Ancient Egyptian Kemetic Spirituality was very symbolic using elements of Nature in the Medu Netcher Script to convey fundamental Spiritual concepts which are now a forgotten aspect of Africa’s History in Antiquity.Â
Below are 5 of some of the most important symbols from Ancient Egyptian Kemetic Spirituality and their meaning.
The Priestly Leopard Skin
One of the most important ritual symbols of Ancient Egyptian Kemetic Spirituality was the Leopard skin worn by the Egyptian Kemetic Priesthood or (Masons) such as Imhotep, the world’s first Historically recorded genius.Â
The Leopard skin was adopted as a symbol of Ancient Egyptian Kemetic Spirituality by the Kemetic Priesthood because the Leopard represented Divinity and Authority due to the Leopard’s intelligence and mastery of the land, water and tree domains which made the Leopard the most superior Predator to the Kemites.
The sacred status of the Leopard skin as a symbol in Ancient Egyptian Kemetic Spirituality was also adopted throughout Pre-Colonial Africa amongst the Yoruba, Zulu and Buganda Kings amongst many others.
In Ancient Egyptian Kemetic Spirituality, the roots of the Kemetic Priesthood can be traced to the Kushite Twa Pygmy Priests symbolised by Bess, one of the oldest Ancient Egyptian Gods who is shown wearing a Leopard skin.
The Twa Pygmies belong to the group of Grimaldi Africans who were the first to populate Africa before migrating to the rest of the world and may be the group referred as the ANU on the Terra Neter Tile found at Abydos dating occupation of Ancient Kemet to around 3 800BC by the ANU group of peoples who may be the first inhabitants of Ancient Egypt. Â
In the Narmer Palette, we can see the important role played by the Pygmy Twa in the Egyptian Kemetic Priesthood as the Pygmy Twa Priests are shown lifting the Royal Standards of the victorious Kushite King Narmer when he united Lower and Upper Egypt to create Egypt’s First Dynasty.
The Ankh
In Kemetic Spirituality, the Ankh symbol was an important symbol meaning “Life” and represents the Opposing Divine Polarities necessary to create Life according to the Kemetic Egyptian Creation Story.
The Circle portion in the shape of a Womb represents the Feminine Polarity and the lower Phallus shaped part represents the Masculine Polarity.
In Egyptian Kemetic Spirituality, the union of the Feminine and Masculine Polarities produces the cross section which manifests Life.
The Ankh was therefore an important symbol of Egyptian Kemetic Spirituality because it represented eternal vitality, and was used additionally to symbolise the act of conception in Ancient Egyptian Kemetic Spirituality.
The Ankh was so revered that many Ancient Egyptians used Ankhs as amulets for power and good health in their daily practice of Kemetic Spirituality.Â
Ra Sun Disc
Another important symbol in Egyptian Kemetic Spirituality is the Neteru or Solar Deity Ra frequently depicted as the head of a Falcon (Heru/Horus) with the Sun-Disk above him wrapped around by a Cobra resting on Heru’s head.
This important symbol of Ra in Egyptian Kemetic Spirituality comes from the development of Ancient Egyptian Creation Mythology in terms of which the Consciousness of God (Ra) was conceived as Energy (The Solar Disc) guided by Wisdom symbolised by the Cobra so that Will represented by Heru or Horus the Falcon can be exercised Righteously according to the 42 Divine Laws Of Maat.
The Ra Sun Disc is therefore an important symbol of Ancient Egyptian Kemetic Spirituality because it reveals how the Egyptian Kemetic Civilization understood the Nature of God Consciousness as infinite potential exercised by a Righteous Will acting in harmony with Divine Law.Â
Feather Of Maat
The 42 Laws of Maat are important because they were the basis of Kemetic Spirituality and Kemetic Civilization.
Maat is the aspect of Egyptian Kemetic Spirituality that represents Law, Order, Balance and Harmony in the Cosmos as well as in the Individual based on Kemetic Theology such as the Ennead of Heliopolis and The Memphite Theology recorded on the Shabaka Stone which form the philosophical basis of the 42 Laws of Maat.
Kemetic Spirituality speaks of the weighing of the Soul(Ka) for Truth on the Scales where the Soul of the deceased is measured against the weight the Feather of Maat in order to determine whether the individual has followed the 42 Divine Laws of Maat in Earthly life.
After the weighing of the Ka, if the Scales are balanced in favour of the person following the 42 Divine Law Of Maat , then the Soul passes from the Underworld to the Field of Reeds to join Ausar and the Ancestors in the afterlife.Â
Naos Of Ausar
As stated above, in Kemetic Spirituality, after the weighing of the Ka on the Scales balanced by the Feather Of Maat, the Soul passes from the Underworld to the Field of Reeds to join Ausar and the Ancestors in the afterlife or the field of Reeds.
The Naos of Ausar is the part of the Judgment Hall in which Ausar resides to accept Righteous Souls after they have passed Judgment. The Naos of Ausar is frequently depicted in Egyptian Funerary Texts such as the Egyptian Book Of The Dead.
As one of the most important symbols of Ancient Egyptian Kemetic Spirituality, the Naos of Ausar is also symbolic depicting Ausar seated on the Throne which rests on top of the Nile River whose flow into the Marsh Nile Delta before emptying into the Sea is represented by a Lotus on which 4 figurines representing the people of Egypt stand.
For this reason, the Naos of Ausar is one of the most important symbols of Ancient Egyptian Kemetic Spirituality because it depicts the climax of the Journey of the Soul and is also simultaneously a monument to the Spiritual Culture that was responsible for the success and spread of the Egyptian Kemetic Civilization.
