Set And Apep

(click for larger)
June 27, 2004

Here is the tale of the APEP slaying: God Ra asked God Set to join Him in the Boat Of A Million Years. God Set then became one of God Ra's primary defenders from the great serpent, Apep, which sought to eat the Sun each night and prevent the new day from dawning. At the end of each day, however, Ra was thought to die before he embarked on his night voyage. For this journey he was called Auf, which means 'corpse'. So he wasn't in any capacity to do battle, but he trusted 'the one strong enough to do the job' to keep him and the sun safe. Needless to say, Apep never wins, but neither does Set and Ra, because the battle is rejoined each evening.

If Apep were to win, the world would be plunged into eternal darkness, in which nothing could grow, and therefore it would be the end of life. If it were Ra's victory, the sun would shine both day and night, desiccating both plant and animal life, and causing much the same result. The important aspect of the legend is the balance between the two being the optimum state. God Set fights the beast, because He knows there must always be a limit to destruction, in order for life to thrive. But He, more than any other, knows that the universe would stop dead if it is nothing but perfect, static order.

I've tried to give an impression of the Apep serpent hacking up the sun, after one of Set's blows. There is some disagreement over Set's appearance. Some say He has black skin, some say red, while still others say white, although some have said there is no proof of a white skinned Set. I've not seen any such representations in the ancient images, so I keep the skin dark. Dark skin seems to befit a Dark God.

The story above is the traditional mythos.

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Note of February 18, 2006

Regarding Set's skin, the most conclusive thing I've seen regarding Set's appearance is either red (reddish) skin or red hair. So I try to have either in my current images of Set.
From Ritner, "Mechanics of..." (Page 147)
From his footnotes on this page:
"Compare Pap. MMA 35.9.21, col. 29/9-10:"Back, Seth, haughty, red haired, ruddy complexioned" (--), in Goyon 1975, p. 381. Underworld demons are similarly qualified as 'red one', 'red-eyed', and even 'with red eyelashes'; se BD spells 145p, -S; 146p; 148, -S2-3, and Pleyte 166, S 2 in Allen 1974, pp. 132, 135, 139, and 215; Fairman 1974, p. 94; and Erichsen 1954a, p. 658. For red-haired men as 'Sethian', see Gardiner 1935, vol.1, pp; 10 and 20-21."

I have another version of Set and Apep, following the traditional model.
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Returning to this version, as I look at this image, there is another view I can view it, in which "Force meets Receptivity and creation arises from whence there was nothingness."

Herein is the after sight, the hidden meaning to this piece. I have given the traditional meaning, and here is what comes to me after creation. The mounted snake could be receiving quite another treatment! There arises another parable out of this. The boat represents he who would make of himself a vessel to carry Set. The Snake represents the feminine Mysteries within ourselves, which are not providence only of females.
In receptivity to Set's dark powers, the Snake opens herself to Him. From a sacred act of Union, creation occurs. The Snake is not purging herself of something She swallowed, but is giving birth, at least to a burst of energy which can be channeled towards creation.
In the forcefulness of creation, the Heat of the Dark Power knows manifestation. Force meets Receptivity and creation arises from whence there was nothingness.

note of August 13, 2004:
When I was researching Ophism, the Bacchic mysticism tempered with a rigorous ascetism, I learned this fascinating creation story:

It is this time the GREEK Thunder God, rather than the Egyptian Thunder God in the active role.

"The Dionysian creation myth formed the basis of all Orphic initiation. According to this story, which is supposed to go back to Orpheus himself, Dionysus (also called in this context Zagreus) was originally born when Zeus mated with his daughter Persephone in the shape of a snake. As the Orphic Hymn to Dionysus reads:
'You demigod immortal, born of the coupling Of Zeus and Persephone, too dark to whisper!' (30.6-7)"

note of August 28, 2004:
I have learned the Egyptian Goddess NUT, Mother of all the gods, gives birth to the sun daily. The sun rides in the 'Solar Barque' across Nut's star covered belly, which is a great cosmic ocean. Then as evening falls, Nut swallows the sun, thereby creating darkness.

So in that mythos, NUT swallows the sun. Now in the before mentioned mythos, APEP swallows the sun, which is some discrepancy. But these tales evolved and in different regions, evolved in differing ways. Perhaps the original was a pairing of SET, Power, with NUT, First Mystery, to bring about all the worlds. This is as it plays in my mind.

To further complicate matters, the Egyptian Goddess Heket,pictured as a frog, or a frog-headed woman, has also been given a role in creation. She is a midwife, assisting at the daily birth of the sun. An earlier Theogony made greater claims for her, saying that with Shu as husband she gave birth to the gods. However, this goddess of antiquity never ellicited a cult, and hence her role was understood to be that of NUT's.

Close up detail of Set