Akhet - The Horizon

The concept of the Ka and the Ba is an ancient one which is not so easy to understand for our western minds. The ancient Egyptians regarded the human being as made up of five different elements; the Ba, the Ka, the Akh, the Name and the Shadow.

The Ka

Originally the word Ka meant 'bull', but soon its meaning became to be intellectual and spiritual power.

It is almost impossible to translate the concept into our words, but try to think of it as the 'creative power in any being, wether human or divine'. The word 'sustenance' has also been used as description. It is not quite to be equaled to our concept of the 'soul'.

It was thought that the creator god Khnum created a person´s Ka when he created the person on his potter´s wheel. The Ka then followed the person like a shadow or a double all through life, but when the person died, the Ka returned to its heavenly abode. It was also dependent on food offerings, either real ones or carved as depictions on tomb walls. Unlike the Ba, the Ka was not thought to eat these offerings, but to assimilate their energy in the same way that the cult statues of the gods 'assimilated' the energy from the offerings set before them.

In daily life, when giving food or drink to someone, the ancient Egyptians often used the phrase: For your Ka to observe the life-giving energy of the Ka.

The Ba

has sometimes been equalized with our concept of the soul, (the definition of which also varies according to whom you may ask) but there are several differences.

The Ba refers to all those non-physical qualities that make up the personality of a human. But it also has to do with power - and gods as well as humans can have a Ba. Certain deities were even described as being the Ba of another god, i.e. the Ba of Re was the Benu bird at Heliopolis, and the Apis bull was considered the Ba of Osiris.

An important function of the Ba was to make it possible for the deceased to leave his tomb and rejoin his Ka. As the pysical body could no longer do this, the Ba, transformed into a bird with a human head, which could fly between the tomb and the underworld. It was also believed that the Ba could take on any form it chose, and that it had to reunite with the deceased every night in order for the deceased person to live forever and become an Akh; an ancestor.

So the Ba was very much attached to the physical body, contrary to the concept of the soul or the spirit. It was even thought that the Ba had physical needs, like food and water.

Akh

This was the form in which the blessed dead lived on in the hereafter. It was also the result of the union between the Ba and the Ka. An Akh was believed to live on unharmed for eternity, they were sometimes referred to as 'The Shining Ones'.

Name

The Name (ren) was a very important part of an individual. It was regarded as a living part of the individual and it was believed that the name or the word was the perfect expression of the person or thing in question. A newborn child had to get a name immediately or it would not come properly into existence.

To get a good understanding of the importance of a Name, one can think of the Memphite Theology where it is expressed that the creator god Ptah created the world by uttering all the names for everything.

Often the ancients did not want to pronounce a deity´s name, but used differnt synonyms instead, like Yinepu (Gr: Anubis) was often called: 'He who is before the divine booth', meaning the mummification house. In that way the true name of the god could remain hidden and protected.

It was thought that 'whosoever´s name is uttered, then he lives', which make us remember that to give offerings and utter a deceased loved one´s name meant that the person lived on among 'The Shining Ones'. And the only person who could destroy demonic powers was he who knew their names. When travelling through the Underworld, the dangers that were encountered, were repelled with : 'I know you and I know your names'.

Shadow

Finally, the Shadow (shwt) was also believed to be a living, essential part of the individual. Now, we must realize that in a country such as Egypt, shadow can be a blessing and protection from the burning rays of the sun. It was also seen as an entity with power, and which could move at great speed.