The meditator is led on a guided passageway to the throne of Set. He is supposed to be covered with a veil, and the meditator is given the challenge of whether or not she will 'lift the veil'. I thought I'd give this a try to see what happened. I figured, being Set is said to be a 'God of Chaos' unpredictable things could happen.

The writer of the meditation is fairly spooked, at any rate. She advises 'caution'.

So I traverse the passageways and come to a rather dark open room, illuminated only by a few candles. The writer said they were red. I see them as white. Set is not wearing any veil. His head is bowed and he appears to be sleeping. I look in front of his feet, and there a veil lies, crumpled on the floor. The writer said it was black. I see it as red.

Set wakes up and looks at me with large penetrating eyes and smiles, ''Can I reveal the secrets of the Universe today?''

I feel my eyes grow large, but I venture, ''I understand that's more HEKATE's job!''

Set looks far-off, and perhaps remembering something, smiles, ''Ah, yes, Hekate. Good woman. I like that Lady.''

He then returns his gaze to me, smiling a broad smile revealing fang teeth, ''Can I reveal anything else, then?''

I take a deep breathe, clear my throat and declare, ''Yes, I have a few questions.''

Set looks eager. The room crackles with energy. I am in the presence of the most intense energy I have ever felt.

Feeling my mind almost blank out, I ask the first thing that comes to me, ''What do you think of the meditation 'Piercing the Veil of Set'?'' He smiles so broad he almost laughs, reaches down to grab the red chiffon veil, waves it in the air a few times and declares loudly:

''I DON'T NEED NO STEENKING VEIL!!''

He laughs, revealing fang teeth again, and softens his voice, ''But at least they're trying . . .''

I smile, too, and quickly ask, ''What will they get when they do this meditation?'' Set pauses a bit, and then answers, ''That depends on each of them. My energies are perceived through the screen of the individual person and so will be different for each.''

A streak of inspiration hits me, ''Could THAT be the real veil? Or is it a veil over a veil? Puzzles within puzzles within puzzles . . .''

Set looks confused, ''Ya lost me there. My mind started to wander. Kin we start over?''

I clear my throat and proceed, ''The VEIL, is it that screen of the individual person?''

''No, that's a different thing altogether. They're scared to look, so they toss me a veil!''

I burst out, ''Do you wear it?''

Set smiles, ''Hmm, that probably depends on each individual's screen. Do you think I need a veil?''

Set plays with the red chiffon veil, places it around his neck, and then removes it with distain, ''Nah! This ain't me. This is for that fop Lucifer. HE"D like it. Er maybe, he would say it hides his radiance too much . . .''

He then tosses the veil several feet across the room.

I then read outloud the description of Set's appearance in the book: ''cornrow braids fall down his back . . .''

Set ponders the cornrows, ''Cornrows? I like cornrows.'' I can almost see his mental image of lots of thin little braids. Then he blurts out, ''Corn? CORN? Hmmm, that's somebody we don't like's speciality. You know, that certain pesky agricultural God who overstepped his bounds. Nah! Skip the cornrows. I'll just leave this stuff to its natural'wild and wooly' state!'' He then pulls out a strand of his hair. It's definitely got that nappy thing going for it.

I quickly think of another question, ''The images of you all show you with a sort of donkey head. You have a human head. Why do the image-makers do that?''

Set smiles again, and again those ferocious fangs show, ''Shapeshifter, I is. No, I won't transform for you. That lovely beast could be extinct by now. Extremely fast animal, runs fast for hours. It's a nice way to travel. Speed, I like speed.''

I, trying to envision the metamorphosis, ask, ''How does that magic happen?''

Set flashes his eyes fiercely, and I know I must not press the issue. He booms, ''Magic just IS.'' And says no more, but tosses a small bolt of lighting into the air between us.

I am startled, but still have the presence of mind to think of a new topic, ''What about all the things that are said of you?''

''Lies, lies, lies . . . Well SOME of them are lies . . . I didn't do ____, and I certainly didn't do _____. And I most certainly didn't end up like poor Attis . . .''''

I remember the tussle with Horus, in which Set pulls out Horus' eye, and Horus grabs Set's 'set'. With that, he reaches to the opening of his garment. I blurt out, ''No, that's not necessary, I believe you . . .'' But before the sentence is out, Set's 'set' is out, briefly, and I see for myself that all body parts were returned to their original owners.

I try take a breath, for I was knocked hard breathless, and repeated, ''I believed you, I really did!''

Set just laughs. This God laughs a lot. It's not a mean laugh, just loud and roaring. After the last revelation, I am speechless. I can think of nothing else to say.

The room is silent for a few minutes. I look again at the flickering candles beside Set, and look again at his face:

Everything grows cloudy and gray before me, and then clarifies into the familiar objects of our living room.

Here is some research proving certain claims and other comments.

The following is from a post on ShemsuSet offered as proof for Set still having his 'set':

Most of us who have done any research into Egyptian deities are familiar with the story of the Contendings between Hrw (Horus) and Stkh (Set)- in which Stkh rips out the eyes of Hrw and Hrw tears off the testicles of Stkh. Hrw's eyes are then healed by Djhwty (Thoth), but I have heard that this injury by Hrw rendered Stkh infertile. It is also said that this infertility is what drove Nbt~Ht to seduce Wsyr (Osirus), in order to conceive a child. However, from what I read last night this is not the case (at least according to one version of the tale ^_~).

It seems that Djhwty also healed the injury of Stkh, using a combination of "the spittle of the Earth-God, and blood from Geb's marrow." Spittle was a common carrier of magical charges in AE magic- coming from a ntjr it carried with it that ntjr's divine essence, and coming from a human it could be charged by the heka of a spell's spoken word. Spittle carried both positive and negative charges and connotations. It could bring healing and purification, as in this quote from the Pyramid texts:

"O ... see the purification of my father this king as one purified with zmn(?) and with natron, the saliva which issued from the mouth of Hrw, the spittle which issued from the mouth of Stkh, wherewith Hrw is purified, wherewith the evil which was on Him, which Stkh did against Him, is cast out on the ground; wherewith Stkh is purified, wherewith the evil which was on Him, which Hrw did against Him, is cast out on the ground..."

(Banu, Journal of a Modern Kemetic ((http://www.livejournal.com/users/fyrekat/)) who says ''This information, and quotes, came from Robert Ritner's book, The Mechanics of Ancient Egyptian Magical Practice.''

*   *   *

(Note of October 21, 2004)
I can offer more proof regarding Thoth's role in healing both Set and Horus. In TeVelde's Seth, God of Confusion, the lector-priest speaking as Thoth (Djhwty) "who reconciles the gods" declares:

The distress that causes confusion, has been driven away, and all the gods are in harmony.
I have given Horus his eye, placed the wadjet-eye in the correct position.
I have given Seth his testicles, so that the two lords are content through the work of my hands. (page 50)

TeVelde shows how these testicles are symbolic of so much more. He quotes "Griffiths [who] calls the testicles "a symbol of power". The supposed castration would mean "a loss of sovereignty" (page 53). He further explains:

"The testicles of Seth represent the savage, elementary, yet un-differentiated urges which require to be shaped and integrated before they can be truly fruitful. Kerenyi said in another connection: "Disorder belongs to the totality of life, and the spirit of this disorder is the trickster. His function ... is is add disorder to order and so make a whole, to render possible, within the fixed bounds of what is permitted, an experience of what is not permitted."(page 56)

Of course, many women will say that of the testicles of ANY man!

*   *   *

As for Set's appearance, there's just a whole lot of disagreement out there. I've seen all three claimed, red skin, black skin and white skin. And possibly good ol' Egyptian brownish, too. I've seen either black or red hair declared. The eyes have been described as red, green, or possibly even black? Maybe it all depends on how He looks to YOU, and the various ancients who wrote of him each had their own picture. I tend to visualize either black or auburn hair, nappy in either case, big black eyes and brownish skin. (But I left my drawing in black and white, so any combination can be imagined.)

note of February 4, 2006
The most conclusive thing I've seen regarding Set's appearance is either red 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."

Also, see the Naqada stele, Set_Naqada_Stele.jpg, and my restoration of it:

quite clearly, red skinned...

*   *   *

As for the SPEED of the 'Set-animal', that's just possibly not entirely my own imagining. It makes sense to me on an intuitional level. But in addition, many of the most ancient images of him show him with a rather greyhound shaped torso. The greyhound is noted for its great speed.

note of February 4, 2006
Doesn't this lovely animal look sleek and fast to you?

created from photo of Set animal in Senwosret I's Chapel now in the Open Air Museum.

*   *   *

Now, would a dignified Deity spread his skirts like Set did, or is this just an example of 'Big Bad Boy' behaviour? This isn't the first incidence of this. Sacred Source offers a 'Isis as Baubo' Hellenistic statue from Alexandria, Egypt, 2nd century BCE. The Baubo gesture is given by none other than Isis, Set's own Sister! She wears a full-length gown, ceremonial headdress and tranquil smile as she lifts her skirts to say ''We are the life-givers! It is our vulvas, our wombs, that are the center. Never forget that!'' And Set seems to be saying, ''Never forget it is I who empowers that capacity for birth and regeneration!''

Okay, He didn't show this concerning Isis' favorite, Osiris, certainly. But power can be used for all sorts of objectives, for both creation and destruction. And as the cycle revolves, some destruction is necessary. The Egyptian God of Death had to die, and it merely fell to Set the job of making that so. Returning us to the present, it's up to the channeller of that power, US, to determine where it goes and to what end, and that it uphold Ma'at to his best determining. 'Ma'at' the concept, means balance and right action. An Egyptian deity who possesses the weighing feather is the personification.

For my imaginings of the meditation, there's reasons why I didn't see the candles as 'red'. Red represents 'danger' to me. Light to me is never 'dangerous', as its only purpose is to reveal truth. Therefore, all devices of the 'lightbearers' are never red in my mind. On the other hand, those who are timid to approach Set see big warning signs all around him, so the veil, which the writer declares 'black', is RED to me.

(Note of February 19, 2005)
With my current understanding, I see Nuit, the Mother of the Gods, as my 'Mother'. This keeps it all in the Egyptian family. One of Set's titles is 'Son of Nuit'. He was known in Ancient Egypt just by that title alone.

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