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Ma’at

“Ma’at, the daughter of Ra, Mistress of Heaven, Mistress of the Two Lands

She grants all life, stability, and power.”

From the Temple of Osiris at Abydos

The Wandering Stars logo is the ancient Egyptian hieroglyph for the Neteret (goddess-form or divine feminine principle) called Ma’at, who personified order, equilibrium, justice, truth, beauty, and all things good. She gazes up toward the five-pointed star (seba or dua) called Sopdet or Sirius, sacred to Isis. Truly, she represents our collective noble ideal and mission here at Wandering Stars - therefore all of our activities are offerings dedicated in spirit to Ma’at.

Ma’at - The Noble Ideal

The goddess Ma’at personified the “Noble Ideal” - the collective divine attributes of truth, balance, order, beauty, harmony, and loving-kindness - and served the ancient Egyptians as the standard of law, morality, and justice consistently for at least 3,300 years. Ma’at oversaw all of the deities or Neteru, having brought order from chaos at the moment of creation, and was said to regulate the motions of the stars, the seasons, and the actions of mortals.

In the Sumerian cuneiform texts, the pronunciation of which linguists know fairly much for certain (unlike the Egyptian), it is verified that Ma’at was pronounced Muh-ah during the New Kingdom of Egypt, dropping the feminine ending t when used for the principle. Vowel assimilation of u to e later produced the Coptic word ⲙⲉⲉ/ⲙⲉ "truth, justice". This of course was used when speaking of the divine principles. When speaking of the Neteret or goddess Ma’at herself, it was/is pronounced either Muh-aht, Mah-at, or May-et, so I’m sure she would appreciate any of these.

Depictions of Ma’at as a goddess are recorded from as early as the middle of the Old Kingdom (c. 2680 to 2190 BCE). The earliest surviving records describing Ma’at as the ruling principle of nature and the noble ideal for society - both in this world and the next. The earliest substantial surviving example is found in the Pyramid Texts of Unas (ca. 2375 BCE and 2345 BCE), the oldest religious writings in the world. (see: Pyramid Texts Online) In these, Ma’at’s ideological opposite was called Isfet, meaning the forces of hate, injustice, chaos, violence, inertia, and decay.

Isfet, disorder or chaos, was thought to be the opposing counterpart to Ma'at’s universal order, balance, or harmony. Like the Yin-Yan symbol of the Chinese Tao, according to ancient Egyptian beliefs, Isfet and Ma'at together formed a complementary and paradoxical dualism: one could not exist without its partner - each counter-balancing the other. While the functions of Isfet, such as death and decay, were recognized as part of the natural cycles of life, Ma'at was always eventually called to overcome Isfet, to replace disunity with unity and disorder with order. In this way, she was intimately tied with the jackal-headed god Anubis and the preparation and mummification of the dead body for interment.

The Egyptians recognized that the universe was the result of Ma’at’s cosmic order, and was cyclical with repeating sequences: the daily sunrise and sunset, day and night, and annual seasons and flooding of the Nile. If the Nile flood failed or over-flooded, the crops would also fail and the country would fall into famine; and so it was thought, as a metaphoric ideal at least, that Ma’at had not been fully supported and Isfet was subsequently released to wreak its havoc upon the people.

The Ancient Egyptians also believed that through their pharaoh, the priesthood, their rituals, and just as importantly, their actions, they could support Ma’at and bring forth prosperity to the gods and goddesses who controlled the cosmos and in turn, to humanity. The principle of human activity as supporting Ma'at and the reigning-in of Isfet is exemplified in a popular tale from the Middle Kingdom, called "The Moaning of the Bedouin":

Those who destroy the lie promote Ma'at;

those who promote the good will erase the evil.

As fullness casts out appetite,

as clothes cover the nude and

as heaven clears up after a storm.

Coffin Text 335a asserts the necessity of the dead being cleansed of Isfet to be reborn in the Duat since one’s personal Isfet was thought to be the product of individual free will rather than simply the primordial state of chaos.

In Egyptian mythology, this “beginning of the wrong” for humanity is represented by the evil serpent of chaos, Apep - which sprang to life from Ra's umbilical cord which had been neglectfully cut and discarded. It was also believed that the physical representation of Isfet was the Netjer, Set, the brother and jealous murderer of Osiris.

Isis, the sister of Set and wife of Osiris brought about the resurrection of Osiris with the help of Anubis and his sacred perfumed oils and unguents, and through her magic was able to bear a child with Osiris before he left to rule in the Duat or underworld. This child was Horus, who went on to battle Set to avenge his father’s murder.

In this way we can view Ma’at and Isfet as two polarities of divine will, these being represented by Horus and Set in counterbalance - the divine or higher will of Ma’at exemplified through Horus towards the noble ideals of beauty, justice, and love (called Thelema by the Greek Ptolemaic priesthood) - counterbalanced with the “lower” will - the very human and necessary base physical requirements and desires, along with our more or less malefic addictions, jealousy, lust, anger and violence, inertia and decay - personified by his maligned adversary, Set (called Epithumia in Koine Greek).

Ma’at: The Goddess

As Ma’at was the feminine divine principle of beauty, harmony, and truth, she was most often represented as a lovely young woman. Sometimes, like Isis, she is depicted with wings on each arm, and often as a calm, seated, and centered woman with an ostrich feather in her headband and an Ankh in her hand. Sometimes she was depicted along with a twin - with just a feather for a head. This represented the concept of “Double Ma’at” or “The Hall of Two Truths”- the union of opposites or coincidentia oppositorum.

The meaning of this feather emblem, called Shu, is lightness, clarity, and emptiness. In relation to the “Weighing of the Heart”, the feather’s primary attribute is its low specific gravity –  its quality of “lightness”. The god-form with the same name, Shu, who is also depicted with the ostrich feather on his head, was Ma’at’s brother, who was considered to be a cooling, and thus a calming and pacifying influence. As the air Netjer, the name Shu also means “he which rises”. She and Shu were sometimes depicted together as lion-headed, and she was called Tefnut in the great Ennead of Neteru. In this way, we see the foreshadowing of the lion-headed goddess Sekhmet, among other Egyptian goddesses.

Above all, the air is clear and allows the light of the sun to fall upon the earth and vision to penetrate the depths of space at night. And so, due to his association with air and Ma'at, Shu was depicted as the clear atmosphere between the earth (the god-form Geb) and sky (the goddess-form Nut), separating the two after the event of the First Occasion.

Most Egyptian goddesses were paired with a male consort, but in addition to Shu, Ma’at was also sometimes depicted as paired with the ibis-headed god-form Thoth. In other accounts, Thoth was paired off with Seshat, goddess of writing and measurer of the days of the year - sharing the writing attribute with Thoth and the measure attribute with the goddess Renpet (her name meaning “year”), the “Mistress of Eternity”, the measure of millions of years - both goddesses being cognate and sharing the symbol of a notched palm frond.

This palm frond rib design closely resembles the ostrich plume of Ma’at; thus, these two lesser-known feminine deities were considered her “sisters” that is, aspects or personas of Ma’at, since she too measures the passing of days and time, both mundane and cosmic. Ma’at was also always paired with Anubis in the “Weighing of the Heart” scene at the time of a person’s death, but Thoth was also always there as well to record the results.

The sun-god Ra was said to have come from the primeval mound of creation only after he first set his daughter Ma’at in place of Isfet. In this way, the divine feminine was his firstborn. In addition to this indispensable role in creation - continuously preventing the universe from returning to chaos - her primary role in ancient Egyptian religion dealt with the “Weighing of the Heart” that took place in the Duat after the death of the physical body or khat. The weight of her feather against that of the heart or ab was the measure that determined whether the soul of the departed (considered to reside in the heart) would be transfigured into an “effective spirit of light”, the Akh, and enter the afterlife spirit world called Akhet successfully.

𓆄 𓍝 𓄣

Ma’at and Ethics:

Ma’at represents the ethical and moral principle that every Egyptian citizen was expected to follow throughout their daily lives. To act with honor and truth in matters that involve family, the community, the nation, the environment, and the gods were to be found useful at the end of life, as we shall see.

Ma’at as a principle was formed to meet the complex needs of the developing Egyptian state that embraced diverse peoples with conflicting interests. The development of such rules sought to avert chaos and it became the basis of Egyptian law. From an early period, the king would describe himself as the "Lord of Ma’at" who decreed with his mouth the Ma’at he conceived in his heart.

The significance of Ma’at developed to the point that it embraced all aspects of existence, including the basic equilibrium of the universe, the relationship between constituent parts, the cycle of the seasons, heavenly movements, religious observations, fair dealings, honesty, and truthfulness in social interactions.

The ancient Egyptians had a deep conviction of underlying holiness and unity within the universe. Cosmic harmony was achieved by correct public and ritual life. Any disturbance in cosmic harmony could have consequences for the individual as well as the state. An impious King could bring about famine, just as blasphemy could bring blindness to an individual. In opposition to the truth and justice expressed in Ma’at, lies and injustice are the domain of Isfet.

To the Egyptian mind, Ma’at bound all things together in an indestructible unity: the universe, the natural world, the state, and the individual were all seen as parts of the wider order generated by Ma’at. Isfet on the other hand dispersed all things into chaos.

A passage in the Instruction of Ptahhotep presents Maʽat as follows:

Maʽat is good and its worth is lasting.

It has not been disturbed since the day of its creator,

whereas he who transgresses its ordinances is punished.

It lies as a path in front even of him who knows nothing.

Wrongdoing has never yet brought its venture to port.

Evil may indeed gain wealth but the strength of truth is that it lasts;

a man can say: "It was the property of my father."

The principles of Ma’at have much in common with the Vedic concepts of Dharma and Karma, and are akin to the three Platonic Transcendentals - the principles of being that correspond to three aspects of the human field of interest and their ideals; science (truth), the arts (beauty) and religion (goodness). Philosophical disciplines that study them are logic, aesthetics, and ethics.

Ma’at: The Law

There is little surviving literature that describes the practice of ancient Egyptian law. Ma’at was the spirit in which justice was applied rather than the detailed legalistic exposition of rules. Ma’at represented the normal and basic values that formed the backdrop for the application of justice that had to be carried out in the spirit of truth and fairness. From the Fifth Dynasty (c. 2510–2370 BCE) onward, the Vizier responsible for justice was called the Priest of Ma’at, and in later periods judges wore images of Ma’at.

In addition to the importance of the Ma’at, several other principles within ancient Egyptian law were essential, including an adherence to tradition as opposed to radical change, the importance of rhetorical skill, and the significance of achieving impartiality and "righteous action". In one Middle Kingdom (2062 to c. 1664 BCE) text the Creator declares "I made every man like his fellow". Ma’at called on the rich to help the less fortunate rather than exploit them, echoed in tomb declarations: "I have given bread to the hungry and clothed the naked" and "I was a husband to the widow and father to the orphan". Don’t these aphorisms sound quite familiar?

Later scholars and philosophers also would embody concepts from the Sebayt, the native wisdom literature. These spiritual texts dealt with common social or professional situations, and how each was best to be resolved or addressed in the spirit of Ma’at. It was practical advice and case-based, however, so few specific and general rules could be derived from them.

During this later Ptolemaic era, the Greek word associated with Ma’at was Thelema, defined as the emotional will, our shared heart’s desire for joy and pleasure, and the volition to seek it - the noble ideal of Ma’at. In the Ptolemaic period in Egyptian history, Greek law existed alongside Egyptian law which preserved the rights of women, who were free to act independently of men in their affairs, own substantial personal property, and serve as chantresses and priestesses in the polytheistic temples of the goddesses. For a time, this even influenced the more restrictive conventions of the Greeks and Romans outside of Egypt.

After the Romans took control, however, the Roman legal system which existed throughout the Roman Empire was imposed in Egypt, along with a fully patriarchal social structure that, while allowing women certain independence, excluded women from voting, holding public office, and serving as priestesses, with the sole exception being the vestal virgins. This imbalance, coupled with the later Christianized Roman theocracy, proved to be the beginning of the end for the goddess Ma’at, the Egyptian polytheistic religion and egalitarian society as a consequence. This patriarchy still holds the reigns of power to this day.

Role of the King as Protector of Ma’at

The Egyptian King (pharaoh) was appointed to “achieve” Ma'at, which means that he had to keep order and protect justice and harmony by honoring the Neteru in the temples, regulating agriculture and labor, and by building defenses, including canals and levees, thereby destroying Isfet whenever it arose. A responsible kingship meant that Egypt would remain in prosperity and at peace of Ma'at. However, if Isfet were to be allowed to rise, their ordered culture would decay and return to a primordial state of chaos.

This was unacceptable as a natural course of events to the great god Atum, as the world would then become separated from him, the cosmos, and order. In the eyes of the Egyptians, the world always seemed ambiguous and at times unpredictable, and so they depended upon the actions and judgments of the pharaoh, their prime connection with the Neteru, to do his very best to separate order from chaos and good from evil in order to keep Ma'at.

When the king made public appearances he was usually surrounded by images of vanquished foreigners, which emphasized his role as protector of Ma'at and the enemy of Isfet - and in this case, were represented as the outside enemies of ancient Egypt. On the temple pylons and courtyard walls located outside of the sanctuary, the king is mainly shown 'smiting' foreigners of various races to maintain Ma'at and keep Isfet out of the temple precincts.

The representations of these are often mistaken as records of actual conquest (though some are or seem to claim to be), rather than as symbolic representations that were intended to magically keep the forces of Isfet outside of the temple, and show the pharaoh’s active establishment of Ma’at by vanquishing its forces; while also serving as a stern warning to anyone transgressing the law of Ma’at in the temple precincts. One might imagine that any foreigner who might behold these carvings would think twice before going back for armies. In this way, the “magic” really worked.

The king also maintained the Temple Cult (cults were specialties of the priesthood - not to be taken in the contemporary meaning) to prevent Isfet from spreading, by ensuring the cult rituals were performed at defined intervals, which were necessary for preserving the balance of Ma'at against the threatening forces of Isfet.

And so, the pharaohs inherited the duty to ensure Ma’at remained in place, and they, along with Ra, are said to "live in and on Ma’at". An inscription of Hatshepsut reads "I have made bright the truth which Amun-Ra loved, I know that he liveth by it the truth - Ma’at; it is my bread, I eat of its brightness". Some kings even incorporated Ma’at into their names, being referred to as Men-Ma’at (Lord of Ma’at), or Meri-Ma’at (Beloved of Ma’at). Perhaps the most notable of these was the pharaoh Seti I, whose epithet was Men-Ma’at-Ra.

Pharaohs are often depicted presenting the emblems of Ma’at to the Neteru to emphasize their role in upholding the laws and righteousness and speaking truth. This “Presentation of Ma’at”, depicted in temple reliefs such as the one depicting Seti I below, is suggestive of the pharaoh being true to his word and deed, which were always in accordance with Ma’at.

Ma’at and the Scribes

Scribes held prestigious positions in ancient Egyptian society given their importance in the transmission of religious, political, and commercial information.

Thoth was the patron of scribes who is described as the one "who reveals Ma’at and reckons Ma’at; who loves Ma’at and gives Ma’at to the doer of Ma’at". In texts such as the Instruction of Amenemope, the scribe is urged to follow the precepts of Ma’at in his private life as well as his work. The exhortations to live according to Ma’at are such that these kinds of instructional texts have been described as "Ma’at Literature". Perhaps more importantly, the scribes were also responsible for the production of funerary texts.

Ma’at in the Funerary Texts

Egyptians were often entombed with funerary papyri to be well equipped for the afterlife as mandated by ancient Egyptian funerary practices. These often served to guide the deceased through the twelve hours of the Amduat (spirits of the Duat the starry afterlife realm of the night sky), the most famous one being The Book of the Dead or Papyrus of Ani (known to the ancient Egyptians as The Book of Coming Forth by Day). The lines of these texts are often collectively called the "Forty-Two Declarations of Purity".

These declarations varied somewhat from tomb to tomb as they were tailored to the individual, and so cannot be considered a canonical definition of Ma’at. Many of the lines are similar, however, and paint a unified picture of Ma’at. They often appear to express each tomb owner's practices in life to please Ma’at, and through the power of the written word, grant absolution from misdeeds or mistakes declared as not having been done, magically erasing any particular misdeed from the afterlife record of the deceased.

Ma’at: The Weighing of the Heart

Before being allowed entry to face the Lord of the Duat or afterworld, Osiris, the hearts of the dead were said to be weighed against Ma’at’s feather, symbolically representing her divine principles, in the Hall of Two Truths. This is why hearts were left in Egyptian mummies while their other organs were removed, as the heart (called "ab") was seen as the central intelligence of the Egyptian soul. If the heart was found to be lighter or equal in weight to the feather of Ma’at (literally “light-hearted” or without regret or remorse) the deceased was deemed to have led a virtuous life and would go on to Aaru, the Field of Reeds, where they will exist in pleasure for all eternity. Hearts heavy with evil tip the scale and fall into the crocodilian jaws of the demon Ammit. After this "second death", the soul is doomed to either restlessness in the Duat, or rebirth under less fortunate circumstances.

By the Middle Kingdom, Osiris came to be seen as the guardian of the gates of Aaru after he became part of the Egyptian pantheon, and so took the place of Anubis in the Ogdoad tradition. In this mythology, the heart judged unworthily was devoured by the goddess creature Ammit and its owner was condemned to remain a restless ghost in the Duat, the true “dark night of the soul”, until given a new heart at dawn to once again tread the cycle of life under the sun – Ra.

The weighing of the heart, pictured on papyrus in the Book of the Dead typically, in the temples or especially in tomb scenes, shows Anubis overseeing the weighing and Ammit seated awaiting the results so she could consume those who failed. The image would be the heart hieroglyph on one side of the balance scale and the vertical Shu-feather standing on the other. We often see Anubis holding the counterpoise, and the feather side of the scale, thus assisting the deceased. Other traditions hold that Anubis brought the soul before the posthumous Osiris who performed the weighing. While the heart was weighed the deceased recited the 42 Negative Confessions as the Assessors of Ma’at looked on.

The 42 Assessors of Ma’at

The Assessors of Ma’at are the 42 deities to whom the deceased makes the Negative Confessions in the Book of the Dead. They represent the 42 united nomes of Egypt, and are called "the hidden Ma’ati gods, who feed upon Ma’at during the years of their lives;" i.e., they are the righteous minor deities of either ancestors or past lives who deserve offerings. As the deceased follows the set formula of Negative Confessions, he addresses each god directly and mentions the nome of which the god is a patron, in order to emphasize the unity of the nomes of Egypt.

The doctrine of Ma’at is represented in the declarations to Rekhti-merti-f-ent-Ma’at and the 42 Negative Confessions listed in the Papyrus of Ani. The following are translations by E. A. Wallis Budge.

The 42 Negative Confessions

“I have not committed sin.

I have not committed robbery with violence.

I have not stolen.

I have not slain men and women.

I have not stolen grain.

I have not purloined offerings.

I have not stolen the property of the gods.

I have not uttered lies.

I have not carried away food.

I have not uttered curses.

I have not committed adultery.

I have made none to weep.

I have not eaten the heart [i.e., I have not grieved uselessly, or felt remorse].

I have not attacked any man.

I am not a man of deceit.

I have not stolen cultivated land.

I have not been an eavesdropper.

I have slandered [no man].

I have not been angry without just cause.

I have not debauched the wife of any man.

I have not debauched the wife of [any] man. (repeats the previous affirmation but addressed to a different god).

I have not polluted myself.

I have terrorized none.

I have not transgressed [the Law].

I have not been wroth.

I have not shut my ears to the words of truth.

I have not blasphemed.

I am not a man of violence.

I am not a stirrer up of strife (or a disturber of the peace).

I have not acted (or judged) with undue haste.

I have not pried into matters.

I have not multiplied my words in speaking.

I have wronged none, I have done no evil.

I have not worked witchcraft against the King (or blasphemed against the King).

I have never stopped [the flow of] water.

I have never raised my voice (spoken arrogantly, or in anger).

I have not cursed (or blasphemed) God.

I have not acted with evil rage.

I have not stolen the bread of the gods.

I have not carried away the khenfu cakes from the spirits of the dead.

I have not snatched away the bread of the child, nor treated with contempt the god of my city.

I have not slain the cattle belonging to the god.

- From the Papyrus of Ani”

… as it is spoken, so shall it be!

In Ma’at,

true of voice.

References, Citations and suggested further reading…

Allen, James P. Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs. Cambridge University Press.

Allen, James P. (2013-07-11). The Ancient Egyptian Language: An Historical Study. Cambridge University Press.

"Coptic Dictionary Online". corpling.uis.georgetown.edu.

Siegfried Morenz (1973). Egyptian Religion: Siegried Morenz.

Budge. The Gods of the Egyptians Vol. 1

Henrietta McCall (January 1990). Mesopotamian myths. University of Texas Press.

Denise Martin (2008). Ma’at and order in African Cosmology: A Conceptual Tool for Understanding Indigenous Knowledge.

James P. Allen (2000). Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs.

Frankfort, Henri. Ancient Egyptian Religion.

Siegfried Morenz (1973). Egyptian Religion: Siegried Morenz.

Robert A. Armour (2001). Gods and Myths of Ancient Egypt. American University in Cairo Press. I

"The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt" Vol. 2

The Oxford Essential Guide to Egyptian Mythology

Ray, John D. Reflections on Osiris, p. 64, Profile books, 2002

The Essential Guide to Egyptian Mythology: The Oxford Guide, p. 190, Berkeley Reference, 2003

"Death in Ancient Egypt: Weighing the Heart". British Museum. British Museum.

"The Papyrus of Ani". The Book of the Dead. Gramercy. 1995-01-23.

Budge, E. A. Wallis. The Egyptian Book of the Dead: (The Papyrus of Ani) Egyptian Text Transliteration and Translation. New York: Dover Publications, 1967. Originally published in 1895.

Budge, E. A. Wallis. The Gods of the Egyptians: Studies in Egyptian Mythology – Volume 1. New York: Dover Publications, 1969. Originally published in 1904.

Collier, Mark and Manly, Bill. How to Read Egyptian Hieroglyphs: Revised Edition. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998.

Faulkner, Raymond. The Egyptian Book of the Dead. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1994.

Mancini, Anna. Ma’at Revealed: Philosophy of Justice in Ancient Egypt. New York: Buenos Books America, 2004.

Strudwick, Helen. (2006). The Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt. Singapore: De Agostini UK.

Journey through the afterlife, Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead edited by John H. Taylor

Menu, Bernadette (2005). Maât: L'ordre juste du monde (in French). Editions Michalon.

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Wandering Stars is dedicated to expounding the Sacred Science of Ancient Egypt

In memory and in honor of John Anthony West

Born July 9, 1932 - Wested February 6, 2018

AUM