The Egyptian Afterlife
(continued - Page 6)
The Soul’s Journey
to Paradise
By Donald A. Mackenzie
The Solar Paradise was in early times reserved for the Pharaoh
alone. It was to ensure longevity for him that the hymns and magical
texts were inscribed in Pyramid tombs. On earth he reigned as a
god, and after death he became the companion of, or substitute for,
the deity of the sun who controlled the seasons and gave high Niles
and abundant crops. But after the Cult of the East was fused with
the Cult of the West all those who were mummified were supposed
to reach the " Field of Life," the Celestial Paradise
to the east of the sky.
Osiris, the pre-dynastic king, who was also credited with having
framed good laws, was the first to discover the path that led to
the Paradise (which lay parallel to Egypt in the West).
After the terrors of the desert journey
the cool steams of Paradise were a welcome solace. Here Ani and
his wife Tutu are shown drinking draughts of refreshing water fromt
the Celestial Nile, on whose banks are growing fruitful palm trees.
From the Papyrus of Ani, held by the British Museum.
In the valley of his Paradise, surrounded by hills and watered
by the Celestial Nile, he also introduced agriculture and the culture
of fruit trees, and there he became the Judge of the Dead. The souls
had to work in this Otherworld as on earth, but their efforts were
abundantly rewarded, for great crops were grown and trees yielded
constantly richer fruit than grew in Egypt. Happiness and contentment
prevailed.
But this Paradise was denied to sinners and lawbreakers, for the
idea had emerged in Egypt, some sixty centuries ago, that salvation
was obtained through "works."
Before being admitted to that rich and beautiful Wonderland, that
more glorious Egypt, the dead had to be tried and tested in an initiation
ceremony which, as time went on, grew more elaborate.
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 dead man was first admitted with ceremony to the Judgement
Hall in which Osiris was enthroned and equipped with his symbols
of office. Beside him stood the goddesses Isis and Nephthys, while
round the hall were seated the grim deities of the various nomes
(provinces) of Egypt.
THE LAST AD MOST TERRIBLE ORDEAL
OF THE SOUL OF THE SCRIBE ANI
After safely passing the terrors of the western desert by the correct
use of the magic formulae contained in his copy of the "Book
of the Dead", Ani the scribe, who died in the eighteenth dynasty,
arrives in the dread Judgeemnt Hall of Osiris. He has already made
his confession of righteousness before the forty-two Assessors,
and now stand with his wife, both humbly bowed, waiting for the
final verdict. Before them is the Balance on which the jackal-headed
Anubis is weighing the heart of Ani against the feather of Truth,
while Thoth of the Ibis-head records with his reed what Anubis reports.
Finally, behind Thoth crouches the gruesome Amemit. Eater of Souls,
crocodile, lion and Hippopotamus combined, who will devour the heart
of Ami if the Balance hangs uneven. On the standard of the Balance
can be seen the cynocephalus of Thoth,while the soul of the dead
man under the form of a human -headed hawk, together with his Luck
and the goddesses Meskhnet and Rennet, anxiously watch the proceedings.
Above is the great company of the gods of Heliopolis who act as
the jury at the trial. From the Papyrus of Ani, British Museum.
In the middle of the hall stood the great Balance, delicately adjusted,
on which the heart (mind and conscience) of the dead was weighed
against the feather-symbol of Truth by the falcon-headed god Horus
and the jackal-headed god Anubis, while the ibis-headed god Thoth
acted as recorder.
Beside the Balance crouched the Destroyer, a female demon with
the head of a crocodile, the body of a hippopotamus, and the hind
legs of a lioness, who devoured the unworthy.
The dead man was solemnly conducted by Horus into the Judgement
Hall, and in the deep silence he hailed and adored the mute and
stern Osiris as the " Lord of Truth." Then he recited
a formula, which has been called a "Negative Confession.”
He proclaimed his innocence of forty-two sins, including lying,
deceit, theft, immorality, murder, oppression, cowardice, the diversion
of canal-water from a neighbour's land, the extinguishing of the
sacred fire, and the interference with the sacred fishes, birds,
and herds of the gods.
continued...
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