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Mummies and Magic
Speculations

Here's a photograph of what archaeologist Howard Carter and photographer Harry Burton along with the others saw back in 1926 when they finally opened TutAnkhAmen's inner coffin of solid 22-karat gold - 238 pounds (?) or some say 2,000 lbs. Maybe the whole thing: all three coffins, the gold mask and Tut together weighed 2,000 lbs. Millions of dollars just in gold, but, the pieces- priceless.

And this little picture of a man-headed bird is called a BA, one of the seven souls and spirits of a human person the Egyptians believed in.

Ba of Tut Tut's little gold image of his BA was found on his mummy just below his crossed arms and represented an anchor or a tag from his body to his BA.

This was very important, as BA could depart the tomb, imbibe food and drink, and flit around favorite 'haunts.' (sic)

Egyptians did not actually believe the mummified body could actually reanimate. It was the spirits and souls, the Life on the Other Side that they wished to nourish and promote.

The Egyptians were the first great recyclers, they recycled funeral furnishings, mortuary treasures, They recycled statues and temples. (a private thought: why not religion too? That's kinda what Ahkenaten tried to do.) But Tut's funeral goods were not recycled, except for perishable precious oils and about 60 percent of the jewels and some of the gold statues, according to Carter's estimate.

The Egyptians believed in Reincarnation not just in Life after Death in the Land of the West. Maybe they actually believed that they were reborn on the other side of the world, where the Sun went at night.

I speculate that they believed the souls and spirits and his double, the 'KA', would be tied to the mummy as long as it existed or was confined to the tomb. And, since they believed the BA could leave the tomb during the day when Re's (or RA's) boat traveled across the sky above, but had to return to the tomb at night, when the Solar Boat sailed through the land of the West (the Underworld), that these spirits, souls, could not be reborn as long as they were 'tied' to the mummy, but would live as that person's soul or spirit, although they still needed some offerings or prayers or just someone to say his name, which would make him live again.

Logically, if you understand what pleasure those Ancient Egyptians found in life, who would want to come back to life as a dried-up mummy? The idea probably would have been just as horrible to them as it is to us.

But, they would probably love the recent movies: "The Mummy" and "The Mummy Returns", Tut especially. I can just see him going "Whoaa!! We didn't have Magic like that!" at those special effects especially in "The Mummy Returns."

On the Other Hand

Despite, or inspite of, not believing in the magical-like happenings in those movies, there was an aspect of their belief that was kinda like a Disney movie or cartoon, like in "Prince of Egypt" where the painted pictures of people and hieroglyphs, sacred symbols, actually animated. The way these figures were carved and displayed on the walls of Egypt, temples, palaces, etc., especially of Pharaoh conquering and slaying the enemy, would make it possible for them to actually animate and do just that, destroy the enemy, and/or offer to God and goddesses to make sure they continued to benefit Egypt.

Now Magic in Egypt sounds 'Old Hat'. Well, it is. It's the hat all true magicians down through the ages have had to put on. The Egyptian magicians stressed knowing the True Name of things, and as a result having the power with this knowledge of commanding these things or beings.

The Hebrew Jehovah took that power away from Man, by making Man (Adam) name them (himself) with a different name, and then, just to make sure, in the legend of the Tower of Babel, forced men to speak many different languages. So that the True Names that gave power were lost to the Knowledge of Men.

The Egyptians carved in stone those sacred symbols, (the language of the Gods). They knew how perishable papyrus (paper), cloth, hides or clay tablets could be. Stone lasted longer. It was important that certain rituals, ceremonies, be done exactly the same way, with exactly the same symbols, the same words, the same sounds, as in Ancient Days, even to them, to make things work the right way in the physical (and other) world.

And Pharaoh was the Master of All, the Master Magician, the Living God. It was his responsibility to ensure those things were done and done the right way. He was the one who had the power to make sure the other Gods did the right thing too.

This is what some believe Ahkenaten rejected. No magic and no other Gods, except the ones He picked out: Maet, Goddess of Truth and Order; Wadjet, the cobra he wore on his brow, the Great Enchantress; and Aten, the Supreme.

(Maybe we should call him the "Snake King".)