Funeral Ceremonies.

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Egyptian funerary ceremonies — embalming, opening of the mouth

The seventy days of embalming; the procession to the tomb; the great opening of the mouth ceremony in which the priest restores the senses and faculties to the mummy. The ritual sequence into which the Book of the Dead text is embedded.

Source context

Theme: ritual enactment of post-mortem transition through prescribed ceremonial forms
Soul-faculty: Sentient Soul

Steiner

GA 87, 1902-02-22Steiner identifies the Book of the Dead as the primary surviving document of Egyptian mystery teaching about the soul's transition at death, describing how Egyptian priests formulated precise ideas concerning what occurs when the soul departs the body.
GA 87, 1901-11-30Steiner notes that the Book of the Dead was better known and more actively operative in antiquity than in later periods, implying that its funerary prescriptions carried living initiatory authority rather than merely commemorative function.
GA 106, 1908-09-14Steiner indicates that the Book of the Dead's ritual content is oriented around the figure of Osiris, whom the Egyptian encountered only upon death, making the funeral ceremonies an enactment of the soul's reunion with the Osiris-principle after physical life.
GA 57, 1909-04-29Steiner cites the Book of the Dead as testimony that the soul, while in the body, is under the rulership of Horus, but upon leaving the body at death it enters a distinct supersensible realm — a cosmological distinction that the funeral ceremonies are designed to navigate.

Cross-tradition

Tibetan Buddhist — Bardo ThodolCross-tradition congruence exists between the Egyptian funerary rites and the Tibetan Bardo Thodol, where similarly structured ceremonial instructions guide the deceased soul through post-mortem states toward liberation or rebirth.
Vedic — Antyesti (funeral rites)Cross-tradition congruence appears in the Vedic Antyesti rites, where prescribed ritual actions performed by the living are held to condition the trajectory of the departing soul through intermediary planes.
Orphic mystery traditionCross-tradition congruence is found in Orphic gold tablets, which likewise provided the deceased with prescribed formulae and navigational instructions for the soul's passage, paralleling the Egyptian chapter's function as ritual preparation for the afterlife journey.

In illustration of the ceremonies which accompanied the burial of the dead the reader will find extracts from different texts printed in the Appendix on p. 264 ff. To these may be added an extract from the curious ritual which was in vogue in the Vth and VIth dynasties, and which commemorated the ceremonies which were performed for the god Osiris. It is to be noticed how closely the deceased is identified with Osiris, the type of incorruptibility. Osiris takes upon himself "all that is hateful" in the dead : that is, he adopts the burden of his sins; and the dead is purified by the typical sprinkling of water. While the gods are only accompanied by their ka's, the deceased, in right of his identification with a higher power, is accompanied by his Tet[1] also, that is, by his Osiris.

Throughout the ceremony, the Eye of Horus,[2] which is represented by various substances, plays a prominent part, for it is that which gives vigour to the heart of the dead and leads him to the god. That portion of the ceremony which was believed to procure the unlocking of the jaws and the opening of the mouth of the deceased, or of the statue which sometimes represented him, was performed after the purification by water and incense had been effected; and hereby was he enabled to partake of the meat and drink offerings, wherein the friends and relatives also participated, in order that they might cement and seal their mystic unity with the dead and with the god with whom he was identified.[3]

[1. Some fifty years ago, M. Reuvens expressed his belief that the ### represented the four quarters of the world, and according to M. Maspero it unites in itself the four pillars which support the sky and Osiris, whom they preserve from chaos; see Recueil de Travaux, t. xii., p. 79, note 3; and Études de Mythologie, t. ii., p. 359.

2On the eyes of Horus, see Lefébure, *Le Mythe Osirien--Les Yeux d'Horus*, Paris, 1874; and Grébaut, *Les deux yeux du Disque Solaire* (*Recueil de Travaux* t. i., pp. 72, 87, 112-131).

3To discuss the origin and development of animal sacrifice among the early Egyptians lies outside the scope of this work. For information on the significance of sacrifice among the Semites, in whose customs many originally Egyptian ideas probably survived, see Robertson Smith, *Religion of the Semites*, p. 294 ff. On the origin of sacrificial acts, see Max Müller, *Natural Religion*, London, 1889, p. 184; and E. B. Tylor, *Primitive Culture*, vol. ii., p. 340. Whether the Egyptians regarded the sacrifice of bulls, geese, etc., at the tomb as expiatory offerings, can hardly yet be decided.]
{p. cxxxix} Certain formulae were directed to be repeated four times: a direction which takes us back to the time when the Egyptians first divided the world into four parts, each corresponding to one of the four pillars which held up the sky, that is to say, to one of the four cardinal points, East, South, West, and North, presided over by a special god. The deceased sought to obtain the assistance of each of the four gods of the cardinal points, and to have the right to roam about in his district; hence the formula was repeated four times. Originally four animals or four geese were sacrificed, one to each god, but subsequently East and North, and West and South were paired, and two bulls (or birds) only were sacrificed, one of which was called the Bull of the North,[*] and the other the Bull of the South. The custom of four-fold repetition continued to the Ptolemaïc times[+] and even later. The priest whose official title was *kher heb*, recited the prayers, and the *sem* or *setem* priest presented the prescribed offerings. The rubrical directions are given on the margin for the sake of clearness. "O Osiris,[++] all that is hateful in Unas hath been brought unto thee,[1] and all the evil words which have been spoken in his name. Come, O Thoth, and take them unto Osiris, bring all the evil words which have been spoken and place them in the hollow of thy hand;[2] thou shalt not escape therefrom, thou shalt not escape therefrom. Whosoever marcheth, marcheth with his *ka*. Horus marcheth with his *ka*, Set marcheth with his *ka*, Thoth marcheth with[3] his *ka*, Sep marcheth with his *ka*, Osiris marcheth with his *ka*, Khent-maati marcheth with his *ka*; and thy *tet* shall march with thy *ka*. Hail, Unas, the hand of thy *ka* is before thee. Hail, Unas, the hand of thy *ka* is behind thee. Hail, Unas, the leg of thy *ka* is before thee. Hail, Unas, the leg of thy *ka* is behind thee. Osiris Unas, I have given unto thee the Eye of Horus, and thy face is filled therewith, and the perfume thereof spreadeth over thee. The libations which are poured[4] out by thy son, which are poured out by Horus, are for thee, O Osiris, and they are for thee O Unas. I have come, and I have brought unto thee the Eye of Horus that thou mayest refresh thy heart therewith, I have placed it beneath thy feet, and I give unto thee whatsoever hath come forth from thy body that thy heart may not cease to beat through [the want] thereof.[5] Thy voice shall never depart from thee, thy voice shall never depart from thee. [*. This subject has been lucidly discussed by Maspero, Recueil de Travaux, t. xii., pp. 78, 79. +. See *Archæologia*, vol. lii., p. 453, at the foot. ++. For the text and French translation, see Maspero, *Recueil de Travaux*, t. iii., p. 179 ff.

1Here water shall be sprinkled.

2Repeat four times.

3Repeat four times and burn incense.

4Here [pour out] fresh water, and [burn] two portions of incense.

5Repeat four times.]
{p. cxi} "[Here is] unguent, [here is] unguent. Open thy mouth, O Unas,[1] and taste the taste of the scent which is in the holy habitations. This scent is that which distilleth from Horus, this scent is that which distilleth from Set, and it is that which stablisheth the hearts of the two Horus gods.[2] Thou purifiest thyself with the Heru-shesu;[*] thou art purified with natron, and Horus is purified with natron; thou art purified with natron, and Set is purified with natron;[3] thou art purified with natron, and Thoth is purified with natron; thou art purified with natron, and Sep is purified with natron; thou art purified with natron, and art established among them, and thy mouth is [as pure] as the mouth of a sucking calf on the day of its birth. Thou art purified with natron, and Horus is purified with natron; thou art purified with natron, and Set is purified with natron;[4] [thou art purified with natron] and Thoth is purified with natron; thou art purified with natron, and Sep is purified with natron; thy *ka* is purified with natron, and thou art pure, thou art pure, thou art pure, thou art pure. Thou art stablished among the gods thy brethren, thy head is purified for thee with natron, thy bones are washed clean with water, and thou thyself art made perfect with all that belongeth unto thee. O Osiris, I have given unto thee the Eye of Horus, thy face is filled therewith, and the perfume thereof spreadeth over thee. "Hail, Unas, thy two jaws are unlocked.[5] Hail, Unas, the two gods have opened thy mouth.[6] O Unas, the Eye of Horus hath been given unto thee, and Horus cometh thereunto; it is brought unto thee, and placed in thy mouth.[7] Hail, Unas, the nipples of the bosom of Horus have been given unto thee, and thou hast taken in thy mouth[8] the breast of thy sister Isis, and the milk which floweth from thy mother is poured into thy mouth.[9] "Thou hast gotten possession of the two eyes of Horus, the white and the black, thou hast taken them unto thyself and they illumine thy face.[10] The day hath made an offering unto thee in heaven, and the East and the West are at peace with thee; the night hath made an offering[11] unto thee, and the North and the South are at peace with thee. These are the offerings which are brought unto thee, the offerings which thou seest, the offerings which thou hearest, the offerings which are before thee, the offerings which are behind thee, the offerings which are with thee. O Osiris Unas, the white teeth of Horus are given unto thee that thou mayest fill thy mouth therewith.[12] A royal offering to the *ka* of Unas.[13]. O Osiris Unas, the Eye of Horus hath been given unto thee, and thou livest, and a thou art.[14] O Osiris Unas, the Eye of Horus which strove with Set hath been [*. ###, the followers of Horus" [Addressing the statue of the decease the *setem* priest says]

1Here [offer] perfume of the south, three grains.

2Repeat four times.

3Here [offer] natron of the north.

4Here [burn] one grain of incense.

5Here [bring] the *Pesesh-kef*.

6Here [offer] two pieces of iron of the north and south.

7Here [offer] unguent of the north, and unguent of the south.

8Here [offer] milk.

9Here [offer] two vases of milk.

10Here bring two black and white pitchers.

11Here [offer] a cake.

12Here [offer] two baskets of onions.

13Repeat four times.

14Here [offer] a cake.]
{p. xcli} given unto thee, and thou hast lifted it[1] to thy lips, and thy mouth is opened thereby. O Osiris Unas, thy mouth is opened by that with which thou art filled.[2] O Osiris Unas, that which hath distilled from thee hath been given unto thee.[3] O Ra, may all the praise which thou receivest in heaven be in praise of Unas, and may all that belongeth unto thy body belong unto the *ka* of Unas, and may all that belongeth unto his body belong unto thee.[4] O Unas, the Eye of Horus hath been given unto thee, that thou mayest be able to taste,[5] and that thou mayest illumine the night. O Unas, the Eye of Horus hath been given to thee that it may embrace thee.[6] O Unas, the Eye of Horus which strove with Set hath been, given unto thee, in order that the opening of thy mouth may be caused thereby.[7] O Unas, that which flowed from Osiris hath been given unto thee.[8] O Unas, the Eye of Horus hath been given unto thee, in order that without the help of iron thy mouth may be set free.[9] O Unas, the Eye of Horus hath been given unto thee, in order that thy face may be adorned therewith.[10] O Osiris Unas, the Eye of Horus hath sprinkled oil upon thee.[11] O Osiris Unas, that which hath been pressed out of thy face hath been given unto thee.[12] O Osiris Unas, the Eye of Horus hath been given unto thee, in order that it may shave (?) thee.[13] O Osiris Unas, the Eye of Horus hath been given unto thee, in order that it may anoint thee.[14] O Osiris Unas, the Eye of Horus hath been given unto thee, in order that it may lead thee unto the gods.[15] O all ye unguents, be ye laid out before your Horus,[16] and make ye him strong. Cause him to gain the mastery over his body, and make his eyes to be opened. May all the shining beings see him, may they hear his name, for the Eye of Horus hath been brought, in order that it may be placed before Osiris Unas.[17] O Osiris Unas, the two Eyes of Horus have been laid like paint upon thy face.[18] "O clothe thyself in peace! Put thou on thy apparel in peace! May Tatet put on[19] apparel in peace! Hail, Eye of Horus, in Tep, in peace! Hail, Eye of Horus, in the houses of Nit, in peace. Receive thou white apparel. O grant that the two lands which rejoiced to do homage unto Horus may do homage unto Set; and grant that the two lands which stood in awe of Set may stand in awe of Unas. Dwell thou with Unas as his god, open thou a path for him among the, shining ones, and stablish thou him among them." [1. Here [offer] two pitchers of white wine.

2Here [offer] two pitchers of black wine.

3Here [offer] a vase of black beer.

4Here [offer] an altar.

5Here [offer] a cake.

6Here [offer] a breast.

7Here [offer] a pitcher of white wine.

8Here [offer] a vase of black beer.

9Here [offer] a vase of beer of iron

10Here [offer] a vase of beer.

11Repeat four times and [offer] unguent of the festival.

12Here [offer] *heken* oil.

13Here [offer] a pitcher of *seft*.