The Egyptian Heaven and Hell · 3 of 96 · tr. E.A. Wallis Budge
Chapter 2 (part 2)
PER-EM-HRU, or, "[The Book] of the Coming Forth by Day." 2.
SHAT ENT AM TUAT, or, "The Book of that which is in the Tuat." 3.
The composition to which the name "Book of Gates" has been given.
Now the first of these, which is commonly known as the "Theban Recension of the Book of the Dead," has supplied us with much valuable information about the beliefs which flourished in connection with an early form of the ancient cult of Osiris in the Delta, and p.
x with the later form of his worship, after he had absorbed the position and attributes of Khenti-Amenti, an old local deity of Abydos.
The two other Books, however, are as important, each in its own way, as the "Book of the Dead," for they throw considerable light on the development of the material and spiritual elements in the religion of Egypt, and commemorate the belief in the existence of numbers of primitive gods, who are unknown outside these Books.
The "Book Am-Tuat," in the form in which we know it, was drawn up by the priests of the confraternity of Amen-Ra at Thebes, with the express object of demonstrating that their god was the overlord of all the gods, and the supreme power in "Pet Ta Tuat," or, as we should say, "Heaven, Earth, and Hell." The Tuat, or Other World, which they imagined included the Tuat of every great district of Egypt, viz., the Tuat of Khenti-Amenti at Abydos, the Tuat of Seker of Memphis, the Tuat of Osiris of Mendes, and the Tuat of Temu-Kheper-Ra of Heliopolis.
In the BOOK AM-TUAT the god Amen-Ra was made to pass through all these Tuats as their overlord and god, and his priests taught that all the gods of the dead, including Osiris, lived through his words, and that such refreshing as the beings of the Tuat enjoyed each day was due to his grace and light during his passage through their regions and Circles.
Moreover, according to the dogmas of the priests of Amen-Ra, only those who were fortunate enough to secure a place p.
xi in the divine bark of the god could hope to traverse the Tuat unharmed, and only those who were his elect had the certainty of being re-born daily, with a new supply of strength and life, and of becoming of like nature and substance with him.
In the BOOK OF GATES the dogmas and doctrines of Osiris are far more prominent, and the state of the beatified closely resembles that described in the "Book of the Dead." In primitive times in Egypt men thought that they would obtain admission into the kingdom of Hetep by learning and remembering the secret name of this god and certain magical formulae, and by pronouncing them in the correct way at the proper time.
The need for a consciousness of sin, and repentance, and a life of good works, were not then held to be indispensable for admission into the abode of the beatified.
From the "Book of Gates," however, we learn that in the later Dynastic Period a belief was prevalent that those who worshipped the "great god" on earth, and made all the duly-appointed offerings, and turned not aside to "miserable little gods," and lived according to maat , i.e., uprightness and integrity, would receive a good reward because they had done these things.
The uncreated luminous quality of the divine, sometimes experienced directly in mystical states; illumination as revelation.
The refreshing enjoyed by beings of the Tuat each day is explicitly attributed to 'his grace and light during his passage through their regions and Circles,' making divine light the sustaining medium of the afterlife.
Esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them; outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth.
The 'secret name' of the god and 'certain magical formulae' are esoteric knowledge whose correct recitation grants access to the afterlife, reserved for those who possess them.
A non-physical dimension of reality, interpenetrating the physical world, populated by forces, beings, and forms ordinarily imperceptible to physical senses and instruments, that can affect embodied life without being seen — Dion Fortune's 'mind-side of nature,' the astral plane of Western esotericism broadly construed. Distinct from astral_light (a specific transmitting medium or fluid operating within this realm, not the realm itself), pleroma (the divine fullness at the summit of a cosmic hierarchy, not a parallel plane coextensive with ordinary life), and animism (particular indwelling spirits bound to specific natural objects, not the general unseen dimension itself).
The Tuat (Other World) is described as a non-physical dimension populated by divine beings, with regional subdivisions, through which the soul must pass after death.
The divine reason, word, or ordering principle through which the universe was created; mediates between the transcendent God and the material world.
The passage states that all gods of the dead, including Osiris, 'lived through his words,' giving the word of the supreme god a creative and sustaining power over the entire divine realm.
The Egyptian principle of truth, balance, and right order underlying both the cosmos and human conduct; the parallel to Zoroastrian asha and Greek dike.
[auto] The passage explicitly defines and emphasizes 'maat' as uprightness and integrity required for admission into the afterlife in the later Dynastic Period.
A spiritual elite who possess the divine spark and are predestined for salvation, contrasted with psychic (faithful) and hylic (material) persons.
Only those 'fortunate enough to secure a place in the divine bark' and 'his elect' have certainty of daily rebirth, establishing a spiritual elite contrasted with those who lack this status.
The doctrine — central to Eastern Orthodox and Maximian theology — that the human person is progressively transformed into a partaker of the divine nature by grace, not merely justified or united in passing ecstasy.
The elect are described as being 're-born daily, with a new supply of strength and life, and of becoming of like nature and substance with him,' which is a clear statement of progressive participation in divine nature.
The doctrine and practice that spoken or sung word carries causal-magical force — that uttering names, formulas, songs, or incantations alters reality directly rather than merely communicating about it. Vainamoinen's runo-songs that move mountains and command iron, Norse galdr, Vedic mantra, Shinto kotodama, the magician's barbarous names in the Greek Magical Papyri, Iamblichean arcane signatures and inexplicable symbols, biblical creation-by-word. Distinct from sacred_names (the ontological power of names themselves) and prayer (address to the divine); word_power_incantation is the magical-causal efficacy of the spoken word as such.
Magical formulae pronounced 'in the correct way at the proper time' directly effect admission into the afterlife, demonstrating the causal-magical force of spoken word.