The Egyptian Heaven and Hell · 50 of 96 · tr. E.A. Wallis Budge
Chapter 10 (part 1)
SECOND DIVISION OF THE TUAT.
II.
THE KINGDOM OF KHENTI-AMENTI-OSIRIS ACCORDING TO THE BOOK OF GATES.
To advance into this Division the Boat of AFU-RA must first pass through the Gate which is guarded by the huge serpent SAA-SET, and this done the god now takes upon himself the form in which he appears in the BOOK AM-TUAT, i.e., that of a ram-headed man.
The snake-goddess MEHEN, which surrounded the disk enclosing a beetle, now envelops the shrine in which he stands; it must be noted that SA and HEKAU stand, as before, in the Boat, which is now towed along by four gods of the Tuat, who represent the four quarters of the earth and the four cardinal points.
The Boat is received by a company of thirteen gods, who are apparently under the rule of a god who holds a staff.
The object of the visit of AFU-RA is to "weigh words and deeds in Ament, to make a distinction between the great and little gods, to assign thrones to the Spirits [who are pure], to dismiss the damned to the place set apart for them, and to destroy their bodies." (vol.
ii., p.
91).
Now this is an important statement, for it distinctly implies that a judgment of the dead takes place in the Second Division, or Hour, of the Tuat, p.
117 which is here called AMENT, that the positions of the dead are graded, and that reward and punishment are meted out to the dead, according to their deserts.
It is said by AFU-RA to the dwellers in AMENT, "the dead ( mitu ) shall not enter in after you"; which proves that, wherever the place of punishment was, it was not in the SECOND Division of the Tuat.
The gods who assist AFU-RA in his work of judgment are said to live upon the offerings made to them upon earth; here was a direct inducement to the faithful to make offerings regularly to the gods of the Tuat, and it was understood that such acts of piety would tell on their behalf when their words and deeds came to be weighed in Ament.
The reader will note that it is AFU-RA who is the judge here, and not Osiris.
Examining now the beings who are on both banks of the river we see that they fall naturally into two classes, viz., the good and the bad; the former are on the right hand of the god, and the latter on his left, just as saints and sinners are arraigned before God's throne in mediaeval pictures of the Judgment.
The good are divided into two classes, "the HETEPTIU who praise RA," and the "MAATIU who dwell in the Tuat" (vol.
ii., p.
93).
The HETEPTIU are thus called because they made "offerings" ( hetepet ) to Ra upon earth, and burned incense to him; they also sang praises to RA and worshipped him upon earth, and uttered hekau , or words of power, against APEP, the p.
118 arch-foe of Ra (vol.
ii., p.
94).
From this text we see that it was not enough for the followers of Ra to praise him and give him gifts, but that they must also use magical words and formulae in order that Ra's foe may be destroyed; and, because when they were upon earth they made offerings to the Tuat-gods, now that they are themselves in the Tuat and have need of food, Ra declares that offerings made to them shall never fail, and their souls shall never be destroyed.
Ontological opposition between two primal principles (light/darkness, truth/lie, spirit/matter) as the fundamental structure of reality.
The text explicitly contrasts the 'power of evil' (Set/Ass) with 'beneficent gods' (Osiris/RA), highlighting an opposition between good and evil forces.
A chain of divine beings or principles flowing downward from a single transcendent source (the One or the Father), each level less perfect than the one above.
[auto] A clear chain of command exists where AFU-RA rules AM-NEBAUI, who rules other gods that remain inert until activated by the supreme deity.
Final, collective cosmic judgment as an event in which the wicked are sentenced and the cosmos restored; distinct from psychopomp_journey (individual passage at death) and emphasising verdict where Zoroastrian frashokereti emphasises restoration.
Admission to the heaven URNES is restricted to followers of specific gods, implying a selection or judgment process.
[auto] The passage describes spirits entering a boat and being supplied with herbs in the Field of URNES, which is characteristic of Egyptian afterlife guides.
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 is described as a non-physical dimension populated by gods and spirits, interpenetrating the physical world since offerings made on earth sustain the gods who dwell there.
The Egyptian principle of truth, balance, and right order underlying both the cosmos and human conduct; the parallel to Zoroastrian asha and Greek dike.
The entire passage centers on the Egyptian principle of Maat: weighing words and deeds, distinguishing between great and little gods, assigning thrones to pure spirits, and dismissing the damned — the MAATIU are explicitly named as those who dwell in the Tuat.
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.
The passage explicitly states that followers of Ra must use 'hekau, or words of power, against APEP, the arch-foe of Ra,' demonstrating the causal-magical efficacy of spoken formulae in altering cosmic reality.