the FEMALE PRINCIPLE and GENDER
in ancient Egypt
RA created almost every living creature as either MALE or FEMALE, and on the physical level, the determining factor is most clearly revealed in their genitals. The two basically hold the same shape, only one in the positive, and one in the negative form, since they were designed to fit together perfectly.
For humans, gender defines us as men and women, but sacred art focuses on the metaphysical level, which looks at the abstract causes and principles that lie behind the physical realm.
When RA created the neters or Cosmic Laws, he determined each one as either a MALE or FEMALE PRINCIPLE. Now, the gender connection is important because the most powerful natural energy we have is sexual energy, and that’s what we’re speaking about here with the neters – they are energetic principles.
TEMPLE TEACHING
In the Temple teaching, the hidden meaning of the FEMALE PRINCIPLE is that which contains and the MALE PRINCIPLE, that which is contained. It has nothing to do with being a man or woman on the physical level.
And what is the Temple Teaching? Well the Temple Teaching is based on the understanding of the neters, and how to use and manipulate those energies to suit your own purposes.
The Temple Teaching fully endorses the words written on the emerald tablet: as above so below, and as below so above. And the genius of this teaching lies in using familiar things from the physical realm to explain otherwise unfathomable phenomena in the metaphysical.
I already explained this in relation to how the genitals reveal the concept of that which contains, and how sexual energy is the most powerful natural force we have as humans. Yet further, at the climax of their union, not only is the male member completely contained within the female, but his seed – his greatest creative potential, is released into the female who then contains it also. Now, apply that to the metaphysical realm and try to understand just what the female principle entails.
GENDER
The Egyptian Creation Myths speak exclusively about the revelation of Cosmic Laws – which are the principles that cause the physical realm to come into being. And with the neters, the great sages added a symbol to the ending of each female neters’ name to make this distinction completely clear.
For English speakers this may seem a little confusing, but in many other languages every noun is classified as either male or female, yet on ground level, a cat can still be male or female!
RA often created the neters in pairs as twins Very few neters were created as individual entities, like NU, ATUM, NEITH and MAAT, yet each of these still operate as a male or female principle. Hapi, who is sometimes called androgynous, is clearly a male principle, the sagging breast he supports being a purely symbolic device of just how long he has been nourishing and supporting Egypt. And although not written with the determinative, NU perfectly embodies the principle of that which contains.
ROLES
In the Temple Teaching, many of the stereotyped ideas we associate with male and female are reversed. For example, in numerology, the odd numbers are female and the even ones male; and what we think of as mother earth is a male principle, Geb. In general, the female principles are much more active than the male; remember how Isis conceived a child from Osiris after he was dead. And in the animal kingdom the lioness is a much more fierce hunter than the lion.
SEKHMET, HATSHEPSUT & AKHENATEN
I’m sure many of you are wondering where Sekhmet fits in to all this, and of course, what about the highly controversial Hatshepsut and Akhenaten??? Well, I’ll be covering each of them in separate presentations, however Sekhmet’s name means she who holds all power, and even without my translation I think most of you already knew that intuitively.
And Hatshepsut and Akhenaten definitely enter this discussion since both played extraordinary and totally unique roles, plus they also highlight the difference between male and female on the physical and metaphysical levels. They both embodied the Royal Principle, which acts as a bridge or intermediary between the physical and metaphysical realms, that is, humans operating with all the powers of the neters. And in moving from the role of Queen to King, Hatshepsut effectively became both that which contains AND that which is contained. which is an extremely rare achievement.
Akhenaten is a completely different story, but staying with our theme of the female principle, as King he portrayed himself with many attributes of this principle. Again it had nothing to do with him as a man on the physical level, yet part of his mission was to close the cycle of energetic changes that Hatshepsut had begun, and he had to make radical moves to accomplish this. The sacred art created during his reign reveals a vivid sensuality quite different from what had gone before it, and expresses an almost psychedelic version of what it means to be a neter!
MEN & WOMEN
Each of the neters is a perfect embodiment of either the male or female principles. I also wish to make it clear that the female principle is totally unrelated to the new-
Well I hope today’s video shed more light on the meaning of the female principle, and regardless of whether you’re a man or a woman, the PRINCIPLES of both are operating within you, and the neters exist to serve and remind you of just that.
Click on the link below to watch the video
