The Stele of Jeu : Part 2 A Supplication to the Divine Light by Whatever Name

The Stele of Jeu Part 2: A Supplication to the Divine Light by Whatever Name

Akephalos : The God Whose Head is the Sun

The “Headless One” (Akephalos  Ακεφαλς) is the subject of evocation in the Stele of Jeu (Greek Magical Papyri  V 96-172).  Notes within the English translation of the Greek Magical Papyri, edited by Hans Dieter Betz,¹ tell the reader that Akephalos refers to an old Egyptian deity that later became popular in Hellenic Egypt wherein it was associated with Osiris. John Colman Darnell, however, tells us in The Enigmatic Netherworld Books of the Solar-Osirian Unity, which deciphers hieroglyphic content from the tombs of Tutankhamun, Ramesses VI, and Ramesses IX,  that Akephalos refers to a Greco-Roman deity associated with (ie, regarded as a cognate of) Osiris in the form of—not a mummified god of the underworld—but a solar deity (Ra-Osiris).² The author provides consensus evidence, based on archaeological finds and Egyptology research, that the head of the headless form of Osiris is the sun and that the solar Osiris is one with Ra. The of concept of a solar/progenitor Osiris is affirmed in another scholarly text, which also points out that (and how) the Stele of Jeu associates Ra-Osiris (as Akephalos) with the god of the Hebrews.³ The author also points out that the term Akephalos is associated with the Egyptian god Bes in two other sections of the Greek Magical Papyri.  Bes is a beneficent solar deity.

 Lines within the Stele of Jeu, while referring to epithets of both Osiris and Yahweh, also may point to Ra. For example:

You who created the Earth and the Heavens (Geb and Nut—technically Ra’s grandchildren by Shu and Tefnut),

. . .

You have made the Female (Tefnut) and the Male (Shu).

. . .

You have produced the Moist (Tefnut—goddess of moisture) and the Dry (Shu—god of air) and that which nourishes all life.

 

Also, just as the orator in the Stele of Jeu ultimately identifies with the supreme progenitor solar deity, so too do souls who successfully traverse the underworld become Ra in Egyptian afterlife spirituality.⁴ Just as Osiris becomes self-realized as Ra, so too does the worthy soul.

Reference to Phanes, an Orphic solar deity/First Cause that personifies the Light of Creation and is associated with Eros (Life Force) and Aion (Eternal Cyclical Time), also may be read into the last lines of the Stele of Jeu, which say: “I am the Grace of Aion. My name is a heart encircled by a serpent.”  Phanes, according to the ancient Greek historian Diodorus (90 BCE- 30 CE), was identified as a cognate of Osiris among the Orphics, and the neoplatonic apologist Proclus (412-485) identified Phanes with Dionysus, who was generally regarded in the ancient world as a cognate of Osiris.⁵

Although Akephalon is assumed, in occult circles, to refer to Osiris, it may sort of refer to God as the supreme Divine Light, known by different names in different cultures and most familiar to Egyptians as Atum or Amun-Ra. The Stele of Jeu calls the deity Osoronophris (“Beautiful Osiris”) and Iabas and Iapos (Samaritan names for Yahweh)⁶ and also uses Hebraic godnames and anagrams within the strings of “barbarous terms” within the text (eg, Iao and Sabaoth). The Late Classical Era Gnostic deity Abrasax is thrown into the mix as is Aion and presumably Phanes. These names might all be being used in a syncretistic way as epithets for one redemptive/restorative and supreme divine principle.

The Truth is One. The wise know it goes by various names. Rg Veda I.64.46

copyright Dee Rapposelli Pink Lotus, Digital Photograph http://www.deerapposelli.com

Next: Qabalist  influences, encryption, and isopsephia in the Stele of Jeu

References

1. Hans Dieter Betz, ed. The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation Including the Demotic Spells. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986, p 335.

2. Coleman Darnel, John. The Enigmatic Netherworld Books of the Solar-Osirian Unity: Cryptic Compositions in the Tombs of Tutankhamun, Ramesses VI and Ramesses IX. Fribourg Switzerland: Academic Press, 2004, pp 115- 116  RE-Osiris p 452-453

3. LiDonnici, Lynn. “According to the Jews:” Identified (and Identifying) ‘Jewish’ Elements in the Greek Magical Papyri. In LiDonnici, Lynn; Lieber Andrea, eds. Heavenly Tablets Interpretation, Identity and Tradition in Ancient Judaism. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2007.

4. John H. Taylor . Death and the Afterlife in Ancient Egypt. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2001 pp 30-32.

5. Alberto Bernabé and  Ana Isabel Jiménez San Cristóbal. Instructions for the Netherworld The Orphic Gold Tablets. Boston:Brill, 2008, p 144.

 6. Betz, p 336.

The Oration

I invoke you, Headless One!

You who created the Earth and the Heavens,

You who created the Night and the Day,

You who created the Darkness and the Light.

You are Osoronnophris, whom no one has ever seen.

You are Iabas; you are Iapos.

You have distinguished the Just from the Unjust.

You have made the Female and the Male.

You have made the Seed and the Fruit.

You have made men Love and Hate one another.

I am Moses, your prophet, to whom you have revealed your Mysteries, the ceremonies of Israel.

You have produced the Moist and the Dry and that which nourishes all life.

Hear me, for I am the messenger of Phapro Osoronnophris, which is your true name, handed down to the prophets of Israel.

Hear me: Ar, Thiao, Rheibet, Atheleberseth, A, Blatha, Abeu, Ebeu, Phi, Chitasoe, Ib, Thiao.

Hear me and turn away this spirit.

I invoke you, awesome and invisible God who dwells in the void of the spirit.

Arogogorobrao, Sochou, Modorio, Phalarthao, OOO, Headless One.

Deliver this person from the spirit that restrains him.

Hear me: Roubriao, Mariodam, Balbnabaoth, Assalonai, Aphniao, I, Tholeth, Abrasax, Aeoou,

Mighty dH

Hea Headless One, deliver this person.

Ma, Barraio, Ioel, Kotha, Athorebalo, Abraoth.

Deliver this person from the spirit that restrains him.

Aoth, Abaoth, Basym, Isak, Sabaoth, IAO.

He is the Lord of the Gods.

He is the one who the winds fear.

He has made all things by the command of his voice.

Lord, king, ruler, and helper.

Save this soul.

Ieou, Pyr, Iou, Pyr, Iaot, Iaeo, Ioou, Abrasax, Sabriam, Oo, Yu, Eu, Oo, Yu, Adonaie, 
Now nbw angel of god
Anlala Lai, Gaia, Apa, Diachanna Choryn

"I am the headless spirit with my sight in my feet; mighty immortal fire;.

I am the Truth.

I detest the unjust deeds done in the world.

I am the one who makes the lightning flash and the thunder roll.

I am the one who is the shower of life on the earth.

I am the one whose mouth is flame.

I am the one who begets and manifests. 

I am the Grace of the Aion.

My name is a heart encircled by a serpent.

Come forth and follow.