DOI Heft:
Nr. 1-2
DOI Artikel:Grenfell, Alice: The Ka on scarabs
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12744#0085
THE KA ON SCARABS
79
» Thought body of Man ; his conscious etherial counterpart that may watch over him,
» and warn him of the approach of death, or of some other danger. The more the
» physical body is active and conscious of external things, the more is the Thought
» body stupefied ; the sleep of the body is the awakening of the Evestrum. During
» that state it may communicate with the Evestra of other persons, or with those of
» the Dead. It may go to certain distances from the physical body for a short time ;
» but if its connection with that body is broken, the latter dies. »
The Ka also has a certain resemblance to the Augeoides or Radiant Body of
the Platonic School. This body is supposed to have been introduced into Greek Re-
ligion from the Orphie mystagogy, see Mead's article in The Quest, July, 1910. Phi-
loponus who lived at Alexandria in the Vllth Century describes the Augeoides Body
as foliows : « A kind of body which is for ever attached to the soul, of a celestial
» nature, and for this reason everlasting, which they call radiant (augeoides), or star-
» like (astroeides). For as (the soul) is a being of the cosmic order, it is absolutely
» necessary that it should have an estate or portion of the cosmos in which to keep
» house. And if the soul is in a state of perpétuai motion, and it is necessary that it
» should be for ever in activity, it needs must be that it should ever have attached
» to it some body or other which it keeps eternally alive » ; (Mead's translation).
« The Astral Body » (Ka), says Leadbeater in « Dreams », « functions in sleep,
» hovering over the physical body ; it can travel in sleep without discomfort, and
» may meet friends who happen to be awake on the Astral Plane. »
Professor Pétrie writes (Religion of Ancient Egypt, 1906), « the Ka could act and
» visit other Ka's after death ».
Dr Budge (Guide to the Egyptian Collection in the British Muséum, 1909) states
that the Ka « could wander about at will on earth and in the other world, and there
» are suggestions in the texts that it might take up its abode in the body of a living
» man from which his Ka had temporarily gone forth for some purpose of its own ».
That the Ka was by far the most important, if not the only survival of the human
Ego after death, is shown by many passages in the funerary literature, and parti-
cularly on scarabs.
The literal way in which the various « parts » of the Deceased have been divid-
ed (into nine; Khat, Ka, Ab, Ren, Khaibit, Aâkhu, Sekhem, Ba and Sahu, several
of which are symbols, or else différent aspects of Deceasecl), is most confusing and
prosaic.
M. Naville takes this view, for he writes in Le Journal des Savants, April and
May, 1913 : « Ce qu'on a appelé la division de la personnalité humaine en plusieurs
» composantes, n'est-ce pas simplement la représentation pictographique des diverses
» qualités qu'on suppose à un être unique, j'entends par là ce qui n'est pas le corps ? »
Consider, for instance, the i?a-bird. The symbol of the bird, for the immortal
part of a man, winging its way through space is most wide spread and obvions ; ail
the ancient Mediterranean nations used it ; the Syrian Hittites, the Etruscans, the
Minoans, Cretans, Libyans, Greeks, etc. Dante calls angels « uccelli di Dio », — birds
79
» Thought body of Man ; his conscious etherial counterpart that may watch over him,
» and warn him of the approach of death, or of some other danger. The more the
» physical body is active and conscious of external things, the more is the Thought
» body stupefied ; the sleep of the body is the awakening of the Evestrum. During
» that state it may communicate with the Evestra of other persons, or with those of
» the Dead. It may go to certain distances from the physical body for a short time ;
» but if its connection with that body is broken, the latter dies. »
The Ka also has a certain resemblance to the Augeoides or Radiant Body of
the Platonic School. This body is supposed to have been introduced into Greek Re-
ligion from the Orphie mystagogy, see Mead's article in The Quest, July, 1910. Phi-
loponus who lived at Alexandria in the Vllth Century describes the Augeoides Body
as foliows : « A kind of body which is for ever attached to the soul, of a celestial
» nature, and for this reason everlasting, which they call radiant (augeoides), or star-
» like (astroeides). For as (the soul) is a being of the cosmic order, it is absolutely
» necessary that it should have an estate or portion of the cosmos in which to keep
» house. And if the soul is in a state of perpétuai motion, and it is necessary that it
» should be for ever in activity, it needs must be that it should ever have attached
» to it some body or other which it keeps eternally alive » ; (Mead's translation).
« The Astral Body » (Ka), says Leadbeater in « Dreams », « functions in sleep,
» hovering over the physical body ; it can travel in sleep without discomfort, and
» may meet friends who happen to be awake on the Astral Plane. »
Professor Pétrie writes (Religion of Ancient Egypt, 1906), « the Ka could act and
» visit other Ka's after death ».
Dr Budge (Guide to the Egyptian Collection in the British Muséum, 1909) states
that the Ka « could wander about at will on earth and in the other world, and there
» are suggestions in the texts that it might take up its abode in the body of a living
» man from which his Ka had temporarily gone forth for some purpose of its own ».
That the Ka was by far the most important, if not the only survival of the human
Ego after death, is shown by many passages in the funerary literature, and parti-
cularly on scarabs.
The literal way in which the various « parts » of the Deceased have been divid-
ed (into nine; Khat, Ka, Ab, Ren, Khaibit, Aâkhu, Sekhem, Ba and Sahu, several
of which are symbols, or else différent aspects of Deceasecl), is most confusing and
prosaic.
M. Naville takes this view, for he writes in Le Journal des Savants, April and
May, 1913 : « Ce qu'on a appelé la division de la personnalité humaine en plusieurs
» composantes, n'est-ce pas simplement la représentation pictographique des diverses
» qualités qu'on suppose à un être unique, j'entends par là ce qui n'est pas le corps ? »
Consider, for instance, the i?a-bird. The symbol of the bird, for the immortal
part of a man, winging its way through space is most wide spread and obvions ; ail
the ancient Mediterranean nations used it ; the Syrian Hittites, the Etruscans, the
Minoans, Cretans, Libyans, Greeks, etc. Dante calls angels « uccelli di Dio », — birds