The Hourly Vigil of Osiris: The 24-hour Osiris Mysteries Vigil of Khoiak

By Tamara L. Siuda

The Mysteries of Osiris (or Sokar-Osiris, as they were more anciently known) was one of the most important national festivals of ancient Egypt. In this major festival celebrated at the close of the first season, the myths around the death of the god Osiris and his ascension not to rebirth, but to the kingship of the blessed dead in the underworld or afterlife called Duat, were reenacted over a series of public and private ceremonies held throughout ancient Egypt. The high point of these ceremonies was the Night of Sleep, the day when a complex, 24-hour temple vigil was enacted by multiple priests and two women playing the parts of the goddesses Isis and Nephthys as a formal re-enactment of the Osirian funeral rites.

In The Hourly Vigil of Osiris, Tamara L. Siuda provides the first full modern English translation of the entire 24-hour vigil of the Osiris Mysteries liturgy, from original Egyptian hieroglyphic texts.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Nov 23, 2017
• ISBN: 9781387390717

Book preview

The Hourly Vigil of Osiris: The 24-hour Osiris Mysteries Vigil of Khoiak

The Hourly Vigil of Osiris

The 24-hour Osiris Mysteries Vigil of Khoiak

Tamara L. Siuda

Copyright ©2011-2017 by Tamara L. Siuda.

All rights reserved.

For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, or to inquire about review copies, write to the author in care of Stargazer Design, 3439 NE Sandy Blvd, Suite 692, Portland, OR 97232 USA.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

ISBN 978-1-387-39071-7 Ebook version

ISBN 978-1-387-39067-0 print version

Printed in the United States of America

Cover and title page image: Osiris and Isis from a frieze in the temple of Osiris at Abydos, Egypt. Photo copyright ©2007, Tamara L. Siuda.

Table of Contents

Preface

Introduction

Daytime Vigil

First Hour

Second Hour

Third Hour

Fourth Hour

Fifth Hour

Sixth Hour

Seventh Hour

Eighth Hour

Ninth Hour

Tenth Hour

Eleventh Hour

Twelfth Hour

Nighttime Vigil

First Hour

Second Hour

Third Hour

Fourth Hour

Fifth Hour

Sixth Hour

Seventh Hour

Eighth Hour

Ninth Hour

Tenth Hour

Eleventh Hour

Twelfth Hour

Bibliography and Works Cited

About the Author

Preface

Back in the mid 1990s, and right before I entered graduate school for my master’s degree in Egyptology at the University of Chicago, I started collecting source material on ancient Egyptian holidays, with the intention of making a festival calendar we could use in the temple of the Kemetic Orthodox Religion I founded in 1987. During this period, I researched the very famous Mysteries of Osiris, the second most popular/holy festival of antiquity and one whose celebration persisted even into Roman times in Egypt. Over more than a decade, I filed away materials related to the many rites and ceremonies that made up its celebration.

Many years later, I was gifted with a book that collated the special rites of the hourly ritual for the central part of the Osiris Mysteries, by one of our German priests. (Vielen Dank, Tanebet!) Not only did this book contain a decent translation of the ritual in German, but it contained a transcription of the original hieroglyphs, enabling me to read the ritual for myself in its original language. For a long time I had intended to translate the full rite into English so that we could use it in our ceremonies, but school and life interfered and I only succeeded in completing a small portion of the work. Occasionally, when looking for past projects to finish up, I’d take the book and the translations out again and work on it some more. This year, with the support and assistance of generous patrons on the Patreon website (www.patreon.com/tsiuda) I had the time not only to complete my translations and check them, but to typeset them for publication, so they can now be made available in English for anyone who wishes to read them.

Even if this is not your religion, the meditations contained in these liturgical pieces are beautiful. To ponder the mysteries of life and death and rebirth and renewal is human, and as old as human civilization. The Mysteries of Osiris continue to live in our world, at this time and all times, and it is in that spirit of renewal that I present this translation to the world. May the story of Osiris and His enthronement as the king of the Dead-Who-Live bring all of my readers inspiration and peace.

Tamara L. Siuda

Year 25, IV Akhet 20

(November 22, 2017CE)

This booklet is dedicated with love to my father, the Osiris Greg Siuda (1949-2012), shining as gold in the vault of Nut.

Introduction

The Hourly Ritual for the Mysteries of Osiris in this book is translated directly out of hieroglyphic transcripts provided by the Egyptologist Hermann Junker in his 1910 work entitled Die Stundenwachen in den Osirismysterien.

The Mysteries of Osiris are a multi-day ceremony/ritual celebration that in antiquity began on IV Akhet 18, today corresponding roughly to the end of Gregorian November. Theban Tomb 50 (TT50) contains a New Kingdom inscription that notes