We all know the stories about the gods of the Ancient Egyptian pantheon so I will not repeat them here. I will address Egyptian Paganism on a more esoteric level.

Religion guided every aspect of Egyptian life. Egyptian religion was based on polytheism, or the worship of many deities, except for during the reign of Akenaton. He did away with the polytheistic system in favour of a monotheistic system worshipping the sun god Amun Ra. Following Akenaton’s death, his son Tutankhamun restored polytheism to Egypt.The Egyptians had as many as 2000 gods and goddesses.

Often gods and goddesses were represented as part human and part animal.

The priest’s duty was to care for the gods and attend to their needs. The priests had many duties such as funeral rites, teaching school, supervising the artists and works, and advising people on problems.

The Egyptians saw death as a transitional stage in the progress to a better life in the next world. They believed they could only reach their full potential after death. Each person was thought to have three souls, the "ka," the "ba," and the "akh." For these to function properly, it was considered essential for the body to survive intact. The entire civilization of Ancient Egypt was based on religion, and their beliefs were important to them. Their belief in the rebirth after death became their driving force behind their funeral practices.

When a person died, the priests recited prayers and a final attempt was made to revive the deceased. The body was then washed and purified in a special shelter called an ibu. The body was then taken the wabet, which was the embalmer's workshop. A cut was made in the left side, and all the organs were removed and stored in containers known as canopic jars. The body was then packed with a salt called natron for a period of forty days. After the forty days had passed, the insides were filled with linen or sawdust, myrrh and natron. The body was wrapped in bandages with jewelry and amulets between the layers. A portrait mask was placed over the head of the deceased by the Chief Embalmer, who wore a jackal mask to represent Anubis. The wrapped body, or mummy, was put into a coffin.

After a period of about 70 days, in which the mummification process took place, the mummy was placed in a decorated coffin. Furniture, carved statues, games, food, and other items useful to the next life were prepared to be buried with the mummy. The last ritual performed by the priest on the mummy was called the "Opening of the Mouth." This ceremony was to magically give the deceased the ability to speak and eat again, and to have full use of his body. After placing the mummy in the sarcophagus, the tomb was sealed.

The three parts of the wisdom of the whole universe are:

Alchemy - The Operation of the Sun - is not simply the changing of physical lead into physical gold. It is an investigation into the spiritual constitution, or life of matter and material existence through an application of the mysteries of birth, death and resurrection. The various stages of chemical distillation and fermentation among them, are aspects of these mysteries, that, when applied quicken Nature's processes in order to bring a natural body to perfection. This perfection is known as the "Great Work".

Astrology - The Operation of the Moon - Hermes claims that Zoroaster discovered this part of the wisdom of the whole universe, astrology, and taught it to man. In Hermetic thought, it is likely that the movements of the planets have meaning beyond the laws of physics and actually holding metaphorical value as symbols in the mind of The All, or God. Astrology has influences upon the Earth, but does not dictate our actions, and wisdom is gained when we know what these influences are and how to deal with them.

Theurgy - The Operation of the Stars - There are two different types of magic, completely opposite of one another. The first is the Goetia , magic reliant upon an alliance with dark angels. The second is Theurgy, divine magick reliant upon an alliance with divine spirits angels, archangels and gods.

Theurgy translates to "The Science or art of Divine Works" and is the practical aspect of the Hermetic art of alchemy. Furthermore, alchemy is seen as the "key" to Theurgy, the ultimate goal of which is to become united with higher counterparts, leading to the attainment of Divine Consciousness.

These words circulate throughout occult and magical circles, and they come from Hermetic texts. The concept was first laid out in The Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus, in the words "That which is Below corresponds to that which is Above, and that which is Above, corresponds to that which is Below, to accomplish the miracles of the One Thing".

In accordance with the various levels of reality - physical, mental, and spiritual, this relates that what happens on any level happens on every other. This is however more often used in the sense of the microcosm is oneself and macrocosm is the universe. The macrocosm is as the microcosm, and vice versa; within each lies the other, and through understanding one (usually the microcosm) you can understand the other.

The Hermetica—or the collection of mystical teachings that form the basis of Hermeticism—was traditionally attributed to Hermes Trismegistus: "thrice-greatest Hermes", the Egyptian god Thoth, who was known as Mercury by the Romans and as Hermes from the time of Herodotus onwards. A distinction was made between the Greek Hermes and this earlier and quite different god by adding Trismegistus to the latter. In fact, many appellations were used by writers: "great-great" on the Rosetta Stone and other Egyptian texts and "five times great" in Ptolemaic times. At some stage the Greeks settled on "thrice greatest", possibly as a translation of "very great-great".

Also called the "scribe of the gods", Hermes was taken to be the inventor of writing. Texts that covered religion and philosophy were said to be due to him, as well as those on magic, alchemy and astrology. It is the former that make up Hermeticism, however; the latter have nothing more in common with them than their being credited to Hermes. Nevertheless, it was common practice to ascribe a text to Trismegistus in order to give it more credibility.

LVX - Allison