Domain: The sky, kingship, the sun and moon, protection, vengeance Symbol: The falcon, the Eye of Horus (wedjat), the double crown, the winged sun
Overview
Horus is the falcon sky-god and the divine model of the living king — the god whose two eyes are the sun and the moon and whose speckled feathers are the stars. Every reigning pharaoh was understood to be Horus on earth, the god embodied in the throne; every dead pharaoh became Osiris. He is the heir and the avenger, the son who grows up in hiding to reclaim what his uncle stole, and the guarantor that kingship, once wounded, can be made whole.
He carries two of the tarot's masculine cards. As the falcon whose right eye is the sun, blazing across the heavens, he is The Sun — vitality, clarity, the triumphant light. As the living king enthroned, the ordering authority who inherits and holds the realm, he is The Emperor — sovereignty, structure, the rightful rule established through struggle. His long war with Set is the great Egyptian contest for legitimate power, and his eventual victory is the affirmation that order, though it must fight for its place, prevails.
Key Myths
The hidden heir. Conceived by Isis after the death of Osiris, Horus was raised in secret among the marshes of the delta, guarded by his mother's magic from Set, who would have killed him. The rightful king begins his life as a hunted child.
The contendings with Set. Grown, Horus challenged his uncle for the throne of Egypt in a struggle that ran for eighty years — trials, tricks, and combat before the assembled gods. In one clash Set tore out Horus's eye; it was healed and restored, becoming the wedjat, the Eye of Horus, an enduring emblem of wholeness and protection. In the end the gods judged the kingship to Horus, and order was re-established.
The living king. From that verdict came the doctrine of kingship itself: the pharaoh on the throne is the living Horus, and at death becomes Osiris, passing the falcon's crown to his own heir. The myth is the charter of every succession.
Related
- The Sun — The Major Arcana card of radiance and triumph; his right eye is the sun itself
- The Emperor — The card of sovereignty and rightful rule; he is the living king enthroned
- Osiris — His father, whom he avenges and succeeds
- Isis — His mother, who hid and raised him
- Set — His uncle and adversary in the long contest for the throne
- Tarot
- Mythology