Ma'at - Egyptian Goddess of Serenity

Ma'at - Egyptian Goddess of Serenty

                                                                     
                                                                                                                                        JeanneHP


In the Hall of Two Truths, she picked up the lifeless heart and placed it gently on the left tray of the scale . On the right side, she placed a feather, then watched as the scale came to rest.

As a Goddess, Ma'at's responsibilities were many - to maintain fairness, justice, truth, order and morality in the world . She lived in the Old Kingdom of Thebes in a beautiful temple dedicated to Amen Ra, her father. Pillars of gold supported a great ceiling overlaid with images of the Gods and Goddesses of Egypt.  A headband holding an ostrich feather encircled Ma'as head of beautiful long black hair.  Both arms were wrapped in large hawk wings symbolizing her duty to protect the world from chaos. Dressed in a delicate white robe, she carried in one hand, an ankh, the "key of life". In the other, she carried a scepter, symbol of her authority.

This day she weighed the heart of a woman known to her for many years. Would the scale balance? If the heart was heavier than the feather, it would be devoured by Ammit, a she demon who was a mix of crocodile, lion and hippo. If it balanced with the feather, the dead woman would be worthy of meeting Osiris the God of afterlife who was a merciful judge of the dead.

Ma'at's thoughts turned to the goodness and the weaknesses of Amenmeit, a Priestess in the temple of her father.   Amenmeit performed her temple duties unfailingly with her heart and soul as she had learned from her Mother, also a Priestess in the Ra temple - never straying - until that one day.

It was then Akhet, a time when the Nile flooded.  Amenmeit, lighting incense before a likeness of Ra, glanced out the rectangular floor to ceiling wall opening. The Nile had risen many feet, but she knew from previous years it would never reach the temple - the gods would not allow it.  She noticed a light reed boat with a man veering side to side, straining to reach shore. He appeared to be tired and in a need of help or he would surely drown. Without a thought, or any idea of how she could help, she left her duties and ran to help. She removed the long gold braided cord from around the waste of her white tunic and tossed it to, as she could see now, was an old man. He missed it on the first and second try, but the third time he held tight as she pulled him and his boat in to shore. By Amenmeit's attire, he realized immediately that she was a temple Priestess  He fell on his knees and kissed the hem of her tunic. 

"Thank you Priestess - I would have perished but for you. The Gods have witnessed it." 

Amenmeit then returned to the temple, never leaving it again for the remainder of her long life.

Which way would the scale lean? It was against the laws of the Temple of Ra for a Priestess to leave the temple for any reason. It was an act more forbidden than murder or high treason. The scale tipped first one way and then the other until finally stopping. A smile spread over Ma'at's face. The woman's goodness far surpassed the one transgression. She belonged to Osiris.

The End