Stele of Revealing

[Apech]

Which leads us all back to the main picture:

 

 

Ankh-n-f-khonsu stands before an offering table which contains meat, fowl, fish and bread.  He is wearing a leopard skin, which marks him out as a Sem priest.  The Sem priests go back thousands of years to the Old Kingdom and probably before, descended from the earliest shaman/magicians, the role developed into one skilled in the funerary cult.  Particularly in the 'opening the mouth' in which mummies and statues were ritually brought to life using a magical adze (a wood working tool).   The opening of the mouth had a mudra of the closed fist with the little finger extended.  This is drawn from midwifery, where the birthing nurse would insert her little finger into the babies mouth to remove mucous and allow it to breathe and feed.  In the same way the statues and mummies had their mouths opened so that their Kas could receive sustenance from the offering.

 

There are two related ideas to offerings.  One is the Eye of Horus which is the ultimate offering, Horus offers his eye to his father Osiris and Thoth offers the healed eye after it become injured either to Horus or the Sun God.  So in this sense the Eye is the type of all offerings. Also the word 'hotep' which means peace, contentment, fulfilment or satisfaction is represented by a mat with a loaf of bread on it as an offering.  Hotep is found in names like Ptah-hotep etc. and is a key Egyptian concept.  So in making offerings and receiving them what arises is perfect contentment.

 

The deity that he offering to, sat upon a throne, is Ra-Horakhty, a syncretic god.  He is shown with a falcon's head and solar disk as a crown, holding a 'was' sceptre representing power.  This deity is formed from merging two gods.  Ra as the sun, or the power behind the sun and Horus the ancient sky god who is associated with awareness and keen sight.  The 'akhety' part of the name means between the two horizons (of East and West).  The two horizons represents the extent of the known cosmos, the East is where things come into being and West where they die.  So this could be understood as placed Ra-Horus over all that is between birth and death rather like the alpha and omega of the Bible.  So this god, which is Ankh-f-n-khonshu's highest value, is energy/awarness over all that is.

 

Behind the god if the symbol of the West ... a bird perch with a falcon on it and a feather of ma'at.

 

Above them stretches Nut the sky goddess and over their heads is the winged disk of Horus Bedhety (which Crowley calls Hadit).

 

So how are we to interpret all this ....

 

 

[Nungali]

What about the colored squares,  in lines that  divide the whole thing into three  parts ?  I was assuming they are decorative  but there is also two vertical different ones under the sign for the west , what is their significance ?  

[Apech]

2 hours ago, Nungali said:

What about the colored squares,  in lines that  divide the whole thing into three  parts ?  I was assuming they are decorative  but there is also two vertical different ones under the sign for the west , what is their significance ?  

As far as I know the horizontal patterns are decorative or possibly to show the top and bottom of a wall.  The verticals lines below the semi circle are just part of the glyph of the West ( a bird perch).

 

 

[Apech]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emblem_of_the_West

 

[Apech]

One mistake which many make, including myself at times, in talking about gods is to say for instance Nut goddess of the sky, Ra god of the sun etc.  Strictly speaking gods are entities and not one dimensional like this.  The way that the Egyptians expressed this is to say for instance that the sky is the Ba (soul) of Nut or that the sun is the Ba of Ra.  As the Ba is a luminous entity which prjects forms of itself.  You could say that the sky is an expression of Nut.  In fact the whole cosmos is in this way seen as being composed of the Bas of the gods.  Nothing is dead or unalive, everything that exists is an actve expression of divine power.

 

When the Egyptian built sacred spaces, a tomb, a temple or even a coffin, the ceiling is the sky, the floor the earth and the walls are the pillars of the air god Shu which hold the sky from the earth.  S on our stele the body of Nut stretched overhead is exactly this idea, that a sacred space is formed which reflects the very structure of the cosmos.  A microcosm reflecting the macrocosm. 

 

So what is taking place?

 

The funerary rites were said to be good to be done on earth (i.e. when alive).  So in many ways the daily practice is a death rehearsal.  This is because on death the various constituent parts of being which make up a person are separated and become in a way clearer and more visible.  There are five main constituent entities which are important.  The body (heart), the ka, the ba, the shadow and the akh.  The Egyptians had other possible entities like Ren, the name' but they are not so important here.

 

On death the body ceases to function.  In mummification four main organs were removed and preserved in jars and the rest of the body was treated so it would not decompose.  The main organs were associated with the sons of Horus, the four cardinal points and four protecting goddesses arranged in a pattern like a mandala.  The mummy became a kind of anchor for the post mortem process.  Closely associated with the body, the Ka (often called the double) would remain close by the body.  For the Ka not to run down and dissipate offering were made and spells repeated.  This was done by priests called hemka (literally Ka servants).

 

At the same time as the energy of the Ka was being preserved, the body is being identified with the undying primeval god which is either Atum or Osiris.  This means two things were happening concurrently.  The Ka-energy which is ultimately solar is being 'boosted' by offerings and the attention of the ka priest ; and the substance of the person was being merged with the primeval substance of Nu in the form of Atum or Osiris. 

 

The heart of the person is then weighed - which we have already discussed. 

 

Then the Ba is released and travels to the East (from out of the West) together with the Shadow.  They see the sunrise and have a non-dual experience seeing their identity with the sun.  Then they return and reunite with the heart and the ka.  The most important part of this being the union of the Ba with the Ka.  This if done successfully gives birth to the Akh which is then free to come and go as it pleases.

 

Obviously there is a lot of detail missed out in this quick summary but this is the essence.

 

 

[Mark Foote]

On 10/20/2025 at 3:22 AM, Apech said:

 

The goal is here framed not as bliss or wisdom or even survival but perfect freedom.  He can do anything he chooses and come and go as he pleases.

 

 

 

Gautama taught four initial concentrations, and I would say the fourth has a freedom of movement of consciousness in the body. From Just to Sit on my website:

The suffusion of the body with “purity by the pureness of mind” in the fourth concentration can allow the thoracolumbar fascial sheet to sustain an openness of nerve exits along the sacrum and spine. Such an openness is accompanied by an ability to feel throughout the body to the surface of the skin.

 

That’s reflected in Gautama’s metaphor for the fourth concentration:

 

… it is as if (a person) might be sitting down who had clothed (themselves) including (their) head with a white cloth; there would be no part of (their) whole body that was not covered by the white cloth.

(MN 119, © Pali Text Society vol. III p 134 )

 

 

There is a relationship between the ease of nerve exits from the sacrum and spine and feeling on the surface of the skin. Here is a chart from the early 1900’s of the specifics of that relationship on the front of the body:

 

The free placement of attention in the movement of breath depends on an ability to feel throughout the body to the surface of the skin. As I wrote previously:

 

When a presence of mind is retained as the placement of attention shifts, then the natural tendency toward the free placement of attention draws out thoughts initial and sustained, and brings on the stages of concentration. 

(Shunryu Suzuki on Shikantaza and the Theravadin Stages)

 

The first four concentrations were said to be marked by equanimity with respect to the multiplicity of the senses. The four further concentrations were marked by equanimity with respect to the uniformity of the senses, and the first three were induced by the minds of compassion, of sympathetic joy, and of equanimity "without limit". From my The Inconceivable Nature of the Wind:

 

[One] dwells, having suffused the first quarter [of the world] with friendliness, likewise the second, likewise the third, likewise the fourth; just so above, below, across; [one] dwells having suffused the whole world everywhere, in every way, with a mind of friendliness that is far-reaching, wide-spread, immeasurable, without enmity, without malevolence. [One] dwells having suffused the first quarter with a mind of compassion… with a mind of sympathetic joy… with a mind of equanimity that is far-reaching, wide-spread, immeasurable, without enmity, without malevolence.

 

(MN 7, tr. Pali Text Society vol I p 48 )

 

 

Gautama said that “the excellence of the heart’s release” through the extension of the mind of compassion was the first of the further concentrations, a concentration he called “the plane of infinite ether” (MN 7, tr. Pali Text Society vol I p 48 ).

 

The Oxford English Dictionary offers some quotes about “ether” (Oxford English Dictionary, s.v. “ether (n.),” March 2024, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/1514129048 ):

 

They [sc. the Brahmins] thought the stars moved, and the planets they called fishes, because they moved in the ether, as fishes do in water.

 

(Vince, Complete System. Astronomy vol. II. 253 [1799])

 

 

Plato considered that the stars, chiefly formed of fire, move through the ether, a particularly pure form of air.

 

(Popular Astronomy vol. 24 364 [1916])

 

 

When the free location of consciousness is accompanied by an extension of the mind of compassion, there can be a feeling that the necessity of breath is connected to things that lie outside the boundaries of the senses.  That, to me, is an experience of “the plane of infinite ether”.

 

 

I'm thinking this is all connected with the freedom of the akh in Egyptian mythology.

 

 

[Nungali]

11 hours ago, Apech said:

One mistake which many make, including myself at times, in talking about gods is to say for instance Nut goddess of the sky, Ra god of the sun etc.  Strictly speaking gods are entities and not one dimensional like this.  The way that the Egyptians expressed this is to say for instance that the sky is the Ba (soul) of Nut or that the sun is the Ba of Ra.  As the Ba is a luminous entity which prjects forms of itself.  You could say that the sky is an expression of Nut. 

 

It is my understanding ( which may not have been the ancients  ?  )   that   a God ... or 'their Gods' are also  defining a 'field' ' ie.  things that 'relate '  to them ' a particular  image , color, animal ,  energy or force of nature , even perhaps originally an area of the NIle valley ( nome ) .  Is there any accuracy in this or is this a later  'hermetic'  concept ? 

 

 

 

11 hours ago, Apech said:

In fact the whole cosmos is in this way seen as being composed of the Bas of the gods.  Nothing is dead or unalive, everything that exists is an actve expression of divine power.

 

'The Egyptian Enlightenment '     ie   maintaining that conscious awareness of this   ...... it a buzzzzzzzzz.   heave you read Normandy Ellis' transliterations ?  Some passages,   IMO , she really captures this essence .  

 

 

 

11 hours ago, Apech said:

 

When the Egyptian built sacred spaces, a tomb, a temple or even a coffin, the ceiling is the sky, the floor the earth and the walls are the pillars of the air god Shu which hold the sky from the earth.  S on our stele the body of Nut stretched overhead is exactly this idea, that a sacred space is formed which reflects the very structure of the cosmos.  A microcosm reflecting the macrocosm. 

 

So what is taking place?

 

The funerary rites were said to be good to be done on earth (i.e. when alive).  So in many ways the daily practice is a death rehearsal. 

 

In some ways , so is that daily x 4 Sun adoration .... the Sunset one is death, obviously , and after that you go to sleep  .... but then ( after some practice ) the body has been 'drilled'  to  wake up and 'resurrect ' oneself for the midnight adoration / meditation. 

 

Most 3rd degree initiation rituals  and subsequent practices are also 'practice for death' . 

 

 

11 hours ago, Apech said:

 

This is because on death the various constituent parts of being which make up a person are separated and become in a way clearer and more visible.  There are five main constituent entities which are important.  The body (heart), the ka, the ba, the shadow and the akh.  The Egyptians had other possible entities like Ren, the name' but they are not so important here.

 

On death the body ceases to function.  In mummification four main organs were removed and preserved in jars and the rest of the body was treated so it would not decompose.  The main organs were associated with the sons of Horus, the four cardinal points and four protecting goddesses arranged in a pattern like a mandala.  The mummy became a kind of anchor for the post mortem process.  Closely associated with the body, the Ka (often called the double) would remain close by the body.  For the Ka not to run down and dissipate offering were made and spells repeated.  This was done by priests called hemka (literally Ka servants).

 

I have noticed that most of the indigenous groups here do the opposite .   people want the ka ( 'spirit '  .... generally , most indigenous do not like to talk openly about this stuff  so its vague and general  ...or it has adopted or incorporated more modern ideas )  to dissipate . Its a tradition with some never  to mention their name or look at an image of a deceased person , they think  that will cause them to hang around here and that spooks them .   In some ways their mortuary traditions seem the opposite .

 

this comes up all the time on our media ;

 

 

11 hours ago, Apech said:

 

At the same time as the energy of the Ka was being preserved, the body is being identified with the undying primeval god which is either Atum or Osiris.  This means two things were happening concurrently.  The Ka-energy which is ultimately solar is being 'boosted' by offerings and the attention of the ka priest ; and the substance of the person was being merged with the primeval substance of Nu in the form of Atum or Osiris. 

 

The heart of the person is then weighed - which we have already discussed. 

 

Then the Ba is released and travels to the East (from out of the West) together with the Shadow.  They see the sunrise and have a non-dual experience seeing their identity with the sun.  Then they return and reunite with the heart and the ka.  The most important part of this being the union of the Ba with the Ka.  This if done successfully gives birth to the Akh which is then free to come and go as it pleases.

 

Obviously there is a lot of detail missed out in this quick summary but this is the essence.

 

 

 

Thanks for the time and sharing of knowledge you are putting into this    

[Apech]

4 minutes ago, Nungali said:

 

It is my understanding ( which may not have been the ancients  ?  )   that   a God ... or 'their Gods' are also  defining a 'field' ' ie.  things that 'relate '  to them ' a particular  image , color, animal ,  energy or force of nature , even perhaps originally an area of the NIle valley ( nome ) .  Is there any accuracy in this or is this a later  'hermetic'  concept ? 

 

 

That's a good observation and ties in with Egyptian thought, I think.

 

4 minutes ago, Nungali said:

 

 

'The Egyptian Enlightenment '     ie   maintaining that conscious awareness of this   ...... it a buzzzzzzzzz.   heave you read Normandy Ellis' transliterations ?  Some passages,   IMO , she really captures this essence .  

 

 

 

 

I think I read her some years ago - but I can't remember too much.

 

4 minutes ago, Nungali said:

In some ways , so is that daily x 4 Sun adoration .... the Sunset one is death, obviously , and after that you go to sleep  .... but then ( after some practice ) the body has been 'drilled'  to  wake up and 'resurrect ' oneself for the midnight adoration / meditation. 

 

Most 3rd degree initiation rituals  and subsequent practices are also 'practice for death' . 

 

 

Yes.

 

4 minutes ago, Nungali said:

 

I have noticed that most of the indigenous groups here do the opposite .   people want the ka ( 'spirit '  .... generally , most indigenous do not like to talk openly about this stuff  so its vague and general  ...or it has adopted or incorporated more modern ideas )  to dissipate . Its a tradition with some never  to mention their name or look at an image of a deceased person , they think  that will cause them to hang around here and that spooks them .   In some ways their mortuary traditions seem the opposite .

 

this comes up all the time on our media ;

 

 

Gosh, interesting.  But is the taboo to protect the process or a real fear of the dead?  I mean they may think something is going on, a process which can be damaged by attention and so it become taboo to speak of it - if you see what I mean.

 

4 minutes ago, Nungali said:

 

Thanks for the time and sharing of knowledge you are putting into this    

 

Sorry for the terrible typing - I just read through it and realised I skipped a few letters

 

 

[Nungali]

5 minutes ago, Apech said:

 

That's a good observation and ties in with Egyptian thought, I think.

 

Then this could be the origin of one of the most important and central ides in magic ; expressed from Agrippa   ( signatures and correspondences )  all the way through to Crowley's  Liber 777 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/777_and_Other_Qabalistic_Writings_of_Aleister_Crowley

 

5 minutes ago, Apech said:

 

 

I think I read her some years ago - but I can't remember too much.

 

 

Yes.

 

 

Gosh, interesting.  But is the taboo to protect the process or a real fear of the dead?  I mean they may think something is going on, a process which can be damaged by attention and so it become taboo to speak of it - if you see what I mean.

 

Great question . There are different systems and reluctance to talk about it , so its difficult to know or even summarize .  Mostly its about 'connecting' to the 'home landscape' (one's 'country ' )  and the ancestors .  However there is no 'judgement hall' or  duality concept ( eg heaven and hell ) . 

 

 They are definitely afraid of and spooked by ghosts  ( the general people ... not 'clever man' or 'Kadaicha '  ) .  Its like they want to maintain separation ;   a part goes back to nature ... becomes a tree  or   .... ?   But there are also beliefs  about becoming stars . I am not sure if they are different beliefs for different people , or the  both ideas can be in one system ?  

 

I do see what you mean ,   and that makes some sense ... except for the mourning rites  .... IMO   such severe mourning*  must  cause an emotive bond ?  In any case , part of that tradition is due to that ( not interrupting the process after death  )  but for some it seems to go on a long time  ( which may be an aberrant  practice  introduced later    )... it would seem this is only for a period, as later , contact with ancestors  ( 'the old people ' )  is desired and in some cases essential and required by Law  ( eg, entering a 'sacred area ' , increase site , etc . ) 

 

(  Eg . I wanted to 'dance' at Little Lagoon in Western Australia ,   so I 'asked permission '  - and also permission just to be there .... its a very special spot .  before I did anything  I sat down on the shore, meditated and asked permission and for a sign it would be okay .  Not much happened .  But then on the far opposite shore I saw a black figure emerge from the undergrowth and start running around the lagoon shore towards me ... boy could he go fast !  Actually ... thats too fast ! As it closer I realized it was an emu . It came right around  and stopped dead in front of me , staring at me .  After a while it went into the shallow water and started fishing ! I never seen an  emu do that .  Then it came back, we were face to face for a bit , then it zoomed off the way it came  to the opposite side  and back into the bushes .  Then  an Aboriginal Man ( 'Munda '  people )   came up to me smiling ; ''I see the Old People came to talk to you and check you out .''   - and that enabled contact for me to do a bit of travelling about with one of their elders  ) 

 

I have seen some terrible 'mourning scars '   and wounds , deliberately inflicted .  One man  with the  top outer part of his thigh , gashed open to the bone  and tied around the limb above and below the gash with bark  .... just lying there on the ground for days on end .  refusing food and drink ... he may well have died  of dehydration before the results of the self inflicted wound . 

 

yet funeral rites and mourning are said to help guide the spirit .  I am assuming there are inner traditions  where time periods are relevant  .. after a while the spirit should find its new home  and after that it can be contacted ... but not during any transition period .

 

#

5 minutes ago, Apech said:

 

 

Sorry for the terrible typing - I just read through it and realised I skipped a few letters

 

 

 

WE need a proof reader .  

[Cobie]

 

1 hour ago, Nungali said:

… there is no 'judgement …

hello, says the featherfoot man 

 

Edited Wednesday at 11:36 PM by Cobie

[Nungali]

5 hours ago, Cobie said:

 

hello, says the featherfoot man 

 

 

Ahhh , there you go again ..... snipping off the last relevant bit of the sentence  to  ... well......   to what ?  ? ? 

 

   Why do that ? 

 

In the afterlife Coby ... in the afterlife  ;   

 

''  ...     However there is no 'judgement hall' or  duality concept ( eg heaven and hell ) .  '' 

 

Commandment 11 , thou shall not commit contextimony  ;

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quoting_out_of_context

 

Spoiler

Think about the OTHER roles of the 'Clever Man ' . Also think about how  punishment for breaking law enabled them to have societies that flourished for 10s of 1000s of years  while not interfering with the sustaining environment .... and also how that might impact on their ideas about no judgement hall, or heaven and hell in the afterlife . 

 

The punishment ritual in ' 10 Canoes ' might give some insight into this   ; 

 

from 56:40 (accusations )    then at   1:06:25  ( payback) 

 

 

''  YOU !   You killed our brother ! ''

 

answer ; '' It was me .''  So then they sit down civilly and discuss  the punishment  *  then the punishment is enacted . Everyone accepts it .. that's the end of it ... no more 'payback', no feuds ' no 'eternal punishments  with torture '  

 

* such  agreement on 'conditions'  might encompass,  things like ; how many men  can throw how many spears at the  guilty . Can he have 'support' from his  people .    Can he 'dance' while they do it  ? ( a moving target ) ... must he stand still and 'hold his leg out '  (exposing the femoral artery )  ,  will it be a 'club fight' between two men , etc.  . 

 

If a guilty person refused to partake and uphold such council and ran away , then the kiadiacha might hunt him down .

 

 

 

 

Edited yesterday at 04:05 AM by Nungali

[Apech]

 

 

 

Rather amazed to find this is in the National Library of Medicine ... and I'm not saying I endorse this interpretation but ... here it is:

 

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6649877/

 

 

 

[Surya]

17 minutes ago, Apech said:

I'm not saying I endorse

Endorse!