Order of the S.E.K.

Order of the S.E.K.
Headquarters	Massachusetts

The Order of the S.E.K. was a secret society, dedicated to "the study of symbolism and its application to the psychical aspects of man," per S. C. Gould,^[G] with particular interest in ancient Egyptian mythology.

Reading

• A Member of the S.E.K. (May 1892), "The Worship of Egypt", Miscellanous Notes and Queries, With Answers 19 (5): 113-115, https://books.google.com/books?id=RSwAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA113&lpg=PA113 
  

  The article of Mr Coleman upon the "Veil of Isis," in the March No., 1892, of NOTES AND QUERIES seems to us to fall into an error common to many students of ancient religions and early Egyptology, namely, the attempted identification of the Egyptian deities after the fashion of Greek and Latin authors, with the divinities of Greece and Rome. We must remember that the Egyptian religion had endured for centuries before the Greeks and Romans came into contact with it: they also were foreigners, knowing little of the history or customs of the country, and, in most cases, with[o]ut any knowledge whatever of the hieroglyphic language. For an accurate knowledge of the Egyptian religion we must go to the fountain head, the manuscripts and inscriptions which the priests of Egypt wrote.

  Mr. Coleman states on the authority of Wilkinson, Bunsen, and "Herodotus" that Neith was a goddess of the first rank while Osiris and Isis were of the third. As a matter of fact, no worship in Egypt was so universal as that of Osiris and Ra. No Egyptologist would dream at the present day of putting Osiris and Isis in any class of deities but the first.

  "Hail to thee, Osiris, Lord of Eternity! When thou art in the heavens thou appearest as the Sun, and thou renewest thy form as the Moon." — Mariette, "Dendara," IV, 44a.

  Even Tiele, who does not rank high as an Egyptologist, says the worship of Osiris and that of Ra are the most ancient religions mentioned on the oldest monuments. They are those which in after times prevailed most generally, and may be said to have formed the foundation of the national religion (Tiele, "History of Egyptian Religion," page 37). So too Renouf, Birch, Rawlinson, and others. See Renouf, "Lectures on Egyptian Religion," Birch's edition of Wilkinson's "Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians," and Rawlinson's "Egypt.")

  Secondly, Neith is said to have been a virgin, and that "it is her virginity and not inscrutability which is emphasized in the inscription."

  The great Magical text, Papyrus No. 825, British Museum, speaks of Neith thus: "I am the seat of Neith, hidden in the hidden, concealed in the concealed, shut up in the shut up, unknown I am knowledge" (page 16 of great Magical text).

  This would seem to indicate that Neith did sometimes symbolize deep and impenetrable knowledge.

  Thirdly, it is the opinion of the students of esoteric Egyptian religion that Isis, Neith, etc., were the same; so also Osiris, Ra, and the other Gods. Isis is said to be the wife, mother, sister, and daughter of Osiris, also the mother of Horus. Neith is said to be the mother of Ra. Ra, however, is identified with Osiris, and Horus is called the son of Ra (See translation by Chabas of Alexandrian Obelisk where Horus is repeatedly called "Son of the Sun," "Son of Ra," and he is even spoken of as the Son of Ptah). It is impossible that such a confusion should not have concealed truths intelligible to the educated and initiated Egyptians. Renouf says that all the Gods are divided into two great groups, Ra and his family in his aspects Mentu and Tmu, and Osiris and his family; that texts are discovered which identify Osiris and Ra, while finally both disappear, except as names and the Unity is asserted. He also says that the inscriptions at the temple of Dendara identify Hathor with Isis and with Sechet at Memphis, Neith at Sais, Nehemauit at Hermoplis, Bast at Bubastis, Saosis at Heliopolis, and Sothis at Elephantine.

  In the manuscript of the "Lamentation of Isis and Nephyths" (Royal Museum of Berlin, No. 1425) we find Isis saying:

  "Thoth places thy soul in the bark Ma-at in that name which is thine of the God Moon * * * * Thou hast taken possession of the heavens. Thou doest illuminate us like Ra each day. Thou shinest upon us like Atum. Men and Gods live because they behold thee. Thou sheddest thy rays upon us. Thou givest light to the two worlds. I am the divine Sothis behind him, I do not separate myself from him."

  In the same "Lamentations" also Nephyths, speaking to Osiris, invokes him say thus: "Oh God An come to Sais. Sais is thy name. Come to Aper; thou wilt see thy mother Neith. * * * Lord of Sais. Come to Sais."

  So too in the "Book of Respirations," according to De Horrack, generally burried with the priests of Ammon Ra, Isis addresses Osiris as "her brother," "the Divine Father," "King of the Gods," and says "thy soul is the soul of Ra."

  Thus we we see that Isis and Osiris were most prominent types of the Egyptian belief and that Neith and Isis were identical, as were also Osiris and Ra. All types of the same great truths, known to the initiates, and of the mysteries typified through the ages by the "Veil of Isis."

  In conclusion let me quote from the noblest work of all, which truly breathes the spirit of the highest Egyptian faith, the Litany of Ra.

  "Hail Ra, the Royal Osiris is Nun! Hail Ra, the Royal Osiris is thyself and reciprocally. Hail Ra, thy spirit is that of Osiris (Litany, chapter I, section 77). Hail Ra! The birth of Osiris in the heavens is the birth of the soul of Ra in the heavens — the life of Osiris is the life of Ra. (Litany, chapter IV, found in the tomb of Seti I)."

Notes

• Gould, S. C., ed. (November 1896), Order of the S.E.K., "Masonic and Arcane Societies in the U.S.", Miscellaneous Notes and Queries 14 (11): 283, https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044092649565;view=1up;seq=297, "This Order is a circle of students for the study of symbolism and its application to the psychical aspects of man — 'I think, therefore, I am.' The unfoldment of a cube is a crucifixion cross. The esoteric student can penetrate within the veil. Some of its members are also students of Egyptology. The membership is quite limited and scattered. The head of the Order, we think, resides in Massachusetts."