Egyptian Teachings

The Egyptians believed that the phenomena of nature were divine forces in and of themselves. These deified forces included the elements, animal characteristics, or abstract forces. The Egyptians believed in a pantheon of gods, which were involved in all aspects of nature and human society.

Religious behaviour encompassed contact with the dead, practices such as divination and oracles, and magic, which mostly exploited divine instruments and associations. There were two essential foci of public religion: the king and the gods. Both are among the most characteristic features of Egyptian civilization.

Kemetism

Kemetism (also Kemeticism; both from the Egyptian kmt, usually voweled Kemet, the native name of ancient Egypt), also sometimes referred to as Neterism (from nṯr (Coptic ⲛⲟⲩⲧⲉ noute) “deity”), or Egyptian Neopaganism, is a revival of ancient Egyptian religion and related expressions of religion in classical and late …

There were five components of the soul in Ancient Egypt. These are :

1. Ren
2. Ka
3. Ib
4. Ba
5. Sheut

The simplest concept is Ren, which is literally your name: it lives for as long as you are remembered, or can be read about on inscriptions, or included in prayers for the ancestors and their achievements.

Ka is also easy enough to translate into modern idiom, for it is that vital essence that makes the difference between the living and the dead, between life and dead meat, between a warm body and cold clay.

IB is literally the heart, formed from a single drop of clotted blood extracted from your mother’s heart at the hour of your conception or birth. By heart, the Egyptians meant not just the organ for pumping blood around your body, but the seat of your soul, the good directing force in your life, searching after truth, peace and harmony.

Ba is that which makes each of us unique and different, that which makes us strive and achieve, the motivator but also the hungry elemental force that needs food and sex. In some form, your Ba is destined to survive after death, often depicted or imagined as a human-headed bird, which with good fortune will go forth by day to enjoy the light, but might also end up existing only in the dark, like the bat or the ruin-haunting owl.

Sheut is your shadow, and by extension the other you, as well as being used to describe a statue, a model or a painting of a human.

Religion was a way for Egyptians to explain their surroundings, such as the annual Nile flooding. Daily happenings such as the sun setting and rising, were also explained through religion. Deities were modelled after humans, as in they lived and died, and needed sustenance to survive.

Egyptian religion was a combination of beliefs and practices which, in the modern day, would include Egyptian mythology, science, medicine, psychiatry, magic, spiritualism, herbology, as well as the modern understanding of ‘religion’ as belief in a higher power and a life after death.

Religion played a part in every aspect of the lives of the ancient Egyptians because life on earth was seen as only one part of an eternal journey, and in order to continue that journey after death, one needed to live a life worthy of continuance. During one’s life on earth, one was expected to uphold the principle f ma’at (harmony) with an understanding that one’s actions in life affected not only one’s self but others’ lives as well, and the operation of the universe. People were expected to depend on each other to keep balance as this was the will of the gods to produce the greatest amount of pleasure and happiness for humans through a harmonious existence which also enabled the gods to better perform their tasks.

By honouring the principle of ma’at (personified as a goddess of the same name holding the white feather of truth) and living one’s life in accordance with its precepts, one was aligned with the gods and the forces of light against the forces of darkness and chaos, and assured one’s self of a welcome reception in the Hall of Truth after death and a gentle judgment by Osiris, the Lord of the Dead.

The gods of ancient Egypt were seen as the lords of creation and custodians of order but also as familiar friends who were interested in helping and guiding the people of the land. The gods had created order out of chaos and given the people the most beautiful land on earth. Egyptians were so deeply attached to their homeland that they shunned prolonged military campaigns beyond their borders for fear they would die on foreign soil and would not be given the proper rites for their continued journey after life. Egyptian monarchs refused to give their daughters in marriage to foreign rulers for the same reason. The gods of Egypt had blessed the land with their special favour, and the people were expected to honour them as great and kindly benefactors.