THE GREAT INITIATES - MOSES Initiation of Moses in Egypt

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« THE GREAT INIITATES », part I

Edouard SCHURE

Kessinger Publishings Rare Reprints

ISBN 0-7661-3146-7

 

MOSES

 

Chapter II

 

INITIATION OF MOSES IN EGYPT – HIS FLIGHT TO JETHRO

 

 

RAMESES II was one of the great monarchs of Egypt. His son named Menepthah.

According to Egyptian custom, he received his education from the priests in the

temple of Amen-Râ at Memphis, the royal art being at that time sacerdotal.

Menephtah was a timid young man, inquisitive, and of ordinary intelligence. He

had a love – by no means enlightened – for occult science, which later on made

him the victim of inferior magicians and astrologers. His companion in study was

a young man of a retiring, strange, and harsh nature.

 

Osarsiph was Meneptah's cousin, the son of the princess royal, sister of Raesses

II. Whether he was an adopted or a natural son has never been known. Osarsiph

was, above all else, the child of the temple between whose columns he had grown

up. Dedicated to Isis and Osiris by his mother, from his early youth he had been

a Levite at the coronation of the Pharaoh, in the priestly processions of the

great festivals, and carried the ephod, the chalice or the censers; afterwards

he was seen inside the Temple, solemn and attentive, listening to the sacred

music, the hymns, and the teachings of the priests.

 

Osarsiph was short of stature; he had a quiet thoughtful air and a forehead like

a ram's, with piercing black eyes, fixed and keen as an eagle's. He had been

called " the silent " , so concentrated was he, scarcely ever uttering a word.

Often did he falter when he spoke, as though seeking for words or afraid to

utter his thoughts. Though apparently timid, suddenly, like a thunder –clap, a

terrible idea would burst out in a single word, leaving behind a flash of light.

Then it was seen that if ever " the silent one " began to act he would be

astonishingly bold. Already the furrowed brow betokened and predestined to some

heavy task; about his eyes there seemed to hover a threatening cloud.

 

Women feared the eye of his young Levite, unfathomable as the tomb, whilst his

countenance was as impassive as the door of the temple of Isis. One would have

said they had a presentiment that an enemy of the gentle sex was present in this

future representative of the male principle in religion in its most absolute and

intractable elements.

 

His mother, however, the princess royal, ardently hoped that her son might some

day sit on the throne of the Pharaohs. Osarsiph was more intelligent than

Menepthah; with the help of the priesthood, he might hope to usurp the kingdom.

True, the Pharaohs appointed their successors from amongst their sons. Still the

priests at times in the interests of the State would refuse to ratify the decree

of the prince once he was dead. Often had they removed unworthy or feeble

successors from the throne to give the sceptre to a royal initiate. Menephtah

was already jealous of his cousin; Ramesses kept an eye upon him, for he

distrusted the silent Levite.

 

One day Osarsiph's mother met her son in the Serapeum of Memphis, an immense

place filled with obelisks, mausoleums, small and large temples, a kind of

open-air museum of national glories approached along an avenue flanked by six

hundred sphinxes. In the presence of his royal mother the Levite bowed to the

ground, and according to custom, waited for her to speak to him.

 

3thou art about to enter into the mysteries of Isis nd Osiris, " she said to him.

" For a long period I shall not see thee, my son. Do not forget, however, that

thou art the blood of the Pharaohs, and that I am thy mother. Look all around

thee…. Some day, if thou wilt….. all this shall belong to thee! "

 

With a wave of her hand she pointed to the obelisks and temples, then to

Memphis, and the wide-stretching horizon.

 

A disdainful smile passed over the countenance of Osarsiph, habitually as smooth

and motionless as a bronze figure.

 

" Dost thou then wish me, " he said, " to rule over this people which worships gods

with heads of jackals, ibis and hyena? What will remain of all these idols after

a few centuries? "

 

Osarsiph bent down, picked up a handful of fine sand, which he watched as it

escaped through his slender fingers, before the eyes of his astonished mother:

" No more than that " , he added.

 

" Dos thou then despise the religion of our fathers and the science of our

priests? "

 

" No, no; on the contrary, that is what I aspire to! But the pyramid is

motionless; it must be made to move. I shall not be a Pharaoh; my home is far

from here….. away there….. in the wilderness! "

 

" Osarsiph! " said the princess in tones of reproach, " wherefore dost thou

blaspheme? It was a fiery wind which brought thee into my womb, and now I see

clearly it is the tempest which is to carry thee away! Though I gave thee birth,

I do not know thee! In the name of Osiris, who art thou, and what wilt thou do? "

 

" Do I even know myself? Osiris alone knows, perhaps he will reveal it to me.

Give me thy blessing, my mother, that Isis may protect me and the land of Egypt

be favourable to me. "

 

Osarsiph knelt before his mother, respectfully crossed his hands over his

breast, and bowed his head. Removing from her brow the lotus flower she wore

there, as was the wont of the temple women, she gave it him to breathe in its

perfume; then, seing that her son's thoughts would remain an eternal mystery to

her, she stole away, murmuring a prayer.

 

Osarsiph passed triumphantly through the initiation of Isis. His unbending soul

and iron will made light of the tests. Of a mathematical and all-comprehending

mind, he showed a giant's intellect and understood the sacred numbers, the

fertile symbolism and application of which were then almost endless. His mind,

disdainful alike of things which exist only in appearance and of passing

individuals, delighted only in immutable principles. From these heights he

quietly and surely penetrated and dominated all, without manifesting either

desire, revolt, or inquisitiveness.

 

Osarsiph had remained an enigma to his masters as well as to his mother. He was

rigid and inflexible as an etrnal principle: this was what terrified the most.

They felt they could neither bend nor turn him aside from the path. He proceeded

along his unknown way like a heavenly body in its invisible orbit. Membra, the

pontiff, wondered to what heights this self-concentred ambition of his would

rise. He determined to find out. One day Osarsiph, along with three other

priests of Osiris, had been bearing the golden ark, which went before the

pontiff on the occasion of important ceremonies. This ark contained the ten most

secret books of the temple, dealing with magic and theurgy.

 

On returning to the sanctuary with Osarsiph, Membra said to him:

 

" Thou art of royal lineage; thy might and science are beyond thy years. What

desirest thou? "

 

" Nothing but this " . As he spoke, Osarsiph laid his hand on the sacred ark, which

the golden hawks were protecting with their shining wings.

 

" Then thou desirest to become pontiff is permitted to acquire it ? "

 

" Osiris speaks as he will, when he will, to whomsoever he will. What this ark

contains is nothing but the dead letter. If the living Spirit wishes to speak to

me, he will speak " .

 

" And what dost thou intend to do to obtain this? "

 

" Wait and obey. "

 

When these replies were related to RamesesII., they increased his mistrust. He

dreaded lest Osarsiph should aspire to the rank of Pharaoh, to the prejudice of

his own son, Meneptah. Consequently Pharaoh commanded that his sister's son

should be appointed sacred scribe of the temple of Osiris. This important

function included the language of symbols under all its forms – cosmography and

astronomy; but then it removed him from the throne. The son of the royal

princess gave himself up with the same zeal and absolute submission to his

duties as chief scribe, to which was also attached the function of inspector of

different nomes, or provinces, of Egypt.

 

Was Osarsiph as proud as he was alleged to be? Yes, if it is pride that makes

the captive lion raise its head and look out on the horizon behind the bars of

its cage, without even seing the passers-by, who stare at him, wondering. Yes,

if it is from pride that the eagle, tied down by a chain, feels a thrill pass

over the whole of his plumage, and with outstretched neck and extended wings

looks fixedly at the sun. Like all strong men marked out for some great work,

Osarsiph could not regard himself as subjected to some blind Destiny; he felt

that a mysterious Providence was keeping watch over him, leading him to a

certain goal.

 

Whilst he was a sacred scribe, Osarsiph was sent to inspect the Delta. The

Hebrews, tributaries of Egypt, who at that time dwelt in the valley of Goshen,

were subjected to the roughest of tasks . Rameses II. Was joining Pelusium to

Heliopolis by a certain chain of fortresses. All the nomes of Egypt were to add

their contingent of labourers to these gigantic works. The Beni-Israel had the

hardest tasks of all; for the most part they were hewers of stone and makers of

bricks. Proud and independent, they did not bow s readily as did the natives

beneath the blows of the Egyptian police, but murmured in revolt and sometimes

returned blow for blow. The priest of Osiris could not help feeling secret

sympathy with these " stiff-necked " , intractable human beings, whose Elders,

faithful to the tradition of Abraham, simply worshipped the one God; who revered

their chiefs, their hags and zakens? Though they rebelled against the yoke of

slavery and protested against injustice. One day he saw an Egyptian warder

showering down blows on a weaponless Hebrew. His heart leapt within him, and

flinging himself upon the Egyptian, he snatched from him his weapon and struck

him dead. This act, committed murder were severely judged by the sacerdotal

college. Pharaoh already suspected that his sister's son was an usurper. The

scribe's life hung a mere thread. He preferred exile, wishing to impose on

himself expiation for his crime. Everything impelled him towards the solitude of

the wilderness, the immense unknown; his own desire, the presentiment of his

mission, and above all else, that inner, mysterious though irresistible voice

which whispered from time to time : " Go! It is thy destiny! "

 

Beyond the Red Sea and the peninsula of Sinai, in the land of Midian, there was

a temple which was not dependent on the Egyptian priesthood. This region

extended like a green band between the gulf of Elam and the wilderness of

Arabia. In the distance beyond an arm of the sea could be seen the sombre pile

of Sinai and its bare summit. Locked in between the desert and the Red Sea, and

protected by a shrub-covered volcano, this isolated country was sheltered from

invasion. The temple was consecrated to Osiris, but the sovereign God was also

worshipped there under the nae of Elohim. This sanctuary, Ethiopian in its

origin, served as a religious centre for such Arabs, Semites, and men of the

balck race as sought after initiation.

 

For centuries past, Sinai and Horeb had thus been the mystic centre of a

monotheistic cult. The bare, wild grandeur of the mountain, as it rose in

solitary isolation between Egypt and Arabia, called up the idea of the one God.

Many pilgrims from amongst the Semites came there to worship Elohim. They would

stay several days, fasting and praying, in the caves and passages dug out of the

sides of Mount Sinai. Previously, they went for purification and instruction to

the temple of Midian. It was in this spot that Osarsiph took refuge.

 

The high priest of Midian. It was in this spot that Osarsiph took refuge.

 

The high priest of Midian or the Raguel (God's overseer) was then called Jethro.

He was a dark-skinned man, belonging to the purest type of ancient Ethiopian

race, which had reigned over Egypt four or five thousand years before Rameses,

and had not lost its tradition, which dated back to the oldest races on the

globe Jethro was neither inspired nor a man of action, but he was a great sage.

His memory and the stone libraries of his temple were treasure-houses of

science. Besides, he was the protector of the wandering tribes of the desert,

the nomadic Semites, Libyans, and Arabs. With their vague aspirations after the

one God, they represented something immutable in the midst of ephemeral cults

and crumbling civilisations. In them could be felt, as it were, the presence of

the Eternal, the memorial of long past ages, the mighty peace of Elohim. Jethro

was the spiritual father of these free, untamed warriors; he knew their soul,

their real nature, and had a presentiment of their destiny. When Osarsiph, came

to ask shelter from him with open arms. Perhaps in this fugitive he immediately

saw the man destined to become the prophet of the banished people, the leader of

the children of God.

 

At first Osarsiph wished to subject himself to the expiation imposed on

murderers by the law of the initiates. When a priest of Osiris had committed a

murder, even an involuntary one, he was regarded as having lost the benefits of

his anticipated resurrection " in the light of Osiris, " a privilege he had

obtained through having successfully passed through the tests of initiation, and

which placed him far above the generality of mankind. To expiate his crime and

regain the inner light he must submit to severer tests and once more expose

himself to death. After a lengthened fast, by the aid of certain beverages, the

priest was plunged into a lethargic sleep and then deposited in a temple vault.

There he remained for days, sometimes for weeks. During this time he was

supposed to journey into the Beyond, into Erebus or the region of the Amenti, in

which move the souls of the dead which have not yet become detached from the

atmosphere of earth. There he must seek out his victim, submit to his anguish

and pain, obtain his pardon, and help him to find the path of light. Then only

was he regarded as having expiated his murder, then only was his astral body

purified from the dark stains with which the poisoned breath and the

imprecations of the victim had polluted it. From this real or imaginary journey,

however, the guilty man might well not return, and often when the priest went to

arouse the expiatist from his lethargic slumber they found nothing but a corpse;

 

Osarsiph unhesitatingly submitted to this test and to several others. The murder

he had committed had enabled him to understand the immutable nature of certain

moral laws and the deep torture their infraction leaves in the depths of

conscience. With utmost abnegation he offered his being as a holocaust to

Osiris, asking for strength if he returned to the light of earth, to show forth

the law of justice. When Osarsiph ce out of the awful sleep in the subterranean

vault of the temple of Midian, he felt completely transformed. His past life had

become separated from him, as it were, Egypt had ceased to be his home, and

before him stretched the immense wilderness with its wandering nomads: a new

field of action. He looked at the mountain of Elohim on the horizon and, for the

first time, like a storm vision in the clouds of Sinai, the idea of his mission

passed before his eyes. He must form of these wandering tribes a fighting

people, to represent the law of the supreme God in the midst of the idolatry of

cults and the anarchy of nations – a people which should carry to future ages

the truth sealed in the golden ark of initiation.

 

On that day, in order to mark the new era beginning in his life, Osarsiph

assumed the name of Moses, signifying: " The saved " .