UNTIL 2012

Alchemy & The Philosopher's Stone

Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, the man who gains understanding,
for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold.
She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her.
Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor.
Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace.
She is a tree of life to those who embrace her; those who lay hold of her will be blessed. By wisdom the LORD laid the earth's foundations, by understanding he set the heavens in place; by his knowledge the deeps were divided, and the clouds let drop the dew.

The Bible, Proverbs 3: 13-20

Introduction to Alchemy

Alchemy is generally defined as an art which aims to change impure metals into silver or gold. The goal of the Great Work of alchemy, called also the Art, is the "Philosopher's Stone". The Stone was viewed as a magical touchstone that could immediately perfect any substance or situation. The Philosopher's Stone has been associated with the Salt of the World, the Astral Body, the Elixir, and even Jesus Christ. The Elixir of the alchemists has essentially the same ability to perfect any substance. When applied to the human body, the Elixir cures diseases and restores youth.

The alchemists' dream is to attain knowledge of the mysterious Philosopher's Stone, or "that Elixir by which such wonders are performed".
The Stone is "a blessing beyond all blessings upon earth... given to but very few, and to those few rather by revelation of the good angels of God than the proper industry of man".

Alchemical texts should not be read literally and their content is purely allegorical and mystical. The studies of Carl Gustav Jung show it is possible to detect correspondences between alchemy and mysticism: the alchemist himself, too, was to live through the process of transmutation, and become transformed as a result.

In modern language the Stone is a symbol of incorruptible wisdom achieved by uniting both rational, intellectual thinking (masculine, rational, right brain activity) with our intuitive knowing of the heart (feminine, intuitive left brain activity)

The basis of all the alchemical transformations required to obtain the Stone (called the Great Work) is seven-stepped formula described by the Emerald Tablet of Hermes.

The Emerald Tablet of Hermes

History of the Tablet

(largely summarized from Needham 1980, & Holmyard 1957)

The Tablet probably first appeared in the West in editions of the psuedo-Aristotlean Secretum Secretorum which was actually a translation of the Kitab Sirr al-Asar, a book of advice to kings which was translated into latin by Johannes Hispalensis c. 1140 and by Philip of Tripoli c.1243. Other translations of the Tablet may have been made during the same period by Plato of Tivoli and Hugh of Santalla, perhaps from different sources.

The date of the Kitab Sirr al-Asar is uncertain, though c.800 has been suggested and it is not clear when the tablet became part of this work.
Holmyard was the first to find another early arabic version (Ruska found a 12th centruy recension claiming to have been dictated by Sergius of Nablus) in the Kitab Ustuqus al-Uss al-Thani (Second Book of the Elements of Foundation) attributed to Jabir. Shortly after Ruska found another version appended to the Kitab Sirr al-Khaliqa wa San`at al-Tabi`a (Book of the Secret of Creation and the Art of Nature), which is also known as the Kitab Balaniyus al-Hakim fi'l-`Ilal (book of Balinas the wise on the Causes). It has been proposed that this book was written may have been written as early as 650, and was definitely finished by the Caliphate of al-Ma'mun (813-33).
Scholars have seen similarities between this book and the Syriac Book of Treasures written by Job of Odessa (9th century) and more interestingly the Greek writings of the bishop Nemesius of Emesa in Syria from the mid fourth century. However though this suggests a possible Syriac source, non of these writings contain the tablet.
Balinas is usually identified with Apollonius of Tyna, but there is little evidence to connect him with the Kitab Balabiyus, and even if there was,the story implies that Balinas found the tablet rather than wrote it, and the recent discoveries of the dead sea scrolls and the nag hamamdi texts suggest that hiding texts in caves is not impossible, even if we did not have the pyramids before us.
Ruska has suggested an origin further east, and Needham has proposed an origin in China.
Holmyard, Davis and Anon all consider that this Tablet may be one of the earliest of all alchemical works we have that survives.
It should be remarked that apparantly the Greeks and Egyptians used the termtranslated as `emerald' for emeralds, green granites, "and perhaps green jasper". In medieval times the emerald table of the Gothic kings of Spain, and the Sacro catino- a dish said to have belonged to the Queen of Sheba, to have been used at the last supper, and to be made of emerald, were made of green glass [Steele and Singer: 488].

The Emerald Tablet of Hermes - Translations

1. Tis true without lying, certain & most true. That wch is below is like that wch is above & that wch is above is like yt wch is below to do ye miracles of one only thing.

2. And as all things have been & arose from one by ye mediation of one: so all things have their birth from this one thing by adaptation.

3. The Sun is its father, the moon its mother, the wind hath carried it in its belly, the earth its nourse.

4. The father of all perfection in ye whole world is here.

5. Its force or power is entire if it be converted into earth. Seperate thou ye earth from ye fire, ye subtile from the gross sweetly wth great indoustry.

6. It ascends from ye earth to ye heaven & again it desends to ye earth and receives ye force of things superior & inferior.

7. By this means you shall have ye glory of ye whole world & thereby all obscurity shall fly from you.

8. Its force is above all force. for it vanquishes every subtile thing & penetrates every solid thing. So was ye world created.

9. From this are & do come admirable adaptaions whereof ye means (Or process) is here in this.

10. Hence I am called Hermes Trismegist, having the three parts of ye philosophy of ye whole world.

11. That wch I have said of ye operation of ye Sun is accomplished & ended.

Translation of Issac Newton c. 1680.

1. Trouth hath hym so, and it is no doubt, that the lover is to the heigher, and the heigher to the lower aunsweren.

2. The worcher forsoth of all myracles is the one and sool God, of and fro Whom Cometh all meruelous operacions.

3. So all thynges were created of o soole substance, and of o soole disposicion,
   the fader wherof is the sone, and the moone moder,
   that brought hym forth by blast or aier in the wombe, the erthe taken fro it,
   to whom is seid the increat fader, tresour of myracles, and yever of vertues.

4. Of fire is made erthe. Depart the erthe fro the fire, for the sotiller is worthier than the more grosse, and the thynne thynge than the thik. This most be do wisely and discretly.

5. It ascendith fro the erth into the heven, and falleth fro heven to the erthe, and therof sleith the higher and the lower vertue.

6. And yf it lordship in the lower and in the heigher, and thow shalt lordship aboue and beneth, which forsoth is the light of lightes, and therfor fro the wolle fle all derknesse.

7. The higher vertue ouer-cometh all, for sothe all thynne thyng doth in dense thynges.

8. After the disposicion of the more world rynneth this worchyng.

9. And for this prophetisyng of the trynyte of God Hermogenes it called Triplex, trebil in philosophie, as Aristotle seith.

Translation from Roger Bacon's edition of Secretum Secretorum made c 1445

1. True, true, with no room for doubt, certain, worthy of all trust.

2. See, the highest comes from the lowest, and the lowest from the highest;
   indeed a marvelous work of the tao.

3. See how all things originated from It by a single process.

4. The father of it (the elixir) is the sun (Yang), its mother the moon (Yin).
   The wind bore it in its belly, and the earth nourished it.

5. This is the father of wondrous works (changes and transformations), the guardian of mysteries, perfect in its powers, the animator of lights.

6. This fire will be poured upon the earth...

7. So separate the earth from the fire, the subtle from the gross, acting prudently and with art.

8. It ascends from the earth to the heavens (and orders the lights above), then descends again to the earth; and in it is the power of the highest and the lowest.

9. Thus when you have the light of lights darkness will flee away from you.

10. With this power of powers (the elixir) you shall be able to get the mastery of every subtle thing, and be able to penetrate everything that is gross.

11. In this way was the great world itself formed.

12. Hence thus and thus marvellous operations will be acheived.

Tabula smaragdina' from Ms. M 308 (1943)
Copyright © 2003 Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica

The seven-stepped Emerald Formula is the basis of all the transformations in the Great Work.

Seven Steps of the Philosopher's Stone Formula

Although the alchemists went to great pains to conceal the true order of the steps of the formula for making the Stone, the correct order according to the Emerald Tablet is:

• Calcination,
• Dissolution,
• Separation,
• Conjunction,
• Fermentation,
• Distillation,
• Coagulation.

The first four steps take place Below, in the realm of matter.

The last three steps take place Above, in the realm of mind and creative imagination.

The Seven Steps of Transformation of the One Entity
Solve et Coagula

"Visita Interiora Terra Rectificanto Inveniens Occultum Lapidem"
L'Azoth des Philosophes, Basil Valentine, Paris, 1659.

BLACK WORK

1. Saturn / black crow perching on top of a skull / Visita = Putrefaction
2. Jupiter / black crow watching itself dissolving / Interiora = Dissolution

WHITE WORK

3. Mars / two white soul birds retrieving the remains / Terra = Separation
4. Sun / ascending soul & spirit birds leave Earth and lift the five-spiked crown / Rectificanto = Conjunction

RED WORK

5. Venus / soul & spirit birds nest in a tree and brood over their egg / Inveniens = Fermentation
6. Mercury / unicorn lying in front of a rose bush / Occultum = Distillation
7. Moon / androgynous youth emerging from an open grave / Lapidem = Coagulation.
   

The telemic process is subdivided in different phases. In general, a sevenfold was chosen, corresponding with the seven planets known in antiquity. Various other sevenfold classifications were used : the days of the week, the seven "Artes Liberales", the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, the seven deadly sins, the seven ways of holy love, the seven heavens, the seven hells, etc. The habit of publishing bogus correspondences, assisted the occultation of Hermetism, but served well as a protection device. It was Jung who, in the previous century, showed that the discipline is psychological & spiritual, rather than physical or technological. As a spiritual discipline, alchemy differs from the other traditions. Its use of physical objects & their properties, to convey spiritual & philosophical teachings is unique for the Egypto-Alexandrian model, rooted it the Hermetical postulate, and indeed leading to admirable practical realizations.

Interpretation of Azoth of the Philosophers

by Dennis William Hauck

This meditative emblem first published in 1659 as an illustration for the book Azoth of the Philosophers by the legendary German alchemist Basil Valentine. The word "Azoth" in the title is one of the more arcane names for the One Thing. The "A" and "Z" in the word relate to the Greek alpha and omega, the beginning and end of all things. The word is meant to embrace the full meaning of the One Thing, which is both the chaotic First Matter at the beginning of the Work and the perfected Stone at its conclusion.

At the center of this striking drawing is the face of a bearded alchemist at the beginning of the Work. Like looking into a mirror, this is where the adept fixes his or her attention to meditate on the mandala. Within the downward-pointing triangle superimposed over the face of the alchemist is the goal of the Work, the divine man in which the forces from Above and Below have come together. Each of the sequentially numbered points on the star emanating from the alchemist stands for an operation in the Emerald Formula (Calcination, Dissolution, Separation, Conjunction, Fermentation, Distillation, and Coagulation) and contains the cipher for the corresponding metal. To see an explanation of these operations, click on the appropriate point on the star.

Table of Operations = Metals

The alchemist’s schematized body is the offspring of the marriage between Sol, the archetypal Sun King seated on a lion on a hill to his right, and Luna, the archetypal Moon Queen seated on a great fish to his left. "Its father is the Sun," says the tablet, "its mother the Moon." The laughing, extroverted Sun King holds a scepter and a shield indicating his authority and strength over the rational, visible world, but the fiery dragon of his rejected unconscious waits in a cave beneath him ready to attack should he grow too arrogant. The melancholy, introverted Moon Queen holds the reins to a great fish, symbolizing her control of those same hidden forces that threaten the King, and behind her is a chaff of wheat, which stands for her connection to fertility and growth. The bow and arrow she cradles in her left arm symbolize the wounds of the heart and body she accepts as part of her existence.

In simplest terms, the King and Queen represent the raw materials of our experience -- our thoughts and feelings -- with which the alchemist works.

The King symbolizes the power of thought, ultimately the One Mind of the highest spirit.
The Queen stands for the influence of feelings and emotions, which are ultimately the chaotic One Thing of the greater soul.

The much anticipated Marriage of the King and Queen produces a state of consciousness best described as a feeling intellect, which can be raised and purified to produce a state of perfect intuition, a direct gnosis of reality. "All Obscurity will be clear to you," says the tablet of this state of mind; it is "the Glory of the Whole Universe." The goal of alchemy is to make this golden moment permanent in a state of consciousness called the Philosopher’s Stone, and it all starts with the marriage of opposites within us.

In our drawing, the body of the alchemist is composed of the Four Elements. His feet protrude from behind the central emblem; one is on Earth and the other in Water. In his right hand is a torch of Fire and in his left a feather, symbolizing Air. Between his legs dangles the Cubic Stone labeled with the word Corpus, meaning body. The five stars surrounding it indicate that it also contains the hidden Fifth Element, the invisible Quintessence whose "inherent strength is perfected if it is turned into Earth." Where the head of the alchemist should be, there is a strange winged caricature that is variously interpreted as a heart, a helmet, or even the pineal gland at the center of the brain. The symbol evolved from the Winged Disk of Akhenaten and became the top of the Caduceus, the magical wand of Hermes where opposing energies merge to produce miracles. This knob represents the Ascended Essence, the essence of our souls raised to the highest level in the body, to the brain, where it becomes a mobile center of consciousness able to leave the body and travel to other dimensions.

Touching the wings of the caduceus are a salamander engulfed in flames on the left side of the drawing and a standing bird on the right. Below the salamander is the inscription Anima (Soul); below the bird is the inscription Spiritus (Spirit). The salamander, as a symbol of soul, is attracted to and exposed in the blazing fire of the Sun. Likewise, the bird of spirit is attracted to the coolness of the Moon and is reflected in it. This is a subtle statement of the fundamental bipolar energies that drive the alchemy of transformation. Spiritus, Anima, and Corpus form a large inverted triangle that stands behind the central emblem. Together they symbolize the three archetypal celestial forces that the alchemists termed Sulfur, Mercury, and Salt. Again, these chemicals are not chemicals at all, but our feelings, thoughts, and body.

Source: THE EMERALD TABLET (Penguin 1999) by Dennis William Hauck

The Stone of the Philosophers

There are two primary ways of knowing reality:

1. The rational, deductive, argumentative, intellectual thinking that is accepted by the science and our patriarchal Western culture. The alchemists called this Solar Consciousness and assigned it many code words, such as the Sun, Sulfur, the King, the Father, Spirit, and ultimately, the One Mind of the universe. This involves left-brain activity like linear thought, schematics, formulae, arguments and logic.

2. The intuitive way of thinking, also called intelligence of the heart, a non-linear, image-driven way of thinking that is an accepted tool of the arts and religion. The alchemists called the other way of knowing Lunar Consciousness. Among its many symbols are the Moon, Mercury, the Queen, the Holy Ghost, Soul, and ultimately, the One Thing of the universe. This involves right-brain activity dealing with drawings, paintings, mandalas, symbols, music, and meditation.

The alchemists believed that perfection could only be achieved by working with both Solar and Lunar ways of knowing and ultimately uniting them in a third state of Stellar Consciousness. Stellar Consciousness is a state of incorruptible wisdom symbolized by the heroic Child that resulted from the marriage of the King and Queen, as well as by Salt, Gold, the Philosopher's Stone, the Astral Body, and of course, the Stars themselves.

* * *

Philosopher's Stone - by Sir Isaac Newton

"Lapis Philosphicus" from a manuscript 416 by Sir Isaac Newton.
Click to enlarge.

Philosopher's Stone
(1024x768 GIF, 82KB)
An image inspired by a manuscript by Sir Isaac Newton.
Click to enlarge.

The History of Western Alchemy

A brief outline by Frank van Lamoen

Around the middle of the twelfth century the first translations from the Arabic begin to appear. (Arabic alchemy partly goes back to Greek texts). At the same time the works of Aristotle are introduced in the Latin West. Although Aristotle does not discuss alchemy at all, his Meteorologica becomes an authoritative text, not in the least because of Arabic additions relating to alchemy. Following the introduction of the art, alchemical texts are produced in the fourtheenth century containing allegories which draw on Biblical texts. After the invention of printing it is still another century before a wave of alchemical texts begins to flood the market. Around 1550 a number of compendia appears with Latin translations of by now classical texts such as the Rosarium Philosophorum and the Turba Philosophorum. Metallurgic manuals are also brought on the market, including Georg Agricola' s De Re Metallica (1556). A new genre is introduced, that of the 'libri secreti' , books of secrets, a sort of DIY-books with 'secret' recipes in all kinds of fields, including alchemy. Natural-philosophical handbooks appear which indirectly relate to alchemy, such as Giambattista della Porta' s Magia Naturalis (1558).

The appearance of Paracelsus (1493-1541) on the scene is decisive for the subsequent history of alchemy. Paracelsus set little store by transmutation, but he did prepare iatro-chemical medicine with the aid of distillation, and many physicians in the seventeenth century made use of iatro-chemical methods of healing. One of Paracelsus' best-known followers in this respect is the Danish physician Petrus Severinus. Paracelsistic terminology came to be adopted by mystics and theosophers, amongst whom Heinrich Khunrath (1560-1605), Jacob Boehme (1575-1624) and his followers, particularly English Behmenists like Jane Lead and John Pordage. Their natural-philosophical speculations are generally set within a neoplatonist framework and are heterodox and anti-Aristotelian.

The early seventeenth century witnesses a flowering of emblematic literature which makes use of earlier trends, at the same time enriching these with allegories based on classical texts which may be interpreted alchemistically, such as Ovid' s Metamorphoses. Classic examples of alchemical emblematical literature are works by Michael Maier (notably Atalanta fugiens, Symbola aureae mensae duodecim nationum) and Lambsprinck, De lapide philosophico.

In the late seventeenth century, finally, alchemistic insights are incorporated into the new corpuscular theories which come to dominate the atomistic-mechanistic world picture. This type of alchemy gradually takes on an experimental character whereby an attempt is made to express its findings in clear language. The traditional alchemical termimology is retained by Pietists, and increasingly acquires a symbolical nature. The distinction between a 'chymist' - a practitioner of the chemical discipline - and an 'adept' - who knows the secret of alchemy - becomes ever larger. With the advance of gas chemistry and the dissolution of the elements at the end of the eighteenth century the universe becomes less of a mystery. The life force pervading the universe, once called the Philosopher's Stone, the Quinta Essentia, or the World Soul, is identified as oxygen. The now abstruse symbols of alchemy slumber in esoteric societies to awaken eventually in Jungian psychoanalysis.

Frank van Lamoen
Copyright © 2003 Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica
All rights reserved

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The Legend and History of the Benu Bird and the Phoenix

The Benu Bird

The Benu Bird is linked to that of the phoenix. Both are birds of the sun, both are self created, rather than being born from other creatures, both undergo death and become symbols of regeneration. The Egyptian sunbird is identified with Re, the Sun God. The word Benu in Egyptian means both purple heron and palm tree. The Benu was identified with the Temple of the Sun God at Heliopolis, which was revered by the Egyptians as the sacred mound from whence the Sun god, in his aspect of the Benu Bird, arose cyclically to renew Egypt; another feature which was shared by both the phoenix and the Benu Bird.

The Benu Bird was also known to be a symbol of Osiris and is said to have sprung from the heart of Osiris as a living symbol of God, thus renewing itself. The Benu is thought to have originated in either Egypt or Arabia and by one account, spends most of its life in Phoenicia.

A festival to the Benu is noted on the 12th Day of Khoiak in the Season of Aket (the Inundation); it was the Day of Transformation of the Benu. Offer to the Benu in your house on this day. It refers to the Benu as a personification of the everlasting Sun God.

The names of the Benu Bird and the Benben are derived from the same root Bn, which means ‘ascension’ or ‘to rise’; it is also thought that it comes from the root word weben meaning ‘to shine’ or ‘shining’. It is this image, in the form of a hawk, which is passed on to the Pharaoh, who is the living ‘Principle of Ascension’.

Description

There are many descriptions of the Benu Bird ranging from various colours to types of birds. It has ranged from a heron (Book of the Dead, depicted with a long straight beak, and a two-feathered crest, the physical manifestation of both Ra and Osiris) to an eagle like bird, a yellow wagtail (Pyramid Texts, serving as a manifestation of Atum), and a golden hawk with a heron’s head. The colouring of its plumage is also varied. Usually part red and part gold it has also said to be royal purple with a golden head and neck or a plum coloured body with scarlet back and wings feathers, a golden head and a sweeping tail of rose and azure. It is described as a large bird. The size of the Benu is the only thing that seems consistent, but also ambiguous, as large can mean many sizes.

Myth or Reality

The Myth of the Egyptian Benu Bird, which was usually depicted as a heron, could have come from a new species of heron found in recent excavations in Umm-an-Ner. When the bones were reconstructed, it was found to be a large heron, larger than any now living. It is speculated that the Egyptians may have seen this large bird only as an extremely rare visitor or from tales of it from travellers who had trading expeditions to the Arabian Seas. Another possibility is the Goliath Heron, now found, among other places, on the coast of the Red Sea, but which may have been more widespread in ancient times.

The Greek Legend

The Greeks knew the Egyptian Benu Bird as the Phoenix. A legendary bird without parents and offspring it nurtured itself on sunlight and sea spray. Brilliant in appearance, its feathers were gold, red and white; its eyes were green as the sea. A semi-immortal being, the Phoenix had a lifespan of 500 years and when about to die, it drew new life from the primal elements of fire and water and was born again. It would build its nest in the form of a funeral pyre and a single clap of its wings would ignite it. Then, when consumed by the flames, a young Phoenix would arise from its own ashes. The Greeks considered the appearance of the Phoenix as a herald of important events to come.

It is thought by many that the myths surrounding the Phoenix were a misunderstanding of the Egyptian myths if the Benu Bird. It is possible that the legend comes from what Herodotus wrote of the Benu Bird.

“I have not seen a phoenix myself, except in paintings, for it is very rare and visits the country (so at least they say in Heliopolis) only at intervals of 500 years, on the occasion of the death of the parent bird. To judge by the paintings, its plumage is partly golden, partly red, and in shape and size it is exactly like an eagle. There is a story about the phoenix: it brings its parent in a lump of myrrh all the way from Arabia and buries the body in the Temple of the Sun. To perform the feat, the bird first shapes some myrrh into a sort of egg as big as it finds, by testing, that it can carry; then it hollows the lump out, puts its father inside and smears more myrrh over the opening. The egg-shaped lump is then just the same weight as it was originally. Finally, it is carried by the bird to the Temple of the Sun in Egypt.”

In Pliny’s account, a small worm appeared from the body of the phoenix the metamorphosed into a bird, thus the phoenix was reborn.

The Egyptian Legend (The Creation Myth of Heliopolis)

One of the creation myths of Heliopolis tells of the Benu Bird. IT gives an account of the first dawn and a heron skimming over the waters of the Nun until it comes to rest on a rock. As it did so, it opened its beak and a cry echoed over the water of the Nun. The world was filled with ‘that which it had not known’; the cry of the Benu Bird ‘determined what is and is not to be’. Thus, the Benu Bird, as an aspect of Atum, brought life and light to the world.

The Benu Bird was said to have created itself from a fire which burned at the top of the sacred persea tree in Heliopolis and it rested on the Benben Stone, a pillar topped by a pyramid shaped stone (an obelisk), which became the most sacred fetish worshipped in the city. On the Metternich Stele, Isis says to her son, Horus: ‘Thou are the Great Benu who was born on the incense tree in the House of the Great Prince of Heliopolis”. The capstones of the pyramids and the pyramids themselves were thought to be a representation of the Benben Stone and the Kings buried beneath were under the direct protection of the Sun God.

The Benu’s cry had begun the cycle of time, which the Egyptians believed to be divinely appointed. Divided as such: the twenty four hour day with twelve hours for both daytime and nighttimes, the ten days that comprised the Egyptian week, the thirty day month, the year of twelve months (365 days) and periods of 1460 years in which the civil and astronomical calendars diverged and then coincided again. The Temple of the Benu Bird at Heliopolis was primarily concerned with the regulation of the calendar and the Benu Bird itself became the deity concerned with the division of time.

The Benu Bird in Magic

The following spell from the Egyptian Book of the Dead is one for being transformed into a phoenix or Benu Bird.

Spell 83: Spell for being transformed into a phoenix.

I have flown up like the primeval ones,
I have become Khepri,
I have grown as a plant,
I have clad myself as a tortoise,
I am the essence of every God,
I am the seventh of those seven Uraei who came into being in the West,
Horus who makes the brightness with his person,
That God who was against Seth,
Thoth who was among you in that judgement of Him who presides over Letopolis together with the Souls of Heliopolis,
The flood which was between them.

I have come on the day when I appear in glory with the strides of the gods,
For I am Khons who subdued the Lords.
As for him who knows this pure spell,
It means going out into the day after death and being transformed at will,
Being in the suite of Wennefer
Being content with the food of Osiris,
Having invocation offerings,
Seeing the sun;
It means being hale on earth with Re and being vindicated with Osiris,
And nothing evil shall have power over him
A matter a million times true.

From at least the reign of Tutankhamun, the heron or Benu Bird appears on heart scarabs. These amulets were used to protect the heart, which was considered the source of life by the ancient Egyptians.