The reason I find the 'benben' used in the Turin of Erotica so compelling and linking to the Amarna family, or more specifically, Nefertiti, is that Raymond Harris tells us the search for this particular quartzite stone was so important to Akhenaten that it became the subject of his very 'first' quarrying expedition. And of course we already know that once located, the massive Gem-Pa-Aten temple was built exclusively for this stone and Hereditary Princess, Nefertiti. And that's all you hear about that. No big deal, end of story. Or so I though before coming across this reproduction from Redford's Karnak excavations on the Gem-Pa-Aten. And what a find! We are indeed witnessing the 'Queens Club' in progress!
The artist designed this piece to be read in sections, which will then explain the whole truth. He even went so far as to provide us with the gentle and graceful Vanna White hands to showcase all the clues.
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 INDUCTION OF A HEREDITARY PRINCESS |
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Benben History
Bard & Shubert report the first known appearance of the ben ben was located at pre dynastic Heliopolis and then adopted by the unifier of Dynasty 1. Here are the transformations given;
Unfortunatley the benben's transformation during Akhenaten's seventeen years was completely skipped. Yet, Redford's Karnak reproduction clearly shows that Akhenaten returned the ancient benben to its original and "true" form.
From the viewers perspective, if we take hand #6 to represent the Nile with lotus breaching its surface, then everything behind it becomes positioned to the West. While Nebmaatra, Nefertiti and Meritaten become stationed to the East. On the West: The first object behind the life giving Nile is the benben, a Hathor fertility symbol, embraced and sitting between the knees of the goddess. Because Hathor is the only god in the West, she is therefore claiming divine ownership of the Nile, benben and all things behind her.
Illustrated benben in ritual use is amazing and very telling of Akhenaten. Notice IT is a pyramid sitting atop a stand, thus a 'raised stone'. This tells us that Akhenaten's search for "truth" started within "Dynasty O" with the pre-dynastic cult of Re at Heilopolis. A cult that both worshiped and revered the God Hathor. In fact, the reason Re was so important to this cult is because HE was the only God in the Universe with the ability to pleasantly prevent the Mother of the Universe from destroying man-kind! Notice that of all the gods, Re is very human in both thinking and frailties? He has a compassion for humans and justice that's not seen in other gods. And his inability to survive a single day or night without his beloved protector shows the mighty sun god was subject to the same death as mortals. When looking at the icon used for God Nebmaatre, you'll notice it’s very tiny in relation to virtually everything else in the picture, including the eggs and roasted (?) which are 3 times the size of the king. The key to this riddle is the one vitally overlooked point of all Re stories, He was 'not' the strong or primary god in any of them. That superior distinction belonged to the matriarch Hathor! And by proxy, her elite daughters had the ability to invoke some, if not all, of her powers. These elite women included all female gods, queens and hereditary princesses. Hathoric stance. Isis poisoned Re to learn his true name and later, Lilith who somehow already knew "God's true name" Just as Nebmaatre wasn't the strong or primary one when standing next to Tiye Hathor...and He was always standing next to Tiye, or had her icon, or the Mut symbol which Tiye reclaimed as Hathor's, or else Nebmaatre was talking about Tiye. I have no doubt that the original Atum king & Re king were exactly like Nebmaatre, god kings being granted their very life and death at the whim of a ruling female matriarch and her cult of Seven Hathor's. Mother God/Hathor/Tiye were considered the same iconic heavenly female who loved Re but had no problem destroying humans. Therefore you can be sure there was no greater supermacest than the king of Egypt. Comes the question? Because Re was so vulnerable and easily destroyed, exactly how or why did he become Egypt's greatest sun god and father figure? Frankly, Horus was tougher and stronger than Re. To answer that we must pin point the first time a "Father God" showed up in history. And that would be during Dynasty 0, whose dating has now been rolled back between 800-1000 years from Narmer's Pallet, 4200 B.C. Therefore, planet earth has only known of a 'father god' for a little of 6 thousand years. And prior to the introduction of Re, Horus the Son of Hathor had only been around for six thousand years and was introduced during the Bovine era by Neolithic hunters. And again, though rarely noticed, the springing cults of Horus and Re always gave leave to Hathor as superior to themselves. The reason for this, I beleive is that prior to 10,000 B.C....there had only been ONE GOD...MOTHER. She had no mate and no son. Mother was the sun and the moon, the alpha and omega. Therefore
On the East: Hand #7, Nebmaatre sits his neb while supporting an ankh and ma'at feather. Also very telling is that the rays of Re pierce his head, heart and body, or His Aten.
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The beautifully 
And then we see that Nebmaatre is being cradled and help high by a hereditary princess, Neferitit. Though I didn't number Neferiti's hands, they certainly count and hold much information about her station and power. Because the right-hand is the masculine giver, I will call it Alpha, or the beginning (as in the beginning). And the left-hand being the reciever becomes Omega, or the ending. That the real purpose of this Hathor/Re gathering. is the induction of Hereditary Princess Nefertiti and her hereditary daughter. But induction into what I ask? Why did such a tiny queen need the massive Gem-Pa-Aten to hold her service of worship? Why is the Re figure so tiny? And why is the Horus son or in this case Akhenaten, not present? 