SHRINE OF
MA'AT


Ma'at (Ma) The wife of Thoth, Ma'at's name means "Truth", "Justice", and perhaps even "Tao". It cannot readily be rendered into English but "truth" is perhaps a satisfactory translation. Ma'at was represented as a tall woman with an ostrich feather in her hair. She was present at the judgement of the dead; her feather was balanced against the heart of the deceased to determine whether he had led a pure and honest life. All civil laws in Egypt were held up to the "Law of Ma'at", which essentially was a series of old conceptions and morals dating to the earliest times in Egypt. A law contrary to the Law of Ma'at would not have been considered valid in Egypt. Ma'at is an Egyptian goddess who personified the concepts of truth, cosmic order and justice. This concept was fundamental to Egyptian life and the rule of the Pharaohs. The Kings portrayed themselves constantly as "Beloved of Ma'at" and upholders of the universal order. This role was established by their divine predecessor Horus, who defeated the forces of the chaotic god Seth. Judges in both human and divine spheres were known as representatives of Ma'at. At the final judgement of souls, Ma'at helped to determine the ultimate fate of the deceased. In the "Hall of Two Truths" the heart of the deceased would be weighed by Anubis against the Feather of Truth, which was Ma'at's symbol. If the verdict was favorable then the deceased could look forward to a happy afterlife; if not, the hapless soul was quickly devoured by the hybrid Ammit. Ma'at was usually depicted as a woman wearing a large ostrich feather in her headband. This Feather formed the Hieroglyph of her name and could be used by itself as an abstract representation of the goddess. The Goddess Ma'at was one of the most fundamental forms of the Divine to interact with the cosmos, the Earth, and its beings. Her name is often translated as "truth" or "justice," but her essence is the cosmic order and natural laws that maintain existence at its deepest level. When she is depicted, she is shown as a woman with an ostrich feather on her head, the symbol of truth. The feather often appears alone, especially in the scenes showing souls being judged before Osiris. There, the deceased's heart is weighed against Ma'at's feather to determine its truth. Someone who has lived a life of justice and goodness would have a heart so light it would balance against Ma'at's measure. If Ma'at is associated with a male God as part of a resonant pair, it is generally as the partner of Thoth. Thoth created the original design of the cosmos/world, and Ma'at maintains it. She is also sometimes associated with Atum, coming into being as he first steps forth onto the sacred mound from the waters of Nu. Again, she is there from the beginning, providing a stabilizing influence that ensures Time unfolds as it should. The Goddess Ma'at represents a way back toward truth, justice, and honorable behavior. She is the Goddess to invoke if you wish to ensure that you speak truthfully, and she can help you bring your life back into balance with its intended path. In many ways, she is the most powerful of all the Goddesses. The Egyptian word "ma'at" typically gets translated as "truth" or "justice" by archaeologists. The neteret Ma'at represents something much deeper than that. In the myths of creation, whether that of Djehuti creating the universe out of chaos, Atum bringing forth the world from nothingness, Ra setting the daily world in motion, or any of the others, Ma'at is always present. She is the underlying factor that allows everything to function. A better translation for the word "ma'at" might be "natural order" or "natural law". She represents the basic structure by which all things operate when they are acting in accordance with their right nature. "Right nature" has both a universal and a personal context: universal in that beings and objects follow natural laws according to their creation and existence, and personal in that each person has an individual purpose to accomplish in the world. There are both universal and worldly laws, of which Ma'at is both the symbol and the activating essence. It is Ma'at that ensures that the sun rises as Khephera each morning, that the sun passes overhead as Ra, and sets in the west as Atum at sunset. It is Ma'at that ensures that the seasons pass as they should. It is Ma'at that ensures that we are born, grow, and die in an orderly fashion, and that time passes in the way that it should. The pharaoh was not a "king" in the sense that we of later days think of them. He was first and foremost a priest, hence the archaeologists' simplification of "priest-king". They look mostly at the recorded historical actions of the pharaohs rather than at their essence, and the result often confuses them. The pharaoh had one, and only one, purpose in his existence. He was the earthly representative of Ma'at, and was responsible for maintaining Ma'at on earth. He was in a sense Ma'at's avatar here on Earth, and his actions (and inactions) could have dire consequences for his people. He was surrounded by ritual, and by the performance of "right action" at the right time. If he failed in his actions, the Nile might fail to rise at the right time, the floods might not regenerate the land, and his people might starve. The Earth might die. He was the physical, unifying symbol of the land of Egypt, and responsible for its livelihood. Is it any wonder that his people saw him as important. He did, through his actions and his priesthood, partake of godhood at a level that the common man did not, which allowed the common man to get on with the business of life. He was a war leader, particularly in defense of Egypt. As time went by, he also became involved in expanding the Egyptian empire, under the unfortunate human tendency to believe in the superiority of one's society. The "unchanging" nature of Egyptian civilization has been emphasized, which is due to their interaction with and belief in Ma'at. At the same time, historically, we can see that human nature is what it is. The rule of Ma'at was broken as often as maintained, and the Egyptians (and the world) suffered accordingly. On a personal level, each individual was responsible for abiding by the laws of Ma'at in their personal lives. These laws both concerned doing things in the right time and season for them and what might be termed social or ethical laws. Man is not an island, but is a part of society, and must behave in a fashion that sustains the social order if chaos is not to destroy it. The social/ethical aspect of Ma'at's laws are embodied in what has come to be known as the "negative confessions", a set of statements that the individual was to make to the assessors in Ma'at's temple after death. They concerned actions that the individual had avoided during the course of their lives, and were a prerequisite for entering the hall of judgment. Wrong answers resulted in the soul's destruction. Within the hall of Ma'at, the individual came before Osiris to be judged. The typical scene shows the individual before a scale, in one side of which is his heart. An ostrich feather, representing Ma'at, sits in the other. If the individual led a life in accordance with Ma'at's laws, his heart should be "light as a feather," and the scales would balance. The individual would then be assessed as "true of voice and justified," and allowed to pass on to live among the gods as one of the stars in heaven. If the scales did not balance, the soul would again be destroyed. This led, generally, to a powerful stability, courtesy, and cultural constancy in Egypt, which is seen as "unchanging." People did live within what we would call a caste system; however, this does not have the negative connotations that many Westerners like to place on it. The "caste" system was based on Ma'at, again. One was born to one's nature, and must live in accordance with it. This is not, strictly, to say that one's place in society could never change (as is sometimes asserted of India's caste system), but rather that people were generally born in the place where they would be most happy and do the most good for themselves and society as a whole. There were ways "out" of one's birth position, especially with regards to the temple, the military, and the arts, given one's skills and the recognition of them. The idea was for the individual to live out their life in accord with Ma'at, not against their true nature. The Goddess Ma'at perfused and permeated all aspects of life and death and the procession of time. Action in accordance with Ma'at brought peace and the rewards of a life well-lived, and the hope of eternal life returned to union with the god-essence of the universe. Action against Ma'at brought its own rewards, which served as a deterrent. Some might say that many modern philosophical trends have tried to find ways to return to this "right livelihood" that the Egyptians enjoyed. But we have lost the concept of Ma'at. Scientists are searching for the universal laws of Ma'at: gravity, electricity, magnetism, biological processes, and others. Unfortunately, we've lost the corresponding understanding of the need for balance and order. We have come to believe that we are above the order, and that we can do whatever we seem to think can be done without causing harm. This is a very dangerous assumption, as we are beginning to see in the world around us. The Egyptian model, especially the social laws, may not completely fit us anymore. But it cannot hurt to look for ways to return to a respect for the value of each individual, for the harmony of our societies, and for the life-processes of the Earth we live in.