This was the company of gods of the Heliopolis creation myth. The priests of Heliopolis taught this cosmological system. The Ennead consisted of nine gods with Atum as the head. The other deities were Shu, Tefnut, Nut, Geb, Isis, Osiris, Nepthys and Seth. Sometimes the Ennead is spoken of in other amounts like five or twenty gods. The tenth god was usually Horus or Ra.
Shu was the god of the atmosphere, air, wind and emptiness/the void. He supported the sky. He was one of the great divinities of nature.
Shu succeeded Ra as king on earth.
The twin sister of Shu was Tefnut. They were the first couple of the Ennead. They were created by Atum.
The most important gods of the Egyptians were the offspring of Shu and Tefnut.
The mother of Tefnut and Shu is sometimes said to be Nebhet Hotep.
Shu was associated with the sun and Tefnut with the moon.
The children of Shu and Tefnut were Geb and Nut.
With Tefnut he received the sun each day.
He was represented in human form. In his role of warrior and protector of the sun god he had a lion head.
Normally he wore an ostrich feather on his head. Mists and clouds are symbols of Shu.
The ram is also a symbol of Shu, Ra, Geb and Osiris.
Shu lived in a palace at At Nub.
The name Shu comes from a word that means to raise or hold up.
On the orders of Ra Shu tore Geb (god of the earth) and Nut (goddess of the sky) apart because Ra did not want them married. Then he held up Nut.
In another version of this story they were separated because Nut swallowed her children, the stars, which made Geb and Nut fight.
The Ennead comes from the Heliopolis creation myth. In this myth Atum created Shu and Tefnut from who came Geb and Nut.
The children of Apep plotted against Shu and attacked him in his palace. He overcame them but became ill. Then his son Geb took his place as king.
There came a violent windstorm of nine days when Shu went away to the skies.
In later versions Atum became Ra and Shu and Tefnut the children of Ra.
Shu had to come to the palace of Ra with Tefnut, Geb, Nut, Nun and Hathor when humanity was plotting against Ra, to advice him. Ra was then king of both the realm of mortals and the gods.
Shu closed the doors of the underworld after Ra travelled the underworld during the night.
From the Middle Kingdom on Shu was sometimes represented with the hieroglyph of the sun with sunbeams.
Atum said it was Shu who made his heart live.
Shu brought back the sun eye to Ra, together with Thoth. The sun eye could be a representation of the goddess Tefnut.
One eye of Ra was Shu and the other Tefnut.
The Greek equivalent of Shu was Atlas.
Tefnut was the goddess of the rain, dew, warmth and moisture. She helped her husband and twin brother Shu with supporting the sky.
With Shu she received the sun each day.
They were the first couple of the Ennead. They were created by Atum.
The most important gods of the Egyptians were the offspring of Shu and Tefnut.
In earlier times she was seemed to have paired with a god named Tefen.
The mother of Tefnut and Shu is sometimes said to be Nebhet Hotep.
Tefnut was associated with the moon and Shu with the sun.
The children of Tefnut and Shu were Geb and Nut.
She was worshipped in the form of a goddess with the head of a lioness. Sometimes she appeared as an upright cobra: then she was identified with the uraeus.
In human form she wore a sun disk with a cobra wrapped around it. She was named mistress of the flame, like Sechmet, because she spit fire at the enemies of Ra.
Tefnut also stood for the world order.
Tefnut had to come to the palace of Ra with Shu, Geb, Nut, Nun and Hathor when humanity was plotting against Ra, to advice him.
Ra was then king of both the realm of mortals and the gods.
It is possible that the sun eye that was brought back by Shu and Thoth to Ra is a representation of Tefnut.
In this interpretation Shu is one eye of the god Ra and Tefnut the other.
Shu and Thoth convinced the angry Tefnut to return to Egypt with music, dance and wine.
Wine was special in the cult of the goddesses Bastet, Sechmet, Tefnut and mostly Hathor.
Tefnut was revered mostly in Heliopolis and Leontopolis in the Nile Delta.
By the Greek Tefnut was sometimes identified with Artemis.