XIV. EYE OF HORUS/DOUBLE HAPPINESS AMULET

But, even though it is stuffed with unusually sweet smelling bay leaves that my sister, Helen Hawley, found near Pasadena, I find the amulet really more suitable for tucking in with linens than wearing as decoration.

However, the Eye(s) of Horus remains among my favorite symbols. Even in childhood, I was fascinated by Egyptian Hieroglyphics and, lately, studying Writing Systems and Languages, I was re-impressed by the awesome knowledge that hieroglyphs were one of the earliest forms of any writing system.

Writing systems were invented, independently, perhaps no more than four times in the history of the world. As cuneiform -- via a long and circuitous route branching many times, eventually, in one of its mutations -- became the basis for our English alphabet, each of only a handful of writing systems grew, spread and diversified to become the common ancestry for all the scripts known in the world today. The concepts of "language" and "writing system", though they live together in our minds, are very different things.

I used the Egyptian Eyes for the first time in the KALACHAKRA where the eyes "utat(s)" of Horus peer over the top of The All Powerful Ten symbol's lintel -- out at the edges, near the "wings." The left eye refers to the moon, the right eye to the sun and to "health." Both can be found on many Egyptian inscriptions. Also, they are, especially the right eye, often used in pieces of ancient jewelry.

There are many fascinating websites that speak about and delve into the meanings and uses of the Eye(s) of Horus. One of special interest, as it proposes the "diagnosis/analysis" of the Eye(s) is http://www.aloha.net/~hawmtn/horus.htm.

Another use I made of the (right) Eye of Horus (for "health") was as the second hieroglyph to enhance my gold and, later, porcelain crowns. The first symbol I used in this way was the Ankh, which means "life", for my left upper 5th-from-the-front tooth. Through the years I have added: "wealth", "creativity", "love", "wisdom" on the front side of my gold molar crowns, and "truth", "beauty", "power" and "dominion" on the back side of my front porcelain crowns. It makes going to the dentist (especially a new one) quite entertaining and has been, for the most part, until now, a secret between God and me. No one has ever independently seen and remarked on the crowns except my dear friend Chungmi Kim who spotted "life" one day when I was laughing.