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Weighing of the Heart ceremony. All about the ancient Egyptian ceremony of the weighing of the heart. Ceremony of the deceased to see if they were worthy to enter the afterlife or cease to exist.
“A great value of antiquity lies in the fact that its writings are the only ones that modern men still read with exactness.” Friedrich Nietzsche.
The superior man acquaints himself with many sayings of antiquity and many deeds of the past, in order to strengthen his character thereby. John Milton
The ancient Egyptians believed that, when they died, they would be judged on their behaviour during their lifetime before they could be granted a place in the Afterlife. This judgement ceremony was called 'Weighing of the Heart' and was recorded in Chapter 125 of the funerar text known as the 'Book of the Dead'.
The ceremony was believed to have taken place before Osiris, the chief god of the dead and Afterlife, and a tribunal of 43 dieties. Standing before the tribunal the deceased was asked to name each of the divine judges and swear that he or she had not committed any offences, ranging from raising the voice to stealing. This was the 'negative confession'. If found innocent, the deceased was declared 'true of voice' and allowed to proceed into the Afterlife.
The proceedings were recorded by Thoth, the scribe of the gods, and the deity of wisdom. Thoth was often dipicted as a human with an ibis head, writing on a scroll of papyrus. His other animal form, the baboon, was often depicted sitting on the pivot of the scales of justice.
The symbolic ritual that accompanied this ritual was the weighing of the heart of the deceased on a pair of enormous scales. It was weighed against the principle of truth and justice ( known as maat ) represented by a feather, the symbol of the goddess of truth, order and justice, Maat. If the heart balanced against the feather then the deceased would be granted a place in the Fields of Hetep and Iaru. If it was heavy with the weight of wrongdoings, the balance would sink and the heart would be grabbed and devoured by a terrifying beast that sat ready and waiting by the scales. This beast was Ammit, 'the gobbler', a composite animal with the head of a crocodile, the front legs and body of lion or leopard, and the back legs of a
http://www.egyptian-scarabs.co.uk/weighing_of_the_heart.htm
The superior man acquaints himself with many sayings of antiquity and many deeds of the past, in order to strengthen his character thereby. John Milton
The ancient Egyptians believed that, when they died, they would be judged on their behaviour during their lifetime before they could be granted a place in the Afterlife. This judgement ceremony was called 'Weighing of the Heart' and was recorded in Chapter 125 of the funerar text known as the 'Book of the Dead'.
The ceremony was believed to have taken place before Osiris, the chief god of the dead and Afterlife, and a tribunal of 43 dieties. Standing before the tribunal the deceased was asked to name each of the divine judges and swear that he or she had not committed any offences, ranging from raising the voice to stealing. This was the 'negative confession'. If found innocent, the deceased was declared 'true of voice' and allowed to proceed into the Afterlife.
The proceedings were recorded by Thoth, the scribe of the gods, and the deity of wisdom. Thoth was often dipicted as a human with an ibis head, writing on a scroll of papyrus. His other animal form, the baboon, was often depicted sitting on the pivot of the scales of justice.
The symbolic ritual that accompanied this ritual was the weighing of the heart of the deceased on a pair of enormous scales. It was weighed against the principle of truth and justice ( known as maat ) represented by a feather, the symbol of the goddess of truth, order and justice, Maat. If the heart balanced against the feather then the deceased would be granted a place in the Fields of Hetep and Iaru. If it was heavy with the weight of wrongdoings, the balance would sink and the heart would be grabbed and devoured by a terrifying beast that sat ready and waiting by the scales. This beast was Ammit, 'the gobbler', a composite animal with the head of a crocodile, the front legs and body of lion or leopard, and the back legs of a
http://www.egyptian-scarabs.co.uk/weighing_of_the_heart.htm
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