THE SEMINAL

SACRAMENT
THE HERMETIC SACRAMENT OF HORUS AND SETH

And the gardener spoke to her:

He does not eat any herbs here other than lettuce.
And Isis smeared the semen of Horus on them.
And Seth came here as he did every day, and he ate the lettuce as usual.
And he became pregnant with the semen of Horus…

Then Horus made an oath to God, saying: Everything Seth has said is false.
Let the semen of Seth be summoned, so that we may see where it will answer from.
And let mine also be summoned, so that we may see where it will answer from.
Then Thoth, lord of divine words, the truthful scribe of the Ennead, placed his hand on the arm of Horus,
and said: Come forth, the semen of Seth!
And it answered back from the water in the fen.
Then Thoth placed his hand on the arm of Seth, and said: Come forth, the semen of Horus!
Then it spoke to him saying: Where shall I come from?
Then Thoth spoke to it saying: Come forth from his ear!
And it spoke to him saying: Shall I come from his ear, I being a divine emission?
Then Thoth spoke to it saying: Come forth from his forehead!
Then it came forward as a golden sun on the head of Seth. 1

'The Contendings of Horus and Seth' is one of the earliest recorded initiation myths extant in human
history. The crux of the myth involves the ingestion of semen within the context of a male initiation rite.
Horus and Seth contend for the kingship of Egypt culminating in Isis smearing the semen of Horus on
lettuce leaves. These are consumed by Seth resulting in a male to male insemination that gives birth to
the sun disc or, in some versions, the birth of Thoth.

Central to the myth is the role of Thoth, the Egyptian equivalent to Hermes, who either mediates the
ritual or is born from the forehead of Seth. This places the myth within the context of the Hermetica.

The archaic ritualistic initiation rites whereby males assumed adulthood adopted in many documented
cases the consumption of semen. This rite of insemination was a device that symbolized the
internalization of a vigorous life force.

Semen was seen as a precious substance stored in the spinal column. White skeletal bones reflected the
solidified nature of this substance. These white bones had formed and hardened as a result of the initial
creative action of the white foaming secretion.

The extraction of collagen from animal bones and hides was a reverse process in which a substance was
extracted that was analogous to semen. Hides were soaked in water and exposed to lime in a process
that ultimately released the glue liquor. This liquor reinforced the belief that semen existed in all animal
matter but was concentrated and stored in the marrow.

The lettuce leaves that are smeared with semen and eaten by Seth are symbolically linked to this
extraction process. The spine or stalk of the lettuce exudes a white latex when damaged and so
replicates the seminal structure of animals and by extension also that of humans. Thus the semen
infuses them all as a potent life force that came from the gods.
In the Papyrus Jumilhac there is an association between Seth and the plants that spring from his semen
while he has assumed the form of a bull. Seth chases Isis while he is in the guise of a bull and when she
escapes scatters his semen on the ground. The papyrus states that his semen grew into the plants that
have the unidentified hieroglyphic name of bddk3w.

There is a striking parallel between this unidentified plant and the latex exuding lettuce which is
identified with him in the 'Contendings.' Thus there is a symbolic synthesis of the two plants which are
both associated with semen and with Seth.

Through anatomical observations the ancient Egyptians could detect a muscle that connected the penis
of the bull with the last two vertebrae next to the tail. This connection between the spine and the
phallus seems to partly explain the belief that semen was stored in the spinal column.

The visual similarity between the marrow contained in the spine and the visceral gluey substance of
semen reinforced this belief. Therefore the semen that was ejaculated by Seth, in the form of a bull,
came ultimately from the spine of the animal. From this springs a plant that contains semen within its
own metaphorical spinal column.

According to Plato semen was a substance like marrow that originated in the brain and was stored and
carried through the spinal column to its outlet located in the male genitalia.

"... the body of the marrow, which passes from the head along the neck and through the back (along the
spine), and which in the preceding discourse we have termed seed. And the seed having life, and
becoming endowed with respiration, produces in that part in which it respires a lively desire of emission,
and thus creates in us the love of procreation. Wherefore also in men the organ of generation becoming
rebellious and masterful, like an animal disobedient to reason, and maddened with the sting of lust,
seeks to gain absolute sway..."2

The marrow encased in its container formed of bone and running as a channel through the centre of the
body corresponds to the Nile which dissects the body of Egypt. As a spinal river of semen the Nile
regularly fertilized the fields during the annual inundation. The foaming froth of the flooding Nile has a
direct correlation with the warm foamy substance of semen. Both are the originators of life. From this
foaming substance the human body would be created and from the foaming flood waters of the Nile the
seeds would germinate. Semen contained the life-giving moisture as its base infused with a hot aether to
provide the spark of creation.

The Nile could be seen as containing the semen of Osiris which was deposited over the soil. The body of
Osiris had been slashed into pieces with the genital parts hacked off and thrown into the Nile. The other
parts of the body of Osiris were located by Isis but the genital parts remained lost in the river. The Nile
thus embodied the genital parts of Osiris and contained the divine semen.
"... the privates (of Osiris), according to them, were thrown by Typhon into the Nile… Yet Isis thought
them as worthy of divine honours as the other parts, for, fashioning a likeness of them, she set it up in
the temples, commanded that it be honoured, and made it the object of the highest regard and
reverence in the rites and sacrifices accorded to the god. Consequently the Greeks too, inasmuch as they
received from Egypt the celebrations of the orgies and the festivals connected with Dionysus, honour
this member in both the mysteries and the initiatory rites and sacrifices of this god, giving it the name
'phallus.'"3

The spine of Osiris was represented by the Djed-pillar so integrating the concept of a universe formed of
deified semen with the spinal column. The metaphorical spinal column of the Milky Way dissects the
vault of the night sky and performs the function of a ladder to the stars. The Unas Pyramid Texts state
that Unas, guided by Horus and Seth, ascends to the stars on a ladder formed by two Djed-pillars. He
thus ascends to the heavens on the stepped vertebrae of a stella spinal column. 4

The spinal column connects at one end with the brain and the other is in the vicinity of the sexual
organs. Semen was described as a substance like brain matter that contained hot vapour. From the hot
aether in the semen the process of creation began. Aristotle stated that this foam or froth was the
defining characteristic of semen. "Semen, then, is a compound of pneuma and water (pneuma being hot
air), and that is why it is fluid in its nature; it is made of water." 5

The foam contained aether, the rarefied fifth element, that was associated with the substances that
formed the stars. The aetherial material was contained in the pneuma that created the foam and was
related to the aetherial lightness of the human soul. Semen had a dynamic potential, a dynamis, and this
concept of dynamic movement meant that it had an equivalence to the human soul. This was a divine
foaming froth that contained the code for all creation. The vital foam was celebrated as containing the
divine essence involved in the stellar architecture.

It appears that in his discourse on the nature of semen Aristotle describes an ancient variant on the
flotation process that is used in metallurgy. This process separates metallic sulphides from the pulverized
ore residue. Ore is crushed and hydrated in order to separate the metallic sulphide particles from the
gangue pulp. Oil is added to reduce the surface tension of the water thereby encouraging the formation
of bubbles.

A whitish froth is created by the injection of air or the agitation of the water and gangue pulp mix. The
oil adheres to the metallic particles enabling their separation from the pulp and attraction to the froth.
The metallic sulphide particles adhere to the bubbles and are carried away from the gangue mass to the
surface of the water. In his discussion of the foaming nature of semen Aristotle directly alludes to this
metallurgical process that would be subsequently lost for millennia.

"Lead ore, too, when it gets mixed with water and oil, increases its bulk, and whereas it was fluid and
black it becomes thick and coherent and white. The reason is that pneuma gets mixed in with it, and this
produces the increase of bulk and lets the whiteness show through, precisely as it does with foam…" 6
These ancient techniques were preserved in concept in the formulations of alchemy and were finally
rediscovered in the modern era of the late nineteenth century. The comparisons to the stages of
alchemy are unmistakable. There is first a blackening or putrefaction phase where the ore is pulverized
and hydrated. This is followed by the whitening or albedo phase with the application of a frothing
process to create a white foam.

The subsequent yellowing or citrinitas phase involves the addition of oil to the frothing water and
gangue pulp to facilitate the creation of the bubbles. This reduces the surface tension of the water and
facilitates the adherence of the metallic sulphide particles to these bubbles. Finally the recovered
metallic particles are smelted by the fire of a furnace thus heralding the reddening or rubedo phase.

Aristotle links this metallurgical flotation process to the foaming froth out of which the goddess
Aphrodite was created. "An instance of such a foam, mentioned earlier, is that produced by the
mechanical mixing of water and oil. That the natural substance of semen is foam-like was, so it seems,
not unknown even in early days; at any rate, the goddess who is supreme in matters of sexual
intercourse was called after foam."7

Varro states that Aphrodite was born from fiery seed that fell from the sky and was also formed from
"the foam-masses." These stellar foam-masses correspond to the cosmic gaseous clouds from which
stars are formed. "The poets, in that they say the fiery seed fell from the Sky into the sea and Venus
(Aphrodite) was born 'from the foam-masses,' through the conjunction of fire and moisture, are
indicating that this vis 'force' which they have is that of Venus. Those born of this vis have what is called
vita 'life'…"8

The use of the expression "foam-masses" clearly indicates that Varro is speaking of the myth recited by
Hesiod about the birth of Aphrodite Urania. In this vision the stars become the semen of the gods filling
the night sky with a shining heavenly foam. Ouranos (Uranus) was castrated with a gigantic scythe
wielded by Chronos (Saturn) and from the foaming mutilated genitals Aphrodite emerged. According to
Hesiod this seminal foam formed the heavenly body of the goddess.

"And so soon as he had cut off the members with flint and cast them from the land into the surging sea,
they were swept away over the main a long time; and a white foam spread around them from the
immortal flesh, and in it there grew a maiden… Her gods and men call Aphrodite and the foam-born
goddess and rich-crowned Cytherea, because she grew amid the foam…" 9

This myth and the 'Contendings' myth draw direct comparison with the myth that is termed the 'Kingship
in Heaven' and describes the castration of the archetypal Mesopotamian deity Anu. Kumarbi
castrates/genitally mutilates Anu but in the process swallows Anu's genitals and is therefore inseminated
and impregnated by Anu. Kumarbi consequently gives birth to five gods as a result of ingesting the
semen of Anu. This pregnancy therefore results from male to male insemination and is consistent with
the Egyptian 'Contendings' myth.
Anu is associated with the constellation of Orion being known as the 'true shepherd of Orion.' These
associations extend to the archaic Egyptian deity of Min whose stance with one hand raised aloft and the
other grasping his phallus mimics the pose of Orion in the night sky. Lettuce was also sacred to Min and
Egytian temple depictions show priests offering the lettuce to Min as he holds his erect phallus. The
deified semen that coursed through the universe existed in the white latex exuded by the sacred lettuce.

The gods give birth to the universe through male to male insemination without recourse to concepts
derived from procreative intercourse. In the Memphis Theology the Egyptian creator deity Atum
constructs the constellations from his own semen. According to the Shabaka Stone this was the original
act of creation. "This Ennead of Atum came into being through his semen and through his fingers."

In another parallel version of the Egyptian creation myth the creator is a single deity that procreates two
further entities through an act of self-contained autoeroticism. The theology of the Shabaka Stone is
supported by the Pyramid Texts of Sakkara which confirm this theory of creation.

"To say: Atum created by his masturbation in Heliopolis.

To put his phallus in his fist
To excite desire thereby.
The twins were born, Shu and Tefnut."10

The single entity (the autoerotic mind of Atum) gives birth to two entities (Shu and Tefnut) without
recourse to procreative intercourse. This act avoids the chicken and egg syndrome by postulating the
original act of creation within the self-contained autoerotic mind of the creator. Macrobius defines the
difficulty in explaining the original act of creation through an act of conventional procreation. "To say
that the egg was produced before the chicken is like saying a womb came to be before a woman: asking
how a chicken could exist without an egg is like asking how humans were produced before the genitals
instrumental in their procreation."11

Therefore the act of primordial creation is explicitly linked to the autoerotic mind of Atum and visual
evidence of this was seen in the shining celestial trails of star clusters in the night sky. The foaming
celestial star clusters, formed from the primordial semen, were envisaged as the ejaculatory splatter of
the deity in the night sky. The rivers of semen that stream from this act of deified autoeroticism define
the creation myth of ancient Egypt. Atum is self-created through this act which gives birth to the sacred
primordial mound that rises out of the undefined waters of the pre-existing state. Thus the rising of the
phallus of Atum is the first act of creation.

In some versions of the 'Contendings' myth Thoth is born from the semen of Horus and comes forth
from the forehead of Seth. Thus a male to male insemination results in the birth of a deity that the
Greeks identified with Hermes and the alchemists with Hermes Trismegistus. Outside the gates of the
temple complex in Samothrace stood two male statues in bronze. Hippolytus states that these were
phallic in nature. They were also, in his description, linked to the meanings that informed the
Samothracian Mysteries.

"This is, he says, the great and ineffable mystery of the Samothracians, which is allowable, he says, for us
only who are initiated to know. For the Samothracians expressly hand down, in the mysteries that are
celebrated among them, that (same) Adam as the primal man. And habitually there stand in the temple
of the Samothracians two images of naked men, having both hands stretched aloft towards heaven, and
their pudenda erecta, as with the statue of Mercury (Hermes) on Mount Cyllene. And the aforesaid
images are figures of the primal man, and of the spiritual one that is born again, in every respect of the
same substance with that man."12

Pausanias states that the image of Hemes that was worshipped on Mount Cyllene and is referenced by
Hippolytus above was the pure form of a phallus. "In Cyllene is a sanctuary of Asclepius, and one of
Aphrodite. But the image of Hermes, most devoutly worshipped by the inhabitants, is merely the male
member upright on the pedestal."13

Therefore according to Pausanias the image of Hermes was represented by the pure unadulterated form
of the phallus at the temple in Cyllene. The pure form of this image is replicated by the internal phallic
structure of the human brain with the brain stem and the two testicular hemispheres of the cerebellum.

In the 'Contendings' myth the semen of Horus is summoned from the forehead of Seth. This bodily
location indicates that the human brain is central to the meanings behind the myth. The cerebellum is
located at the core of the brain structure where the brain stem meets the cerebrum. The cerebellum
consists of two testicular shaped hemispheres connected to the top of the brain stem. There is therefore
an unmistakable visual representation of a phallic structure with two testicular hemispheres that are
located at the base of the brain.

The two testicular hemispheres of the cerebellum are divided by the vermis which bears a close
resemblance to the external division of the testicles of the male genitalia. Remarkably, in the context of
the 'Contendings' myth, each of the testicular hemispheres of the cerebellum contains an internal
central white stem together with white vein-like structures that replicate the visual appearance of
lettuce leaves.

This central white stem is called the arbor vitae which in its name expresses the plant-like structure that
it invokes (arbor - tree). It is so-called because from the central white stem veins of similar colour branch
out across the testicular hemisphere. The visual appearance therefore bears a striking similarity to the
lettuce leaves on which Isis smeared the semen of Horus.

There appears to have been an association in antiquity between the T symbol and the form of the
human male genitalia with the shaft in the centre and the testicles on either side. This equivalence can
be perceived in Egyptian temple depictions of the deities. "The figures of Isis, upon the Isiac Table, hold
the stem of this plant (the water lily) surmounted by the seed-vessel in one hand, and the cross,
representing the male organs of generation, in the other; thus signifying the universal power, both active
and passive, attributed to that goddess."14

The testicular hemispheres of the cerebellum forming a T shaped cross bar at the top of the brain stem
as it enters the greater mass of the brain therefore illuminate the 'Contendings' myth. The structure of
the brain reflects that of the male genitalia and by extension the Christian cross of crucifixion.

"The male organs of generation are sometimes found represented by signs of the same sort, which might
properly be called the symbols of symbols. One of the most remarkable of these is a cross, in the form of
the letter T, which thus served as the emblem of creation and generation, before the church adopted it
as a sign of salvation; a lucky coincidence of ideas, which, without doubt, facilitated the reception of it
among the faithful. To the representative of the male organs was sometimes added a human head,
which gives it the exact appearance of a crucifix." 15

Therefore the 'Contendings' myth can be seen to reflect the structure of the human brain which in turn
was seen to reflect the structure of plants. The stem of these plants has an equivalence to the brain
stem. In the specific case of the lettuce leaves eaten by Seth the stem exuded a white sap that was
analogous to semen. This reflected the ancient belief that semen was stored in the spinal column and
was a substance similar to marrow.

What has been unexplained is the ancient belief that is evident in Plato that semen came ultimately from
the brain. Brain matter, unlike spinal marrow, has no visual or tactile similarity to semen. However the
phallic structure of the cerebellum hemispheres together with the central brain stem does indicate the
cause of the ancient belief that semen originated in the brain.

The 'Contendings' myth reveals the association of the cerebellum to the male genitalia by focusing on
the semen smeared lettuce leaves that are consumed by Seth. Thus this ancient initiation rite is a
progenitor of religious beliefs that ultimately fetishize the Christian cross.

"For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was
betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, 'This is my body, which is for
you. Do this in remembrance of me.' In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, 'This cup
is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.' For as often as
you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes." 16

"I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in
you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.
For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains
in me, and I in him."17

1. The Contendings of Horus and Seth

2. Plato - Timaeus
3. Diodorus Siculus - Library of History 1.22
4. Unas Pyramid Texts - Utterance 271
5. Aristotle - Generation of Animals 2.2.736a
6. Ibid. 735b
7.Ibid. 736a
8. Varro- On the Latin Language 5.63
9. Hesiod - Theogony 176-180
10. Sakkara Pyramid Texts - Utterance 527
11. Macrobius - Saturnalia 7.16.10
12. Hippolytus - Refutation of All Heresies 5
13. Pausanias - Description of Greece 6.26.5
14. Richard Payne Knight - A Discourse on the Worship of Priapus
15. Ibid.
16. 1 Corinthians 11:23-26
17. John 6:53-56