The wordmagiccomes to us in the modern
world from the Coptic hik, which was equated
with the Greekmageiaand the Latinmagiadur-
ing the Christian era. The latter words meant
something like “illegal sorcery,” and one can eas-
ily see where this would produce confusion in
relationship to heka. However, for the Egyptian,
heka relied on four pillars:
1.Heka: The primeval power that energized the
creator at the beginning of time2.Rw: the sacred texts
3.Seshaw: the magical rituals and treatments4.Pekhret: medicinal prescriptionsFurthermore, Heka existed before duality had
yet come into being. Even in its involvement with
humanity, it becomes clear that heka acted with
hu, the principle of divine utterance, and sia,
divine consciousness, to liberate consciousness.
This divine action that is creative expressionism
can be attained only through speech and behavior.
Indeed, the cobra on the brow of the pharaoh is
named Weret-Hekau, meaning the Goddess is
great in Heka power.
Molefi Kete AsanteSeealsoKa;Nommo
Further Readings
Asante, M. K. (2003).The Egyptian Philosophers.
Chicago: AA Images.
Erman, A. (1971).Life in Ancient Egypt. New York:
Dover.
HERU, HORUS
Heru, whose appearance was identified as early
as 3100 BC, is one of the most complex neters
(deities) of ancient Kemet. His complexity is due
to the fact that, throughout the thousands of years
of Egyptian culture, he acquired new qualities
while maintaining his previous ones. Therefore,
by the end of Egyptian civilization, there was an
impressive list of symbols, characteristics, and
archetypes attributable to Heru. His name derives
from the roother, meaning face as in “face of
heaven,” which reveals his origins as a sky neter
whose right eye is the sun and left eye is the moon.
In addition to these celestial bodies, Heru is
also symbolized as the golden hawk, falcon, and
wedjat eyes. Sometimes these images would be
combined, such as the sun disk with wings, wed-
jat eyes with wings, or sun disk with a wedjat eye
inside. In Egyptian mythology, Heru is son-consort
of Hathor; the son of Ra; he is Khonsu, the moon
deity; the brother of Set; Ra-Horakhty, the resur-
rected Ausar; and best known as the son of Ausar
and Auset. His archetypical characteristics are
those of the avenger, the Divine son, the fulfiller,
heir, king, bringer of light, good twin, younger
brother, champion over darkness and evil, and later
redeemer. These multifaceted aspects of Horus/
Heru are divided according to three categories—
symbolic, mythological, and archetypal—as discussed
in this entry.Symbolic Horus/Heru
The primary symbol of Horus is the golden hawk
or falcon. The golden color is likened to that of
the sun, as are the hawk’s aggression, excellent
vision, and ability to soar. The sun is aggressive
like the hawk in the intense heat it brings to the
Nile Valley. The sun has the ability to illuminate
all things and therefore “see” all things from a
high vantage point like the hawk. Last, the sun,
like the hawk, soars high in the sky. The wings of
this celestial falcon protect the Earth, and its eyes
are considered to be the sun and the moon. Horus
is also associated with the east and sunrise, hore-
makhet, or Horus in the horizon.
Another solar symbol is Ra-Horakhty, in which
Horus is merged with the sun deity Ra. Because
of these solar associations, Horus is frequently
depicted as the sun disk with the wings of a falcon
or disk atop the head of a falcon. The winged disk
was used as a royal symbol. The sun disk with
wings was also a representation of heaven because
Horus’s association with the sky, wings, and flight
symbolized the journey the soul makes after phys-
ical death in Ra’s solar boat.
The wedjat eye represents the strength and
power of Horus and was derived from the eye that
the mythological Horus, in human form, lost inHeru, Horus 313