Apep
Apep is the great serpent of chaos who attacks the solar barque each night and is defeated by Ra with the help of Set and the other defenders; his movements were said to cause earthquakes and his battles storms.
Apep receives no cult, no temple and no offerings of food or drink; the only rite is execration, and the offerings field records what the Egyptian rite actually did to him. His origin varies - from Ra's umbilical cord in most accounts, from the saliva of Neith in a much later myth, or present from the beginning in the waters of Nun. The planetary, zodiacal, tarot and Wiccan sabbat values are later Western correspondences. The classical Typhon equation is made with Set in the Greco-Roman sources, not with Apep, and is not made here.
Correspondences
Offerings
- Offerings
- A wax figurine of the serpent bound and burnedSpittle on the written nameRed ink for the execrationTrampling the imageNo food or drink is offered
Sacred timing
- Sacred Timing
Symbols and forms
- Alternate Names
- ApophisApepiAapepThe Serpent
- Gender Expression
- Masculine
- Titles
- The Enemy of RaLord of ChaosThe Great SerpentSerpent from the NileThe Evil Dragon
- Symbols
- Giant serpentWax figurineSolar barqueKnifeFlameDark waters
Practice
- Invocation Approach
- ToneNever invoked always thwartedAddressApepEnemy of RaLord of ChaosRelationshipThe adversary named in order to be destroyedWarningHe is never invoked and food or drink offered to him is a misreadingResonanceBanishing and the refusal of chaos
- Modern Practice
Apep is not invoked. Modern practice uses him as the figure of what must be bound and destroyed: an execration rite, a written name, a wax image, fire, and no bargaining. The work is protective and it is done once, decisively.
Nature and meaning
- Domain
- ChaosIsfetOppositionThe serpentThe darkDissolutionEarthquakesThe danger of the night journey
- Mythology Summary
Apep is the great serpent of chaos who attacks the solar barque each night and is defeated by Ra with the help of Set and the other defenders; his movements were said to cause earthquakes and his battles storms. He is the enemy of Ma'at rather than a god with a cult, and the Egyptians fought him by ritual: the Books of Overthrowing Apep give instructions for making a wax model or a drawing of the serpent, spitting on it, mutilating it and burning it while the spells are recited.
Details
- Correspondences
- ColorsBlackRedGreenScentsDragons bloodSulphurAsafoetidaMetalsIronLeadAnimalsSerpentCrocodile
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