Sokar?

[Nella]

Okay, so uh, I mentioned in my intro thread that I was looking for specific information on an Egyptian deity, and as you probably guessed, it's Sokar.

I was hesitant for a long while to look into this (as in, maybe five years at this point, maybe six actually), because I told myself that pop culture had so much content on Egyptian deities that I was just channeling some urge to be special or different ("everyone's heard of Horus and Isis, but who's Sokar? You're just trying to draw attention to yourself!"), or whatever, but I've been thinking more and more about it lately, and started some basic google searches and... there's really not much out there on Sokar, is there?

Most of what I can find is from the Amduat and his association with Ptah and Osiris. Which actually really fits in with my love of Hinduism's cyclical philosophies (Trimurti is big for me), but I'm very, very curious about the details on Sokar as an individual deity.

I guess maybe there should be context?

I had a dream. About six years ago. I was lying on a stone table, and I had the impression of being in a very hot, sunny, sandy marketplace, or someplace with a lot of people, but everyone going about their business. Above me, back facing the sun so that I couldn't really see his face, was a man with a bird's head, and very large, coppery-gold wings. Honestly, they felt more they were made from metal than feathers. He was painting my lower stomach, below my belly button, with a small brush. The paint was in a bowl next to me. It wasn't just one color but whatever color he needed was there, and it was cool on my stomach. There was a sense of importance and ritual to the act of painting me, and most importantly, it felt like a ritual for the dead -- even though I knew, and I think everyone knew, that I was very much alive. But I wasn't afraid. He was calm and serious, not threatening, and I felt like this was normal. Not that it was a regularly occurring thing, but that this was just part of a process.

The dream didn't cover the whole process. I just remember catching a moment, where I looked up at him, and he was lifting up his brush and looking down at me, like we were addressing each other... or maybe more like acknowledging each other. In retrospect, I think he was waiting for me to tell him to go ahead and finish whatever was being put on my stomach. I don't think I gave him an answer.

I feel surreal talking about it, and I feel like I'm making it up or embellishing, but I'm not, I remember it clearly. Considering I barely remember what day it is most of the time, it's odd that it's such a permanent memory.

Anyway, when I woke up, I naturally wanted to find out what the heck I just dreamed and began googling, and the only thing I could really find was Seker/Sokar, an older god of the Underworld, of burial tombs, and of craftsman. Supposedly he has a silver bowl, which is what tipped me off, but I don't know how true that is.

I'm sorry this is a jumbled mess, I'm not really sure what I'm asking or thinking, I don't really know anything detailed from that pantheon aside from, of course, the scattering of Osiris' body parts, to be reconstructed by Isis. Partly why, I guess, I had my doubts about being addressed by a deity whose origins and context I knew nothing about. Besides, what could a god of the Underworld want with me? My life has very little to do with death.... but then again, I am an artist, and I guess that's creation, and a sort of preservation or memorial of an idea/thought/event/person... which would be what tombs are. I don't know. I'm just yammering now.

I guess I'm asking about information on Sokar -- books, articles, something accessible to someone who's not familiar with Egyptian traditions -- so I can see if it's really him I dreamt about, and if it is, how to proceed? I guess?

[SatAset]

Okay, so uh, I mentioned in my intro thread that I was looking for specific information on an Egyptian deity, and as you probably guessed, it's Sokar.


I guess I'm asking about information on Sokar -- books, articles, something accessible to someone who's not familiar with Egyptian traditions -- so I can see if it's really him I dreamt about, and if it is, how to proceed? I guess?

In My Heart, My Mother by Allison Roberts there is a section on Ptah-Sokar-Wesir (Ptah-Sokar-Osiris), the syncretic deity.  And I've seen a hymn to Ptah-Sokar-Wesir somewhere.  Maybe it was in Miriam Litcheim's work Ancient Egyptian Literature Vol 1 or 2 (I don't remember which).  I'm not sure.  

You may find more information looking up Ptah-Sokar or Ptah-Sokar-Wesir.  Sokar is seen (in some areas) as a manifestation or aspect (a specialized form) of Ptah or Wesir.  There's also a syncretic Wesir-Sokar (Osiris-Sokar) too.  Looking into Memphis Theology may help as well.  Memphis was the city where Ptah was honored as Ptah-Sokar-Wesir so that's why I mention it.  

Within the Wesir Mythos, there is a festival during the Mysteries of Wesir with Wesir-Sokar in the title.  

Wow.  I hope that helps.

[Nella]

In My Heart, My Mother by Allison Roberts there is a section on Ptah-Sokar-Wesir (Ptah-Sokar-Osiris), the syncretic deity.  And I've seen a hymn to Ptah-Sokar-Wesir somewhere.  Maybe it was in Miriam Litcheim's work Ancient Egyptian Literature Vol 1 or 2 (I don't remember which).  I'm not sure.  

You may find more information looking up Ptah-Sokar or Ptah-Sokar-Wesir.  [...]syncretic Wesir-Sokar (Osiris-Sokar) too.  [...]Memphis was the city where Ptah was honored as Ptah-Sokar-Wesir so that's why I mention it.  

Within the Wesir Mythos, there is a festival during the Mysteries of Wesir with Wesir-Sokar in the title.  

Wow.  I hope that helps.

 
It does, thank you.

I guess what it looks like is I'll have to look at the syncretic forms and try to go from there.

Some sources say he has the head of a hawk, others a falcon. Would it be reasonable to say the hawk head is more likely the association with Wesir? Or was he always a hawk-headed god? Or are they relatively interchangeable?

Other things I've come up with:

Sokar has no "family", I don't think. Are there any indications as to his origins, or does he sort of, er, how do I put this -- bring himself into existence? I know there was something about him being able to give himself the breath of life.

And... I had another question and I forgot what it was. Maybe some of these answers will be in the hymns when I get my hands on them.

[Sefiru]

there's really not much out there on Sokar, is there?


Anyway, when I woke up, I naturally wanted to find out what the heck I just dreamed and began googling, and the only thing I could really find was Seker/Sokar, an older god of the Underworld, of burial tombs, and of craftsman. Supposedly he has a silver bowl, which is what tipped me off, but I don't know how true that is.

 
Hi! Sokar is one of the gods that I honor, so I was interested to read your story. The lack of information about Him frustrates me, too. I think it's because by the time of most of the writings we have, He was worshipped only in syncretized forms. I'm keeping notes on everything I can find on this page of my blog. I hadn't seen any mention of a silver bowl before, would you happen to have a link for that?

If it helps, your dream seems consistent with my own UPG about him, especially the part about being calm and serious. I'm an artist, too, and my art practice is a way of honoring him. As for him painting below your navel, that reminded me that he was apparently also an agricultural/fertility god. So, creative fertility, yeah.

About the hawk head: as far as I can tell, Sokar was originally represented by a hawk. If anything, it's the human part of his form that was influenced by syncretization. I haven't seen anything about him being part of a family of gods, except one sentence in Hornung's book about him having a female counterpart. As far as I know, he was not originally connected to the Osiris-Isis-Horus myth cycle. I haven't come across any mention of how he came to be.

Hope this helps.

[Nella]

I'm keeping notes on everything I can find on this page of my blog. [...] About the hawk head: as far as I can tell, Sokar was originally represented by a hawk. If anything, it's the human part of his form that was influenced by syncretization.

Ohhh, super great. It's weird, I keep thinking falcon more than hawk, but if hawk is what the pictures and writings say, then hawk it is. It'll make it easier to find a carving anyway. Everything I look for gives me either Sam Wilson or the Maltese Falcon. Not the figurine I was looking for, thanks. Heheh.

I hadn't seen any mention of a silver bowl before, would you happen to have a link for that?

I saw it on a few random websites. The only thing with a source is from Wikipedia

Seker, possibly through his association with Ptah, also has a connection with craftsmen. In the Book of the Dead he is said to fashion silver bowls[1] and a silver coffin of Sheshonq II has been discovered at Tanis decorated with the iconography of Seker

The [1] points to The Routledge Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses which I'd never heard of before today so I can't attest to how true it is. If I recall one of the other random websites I read, the silver bowls are for keeping food for the dead.

In your UPG (assuming I'm understanding the acronym correctly, sorry, I'm new to this), do you have any impressions of him addressing not just literal death, but the reinvention of self? I understand death is pretty important in Egypt, but placing him in the middle of Ptah and Osiris, and the references to him being a patron to gravediggers, craftsmen, and the like seems to me to point to the process of loss and mourning, and using that to fashion something new. I don't know. Haha, I'm just.... trying to make sense of it. There's so little.

[Sefiru]

Ohhh, super great. It's weird, I keep thinking falcon more than hawk, but if hawk is what the pictures and writings say, then hawk it is. It'll make it easier to find a carving anyway. Everything I look for gives me either Sam Wilson or the Maltese Falcon. Not the figurine I was looking for, thanks. Heheh.

I ended up making my own. If you image search "Sokar figurine" you can see some examples that were dug up from pyramid workers' villages. I don't know if anyone is selling modern versions.

In your UPG (assuming I'm understanding the acronym correctly, sorry, I'm new to this), do you have any impressions of him addressing not just literal death, but the reinvention of self? I understand death is pretty important in Egypt, but placing him in the middle of Ptah and Osiris, and the references to him being a patron to gravediggers, craftsmen, and the like seems to me to point to the process of loss and mourning, and using that to fashion something new. I don't know. Haha, I'm just.... trying to make sense of it. There's so little.

 
UPG = Unverified Personal Gnosis, that is our own dreams and whatnot, as distinct from scholarly sources. I think the term is mostly used on this forum.

As for reinvention of self, that's not a direction my own experience has gone in, but it doesn't surprise me. death-and-rebirth symbolism crops up in various mythologies; however most that I can recall have the reborn person essentially the same as the old, just improved. Rather than building something entirely new from the bones of the old. It ... fits, I guess. I'm not going to pretend to be an expert.

If you're not getting anywhere with research, you might try some meditation or similar to see if anything else crops up.

[SatAset]

The [1] points to The Routledge Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses which I'd never heard of before today so I can't attest to how true it is. If I recall one of the other random websites I read, the silver bowls are for keeping food for the dead.

George Hart is an Egyptologist.  So that book is solid.  

I'd recommend Richard Wilkinson's The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt (2003) if you want a book about the Egyptian deities in general.  It is packed with information.  

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