HEART & FEATHER

A DECLARATION OF PURITY

Weighing of the Heart Book of the Dead written on papyrus showing the “Weighing of the Heart” in the Duatusing the feather of Maat as the measure in balance.

“Those who destroy the lie promote Ma’at; those who promote the good will erase the evil. As fullness casts out appetite, as clothes cover the nude and as heaven clears up after a storm.” — The Moaning of the Bedouin

Isfet, as an ancient Egyptian verb that means “to do evil.” This word represents injustice, violence, and chaos and it was a term used in ancient Egyptian philosophy. The Pharaoh, as an initiate, would be described as the defensor of Ma’at and the enemy of Isfet. Ma’at is then defined and the unifying source, the truth of all cosmology and without which, nothing can be attained and regulated. Ma’at represented the core of principles and values based on pure truth and fairness of judgment. She, as a Goddess, will weight, in the afterlife, the heart of those who cross over. The heart was thought to be the center of all emotions, of human wisdom and memory. This is the reason why it was left with the body.

The inevitability of death is the right moment to measure truth. But can we do it as efficiently before death? And what does this truth represent? Ma’at represents not only truth but harmony and justice so the concept of ma’at is quite complex in its simplicity. Trusting and truth will become part of the same measure.