To the Goddess named - Ta-Dehnet
(A
hymn written by a worker in the Theban necropolis after he had been cured of an
illness.)
I was an ignorant man and foolish,
Who knew neither good nor evil.
I wrought the transgression against the
Peak,
And She chastised me.
I was in Her hand by night as by
day
.
. . .
. .
‘Mark’, I will say to great and
little
That are among the workmen:
‘Be ye ware of the Peak!
For that a lion is within the
Peak.
She smites with the smiting of a savage
lion.
She pursues him that transgresses
against Her’.
I called upon my Mistress;
I found that She came to me with sweet
airs;
She was merciful to me,
(After) She had made me behold Her
hand.
She turned again to me in mercy:
She caused me to forget the sickness
that had
been [upon] me.
After Gunn in Journal of
Egyptian Archaeology, III (1916), 86-87.
Quoted by Henri Frankfort in
Ancient Egyptian Religion, p. 78
To the Goddess named
- Tao
1.
Existence, by nothing
bred,
Breeds everything.
Parent of the universe,
It smooths rough edges,
Unties hard knots,
Tempers the sharp sun,
Lays blowing dust,
Its image in the well-spring
never fails.
But how was it conceived? -
this image
Of no other sire.
Number four, from:
"The Way of Life according to Laotzu",
translated by Witter Bynner.
2.
Existence having born them
And fitness bred them,
While matter varied their
forms
And breath empowered them,
All created things render,
To the existence and fitness
they depend on,
An obedience
Not commanded but of
course.
And since this is the way
existence bears issue
And fitness raises,
attends,
Shelters, feeds and
protects,
Do you likewise:
Be parent, not possessor,
Attendant not master,
Be concerned not with obedience
but with benefit,
And you are at the core of
living.
Number fifty-one from: "The Way of
Life according to Laotzu",
translated by Witter Bynner.
3.
The breath of life moves through a
deathless valley
Of mysterious Motherhood
Which conceives and bears the universal
seed,
The seeming of a world never to end,
Breath for men to draw from as they will:
And the more they take of it, the more
remains.
Number six from:
"The Way of Life according to Laotzu",
translated by Witter Bynner.
4.
The source of life
Is as a Mother.
Be fond of both Mother and
children
But know the Mother dearer
And you oulive death.
Curb your tounge and senses
And you are beyond trouble,
Let them loose
And you are beyond help.
Discover that nothing is too small
for clear vision,
Too insignificant for tender
strength,
Use outlook
And insight,
Use them both
And you are immune:
For you have witnessed
eternity.
Number fifty-two from:
"The Way of Life according to Laotzu",
translated by Witter Bynner.
To the Goddess named -
Urmya
Kind Goddess Who at Thy coming
Straightway Thy servants seek repose
Like birds who nightly nestle in the
trees.
Drive Thou away, O Night, the wolf,
Drive hence the thief,
And keep us safely until Dawn,
Who like one that clears away a debt
Shall chase away this black,
Yet palpable obscurity.
Rig Veda Hymn X.127, quoted in
Harper's Dictionary of Hinduism by
Margaret and James Stutley.
To the Goddess named -
Wurusemu
As You,
universe Parent
summoned suns,
As Sun, parented
Earth,
As Earth, mothered
life
and while Earth tilts
and turns
fro and to, forth and
back
counting years on
aeons
in the maternal
round
of Your warmth
dispensing arms,
so, Greatone,
you
grandmother
sons.
Eight-forked star
gambling with
clouds,
Lioness of havoc,
You Daughtered
pulsing
Mezullu and
Hulla;
shriveling,
growing;
up-swelling,
down-going.
And You, carnate in queens,
(whose names’Your
own),
compassion
bestow.
Sovereignty to clay
allow
with new life
ever-refreshing
the boundary-dispute between
non-being and
being.
fw.