The Adversarial Archetype (?) of the Sethians

Em Hotep.

My question is this - do you think that the Sethians have ever been seen as these great adversarial figures, just like the Asetians have been, inspiring myth and legend? Or have they ever been less flaming and radiant in their power over inspiration and people's imagination, only seeking to rule in complete and utter secrecy? Maybe even presenting themselves as paragons of light and angels of holiness, rather than the deep Asetian adversarial archetype? Maybe they've more so aligned with trying to rule over, or through, the status quo, using it to their strategical advantage, instead of breaking it, instead of opposing it? Secretively rising above it, but dishonorably manipulating its strings like the chessboard played from both sides? While of course following a Left Hand Path theirs seems more geared towards liberating themselves, while enslaving others in mundane shackles of decay, at least in contemporary times, if witnessing the state and affairs of the world is correct in this assessment, and during the Djehuty of the Crocodile as far as we're concerned. Maybe they've been seen as great and adversarial figures more during the times of the Sep Tepy, but strictly by the side that opposed the Asetian Empire of Kemet and fought under the dominion of Seth, for whatever reasons of their side? Maybe some points in here have been touched upon throughout the decade plus in other or older threads, but I'd thought it worth to bring up this subject and discuss it for any relevance it might bring - or if not just for some exchange of thoughts and/or insights.

Thanks!

Mystic

I don’t know if this perfectly answers your question, but with Set being a true Elder deity, he does have a duality.
That being said, it makes me think he also has plenty of facets that can easily be seen as quite adversarial, to contrast with the sides that seem “light and holy”. Also, given all the falsehood of religion that the ROS created, I feel they likely created false “adversarial” egregores to contrast with their “figures of all-powerful holy tenderness”.
This is a really incomplete answer though, and there is a lot of scholarship behind this subject that I am missing.

Are you suggesting that Seth played the part of the holy Christian deity on one side but the adversarial Devil on the other? Trapping people on whatever side they would walk. Maybe that's a complex subject. I for sure believe there's something to the notion of the Devil, but not in a direct sense - more like a large egregore formed through time by the mass belief and fear of people or even subtle interventions like you mention.

However, another view on the Devil is simply the Hindu notion of Maya, or cosmic illusion, which sometimes is called upon as an actual deity, often a Goddess or even as the Divine Mother herself, to let her remove her own veil placed on the devotee or to fulfill material or spiritual needs or desires within the realm of Maya so that they can ultimately transcend it. (Not that Maya is the Devil literally, but that Maya acts as a similar force of temptation into spiritual deviation from the higher realities.) This reminds me of how Jesus was tempted in the desert by Satan in the Christian scriptures of the New Testament, being offered all the world's kingdoms, riches and honors. Symbolical only. Maybe it was some force of Maya he had not yet transcended in his ego, that was attempting to test his resolve or detract him from his way. Of course that it's mythological. I do believe it contains spiritual possibility in principle though as numerous saints, mystics or highly devoted individuals in world religions have reported to undergo - trials and temptations sometimes of extraordinary proportions. [...]

[...] Maybe it was the same type of force that the Hindus believed in, as universally present, but manifested in a different vein through the psychology and dogmatic filtration of the Christian beliefs into an almost literal figure tied in with further theological dogmas of the "Fallen Angel" and thus the Grand Adversary or Enemy of God. Whereas the Hindu beliefs are very different - Maya itself is the enchantment put on the creation by the Supreme, a spell of cosmic delusion, to keep the creation running and sustained without all of it reaching enlightenment and transcending its great (cosmic) dream at the same time so that it doesn't fall apart; it's the sport of the Supreme, which ties into some considerations of mythological/theological gnostically inspired thoughts I can't go into here but that should concern any stream of gnostic thought really because of its implications, which we can see in old Christian Gnostics as well as modern Thursatru but with a stark differentiation of belief, knowledge and approach/methodology under their very different worldviews - the only common factor being its gnostic element. But for those concerns I'd go back to a different thread...

Really complicated subject, since these ideas do tie in with multiple systems. I feel there are others more experienced to answer this question better than me.

Although it does strongly seem like the ROS created some concepts over time, in order to keep people enslaved to religion. And some of those figures and concepts were built to seem quite adversarial toward everything “balanced and good in the world”.

Perhaps all of this only applies to the egregoric forces involved. That brings up a question I’ve had for a while, which is, did the ancient ROS somehow create these egregores and false faces, in a deliberately magickal way, back in times of the Asetian Empire? Were they solely formed out of widespread human belief or did magick play a role somehow? We know there are real stories and myths behind some things about religion, like the Father, Son and Holy Spirit being a mere perversion of Aset, Osiris and Horus… or perhaps the three Asetian primordials. In addition, I think the modern understanding of antagonism between the “one true God” and “Satan” might be able to be partially traced back to the never ending rivalry between Ra and Apep. Then again, we also have quite heavy Asetian symbolism hiding in the Book of Revelation, with the woman riding the seven-headed dragon.

But yeah these are very incomplete answers and musings. I certainly need a lot more study on this area… interesting to think about it all.

We do know that this war was never about good versus evil or light versus dark, though. With each of the two families being divine in their own ways, I think each could be perceived either as an adversary or its inverse over the ages. Asetians being the truest adversarial force in existence, with Aset Herself being the very first Adversary who acted in defiance toward the gods, makes it less than easy to define.

History is tangled and rarely straightforward.

Where holistic dominance is the mandate, eventually "anything goes." A double entendre, also ...

There is an important distinction between chaos and ridiculousness. For all self-knowing creatures, it ought be "I" (in depths various), though for some it is irony. They prefer "Power."

I suppose indeed, one cannot exist without the other.

Those who only seek power will always be at a (spiritual) disadvantage. It is not them who shape ideas, other than the crude reflections of their own philosophy or lack thereof. They will always be bound to operate within the frameworks established by those who do come up with ideas. Their power will be bound to it. [...]

[...] Hence they may try to stamp out any rising of new or subversively revolutionary ideas, controlling the whole economy or market of ideas to which they respond aggressively on such. The history of the past Djehuty wherein they appeared to have success only to drown in the new age of the Serpent with the breaking of old religious authority, yielding to the freer thought of a liberated individuality pattern where the prisms can reflect the light uniquely as diamonds of different colors and not one big oppressive, merely apparent, unity based upon false beliefs that keeps down all possible diamonds as coal; a potential yet unborn.