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The Egyptian Heaven and Hell · 30 of 96 · tr. E.A. Wallis Budge

Chapter 6 (part 3)

69 children, and his beloved ones, and his foster-parents, and his kinsfolk, and his [grown-up] sons and daughters, and his concubines, whom it is his heart's desire [to meet], and his friends, and those who have worked for him upon earth; and if he shall rejoin all his ancestors in heaven, and on earth, and in Neter-kher, and in the sky, and in Aakeb (i.e., a region of the sky), and in Hap (the Nile), and in Akeb (i.e. the watery abyss of the sky), and in Het-ur-kau, and in Tetu, and in Tetet (?), and in Pa-ur, and in Abakher, and in Abtu: then verily the bread-cakes shall be shattered, and the white bread-cakes shall be broken in pieces, and verily the meat offerings shall be cut up in the divine chamber of sacrifice, and verily ropes shall be coiled, and verily boats shall be manned, and verily the Boat of Ra shall journey on its way, being rowed by the mariners of the AKHEMU-SEKU and the AKHEMU-URTCHU; now his name is unknown, his name is unknown. "The goddess Hathor surroundeth Sepa with the magical protection of life, but it is Seb who equippeth him. 1 The sister of Sepa [and] wife [is] the guardian of the wood of the Great Field. 2 And, moreover, p. 70 the sister of Sepa, the guardian of the wood of the Great Field, saith, 'Verily thou shalt come with rejoicing, and thy heart shall be glad, and there shall be food to Sepa, and winds shall be given unto thee, yea, thy ancestors have commanded this [to be done]'; therefore shall Sepa come with gladness, and his heart shall be glad, and his ancestors shall be given unto him. And the great ones of the ancestors of Sepa shall come [to meet him] with joy, and their hearts shall be glad when they meet him; and they shall bear in their hands their staves, and their mattocks, and their tools for ploughing, and their metal weapons of the earth, and shall deliver him from the things which the goddess . . . . . . doeth, and from the actions (?) of Nut, and from the mighty things which the Two-Lion 1 God doeth to every soul, and to every god. The ancestors of Sepa shall make him to be delivered . . . . . [RUBRIC]. May be rejoined ancestors, and father, and mother, and foster-parents, and kinsfolk, and young children, and wives, and concubines, and beloved ones (i.e., friends) male and female, and servants (i.e., slaves), and the property of every kind which belongeth to a man, to him in Neter-kher (the Underworld)." The Rubric ends with the words, "rope of Maat, millions of times," which indicate that the whole Chapter, probably including the Rubric, was to be said by the person who wished to rejoin his friends in the p. 71 [paragraph continues] Underworld regularly and unceasingly for millions of times. The phrases shes maat heh en sep occur very often in the Theban Recension of the Book of the Dead, and a full list of the passages will be found in the Vocabulary to my edition of that work, page 328.
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Themes
Anthropomorphismtheology

Attributing human characteristics, emotions, or form to the divine; embodied divine imagery.

The gods are addressed personally ('Hail') and asked to perform actions, reflecting the attribution of human-like agency to divine beings.

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Divine Providencetheology

Pronoia — the doctrine that the divine actively orders the unfolding of the cosmos and human affairs toward intelligible ends, against pure chance or blind necessity.

Ancestors and gods actively ensure the deceased receives food, winds, and deliverance from harm.

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Fasting And Prayerpraxis

Ascetic disciplines that prepare the body and mind for spiritual receptivity or purification.

The passage references a specific 'prayer of the deceased' as a mechanism for achieving afterlife goals.

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Funerary Navigationpraxis

Texts and rituals guiding the soul through death.

[auto] The passage explicitly discusses Egyptian texts (PER-EM-HRU, Chapters) and prayers designed to guide the deceased through the afterlife realms like Sekhet-hetep.

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Living Godtheology

The divine conceived as active, present, and dynamic—not an abstract principle but a personal responsive reality.

[auto] The deities are addressed as active agents capable of granting requests ('Grant ye unto Sepa'), indicating a dynamic and responsive divine presence.

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Maat Cosmic Ordercosmology

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 text explicitly invokes the 'rope of Maat' as the mechanism for regular reunion with ancestors in the Underworld.

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Prayerpraxis

Direct address to the divine, whether petitionary, contemplative, or liturgical; speech and silence offered upward.

The text functions as a liturgical formula to be recited by the individual seeking afterlife benefits.

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Psychopomp Journeycosmology

Guided passage of the soul through afterlife realms.

It describes the deceased traveling on the Boat of Ra and being met by ancestors and gods who guide and protect him.

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Sacred Namestheology

Divine names or formulas that carry ontological power, used in prayer, liturgy, or magical practice.

[auto] The text includes direct invocations of divine names (Ra, Tem, Seb, Nut) used in prayer to effect a desired outcome for the deceased.

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Spiritual Ascentpraxis

A staged journey of the soul upward through heavenly realms or levels of being toward the divine source.

The prayer requests the deceased to 'traverse the heavens,' implying a journey upward through celestial realms.

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Theurgypraxis

Iamblichean ritual practice that engages the gods directly through consecrated material symbols and actions, on the premise that divine power descends into properly prepared matter — distinct from philosophical contemplation alone.

Ritual offerings and spells are used to engage divine powers for material and spiritual protection.

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Related passages · 14 parallels
western_esoteric|The Book of Ceremonial Magic (A.E. Waite)|Page 38 (part 2)
“The attempt to propitiate the Deity by means of prayers, sacrifices and abstinence, and thus to obtain the Divine assistance for the successful consummation of hideous offences and preposterous or impossible undertakings, is, of course, mad…”
Shared concept: Sacred Names — Divine names or formulas that carry ontological power, used in prayer, liturgy, or magical practice. (derived)
neoplatonism|Iamblichus: On the Mysteries|Chapter XXI
“I think, therefore, that all who are lovers of the contemplation of theurgic truth will acknowledge this, that the piety which pertains to divine natures ought not to be exercised towards them partially or imperfectly. Hence, since prior to…”
Shared concept: Theurgy — Iamblichean ritual practice that engages the gods directly through consecrated material symbols and actions, on the premise that divine power descends into properly prepared matter — distinct from philosophical contemplation alone. (derived)
neoplatonism|Iamblichus: On the Mysteries|Chapter III
“According to another order, however, he arranges the God Emeph prior to, and as the leader of, the celestial Gods. And he says that this God is an intellect, itself intellectually perceiving itself, and converting intellections to itself. B…”
Shared concept: Maat Cosmic Order — The Egyptian principle of truth, balance, and right order underlying both the cosmos and human conduct; the parallel to Zoroastrian asha and Greek dike. (derived)
christian_mysticism|Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names|Chapter 4, Section 1k
“and all things are moved by a longing for the Beautiful and Good, to accomplish every outward work and form every act of will. And true reasoning will also dare to affirm that even the Creator of all things Himself yearneth after all thing…”
Shared concept: Living God — The divine conceived as active, present, and dynamic—not an abstract principle but a personal responsive reality. (derived)
neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 161
“Section 5 5. Still more unreasonably: There are men, bound to human bodies and subject to desire, grief, anger, who think so generously of their own faculty that they declare themselves in contact with the Intelligible World, but deny that…”
Shared concept: Divine Providence — Pronoia — the doctrine that the divine actively orders the unfolding of the cosmos and human affairs toward intelligible ends, against pure chance or blind necessity. (derived)
renaissance_hermeticism|The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori)|First Dialogue-m
“Thus everything has an impetus towards its beginning retrogressively, and progressively towards its end and perfection, as Empedocles well said, and from which sentence I think may be inferred that which the Nolan said in this octave: The s…”
Shared concept: Spiritual Ascent — A staged journey of the soul upward through heavenly realms or levels of being toward the divine source. (derived)
greek_mystery|Orphic Hymns|Hymn LVI. THE TERRESTRIAL HERMES
“LVI. TO THE TERRESTRIAL HERMES. The FUMIGATION from STORAX. HERMES I call, whom Fate decrees to dwell In the dire path which leads to deepest hell O Bacchic Hermes, progeny divine Of Dionysius, parent of the vine, p. 189 And of celestial Ve…”
Shared concept: Psychopomp Journey — Guided passage of the soul through afterlife realms. (derived)
western_esoteric|The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall)|Atlantis and the Gods of Antiquity-g
“At the first gate the great crown is removed from her head, at the second gate the earrings from her ears, at the third gate the necklace from her neck, at the fourth gate the ornaments from her breast, at the fifth gate the girdle from her…”
Shared concept: Spiritual Ascent — A staged journey of the soul upward through heavenly realms or levels of being toward the divine source. (derived)
christian_mysticism|Pseudo-Dionysius: The Mystical Theology|Chapter I-a
“Wheat is the Divine Gloom. T rinty, which exceedeth all Being, Deity, and Goodness! 514 514 Lit. “Super-Essential, Supra-Divine, Super-Excellent.” Thou that instructeth Christians in Thy heavenly wisdom! Guide us to that topmost height…”
Shared concept: Prayer — Direct address to the divine, whether petitionary, contemplative, or liturgical; speech and silence offered upward. (derived)
platonism|Plato: Phaedrus|Section 1r
“But he whose initiation is recent, and who has been the spectator of many glories in the other world, is amazed when he sees any one having a godlike face or form, which is the expression of divine beauty; and at first a shudder runs throug…”
Shared concept: Anthropomorphism — Attributing human characteristics, emotions, or form to the divine; embodied divine imagery. (derived)
christian_mysticism|Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names|Chapter 9, Section 1c
“For just as, supposing we were in thought to represent the soul itself in bodily shape, and represent this indivisible substance as surrounded by bodily parts, we should, in such a case, give the surrounding parts a different meaning suited…”
Shared concept: Anthropomorphism — Attributing human characteristics, emotions, or form to the divine; embodied divine imagery. (derived)
hermeticism|Corpus Hermeticum 13: The Discourse of Hermes to Tat|Section 1a
“The Secret Sermon on the Mountain <This dialogue is in many ways the culmination of the whole Corpus, summing up the theory of the Hermetic system at the same time as it provides an intriguing glimpse at the practice. The focus of the dial…”
Shared concept: Prayer — Direct address to the divine, whether petitionary, contemplative, or liturgical; speech and silence offered upward. (derived)
greek_mystery|The Golden Verses of Pythagoras|Section 5 (part 3)
“"Thou shalt not hope what thou ought'st not to hope," knowing the nature of all things, and what is possible. 55. The Gods near at hand are virtue and truth. p. 17 59, 60. The fatal strife is caused by our inclination "madly to run cou…”
Shared concept: Fasting And Prayer — Ascetic disciplines that prepare the body and mind for spiritual receptivity or purification. (derived)
western_esoteric|Transcendental Magic I: The Doctrine (Éliphas Lévi)|1. The Candidate-d
“One who neglects his moral dignity in order to obey blindly the instincts of Nature. As a fact, in the presence of danger it is natural to be afraid and seek flight: why, then, is it shameful? Because honour has erected it into a law that…”
Shared concept: Fasting And Prayer — Ascetic disciplines that prepare the body and mind for spiritual receptivity or purification. (derived)