Throughout history, stories and myths have served as mirrors of the human mind, encoding the journeys of consciousness in vivid narrative form. Egyptian mythology and the Bible, though separated by time and culture, share astonishingly similar structures when viewed as psychological symbolism. Both traditions describe the death of old identities, the creative power that rebuilds the self, and the emergence of a renewed consciousness. In this article, we explore how the figures of Osiris, Isis, Horus, and Set parallel the biblical narratives of Saul, Mary, David, and the trials of faith, revealing a timeless map of inner transformation and the power of imagination.
Below is a clear, Neville-compatible comparison to help you see how Egyptian myth maps onto the Bible as psychological symbolism.
Osiris → Death of the Old Self
Osiris is dismembered, scattered, and later reconstituted. This mirrors what the Bible calls the “old man” or “Saul”—a fragmented self-concept held together by old emotional patterns, fears, and assumptions.
Psychologically:
- Osiris represents the old identity that must die.
- His dismemberment mirrors the inner collapse when one realises their assumptions are no longer sustainable.
- His resurrection through Isis shows that a new identity comes through focused inner attention (Imagination).
In symbolic terms: Osiris is the old state dying so that a new one may rise.
Isis → Imagination
Isis searches for the scattered pieces of Osiris and rebuilds him. She is the creative power, the inner faculty that gives life to what has died or what is incomplete.
Neville would say:
- Isis is the Imagination that reassembles a new self-concept.
- She represents the inner mother, the receptive power that forms the image of what you choose to be.
In the Bible:
- This is Mary, the “womb” of consciousness.
- It is also the Spirit moving over the waters in Genesis.
Horus → The New State / David / Jesus
Horus is the child produced by Isis after the resurrection of Osiris. He is the new ruling consciousness, the victorious one, the one who inherits.
Psychologically:
- Horus is your new assumption personified.
- He battles Set (doubt) just as David battles Goliath or Jesus faces the wilderness.
Horus = David = Jesus = the manifestation of the chosen state.
Set → Resistance, Doubt, and Reactive Emotion
Set murders Osiris and battles Horus. He is the contradiction, the inner friction, the subconscious bias that opposes the new conception of self.
In the Bible:
- He appears as Pharaoh who refuses to “let the people go” (your old state refusing to release you).
- He appears as Goliath, the giant of entrenched belief.
- He appears as Satan (Saturn in astrology) in the wilderness—the testing of conviction.
Set = the internal resistance to assumption.
The Weighing of the Heart → Self-Judgement / “As You Think in Your Heart”
In the Egyptian judgment scene, the heart is weighed against the feather of Ma’at (truth). This is not about morality but inner alignment.
The Bible’s parallel:
- “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.”
- The heart is the subconscious register of your true state personified as Eve
- If the heart is heavy (fear, guilt, contradiction), the new state cannot be entered.
Neville would say: Your heart is weighed every time you assume a new state.
Ra’s Night Journey → Descent into the Unconscious
Each night Ra sails through the underworld, fights the serpent Apophis (chaos), and rises again at dawn.
This mirrors:
- Jonah in the belly.
- Jesus in the tomb.
- Jacob wrestling.
- Any descent into one’s own darkness before breakthrough.
Psychological symbolism:
- You confront the chaotic contents of the subconscious.
- Dawn = the new consciousness emerging.
Pharaoh → The Hardened State You Must Leave
Pharaoh’s heart “hardens,” refusing to release Israel. In Egyptian terms, this is very close to Set—the obstructive, rigid, tyrannical mind.
Neville interpretation:
- Pharaoh is your old assumption that refuses to die.
- Israel is your inner aspiration to awaken.
- Moses is the call to imagination demanding freedom.
The Eye of Horus → Restored Inner Vision
The eye is torn out during Horus and Set’s battle, but it is restored.
Symbolically:
- Your inner vision must be repaired after trauma, fear, or false self-concepts.
- The Bible equivalent is Jesus saying: “If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.”
- Bible: The “single eye” is the unified assumption—no contradiction, no doubt.
Synthesis: Egyptian Mythology and the Bible Are Two Versions of the Same Inner Story
Both systems describe:
- The death of old identity
- The formation of a new image in imagination
- The battle with inner resistance
- The birth of a new consciousness
- The ascension into a higher state of being
Egyptian myth is more explicit and visual; the Bible is more narrative and dramatic. But psychologically, they mirror one another.