Creation cycles
Source:
Book: The Sacred
magic of Ancient Egypt Author: Rosemary
Clark Chapter: The
legacy of Ancient Egypt
Section: The worlds of Creation
Review of Book: ---------------------------------------------------------------
I was looking for a book that is different and I found it . It has a fresh outlook on the issues of the Ancient Egyptian Faith and magical paths. he Material is well written and I enjoyed and in the first few chapters I learnt much from this book. It also give you and understanding of the nature and elemental aspect of all creation. As life consists of elements this method of thought was more acceptable to me then the political views of creation that existed throughout the centuries. This book took me deep into the heart of this path and how to worship and do rituals. If you are looking for something different I really would advise this book to all who walk the Ancient Egyptian Pagan (kemet/reconstruction/etc) path to buy it.
In the Egyptian universe, the cosmogenesis was not
defined by one episode. Rather, it was
seen as a cyclic process in rhythmic phases, where four dimensions exist,
interpenetrate, and interact through time and space.
In the first phase, the world of Manu (“horizons
of waters") comes into being as the macrocosm or celestial sphere,
from which the elements of creation emerge. Its image is a watery mass of
undefined powers, where all possibilities are articulated, but not manifest. 
In the second phase, the world
ofAakhut (“luminous horizon") appears, in the fiery form of
light that illuminates the primeval waters and impels patterns or forms to come
into being. 
In the third phase, the world of Rostau ("horizon of spirits")
comes into being, symbolized as a mound upon which the forces of the upper
worlds come to rest. This phase expresses the containment of the sacred fire in
matter, the genesis of material life in microcosmic form. 
The last phase of creation, the world of Ament
('horizon of the west") represents the phenomenal world the experience,
where cyclic forces govern the conditions of existence-birth and death. Here,
the return to the upper worlds becomes possible, as this realm expresses the fulfilment
of the creative forces as well as their predestination for cyclic renewal. This
world also possesses the mechanisms for the mutation of the physical form,
which make possible the conscious experience of moving through several phases
of existence. 
The
four creative realms embody the elemental forms of the ancient universe: Water
(Manu), Fire (Aakhut), Earth (Rostau), and Air (Ament). As such, they do not
represent conflicting or alternate themes of the cosmogenesis, but stages of
manifest reality that exist interdependently. Each world possesses a creator
who proliferates particular functions that interact with the others, and each
has an equally significant influence on the world of human life. 
In
these four worlds of creation, the Egyptians saw certain universal functions
come into being as divinities, the Neteru (gods"
or "divine principles," the Neter
being the individual deity of a place or action).2 The Neteru
represent universal forces that organize and maintain the life of creation.
They also perform specific functions both in their natural realms and in the
world that we experience. Hence, families of gods are depicted who govern
processes in nature, in the human body, and in the phenomena of the sky-much of
which brought confusion to many observers of Egyptian culture in ancient
times. But each group of divinities conveys a comprehensive view of a reality
that has both cosmological and mundane wisdom.
The
principles that each creative family represents were articulated in distinctive
philosophical schools that possessed unique imagery and temple traditions in ancient
Egypt. The cosmogony of Hermopolis in Middle Egypt was one of the earliest,
expressing the creative powers in the
world of Manu as an ogdoad, or group of eight divinities (Nun and Naunet, Huh and
Hauhet, Kuk and Kauket, Maat and Djehuti) who bring the elemental forms of life
into being. Here, the creator is Nun, the primeval waters, who brings forth
life from the darkness by stirring and speaking the creative utterance.
Another group of divine powers, the Solar Triad (Ra, Khepri, and Sopdet), stems
from archaic times. It is associated with the world of Manu by its imagery of
creative beings in barques that cross the primeval ocean cyclically. These
powers circulate the elemental forms of life through the universal landscape in
epochs of time. In this family, the creator is Ra, the Sun god, who precipitates
life via light or illumination into the dark waters of Nun.
The world of Aakhut is represented by the triad of Memphis (Prah, SekhmetBast,
and Nefertum) where the creator is Ptah, the artificer who fabricates life
forms through thought. In this world also operates the triad of Esna (Khnum,
Neit, and Heka), who fuse the light of creation to these thought forms, evoking
the patterns of life that come into being in the material world. The creatrix
of this family is Neit, the androgynous "mother-father" of the gods
who infuses elemental substance with vitality. Of Khnum, he is depicted as the
"fashioner" of the material form, and his powers extend from the
immaterial world of fire into the visible realms:
He fashioned mankind and engendered the gods,
All live by that which emanates from him .
. . . his manifestations are hidden among people,
They constitute all beings, since the time of the gods.
-Temple of Khnum, Ptolemaic Dynasty
The world of Rostau represents the organic world of creation, where the ennead (group of nine) of Heliopolis govern the processes of
physical manifestation (Atum, Shu and Tefnut, Nut and Geb, Asar and Auset, Set
and Nebt-Het). Arum is the creator who proliferates by spitting or ejaculating
to bring forth his divine progeny. They are followed by the triad of Dendera,
which rouses the creative powers within the manifest form (Het-Her, Hem, and
Thy). They are completed by the Funerary Quaternary (Imset, Daumutef, Qebsenuf,
and Haapi), which transmits the creative impulse from one form to another.
And in the world of Ament, the triad of Thebes governs the processes that
mature and complete physical life (Amun, Mut, and Khons). The head in this
realm is Amun, the invisible breath of creation. They share their functions
with the Initiatory Triad (Hem Ur, Sokar, and Anpu), who refine the cosmic
elements in the corporeal body, and the Cyclic Triad (Taurt, Hapi, and Apep),
which brings completion to periodic processes and renewal in new realms.
Altogether,
the four worlds of creation are constituted by ten families of Netem, who
represent the principles of creative manifestation and embody the functions of
the phenomenal world. Forty-two divinities inhabit this landscape, and express
the mystic forces of Egypt's religious pantheon.
Within
this cosmological scheme is found the mandate of Egyptian spirituality – the unity
of life in interpenetrating worlds and its inevitable renewal. And while it was understood that these
processes were natural events, the means of achieving these aims consciously
and progressively comprised the legendary wisdom that has been sought through
the ages.
