From the “Cannibal Hymn”:
Pharaoh's Kas are behind him.
His Hemusetu are under his feet.
His gods are over him.
His Uraeus-serpents are on his brow.
Pharaoh's guiding-serpent is on his forehead :
she who sees the Ba (of the enemy as) good for burning.
Pharaoh's neck is on his trunk.
Pharaoh is the Bull of the Sky,
who shatters at will,
who lives on the being of every god,
who eats their entrails,
even of those who come with their bodies
>>full of magic from the Island of Flame<<
I really don't quite embrace the idea that the more literate
Egyptians were unduly fascinated with the possibilities of
cannibalism or vampirism, though even civilized men breathe more
deeply from life when atavistic hostilities are brought to
catharsis. What this says to me is that the priests of Horus have
dramatized a warning about the proper sense of awe that one should
have of a theocratic monarch. The phrases "Stay out of his way"
and "Don't break the spell" come to mind. The wisdom literature is
full of reverence for the king, as it is hostile toward petty
tyranny. What is interesting to me as a (however amateur) student of
Hermopolitan philology is this line, which suggests that the Island
of Flame ceremonies in 'Khmunu were a place where Egypt's mystical
kalokagathoi feasted on drala, gnosis, or whatever we may properly
call the nectar of heka invoked by these rituals. Joseph Campbell
explained that such events can significantly enhance the depth of
personal instinct in a psychically sensitive intellectual. Yet, the
warning here is not to challenge the Juggernaut, despite the feelings
of empowerment a scribe of the House of Life might have acquired from
participation in said auspicious proceedings. It is the prerogative of Set,
alone, it seems, to criticize the Incarnation of Horus. We can also see
that the secret rituals at the sacred lake and cemetery of Hermopolis were
“where it’s at” for the old priests and initiates of Thoth.
Bob