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The Papyrus of Ani, Chapter 78

Text:

To assume the form of a divine hawk. Words spoken by the Osiris Ani:

O great one, come to Busiris.

May the ways be holy for me; may you pass around my thrones for me.

I am renewed; I am perfected so that you may let me be held in fear, and create awe of me.

May the gods of the netherworld fear me, and fight in their halls on my behalf.

May you not come to attack or injure me in the house of darkness.

May I unveil the helpless one, hidden from him.

The gods who hear the words of the manifested ones who are in the following of Osiris, do as they say. Be silent, gods, when the god speaks with me.

He speaks truth, as I have told him.

Speak to me, Osiris! Let that which comes from your mouth return to me.

I see your own forms, and envision your souls.

May you let me come forth, and have mastery over my legs, and exist there like Neb-er-djer upon his throne.

May the gods of the netherworld fear me, and fight in their halls on my behalf.

Let [?] yield to me there, with the gods who arise.

May I be established upon my support like the lord of life, and be brought together with the goddess Isis.

May they make me strong against he who would attack me. May he not come, nor see my helpless one.

I go; I come to the boundaries of heaven.

I take council with Geb, and beseech the god Hu with Neb-er-djer, to let the gods of the netherworld fear me, and fight in their halls on my behalf.

They see you catch birds and fish for me.

I am one of those glorified spirits with the light-god, and I have made my form as his form when he comes forth to Busiris.

My mummy is as his mummy, when he speaks to you of my affairs, so that he may let there be fear of me, and create awe of me.

May the gods of the netherworld fear me, and fight in their halls on my behalf.

It is I; I am a glorified spirit with the light-god, creating a form as diving flesh.

I am one of those glorified spirits with the light-god. Atum himself creates a form as a flower of his eye.

He has made to come into being, glorified, and raised up their faces when they exist with him.

Indeed, he is alone as Nu; they proclaim him when he comes forth on the horizon, and give fear of him to the gods and glorified spirits to come into being with him.

I am the One, as a serpent who created the eye of the One Lord.

Indeed, Isis had not come into being, nor was Horus born, when I flourished, and when I grew old.

I rise up among the glorified spirits who came into being with him.

I am ascending as a divine hawk, and Horus has ennobled me as his soul, to carry away his affairs to Osiris, to the netherworld.

The twin lion-god has spoken to me, who is at the head of the temple of the headdress in his cavern:

How will you return to the heights of the sky? Indeed, you are ennobled as the forms of Horus, but the headdress is not yours. Speak to the boundaries of the sky!

I am the keeper, carrying away the affairs of Horus to Osiris, to the netherworld. I have repeated to Horus as his father Osiris spoke to me in years, on the day of the burial.

Give me the headdress, says the twin lion-god to me. Go, and come on the road of the sky; those who are in the boundaries of the horizon see you.

The gods of the netherworld fear you, and fight in their halls on your behalf.

The god Iuhed will destroy because of the words of all the gods, on account of the keeper of the shrine of the One Lord.

As for the one who sings praises on his account to me, he has taken the headdress at the command of the twin lion-god and the god Iuhed.

I have made a way; I exalt.

The twin lion-god has taken the headdress from me, giving me my tresses.

He has established my heart on his backbone in his greatest strength, and I do not fall down before Shu.

I am the god Hetep, the lord of the uraei which are adored. I know Shu, whose breath is in my body. The bull of terror will not drive me back.

I have come today to the house of the twin lion-god. I have come therein to the house of Isis.

I have seen the secret holy things, and I have been led to the hidden holy things, and seen what is there.

I speak with the great ones of Shu who drive back the moment. It is I who am Horus in his glory.

I am mighty in his incantation; I am mighty in his radiance. I go to the boundaries of the sky.

Horus is on his seat; Horus is on his throne.

My face is as a divine hawk. It is I who equip his lord; I have come forth in Busiris.

I have seen Osiris, and I raise up Nut upon his hands when she sees me.

I have seen the gods. The eye of Horus at the Head of the Blind burns me, and thy extend their hands against me.

I stand up; I am mighty; I drive back my misery.

They open the holy paths. They see my forms and hear my words.

Homage to you, gods of the netherworld, who turn back their faces, whose strengths approach, who lead me to the never-resting stars, who make the holy paths for me to the salt chamber on account of their lords, the soul greatly to be feared.

Horus has commanded me to bear up their faces. They look at me when I am risen as a divine hawk, and Horus has ennobled me as his soul to carry away his affairs to Osiris, to the netherworld; they who make the way for me.

I travel, and I reach those who are at the front of their chambers, keepers of the temple of Osiris.

I tell them of his strengths, and let them know of his victories against Set, his horns ready.

They know what the god Hu has carried away to him, and what the might of Atum has carried away to him, passing well.

They have called to me as gods of the netherworld, and distinguished their names.

You who are at the front of your chambers, keepers of the temple of Osiris, behold! I have come before you; I have taken and gathered your might, and prepared the ways of the mighty, the guardians of the horizon, and the salt chamber of the sky.

I establish their halls for the sake of Osiris, and prepare ways for him. I have done what is commanded.

I come forth from Busiris; I have seen Osiris, and told him what his son, the great one, knows. Indeed, what he desires is the heart of Set.

I have seen the lord of the helpless ones, to let them know of the plans of the gods, which Osiris did without his father Osiris.

O lord, soul greatly to be feared, behold! I have come; I am in praise. I open up the Netherworld, and I have opened the ways of the keeper of the sky and the keeper of the earth.

Do not drive me back there. I am in praise for your sake, lord of eternity.