The Hours of Isis

By Evelyn Eaton

The Hours of Isis was Evelyn Eaton’s third published book, and the first that was not a collection of poetry. It reflects the author’s mystical vision, rather than a strictly accurate representation of the legend of Isis, Osiris and Horus. Many of the themes in The Hours of Isis (the search for love, the spiritual light, the understanding of the divine) recur in Evelyn Eaton’s later works. This serves as an introduction to the author as well as an introduction to the legend.

Most of the original illustrations are included. As in the original, some are in black and white and some are in color.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Marte Brengle
• Release date: Jan 18, 2013
• ISBN: 9780982928073

Book preview

Foreword

"They who tell this Rosary

Shall its inner meaning see."

In this book, intended as a door for those to enter who find magic in the name of Isis and desire to understand further what the god¬dess and her mysteries symbolize, it has been my aim, not to relate the many ramifications of the legend from the point of view of an Egyptologist, but rather to make the goddess live anew in a series of pictures, of attitudes, of moments detached from the whole and presented to us with their symbolical meaning.

For this purpose, while I have adhered as closely as possible to the legend, I have been obliged to omit parts of it, and to draw on my imagination for the death of Isis, in order to bring the whole to an harmonious close.

Where there are important variations in the different versions of the legend, I have chosen those which seem least confusing, giving the essential points of difference in the appendix.

Each hour is roughly divided into three parts: the legend of Isis, its interpretation, and its connection with the soul, with us.

I am greatly indebted to Sir Ernest Wallis Budge for permission to reproduce illustrations from Gods of the Egyptians and two hymns from the Book of the Dead. I also thank Mr. Mario Meunier for permission to quote passages from his translation of Plutarch's Essay on Isis and Osiris.

Note: Isis throughout should be pronounced Eesis.

For a summary of the Legend of Isis see Appendix. Editor’s Note: The footnotes are found in the Appendix as well.

Nov. 1, 1928. E. EATON.

Isis at Dawn

OR

Isis at the First Hour

Faint stir runs among the reeds of the river bed. The Bennu bird sleepily lifts its wings. Who should know, if not the favourite of Isis, that her approach is near? Not yet do the lotus flowers, emblem of the soul, beloved of Isis, plucked and carried in her hand, raise themselves from their patiently endured tomb in the mud of the Nile. Not yet do the flowers of humanity show themselves above the slow-moving mass. The light that shall reveal them is not yet. The divine sparks, dispersed, remain submerged in the darkness of the whole.

The spirit of anticipation reigns. Isis comes. The darkness takes another form, as of a veil, lifting silently before the feet of the goddess, lover of Osiris, receiver of the light that shines within, she who symbolizes the unchanging feminine element of the universe. Osiris, the Creator Spirit, dispersed in a thousand fragments through time and space, is gathered into a living whole in the bosom of the Sadly-smiling, where he lives and is reflected to the world.

Isis comes. At her coming the lotus flowers begin their journey upward towards the light that she has risen to adore, and whose reflection is already present with her presence. The souls of men rise slowly from their bed of material darkness. We shall spread our leaves in worship presently.

The Island of Mimosa, the island of the end!¹ Its frail groups of palm trees, its flowers of stone, the temple of its peace, arise in front of us. To it the pilgrims of antiquity came to worship Isis, to be instructed