Sopdu
Sopdu is the falcon god of the sky and of the eastern border regions, 'Lord of the East', whose cult centred on Per-Sopdu in the Delta and whose protection was sought in the Sinai mining country; he is the husband of Khensit.
Sopdu is a real but minor god whose cult is documented mainly through border and mining contexts; no narrative myth survives, and the name is transliterated Sopdu, Sopd, Septu and Soped with no stable Greek equivalent. He is not Sopdet (Sothis/Sirius) and not Sepa, two different deities of the Egyptian sky and the Heliopolitan nome, all three being routinely run together in modern god-lists. The planetary, zodiac, tarot and sabbat correspondences here are a modern Western overlay with no ancient Egyptian basis; the Egyptian sources themselves work with decans, nome cults and festival calendars, not with planets or zodiac signs.
Correspondences
- Planetary Correspondence
- Sun
- Zodiac Affinity
- AriesSagittarius
Offerings
- Offerings
- TurquoiseMalachiteFrankincenseBreadBeerThe first light of dawn
Sacred timing
- Sacred Timing
Symbols and forms
- Alternate Names
- SopdSeptuSopedLord of the East
- Gender Expression
- Masculine
- Titles
- Lord of the EastLord of the Eastern DesertThe FalconLord of the Foreign LandsHusband of Khensit
- Symbols
- FalconEastern horizonSceptreTurquoise
Practice
- Invocation Approach
- ToneCrisp and vigilantAddressSopduLord of the EastFalcon of the Eastern DesertRelationshipThe watch kept on the eastern edgeWarningHe is a border god and favours those who actually guard somethingResonanceThose guarding a threshold travellers of deserts and foreign places
- Modern Practice
Sopdu is called for border work — guarding an edge, going east, working stone or metal — and for the watch kept at a threshold. The practice is to actually stand the watch rather than to ask to be protected in the abstract.
Nature and meaning
- Domain
- The eastern borderThe desertTurquoise and copperThe eastern horizonProtection from the eastMiningThe sky
- Mythology Summary
Sopdu is the falcon god of the sky and of the eastern border regions, 'Lord of the East', whose cult centred on Per-Sopdu in the Delta and whose protection was sought in the Sinai mining country; he is the husband of Khensit. He is attested from the Old Kingdom, and Middle and New Kingdom inscriptions in the eastern desert invoke him as the guardian of Egypt's frontier against the Asiatics. His name is close to, but not the same as, that of Sopdet (Sirius), the star goddess, with whom he is constantly confused in modern lists.
Details
- Correspondences
- ColorsRedGoldTurquoiseBrownScentsFrankincense boswellia carteriiJuniperMyrrhMetalsCopperGoldBronzeAnimalsFalconHawk
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