THE REBIRTH OF AN EGYPTIAN
by Nydia Walker

My eyes stung as the light brightened when I awoke to find myself
laying beside a pier on the Great River Nile. Confusion, chaos filled
my thoughts.    I had been walking home from work and someone
shouted.   I turned around and now I am here. What has happened? 
Where am I?

Looking around, all I can see is the pier, the water beneath it and sand,
miles and miles of sand.  Nothing more could be seen.  No trees, no birds,
not even a wind to move the surface of the water could I detect.   This is a
desolate place, devoid of landscape, of color, even of life, save my own.

“Where am I?”  I shout, afraid that no one would answer and then
afraid that someone would.  I am not entirely sure I want to know
the answer.  Not even a whisper returned my cry, but the light seemed
to intensify on the river near the Horizon.  As I watched a golden boat
appeared and sailed towards me.  A beautiful boat whose sail brightens
the world around it and gives the waters and the nearby land beautiful
colors of azure blue, creamy white and iridescent pink.  Instantly my
mind cleared and I understood completely.

Yes, I had been walking home. Someone shouted out a warning that
rocks were falling from the cliffs above me.  I turned and looked up
to see a large boulder come down on top of me.  I am dead.  My body
has been embalmed and now lays within my tomb.  This place must
be the Pier between the worlds.

My legs left me again and I sank to the ground as my thoughts became
fact when I recognized the Great God Ra steering the Boat of the Sun. 
He was coming for me, to take me to the Hall of Ma’at, where my heart
would be judged against her feather.  His face was just as I had imagined
it, golden and pure.  His eyes the deep blue of the finest lapis lazuli, his
dark hair bound with a thong from which hung a single hawk feather.

“Come, my child,” He called to me.  “Let us journey together.”

My time on his boat seems short, but in fact it is long as we travel the
hours of the Duat.  There are monsters to fight and riddles to solve
and all of the Great Gods and Goddesses of the Two Lands appear at
one time or another to guide us and to guard us.  Many of them
fight the evil Apophis when he reveals himself and tries to destroy the
Boat of Ra.  He is defeated and we sail on, into the Hall of Judgment,
with the echoes of the battle still lingering behind us.

Inside the Hall, Ra leaves me to face my destiny alone.  No more can I
take comfort from his presence.  I do not want to open the doors to the
inner sanctum.  My fears are overwhelming me.  If I do not pass this
judgment, if my heart does not weigh the same as the feather of Ma’at,
my heart will be eaten by the Great and Terrible Goddess Ament.  I shall
cease to exist completely on any plane.  Never again to walk the paths in
the Eternal Field of Reeds.  Never again to walk on Earth and gaze upon
my beloved Egypt.  It is a fate that is unthinkable.

I must have strength.  I have done this before, many times.  I am no
stranger to this hall, no, nor is any Egyptian.  We all come here after
each death and we are judged.  It is quite an imposing place, this Hall of
Truth.  Ra drops me off just at a set of white marble steps that leads up
to a colonnaded porch and a set of very tall golden doors.

Inside of those doors lies my fate and I hesitate before opening the
heavy doors.  This moment is the culmination of everything I have
worked so hard for in my lifetime.  Everything I did, I did for this
moment and I want it to last as long as possible.  I want to savor it, to
take it inside me and remember it forever. 

The memories of my life, my family, my friends, my work, my service to
the Temple, all of it, I am about to be questioned about.  I must defend my
actions to the Great Gods of my land by answering the 42 Negative
Confessions.   If I have sinned, I will be punished.  If I have not, I will
be rewarded.

With a deep breath, I am ready and push open the doors.  The Hall is so
astoundingly beautiful that at first I can see nothing but the glint of
gold on the columns, the ceiling, the chairs, and the railings which
ran alongside the center aisle down which I would walk towards the
altar, also made of pure gold.

Lavish deep blue and royal purple linens cascaded from the ceiling
to sweep down the walls, giving the room the appearance of a wealthy
Bedouin’s tent.  A very large and wealthy Bedouin’s tent.  Braziers
suspended from chains held fires which gave the room a soft glow,
belying the seriousness of this event.

The Great Gods and Goddesses were all standing close to the aisle, waiting
for me to begin.  As I began to walk toward the Altar, the first Deity
approached and my Judgment began.  With each step another God
or Goddess approached, forty two in all, each asked me one of the Negative Confessions.  If I was able to honestly answer that I had not done
what they had asked, then I was allowed to continue.  But, had I
not been able to answer that, had I committed that sin, my heart would
have been given to the Goddess Amenti and she would have eaten it
and destroyed my soul forever.

Finally, I was through them all, and stood before the altar.  My head was
high and I felt great happiness and pride within my soul.  But I was
not yet finished, for there was yet one more test, the most important one. 
My heart must now be weighed against the feather of the great
Goddess Ma’at.

My heart must weigh the same as her feather.  It can not be heavier, as
that would mean that my heart has sinned in some manner that was
not discovered by the Negative Confessions.  But it also can not be
lighter, for that would mean that I do not know evil and therefore can
not recognize it and would be susceptible to it from others.  My heart, like
my soul, must be in balance.

In silence, the Great God Anubis takes my heart from my trembling
hands and places it in one side of the golden scale and Ma’at places her
feather in the other.  In just a few seconds the verdict is announced
by Anubis.

“It is balanced”

I didn’t know I was holding my breath until I released it in a loud
whoosh that caused Anubis to turn to me and grin.  I have always
thought that beneath his somewhat stern expression, he had a
lively sense of humor.  But I didn’t get a chance to think much more
on that, as Ma’at was at my side, and took my hand to guide me
behind the Altar.

There sat the Great God Osiris, God of Death, Dying, Resurrection and
Fertility.  The God who created my soul, My Godly Father.  He takes
me to his breast and holds me tight.  I can hear the emotion in his
voice as he whispers, “Welcome home, my child.”

And that is exactly where I am.  I am home.  I remember now, all of it.

Behind his throne is a door to another dimension, another world.  It is
called the Eternal Field of Reeds and it is where I live.  It is a beautiful
Oasis in a vast desert.  All of the Great Gods live there in beautiful
Temples, as well as all of the Ascended Ones, those who have completed
all of their life’s lessons and have been granted the titles of Gods. 

Imhotep was the first of us to be so honored.  In my last earthly lifetime,
we often would go to his Temple and leave offerings when any of our
family was sick.  We all knew he had been a mortal who was now a God,
and we were taught that we could do the same.

On the Earthly dimension if I live a normal mortal life, learning the
lessons that have been set for me,  I will live and die and then I will
return to my home here to rest before being reincarnated and living
another life.  On and on until I have learned all the lessons that I need
to learn.  Then I shall live forever in the Eternal Field of Reeds with the
Great Gods, as one of them.

That is what the Temples taught us and that is what is the Truth, for here
I am once again,  walking beside my Father Osiris, on our way to the
house of my Mother, the Great Goddess Bast.  We will be having
dinner with her, and then I shall take my leave and go to my own
home, one not quite so grand.

My Godly parents do love me, that is true, but I am just one of their
thousands of children.  I am neither heir apparent here nor anyone
important at all.  Just a simple person really, with a long way to go. 
  I shall rest here only awhile to reflect upon what I have learned.