The Eye of Horus

The Eye of Horus is very significant. 

Horus was the falcon-headed solar and sky god from ancient Egypt. He is associated with vitality, health and regeneration. Horus was the son of Osiris and Isis. His right eye was white, and represented the sun, and his left eye was black, and represented the moon. According to Egyptian myth, Seth, Horus’s brother, killed Osiris. Horus fought Seth to avenge this death and lost his left eye in the fight.  Thoth, the God of magic and the moon, used his powers to reassemble Horus’s eye and returned it to Horus. It was a symbol of the power of the God of light, and therefore a popular amulet for protection and good luck. On presenting his eye to Osiris, Osiris experienced rebirth.

The Eye of Horus symbolizes protection and the bringing of wisdom. The eye also symbolizes our ability to see with clarity and truthfulness.

Ra VS Horus

Traditionally, there are 2 mystical eyes in Egyptian magical lore.

The Eye of Ra and the Eye of Horus.

The Eye of Ra is associated with the solar deity; The Eye of Horus a lunar. This coupled with references in literature and practical experience leads to the idea that the Eye of Ra is the right eye and the Eye of Horus the left.

However, one can often find images called The Eye of Horus, when in fact they are the Eye of Ra and the opposite. This is partially due to the artistic license used when representing the Eye of Horus, as it was often painted from either perspective. So, it is fair to say that the eye can be drawn facing either direction and still be referred to as the Eye of Horus. The inner symbolic meaning is generally lost however, therefore we choose to represent the left eye.

Wedjat

The Wedjat Eye is the left eye of Horus, which was restored by Thoth. It is a lunar eye, left being traditionally associated with the moon. It was returned after being stolen by Set (Seth) and was healed by Thoth. It was a symbol of the power of the god of light, and therefore a popular amulet.

The story of Horus and Seth (taken from Webhotep.com)

When a jealous Seth slew the beloved Osiris and dropped his body into the Nile, the wife of Osiris, goddess Isis, moved all forces of nature to rescue the body of her husband. Isis prepared for the ceremonial burial of Osiris, but his murderer, his brother Seth, stole the body away and hacked it into pieces. Isis searched all of Egypt, gathering together his pieces and, with the god, Anubis, bound him together to make him whole. With the resurrected god Osiris, Isis conceived a son, Horus.

Osiris, then descended into the Netherworld to reign over the kingdom of the afterlife. Isis took her newborn son, Horus and escaped to the papyrus marshes, jealously guarding her son from
the vengeful god, Seth. Goddess of love, goddess of protection, goddess of nurturing, Isis, succeeded, raising her son in secret. She raised her son, Horus, to ascend to his rightful throne,
take his place over Seth.

Horus, the god, emerged from the marshes. Horus sought his father, Osiris' heritage. Horus presented his claim to the gods. The sun god, presiding over the court, secretly favored Seth and caused the court to procrastinate. The judges retired to an island to deliberate. Other gods came to chide their inaction, to coax their judgment. It is said that the goddess, Hathor, went to the sun god and offered him a blissful joining. But, the negotiations drug on, until the god Osiris sent a letter from the netherworld, to the disagreeable gods. The message is simple: The fearsome and terrifying messengers that brought the message, would drive all of the gods into the land of the dead. It was decided. The verdict, in favor of Horus.

The quarrel did not end there. Seth and Horus had an epic battle, power against power, god to god. And, in this battle, Horus lost an eye and Seth, his testicles. The eye of Horus was found and restored by the god Thoth. Horus presented the healed eye to his father, Osiris. This eye,
represented the restoration of royal power. Seth, ultimately, recovered his testicles. And, though these gods, at times, did battle, they would, as well, aid each other.

Pharaohs were seen to be the living Horus. Many of the pharaohs, as did the all ancient Egyptians, still held Seth in fearful reverence. Often, a pharaoh preparing for war, would invoke
the spirit of Seth, the god of the unyielding, fierce desert, in order to overpower his enemies.
But, always, when pharaoh died, he became Osiris.
__________________

Horus is represented as a man, or as a hawk or falcon-headed man, often wearing the Pharaoh's crown or with a sun disc on his head. The god, would likely carry a scepter and an ankh, the symbol for eternal life. The predator bird, the falcon is a symbol of the god, Horus. Since, Horus lost and regained his eye, the eye itself is a potent symbol, called the eye of Horus. The eye, or wadjet eye as it is called is worn or displayed as a powerful amulet of protection. The retrieved eye is seen as the moon, the other, as the sun, thus Horus
has influence over these powerful forces of nature. Seth's testicles, weren't revered, but were commonly referred to in crude oaths. By the balls of Seth! they might say. And, thereafter, the opposing, balancing forces of the two gods lived for all time, with Horus, the god of the pharaoh and the fertile lands; Seth, the god of the desert lands and foreign peoples.

Praise to thee, thou Eye of Horus,
the Ennead of gods rejoices,
when it (the eye of Horus) riseth
in the eastern horizon.

Praise to thee, O Eye of Horus . . .

Other stories about the Eye

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