The Egyptian Afterlife
(continued - Page 3)
The Soul’s Journey
to Paradise
By Donald A. Mackenzie
To the later Egyptians the dismemberment custom was abhorrent,
and in the "Book of the Dead" the mummy is made to exclaim
: " My head shall not be taken from my neck, my tongue will
not be torn out…my body is firm and shall not be destroyed."
The gruesome custom referred to is found to have been practised
by the early North African invaders of Europe who, in the Azilian
(Mesolithic) period, buried the heads of their dead in the cave
of Ofnet in Bavaria, and turned their faces towards the west,. It
is thought they believed in the existence of a Western Paradise,
the way to which had been " opened " by the first man
(remembered in Egypt as Osiris) with the aid of his faithful dog.
The souls that sought Amenti in the
West did well to avoid these ominous apes, who fished with nets
for the souls of men. The well-instructed soul preserved its human
form. After a facsimile by Deveria.
The early Egyptian texts do not give details of the adventures
experienced by the souls who set out on the perilous journey to
the Paradise in the West. Apparently they had to cross bleak deserts,
climb high mountains, ford streams, and engage in combat with fearsome
monsters— gigantic complex animals and reptiles, fire-spitting
serpents, dark shapes with clutching claws, and so on.
These the dead man was enabled to overcome, or escape from, because
his dog-scout came to his aid and constantly led him along the safe
path to the land of bliss. A lake—" Lily Lake "—had
to be crossed, and its ferryman was the cross and callous "
Face Backwards," who had to be propitiated.
The texts of the solar cult provide more intimate details of the
soul's last journey. They provide also a variety of conceptions
regarding life after death. One beautiful old belief was that when
the Pharaoh died, he became once more a helpless babe and had to
be suckled by the mother-goddess.
Professor Breasted has translated some characteristic Pyramid texts
in this connection.
"This King Pepi knows his mother," one text declares,
and the goddess is appealed to in these words so that she may suckle
him: “O mother of this King Pepi…give thy breast to
this King Pepi, suckle this King Pepi therewith.”
A text then puts into the mouth of the goddess the comforting assurance
:
“O my son Pepi, my King, my breast is extended to thee, that
thou mayest suck it, my King, and live, my King, as long as thou
art little.”
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