Atum-Re
Atum (the All) was
the cosmic creative impulse behind the Laws of Becoming—the Divine
creative
force manifesting in the solar disc of the sun, Re. From Atum-Re issued
the
elements and dimensions of the physical universe, the laws of which
were
personified by his children, the gods, which the ancient Egyptians
called the neters.
Shu & Tefnut
Shu, and his sister
and wife, Tefnut, symbolized the
material substance that issued from Atum-Re’s desire to manifest and
experience
Himself through specific corporeal forms—air and light, heat and
moisture. The
personification of air, Shu was depicted as a man wearing the feather
of Maat
tucked into his hairband as he separated the earth from the sky. Tefnut
embodied the warm and nourishing humidity that is as vital to life as
Re’s
burning energy. Tefnut was depicted as a woman with the head of a
lioness
wearing the solar disc on her head. The couple was most commonly
represented as
the two lions of the horizon, the Ruty. The lion facing west
was “yesterday”
and the lion facing east was “tomorrow”. The Ruty symbolized
the
division of the One into two that engendered the dimensions of time and
space.
Shu and Tefnut personified the birth of opposing forces which
mysteriously work
together to create life as we experience it. By way of the first sexual
act,
Tefnut bore Shu two children—the masculine earth, Geb, and the feminine
sky,
Nut.
Geb & Nut