Chapter 29 (part 1)

p. 192 CHAPTER XIV. TWELFTH DIVISION OF THE TUAT. II. EASTERN VESTIBULE OF THE TUAT, OR THE ANTECHAMBER OF THE WORLD OF LIGHT ACCORDING TO THE BOOK AM-TUAT. THE TWELFTH DIVISION, or HOUR, Or CITY, is called KHEPER-KEKIU-KHAU-MESTU, the name of its Gate is THEN-NETERU, and the Hour-goddess is MAA-NEFERT-RA; it is the "uttermost limit of thick darkness," i.e., it is not a part of the Tuat proper, and it contains the great celestial watery abyss Nu, and the goddess NUT. who is here the personification of the "womb of the morning." So soon as the Sun-god passes from the thighs of Nut he will enter the Matet Boat, and begin his course in the world of light. We see AFU-RA in his Boat as before, and in the front of it is the Beetle of Khepera, under whose form the god is to be re-born. The space in front of the Boat is filled by the body of a huge serpent called ANKH-NETERU, which lives upon the rumblings of the earth, and from the mouth of which amakhiu , or loyal servants, go forth daily. Twelve amakhiu of RA now take hold of the tow-line, and entering in at p. 193 the tail of the serpent ANKH-NETERU draw AFU-RA and his Boat through its body, and bring him out at its mouth (vol. i., p. 263). During his passage through the serpent, the god transforms himself into Khepera and the twelve amakhiu who have been with him throughout his journey in the Tuat are, after they have passed out of the serpent's body, re-born on the earth each day. They enter the tail of the serpent as loyal servants, but, like their master, are transformed during their passage through its body, and they emerge from its mouth as "rejuvenated forms of RA" each day. They live on the earth during the day, but at sunset they rejoin their lord, and re-enter the Tuat; whilst they are upon earth to utter the name of the god is forbidden to them. The transformation of the dead Sun-god into the living Khepera having been effected, twelve goddesses step forward when he emerges from the serpent, and tow the great god into the sky, and lead him along the ways of the upper sky. "They bring with them the soft winds and breezes which accompany the dawn, and guide the god to SHU," who is the personification of the atmosphere and of whatever is in the vault of heaven. Of this god are seen (vol. i., p. 277) only the head and arms, and when the Beetle of Khepera comes to him, he receives him, and places the newly-born Sun-god in the opening in the centre of the semi-circular wall which ends this p. 194 vestibule of the world of light, where he is seen by the people on earth in the form of a disk. This disk either represents a transformation of the Sun-god effected by Shu, or the celestial ball containing the germs of life, of which the type on earth is the ball of eggs which the sacred beetle is seen rolling along the ground.