Heru-ra-ha () is a

composite Composite or compositing may refer to: Materials * Composite material, a material that is made from several different substances ** Metal matrix composite, composed of metal and other parts ** Cermet, a composite of ceramic and metallic materials ...

deity within

Thelema Thelema () is a Western esoteric and occult social or spiritual philosophy and new religious movement founded in the early 1900s by Aleister Crowley (1875–1947), an English writer, mystic, occultist, and ceremonial magician. The word ' ...

, a religion that began in 1904 with

Aleister Crowley Aleister Crowley (; born Edward Alexander Crowley; 12 October 1875 – 1 December 1947) was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, painter, novelist, and mountaineer. He founded the religion of Thelema, identifying himself as the pr ...

and his ''

Book of the Law ''Liber AL vel Legis'' (), commonly known as ''The Book of the Law'', is the central sacred text of Thelema. Aleister Crowley said that it was dictated to him by a beyond-human being who called himself 'Aiwass'. Rose Edith Kelly, Crowley's w ...

''. Heru-ra-ha is composed of Ra-Hoor-Khuit and

Hoor-paar-kraat Harpocrates ( grc, Ἁρποκράτης, Phoenician: 𐤇𐤓𐤐𐤊𐤓𐤈, romanized: ḥrpkrṭ, ''harpokrates'') was the god of silence, secrets and confidentiality in the Hellenistic religion developed in Ptolemaic Alexandria (and also ...

. He is associated with the other two major Thelemic deities found in ''The Book of the Law,''

Nuit Nuit (alternatively Nu, Nut, or Nuith) is a goddess in Thelema, the speaker in the first Chapter of ''The Book of the Law'', the sacred text written or received in 1904 by Aleister Crowley. Based on the Ancient Egyptian sky goddess Nut, who ...

and

Hadit Hadit (sometimes Had) refers to a Thelemic deity. Hadit is the principal speaker of the second chapter of ''The Book of the Law'' (written or received by Aleister Crowley in 1904). Descriptions Hadit identifies himself as the point in the ...

, who are also godforms related to ancient

Egyptian mythology Egyptian mythology is the collection of myths from ancient Egypt, which describe the actions of the Egyptian gods as a means of understanding the world around them. The beliefs that these myths express are an important part of ancient Egyp ...

. Their

stelae A stele ( ),Anglicized plural steles ( ); Greek plural stelai ( ), from Greek , ''stēlē''. The Greek plural is written , ''stēlai'', but this is only rarely encountered in English. or occasionally stela (plural ''stelas'' or ''stelæ''), whe ...

link Nuit and Hadit to the established ancient Egyptian deities

Nut Nut often refers to: * Nut (fruit), fruit composed of a hard shell and a seed, or a collective noun for dry and edible fruits or seeds * Nut (hardware), fastener used with a bolt Nut or Nuts may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Co ...

and Hor-Bhdt ( Horus of

Edfu Edfu ( egy, bḥdt, ar, إدفو , ; also spelt Idfu, or in modern French as Edfou) is an Egyptian city, located on the west bank of the Nile River between Esna and Aswan, with a population of approximately sixty thousand people. Edfu is the site ...

Active aspect

The active aspect of Heru-ra-ha is Ra-Hoor-Khuit ( egy, rꜥ-ḥr-ꜣḫtj; sometimes also anglicized as Ra-Hoor-Khu-it, Ra-Har-Khuti, or Ra-Har-Akht;

Egyptological pronunciation Egyptology (from ''Egypt'' and Greek , ''-logia''; ar, علم المصريات) is the study of ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, architecture and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end of its native religious ...

: ''

Ra-Horakhty Ra (; egy, rꜥ; also transliterated ; cuneiform: ''ri-a'' or ''ri-ia''; Phoenician: 𐤓𐤏, CIS I 3778 romanized: rʿ) or Re (; cop, ⲣⲏ, translit=Rē) was the ancient Egyptian deity of the sun. By the Fifth Dynasty, in the 25th ...

'' or ''Ra-Herakhty''), means 'Ra (who is) Horus of the Horizon'. Ra-Hoor-Khuit or Ra-Hoor-Khut is the speaker in the third chapter of ''The Book of the Law''. Some quotes from his Chapter, (in particular verse 35, where the name appears): * "Now let it be first understood that I am a god of War and of Vengeance." (AL III:3) * "Fear not at all; fear neither men nor Fates, nor gods, nor anything. Money fear not, nor laughter of the folk folly, nor any other power in heaven or upon the earth or under the earth. Nu is your refuge as Hadit your light; and I am the strength, force, vigour, of your arms." (AL III:17) * "The half of the word of Heru-ra-ha, called Hoor-pa-kraat and Ra-Hoor-Khut." (AL III:35) * "I am the warrior Lord of the Forties: the Eighties cower before me, & are abased. I will bring you to victory & joy: I will be at your arms in battle & ye shall delight to slay. Success is your proof; courage is your armour; go on, go on, in my strength; & ye shall turn not back for any!" (AL III:46) * "There is no law beyond Do what thou wilt." (AL III:60) Within Thelema, Ra-Hoor-Khuit is called 'Lord of the

Aeon The word aeon , also spelled eon (in American and Australian English), originally meant "life", "vital force" or "being", "generation" or "a period of time", though it tended to be translated as "age" in the sense of "ages", "forever", "timele ...

' (which began in 1904 according to Thelemic doctrine), and 'The Crowned and Conquering Child'. An appellation of Ra, identifying him with Horus, this name shows the two as manifestations of the singular solar force. According to Crowley, the five-pointed "star of flame" symbolizes Ra-Hoor-Khuit in certain contexts. "Khuit" also refers to a local form of the goddess

Hathor Hathor ( egy, ḥwt-ḥr, lit=House of Horus, grc, Ἁθώρ , cop, ϩⲁⲑⲱⲣ, Meroitic: ) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion who played a wide variety of roles. As a sky deity, she was the mother or consort of the sk ...

at Athribis, who guarded the

heart The heart is a muscular organ in most animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels of the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the body, while carrying metabolic waste such as carbon dioxide to t ...

Osiris Osiris (, from Egyptian ''wsjr'', cop, ⲟⲩⲥⲓⲣⲉ , ; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎𐤓, romanized: ʾsr) is the god of fertility, agriculture, the afterlife, the dead, resurrection, life, and vegetation in ancient Egyptian religion. He wa ...

. "Khut" refers to the goddess

Isis Isis (; ''Ēse''; ; Meroitic: ''Wos'' 'a''or ''Wusa''; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎, romanized: ʾs) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kin ...

as light giver of the new year; some older sources say that it can also refer to the fiery

serpent Serpent or The Serpent may refer to: * Snake, a carnivorous reptile of the suborder Serpentes Mythology and religion * Sea serpent, a monstrous ocean creature * Serpent (symbolism), the snake in religious rites and mythological contexts * Serp ...

on the crown of Ra.

Passive aspect

The passive aspect of Heru-ra-ha is Hoor-pa-kraat ( egy, ḥr-pꜣ-ẖrd, meaning "Horus the Child";

: ''Har-pa-khered''), more commonly referred to by the Greek rendering ''

Harpocrates Harpocrates ( grc, Ἁρποκράτης, Phoenician: 𐤇𐤓𐤐𐤊𐤓𐤈, romanized: ḥrpkrṭ, ''harpokrates'') was the god of silence, secrets and confidentiality in the Hellenistic religion developed in Ptolemaic Alexandria (and also ...

''; Horus, the son of

and

, sometimes distinguished from their brother Horus the Elder, who was the old patron deity of Upper Egypt. Hoor is represented as a young boy with a child's sidelock of hair, sucking his finger. The Greeks,

Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...

, and the

Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn ( la, Ordo Hermeticus Aurorae Aureae), more commonly the Golden Dawn (), was a secret society devoted to the study and practice of occult Hermeticism and metaphysics during the late 19th and early 20th ...

attributed silence to him, presumably because the sucking of the finger is suggestive of the common "shhh"-gesture. Aiwass, the being who dictated ''The Book of the Law'' to Crowley, introduces himself as "the minister of Hoor-paar-kraat" in the book's first chapter. Also known as "The Babe in the Lotus", Hoor-paar-kraat is sometimes thought of as the younger brother of Horus. The former interpretation in the works of Aleister Crowley portrays Ra-Hoor-Khuit—in place of the Golden Dawn's

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religiou ...

—as a model for the initiate, and thus describes attainment as a natural growth process, de-emphasizing the metaphor of death and resurrection. In the second interpretation, the Golden Dawn placed Hoor-paar-kraat at the center of their Hall of

Ma'at Maat or Maʽat ( Egyptian: mꜣꜥt /ˈmuʀʕat/, Coptic: ⲙⲉⲓ) refers to the ancient Egyptian concepts of truth, balance, order, harmony, law, morality, and justice. Ma'at was also the goddess who personified these concepts, and regul ...

while the officers of the temple (one of whom represented Horus) revolved around him.

Combined form

The "Cry of the First Aethyr which is called LIL" in Crowley's ''

The Vision and the Voice ''The Vision and the Voice'' (Liber 418) is a book by Aleister Crowley (1875–1947). It chronicles the mystical journey of the author as he explored the 30 Enochian aethyrs originally developed by John Dee and Edward Kelley in the 16th century. ...

'' presents Horus, the Crowned and Conquering Child, as the union of many opposites:

References

Citations

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