Rainbow Mage
Lib Democrat/Agnostic/Epicurean-ish/Buddhist-ish
This thread is to clarify the Kemetic view on reincarnation, because it's come up in threads a few times. Reincarnation is a view that may have existed in ancient Egypt, but it's hard to pin down, because the ancients really didn't say a lot about it. The theory that the ancient Egyptians may have belived in reincarnation is put forth with two assumptions.
1) Sokar was called a deity associated with the opening of the mouth, and also rebirth. The opening of the mouth means when the soul is seperated from the body. Sokar was associated with this act, and he was also called the god of rebirth, but we don't know what rebirth meant to the ancients. It could have meant reincarnation, but it also could have meant we are reborn every day (Zep Tepi).
2) The ba and the ka are two parts that make up the soul. The ka is the individual fleeting soul that makes up a person's personality, while the ba is the higher essence the ka emminates from. If a person is wicked their ka is destroyed forever, but it's never said what happens to the ba, except that the ba is eternal and can never be destroyed.
Going on the above two we can make some pretty well based assumptions. The ancients likely believed in reincarnation on some level, but not as something that will always happen. Also, if reincarnation did happen, the person technically would not be reborn, only the ba would be reborn as a new ka. The ba has no personality. As for Kemetic Orthodoxy's view on reincarnation, we don't have enough evidence from the ancients to make the call one way or the other, so it's allowed for those who want to believe in reincarnation and those who don't
1) Sokar was called a deity associated with the opening of the mouth, and also rebirth. The opening of the mouth means when the soul is seperated from the body. Sokar was associated with this act, and he was also called the god of rebirth, but we don't know what rebirth meant to the ancients. It could have meant reincarnation, but it also could have meant we are reborn every day (Zep Tepi).
2) The ba and the ka are two parts that make up the soul. The ka is the individual fleeting soul that makes up a person's personality, while the ba is the higher essence the ka emminates from. If a person is wicked their ka is destroyed forever, but it's never said what happens to the ba, except that the ba is eternal and can never be destroyed.
Going on the above two we can make some pretty well based assumptions. The ancients likely believed in reincarnation on some level, but not as something that will always happen. Also, if reincarnation did happen, the person technically would not be reborn, only the ba would be reborn as a new ka. The ba has no personality. As for Kemetic Orthodoxy's view on reincarnation, we don't have enough evidence from the ancients to make the call one way or the other, so it's allowed for those who want to believe in reincarnation and those who don't