The Akh: According to the Pyramid Text #474 the akh, belongs to the heaven, the corpse to the earth. The body is buried while the akh, the Shining One, ascends to the sky, becoming a star. It comes into being when ba and ka unite and is the part of the person least bound to the rest, leaving it behind in the quest for immortality.
The ka: ( kA ) Unfortunately the ancient Egyptians never defined clearly what was meant by the ka, or its female complementary, the hemset. The concepts may well have undergone changes over the millennia or had different meanings according to the social settings. kA has been variously translated as soul, life-force, will etc. but no single western concept is anything like it. Being written kA like the word for 'bull', a symbol of potency, the closest to it in English may be a 'life-creating force'. The ka was a constant close companion of the body in life and death, depicted throughout the pharaonic period following the king and bearing the royal Horus name. The kas of Unas are behind him. His hemesets are under his feet. His gods are above him. According to pictures drawn during the 18th dynasty, the ka came into being when a person was born, often depicted as a twin or double, but,
unlike the body it belonged to, it was immortal provided it received nourishment. Being a spiritual entity it did not eat the food but seems to have extracted the life-sustaining forces from the offerings, be they real or symbolic.
Dying was referred to as going to one's ka. Upon the body's demise the ka rejoined its divine origin, but always remained in close proximity of the body.
In Old Kingdom tombs false or ka doors were supposed to give this spiritual part of the deceased access to the world of the living.
The kas were thought to reside in tomb statues.
Ka statue of Harawibra, 13th dynasty
The pair of arms on his head spell out kA. Courtesy Jon Bodsworth The ka as a life-sustaining force was contained in the food.
The plural of ka, kaw, meant food offerings. The ka as recipient of food offerings is attested to since the late Old Kingdom.
During the New Kingdom the ka was seen to have different aspects:
The Osiris, may he rest in peace, knows the names of your ka, the aspect of your soul that abides in the ground:
Nourishing ka,
ka of food,
lordly ka,
ka the ever-present helper,
ka which is a pair of kas begetting more kas,
healthy ka,
sparkling ka,
victorious ka,
ka the strong,
ka that strengthens the sun each day to rise from the world of the dead,
ka of shining resurrection,
powerful ka,
effective ka.
Book of the Dead 15a. The ka has also been interpreted as meaning "will" somewhat in the sense Schopenhauer used it.
It has been claimed that during the Late New Kingdom it was a hidden, transcendental god which was described as
Thy being is the infinite neheh
Thy image is the unchanging djet
From thy planning ka emanate all occurrences
The Ba ( bA )
Originally, gods who manifested themselves anonymously were called ba, later it became also the visible form a god assumed,
thus the Phoenix was the ba of Re.
Ba-bird of Tutankhamen
Courtesy Jon Bodsworth
Excerpt From the end of the Old Kingdom onwards the ba,
(MdC transliteration bA), was the sum of the immortal forces inherent in
human beings which made up his personality. It has been called a person's psyche and is generally translated as soul.
But it was also in a way a corporeal, sexual being, which needed food and drink. The ba was mostly represented in the form of a bird,
generally with a human head and, according to grave images, often perching on trees planted by the tomb. It moved about, sometimes in the
company of the shadow, but did not stray far. Every evening it returned to the body, reuniting with it and thus ensuring the body's continued
existence in the afterlife. Spells enabled it to assume any shape it wished. It seems to have had creative powers and was frequently depicted with an erect phallus.
Ithyphallic Amen-Re ba-bird
Source: Samivel, The Glory of Egypt
ExcerptThe Osiris X knows the names of your ba, the form in which you travel our world - the sun.
Ba pure of body,
health-embodying ba,
ba bright and unharmed,
ba of magic,
ba who causes himself to appear,
male ba,
ba whose warm energy encourages copulating.
Book of the Dead 15a. In Egypt's declining years Amen-Re is addressed as Hidden ba, who is revered, at the same time Bes Pantheos,
a seven-headed daemon was a manifestation of the power of Amen-Re:
Bes with seven heads: he embodies the ba's of Amen-Re
The ka: ( kA ) Unfortunately the ancient Egyptians never defined clearly what was meant by the ka, or its female complementary, the hemset. The concepts may well have undergone changes over the millennia or had different meanings according to the social settings. kA has been variously translated as soul, life-force, will etc. but no single western concept is anything like it. Being written kA like the word for 'bull', a symbol of potency, the closest to it in English may be a 'life-creating force'. The ka was a constant close companion of the body in life and death, depicted throughout the pharaonic period following the king and bearing the royal Horus name. The kas of Unas are behind him. His hemesets are under his feet. His gods are above him. According to pictures drawn during the 18th dynasty, the ka came into being when a person was born, often depicted as a twin or double, but,
unlike the body it belonged to, it was immortal provided it received nourishment. Being a spiritual entity it did not eat the food but seems to have extracted the life-sustaining forces from the offerings, be they real or symbolic.
Dying was referred to as going to one's ka. Upon the body's demise the ka rejoined its divine origin, but always remained in close proximity of the body.
In Old Kingdom tombs false or ka doors were supposed to give this spiritual part of the deceased access to the world of the living.
The kas were thought to reside in tomb statues.
Ka statue of Harawibra, 13th dynasty
The pair of arms on his head spell out kA. Courtesy Jon Bodsworth The ka as a life-sustaining force was contained in the food.
The plural of ka, kaw, meant food offerings. The ka as recipient of food offerings is attested to since the late Old Kingdom.
During the New Kingdom the ka was seen to have different aspects:
The Osiris, may he rest in peace, knows the names of your ka, the aspect of your soul that abides in the ground:
Nourishing ka,
ka of food,
lordly ka,
ka the ever-present helper,
ka which is a pair of kas begetting more kas,
healthy ka,
sparkling ka,
victorious ka,
ka the strong,
ka that strengthens the sun each day to rise from the world of the dead,
ka of shining resurrection,
powerful ka,
effective ka.
Book of the Dead 15a. The ka has also been interpreted as meaning "will" somewhat in the sense Schopenhauer used it.
It has been claimed that during the Late New Kingdom it was a hidden, transcendental god which was described as
Thy being is the infinite neheh
Thy image is the unchanging djet
From thy planning ka emanate all occurrences
The Ba ( bA )
Originally, gods who manifested themselves anonymously were called ba, later it became also the visible form a god assumed,
thus the Phoenix was the ba of Re.
Ba-bird of Tutankhamen
Courtesy Jon Bodsworth
Excerpt From the end of the Old Kingdom onwards the ba,
(MdC transliteration bA), was the sum of the immortal forces inherent in human beings which made up his personality. It has been called a person's psyche and is generally translated as soul.
But it was also in a way a corporeal, sexual being, which needed food and drink. The ba was mostly represented in the form of a bird,
generally with a human head and, according to grave images, often perching on trees planted by the tomb. It moved about, sometimes in the
company of the shadow, but did not stray far. Every evening it returned to the body, reuniting with it and thus ensuring the body's continued
existence in the afterlife. Spells enabled it to assume any shape it wished. It seems to have had creative powers and was frequently depicted with an erect phallus.
Ithyphallic Amen-Re ba-bird
Source: Samivel, The Glory of Egypt
ExcerptThe Osiris X knows the names of your ba, the form in which you travel our world - the sun.
Ba pure of body,
health-embodying ba,
ba bright and unharmed,
ba of magic,
ba who causes himself to appear,
male ba,
ba whose warm energy encourages copulating.
Book of the Dead 15a. In Egypt's declining years Amen-Re is addressed as Hidden ba, who is revered, at the same time Bes Pantheos,
a seven-headed daemon was a manifestation of the power of Amen-Re:
Bes with seven heads: he embodies the ba's of Amen-Re
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