The Ennead (a word derived from Greek, meaning the nine) is a grouping of nine deities, most often used in the context of Egyptian mythology. As three of threes, the number was considered of great carnal power, and the groupings of nine Gods were considered very important.
There were multiple Enneads in Ancient Egypt. Pyramid Texts mention the Great Ennead, the Lesser Ennead, the Dual Ennead, plural Enneads, and even the Seven Enneads. Some Pharaohs created Enneads that incorporated themselves; most notably, Seti I in his temple at Redesiyah worshipped the Ennead that combined six important deities with three deified forms of himself.
Interestingly, the Egyptian term pesedjet, usually translated as Ennead, does not nessecarily mean a group of nine. There are some pesedjets that had a varying number of Gods throughout Egyptian history, and may have contained as few as seven, and as many as ten Gods.
The most important of the Egyptian Enneads was the so-called Great Ennead, also called the Heliopolis Ennead. The group consisted of Atum, the first god, his children Shu, Tefnut, and their children Geb, Nuit, Osiris, Isis, Set, and Nephthys. The origins of this grouping are uncertain. The thinking up until mid-20th century was that it was created by Heliopolis priests in order to place their local sun-god Ra above all other deities such as Osiris; however many modern Egyptologists now doubt the theory. It is however almost a certainy that the Ennead first appeared during the decline of Ra's cult during the 6th dynasty, and due to it the cult soon saw a great resurgence.
Creation Myth -- From the primeval waters represented by Nun, a mound appeared. Upon the mound sat Atum who had begotten himself. Bored and alone, he masturbated (some think the myth actually states he committed autofellatio) producing air (Shu), and moisture (Tefnut). Shu and Tefnut in turn gave birth to the earth (Geb) and the sky (Nuit), who initially were engaged in eternal copulation. Shu separated them, lifting Nuit into her place in the sky. The children of Nuit and Geb were Osiris, Isis, Set, and Nepthys.
In Egyptian mythology, the Ogdoad are the eight deities worshipped in Hermopolis. They were arranged in four male-female pairs, with the males associated with frogs, and the females with snakes: Nu/Naunet, Amun/Amaunet, Kuk/Kauket, Huh/Hauhet. Apart from their gender, there was little to distinguish the male god in a pair from the female goddess; indeed, the names of the females are merely the female forms of the male name. Essentially, each pair represents the male and female aspect of one of four concepts, namely water (Nu/Naunet), air (Amun/Amunet), darkness (Kuk/Kauket), and eternity (Huh/Hauhet).
Creation Myth Together the four concepts represent the primal fundamental state of the beginning, they are what always was. In the myth, however, their interaction ultimately proved to be unbalanced, resulting in the arising of a new entity. When the entity opened, it revealed Ra, the fiery sun, inside. After a long interval of rest, Ra, together with the other gods, created all other things.There are two main variations on the nature of the entity containing Ra.
Egg variant -- The original version of the myth has the entity arising from the waters after the interaction as a mound of dirt, the Milky Way, which was deified as Hathor. In the myth an egg was laid upon this mound by a celestial bird. The egg contained Ra. In the original version of this variant, the egg is laid by a cosmic goose (it is not explained where the goose originates). However, after the rise of the cult of Thoth, the egg was said to have been a gift from Thoth, and laid by an Ibis, the bird with which he was associated.
Lotus variant -- Later, when Atum had become assimilated into Ra as Atum-Ra, the belief that Atum emerged from a (blue) lotus bud, in the Ennead cosmogeny, was adopted and attached to Ra. The lotus was said to have arisen from the waters after the explosive interaction as a bud, which floated on the surface, and slowly opened its petals to reveal the beetle, Khepri, inside. Khepri, an aspect of Ra representing the rising sun, immediately turns into a weeping boy - Nefertum (young Atum), whose tears form the creatures of the earth. In later Egyptian history, as the god Khepri became totally absorbed into Ra, the lotus was said to have revealed Ra, the boy, straight away, rather than Ra being Khepri temporarily. Sometimes the boy is identified as Horus, although this is due to the merging of the myths of Horus and Ra into the one god Ra-Herakty, later in Egyptian history.
In Egyptian mythology, Chnum (also spelled Khnum, Knum, or Khnemu) was one of the earliest Egyptian gods, originally the god of the source of the Nile River. Since the annual flooding of the Nile brought with it silt and clay, and its water brought life to its surrounds, he was thought to be the creator of human children, which he made at a potter's wheel, from clay, and places them in their mothers' uteruses. Indeed, before the cult of Ra gained prominence, he was said by those who worshipped him to have moulded the other Gods, and he had the titles Divine Potter and Lord of created things from himself.
In certain locations, such as Elephantine, since Chnum was thought of as a god pouring out the Nile, he was regarded as the husband of Satis (who did much the same), and the father of Anuket, who represented the Nile itself. In other locations, such as Antinoe, as the moulder and creator of the human body, he was sometimes regarded as the consort of Heget, since it was her responsibility for breathing life into his creations. Alternatively, in places such as Esna, due to his aspect as creator of the body, they viewed him as the father of Heka, who activated the Ka, and consequently as the husband of Menhit.
Originally one of the most important gods, when other areas arose to greater prominence, it was the secondary function, as potter, that became his whole realm of authority, and instead, the Nile was considered the god Hapi, who was the Nile god in the more powerful areas. Khnum's name derives from this secondary association, it means builder. However, Chnum's earlier position as 'moulder' of the other gods, leads to him being identified as Ra, or more particularly as the Ba of Ra. Since Ba is also the word for a Ram, he became thought of as having a Ram's head.
In art, he was usually depicted as a Ram-headed man at a potter's wheel, with recently created children standing on the wheel, although he also appeared in his earlier guise as a water-god, holding a jar from which flowed a stream of water. However, he occasionally appeared in a compound image, depicting the elements, in which he, representing water, was shown as one of four heads of a man, with the others being Geb representing earth, Shu representing the air, and Osiris representing death. Some think this is a depiction which may have had an influence on Ezekiel and Revelations, as Chnum had a Ram's head, Shu sometimes appeared with a Lion's head, Osiris was a man, and Geb had a goose on his head.
The worship of Chnum centred on two principal riverside sites, Elephantine Island and Esna, which were regarded as sacred sites. At Elephantine, he was worshipped alongside Anuket and Satis as the guardian of the sources of the River Nile. His significance led to early theophoric names of him, for children, such as Chnum-khufu Chnum is Protector, the full name of Khufu, builder of the Great Pyramid. Due to his importance, as an aspect of the life-giving Nile, and also the creator, Chnum was still worshipped in some semi-Christian sects in the 2nd or 3rd Centuries.
Chons
In Egyptian mythology, Chons (alternately Khensu, Khons, Khonsu or Khonshu) is an ancient lunar deity, from before formal structure was given to a pantheon. His name reflects the fact that the Moon (referred to as Iah in Egyptian) travels across the night sky, for it means The Wanderer, and also had the titles Embracer, Pathfinder, and Defender, as he was thought to watch over night travelers. As the god of light in the night, Chons was invoked to protect against wild animals, increase male virility, and to aid with healing. It was said that when Chons caused the crescent moon to shine, women conceived, cattle became fertile, and all nostrils and every throat were filled with fresh air.
Chons can also be understood to mean king's placenta, and consequently in early times, he was considered to slay the king's (i.e. the pharaoh's) enemies, and extract their innards for the king's use, metaphorically creating something resembling a placenta for the king. This bloodthirsty aspect leads him to be referred to, in such as the Pyramid texts, as the (one who) lives on hearts. He also became associated with more literal placentas, becoming seen as a deification of the royal placenta, and so a god involved with childbirth.
During the Middle Kingdom, since the pool at the temple of Mut was in the shape of a crescent moon, Chons gradually replaced the war-god Menthu, as her son in Theban thought. The father who had adopted Chons was thought to be Amun, who had already been changed into a more significant god by the rise of Thebes, and had had his wife changed to Mut. As these two were both considered extremely benign deities, Menthu gradually lost his more aggressive aspects.
In art, Chons was depicted as a child with the head of a hawk, wearing the crescent of the new moon subtending the disc of the full moon. His head was shaven except for the side-lock worn by Egyptian children, signifying his role as Chons the Child. Occasionally Chons was depicted as a young man holding the flail of the pharaoh, wearing a menat necklace. He was sometimes pictured on the back of a goose, ram, or two crocodiles. Chons' sacred animal was the baboon, considered a lunar animal by the ancient Egyptians.
Khonshu has appeared as a character in modern literature. Most notably as the patron deity of the Marvel Comics superhero Moon Knight.
In Egyptian mythology, Nefertem (also Nefertum, Nefer-Tem, Nefer-Temu) was originally just the young Atum (his name means beautiful Atum, i.e. youthful Atum), at the creation of the world, who had arisen from the primal waters, in the Ennead cosmogeny. Since Atum was a solar deity, Nefertum represented sunrise, and since Atum had arisen from the primal waters in a lotus bud, Nefertum was associated with the (blue) lotus. Later, as time wore on, Atum became assimilated into Ra (as Atum-Ra), and so it came to be that people regarded Nefertum as a separate deity. Some of the titles of Nefertem were He Who is Beautiful and Water Lily of the Sun, and a version of the Book of the Dead says Rise like Nefertem from the lotus, to the nostrils of Ra, and come forth upon the horizon each day.
As the power of Memphis grew, their chief god, Ptah, was said to be the original creator, and thus of all the other gods, including any lesser creators, who create the remaining gods having first being created by Ptah. Consequently, the creator aspect of Atum-Ra, namely Nefertum, came to be merely the son of Ptah, rather than the creator proper. As son of Ptah, it was said that either Sekhmet, or Bast (whichever was considered wife of Ptah), was his mother. As a god now only associated with the lotus rather than creation, he became a god of perfume and luck.
In art, Nefertum is usually depicted as a beautiful young man having lotus flowers around his head, although, as the son of Bast, he also sometimes has the head of a lion or is a lion or cat reclining. Nefertem was associated both with the scent of the lotus flower and its narcotic effect, which in ancient Egypt was used for medical anesthetics. The ancient Egyptians often carried small statuettes of him as good-luck charms.