The Halls of Osiris
“In another Chapter (see Chapters of Coming Forth by Day, p. 128) the deceased addresses seven gods, and says, “Hail, ye seven beings who make decrees, who support the Balance on the night of the judgment of the Utchat, who cut off heads, who hack necks in pieces, who take possession of hearts by violence and rend the places where hearts are fixed, who make slaughterings in the Lake of Fire, I know you, and I know your names; therefore know ye me, even as I know your names.”
The deceased, having declared that the seven gods know his name and he their names, has no further apprehension that evil will befall him.
In one portion of the kingdom of Osiris there existed seven halls or mansions through which the deceased was anxious to pass, but each of the gates was guarded by a doorkeeper, a watcher, and a herald, and it required special provision on the part of the deceased to satisfy these beings that he had a right to pass them.
In the first place, figures of the seven gates had to be made in some substance (or painted upon papyrus), as well as a figure of the deceased: the latter was made to approach each of the gates and to stand before it and to recite an address which had been specially prepared for the purpose.
Meanwhile the thigh, the head, the heart, and the hoof of a red bull were offered at each gate, as well as a very large number of miscellaneous offerings which need not be described in detail.
But all these ceremonies would not help the deceased to pass through the gates, unless be knew the names of the seven doorkeepers, and the seven watchers, and the seven heralds who guarded them.
The gods of the first gate were:—
Sekhet-hra-âsht-aru, Semetu, and Hukheru;
those of the second, Tun-hât, Seqet-hra, and Sabes;
of the third, Am-huat-ent-pehfi, Res-hra, and Uâau;
of the fourth, Khesef-hra-âsht-kheru, Res-ab, and Neteka-hra-khesef-atu;
of the fifth, Ânkh-em-fentu, Ashebu, and Tebherkehaat;
of the sixth, Akentauk-ha-kheru, An-hra, and Metes-hra-ari-she;
of the seventh, Metes-sen, Ââa-kheru, and Khesef-hra-khemiu.
And the text, which the deceased recites to the Halls collectively, begins, “Hail, ye Halls! Hail, ye who made the Halls for Osiris! Hail, ye who watch your Halls! Hail, ye who herald the affairs of the two lands for the god Osiris each day, the deceased knoweth you, and he knoweth your names.” (See Chapters of Coming Forth by Day, p. 211).
The names having been uttered, and the addresses duly recited, the deceased went wherever he pleased in the seven Halls of Osiris.”
E.A. Wallis Budge, Egyptian Magic, London, 1901. P. 165-6.
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