Isis was so tired of living as a human. Ra had sent her to them in their time of need, but still hadn't let her leave. He said they still needed her, but she saw nothing that supported that notion. She had been living as an enchantress among the people of Egypt for so long, but she wanted so badly to live among the gods again. And having to see Ra getting the treatment she deserved, worshipped by all and issuing his word as law, she grew more and more unhappy by the day.
When she had finally had enough, she decided that she would earn her spot among the gods by any means necessary. She wanted Ra’s power for both herself and her son, Horus. She observed Ra for a few days, trying to figure out how best to approach this. She saw that Ra walked the same path to his palace from town every day at the same time, followed by a train of lesser gods who followed him. She devised a plan, the first part of which was to place a small piece of glass on the ground in Ra’s path.
The next day, as Ra walked to the palace, he passed the piece of glass and it scratched him, leaving a small amount of his blood on the glass. Isis quickly took the glass and used to the blood create a snake that would bite Ra and put a venom in his blood that would cause excruciating pain and that only she could remove. As Ra walked to the palace the next day, sure enough, the snake bit him and he fell to the ground, writhing in pain. Isis then made herself known from the gathering crowd, acting as though she had just happened upon the scene. She knelt next to Ra and told him that she could heal him, but she would need to know his secret name. The secret name of Ra held all his power, and anyone who knew it would share his power with him. He resisted, knowing how serious that was, but the pain wore him down eventually and he begrudgingly consented to her help.
Ra spoke his secret name to her, and she promptly reversed the effects of the venom she had created. As Ra began to heal, Isis could feel his powers being shared with her, and she felt increasingly stronger. Just before the transfer was complete, Isis turned to her young son Horus and told him to cast a spell so that she would also get the power of Ra’s eyes, which held the power of the moon and the sun. Finally, Ra’s healing was complete and Isis had her share of his power.
She was thrilled with her new power and dreamed of the way her life and her son’s life would change. She imagined living among the great and powerful Egyptian gods, and living with her son and husband, Osiris. She saw a perfect life ahead of them, with anything they could ever want at their fingertips.
Little did she know, their lives would indeed change, but not in the way she thought, and not necessarily for the better. Isis had no idea the journey she was in store for in the coming future.
Authors note: This story was the first time one I came across in which Isis appeared in a substantial role in an Egyptian myth and I think it was a great way to show how clever and determined she is. It was a great way to introduce her and establish her as a strong female character who is driven both by her ambition and her love for her son. I stuck mostly to the original story, but told it from her perspective instead of Ra’s, so the plot is really the same for my story and the original one. For some background, Ra is the most powerful god in Egypt, and one of the first. He won’t be very present in the rest of the stories, because in this storybook he serves mostly as a catalyst for Isis to get the power she needs to complete her upcoming journey. The rest of the stories will deal with Isis and her journey as she resurrects both her son and her husband when they are killed by the villain of the story, the god Set. In these you will see even more of her determination and love for her family and the lengths she will go to in order to save both her husband and her son.
Story source:The Secret Name of Ra from Egyptian Myth and Legend by Donald Mackenzie link to online reading
Image information: Giza Pyramids