Egyptian Afterlife In The Field Of ReedsMost ancient Egyptians didn't live for very long, and so the Egyptian Afterlife offered a part two... a longer, more satisfying life in a perfect Egypt. This Egyptian heaven was called "Aaru", or The Field of Reeds.This perfect Egypt looked like the ancient Nile delta did, with fields of reeds stretching forever. These beautiful fields were abundant with food for the dead. The fishing and hunting were bountiful, and the farming was done either by the deceased or by magical workers called the "Shawabti". Life in the Field of Reeds was a natural continuation of life in Egypt. The pharaohs remained pharaohs, the Gods were the same, and the workers had to work. They ate, loved, married and worshipped. Couples who loved and cared for each other hoped for a reunion in the Egyptian afterlife; they even painted it on their tomb walls.
On Being Human, The Ancient Egyptian SoulThe Egyptians believed that to be alive (whether on Earth or in the afterlife) they had to have a physical body... thus the mummies.However, other than the "Ha" (the physical body), there were 5 other components of the human. These parts made up the soul: The Ren - The name given to a person at birth. It was believed that as long as it was repeated by the living, the deceased would continue living in the afterlife. That is also why rivals of the deceased tried to erase their names. For a famous example: Hatshepsut the Egyptian queen. The Ib - The heart that is given from mother to child at conception. It is also the central part of the weighing-of-the-heart ceremony. The Sheut - The person's shadow. It was represented by a black figure of the person. The Ba - The personality of the person, it's what made each person unique. The Ba was represented as a human-headed bird. The Ka - The life force that animates a live person. It's the spiritual essence of the living, and is what leaves the body upon death. The Akh - The combination of the Ba and the Ka, and is what is called the "effective being". Upon death, these elements separate and are only reunited for the person's rebirth in the afterlife if the proper funerary practices were followed.
The Hall of JudgmentAfter the death of an Egyptian, the living had to prepare him/her for the journey into the afterlife. They mummified the body, and provided the deceased with food and other items to sustain him/her.The deceased then began on the journey through the underworld, whose overlord was the God Osiris. The deceased proceeded to make a case to be welcomed into Aaru (the field of reeds). The Ib (heart) of the individual confessed the good and bad deeds of the deceased to the deities, and then was examined by the God Anubis.
There were incantations and advice given in numerous magical texts on how to pass this ceremony, and in fact it seems that everyone did. And so it seems that although they died too young, the Egyptians went on to live eternally in the longed-for Egyptian afterlife. Quite a happy ending I would say :-)
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