My understanding of the Egyptian Ka and the Akh and Shade

[AMER KHAN]

[Apech]

Hi Appech,

 

Fascinating stuff ...you said that you were going to share something about the shadow? Is that the same as the transpersonal shadow, or different? I m curious as to the correlation, as Egypt was the birthplace of western civilisation .. maybe they had the original and deeper understanding of the shadow? If so that info is much needed for todays world!

 

Cheers,

AK

 

Hi AK since your post I have tried to read a bit about the transpersonal shadow and I think there is a link. However I find Jungian thought a bit figurative compared to Egyptian where the shadow would be an actual entity.

 

 

The Shade

 

 

The shade or shadow (shewt/Swt or shewit/Swyt) is an important part of being identified by the Ancient Egyptians.

 

In his 'Middle Egyptian' James P. Allen says:

 

"The shadow is an essential adjunct to the body, since every body casts one. Because the shadow derives from the body, the Egyptians believed it had something of the body - and, therefore, of the body's owner - in it. The representations of gods are sometimes called their 'shadows' for the same reason."

The Egyptologist Lanny Bell in 'Temples of Ancient Egypt' says:

 

"The shade was both an emanation from a deity and a reflection of divine power (light); it was drawn as a silhouette of the body, and it symbolised divinity's in dwelling of an object or being ..."

When the deceased enters the underworld he is said to begin a new life among the shades. The shade is also said to accompany the ba when it emerges from the tomb to see the rising sun. It was illustrated as a black silhouette.

 

The derivation of the word shu (Sw) is connected with words which mean 'empty' and 'sunlight'. The air-god Shu is also interpreted as a light filled emptiness. From this we can come to Swyt as the absence (emptiness) of light. As the Egyptians placed great emphasis on the need for 'food', offerings to sustain the dead person on his underworld journey, this emptiness (shu) normally has negative connotations. Nayler illustrates this nicely in his translation from the Pyramid Texts of King Unas:

 

"If emptiness (shu) flourishes,

Unas cannot take his food.

If Unas flourishes,

emptiness cannot take its food."

 

Despite this negative interpretation the Shade as a part of personality was not a negative but an essential element in the make up of the being. So how can we understand this?

 

To the Egyptians everything originally emerges from the dark watery vastness called the Nun. Indeed the waters of Nun were seen as surrounding and permeating all existence. These waters are the source of renewal because they have the power to dissolve away 'exhausted' form and to renew it, making it fresh and new. We can understand the Nun as being the un-being or void. Its waters are the underlying nature of all things. Much in the same way as we know our bodies are mostly composed of water, all things have this same nature of being composed of voidity.

 

By extension we could say that everything has a void-nature. As conscious beings we can acknowledge that we have another side. A side which embodies our nature as being empty of form. Just as every form in existence casts a shadow, everything has a light and a dark side. A visible and a hidden aspect.

 

As a 'ba' we demonstrate our nature as god-like, as divine and as radiant and as capable of assuming a manifest form. The reverse of this is our shade. Our hidden-ness, our un-formed and mysterious side. The two sides complement and support each other. Which is why they emerge together to greet the sun.

[AMER KHAN]

HI Ap,

 

Yes it feels like many levels to the Shew .. you have the personal one based on judgment, then the collective then the integration ... gets subtler the clearer one is i feel. Different levels with different rules. Yes tis an

actual entity, i have met mine and dialogue with it regularly so all is in functional integration with other bodies.

It wants certain things, and needs attention ... once it is treated with respect and nurture, it is happy. But yes, healing had to be done in this process to get this far, as shadow is buried oftentimes.

 

Form is defined by the shadow.

 

So Shew is voidness, emptiness at its integrated state within you?

 

 

 

 

 

 

In his 'Middle Egyptian' James P. Allen says:

 

"The shadow is an essential adjunct to the body, since every body casts one. Because the shadow derives from the body, the Egyptians believed it had something of the body - and, therefore, of the body's owner - in it. The representations of gods are sometimes called their 'shadows' for the same reason."

The Egyptologist Lanny Bell in 'Temples of Ancient Egypt' says:

 

"The shade was both an emanation from a deity and a reflection of divine power (light); it was drawn as a silhouette of the body, and it symbolised divinity's in dwelling of an object or being ..."

When the deceased enters the underworld he is said to begin a new life among the shades. The shade is also said to accompany the ba when it emerges from the tomb to see the rising sun. It was illustrated as a black silhouette.

 

The derivation of the word shu (Sw) is connected with words which mean 'empty' and 'sunlight'. The air-god Shu is also interpreted as a light filled emptiness. From this we can come to Swyt as the absence (emptiness) of light. As the Egyptians placed great emphasis on the need for 'food', offerings to sustain the dead person on his underworld journey, this emptiness (shu) normally has negative connotations. Nayler illustrates this nicely in his translation from the Pyramid Texts of King Unas:

 

"If emptiness (shu) flourishes,

Unas cannot take his food.

If Unas flourishes,

emptiness cannot take its food."

 

Despite this negative interpretation the Shade as a part of personality was not a negative but an essential element in the make up of the being. So how can we understand this?

 

To the Egyptians everything originally emerges from the dark watery vastness called the Nun. Indeed the waters of Nun were seen as surrounding and permeating all existence. These waters are the source of renewal because they have the power to dissolve away 'exhausted' form and to renew it, making it fresh and new. We can understand the Nun as being the un-being or void. Its waters are the underlying nature of all things. Much in the same way as we know our bodies are mostly composed of water, all things have this same nature of being composed of voidity.

 

By extension we could say that everything has a void-nature. As conscious beings we can acknowledge that we have another side. A side which embodies our nature as being empty of form. Just as every form in existence casts a shadow, everything has a light and a dark side. A visible and a hidden aspect.

 

As a 'ba' we demonstrate our nature as god-like, as divine and as radiant and as capable of assuming a manifest form. The reverse of this is our shade. Our hidden-ness, our un-formed and mysterious side. The two sides complement and support each other. Which is why they emerge together to greet the sun.