ancient egypt light of the world

8/8/2019 Ancient Egypt Light of the World

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Enough has now been cited to show the method of the Ritual and themode in which the eschatology ofthe Egyptian religion was founded in the mould of the pre-extantmythology. The Book of the Dead is theEgyptian book of life. It is the pre-hristian word of !od. This we learn

from the account which it gi"es of#age $%&

'ncient Egypt( The )ight of the *orld by !erald +asseyitself. It is attributed to Ra as the inspiring holy spirit. Ra was the fatherin hea"en, who has the title ofHuhi, the eternal, from which we deri"e the ebrew name of Ihuh. Theword was gi"en by !od the fatherto the e"er-coming son as manifestor for the father. This was orus,who as the coming son is lu-sa orlu-su, and, as the prince of peace, lu-em-hetep. orus the son is the*ord in person. ence the speaker

in the character of orus says, I utter his words - the words of Ra - tothe men of the present generation,and I repeat his words to him who is depri"ed of breath /ch. 012. Thatis, as orus, the sayer or logos,who utters the words of Ra the father in hea"en to the li"ing on earth,and to the breathless +anes in'menta when he descends into ades or the later hell to preach to thespirits in prison. The word or thesayings thus originated with Ra the father in hea"en. They wereuttered by orus the son, [Page 193] andwhen written down in hieroglyphics by the 3ngers of Taht-'an for

human guidance they supplied a basisfor the Book of the Dead. It had been ordained by Ra that his words,such as those that bring about theresurrection and the glory /Rit., ch. I 2, should be written down by thedi"ine scribe Taht-'an, to make theword truth, and to e4ect the triumph of 5siris against his ad"ersaries6and it is proclaimed in the openingchapter that this mandate has been obeyed by Taht. The Ritualpurports to contain the gnosis of sal"ationfrom the second death, together with the ways and means of attainingeternal life, as these were acted in

the drama of the 5sirian mysteries. ence the 5siris says that freedomfrom perdition can be assured bymeans of this book, in which he trusts and by which he steadfastlyabides. The ob7ect of the words ofpower, the magical in"ocations, the funeral ceremonies, thepurgatorial trials, is the resurrection of themortal to the life which is e"erlasting. The opening chapter isdescribed as the words which bring about


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the resurrection on the +ount of !lory, and the closing chapters showthe deceased upon the summit ofattainment. e has 7oined the lords of eternity in the circle of 5siris,and in the likeness of his ownhuman self, the "ery 3gure which he had on earth, but changed and

glori3ed /ch. $812. Therefore themost exact and comprehensi"e title for the Book of the Dead now puttogether in $19 chapters would beThe Ritual of the Resurrection, The book of the di"ine words writtendown by Taht are in the keeping oforus the son, who is addressed as him who sees the father. The+anes comes to him with his copyof the writings, by means of which he pre"ails on his 7ourney through'menta, like #ilgrim with his roll. eexclaims( 5 thou great seer who beholdest his father: 5 keeper of thebooks of Taht: ere am I glori3ed

and 3lled with soul and power, and pro"ided with the writings of Taht,the secrets of which are di"ine forlightening the darkness of the nether earth /Rit( ch. ;


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great magical [Page 194] power. The ?r-heka or magical sign precededwords, and words preceded thewritings. !reat magical words of power are ascribed to Isis, whoseword of power in the human spherewas personi3ed in orus the child, her word that issued out of silence.

This is the word that w"as made@esh in a mortal likeness, the soul deri"ed from blood. hild-orus,howe"er, manifests in di"ersphenomena as the *ord-of-#ower emaned by Isis, in the water, in"egetation, in food, and lastly in the#age $%$

'ncient Egypt( The )ight of the *orld by !erald +assey"irgin motherAs blood. The 3rst orus was the *ord-of-#ower, thesecond is the *ord-made-Truth inorus, +at, t-heru, by doing it. orus the *ord-of-#ower was thefounder, who was followed by orus

the Cul3ller.This title does not merely mean the *ord of Truth, the True)ogos /elsus2, or the True oice/#lutarch2, but denotes the *ord-made-Truth or )aw by orus theictorious, the fatherAs own anointedson, who ful3lled the *ord of #ower. It is orus the *ord-of-#owerpersonalied as a little child whosur"i"es as the miraculous worker two or three years old in theapocryphal gospels. e is credited withdoing these infantine mar"els as the *ord-of-#ower in person. e alsoutters the word of power inperforming his amaing miracles.

The magical words were orally communicated in the mysteries frommouth to ear, not written to be read.They were to be gotten by heart. In the Book of the Dead memory isrestored to the deceased throughthe words of power that were stored up in life to be remembered indeath. The speaker in chapter ;&says( F5 thou who restorest memory in the mouth of the dead throughthe words of power which theypossess, let my mouth be opened through the words of power which Ipossess. That is, by "irtue of thegnosis, memory was restored by the deceased remembering the di"ine

words. Gow, #lato taught that aknowledge of past li"es in a human pre-existence was restored topersons in this life by means ofmemory. The origin of the doctrine is undoubtedly Egyptian, but it wasmade out by a per"ersion of theoriginal teaching. This restoration of or through memory occurs to the+anes in 'menta after death, and


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the things remembered appertain to the past life on earth. #lato hasmisapplied it to the past li"es andpre-existence of human beings dwelling on the earth. The words ofpower were not only spoken. Theywere likewise represented in the e=uipment of the mummy, sometimes

called its ornaments, such as theword of sal"ation by the blood of Isis with the red Tet-buckle, the wordof durability by the white stone, theword of resurrection by the scarabaeus, the word of eternal life by thecross, called the ankh. These wereforms of the magical words expressed in fetish 3gures.The +anes in 'menta begins his course where he left o4 on earthwhen his mouth was closed in death6 itis opened once more for him by #tah and Tum, and Taht supplies himwith the great magical words ofpower that open e"ery gate. These were written on the roll of papyrus

that is carried in his hand by thepilgrim who makes his progress through the nether regions in thesubterranean pathway of the sun. Theso-called Book of the Dead, then, here =uoted as the Ritual for thesake of bre"ity, is the Egyptian bookof life( life now, life hereafter, e"erlasting life. It was indeed the book oflife and sal"ation, because itcontained the things to be done in the life here [Page 195]. andhereafter to ensure eternal continuity /Rit.,ch. $%, hymn 02. The departing soul when passing away in death, or, asthe truer phrase is, when setting

into the land of life, clasps and clings to his roll for "ery life. 's thebook of life, or word of sal"ation, it wasburied in the coHn with the dead when done with on earth. It showedthe way to hea"en ob7ecti"ely aswell as sub7ecti"ely, as hea"en was mapped out in the astral mythos.The +anes enters 'menta with apapyrus roll in his hand corresponding to the one that was buried in hiscoHn. This contains the writtenword of truth, the word of magical power, the word of life. The great=uestion now for him is how far hehas made the word of god /5siris2 truth and established it against the

powers of e"il in his lifetime on theearth. The word that he carries with him was written by Taht-'an, thescribe of truth. 'nother word hasbeen written in his lifetime by himself, and the record will meet him inthe all of ustice on the day ofweighing words, when Taht will read the record of the life to see howfar it tallies with the written word and


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how far he has ful3lled the word in truth to earn eternal life. The senseof sin and abhorrence of in7usticemust ha"e been peculiarly keen when it was taught that e"ery word aswell as deed was weighed in thebalance of truth on the day of reckoning, called the udgment Day. The

=uestions confronting the +aneson entering 'menta are whether he has laid suHcient hold of life toli"e again in death J as he ac=uiredconsistency and strength or truth of character enough to persist insome other more permanent form of#age $%K

'ncient Egypt( The )ight of the *orld by !erald +asseypersonality J as he suHcient force to incorporate his soul anew andgerminate and grow and burst themummy bandages in the glori3ed body of the >ahu J Is he a truemummy J Is the backbone sound J Is

his heart in the right place J as he planted for eternity in the seed-3eld of time J as he made the wordof 5siris, the word that was written in the papyrus roll, truth against hisenemies JThe chapters for opening the Tuat, for dealing with the ad"ersary in thenether world, for issuing forth"ictoriously and thus winning the crown of triumph, for remo"ingdispleasure from the heart of the 7udge,tend to show the ways of attaining the life e"erlasting by ac=uiringpossession of an eternal soul. The+anes is said to be made safe for the place of rebirth in 'nnu by

means of the books of TahtAs di"inewords, which contain the gnosis or knowledge of the things to be doneon earth and in 'menta. The truthis made known by the words of orus which were written down by Tahtin the Ritual, but the ful3lmentdepends on the +anes making the word truth by doing it. That is theonly way of sal"ation or of safety forthe soul, the only mode of becoming a true being who would endure aspure spirit fore"er. The Egyptianshad no "icarious atonement, no imputed righteousness, no second-hand sal"ation. Go initiate in the

5sirian mysteries could possibly ha"e rested his hope of reachinghea"en on the !alilean line to glory.is was the more crucial way of 'menta, which the +anes had to treadwith the guidance of the word,that step by step and act by act he must himself make true. It is said inthe rubrical directions of chapter8K that the +anes who knew it on earth and had it written on his coHnwill be able to go in and out by


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day under any form he chooses in which he can penetrate his dwelling-place and also make his way tothe 'arru 3elds of peace and plenty,[Page 196] where he will be@ourishing for e"er e"en as he was onearth /Rit., 8K, ;, II2. I f chapter ;$ is known, the +anes takes the form

of a fully-e=uipped spirit /a hu2 inthe nether world, and is not imprisoned at any door in 'menta eithergoing in or coming out. /hapter ;K2is the one that opens the tomb to the soul and to the shade of aperson, that he may come forth to dayand ha"e the mastery o"er his feet. The book of gi"ing sustenance tothe spirit of the deceased in theunder-world deli"ers the person from all e"il things /Rit., $


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de3ance of all the powers of e"il. 'ccording to this earlier Bible, deathcame into the world by ignorance,not by knowledge, as in the hristian tra"esty of the Egyptianteaching. 's ermes says( Thewickedness of a soul is ignorance. The "irtue of a soul is knowledge

/Divine Pymander, B. i"., K8,K12.There was no life for the soul except in knowing, and no sal"ationbut in doing. the truth. The humansoul of Geferuben in the picture is the wise or instructed soul, one ofthe hu-'karu ( he is a master of#age $%0

'ncient Egypt( The )ight of the *orld by !erald +asseythe gnosis, a knower or knowing soul, and therefore not to be caughtlike an ignorant 3sh in the net.nowledge is of the 3rst importance. In all his 7ourneyings anddiHculties it is necessary for the deceased

to know. It is by knowledge that he is lighted to 3nd his way in thedark. nowledge is his lamp of lightand his compass6 to possess knowledge is to be master of di"inepowers and magical words. Ignorancewould lea"e him a prey to all sorts of liers in wait and cunningenemies. e triumphs continually throughhis knowledge of the way, like a tra"eller with his chart and pre"iousac=uaintanceship with the locallanguage6 hence the need of the gnosis and of initiation in themysteries. Those who knew the real nameof the god were in possession of the word [Page 197] that represented

power o"er the di"inity, thereforethe word of power that would be eHcacious if employed. Instead ofcalling on the name of god in prayer,they made use of the name as the word of god. 'nd as these wordsand mysteries of magic werecontained in the writings, it was necessary to know the writings inwhich the gnosis was religiouslypreser"ed to be in possession of the words of power. ence thephrases of great magical eHcacy in theRitual are called the words that compel. They compel the fa"ourableaction of the super-human power

to which appeal is made. To make magic was to act the appeal in alanguage of signs which, like thewords, were also intended to compel, and to act thus magically was amode of compelling, forcing, andbinding the superhuman powers. +agic was also a mode ofco"enanting with the power apprehended inthe elements.The quid pro quo being blood, this was a most primiti"eform of blood-co"enant. !i"ing


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blood for food was gi"ing life for the means of li"ing.The Ritual opens with a resurrection, but this is the resurrection in theearth of 'menta, not in the hea"enof eternity. It is the resurrection of a body-soul emerging in thesimilitude of the moon-god from the dark

of death. The 3rst words of the Ritual are, 5 Bull of 'menta L5siris M, itis Taht, the e"erlasting king, whois here:. e has come as one of the powers that 3ght to secure thetriumph of 5siris o"er all hisad"ersaries. 'fter the life on earth there was a resurrection in 'menta,the earth of eternity, for the humansoul e"ol"ed on earth. I t was there that the claim to the resurrection inspirit and to life eternal in hea"enhad to be made good and established by long and painful experiencesand many kinds of purgatorialpuri3cation, by which the soul was perfected e"entually as an e"er-

Ii"ing spirit. The word of promise hadto be performed and made truth indeed, for the +a-heru ofimmortality to be earned and endlesscontinuity of life assured. E"eryone who died was in possession of abody-soul that passed into 'mentato become an 5siris or an image of the god in matter, although it wasnot e"ery one who was reborn orregenerated in the likeness of Ra, to attain the orushood, which wasportrayed as the hood of the di"inehawk .Emergence in 'menta was the coming forth of the human soulfrom the coHn and from the gloom

of the gra"e in some form of personality such as is depicted in the>hade, or the Ba, a bird of soul withthe human head, which shows that a human soul is signi3ed. 5siris thegod of 'menta in a mummy formis thus addressed by the 5siris G. or +anes( 5 breathless one, let meli"e and be sa"ed after death/ch.


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The Ritual is not a book of beautiful sentiments, like the poeticliterature of later times. It is a record of thethings done by the [Page 198] dramatis personae in the amitemysteries. But now and again the beautyof feeling breaks out ine4ably upon the face of it, as in the chapter by

which the deceased pre"ails o"erhis ad"ersaries, the powers of darkness, and comes forth to the day,saying, 5 thou who shinest forth#age $%ahu orin"estiture of the glorious body.Before the mortal +anes could attain the ultimate state of spirit in theimage of orus the immortal, hemust be put together part by part as was 5siris, the dismemberedgod.e is di"inied in the likeness of

"arious di"inities, all of whom had been included as powers in theperson of the one true god, Geb-er-ter,the lord entire. E"ery member and part of the +anes in 'menta has tobe fashioned afresh in a newcreation. The new heart is said to be shaped by certain gods in thenether world, according to the deedsdone in the body whilst the person was li"ing on the earth. e assumesthe [Page 199] glori3ed body thatis formed feature by feature and limb after limb in the likeness of thegods until there is no part of the+anes that remains undi"inied. e is gi"en the hair of Gu, or hea"en,

the eyes of athor, ears of 'puat,nose of henti-as, lips of 'nup, teeth of >erk, neck of Isis, hands ofthe mighty lord of Tat tu, shouldersof Geith, back of >ut, phallus of 5siris, legs and thighs of Gut, feet of#tah, with nails and bones of theli"ing ?raei, until there is not a limb of him that is without a god. Thereis no possibility of coming back toearth for a new body or for a re-entry into the old mummy. 's the+anes says, his soul is not bound tohis old body at the gates of 'menta / ch. K9, 92. hapter 1; isdesignated the chapter by which the soul

is united to the body. This, howe"er, does not mean the dead body onearth, but the format or bodily typeof the mummy in 'menta. ere I come, says the speaker, that FI mayo"erthrow mine ad"ersaries uponthe earth, though my dead body be buried /ch. 19, Renouf2. )et mecome forth to day, and walk uponmy own legs. )et me ha"e the feet of the glori3ed / ch. 192. 't thisstage he exclaims, I am a soul, and


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my soul is di"ine. It is the eternal force. In chapters K$ and KK the+anes asks for his mouth, that hemay speak with it. a"ing his mouth restored, he asks that it may beopened by #tah, and that Taht mayloosen the fetters or mules of >ut, the power of darkness /ch. K02. In

short,A that he may reco"er thefaculty of speech. In the process of transforming and being renewed asthe new man, the second 'tum,#age $%%

'ncient Egypt( The )ight of the *orld by !erald +asseyhe says, I am hepera, the self-produced upon his motherAs thigh.hepera is the beetle-type of the sunthat is portrayed in pictures of the goddess Gut proceeding from themotherAs khepsh. The name of thebeetle signi3es becoming and e"ol"ing, hence it is a type of thebecomer in making his transformation.

The mouth being gi"en, words of power are brought to him, he alsogathers them from e"ery =uarter.Then he remembers his name. Gext the new heart is gi"en to him. is7aws are parted, his eyes areopened. #ower is gi"en to his arms and "igour to his legs. e is inpossession of his heart, his mouth, hiseyes, his limbs, and his speech. e is now a new man reincorporated inthe body of a >ahu, with a soulthat is no longer bound to the hat or dead mummy at the gates of'menta / ch. K92. e looks forward tobeing fed upon the food of 5siris in 'arru, on the eastern side of the

mead of amaranthine @owers.In one phase of the drama the deceased is put together bone by bonein correspondence to thebackbone of 5siris. The backbone was an emblem of sustaining power,and this reconstruction ofdeceased is in the likeness of the mutilated god. The speaker at thispoint says, The four fastenings ofthe hinder part of my head are made 3rm. e does not fall at theblock. There are of course se"encer"ical "ertebrae in the backbone altogether, but three of these arepeculiar, the atlas which supports

the head, the axis upon which the head turns, and the vertebraeprominens, with its long spiral process /ch. 0&, Renouf2.Go doubt the 5siris was rebuilt upon this model, andthe four 7oints were fundamental,they constituted a four-fold foundation. In another passage the 5siris isapparently perfected upon thes=uare, as in the +asonic mysteries. It is the [Page 200] chapter bywhich one assumes the form of #tah,


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the great architect of the uni"erse. The speaker says, e is four timesthe armAs length of Ra, four timesthe width of the world / Rit., ch. 1K, Renouf2, which is a mode ofdescribing the four =uarters or foursides of the earth, as represented by the Egyptians. There were se"en

primary powers in the mythicaland astronomical phases, six of whom are represented by ootypes,and the se"enth is imaged in thelikeness of a man. This is repeated in the eschatology, where thehighest soul of se"en is the a-eidolonwith a human face and 3gure as the 3nal type of spirit which washuman on the earth and is to be eternalin the hea"ens. The +anes who is being reconstituted says, TheLse"enM ?raeus di"inities are mybody. ...+y image is eternal /ch. 1%2, as it would be when the se"ensouls were amalgamated into one

that was imaged by the di"ine a. The se"en ?raeus di"initiesrepresented the se"en souls of life thatwere anterior to the one enduring soul. In the chapter of propitiatingoneAs own a the +anes says, ailto thee, my a: +ay I come to thee and be glori3ed and made manifestand ensouled J / ch. I&02-that is,in attaining the highest of the souls, the unifying one. These souls maybe concei"ed as se"en ascendingtypes of personality. The 3rst is 3gured as the shade, the dark soul orshade of the Inoits, the!reenlanders, and other aboriginal races, which is portrayed personally

in the Ritual lying darkly on theground. The shade was primary, because of its being, as it were, ashadow of the old body pro7ected onthe ground in the new life. It is portrayed as a black 3gure stretchedout in 'menta. In this way the earthshadow of the body in life ser"ed as the type of a soul that passed outof the body in death. This mayexplain the intimate relationship of the shade to the physical mummy,which it is sometimes said to clingto and remain with in the tomb, and to draw sustenance from thecorpse so long as it exists. Thus the

shade that draws life from the dead body becomes the mythicalprototype of the "ampire and thelegendary ghoul. It may be diHcult to determine exactly what theEgyptians understood by the khabit orshade in its genesis as a soul, but the Inoit or 'leutians describe it asa "apour emanating from thebloodN and here is wisdom for those who comprehend it. The earliesthuman soul, deri"ed from the


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mother when the blood was looked upon as the life, was a soul ofblood, and the Inoit descriptionanswers perfectly to the shade in the Egyptian 'menta. 'mongst themost primiti"e races the typicalbasis of a future personality is the shade. The 'leutians say the soul at

its departure di"ides into theshade and the spirit. The 3rst dwells in the tomb, the other ascends tothe 3rmament. These, where"ermet with, are e=ui"alent to the twin-souls of >ut the dark one, andorus the soul of light. Cor we reckonthe Egyptian se"en to be earliest and old enough to account for andexplain the rest which are to be#age $%9

'ncient Egypt( The )ight of the *orld by !erald +asseyfound dispersed about the world. The soul as shade or shadow isknown to the +acusi Indians as the

man in the eyes who does not die. This is another form of theshadow that was not cast upon theground. Dr. Birch drew attention to the fact that whilst the deceasedhas but one Ba, one >ahu, and onea, he has two shades, his habti being in the plural /Trans Society of!ib rch, "olume "iii., page0;$2. These two correspond to the dark and light shades [Page 201] ofthe aborigines. They also conformto the two souls of darkness and light that were imaged by the black"ulture and the golden hawk of >utand orus, the 3rst two of the total septenary of powers or souls. The

shade, howe"er, is but onese"enthof the series. The other self when perfected consists of se"enamalgamated souls. >ome of the+anes in 'menta do not get beyond the state of the shade or habit6they are arrested in this conditionof mummied immobility. They do not ac=uire the new heart or soul ofbreath6 they remain in the eggunhatched, and do not become the Ba-soul or the glori3ed hu. Theseare the souls that are said to beeaten by certain of the gods or infernal powers. Eater of the shadesis the title of the fourth of the fortytwo

executioners /ch. $K%2. The tenth of the mystical abodes in 'menta isthe place of the monstrousarms that capture and carry away the +anes who ha"e not attained acondition beyond that of the shadeor empty shell. The shells of the theosophists may be met with in theRitual. The +anes who is forti3edwith his di"ine soul can pass this place in safety. e says, )et no onetake possession of my shade L let


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no one take possession of my shell or en"elope M. I am the di"inehawk. e has issued from the shell ofthe egg and been established beyond the status of the shade as a Ba-soul. *ith this may be comparedthe superstition that in eating eggs one should always break up the

empty shell, lest it should be madee"il use of by the witches. There are wretched shades condemned toimmobility in the 3fth of the mysticalabodes. They su4er their 3nal arrest in that place and position, and arethen de"oured by the giants wholi"e as eaters of the shades. These monsters are described as ha"ingthigh-bones se"en cubits long /ch.$


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second heart, the heart of another life. The +anes makes appeal forthis heart not to bear e"idenceagainst him in presence of the god who is at the balance /chs. 0&' and0&B2. The second is the heartthat was fashioned anew according to the life li"ed in the body. It is

said to be the heart of the great godTehuti, who personated intelligence. Therefore it would seem to typifythe soul of intelligence. ence it issaid to be young and keen of insight among the gods, or among these"en souls. The physicalrepresentation comes 3rst, but it is said in the text of #anchemisis,The conscience or heart /'b2 of aman is his own god or di"ine 7udge. The new heart represents rebirth,and is therefore called the mother/ch. 0&'26 and when the deceased reco"ers the basis of future being inhis whole heart he says, although

#age $%8'ncient Egypt( The )ight of the *orld by !erald +asseyhe is buried in the deep, deep gra"e, and bowed down to the region ofannihilation, he is glori3ed /e"en2there /ch. 0&', Renouf2.Gow if we take the shade to image a soul of blood, the Ba-hawk toimage a soul of light, and the hatiheartto represent a soul of breath, we can percei"e a raison d# etre for theo4ering of blood, of lights, andof incense as sacri3ces to the +anes in three di4erent phases orstates. Blood was generally o4ered to

the shades, as we see in sur"i"al among the !reeks and Romans. Theshade was in the 3rst stage ofthe past existence, and most needing in 'menta the blood which wasthe life on earth and held to be of3rst necessity for the re"i"ifying of the dead as +anes or shades. The>ekhem was one of the souls orpowers. It is diHcult to identify this with a type and place in the se"en.Pro tem we call it fourth of theseries. It is more important to know what force it represents. The nameis deri"ed from the word khem,for potency. hem in physics signi3es erectile power. The man of thirty

years as typical adult is khemt.>ekhem denotes ha"ing the power or potency of the erectile force. Inthe eschatological phase it is thereproducing, formati"e power of hem, or 'msu, to re-erect, the powerof erection being applied to thespirit in fashioning and "italiing the new and glorious body for thefuture resurrection from 'menta. The


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hu is a soul in which the person has attained the status of the pure inspirit called the glori3ed,represented in the likeness of a beautiful white bird6 the a is a type ofeternal duration in which these"en-fold personality is uni3ed at last for permanent or e"erlasting

life.It is the hu that is thus addressed in the tomb as the glori3ed one(Thou shalt not be imprisoned bythose who are attached to the person of 5siris Lthat is, the mummyM,and who ha"e custody of souls andspirits, and who shut up the shades of the dead. It is hea"en only thatshall hold thee. /Rit. ch., ;K.2 Theshade of itself could ne"er lea"e the tomb. Cor this reason it wascommonly held that the shaderemained with the corpse or mummy on the earth. But here the tomb,the mummy, and the shade are not

on earth6 they are in 'menta. *ithout the Ba-soul, the shade remainsun"i"i3ed. *ithout the >ekhem, itlacks essential form or power of re-arising. *ithout the hu-spirit theperson does not ascend from thesepulchre or prison-house of the nether world. But when this has beenattained the deceased is glori3ed.If chapter ;$ is known, he taketh the form of a fully-e=uipped huLspirit M in the nether [Page 203] world,and does not su4er imprisonment at any door in 'menta, either incoming in or going out /Renouf, ch.;$2. It is only when the +anes is in"ested as a hu that he ascends to

the father as a son of god. >o wegather from the following words addressed to orus by the person whois now a hu( 5 mighty one,who seest thy father, and who hast charge of the books of Taht, heream I. I come, and am glori3ed and3lled with soul and power, and am pro"ided with the scriptures ofTaht, his copy of the book of life, hislight in the darkness of 'menta. e now ascends to Ra his father, whois in the bark, and exclaims againand again, I am a powerful hu6 let thy soundness be my soundness/Renouf, ch. $&%2. *hen the

deceased has been made perfect as a hu, he is free to enter the greathouse of se"en halls /ch. $


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and ha"e carried o$ and put together my forms, or constituent partsof the permanent soul, which werese"en altogether. These are( /$2 The habit or dark shade6 /K2 the Ba orlight shade6 /02 the breathingheart6 /ekhem6 /%2 the >ahu6 /92 the hu6 /82 the a. *hen the

+anes has become a hu, the ais still a typical ideal ahead of him6 so far ahead or aloof that hepropitiates it with o4erings. In fact, hepresents himself as the sacri3cial "ictim that would die to attaincon7unction with his a, his image ofeternal duration, his type of totality, in which the se"en souls werepermanently uni3ed in one at last. Thea has been called the double of the dead, as if it simply representedthe Doppel%ganger. But it is notmerely a phantom of the li"ing or personal image of the departed. Itser"es also for the apparition or

#age $%1'ncient Egypt( The )ight of the *orld by !erald +asseyrevenant 6 it is a type rather than a portrait. It is a type that was pre-natal. It images a soul which cameinto existence with the child, a soul which is food and sustenance tothe body all through life, a soul ofexistence here and of duration for the life hereafter. ence it isabsorbed at last in the perfectedpersonality. It is depicted in the Temple of )uxor, where the birth of'men-hetep III. is portrayed ascoming from the hand of god. The a of the royal infant is shown in the

pictures being formed by hnumthe moulder on the potterAs wheel. It is in attendance on the person alllife through, as the genius orguardian angel, and the ful3lment of the personality is e4ected by a3nal reunion with the a. 's alreadyshown, when di"ine honours were paid to the #haraoh the o4eringswere made to his a, not to hismortal self. Thus the +anes in 'menta makes an o4ering of incense topurify himself in propitiation of hisa / ch. $&%2. There is a chapter of pro"iding food for the a. 'lso themortuary meal was eaten in the

chamber of the a, the resurrection chamber of the sepulchre. Coodwas offered to the a-eidOPlon asthe representati"e of the departed, instead of directly to the spirits ofthe ancestors. It was set up there asrecei"er-general of the o4erings. 'lso the food was presented to it as atype of the di"ine food whichsustained the human soul. Thus, when the di"ine sustenance is o4eredby the god or goddess to the soul


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of the mortal on the [Page 204] earth, or to the +anes in 'menta, it ispresented by the gi"er to the a.ertain priests were appointed to be ministers to the a, and thesemade the o4erings to the a of thedeceased on behalf of the li"ing relati"es. This is because the a was

the type of personality, se"enth ofthe se"en souls attained as the highest in which the others were to beincluded and absorbed. In the"ignettes to chapter K% of the Ritual /Ga"ille, Todt& 'ap, K%, "ol. i., p.092 the deceased is shown his a,which is with him in the passage of 'menta, not left behind him in thetomb, that he may not forgethimself /as we might say2, or, as he says, that he may not su4er loss ofidentity by forgetting his name.>howing the a to him enables the +anes to recall his name in thegreat house, and especially in the

crucible of the house of @ame. *hen the deceased is far ad"anced onhis 7ourney through 'menta, hisa is still accompanying him, and it is described as being the food ofhis life in spirit world, e"en as it hadbeen his spiritual food in the human life. Thou art come, 5siris6 thy ais with thee. Thou feedest thyselfunder thy name of a /$K1,92. *hen the 5siris has passed from thestate of a shade to the stage of thea, he will become what the Ritual designates a fully e=uipped +aneswho has completed his in"estiture.'s a >ahu he was reincorporated in a spiritual body. 's a hu he was

in"ested with a robe of glory. 's asacred hawk with the head of a Bennu he was endowed with the soul oforus /ch. 812. It was here heexclaimed Behold me6 I am come to you Lthe gods and the glori3edM,and ha"e carried o4 my forms andunited them. But in chapter ;K he was anxiously looking forward tothe day of reckoning, when he said,)et the way be open to my soul and my shade, that I may see thegreat god within his sanctuary on theday of the soulAs reckoning, when all hearts and words are weighed.e is not yet one of the spirits

made perfect, being neither 7udged nor 7usti3ed. e has to pass his lastexamination, and is nowapproaching the great hall of 7udgment for his trial. e says, I amcome that I may secure my suit in'bydos, the mythical re(-birthplace of 5siris. This is the 3nal trial ofthe long series through which he hashitherto. successfully passed /Rit, ch. II 8, Renouf2. e has now arri"edat the 7udgment hall. It has been


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asserted that the deeds which the deceased had done here on earth inno wise in@uenced the fate thatawaited the man after death /+aspero, (gyptian rchaeology. Eng. tr.,p. $


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thispost%mortem the sins done in the body through "iolating the law ofnature were probed for mostprofoundly. Got only was the deceased present in spirit to be 7udged atthe dread tribunal, the book of thebody was opened and its record read. The "ital organs, such as the

heart, li"er, and lungs, were broughtinto 7udgment as witnesses to the life li"ed on earth. 'ny part too"itiated for the rottenness to be cut o4or scraped away was condemned and @ung as o4al to the powers whoare called the eaters of 3lth, thede"ourers of hearts, and drinkers of the blood of the wicked. 'nd if theheart, for example, should becondemned to be de"oured because "ery bad, the indi"idual could notbe reconstructed for a future life.In order that the 5siris may pass the !reat 'ssie as one of the7usti3ed, he must ha"e made the word of

5siris truth on earth against his enemies. e must ha"e li"ed arighteous life and been 7ust, truthful,merciful, charitable, humane. In coming to the all of udgment orustice to look on the di"inecountenance and be cleansed from all the sins he may ha"e committedhe says, I ha"e come to thee, 5my )ord. I know thee. )ord of Righteousness is thy name. I bring tothee right. I ha"e put a stop towrong. is plea is that he has done his best to ful3l the character oforus-+akheru. >ome of his pleasare "ery touching. e has not exacted from the labourer, as the 3rst-

fruits of each day, more work thanwas 7ustly due to him. e has not snatched the milk from the mouthsof babes and sucklings. e has notbeen a land-grabber. e has not dammed the running water. e hascaused no famine, no weeping, nosu4ering to men, and has not been a robber of food. e has nottampered with the tongue of thebalance, nor been fraudulent, mean, or sordid of soul. There is a goodlylist of pre-hristian "irtuesbesides all the theoretical hristian ones. 'mongst others, he says, Iha"e propitiated the god with that

which heAlo"eth. This was especially by the o4ering of )aat, "i.,7ustice, truth, and righteousness. Iha"e gi"en bread to the hungry, water to the thirsty, clothes to thenaked, and a boat to the shipwrecked/ch. $K%2. Qet we ha"e been told that charity and mercy were totallyunknown to the pagan world. easks the forty-two assessors for the great [Page 206]7udge not to goagainst him, for he did the right thing


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in Tamerit, the land of Egypt. is heart is weighed in the scales of7ustice.e passes pure, as one ofthose who are welcomed by orus for his own faithful followers, theblessed of his father, to whom it issaid, ome, come in peace. orus the intercessor, ad"ocate, or

paraclete, now takes him by the handand leads him into the presence of 5siris in the sanctuary. The +anesin the udgment all is blackhaired,as seen in the pictures of 'ni /#apyrus of 'ni, pI.


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e"eryone of his stations in 'menta pre"iously to sailing for thecircumpolar paradise upon the stellar+ount of !lory.hapter $0& is the book by which the soul is made to li"e for e"er onthe day of entering the bark of Ra,

which means that it contains the gnosis of the sub7ect. It was made forthe birthday or re-birthday of5siris. 5siris is re-born in orus as the type of an eternal soul. encethe speaker says, in this character,I am coHned in an ark like orus, to whom his cradle Lor nest ofreedsM is brought. e is reborn asorus on his papyrus, an earlier 3gure on the water than the bark ofRa. e prays, )et not the 5siris beshipwrecked on the great "oyage6 keep the steering tackle free frommisad"enture. *hen he entered'menta the deceased in 5siris bore the likeness of the god in mummy

form. Before he comes forth fromthe lower 'arru garden he can say, at the end of certaintransformations in type and personality, I am thesoul of 5siris, and I rest in him /ch. $K82. This is in the character oforus. I am orus on thisauspicious day at the beautiful coming forth from 'menta. e [Page207] has reached the boundary,and now in"okes the god who is in his solar disk, otherwise in the barkof Ra. e died in 5siris to li"eagain in orus, son of god, or in his likeness. hapters $


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e now enters the di"ine presence of 5siris-Ra to relate what he hasdone in the characters of humanorus, ar-Tema, and ar-+akheru on behalf of his father whichconstitutes him the "eritable son ofgod. *hen the +anes had attained the solar bark he has put on the

di"ine body of RaN and is hailed bythe ministrants with cries of welcome and acclamations from the+ount of !lory / ch. $002. In tra"ellingthrough the under-world he had passed from the western horion ofearth to the east of hea"en, wherehe 7oins the solar boat to "oyage the celestial waters. There is achange of boat for the night. ence thespeaker says he is coming in the two barks of the lord of >au /ch.$09B, Renouf2. There may be somediHculty about the exact position of the chapter numbered $$& in theRitual, but there is no diHculty in

identifying the 3elds of peace upon the summit of +ount etep as thelower paradise of two, which was#age $9$

'ncient Egypt( The )ight of the *orld by !erald +asseythe land of promise attainable in 'menta. This was the sub-terrestrialor earthly paradise of the legends.*hen the +anes comes to these elysian 3elds he is still in the earth ofeternity, and has to pro"e himselfan e=ual as a worker with the mighty hus /huti2, who are nine cubitshigh, in culti"ating his allotment ofarable land. The arri"al at +ount etep in this lower paradise or

hea"en of the solar mythos precedes theentrance to the udgment all which is in the domain of the 5sirisbelow, and the "oyage from east towest in the +atit and the >ektit bark of the sun, therefore it is not inthe ultimate hea"en or the upperparadise of eternity upon +ount etep. *e see from the #yramid texts/#epi I., lines $;K, $9;, $1K,+aspero, *es Inscripions des Pyramides de Sakkarah2 that there weretwo stages of ascent to the upperparadise, that were represented by two ladders ( one is the ladder of>ut, as the ascent from the land of

darkness, the other is the ladder of orus, reaching to the land of light.ing #epi salutes the two(omage to thee, 5 ladder of >ut. >et thyself up, 5 ladder of !od. >etthyself up, 5 ladder of >ut. >etthyself up, 5 ladder of orus, whereby 5siris appeared in hea"en whenhe wrought protection for Ra.#epi likewise enters hea"en [Page 208] in his name of the ladder/!udge& !ook of the Dead& Intro., pp.


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$$8, $$12. The +anes also says, in ch. $o soon as themouth of the +anes is freed fromthe fetters of dumbness and darkness /or mules of >ut2 and restoredto him, he collects the words ofpower from all =uarters more persistently than any sleuth-hound andmore swiftly than the @ash of light/chs. K0, K


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deceased being assimilated to the character and assuming thesuperhuman type as a means ofprotection against the powers of e"il. The speaker in the Ritual doesnot mistake himself for the deity. eis the deitypro tem. in acted >ign-Ianguage, and by such means is

master of the magical power. It is thegod who is the power, and the magician employs the words and signswhich express that power6 butinstead of praying to the god he makes use of the di"ine wordsattributed to the god, and personates thegod as orus or Ra, Taht or 5siris, in character. e puts on the mask ofa crocodile, an ibis, a lion, orother ootype of the primary powers, and says to his ad"ersaries( I amthe crocodile / >ebek2, or, I amthe lion / 'tum2, or, I am Ra, the sun, protecting himself with the?raeus serpent, and conse=uently no

e"il thing can o"erthrow me /ch. 0K2. Repeating ch. uten-hen, and the mode of magic was for thedeceased in his [Page 209] re-birthto become or to be assimilated to the di"ine child in his rebirth.

ancient egypt light of the world

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