TABLE OF CONTENTS
previous.gif     next.gif    

KA
by H. Crosthwaite




CHAPTER THIRTEEN



'KA', AND EGYPTIAN MAGIC

HOMER and the Greek tragic poets often use periphrasis when addressing people. Achilles might be addressed as "strength of Achilles." The words sthenos, is, menos, bia, each meaning force of some kind, are used, also kara and kephale, head. The Latin word vis, strength or quantity, suggests that a digamma was originally present in the Greek word is, and that it was vis. Hesiod, Theogony 332, even refers to Herakles as "is bias Herakleies", and Homer refers to Telemachus as "hiere is Telemachoio", the holy power of Telemachus. Iphi, from is, means 'with might'; iphi anassein means to rule with might. Oidipou kara means simply Oedipus, but literally it is 'head of Oedipus'. Phile kephale, dear head, is used in greeting [1] , like the Latin carum caput. Vis, Latin for strength, is personified as Juno by the writer Ausonius. In the seventh book of the Aeneid, the Fury Allecto in disguise speaks to Turnus, the prince of the Rutuli, to whom King Latinus has promised his daughter. She urges him to attack the Tyrrhenians who are threatening to supplant him. An attack would have divine approval -- "caelestum vis magna iubet", the great force of the celestial ones orders it.

Phaos, light, is used as periphrasis by Homer. (Odyssey XVI: 23), and by Sophocles (Electra 1224). Ophthalmos, eye, is also used.

If we turn to Egyptian, we find a word which seems to correspond, and to explain some important words in Latin and Greek. 'Ka' is a man's double, and also a bull. It appears in the caduceus of Mercury, and in the kerukeion of Hermes. In the chapter on the Etruscans we shall see that caduceus is caducens, leading the Ka.

The Aeolic form of the word is karykeion. The Greek 'eruko' means restrain, control. Hermes was the psychopompos, escorter of souls. He was not only the messenger from sky to earth, but also the god who led the soul of a dead person to the house of Hades. He used his staff to keep them on the right path, like a shepherd with his crook.

The basket used in Dionysiac processions is a kalathos. The root lath in Greek means 'escaping notice'. Is 'Ka' hidden in the basket?

There are some possibilities in Latin. Cacumen means a mountain peak point, or extremity. Pliny uses it of a pyramid, cacumen pyramidis, 36: 16. Etruscan katec, head, may be ka + tego, cover. Livy, I: 34, uses culmen of a man's head, on which an eagle deposits his hat.

Cacus, a son of Vulcan and a contemporary of Evander, was a giant of great strength, living in a cave on the Aventine hill in Rome. He stole the cattle of Geryon, and Hercules killed him in return.

Camenae is a Latin name for the Muses, and the 'ca' may just possibly be an indication of the electrical theory of inspiration held by the Greeks (see previous quotation from Archilochus, "lightning-struck with wine").

The witch mentioned several times by the Latin poet Horace, is named Canidia.

There are examples of words which are likely to contain ka in the Phoenician and Hebrew. In the Old Testament, Numbers IV, there are instructions for Moses and Aaron for the management of the tabernacle and ark. When the camp is moved forward, Aaron and his sons have to cover the ark of testimony with the covering veil, spread a blue cloth on it, and so on (verse 5 f.). The instruments and vessels of the altar are to be spread on a purple cloth on the altar (verse 13). "The sons of Kohath shall come to bear it; but they shall not touch any holy thing, lest they die." (verse 15) Kadhosh' in Hebrew means holy. Those who touch the ark are in danger from the ka or electrical charge that it may carry.

The sound ka, with varying kinds of guttural or laryngeal sound at the start, occurs as qa, with the Hebrew letter qoph, probably similar to the sound of koppa in the Corinthian version of the Greek alphabet. It occurs with a kaph, like the Greek kappa; and as cha, the Hebrew heth.

The Hebrew Kadosh suggests a combination of ka, and dasha, to produce. Qaran is to shine, to put out horns. Qardom is an axe. Qayin, spear, is an eye, or radiation source, of ka. Qarabh is to approach, to appear before god. Qebher is a sepulchre (Latin caverna), qesem is an oracle, qol is a voice. Qatar is to kindle incense, to sacrifice. The connection between electricity and writing is discussed in Chapter XXII, but we may note here qa'aqa, tattoo, mark cut, and chaqaq, to engrave, to ordain; a sceptre.

Hebrew words beginning with heth include chaim, life; chabhar, sorcerer (cf. Kabeiro); chaghagh, to dance, to reel; chaghav, a ravine, such as the chasm at Delphi where the goats and goatherd found themselves dancing; chamman, sun pillar; chaziz, lightning flash; chazon, revelation, prophecy. This word is not unlike the Greek schizo, split, and suggests Attus Navius the augur, who split a stone with a razor.

Words beginning with kaph include kabhodh, glory, weight, soul. It resembles the Latin caput, head, which may be a source of ka (puteus is a well), as was Delphi, whose other name was Pytho. Kadh is pitcher, Latin cadus, Greek kados; kamar, a priest, and to be scorched. It is possible that the Etruscan mer means to take, in which case kamar might be one who takes or catches ka. Hebrew marach is to rub in, lay on. Kapporeth is the ark cover; kashaph, sorcerer, to practice magic, suggests the Greek sophos, prudent and clever, and the Latin sapere, to be prudent. Kashil is an axe or hoe. The Arabic kasdir and the Sanskrit kastira both mean to shine. The Akkadian kudurru is a stele. The resemblance to the Latin turris, tower, suggests that it is a tower for obtaining ka. Ark comes from the Latin arca, a box or chest. Greek arkein and Latin arceo mean to suffice and to ward off. I suggest a possible link with Etruscan ar, electrical fire, and ka.

There is a second kind of soul in Egyptian, the ba, or heart soul, and a third, the khu, or spirit soul, which is also the sign for radiance. Perhaps we should think of the ba when we see the Latin word baculum. It is generally linked to Greek and Sanskrit words mean 'go', and is seen as an aid to walking. But baculum, stick, is also the word used by Livy for the lituus [2] . The Greek bakteria was a badge of office of judges. Baculum is used of the sceptre, and in the Vulgate [3] of a rod of punishment. Psyche is the usual Greek word for soul or life. It was the possession of psyche which, in the opinion of the early Ionian physicist Thales, gave the ability to make independent movements, and so distinguished the planets, for example, which were gods, from mere lumps of inanimate matter. It leaves the body with the blood on death [4] , and is the breath or sign of life. In Homer, the psyche is a ghost, bodiless but with form. In general it is the soul or rational part of man, Latin animus. It is the seat of the 'thumos', i. e. of the will, desires, passions. It is found in this sense in Homer. In Plato [5] , it is the anima mundi, the world soul. 'Thumos' is the Greek for the soul as a source of passions, anger, hunger and energy. Plato connects the word with thuo, which we have met when discussing fire sacrifices. It can be breath, Latin anima. The word is related to Russian 'dym', smoke.

Menos, bodily strength, often means spirit or rage. It can also mean disposition, like Latin mens, but it is physical rather than mental. It is used in periphrasis, like bia and kara, e. g. hieron menos Alkinooio, the holy strength of Alkinous (Odyssey). Sthenos, ardour, is used in the same way, e. g. sthenos Hektoros, Hector. It is often joined with kartos, and with alke, each meaning strength. It also means a large quantity of something, like Latin vis, e. g. ploutou sthenos, great wealth. Vergil has odora canum vis, a pack of keen-scented hounds [6] .

To sum up: Greek and Latin words for the soul, psyche, thumos, menos, mens, animus, anima, have significant parallels in the Egyptian ka, ba, and khu. The Homeric mind and Homeric body are both composite matrices rather than unities, as demonstrated in vase paintings of the Geometric period. Bastet is an Egyptian animal god, the cat. Its hieroglyph shares with that of Set the feature of a tail pointing straight up into the air. Compare, for the erect tails, the electrical significance of Hermes and the ithyphallic statues of Hermes, and the hoopoe, a sacred bird with a striking erectile crest, a principal actor in the comedy The Birds of Aristophanes. The Greek for a cat is ailouros, wavy-tail.

Setekh is the Egyptian storm god.


STATUES AND MUMMIES

A man's ka and character could be transferred to an image or statue of a man. If we look at relief sculptures or paintings of Egyptian gods and pharaohs, we often see some kind of apparatus framing the figure. It looks like a rod, telescopically jointed, as if it were a spark gap that can be adjusted for the best sound and visual display. It is shown well in illustrations in God's Fire and in Hooke's Middle Eastern Mythology. The Hebrew chashuq means 'junction rod, attachment'. Compare Greek arariskein, to fit, and Latin ars, skill, or art. Was the ka some kind of electrical light or halo surrounding the head?

Livy tells how an eagle seized the cap of Lucius Tarquinius, flew up with it into the sky, then descended and replaced it on his head as a 'decus'. The word decus means adornment, or glory. Tanaquil, his wife, interpreted the omen as a promise of divine favour and future greatness. 'Culmen' is used of his head, a word which also occurs in the form cacumen, point, top of a mountain, etc.

Statues of Ptolemy V Epiphanes, 205-182 B. C., were set up, in wooden gilt shrines, by the priests in every important temple in Egypt. Stelae, engraved slabs, were set up in the eighth year of his reign, one of them being known later as the Rosetta stone. Were these statues and shrines electrical devices for producing a glow of divine fire? His title Epiphanes, from the Greek phaino, reveal, would be remarkably appropriate if so. It is likely that a throne and footstool would be part of an electrical device for impressing worshippers. The Greek 'throngs' is the Etruscan word for fear, drouna. Cicero mentions a lightning strike that destroyed statues of gods [7] .

The Hebrew elilim means empty things, idols. This may perhaps be a clue to statue design.

The Latin adolere, to worship, means to magnify, to worship with fire. The concept of magnification is important, and the word is only used in the context of worship. I suggest that the ka was a visible halo which gave the effect of a magnified figure, larger than life. The Hebrew gadhol means great, 'gadhal' is to be great. Livy says that the patres, elders, were 'auctores', increasers or originators, at the election of Ancus Martius as king to succeed Tullius [8] .

When Aeneas went to Cumae to consult the Sibyl, she appeared larger than life as the god approached and took possession of her [9] . She became "maior videri', greater to behold. Her hair also did not remain in order, "non comptae mansere comae."

The Latin word altaria is used of the vessels used in sacrifice, perhaps for holding the sacred fire rather than flesh, which was roasted rather than boiled. 'Altar' does not mean 'altar' in modern English. 'Altaria sunt in quibus igne adoletur', literally 'altaria are the things in which magnification (worship) by fire takes place. ' The Latin 'altus' is a participle of the verb alo, nourish, and means nourished, well-grown, tall, high, and deep if one looks at it from a different viewpoint. In the Old Testament we read that the priest would elevate offerings and wave them in the air [10] . Hebrew 'nasa' = 'raise'; cf. Greek anasso, rule. 'Ana' = up, above; 'aisso' = set in rapid motion.

The idea that the ka was a kind of halo enlarging and lighting the outline of a god or king may throw light on the practice of embalming. Mummification was a means of preserving a framework for the khu, the spirit soul, to occupy after death, and to assist resurrection. Osiris was the 'holy ka'. Offerings were brought to tombs in order to keep the ka in the tomb, and libations were made to the ka of Osiris.

Pyramids and caves would be the best sources of energy to ensure a successful resurrection. Not all boats in tombs were sun boats decorated with symbols of Ra; some were hennu boats, of the type that were mounted on sledges. A boat would provide excellent earthing when used as an ark carrier or coffin transporter [11] . The Hebrew for a threshing sledge, bar-tan, resembles baraq, lightning.

The Egyptian 'hen' means servant; 'neter hen', priest, is the equivalent of 'kohen' (Hebrew), priest. At Rome the king was a servus, servant, of the gods.

Several kinds of sceptre appear in Egyptian art and hieroglyphs. The whip or flail is an obvious sign of royal and divine authority, but the 'tcham' is of special importance. The sloping top is an eagle. The eagle fits well as a lightning symbol, but the lower part of the sceptre is less obvious.

One of the interesting sights in Greece is that of an eagle attacking a snake, seizing it in its talons. This kind of sceptre is a scotch, and the whole thing is a symbol of the lightning of Zeus destroying the monster snake in the sky. Sophocles writes: "skeptobamon aetos," the eagle mounted on the sceptre [12] . The Greek aetos, eagle, is probably Hebrew ayit, bird of prey. A probable link between Egypt and Greece is the word techenu, obelisks or sunbeams, which sounds like Greek techne, device, skill. Ker, evil, suggests Greek ker, evil spirit. Neb, lord, may be related to Neptunus. Poseidon, the Greek god, occurs in Greek in the form Poteidan, lord of earth (da = ga = ge = earth). Ta-neter is Egyptian for 'divine land'.

The ankh is an Egyptian symbol for life. Is there a link with the Greek onux, onuch-, a hoof or nail? Pegasus created a spring of water on Mount Helicon with the spark and blow of his hoof. The ankh will be considered in detail in a later chapter.

Onka, a Phoenician name, is applied to Athene at Thebes, where she was also worshipped as Athene Kadmeia. Qadhmi, in Hebrew, is an Eastern man, and the story was that Kadmos came to Greece from the east.

The Egyptian thaireaa, door, resembles the Greek thura, door. Egyptian thehen, lightning, and Greek thuo, sacrifice with fire, are near enough to suggest that sacrificial fire is the door to Re, or perhaps Re's fire is the doorway to immortality.

Music and sound effects are mentioned in Egyptian texts. J. B. Pritchard, in A. N. E. T., translates from a magical papyrus: "When the gods, rich in magic, spoke, it was the spirit (ka) of magic, for they were asked to annihilate my enemies by the effective charms of their speech, and I sent out those who came into being from my body to overthrow that evil enemy (Apophis)."

There is another myth about the magical power of the name of god. Isis wanted to know Re's secret name so as to use it for spells. She arranged for Re to be bitten by a snake that she created. He applied to her for relief from the pain, and eventually told her the secret name, on condition that no god but Horus should know it. Isis then cured him with a spell using the secret name. (Quoted by Hooke in his 'Middle Eastern Mythology'). The seven vowels are found inscribed in triangular shape on late Greek papyri. The Gnostics wrote 'IAOOEI', a word of power. 'IA' was a shorter version that was also used. The vowels are associated with the names of the seven archangels. (Vice Chapter IV supra for a reference to YAHWEH)

Egyptian priests were specialists in magic. The Hebrew 'kashaph' is 'magician' (Latin sapere = know). They used magic to control people and things. Knowledge of the names of gods and devils was needed, and was imparted to the dead person in his funeral rites, so that he could pass safely through the various gates and regions of the world after death. Models of the sky, with sun-boats containing the khu of the deceased, enabled him to travel in the sky and be received in heaven.

Sympathetic magic was also used by the priests at Egyptian Thebes. Figures of Apep were trampled on. The purpose would be to ensure that there would be no repetition of the battle in the sky which threatened the earth.

Nektanebos, in about 356 B. C., is said to have had wax models of ships and a bowl of water. He would put on a prophet's garment, a tunica or a network cloak and marshal the movements of ships and men with an ebony rod. There is a story that Aristotle gave Alexander the Great a box of toy soldiers with weapons pointing the wrong way, cut bowstrings and so on, together with magic words and instructions for use. There is also a story of a wax model of a crocodile being thrown into a river, turning into a real one, and seizing a man.

Magical rites and incantations were used to install souls in animals, to cure illnesses, to provide a home for the dead person by preserving the khat, or physical body, and to raise the dead.

The means for achieving all this is the god Thoth. He is referred to as the god who made Osiris victorious, just as the Greek Hermes is referred to as the slayer of the monster Argos. (Horus is called the Lord of the Divine Staff whereby all the gods have been made victorious, and Hermes Trismegistos, Thrice Great Hermes, is a name of Thoth). He was the "son of Aner, coming forth from the two Aners?" Egyptian aner is a stone. (Budge).

The ibis is a bird renowned for its skill in killing snakes, and Thoth has the head of an ibis to symbolise his victory over the snake-like monster in the sky.

The importance of Thoth can be gauged from the Egyptian belief that it was through his word that the world was created.

The co-operation of Thoth was achieved by the devices whose aims and procedures were:

1. To bring down electricity from the mountain tops. In Egypt this meant in practice building artificial mountains, pyramids. Pur, fire, occurs in Greek place names, such as Pyrgos (= tower).

2. To find places other than pyramids where he is at home, e. g. caves. Caves would be especially sought for as the voltage gradient between atmosphere and earth declined from the high point of a big natural disturbance such as those of the 2nd and 1st millennia B. C., of which there is plenty of evidence. The Egyptian symbol for a deity, neter, has the same consonants as the Greek antron, cave. In Cicero's De Divinatione we read of gods being in caves, and of a vis terrae, earth force. This is most unlikely to have been gaseous or a vapour. It is more likely to have been electrical, probably piezoelectric as a result of severe earthquakes, of which there were many, at Delphi in particular. Ovid writes "Castalium antrum", the Castalian cave, of the oracle at Delphi, and Livy uses the word specus (chasm, ravine, water channel) of the place where the Sibyl sat.

3. To capture him from the atmosphere in condensers, capacitors, arks, chests, coffins, Leyden jars, whichever term one wishes to use today to denote an early form of electrical storage device. The snake was a symbol for electricity; it was said that an ark contained a snake. One of the priests in a temple was the wab. His duty was to wash the statue. Probably water was used to assist in obtaining electrical effects. The w of wab suggests the hard l of the Slavonic languages, so we may see here a connection with the Latin lavo, wash.

4. To use a staff, probably to detect variations in electrical conditions, including the state of rocky ground resulting from piezo-electric effects. The sceptre could also be used, through magnetism, to move and look like a snake and to impress viewers.

A contest between Moses and the Egyptian magicians Jannes and Jambres is mentioned in Old Testament, Exodus VII: 10, and in New Testament, 2 Timothy III: 8, and de Grazia has suggested that the brazen serpent could have been a device for the electrical treatment of the sick. Moses was learned in all Egyptian wisdom (New Testament, Acts VII: 22).

The study of sound effects associated with arcing between terminals, and perhaps with the Aeolian harp effect of high winds, proceeded on the lines of sympathetic magic. Secret words of power, based on a succession of vowel sounds such as were discussed in Chapter IV, could be used for good, or for evil. They might be uttered with the aim of triggering a response from a capacitor which was slow to charge. To imitate the sound of the god's presence could be a dangerous act.

The priest-electricians may have used the words pach, and lamina. The Hebrew pach is a plate of metal. It also means a snare, danger or calamity. The plural, pachim, means glow, heat, lightning. The Latin lamina is a sheet of metal, especially silver. It is tempting to see in these two words a clue to the construction of a storage device for the electrical god, perhaps on the lines of a Leyden jar or a modern capacitor. The Latin poet Ovid, Fasti I: 208: ff. tells that a praetor (Cincinnatus) made the possession of laminae a crime. Fabricius, censor in 276 B. C., expelled a leading senator for possessing ten pounds in weight of silver laminae. It is probable that more than the mere possession of riches was behind this. The Latin word maiestas means not only majesty but also treason. Literally, it is being greater, and could imply making oneself look greater. The Hebrew elilim means hollow things, and idols. Lamina can mean a threshing-floor, and will be discussed later in the chapter dealing with the Etruscans.

The whole electrical theory and apparatus in Egypt was available for achieving resurrection of the human spirit after death. Pharaohs were at the head of the queue, but basic funeral rites were performed for all. Our chief source of information about the ceremonies is The Book of the Dead. A paperback translation by Sir Wallis Budge is available (Arkana, London, 1986). The Greek historian Herodotus describes embalming methods in Book 2 of his history.

The ceremonies are a mixture of ritual and incantation. The soul is given power to survive in the afterlife and to ascend to heaven. For example, the mouth of the embalmed person is touched with a hoof and with an iron tool, so that he may be able to utter names of deities and of parts of gateways, and magical words which will ensure his safety. The hoof, Greek onuch-, is a symbol of electrical power, and iron's reputation rests partly on its properties as a conductor of electricity and for its magnetic associations. The human soul may suffer many transmutations on its way to the stars, where Plato, for one, placed its origin, mounting each soul on a star as if on a chariot, as we see in his dialogue Timaeus. The scarab may be another link between earth and sky. Karabos, or skarabos, Latin scarabaeus, is a stag beetle, so named in English because of its remarkable horns, such as the ancients claimed to have seen on an object in the sky. More details of the resurrection technique are given in the later chapter on sanctification and resurrection. Egyptian magicians claimed to have rule over water. In the Westcar Papyrus there is a story of a Pharaoh, Seneferu, who was rowed about on a lake by twenty pretty girls. When one of them dropped a valuable ornament in the water, the priest Tchatcha em ankh was ordered to recover it. He spoke words of power (hekau), which caused the water to be heaped up, and recovered the ornament. The priest lived in the time of Cheops, or Khufu, 4th Dynasty. The document was written during the 18th Dynasty, about 1550 B. C. (conventional dating).

Further material concerning water is found in The Book of the Dead, Chapter 163. Osiris Auf-ankh prays to the soul lying prostrate in the body, "whose flame comes into being from out of the fire which blazes within the sea (or water) in such wise that the sea (water) is raised up on high out of the fire thereof ...". It is a prayer that the flame may give eternal life to Osiris Auf-ankh. Further on, it is clear that the god Amen, the divine Bull-Scarab, is being addressed, the lord of the divine utchats.

The resemblance to the story of Moses and the crossing of the Red Sea, Exodus XIV: 21 ff., is striking. Moses stretched out his hand, and the waters were divided, so that the Israelites could cross.

One of the plagues of Egypt mentioned in Exodus was river-water running red with blood. Cicero mentions a shower of bloody rain and rivers running red (De Divinatione II: 27).

We have seen some links between Egyptian and Hebrew. There is material from Phoenicia and further east which may have electrical significance.

The Babylonian goddess Ishtar resembles Aphrodite. She was powerful and dangerous. After the flood she wore a necklace.

The Syrian monarch Ben Hadad is named, I suggest, after the Greek word for a torch, dais, daidos, Latin taeda. With 'son' for Ben, and the definite article for 'ha', it is possible that Ben Hadad gave himself the title of "Son of the Torch", just as the Persian king's viceroy was the rod of Set.

The Akkadian 'Shamash', the sun goddess, Ugaritic 'Shapash', is often called 'The Torch of the Gods'.

The Greek tripod cauldron, lebes --lebetos, is, I suggest, el bet, the house of el. Similarly, the dragon that Herakles killed on his journey to fetch the golden apples of the Hesperides had a Semitic name, Ladon, El Adon, Lord El. And while on the subject of the sky, the Phoenicians, the 'red people', wore feather headdresses; cf. Quetzalcoatl.

Terebinthos, a Greek word with pre-Greek undertones like asaminthos, bath tub, and labyrinthos, is the turpentine tree. The Hebrew for terebinth is elah. The pine, Greek elate, was of great importance to the Greeks; torches were made from it, and the Egyptians used the resin to fill the emptied skull of a mummy.

The psalmist's disapproval of Greek-style sacrifices emerges in Psalm L, v. 13: "Thinkest thou that I will eat bull's flesh, and drink the blood of goats?" At Aegira in Achaea the priestess of Earth drank fresh bull's blood before descending into a cave to prophesy.

More instances of the close relation between Hebrew and Greek can be found. Hebrew has arar, to curse; Greek has are, or ara, prayer or curse. Hebrew zabhach, slaughter, matches the Greek sphazo. But one of the most suggestive is Hebrew cherebh, sword, compared with Greek cheir, hand. Psalm CXXXVI :12 has "with a stretched out arm." Psalm XXII: 20 reads: "Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog."

The Hebrew reads not 'power', but 'hand', and in this context one thinks of Greek chrysaor, with golden sword. 'Aor', sword, looks interestingly like the verb aioreisthai, to hover, be suspended in the air. Hebrew or = light. Chrysaor is applied especially to gods, Apollo, Artemis, and Demeter. It has been suggested that aor is the sickle of Demeter, the bow of Artemis, and the lightning of Zeus. Perhaps it is the golden sword suspended in the sky, the hand or arm of Psalms CXXXVI and XXII, the Greek cheir, Hebrew cherebh.

We end this section with a word which is a bridge between Greece, Egypt and Phoenicia, sky, earth, and the caves in the earth.

Elibatos, Doric alibatos, is a Greek word translated as high or steep. In Homer it is always as an epithet of petre, rock or the plural petrai, crags, (Iliad XV: 273 etc). It occurs as an epithet of oros, mountain, and akra, peak and is used of the Olympian throne of Zeus in The Birds of Aristophanes, line 1732. One may compare Greek oros, mountain, with Hebrew or, light.

In Odyssey IX: 243, the Cyclops puts an elibatos rock against the entrance to his cave.

It is used like the Latin altus, high or deep, e. g. "antro en elibato," in a deep cave, Hesiod, Theogony 483. It is also applied to Tartarus, to keuthmon, hiding place, and to pelagos, sea. Keuthmon is used by Pindar, Pythian IX: 34, to mean hollows of a mountain, and of the nether world by Hesiod, Theogony 158, and by Aeschylus, Eumenides 805, to mean a most holy place, like the adyton of a temple.

The derivation of the word has caused difficulties. It clearly cannot be from helios, the sun, 'traversed by the sun', because the sun does not traverse all the places to which the word is applied. Hesychius quotes alyps, equivalent to petre, a rock.

I suggest that it is from El, god, and batos, trodden, and means 'where El goes', for el is electricity from the earth as well as from the sky. One may compare the Greek for a cave, antron, with Egyptian neter, god, divine.



Notes (Chapter Thirteen: 'KA" and Egyptian magic)


1. Homer: Iliad VIII: 281

2. Livy: I: 18: 7

3. Old Testament, Isaiah: X: 24

4. Homer: Iliad XIV: 518

5. Plato: Timaeus 30b, 34b, etc.

6. Vergil: Aeneid IV: 132

7. Cicero: De Divinatione I: XII

8. Livy: I: 32

9. Vergil: Aeneid VI: 49

10. Old Testament, Numbers V: 25

11. De Grazia: God's Fire pp. 85, 116

12. Sophocles: fr. 766

13. Thoth was a peacemaker. Was he seen as a god who separated opponents? Appropriately enough, in electro-magnetic terms, like poles repel. The Greek 'kreas', flesh, is another of the words used, like 'head', and 'strength', for a person, especially when addressing a person. It resembles the Latin 'creare', to create. Perhaps 'kreas, ' is another instance of 'ka', and creation is a flow of ka. See also the Appendix re the priests' language at Delphi.




TABLE OF CONTENTS
previous.gif     next.gif