Ankh-af-na-khonsu
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Ankh-af-na-khonsu was a priest of the Egyptian god Mentu who lived in Thebes during the 25th and 26th dynasty (c. 725 BCE).[1] He is best known as the creator of the Stèle of Revealing, a funerary tablet he created for himself to commemorate his death.
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[edit] Meaning of the name
Sr. Lutea, writing in The Scarlet Letter, explains some of the words in his name:
"A translation of the name might be close to the following: Ankh is both a tool and a symbol meaning 'new life.' The hyphen af is always part of another word that lends exclamatory force. The word, na is generally used as a preposition, such as 'to, for, belonging to, through, or because.' Khonsu was the adopted son of Amun and Mut from the Theban triad. His name comes from a word meaning, 'to cross over' or 'wanderer' or 'he who traverses.' So, his entire name may be translated as 'the truth that has crossed over.'"[2]
[edit] On the Stèle
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Stèle of Revealing |
According to one translation of the Stèle, it says of him:
"...has left the multitudes and rejoined those who are in the light, he has opened the dwelling place of the stars; now then, the deceased, Ankh-af-na-khonsu has gone forth by day in order to do everything that pleased him upon earth, among the living."[3]
or by a 1982 analysis,
"deliverer of those who are in the sunshine, open for him the netherworld; indeed the Osiris Ankh-ef-en-Khonsu shall go forth by day to do that which he desires, all, upon earth, among the living."[4]
[edit] In Thelema
The Book of the Law (I,36) says:
"My scribe Ankh-af-na-khonsu, the priest of the princes, shall not in one letter change this book; but lest there be folly, he shall comment thereupon by the wisdom of Ra-Hoor-Khuit."[5]
Based on this, Aleister Crowley used the magical name Ankh-af-na-khonsu (from the Boulaq Museum translation) to sign "The Comment" of The Book of the Law, and also used it sometimes when referring to himself as the prophet of Thelema and the Aeon of Horus. Kenneth Grant wrote that "Crowley claimed to have been a re-embodiment of the magical current represented by the priesthood to which Ankh-af-na-Khonsu belonged".[6]
[edit] Notes
- ^ "To the same (man) belong sarcophagi Cairo 41001, 41001bis and 41042 (Dyn. XXV-XXVI)". Abd el Hamid Zayed, "Painted Wooden Stelae in the Cairo Museum," Revue d'égytologie 20 (1968), pp. 149-152.
- ^ Sr. Lutea. (2002). "Who And What Are Those Egyptian References In Liber Resh?". The Scarlet Letter, Vol. VII, No. 2.
- ^ "Boulaq Museum translation" in The Holy Books of Thelema, Samuel Weiser, Inc. (1983) p. 249.
- ^ "A modern analysis" in The Holy Books of Thelema, Samuel Weiser, Inc. (1983) p. 260.
- ^ Crowley, Aleister. Liber AL vel Legis, I,36.
- ^ Grant, Kenneth (1977). Nightside of Eden, p. 133, n. 9. London: Frederick Muller Limited. ISBN 0-584-10206-2
[edit] Sources
- Thelemapedia. (2004). Ankh-af-na-khonsu. Retrieved April 14, 2006.
[edit] References
- Crowley, Aleister. The Book of the Law / Liber AL vel Legis. Weiser Books, 2004. ISBN 978-1578633081
[edit] Further reading
- Tau Apiryon (1998). The Kiblah.
