The Weigh of the Heart

The ancient Egyptians had a weigh about them that gave a whole new meaning to the term “lighthearted.”

Chapter 125 of their Book of the Dead tells of a judgment ceremony called “Weighing of the Heart.”  According to

egyptian-scarabs.co.uk, this ceremony was thought to have taken place before “Osiris, the chief god of the dead and Afterlife, and a tribunal of 43 deities.”  The deceased had to first undergo a “negative confession” in which she or he swore to the tribunal that no breaches of divine law (such as “raising the voice” or “stealing”) had occurred.  If the deceased were declared innocent of these breaches, he or she could then pass into the Afterlife.  These tribunal proceedings were faithfully recorded by Thoth, “the scribe of the gods, and the deity of wisdom” (often depicted as a baboon - or with an ibis head).

These process, however, would not be complete without a symbolic weighing of the deceased’s heart.  This was done on “a pair of enormous scales.”  The heart was compared with a feather, “the symbol of the goddess of truth, order and justice, Maat.”  If the heart was in balance with the feather, then “the deceased would be granted a place in the Fields of Hetep and Iaru” (akin to Heaven).  However, if the heart sank below the feather (“with the weight of wrongdoings”), then it would be devoured by Ammit (“the gobbler” – a beast with “the head of a crocodile, the front legs and body of a lion or leopard, and the back legs of a

hippopotamus”).

Entering the Afterlife without a heart was akin to not existing at all (a terrifying prospect to many).  The heart

was the only internal organ that the Egyptians left intact during the embalming process because they believed it to be the center of “thought, memory and emotion” – and therefore “essential to rebirth in the Afterlife.” 

Therefore, a “lighthearted” organ was always returned to its rightful owner after the Weighing.  There were

spells within Chapters 26 to 29 of the Book of the Dead to insure that this return was properly done.

Resources

http://www.egyptian-scarabs.co.uk/weighing_of_the_heart.htm

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_average_weight_of_a_human_heart

Copyright February 15, 2012 by Linda Van Slyke   All Rights Reserved