Breakaway Destination Guides (International)

Death was the stage to the next life which was believed to be lived in a land to the West and was often called the Kingdom of the West. Elaborate sets of burial rituals were followed.

During burial it was important that the body survived. The soul needed to have it's body intact.

Death was the stage to the next life which was believed to be lived in a land to the West and was often called the Kingdom of the West. Elaborate sets of burial rituals were followed. The dead person would need a ferryman to row them across the River of Death. The dead person had to cross the trials of the serpent guarded Twelve Gates and also cross the Lake of Fire. When these were passed, 42 Assessors read a list of the dead person's sins. The dead person then made a declaration of purity and sinless. Judgement then followed in the Hall of Osiris. If one led a sinful life then destruction would follow.

The embalmers were called the "wahet". The left side of the body was opened to take out the internal organs. The organs were placed in canopic jars. These jars were often decorated with hieroglyphics. The body was then dried out with salt and stuffed with preservatives.

The style of the coffins went through many changes. Old Kingdom versions were mostly plain or may carry hieroglyphics.

By the Middle Kingdom the humanoid coffins were in fashion. By the later New Kingdom these styles had evolved to nests of human shaped coffins.

During the funerals, if the dead were rich, then professional mourners were hired. The persons belongings were placed in the tomb and food offerings were often left too. Sometimes servants were sealed in alive so as to continue serving their master in the afterlife. Prayers were said before the coffin was lowered.

During ancient Egypt inscriptions were placed on the sides of coffins to assure the deceased they would receive good food and drink and confirm the immortality of the soul. The texts were the successors of the earlier Pyramid texts. The Pyramid texts included spells and incarnations which guaranteed the safe passage of the Pharaohs to the next world. The coffin texts extended this privilege to the nobility.

The Egyptian Book of the Dead was written between 1100BC, and 900BC. It was a collection of funerary hymns, prayers, formulae and magical words. The Book was written by scribes. It was a Book for all Egyptians, rich or poor.

It gave guidence on how to travel the road beyond death. The texts postulate a "Ka", an exact double of the physical body. From this we know that out-of-body experience was well known in ancient Egypt at this time.

In ancient Egyptology Hekau were sacred words of power. These words were used to remove evil and darkness. In the Egyptian Book of the Dead, the Sun God travels through the dungeons of the Underworld by uttering Hekau which casts aside the bad forces.

The Scarab was the symbol of Khepera. The female Scarab rolls a ball of excrement with her hind legs and encloses her larvae in it. In Egyptian religion the scarab was identified with the Sun because it flew during the hottest parts af the day. The Scarab rolled it's dung from East to West the same as Khepera rolled the Sun across the sky in much the same fashion.

The Sahu is the highest of the five human bodies. It was believed to be the spiritual body. It is through this Sahu that the priest perceives the transcendental gods and undergoes spiritual transformation. The other four bodies are Aufu, Haidit, Ka and Khu.

Ra was the Sun God. Ra was represented by the Sun at it's full strength. The Sky Goddess Nut carried Ra on her back to the heavens and he became the Lord and Creature of the world. He was identified as the God of birth and rebirth because he was reborn each day with the new dawn. Heliopolis was the centre of worship for Ra. Ra was adopted officially by the Pharaohs who called themselves, Sons of Ra. Ra was regarded as the main deity in the Ennead.

In Egyptian mythology the soul was represented as a bird with the head of a man and called Ba. The Ba would wing its way towards the Gods after death. It could only return to the body provided it had not been destroyed. Bennu was a legendary bird believed to be the reincarnated soul of Osiris. The Bennu bird rose to new life amidst the flames and was linked to the Sun. At Heliopolis, Bennu was worshiped as a form of Ra, Bennu was said to fly forth from the Island of Fire in the Underworld announcing the rebirth of the Sun.

Ka is the double of the human being. It is very similar to the concept of the astral body. One big difference is that the Ka can separate or rejoin the body as it wishes. The Ka is also able to live with the Gods in heaven. The Ka also requires food, and as such is given funerary gifts of food and wine. Sometimes gifts of food are painted on the wall of the tomb.

The Horbehutet was an ancient Egyptian winged disk. It was the symbol of a solar deity who accompanied the Sun God Ra on his daily journey across Egypt. The symbol warded off evil. The symbol was placed over gates and doors of temples to protect them from malign influences

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