Initiation into the Ancient Secret Society of Egyptian Priests

in labors. In the center stood the coffin of Osiris, still stained with the blood that had flowed from his strangulation. The ritual reenacts the myth of Osiris. In this specific version of the mystery, his death is attributed to strangulation or suffocation, rather than the more common myth of dismemberment.

The new Melanephoris was asked: Did he have a part in the murder of his Master? Upon the repetition of this question, two Tapixents 28) would seize him.

They led him into a hall in which the other Melanephores were gathered, all dressed in black clothing. The Sovereign himself, who was present at every such performance, spoke with him with a very friendly outward appearance, suggesting that if he did not trust himself to have enough spirit to endure the trial that was about to follow, he would do better to accept the golden Crown being offered to him.

The new Melanephoris, however, had already been previously instructed to cast

28. People who were required to bury the dead. original: Tapixent. Likely a corruption of a Greek or Egyptian term for funerary attendants or grave-diggers within the context of these secret societies.