# Eye of Horus and the Winding Stairs



## ChuanShi (Oct 30, 2015)

Has anyone ever stumbled across any information having to do with the relationship between the Eye of Horus and the Winding Stairs?


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## GKA (Nov 3, 2015)

Where the winding staircase has a significant position in our lessons and ceremonies, the eye of Horus does not.
It is another example of the parallels found when comparing masonry with other myths.


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## hanzosbm (Nov 4, 2015)

ChuanShi said:


> Has anyone ever stumbled across any information having to do with the relationship between the Eye of Horus and the Winding Stairs?


I have not.  Have you?  If so, could you perhaps shine some light on this?


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## ChuanShi (Nov 5, 2015)

hanzosbm said:


> I have not.  Have you?  If so, could you perhaps shine some light on this?



Nothing too direct, but I've become more curious over time and been seeking out resources.  As far as its relation to the All-Seeing Eye, I found the following from BBC:

The "All-seeing Eye", or Eye of Providence, has a long history. Its origins can be traced back to Egyptian mythology and the Eye of Horus, and it appears in both Buddhist and Hindu doctrine. The Buddha himself is often referred to as "the eye of the world", while Lord Shiva has an all-seeing third eye in his forehead that watches over everything that happens in the world. While the Greeks went for a compound approach - Argus had a hundred eyes - Christian symbolism incorporates a single all seeing Eye of Providence, often framed in a triangle to symbolise the Holy Trinity. It even appears on the Great Seal of the United States, and on the back of a one dollar bill. Now, it seems, astronomers are keen to get in on the act. This image, captured by the European Southern Observatory's VISTA telescope, uses infrared light to show the Helix Nebula in all its glory.

Feilden, T. (2012). All seeing eye revealed in infrared. BBC Science & Environment. Retrieved from: http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-16615650


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## ChuanShi (Nov 5, 2015)

A less reliable source, but one with some interesting information (along with some not-so-interesting junk) can be found at http://beforeitsnews.com/beyond-sci...e-of-horus-beyond-the-illuminati-2440634.html


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## hanzosbm (Nov 5, 2015)

JamestheJust, thank you for that.

Based on the above texts, I can see a bit of a connection to the Egyptian gods,  however, I agree that they seem more akin to Jacob's ladder than the winding staircase.  In addition, I'm not sure I see a connect to the eye of Horus. 

ChuanShi, are you able to go any deeper on this, or at least point us in the right direction?


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## ChuanShi (Nov 6, 2015)

The symbolic Eye was divided into six parts, each part being associated with one of the six senses, as well as with a specific fraction.  The Ancient Egyptians considered thought to be a sense, in addition to the five senses we often think of today.

The seven liberal arts and sciences are, of course, ways of thinking.  The most important of which we all know, and it is that which is most obviously represented within the Eye (but which cannot be understood without arithmetic, which in turn cannot be understood without logic, which in turn cannot be understood without rhetoric, which in turn cannot be understood without grammar).  

As stated by Bro. Richard Marcus:

"As infants, we are unable to speak. We must learn words to describe everything. Words organize our thoughts. Language is essential for learning. As we progress up the Winding Stairs, we learn to speak with eloquence and grace, which is rhetoric. We learn to use logic to make our arguments persuasive and true.  We advance up the lessons to higher levels of arithmetic, geometry, and music. These require abstract thinking and greater levels of concentration. As we mature in life, we gain PERSPECTIVE and WISDOM as we enjoy the glorious works of creation, the stars and planets, astronomy, and the DIVINE."

Bro. Marcus continues by stating:

"The sense of SEEING is developed in Geometry. We grow in PERCEIVING which STRUCTURES are in ORDER and which ones are not well arranged. We acknowledge that geometric is the foundation of architecture."

Of course, one must have an understanding of geometry to understand music, it being made of wholes, halves, fourths, eighths, sixteenths, etc., which are the fractions depicted by the Ancient Eye.  More complex fractions can be created by adding the symbols/fractions together, as can ratios.

The Eye of Horus can be associated with either the right eye or the left eye.  The Ancient Egyptians associated with the right eye with the Sun, and the left with the Moon.  It has been suggested that the Eye of Horus being torn out referred to a solar eclipse - something even an EA sees reference to in the midst of solemn ceremony.  And what is this but astronomy?

Unrelated associations?  Could be - I'm a Speculative Mason, and so I speculate.


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## ChuanShi (Nov 6, 2015)

I was taking a look at few images that got me thinking also...


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## Mel Knight (Nov 6, 2015)

Keep searching and you shall find, the eye and stairs is in you keep searching.


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## hanzosbm (Nov 6, 2015)

ChuanShi said:


> The symbolic Eye was divided into six parts, each part being associated with one of the six senses, as well as with a specific fraction.  The Ancient Egyptians considered thought to be a sense, in addition to the five senses we often think of today.
> 
> The seven liberal arts and sciences are, of course, ways of thinking.  The most important of which we all know, and it is that which is most obviously represented within the Eye (but which cannot be understood without arithmetic, which in turn cannot be understood without logic, which in turn cannot be understood without rhetoric, which in turn cannot be understood without grammar).
> 
> ...


Thank you very very much for this, it is very interesting.

Personally, I'm not yet sure that I'm making a full connection between the eye of Horus and the stairs, but the information you've offered in regards to the progressive nature of the arts is wonderful and has given me some more facets to consider, so I appreciate that.

To my mind, the arts associated with the stairs are somewhat arbitrary.  Making the jump from grammar to geometry is difficult.  Making the jump to music is really strained.  It all has the feeling to me of trying to create a ritual with a particular number of steps and then trying to fill meaning into them.
As we all know, our origins are a mixture of many different sources, and this illustrates the difficulty of finding meaning.  The stairs could simply be a memory device for a particular geometric expression for operative masons.  Or, it could be the very foundation of the universe; hard to say.  That's one of the most difficult things about digging into the lessons.  Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar...but most of the time it isn't.


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## Warrior1256 (Nov 6, 2015)

Interesting stuff indeed!!!!! Thanks to all for the info.


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## ChuanShi (Nov 6, 2015)

JamestheJust said:


> There is a better association in the 7 degrees of Mithraism - each of which has 3 working tools



What info are you able to provide us on this topic?


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## ChuanShi (Nov 9, 2015)

The search continues...


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## hanzosbm (Nov 9, 2015)

ChuanShi said:


> The search continues...


In the age of the internet, it's easy to forget just how much information has already been put down in print throughout the world.  This is an excellent reminder.


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## NY.Light.II (Nov 9, 2015)

JamestheJust said:


> http://www.cais-soas.com/CAIS/Religions/iranian/Mithraism/m_m/pt8.htm
> http://www.romanarmy.net/mithras.shtml
> http://www.tertullian.org/rpearse/mithras/display.php?page=main
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mithraic_mysteries
> ...



Good info on these links.


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## ChuanShi (Nov 11, 2015)

hanzosbm said:


> In the age of the internet, it's easy to forget just how much information has already been put down in print throughout the world.  This is an excellent reminder.



The more I look through these dusty old books, the more I realize how much is NOT on the Internet.  Many of these books are extremely well-referenced, which is something the Internet still lacks a lot of times.


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