Theos-Talk Archives (July 1997 Message tl00282)

Hi Lynn!

>For over 20 years, I've been wondering about the Egyptian hierglyph for a
>preposition? Geeeesh!!!! <very big grin>

I didn't know how else to put it; because every way it would have sounded
like a big let down. :-)  But, I still feel that there is much work to be
done before anyone can read the older hieroglyphics and have confidence in
the information contained in them.. so, you never know!  Maybe some deeper
meaning will be found.

>Take the owl, for example. Surely it means more than "in" or "at". (I'm
not basing >this on the fact of my personal experience but the potential
potency of the symbol.) 

Ok, well since you're unhappy with the traditional Egyptological response,
here's another angle which is purely speculation on my part.  The 'game
board' glyph is just about always shown with a wavy line under it and
together they form a syllable 'Men' which typically means 'understanding'
or represents the 'mental' in other languages  like 'mens' =
'mind/understanding (Lat), ahmen='he who understands' (Nahuatl), manabu=to
learn (Jap), mana = to count (Heb).  Seems to me that the game board
implies 'thought' and so this would 'fit' in my opinion (although
Egyptologists have not usually translated this syllable in this manner).  

Then the 'owl' is also an 'M' and it is found in other words also.  I was
told that it was usually colored 'yellow'; the color of 'intelligence' in
an aura.  And of course we always say 'wise as an owl'!  So,  if I
personally wanted to dig deeper, I'd look in that direction.... One more
thing, it was often substituted with a 'headless bird' which perhaps could
mean 'non-useage of reason' (?)  So, in those respects, you may be
right.... but it sure is a common symbol.  At your suggestion, I will keep
my eyes peeled on this 'preposition'. :-)

>It's sort of ironic, BTW, that
>this discussion here came up while I'm in the midst of doing charcoal
>drawings (requested by my family) of Egyptian motifs (Tut's funeral mask,
>various bas-reliefs, etc.) and several cable TV stations had shows about the
>ancient Egyptians in the past two weeks. Maybe Jung's Law of Synchronicity
>holds true after all. ;-D

I'm fascinated by coincidences.
>>  
>>  Btw, I know someone who has an awesome collection of Egyptian 'djed'
>>  pillars which he's trying to determine the symbolism of.  They are at:
>>  
>>  http://www.aa.net/~mwm/phoenix/library/libraryph.html
>
>Many, many thanks! I will definitely visit the site. I've been meaning to
>surf the Web anyway in search of more Egyptian "fodder" for my current
>creative mode and it would be great to pick up on some more Egyptology along
>the way. The ancient Egyptians have always fascinated me, for a number of
>reasons, anyway.

I hope you reserve a few non-artistic thoughts to help interpret this
symbol.  There is one really eerie picture of a 'djed pillar' which has
'hands' holding up a large clear, elongated globe that has a slitheriing
snake in it which kind of reminds me of the 'innards' of a light bulb.
However, a similar hieroglyphic symbol seems to be associated with the word
'within', with the word 'Amen', with 'horns' (or the forehead), with the
word 'aten' (which is sometimes has a determinative which is a 'face' or
portion of a 'face'), and there may even be a far-fetched connection with
'Amen' and crystals.  What would your perceptive vision tell you about that
jumble?

Gisele