From Jennifer Emick,
Your Guide to Alternative Religions.
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Reader Ali asks:
My question for you is regarding the Eye of Ra. My understanding was that it represents wisdom, however there seems to be much confusion over the right and left eye of Horus and the meanings of each! I'm hoping for some clarification on this if possible.

Answer:
The Eye of Horus was a poular and persistent Egyptian religious symbol, so you will see a lot of information about it, some fairly contradictory. That the eye signifies "wisdom" is the common definition, but is not terribly informative. The name variations also cause a lot of confusion. It is also important to remember that there was a lot of variety in Egyptian religious belief, and myths changed and evolved over time. Horus himself went through many changes. He was once nearly identical with the God Ra, and for a time there were two gods Horus, with different aspects. He was also closely related to Osirus, and one of his aspects (as the infant God Hoor-par-kraat, or Harpocrates) was as the infant child of the slain Osirus and the Goddess Isis.

Generally speaking, there are actually two eyes of Horus- the left eye, and the right, the sun and the moon. The Egyptian Gods were closely related to the heavenly bodies and their respective "powers," the phenomena observed in relation to these bodies (This is why moon Goddesses are associated with the oceans, tides, etc., because the Moon was perceived to control the tides, floods, etc.).

This pair of eyes, sun and moon together, represented the transcendent power of Horus. The right eye is associated with the sun, and is sometimes called the eye of Ra. It is also occasionally associated with Goddesses such as Sekhmet and Wedjat, in their fiery capacities. The left eye, which is sometimes called the "eye of Thoth" is related to the Moon and the moon God thoth. It is this eye which is torn from Horus by his brother/uncle Seth, and restored to him by Thoth. This is an allusion to the phases of the moon, and its magical appearance and disappearance every month. The eye is also used to represent fractions, which may have been derived from observation of the phases of the moon.

Spiritually speaking, the Udjat and Wedjat represent the solar and lunar nature of man- the balance between reason and intuition, light and dark, the left and right brain, etc. Reflecting on the natures of the sun and moon, and their relationships to the Isis/Osirus/Horus trinity should give insight to the nature of these symbols.

You can read more about this symbol here:

Eye of Horus

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