full circle

At mid life I embarked upon a voyage to find the origins of religious beliefs. I was pretty skeptical of the whole construct of religion in general but I had enough of an open mind to wonder why people have these beliefs and I was curious as to why they formed in humankind in the past. I figured that there must have been an impetus for them and looking back into the prescientific mind of the species would give me an understanding and then I could draw my own conclusions from the inquiry. I was not at all expecting the journey to be as far reaching and life changing as it unfolded, taking me across the globe in search of answers. It shortly became within a burning passion to discover the truth as each specific inquiry opened up more doors and avenues to follow. I discovered the land of the Pharaohs early on it and I followed that path using the intellectual gifts I had been blessed with to try and penetrate what they were getting at with their belief system. With a certain arrogance that serves me well, I became skeptical of the consensus narrative that they were a civilization obsessed with death and I set out to figure out what they were getting at on my own. So I did that and my beliefs are for the most part independent of accepted beliefs. Right or wrong, that’s how it is. I feel this defines my life, animates my contrarian spirit, and I’m richer for it. It is hard to see beyond culture if you are always falling for its narrative.

There are a couple concepts from ancient Egypt that I took a deep dive into and they centre around the Ba and the Ka. The Ba is the eternal essence of what makes you, you. You could vaguely call it the soul and it has a connection to the heart. The ancient Egyptians were fond of word play and the sound used for the Ba backwards was their word for the heart. The Ka, on the other hand, is undeniably the life force as it was represented in hieroglyphs as a bull as well as food offerings. On temple walls you can see the ram headed god Khnum creating duplicate Kas from a master record. The ancient Egyptians believed we were eternal, had a definite self, and experienced many incarnations that were iterations from a master source. This had a pretty profound impact on me and I explored this concept further all the while continuing to search for the origins of these beliefs the ancient Egyptians held with impressive conviction. I deduced that through observation of the cosmos as well as the agricultural cycle the priests could formulate a belief system for the human that would mimic what they observed. Similar cultures and their deities and beliefs could be shown to conform to this idea. The proverbial fly in the ointment was the art and pyramid/coffin texts of the ancient Egyptians. There was nothing orderly about it nor was there any easy way to try and understand what its esotericism was pointing towards. Scholars have placed them within the domain of wishful thinking upon the content of what is in the funerary sphere and afterlife. Eventually my path of seeking would lead to shamanism, experientially entering into the world of shamanism, and discovering an occult world of teachers, spirits, demons, and many challenges that once unlocked would open many more doors, all ready to enter into and discover their hidden secrets.

All the while I kept reading and discovering, all in the name of truth. The philosophical speculations of the Hindi culture I was quite impressed with, especially concerning the idea of no self and that we are all the godhead in a dramatic interpretation of what constitutes reality, as in the million masks of god and the one and the many. I doubled down on the idea of the self being but an illusion and went in search of a way to destroy the ego after first denigrating it. Somebody smart once said a fool who persists in his folly will soon become wise (William Blake). After pursuing this path I abandoned the idea I could fully destroy the self while in this incarnation which then led to a seeking of unity. To fast forward through this journey, I eventually found unity through being separate. I learned that though I viewed myself as separate I was in fact inexorably connected to the all, unable to extricate myself from it. I could have ended my searching here as I had discovered a fundamental unity of all and was shown love is the glue that holds us all together. I’m a knowledge junkie however and so on I went, not satiated with this truth. The problem with continual seeking is coming to the understanding that there are no absolutes. Truth is dependent on circumstance, knowledge, and environment. It seems very easy to take down an argument that is not flexible as I have discovered my truth has no staying power. I had at the time realized we are all one and that the self was transient. The voyage of discovery continued on and I soon realized that the unity I had trumpeted as everything was just the 180 degree opposite of the self I had toppled over. I saw that the fundamental energy of the universe is always on the move and cycles between unity and self. Unity is the seed and the ultimate expression of self is the beautiful flower come forth and this all repeats. That seeking ship of fools continues on in the voyage of discovery, taking a sledgehammer to my beliefs, and not allowing me to rest. A great maestro I know, the venerable don Howard, is fond of saying “there’s always more."

I figured the ship had set a non stop course and assumed it was full steam ahead on a linear path. Finally this weekend I realized the ship’s course is in all likelihood circular because I was reminded of my studies of ancient Egypt and it rang a bell within that allowed my own beliefs to come full circle. With their concept of the Ba I see the eternal soul and the fount of my existence. This heart is common to everything. My own heart beats and connects me to the frequency of the all, which is the rhythmic dance of love. The underlying fount of everything is a universal heart beat tapping out a rhythm of love. With the Ka I see my life force energy that waxes and wanes, a pulse of energy that comes forth again and again as the self, though different guises of that self, and then returns to a fundamental unity, the beating of the heart ensuring I never lose my way. 

Nebet-Het: friend of the deceased

In utterance 553 of the Pyramid Texts the deceased is told to:

"Raise thyself up; shake off thy dust; remove the dirt which is on thy face; loose thy bandages. They are indeed not bandages; they are the locks of Nebet-Het."

Nebet-Het's hair wraps the body of the deceased, symbolizing the linen cloth that wraps the mummy. The pharaoh as Osiris, is encouraged to break free of her tresses in order to be re-born.

Nebet-Het, the ancient Egyptian goddess known in Greek as Nephthys, is the sister of the more popular goddess Aset. Aset is known as Isis in Greek and is the wife of the great Asar, who is known as Osiris in Greek. Nephthys' name means "Lady of the Temple Enclosure"; Lady from the Nebet part. Nebet is a designation given to an important female as Neb is the designation for an important man, a lord. The t designates a female is being referred to. The hieroglyphic for Neb is a semicircle, with the round part facing down or towards the ground.

Also it is interesting to note that the hieroglyphic for gold is similar yet more ornate and is transliterated as Nebu. It is the same semi-circle however it has rays shining downwards from the circular part as well as an enclosure over top suggesting that the gold is from the earth and shines like the rays of sunlight.

The god of eternity Heh kneeling on the hieroglyphic for Gold

The impression it gives is that gold is the moment before the sun appears at dawn and the sky is lit up in a golden colour. The ancient Egyptians referred to this most special time as the akhet and it is more specifically referring to the goddess Het-Har, Hathor in Greek. An epithet of Hathor is Lady of Gold. Gold is the flesh body of the gods.

The second part of the name is transliterated Het, Hut, or Hwt from the hieroglyphs. This refers to a palace or temple enclosure.

Nephthys wearing the hieroglyphic symbols of her name on her head

Clearly, Nephthys was thought of as a woman of great stature who would be associated with the royal family and temples. No one is quite sure what temple enclosure this is referring to and with good reason. It is a figurative definition that is referring to the physical body as the temple that contains the soul, better known to casual observers as Osiris. The two sisters, Nephthys and Isis, are the great goddesses who are present to remember and make hale the great deceased Osiris in order to awaken him. These two are symbolized in the entrance to all temples in Egypt as the two sides, called pylons, of the entrance shaped like an akhet or horizon that allowed the rising sun to enter into the temple at dawn.

First pylon and entrance to temple of Heru-Behdety

In her role as the maker of the body that houses the great soul, Nephthys was given the epithet Nebet Khat, which means "Lady of the Body". Thinking about this designation a little further, Nephthys' role becomes clearer as it seems she is a mother type who makes and is present in the physical vehicle that houses the soul. Whether her role only concerns royalty is debatable. The language used to describe her role is very regal such as palace and she can be considered a queen. However there is the story related from the Greek historian Plutarch where in commenting on the love story of Isis and Osiris he tells of the time Nephthys impersonated Isis, as they are sisters both of great beauty, and tricked Osiris into sleeping with her. From this union was born the jackal Anpu, Anubis in Greek. It seems that even though it may appear Nephthys has only royal connections she has the ability to make bodies for all, from the sacred soul Osiris to the profane jackal beast Anubis. This bit of information helps then to put her role more into context. To compare her to a more familiar archetype I would suggest a figure such as Eve in the first book of the Bible who is capable of making life that is not only profane, as in the birth of the beastly Cain, but also of the sacred that is represented as Abel and then Seth; Seth being born due directly to the death of Abel, as spelled out in Genesis 4:25, which is the Bible relating the resurrection of the soul in such an arcane way that no one will really ever figure out that passage. From Genesis 3:20 we learn that Eve, Chavvah in Hebrew, means life-giver and is the mother of all living; in essence the maker of bodies that we may figuratively call temples or tabernacles that can house the life force, Ka in ancient Egypt, that animates life forms as well as housing the immortal soul, the Ba in ancient Egypt, which is dismembered upon entry into the physical plane in the west and must be remembered in order to engender rebirth. Armed with this understanding we can deduce that Nephthys is an aspect of the mother goddess in ancient Egypt, known as Hathor that manifests in the body with Isis to help wake up this immortal soul that is slumbering away in the darkness of our hearts. Before I detail her association to Hathor, the role of Isis should be clarified so we avoid confusion, or conflate the role of these two sister goddesses.

Isis is the wife of Osiris who upon his death at the hands of the strong and beastly Set, dedicates her life to finding and remembering Osiris. Being great of magic, once Isis recovered Osiris and made him hale she was able to impregnate herself with his seed. The child born is the born again soul of the father Osiris and this child is Horus (transliterated as Heru from the hieroglyphs). It is an elaborate story that mythicized the soul journeying in matter. Isis plays the role of the womb that in the physical realm will give birth to and nurture your reborn soul.

From Karnak there is an inscription calling Osiris 'he who resides in the house of conception' alluding to the impregnation of Isis and the consequent birth of Horus.
The Routledge Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses, by George Hart, pg. 120

This inscription is telling us that the soul, Osiris, resides in Isis; Isis is the womb, i.e. the genetrix of the newborn soul. This soul in ancient Egypt is referred to as the Ba.

Now that we have narrowed down the role of Isis and knowing Nephthys is a "Lady of the Temple" we can make the claim Nephthys is concerned with your life force of the physical body and which the ancient Egyptians called the Ka. Now this is important because it will help me explain some of the connections that are part of the goddess Nephthys. Her husband is the beastly Set, with whom it is said she is childless. However why the seemingly arbitrary connection to Set? Well, I wrote a blog post awhile back called iconoclastic Cain and Abel that contained the ground breaking assertion that Osiris is representing the concept of the Ba and Set is representing the concept of the Ka here in the material realm. After coming to this realization and gaining an understanding of what these ancient Egyptian myths are trying to convey, you gain a whole new perspective and are then able to interprete these old world stories with context and greater understanding. Nephthys is the wife of Set because they are both connected to the concept of the Ka. The Ka is not a concept that is too difficult to understand regardless of what you may read. Most definitions in books and on the internet will try to explain it as a force that leaves the body at physical death and then the body has to be mummified or a Ka statue has to be placed in the tomb as a substitute so that the Ka has some place to go. The definitions usually include the caveat that we don't really have a full understanding of what is meant by the Ka. I don't think it is too difficult to grasp as long as you have an open mind; you don't box yourself into an intellectual corner; and realize that not everything the ancient Egyptians did revolved around the funerary sphere. The Ka is the life force that animates the physical body. Upon death, the Ka has left as your body lies there lifeless. When you are younger you are full of the Ka; I like to think of a puppy that is full of what we would call spunk or life. As we age this force wanes. The hieroglyphic for the Ka is a bull; an apt symbol for the untamed, wildness of this force. It is animal instinct that lives on desire, preys on the weak, and does not think of consequences. As parents we try to tame and civilize our children who are full of this instinct by teaching them about right and wrong and consequences. Furthermore the Ka was depicted as food offerings. 

Offering of food as Ka

In order to survive in the physical realm we need to constantly ingest the life force of other living material on the earth. The Ka was represented this way as well. When we die the Ka does not die rather it leaves your body; it is still an entity that exists therefore you will see in tombs figurative offerings on the wall to the Ka of the deceased. The easy way to explain this part of the Ka is through the concept of the ghost. What we think of a ghost, is the ancient Egyptian concept of the Ka that has left the body and is unsatisfied. The Ka remains in this physical world unattached, becoming a general nuisance to those still living in the physical realm. Call them superstitious, but the ancient Egyptians went to great lengths to prevent this from happening by trying to satiate the Ka and by making replicas or a mummy that it could visit and thereby leave everyone else alone. As well the Ka is connected with the concept of reincarnation. In this regard think of it as a manifestation of your unique soul in another guise. You have just the one immortal soul, the Ba, but your Ka will shape shift into many different forms in the material realm in order that it experiences and is no longer dragged into physical incarnation. The Ka is forever coming. The ram god Khnum is the potter god who constructs these Kas.

The potter Khnum presenting a double of the Ka

You will see him constructing a new Ka always in multiples; in essence telling us that he is making another replica manifestation of your Ka from a master record. The ultimate provider of life and food substances here in this world, that fits with the ancient Egyptian definition of Ka as food stuff, is the power of the sun. This power, represented as the god Re, is celebrated in many hymns with a great many written in devotion of the the sun disk Aten by the iconoclastic pharaoh Akhenaten who is mistakenly called the world's first monotheist. Aten is the actual sun disk that housed the light rays that would stream to earth and provide for all. The famous female pharaoh of the early 18th dynasty, Hatshepsut, had as one of her names Ma'at Ka Re.

Ma'at Ka Re

This is translated as "truth is the soul of the sun". Close but leaves me wanting. How about "the natural order is the life providing power of the light of the sun"? Anyway from this moniker it can be understood that Re is the ultimate provider of this power. In the material realm here on earth it is the beastly Set who then demonstrates this power untamed. Even though he is a murderer of the Ba soul Osiris, and he constantly battles with the avenging son Horus, this does not deter Re from having a soft spot for this crimson beast.

Red and Set go together

In the story of The Contendings of Horus and Set, Re is constantly advocating Set's case to become the king of all Egypt despite his trickery, lying, and general despicable behaviour. In the end when it is determined Horus deserves the united crown, Re places Set aboard his sun boat in order to take advantage of his awesome strength. There is quite the connection here between the life giving power of the sun and the power manifesting on earth. It is understood by the ancient Egyptians that without this awesome power that physical creation would cease to exist. The serpent Apophis is always at the ready to strike to stop the sun boat of Re. It is the strength of Set at the prow of the boat that beats the devourer into submission.

Set's strength keeping back Apophis, the destructive force

This whole scene is depicting creation as moving forward, as life is properly a verb. Once we stop moving and growing we die. Re's boat and his cyclical journey must continue on. It is also telling that the ancient Egyptians realized that although this Set can at times be despicable, he is needed and is a power to subdue and use for strength in order to be successful in your spiritual journey. This coming together of Horus and Set is depicted in monuments where they are shown together uniting Upper and Lower Egypt by tying the papyrus and lotus around the sema-sign, and in the serekh of pharaoh Khasekhemwy of the 2nd dynasty.

Serekh of Khasekhemwy

Where the two combatants are shown united is shown also as the two headed falcon Hrwyfy which is communicating that the two combatants have made peace and now have an understanding.

Now with a better idea of the role of the life force, known as Ka, we can see then the natural relationship of Nephthys to Set. Extrapolating from this idea further, the relationship of Isis to Osiris is then connected to the soul, known as the Ba. In the mythology of Set his consort is not limited to just Nephthys. Another of his consorts is a female hippopotamus known as Tauret (Taweret).

The Great Lady Tauret

The meaning of the name is "great lady", the great from the ur or wer and the idea of female from the t determinate that denotes female at the end of the name. However we should not ignore the Ta at the beginning of the name that is suggesting that this great lady is of the land or earth. In other words this material plane is where you find the great birth mother. She will get you in and out of this plane of existence. We will get back to the idea of the great material woman in a bit. Tauret has the face of a hippopotamus, the hind legs of a lion, and the tail of a crocodile. She is depicted as pregnant with large pendulous breasts and wears the cow horns that cradle a sun disk on her head which is the headdress of the mother goddess Hathor. As well she has the bovine ears that you find associated with Hathor as well as the long tresses of hair that is another feature of Hathor. The association of Tauret with the aspect of Hathor where she is an archetypal mother goddess is undeniable. Set can be referred to as the "beast of the reeds", a male hippopotamus which is one of the most territorial and aggressive beasts on earth and is apt iconography for the wild untamed Set. On the other hand a female hippopotamus, though quite aggressive, will usually only show that behaviour when she is with her offspring. Tauret being so protective of the young, has pregnant women and those in childbirth summon her to protect and guide them. Tauret is sometimes depicted with seven stars on her back which gives the idea that she can be found in the night sky as a recognizable constellation as determined by ancient Egyptian astronomers. The constellation we call Draco that contains the ancient polestar from 5000 years ago called Thuban, is the area of the sky that was personified by the hippopotamus goddess Tauret. The polestar within this constellation was the star that all the other constellations revolved around. She can be depicted holding a mooring post in the shape of a crocodile that is tethered to a northern circumpolar constellation in the form of an ox and also depicted holding a rope attached to the foreleg of this constellation. Given my connection of the Ka to Set, I would guess the meaning here is the connection between Tauret and Set as her consort, as Set has been identified as the Big Dipper constellation in ancient Egypt known as Maskheti, the foreleg of the ox and this foreleg is prominent in the ceremony of Opening the Mouth and Eyes. In essence this foreleg, called the Khepesh, opens the mummified in order to receive the Ka into it. Tauret was also given the title Nebetakhet, which is once again giving us the connection to the morning dawn, birth of the rising sun, and Hathor. As one of the imperishable northern constellations she would be present in the magical moment at dawn just prior to the sun making its grand entrance in the east from the akhet. Other consorts of Set are the west Semitic goddesses Anat and Astarte who were awarded to him after the decision to give Horus sole rulership of Egypt. These goddesses share the attributes of Hathor: Anat a beautiful woman depicted with the Hathor hair-do who embodies beauty, sexuality, and fertility and Astarte is beautiful as well with the Hathor hair-do who exudes sexuality as well as motherhood traits. Both these goddesses also have warrior like attributes in the vein of Hathor's alter ego Sekhemet. 

The last connection with aspects of Hathor having Set as their consort are the group of seven Hathors that are found in the Book of the Dead and on temple walls.

The seven Hathors vignette from Spell 148 in the Book of the Dead

Spell 148 from the R.O. Faulkner translation has the aspirant saying: 
I know the names of the seven cows and their bull who give bread and beer, who are beneficial to souls and who provide daily portions; may you give bread and beer and make provision for me, so that I may serve you, and may I come into being under your hinder-parts.

The seven Hathors and their bull provide the life force necessary for the Ba soul in what is called the realm of the dead. The bull is the great sky-bull called the "Bull of the West". The seven Hathors are also related to the seven Hathors of human form that show up in scenes of birth to pronounce the fate of the child. The bull and his concubines are symbolizing the Ka needed by the Ba in its material incarnation that has left it latent; this latency connects to the death of the soul. When you read of the "realm of the dead" it is important that you read it in context so that it doesn't trip you up and lead you to think it only refers to the body and not the soul. In this day and age we only attend funerals for the life force - Ka, and not the soul - Ba. That is the way we are conditioned to think. However, this is referring to the death of the soul and then providing nourishment to it so that eventually it may experience re-birth. To the ancients death is a transition not a finality, so though to us it is hard to understand your soul dying because we think that's a finality, to the ancient Egyptian it would be a perfectly logical concept and one that with the proper context they could ascertain whether it is referring to the body or the soul. Death takes place in the west, whether that is your soul or your body. Osiris enters his place of darkness in the west and is dismembered by the animal instinct of the Ka. However it is this Ka that then carries the Ba. It is the Bata bull, Set's glorious role that he is even unaware of, that carries the Ba through its successive incarnations as this illustration from the Papyrus Jumilhac indicates:

Bata has the markings of the Apis bull; the celebrated bull which is the Ka of Osiris that the later Greek rulers of Egypt synthesized into the god Serapis. As well as I have written in the blog post the ancient egyptian story of Anpu and Bata, it is the character of Bata that keeps reappearing in different guises after previously thought to be dead and eventually he becomes pharaoh. This is symbolizing his resurrection as the re-born Ba soul Horus here in the material world after successive incarnations.

Well that has been a long winded exposition of goddesses that are aspects of Hathor having a connection to Set as their consort much like Nephthys. It leads into the next characteristics of Nephthys that I'd like to examine now that we have some background.  She was one of the few goddesses with a direct connection to the sistrum; the rattle that is used to call upon Hathor. Nephthys was the patron of the seventh nome of Upper Egypt called Sheshesh, which is the transliteration from the hieroglyphics that denote the sistrum. The Mansion of the Sistrum in the largest city in this nome, and this city Hwt-Sekhem had Nephthys as its patron goddess. She was also protectress of the Osirian relic at this locale, the Bennu bird. The Bennu bird or Phoenix, is a symbol of the resurrection. Just like Hathor, Nephthys' temple rites and feasts contained the excessive imbibing of beer and at a ruined sanctuary at Komir there is an elaborate "Hymn to Nephthys" from the Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius. Nephthys is described as the "Mistress of many festivals...who loves the day of festival, the goddess for whom men and women play the tambourine." It can be seen that like the other goddesses mentioned above, Nephthys as well had quite the connection to the all encompassing mother goddess Hathor. Nephthys' role is concerned with the dead soul and protecting it in its journey into darkness. In the Pyramid Texts, utterance 505, the aspirant says “Isis is before me and Nephthys is behind me.” This is referring to the journey of the soul and its destiny that the two goddesses play a major role in. Nephthys is yesterday, the goddess who transitions the soul into the west and Isis is the goddess who tomorrow will re-birth the soul as the enlightened Horus.

To wrap this up and indulge in a little speculation, I'd like to return to the topic of the hippopotamus goddess Tauret and the meaning of her name as the great material lady. Presumably her spouse Set would be the great material man or male principle in matter. Set is the beastly male principle that instinctually rules this plane of material existence, especially if you look upon the power of the sun as the fatherly provider in this material world. It is these aspects of the Ka or life force that are most powerful in this realm. Why I find this fascinating is that as a consort of Tauret in the heavens I'd expect to find Set. He has been identified in the northern sky as a larger iteration of the constellation we call the Big Dipper. However I have reason to believe you can find him in the southern night sky as well. The great material man would be called Ta-ur and I think this bull came down to us as the the great bull in the sky - the constellation Taurus, and also of the half man and half beast of Cretan legend - the Minotaur. 

Theseus in the classic Horus the striker pose whacking the Minotaur

Let's take a look at the constellation of Taurus. In it is the seven sisters called the Pleiades, this group of seven being an allusion to the seven Hathors and their bull of the sky as Taurus. Bulls, Set, and Hathor all maintain a connection to the colour red. Matadors use a red muleta to symbolically inflame the passions of a bull; Set is the red beast; and the seven Hathors all wore red hair-ribbons. Taurus is shown charging at the constellation of Orion. 

Taurus as the Ka bull charging at Orion the Ba soul

Orion, who is the great Osiris of ancient Egypt, has to somehow overcome the anger and attack of this rampaging bull. All this is the story of the Ka and the Ba and how the Ka attacks the unprepared Ba at first sending him to his death in matter all torn asunder as Osiris is mythicized to be consigned to prior to his remembering by Isis.

I have a good idea I can find this ancient motif elsewhere in conjunction with the character of the benevolent lady of the temple enclosure and friend of the deceased, Nephthys, that I will explore in future blog posts.

where do babies come from?

At some point in our young lives we ask this question, and then later in life we attempt to answer this question posed by our children. I always preferred the image of the stork delivering a baby to a household wrapped in fabric to tell the story.

http://www.superstock.com/stock-photos-images/1079-117

A quick check on the internet reveals that this legend may have originated in either ancient Greece or northern Germany, many centuries ago. The stork, being a migratory bird, was seen returning to its nesting site in the early spring from the warm climes of Africa as everything was undergoing a re-birth; hence, the reason why some believe this to be the origin of the myth. Plausible enough; however, it's a designation that could be applied to a bevy of migratory birds, not just the stork. For instance, there's a pond just up the street from me that is home to the same extended family of Canada Geese which return every spring. They return as mates and soon are constructing a nest in anticipation of the babies that will soon follow.

Being of the curious sort I decided to chase this down the ole rabbit hole.

I always like to start in ancient Egypt and seeing that the stork is indigenous to the African continent, I was confident the world's greatest natural philosophers could help me out with this question. The hieroglyph for the ancient Egyptian concept of our immortal soul, the ba, is the saddle-billed stork.

Time for a quick lesson on the ba: The ancient Egyptians thought of the human being as having nine constituent parts, eight of them being immortal and the ninth, the body, which could decay after death. The ba is our hidden and immortal light which comes to incarnate in our material bodies. In the daily cycle of the sun, the ancient Egyptians would describe the sun coming to the earth as Atum-Re and depict the light as a ram or an old man. The earth-bound light can also be thought of as Amun-Re, the hidden light of the sun. Much like Atum-Re, there are many examples of Amun-Re being depicted as a man or a ram. Why a ram you may ask? That might get a little off topic here and would need to be tackled at another time; however, it's useful to point out the ram's bleat is the sound "ba". In the mythos, the light, once encapsulated within the human being which is the house of conception known as Isis, would be wrapped in linen and depicted as the mummified form of Osiris. The ancient Egyptians were also fascinated by the magic of words and you can often find correlating ideas in the reverse spelling of their words. As an aside, I'm forever telling my daughter that words are magic, that's why we spell them! The reverse of ba would be ab, which is the heart. To the ancient Egyptians the heart was the repository of your deeds as well as wisdom. The heart acted as your conscience and the vehicle to enact your transfiguration. The weighing of the heart scene in the Pert Em Heru tells us your heart must be as light as a feather (non-attachment) if you wish to join the glorified souls in the afterlife. If not, then your heart would be gobbled up by Ammit the devourer.

 

Due to our Judeo-Christian upbringing, we would think of this most unfortunate result as being sent to eternal damnation and Egyptologists will describe the outcome as such. It's not an apt description of what is being depicted here; however, if you never change then I guess there is some truth to that. I should also touch on the concept of the ka. The ka is your manifestation, the life-creating force, on this plane of existence. The ancient Egyptians described not only humans, but animals, plants, water and minerals as having a ka and the hieroglyph for ka is a bull - a bull being a great symbol for the dynamism of material existence. You will have many kas before your journey is over, but only one ba. Your ba makes each ka and is the vessel that carries your multitude of kas. The ancient Egyptians symbolized this with the ram god Khnum, who was known to fashion humans on his potter's wheel.

After your ba has made a new ka, this material life force is now able to house its ba. To incarnate into matter once again is a perilous journey for the ba, and is mythologized in the story of Osiris being hacked to pieces and scattered throughout Egypt by his nemesis Set. Isis, after much weeping, then embarks on a quest to retrieve the remains of Osiris and puts him back together in order to engender a new life, the offspring known as Horus. In this reconstituted form, Osiris' mummy is depicted wrapped in a fine single strip of white linen. Also of note is the child known as Khonsu who is closely associated with Horus. Khonsu, as a child of Amun and Mut, represented the child waiting to be born inside of us - in this case the mother's womb known as Mut. In this aspect, Khonsu would be depicted as a mummiform child, wrapped in linen, awaiting birth to take his rightful place on the throne of man as Horus. Khonsu, in the pyramid texts, is referred to as the one who lives on hearts. This is generally thought of as a bloodthirsty aspect of Khonsu; however, it is really telling us that it is the heart that will ultimately feed and quicken the birth of the enlightened soul in us.

Alright, so, I'm thinking that the word baby might have some connection to the ba of ancient Egypt due to the hieroglyphic for ba which is the stork and the way the baby is delivered by the stork wrapped in linen. However the word baby does not have a clear history or meaning that correlates in this regard. Our old friend, the Online Etymological Dictionary tells us to look up the word "babe" instead and reveals this of the word:

babe

late 14c., short for baban (early 13c.), which probably is imitative of baby talk (cf. babble), however in many languages the cognate word means "old woman" (cf. Rus. babushka "grandmother," from baba "peasant woman").

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=babe

Slightly amusing is that the word "babe" can be traced in many languages as the word for an old woman or a peasant woman while nowadays we call an attractive women a babe! There is also the word "body" which has intrigued me for awhile. The Online Etymological Dictionary reveals this of the word:

body

Old English bodig "trunk, chest" (of a man or animal); related to Old High German botah, of unknown origin.

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=body&searchmode=none

This is interesting because our body is a container for the immortal soul called the ba. The old word botah has an ending "tah" that is a common ending when describing something that has material form such as a place or land. In ancient Egypt, land was feminine and given the half-circle hieroglyphic which is phonetically rendered as "ta". Also, well known is the transpositional nature of the letters d and t throughout the history of languages, which accounts for botah becoming body. I'm willing to connect the ba with the ta being our body, though I'm sure it could be considered a stretch. Given the evidence I've presented above, I think it's plausible. As well, the connection of baby to a peasant woman can't be ignored since it is the woman as Isis within us, who is the womb of the ba which has incarnated into matter. Everyone's ba is associated with this woman waiting to be born.

Another tantalizing thing to consider is the connection of the word babe to an old woman. I bet you don't have to get too far into the Old Testament and the story of Abraham's wife Sarah before you start asking yourself some serious questions about where the myths come from. Sarah was 90 years old when she first conceived.