Aset, Auset, Isis, Heru-sa-Aset, Horus son of Isis, Myths, Wesir, Asar, Ausar, Osiris

Aset and the Vineyard

There is a myth from the Papyrus Jumilhac, where Set cut out both Eyes of Heru and hid them in a mountain. Yinepu found them and buried them. Aset demanded that Ra, the Lord of All, allow Heru to be healed. He agrees. Aset waters the buried Eyes of Heru and a vineyard sprouts up, thus creating the first grapevine. Heru’s eyes are then healed (1).

Geraldine Pinch says that this myth represents Heru-sa-Aset regaining his royal regalia and power from Aset the Goddess of the throne. Plants growing from something buried is reminiscent of the growth of grain from Wesir. The use of water in making the vineyard is analogous to Aset’s tears renewing Wesir via the Nile flood and plants flourishing because of this. The Eye of Heru in a ritual context represents all offerings especially wine (2).

The Eyes of Heru here are both the sun and the moon. Like other myths where the Eyes are injured and restored, this myth is closely associated with the cycle of the moon and this case, also the sun.

Aset here is a goddess of royal power, sacred waters of renewal, the vineyard and the healer of the Eye of Heru and thus the moon. Aset is also the Lady of Wine.

You could incorporate this myth into the lunar festivals of each month when you honor Heru-sa-Aset Her or Wesir too as He is also Lord of Wine.

Sources

(1) Dimitri Meeks, and Christine Farvard-Meeks, Daily Life of the Egyptian Gods, trans. G. M. Goshgarian (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1996), 75.

Pinch, Geraldine. Egyptian Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Goddesses and Traditions of Ancient Egypt. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), 132. From the Papyrus Jumilhac.

(2) Pinch, Geraldine. Egyptian Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Goddesses and Traditions of Ancient Egypt. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), 132

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