The Egyptian Realm of the Dead
"For the Egyptians, however, it was not so simple, for as we have seen, their conception of death was not simply temporal; it was also spatial. Death was a realm - not a physical realm but a subtle realm that they referred to as the Dwat. Furthermore, the realm of the dead was for them an ever-present factor of life, interpenetrating the world of the living. In the realm of the dead, invisible forces, powers, and energies - gods and demons as well as the spirits of the dead - are active, and their activity impinges directly on the world of the living. The Egyptians were intensely aware that the world they lived in was more than just the world perceptible to the senses. It included a vast and complex supersensible component as well.
It would be a mistake, then, to regard the Dwat as simply the realm of the dead. It is the habitation of spirits, of beings that are capable of existing nonphysically. These include the essential spiritual energy of those beings and creatures that we see around us in the physical world. In the Dwat, everything is reduced to its spiritual kernel. Just as the forms of living plants, when they die, disappear from the visible world as they are received into the Dwat, so when the young plants unfold their forms again in the new year, they unfold them from out of the Dwat. This "hidden realm" (literally amentet, another term for the realm of the dead) is the originating source of all that comes into being in the visible world.
The Egyptians conceived of the Dwat as a deeply interior realm and pictured it in various ways, one of the most evocative being as a region existing within the body of the cosmic goddess Nut. Nut is both the nurturing mother who gives birth to all things that come into manifestation and the devouring mother who swallows all things back into herself at the end of their lives. In the Dwat, then, the essential forms of things exist inwardly in a more interior space - a space that is prior to the external space in which they will unfold when they enter the world of physical manifestation. As for plants, so also for animals. Even the river Nile has its source in the Dwat.
Therefore the Dwat, as much as it is the realm of death, is the source of all that comes to exist in the material world. The lord of this realm of death, which is also the realm of rebirth and rejuvenation, is Osiris. Thus the realm of Osiris, where the dead dwell, was by no means only a place where exhausted and tired-out life languished in a state of passave inertia. It was where things also existed in a state of energized inwardness, poised to burst forth again into manifestation. The Egyptian understanding of the realm of the dead, then, was that it was the source of the fertility of the land, the growth of crops, and the increase of herds. And the dead were not just passive in this realm, but were felt to have a special role as the guardians of the forces of life, and hence the well-being of the whole land of Egypt. This is the meaning behind the ancient Egyptian cult of the dead. It was not simply about remembrance; it was about ensuring that a connection between the manifest world and its vital spiritual kernel was maintained, for the dead were the conduits of this inner spiritual vitality to the outwardly manifest world."
- Jeremy Naydler, "Shamanic Wisdom in the Pyramid Texts: The Mystical Tradition of Ancient Egypt"
It would be a mistake, then, to regard the Dwat as simply the realm of the dead. It is the habitation of spirits, of beings that are capable of existing nonphysically. These include the essential spiritual energy of those beings and creatures that we see around us in the physical world. In the Dwat, everything is reduced to its spiritual kernel. Just as the forms of living plants, when they die, disappear from the visible world as they are received into the Dwat, so when the young plants unfold their forms again in the new year, they unfold them from out of the Dwat. This "hidden realm" (literally amentet, another term for the realm of the dead) is the originating source of all that comes into being in the visible world.
The Egyptians conceived of the Dwat as a deeply interior realm and pictured it in various ways, one of the most evocative being as a region existing within the body of the cosmic goddess Nut. Nut is both the nurturing mother who gives birth to all things that come into manifestation and the devouring mother who swallows all things back into herself at the end of their lives. In the Dwat, then, the essential forms of things exist inwardly in a more interior space - a space that is prior to the external space in which they will unfold when they enter the world of physical manifestation. As for plants, so also for animals. Even the river Nile has its source in the Dwat.
Therefore the Dwat, as much as it is the realm of death, is the source of all that comes to exist in the material world. The lord of this realm of death, which is also the realm of rebirth and rejuvenation, is Osiris. Thus the realm of Osiris, where the dead dwell, was by no means only a place where exhausted and tired-out life languished in a state of passave inertia. It was where things also existed in a state of energized inwardness, poised to burst forth again into manifestation. The Egyptian understanding of the realm of the dead, then, was that it was the source of the fertility of the land, the growth of crops, and the increase of herds. And the dead were not just passive in this realm, but were felt to have a special role as the guardians of the forces of life, and hence the well-being of the whole land of Egypt. This is the meaning behind the ancient Egyptian cult of the dead. It was not simply about remembrance; it was about ensuring that a connection between the manifest world and its vital spiritual kernel was maintained, for the dead were the conduits of this inner spiritual vitality to the outwardly manifest world."
- Jeremy Naydler, "Shamanic Wisdom in the Pyramid Texts: The Mystical Tradition of Ancient Egypt"
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