like the Demurge of the Gnostics is this Apophis and Nephthys was the spouse of this evil Set or Apophis. Therefore showing the material wife of the demiurge rather than the union of Isis and Osiris.

The archons of the Gnostic myth were reported to "rape, beat, and defile" Sophia in her embodied form of Zoe , or Eve.

· Story of Nephthys as a Metaphor of Duality and Conflict

As we look at the darker aspects of psyche through the rich mythology of the Egyptians we are brought ever again back to the struggle of the two spheres of the light and dark. Peace and Chaos. Having incestual gods and goddesses is somewhat of a downer as was the gods and goddesses of the Roman and Greek mythologies. They all were said to have aspects that were at times terrific and terrible at the same time. This i believe represents the Archonic defects of the gods and their separation and incessant need to use the sparks of the True God (god being a name of honor and not a title )to make their own creation. Through the separate creations of the destruction/creation sphere of these gods the world is in perpetual dynamic motion and rhythmic chaos.

Its not until we start to let the gods of one-sidedness "off the hook" that we will experience the mysterium conicutionus or hieros gamos of the psyche restoring balance without loss of polarity essentially the union of the many within the one

In light and love.