The place to which Ptolemy has been brought is sometimes referred to as the Judgement Hall of Osiris, and sometimes as the Hall of the Double Maati - which translates as "the Hall of the Two Truths" or possibly "the Hall of Double Justice". It is not a place to which the soul was believed to have come immediately after death. Indeed, it could only be reached by those who were spiritually "equipped" to complete a long and hazardous post-mortem journey through the first five of the twelve divisions of the Duat - the fearful parallel dimension, shadowy and terrifying, filled with fiends and nightmares, that was believed by the ancient Egyptians to separate the land of the living from the kingdom of the blessed dead. The reader will recall that it was this same Duat, referred to as the Duat-N-Ba (the "netherworld of the soul"), that was said to have provided the model for the mysterious "primeval temple" spoken of in the Edfu Building Texts.
Ptolemy stands in the posture of salutation, left hand clenched across his right breast, right hand raised. On either side of him is a figure of Maat (hence "Double Maati") - a tall and beautiful goddess, sensual and full-breasted, wearing a head-dress topped by her characteristic ostrich-feather plume (the hieroglyph for "Truth"). The figure behind Ptolemy is empty-handed, and seems to be guiding him into the hall; the figure facing him holds in her right hand a long staff and in her left hand the hieroglyph ankh, the "cross" or "key" of life - the symbol of eternity.
In a double row at the side of the Hall 42 dispassionate figures crouch in the manner of scribes pouring over papyrus, each wearing the feather of Maat. These are the 42 Judges or Assessors of the Dead, before each of whom the deceased must be able to declare himself innocent of a particular wrong - the 42 so-called "Negative Confessions". For example:
No. 4 "I have not stolen";
No. 5 "I have not slain man or woman";
No. 6 "I have not uttered falsehood";
No. 19 "I have not defiled the wife of a man";
No. 38 "I have not cursed the God".
The goddess Nepthys, benefactor and protector of the dead. Tomb of Seti I, Valley of the Kings. Nepthys was the mother of Anubis.
Having completed this stage of his examination, Ptolemy now finds himself confronted by an immense pair of scales beneath the arms of which are to be seen representations of Anubis, the jackal-headed guide of souls, and Horus the falcon-headed son of Osiris. One pan of the scales contains an object, shaped like a small urn, symbolizing the heart of the deceased, "considered to be the seat of intelligence and thus the instigator of man's actions and his conscience". In the other pan stands the feather of Maat, symbolizing once again ... Truth.
On this encounter of the heart with Truth everything hinges.
Ptolemy
Re: Ptolemy
THE QUEST CONTINUES
"OUT IN THE DARK BLUE SEA THERE LIES A LAND CALLED CRETE, A RICH AND LOVELY LAND, WASHED BY THE WAVES ON EVERY SIDE, DENSELY PEOPLED AND BOASTING NINETY CITIES. . .
ONE OF THE NINETY TOWNS IS A GREAT CITY CALLED KNOSSOS, AND THERE FOR NINE YEARS, KING MINOS RULED AND ENJOYED THE FRIENDSHIP OF ALMIGHTY ZEUS
JOSEPH AND HIS BROTHERS
Thomas Mann
1875 - 1955
Page 968
"But we are speaking of two different things. My Majesty speaks of the fetters which the teaching puts upon the thoughts of God; yours refers to priestly statecraft, which divides teaching and knowledge. But Pharaoh would not be arrogant, and there is no greater arrogance than such a division. No, there is no arrogance in the world greater than that of dividing the children of our Father into initiate and uninitiate and teaching double words: all-knowingly for the masses, knowingly in the inner circle. No, we must speak what we know, and witness what we have seen. Pharaoh wants to do nothing but improve the teaching, even though it be made hard for him by the teaching No, we must speak what we know, and witness what we have seen. Pharaoh wants to do nothing but improve the teaching, even though it be made hard for him by the teaching. And still it has been said to me: 'Call me not Aton, for that is in need of improvement. Call me the Lord of the Aton!' But I, through keeping silent, forgot. See now what the Father does for his beloved son! He sends him a mes-senger and dream-interpreter, who shows him his dreams, dreams from below and dreams from above, dreams important for the realm and for heaven; that he should awake in him what he already knows, and interpret what was already said to him. Yes, how loveth the Father his child the King who came forth out of him, that he sends down a soothsayer to him, to whom from long ages has been handed down the teaching that it profits man to press on towards the last and highest!" ; "To my knowledge," Tiy coldly remarked, "your soothsayer came up from below, out of a dungeon, and not from above."
"Ah, in my opinion that is sheer mischief, that he came from be-low," cried Amenhotep. "And besides, above and below mean not much to the Father, who when he goes down makes the lower the upper, for where he shines, there is the upper world. From which it comes that his messengers interpret dreams from above and below with equal skill. Go on, soothsayer! Did I say stop? If I did, I meant go on! That wanderer out of the East, from whom you spring, did you not stop at the sun, but pressed on above it?"
"Yes, in spirit," answered Joseph smiling. "For in the flesh he was but a worm on this earth, weaker than most of those above and below him. And still he refused to bow and to worship, even before one of these phenomena, for they were but witness and work, as he himself was. All being, he said, is a work of the highest, and before the being is the spirit of whom it bears witness. How could I commit so great a folly and bum incense to a witness, be it never so weighty - I, who am consciously a witness, whereas the others simply are and know it not? Is there not something in me of Him, for which all being is but evidence of the being of the Being which is greater than His works and is outside them? It is outside the world, and though it is the compass of the world, yet is the world not its compass. .Far is the sun, surely three hundred and sixty thousand miles away, and yet ./ Page 969 / his rays are here. But He who shows the sun the way hither is further than far, yet near in the same measure, nearer than near. Near or far is all the same to Him, for He has no space nor any time; and though the world is in Him, He is not in the world at all, but in heaven. "
"Did you hear that, Mama? " asked Amenhotep in a small voice, tears in his eyes. "Did you hear the message which my heavenly Father sends me through this young man, in whom I straightway saw something, as he came in, and who interprets to me my dreams? I will only say that I have not said all that was said to me in my seizure, and, keeping silent, forgot it. But when I heard: 'Call me not Aton, but rather the Lord of the Aton,' then I heard also this: 'Call on me not as "my Father above," for that is of the sun in the
sky; it must needs be changed, to say: "My Father who art in heaven" !' So heard I and shut it up within me, because I was anxious over the truth for the sake of the teaching. But he whom I took out of the prison, he opens the prison of truth that she may come forth
, in beauty and light; and teaching and truth shall embrace each other, even as I embrace him."
And with wet eyelashes he worked himself up out of his sunken seat, embraced Joseph, and kissed him.
"Yes, yes!" he cried: He began to hurry once more up and down the Cretan loggia, to the bee-portieres, to the windows and back, his hands pressed to his heart. "Yes, yes, who art in heaven, fur- ther than far and nearer than near, the Being of beings, that looks not into death, that does'not become and die but is, the abiding light, that neither rises nor sets, the unchanging source, out of which stream all life, light, beauty, and truth-that is the Father, so reveals He Himself to Pharaoh His son, who lies in His bosom and to whom He shows all that He has made. For He has made all, and His love is in the world, and the world knows Him not. But Pharaoh is His witness and bears witness to His light and His love, that through Him all men may become blessed and may believe, even though now they still love the darkness more than the light that shines in it. For they under- stand it not, therefore are their deeds evil. But the son, who came from the Father, will teach it to them. Golden spirit is the light, father-spirit; out of the mother-depths below power strives upward to it, to be purified in its flame and become spirit in the Father. Im-material is God, like His sunshine, spirit is He, and Pharaoh teaches you to worship Him in spirit and in truth. For the son knoweth the Father~s the Father knoweth him, and will royally reward all those who love Him and keep His commandments -he will make them great and gilded at court because they love the Father in the son who came out of Him. For my words are not mine, but the words of my Father who sent me, that all might become one in light and love, even as I and the Father are one. . ."
"OUT IN THE DARK BLUE SEA THERE LIES A LAND CALLED CRETE, A RICH AND LOVELY LAND, WASHED BY THE WAVES ON EVERY SIDE, DENSELY PEOPLED AND BOASTING NINETY CITIES. . .
ONE OF THE NINETY TOWNS IS A GREAT CITY CALLED KNOSSOS, AND THERE FOR NINE YEARS, KING MINOS RULED AND ENJOYED THE FRIENDSHIP OF ALMIGHTY ZEUS
JOSEPH AND HIS BROTHERS
Thomas Mann
1875 - 1955
Page 968
"But we are speaking of two different things. My Majesty speaks of the fetters which the teaching puts upon the thoughts of God; yours refers to priestly statecraft, which divides teaching and knowledge. But Pharaoh would not be arrogant, and there is no greater arrogance than such a division. No, there is no arrogance in the world greater than that of dividing the children of our Father into initiate and uninitiate and teaching double words: all-knowingly for the masses, knowingly in the inner circle. No, we must speak what we know, and witness what we have seen. Pharaoh wants to do nothing but improve the teaching, even though it be made hard for him by the teaching No, we must speak what we know, and witness what we have seen. Pharaoh wants to do nothing but improve the teaching, even though it be made hard for him by the teaching. And still it has been said to me: 'Call me not Aton, for that is in need of improvement. Call me the Lord of the Aton!' But I, through keeping silent, forgot. See now what the Father does for his beloved son! He sends him a mes-senger and dream-interpreter, who shows him his dreams, dreams from below and dreams from above, dreams important for the realm and for heaven; that he should awake in him what he already knows, and interpret what was already said to him. Yes, how loveth the Father his child the King who came forth out of him, that he sends down a soothsayer to him, to whom from long ages has been handed down the teaching that it profits man to press on towards the last and highest!" ; "To my knowledge," Tiy coldly remarked, "your soothsayer came up from below, out of a dungeon, and not from above."
"Ah, in my opinion that is sheer mischief, that he came from be-low," cried Amenhotep. "And besides, above and below mean not much to the Father, who when he goes down makes the lower the upper, for where he shines, there is the upper world. From which it comes that his messengers interpret dreams from above and below with equal skill. Go on, soothsayer! Did I say stop? If I did, I meant go on! That wanderer out of the East, from whom you spring, did you not stop at the sun, but pressed on above it?"
"Yes, in spirit," answered Joseph smiling. "For in the flesh he was but a worm on this earth, weaker than most of those above and below him. And still he refused to bow and to worship, even before one of these phenomena, for they were but witness and work, as he himself was. All being, he said, is a work of the highest, and before the being is the spirit of whom it bears witness. How could I commit so great a folly and bum incense to a witness, be it never so weighty - I, who am consciously a witness, whereas the others simply are and know it not? Is there not something in me of Him, for which all being is but evidence of the being of the Being which is greater than His works and is outside them? It is outside the world, and though it is the compass of the world, yet is the world not its compass. .Far is the sun, surely three hundred and sixty thousand miles away, and yet ./ Page 969 / his rays are here. But He who shows the sun the way hither is further than far, yet near in the same measure, nearer than near. Near or far is all the same to Him, for He has no space nor any time; and though the world is in Him, He is not in the world at all, but in heaven. "
"Did you hear that, Mama? " asked Amenhotep in a small voice, tears in his eyes. "Did you hear the message which my heavenly Father sends me through this young man, in whom I straightway saw something, as he came in, and who interprets to me my dreams? I will only say that I have not said all that was said to me in my seizure, and, keeping silent, forgot it. But when I heard: 'Call me not Aton, but rather the Lord of the Aton,' then I heard also this: 'Call on me not as "my Father above," for that is of the sun in the
sky; it must needs be changed, to say: "My Father who art in heaven" !' So heard I and shut it up within me, because I was anxious over the truth for the sake of the teaching. But he whom I took out of the prison, he opens the prison of truth that she may come forth
, in beauty and light; and teaching and truth shall embrace each other, even as I embrace him."
And with wet eyelashes he worked himself up out of his sunken seat, embraced Joseph, and kissed him.
"Yes, yes!" he cried: He began to hurry once more up and down the Cretan loggia, to the bee-portieres, to the windows and back, his hands pressed to his heart. "Yes, yes, who art in heaven, fur- ther than far and nearer than near, the Being of beings, that looks not into death, that does'not become and die but is, the abiding light, that neither rises nor sets, the unchanging source, out of which stream all life, light, beauty, and truth-that is the Father, so reveals He Himself to Pharaoh His son, who lies in His bosom and to whom He shows all that He has made. For He has made all, and His love is in the world, and the world knows Him not. But Pharaoh is His witness and bears witness to His light and His love, that through Him all men may become blessed and may believe, even though now they still love the darkness more than the light that shines in it. For they under- stand it not, therefore are their deeds evil. But the son, who came from the Father, will teach it to them. Golden spirit is the light, father-spirit; out of the mother-depths below power strives upward to it, to be purified in its flame and become spirit in the Father. Im-material is God, like His sunshine, spirit is He, and Pharaoh teaches you to worship Him in spirit and in truth. For the son knoweth the Father~s the Father knoweth him, and will royally reward all those who love Him and keep His commandments -he will make them great and gilded at court because they love the Father in the son who came out of Him. For my words are not mine, but the words of my Father who sent me, that all might become one in light and love, even as I and the Father are one. . ."
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Re: Ptolemy
An excellent piece from, theone. Knossos you must get there, it has an all pervasive air of ancient spirituality far beyond what are considered old religions, perhaps because it is pagan through and through. First settlement about 7000 BC in the Neolithic period while its first palace dates around 1900 BC [Not that I approve of palaces], it is the largest Bronze Age archaeological site on Crete and has been referred to as Europe's oldest city. The name Knossos survives from ancient Greek references to the major city of Crete.
Located in the modern day Municipality of Heraklion on Crete, it closely associated with a people of unknown ethnicity the Minoans, who were also closely linked to the legendary drowned city of Atlantis. There is a strong conviction that this was not a massive island twice the size of Libya sunk out in the Atlantic due to volcanic eruption beyond the Strait of Gibraltar, but a culturally advanced centre that ended up beneath the Black Sea encased in mud. A scenario created when the rising sea levels generated by global warming maybe phase Mark I or II in combination with a melting Ice Age led to Noah's Ark bobbing on an overspill from the Mediterranean that created the greatest tsunami the world has ever seen into what was destined to become the Black Sea around 5,600 BC. Had the Minoans, already migrated from Atlantis settle on Crete as well as colonising other islands in the Aegean Sea, and just renewed their civilisation elsewhere because their capital city had been submerged without warning and the mother ship had been effectively wiped out? Knossos was abandoned sometime in Late Minoan IIIC, which equates to 1380 –1100 BC. If they knew how to build palaces [I still don’t agree with them!] in 1900BC, they were in situ for 800 years.
All conjecture, maybe, but really all we have to pinpoint Atlantis supposedly fictional [it sounded pretty big and difficult to lose completely even given the time lapse]. Plato's vague indications as to the timing of these events, more than 9,000 years before his time, and the alleged location of Atlantis, "......beyond the Pillars of Hercules," have led to considerable pseudoscientific speculation.
Illustration of the Bull-leaping Fresco from the Great Palace at Knossos, Crete, the figures depict naked young women doing the leaping, gender equality was a distinct feature of Minoan culture.
Located in the modern day Municipality of Heraklion on Crete, it closely associated with a people of unknown ethnicity the Minoans, who were also closely linked to the legendary drowned city of Atlantis. There is a strong conviction that this was not a massive island twice the size of Libya sunk out in the Atlantic due to volcanic eruption beyond the Strait of Gibraltar, but a culturally advanced centre that ended up beneath the Black Sea encased in mud. A scenario created when the rising sea levels generated by global warming maybe phase Mark I or II in combination with a melting Ice Age led to Noah's Ark bobbing on an overspill from the Mediterranean that created the greatest tsunami the world has ever seen into what was destined to become the Black Sea around 5,600 BC. Had the Minoans, already migrated from Atlantis settle on Crete as well as colonising other islands in the Aegean Sea, and just renewed their civilisation elsewhere because their capital city had been submerged without warning and the mother ship had been effectively wiped out? Knossos was abandoned sometime in Late Minoan IIIC, which equates to 1380 –1100 BC. If they knew how to build palaces [I still don’t agree with them!] in 1900BC, they were in situ for 800 years.
All conjecture, maybe, but really all we have to pinpoint Atlantis supposedly fictional [it sounded pretty big and difficult to lose completely even given the time lapse]. Plato's vague indications as to the timing of these events, more than 9,000 years before his time, and the alleged location of Atlantis, "......beyond the Pillars of Hercules," have led to considerable pseudoscientific speculation.
Illustration of the Bull-leaping Fresco from the Great Palace at Knossos, Crete, the figures depict naked young women doing the leaping, gender equality was a distinct feature of Minoan culture.
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