The Ancient Egyptians did not share our modern idea of a simple soul dwelling inside the body. All parts of the individual was important and accounted for, as well as the role of those parts. Let’s look at these based on our modern understanding of reality. It will easily be noted that things become far more abstract and mystical the farther we go, and by “modern understanding of reality” I’m in no way limiting this to something like “physical science”. Rather, these are based on modern beliefs as well as modern knowledge.
The Khat or Body: this could be considered the physical body, but it is more comparable to that which holds the body together, that which causes cells to recreate near-perfectly, the natural energy generated by the body. It is comparable to bodies of light, astral bodies, things of that nature, but is more or less identified with the physical self. So your body, nervous system, organs, physical brain, skeleton, so forth and so on.
The Ren or Name: This is what a thing is called, from inanimate objects and forces to people’s or location’s names. Think of Ren as if everyone you know in professional life suddenly knew all your user names for online forums. If you’re reading this, you’ve probably shared plenty of ideas on your ideology that does not need to be known by everyone and their mothers. Maybe not if you have well accepted beliefs, but with something like occultism I would never want all my coworkers and clients to have direct access to all my beliefs. So I have a “secret” or “magical” name that give me the power to keep this one side secret while still openly discussing it. Even a regular name has power though. Just call someone to summon them, to connect deeper with them, even to show them how angry you are depending on context. When we consider names as “what things are called” we are almost taking all language into account.
The Sheut or Shadow: To the Egyptians the shadow was literally the shadow cast by the body. It was considered to contain aspects of the individual, which is actually entirely true. I find this one the most difficult to integrate (the rest actually are rather easy to understand), because a shadow is pretty understandable. But even when I hear the word “shadow” I have to think of Carl Jung and his archetype of the shadow. The shadow is the completely dark, obscured part of an individual, which they themselves often do not understand. An example of this is when someone else’s actions annoy us, but in reality it’s because we hate the very same trait in ourselves.
The Ib or “Heart-Soul” or Ego: I think “heart soul” is an awesome primitive term for what we now refer to as the ego. It has the best and worst of us locked away in there, it’s driven by primal urges and emotion rather that rational thought. It is the ego that opposes the shadow, hides it away so our pride is not hurt. It was the heart, or in this case the ego, that was weighed in afterlife ceremonies to decide whether the individual was worthy or not. Why? The ego/heart has no filter and helps us understand who we truly are deep down.
The Ba or Consciousness or Soul: The Ba is the actual individual, the consciousness itself, or isolate intelligence, or psyche, there are plenty words for it. The Ba relies on the Khat to have a place to grow, connected through the Ib, which itself arises from the Khat. If the Ba is worked in the proper ways throughout life, it can become more powerful than the Khat and Ib and thus survive physical death.
The Ka or Higher Self: The Egyptian Gods, known as Neteru (Neter for one), were quite similar to and likely the inspiration for Platonic Forms, perfect but abstract aspects of nature that then manifest in different ways. The second someone conceived a chair, “chairness” would have come into being. It is chairness that allows us to recognize chairs despite drastically varying designs. Likewise, with nature we can recognize cycles, storms, types of growth, language itself all as one thing despite the millions of different languages and dialects throughout history. So when a human being is born, a perfect Form of them comes into existence as well – the Ka. If an individual can get in touch with and align themselves (the Ba) with the Ka they will essentially be living the perfect life for them.
Akh or Deified Individual: If the Ba lines up with the Ka and survives physical death, it is possible for it to itself become a Neter. To the Egyptians these beings would be indistinguishable from other Neteru. Basically this is “self-deification”, the individual becoming a god through their own efforts.
The Khat or Body: this could be considered the physical body, but it is more comparable to that which holds the body together, that which causes cells to recreate near-perfectly, the natural energy generated by the body. It is comparable to bodies of light, astral bodies, things of that nature, but is more or less identified with the physical self. So your body, nervous system, organs, physical brain, skeleton, so forth and so on.
The Ren or Name: This is what a thing is called, from inanimate objects and forces to people’s or location’s names. Think of Ren as if everyone you know in professional life suddenly knew all your user names for online forums. If you’re reading this, you’ve probably shared plenty of ideas on your ideology that does not need to be known by everyone and their mothers. Maybe not if you have well accepted beliefs, but with something like occultism I would never want all my coworkers and clients to have direct access to all my beliefs. So I have a “secret” or “magical” name that give me the power to keep this one side secret while still openly discussing it. Even a regular name has power though. Just call someone to summon them, to connect deeper with them, even to show them how angry you are depending on context. When we consider names as “what things are called” we are almost taking all language into account.
The Sheut or Shadow: To the Egyptians the shadow was literally the shadow cast by the body. It was considered to contain aspects of the individual, which is actually entirely true. I find this one the most difficult to integrate (the rest actually are rather easy to understand), because a shadow is pretty understandable. But even when I hear the word “shadow” I have to think of Carl Jung and his archetype of the shadow. The shadow is the completely dark, obscured part of an individual, which they themselves often do not understand. An example of this is when someone else’s actions annoy us, but in reality it’s because we hate the very same trait in ourselves.
The Ib or “Heart-Soul” or Ego: I think “heart soul” is an awesome primitive term for what we now refer to as the ego. It has the best and worst of us locked away in there, it’s driven by primal urges and emotion rather that rational thought. It is the ego that opposes the shadow, hides it away so our pride is not hurt. It was the heart, or in this case the ego, that was weighed in afterlife ceremonies to decide whether the individual was worthy or not. Why? The ego/heart has no filter and helps us understand who we truly are deep down.
The Ba or Consciousness or Soul: The Ba is the actual individual, the consciousness itself, or isolate intelligence, or psyche, there are plenty words for it. The Ba relies on the Khat to have a place to grow, connected through the Ib, which itself arises from the Khat. If the Ba is worked in the proper ways throughout life, it can become more powerful than the Khat and Ib and thus survive physical death.
The Ka or Higher Self: The Egyptian Gods, known as Neteru (Neter for one), were quite similar to and likely the inspiration for Platonic Forms, perfect but abstract aspects of nature that then manifest in different ways. The second someone conceived a chair, “chairness” would have come into being. It is chairness that allows us to recognize chairs despite drastically varying designs. Likewise, with nature we can recognize cycles, storms, types of growth, language itself all as one thing despite the millions of different languages and dialects throughout history. So when a human being is born, a perfect Form of them comes into existence as well – the Ka. If an individual can get in touch with and align themselves (the Ba) with the Ka they will essentially be living the perfect life for them.
Akh or Deified Individual: If the Ba lines up with the Ka and survives physical death, it is possible for it to itself become a Neter. To the Egyptians these beings would be indistinguishable from other Neteru. Basically this is “self-deification”, the individual becoming a god through their own efforts.
