THE SHRINE OF
GEB


Geb (Seb) The god of the earth, son of Shu and Tefnut, brother and husband of Nuit, and father of Osiris, Set, Isis, and Nephthys. In the earliest stages of Egyptian history his name was Geb; in later forms of the language it became Seb, but the old pronunciation has become so common in popular works on the subject that it is now commonly used. His sacred animal was the goose, and he was often referred to as the "Great Cackler". He is generally represented as a man with green or black skin - the color of living things, and the color of the fertile Nile mud, respectively. It was said that Seb would hold imprisoned the souls of the wicked, that they might not ascend to heaven. As the son of Shu and Tefnut, Seb was the Egyptian earth god. He was masculine, contrasting with the tradition that the guardian of the earth was usually female. The God Geb is the body of the Earth in Egyptian cosmology, based on the Heliopolitan tradition. From his body rise all the grains and plants on which we live and which we need to exist. He yearns always for his consort and beloved sister, Nut, the Goddess of the Starry Heavens. He is the son of Shu (Air) and Tefnut (Moisture), themselves the children of Atum-Ra at the beginning of time. He is often depicted lying beneath his beloved sister-wife, Nut, reaching up for her with his erect phallus (symbolizing the fertile growth of plants towards the sky). Shu, his father, stands between them, separating him from Nut with his body. Another depiction of Geb shows him curled into a ball beneath Nut, in the direction of the Earth's rotation. Generally these figures show the Sun's disk traveling across Nut's back. Geb provides strength and grounding for the wisdom and enlightenment of Nut. In astral travel, he sustains the body for the return of the traveler.