The Ancient Egyptian Concept of the Soul and Reincarnation

      

By Stephen William

The Ancient Egyptian Concept of the Soul and Reincarnation Exploring Beliefs Surrounding the Soul's Journey By Stephen William. He is a UK based Medium and Healer and Author of “Nostradamus His Prophecy Finally Explained.” Available on Kindle now.   Many years ago, when I was about 19 years, old a friend asked me and another friend if we could help shift a  heavy dining table to his grandparents  new home. As they were very elderly they had downsized to a smaller home and their daughter (my friend’s mother) had donated another table to replace their previous larger one. When we picked it up in a van we had borrowed for the task, I could understand why all three of us were needed it was very large and heavy, and made  me wonder how big and heavy  the old couple’s old table had been! One of the reasons why my other friend and I volunteered for the task, was the old couple’s grandson had said they were both professional mediums and that intrigued us ,as it would many teenagers. After we had lugged up the heavy table up some very steep front steps and positioned it in their dining room, they explained they often used to hold seances around their much larger old table for groups of people, hence that is why it could not fit in their new home. We got talking to them about their life as mediums  and as a reward for our help they decided to give us some readings. My other friend’s recently deceased grandmother was contacted with apparently compelling evidence . Then it was my turn. I had never had a reading before and to be quite frank , I was a bit sceptical of spiritual mediumship ,but to my astonishment, they contacted one of my great grandfathers who had been in the Army most of his working life and had risen to the rank of Sergeant-Major and won medals in two wars. He had died about three years before I was born, but my mother who was his granddaughter ,had told me a lot about him and the details that were given by  my friend’s grandmother could not  be guessed at. My cynicism began to evaporate and I was very interested in asking further questions of them. So far so good, but the grandmother suddenly pointed at me and said,  “ you were a soldier in a previous life and you were a soldier in Oliver Cromwell’s army in Civil War and died in battle at the age of 26!” She went on to say my previous “self” facially looked very much like me in this life. This was slightly disturbing to me as apart from the unexpected turn of events ,it strangely made some kind of sense.   THE PART OF THE SOUL, THE “BA” THAT THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS BELIEVED COULD REINCARNATE INTO A NEW LIFE, WAS OFTEN DEPICTED AS A BIRD WHICH COULD FLY FROM THE AFTERLIFE BACK TO EARTH TO INHABIT A NEW BODY AND LIFE. THIS IMAGE WAS PAINTED INSIDE AN EGYPTIAN TOMB. I THINK THAT THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS EVEN IN THOSE ANCIENT TIMES, SAW SUCH AN IMAGE AS A METAPHOR FOR TRAVEL FROM THE AFTERLIFE TO A NEW BODY AND A NEW LIFE, RATHER THAN A BA BEING A BIRD WITH A HUMAN HEAD! To explain , the Civil War she was talking about was the English Civil War(1642-1651) which started because King Charles the First (son of King James the First who caused the King James Bible to be published and which is still used throughout the English- speaking world today)  had decided to as he was King he had Divine Right to Rule. He then dissolved the English Parliament (which had been in existence virtually since the Magna Carta in 1215) as he said he   was empowered by God (in his opinion !) to govern alone!  This of course outraged the Parliamentarians who led by their leader Oliver Cromwell raised an Army to depose the King and his supporters . This led to a brutal and long drawn- out war with atrocities committed on both sides and led to the creation of England’s first and only republic led Oliver Cromwell as the Lord Protector which lasted from 1653 to1659. From my own perspective , I have always been a  non-monarchist unlike most British people and I have been since I was taught history at school and l learnt about the Civil War . Although Cromwell himself went on to eventually become a dictator himself and was responsible for some atrocities , he and his followers did start off trying to defend democracy. This amongst other information I learnt always made me wary about the concept of a non-elected head of state. I have always felt instinctively that the UK should have an elected President as we have an elected Prime Minister , although I have nothing personal against the current King himself. Yet being a dedicated non-monarchist in a previous life appeared to make sense and perhaps influenced my beliefs in this life. Despite this  apparently credible revelation about my “past life” , I did have one question to ask, “Why if there is an Afterlife , is there also such a thing as Reincarnation? How can we be in two places at once?” Unfortunately, the grandparents of my friend, despite being lifelong Spiritualists ,did not have an answer to that fairly straightforward question. They also were slightly annoyed it seemed at my  question and perhaps my doubt of the spiritual realm. This made me wonder if somehow I had been a “dupe” to some very clever trick and perhaps it was all an illusion, despite myself having no idea how it had been done! Fast forward about twenty years and I was on vacation in the Canary Islands (some islands off the coast of North Africa) with my wife and two daughters and we had a chance meeting with a British medium; she was working there as the Canary Islands are a popular  vacation destination for many British people . Despite my cynicism, I allowed her to give all four of us a reading. She was stunningly accurate  on events and deceased people in our lives and made unlikely predictions which started to come true as soon as we arrived back in England! This was all done by the assistance of her French Gypsy Spirit Guide she said. This experience completely upturned my views on Spiritualism and led to me becoming a medium myself ! However, whilst on my new spiritual journey  I still had this doubt on how an Afterlife and the concept of Reincarnation could co-exist together. Surely one cancelled out the other. What made it even more complicated to my understanding , was some of my new spiritual friends and colleagues who also accepted both as valid post-death continuations, could not give me an adequate explanation of  why the concepts could co-exist together? So I started my own research and found out that these questions had been apparently over answered 3000 years ago ! The Ancient Egyptians had a complex understanding of the soul, believing it was made up of several distinct parts, each with its own purpose and destiny in the afterlife. Their spiritual beliefs included ideas about reincarnation and the soul’s journey beyond death appeared to answer the contradiction I had been facing. THE PARTS OF THE ANCIENT EGYPTIAN SOUL. The Ancient Egyptians identified several components of the soul, the most significant of which included: Ka: The vital essence or life force, which remained near the body and required offerings to sustain it. Ba: The personality, individuality, and mobility of the soul, often depicted as a human-headed bird that could travel between worlds. Akh: The transfigured spirit, representing the soul’s successful transformation after death, capable of interacting with both the living and the dead. Ren: The name, essential for the soul's survival. Sheut: The shadow, also considered a part of the soul.         REINCARNATION AND THE BA. While the Ancient Egyptians believed in the afterlife and the soul’s journey, the concept of reincarnation as understood in other cultures (such as the Hindu or Buddhist traditions) was not central to their beliefs. However, among the parts of the soul, the Ba was most closely associated with personal identity and the ability to move freely between the world of the living and the dead. Some interpretations of Egyptian texts suggest that the Ba could, under certain circumstances, return to earth, possibly inhabiting a new body or form. This reflects a loose idea of reincarnation, where the Ba might be the aspect that could experience a new earthly life. Nevertheless, most mainstream Ancient Egyptian thought focused on the soul’s journey to the Afterlife rather than repeated earthly reincarnations. This was basically the answer I was looking for and reconciled me to the concept of a Spiritual  Realm Afterlife and an Earthly Return as recognised mainly by the Eastern Dharmic religions. This may seem to some an overcomplicated and complex answer to our post-demise experience, but to that I say, the human body itself is full of hundreds of different organs, materials and millions of cells ,so why cannot our spirit not  have a few separate components that have different functions? It is quite logical when you think about it. Even if the Ancient Egyptians perhaps had an over complex view of the different parts of our soul , it certainly explains why the Abrahamic and Dharmic religions have different ideas about the Afterlife and Reincarnation, but could both be right. It also validates many mystical peoples understanding of both concepts. Some skeptics may say the ideas of the Ancient Egyptians, were just primitive guesswork  by unsophisticated people. However that is to totally ignore that their civilisation was already nearly a thousand years old when these teachings first seem to appear and also by  this time these “unsophisticated” people had already built the Sphinx and most of the Pyramids. They also went on to build the immense Temple Complex at Karnak. These all required a sophisticated understanding of building and mathematical concepts. At about this time many of today’s major religions had their origins. I assume  many of their adherents would feel uncomfortable having their basic beliefs described as “primitive.” In summary, the Ba is the part of the soul the Ancient Egyptians believed could return to earth and in some interpretations, might be reincarnated into a new earthly existence. However, their beliefs were more centred on eternal life in the Afterlife rather than reincarnation as found in other religious traditions. From a Mystic or Spiritualist point of view ,if you are questioned by a cynic ,as my younger self did, it supplies the perfect answer to their question! ©Stephen William International Copyright. If you wish to read my book, it is available on this link at Amazon. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B098LS5PM7/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_MBDF06G549ZKJ6XFKMCJ