jamisings:

intaier:

jamisings:

Random thought – If getting into the Egyptian afterlife really is about how heavy your heart is weighted down by guilt and psychopaths don’t feel guilt – doesn’t that mean Osiris and the rest of the Egyptian pantheon are hanging around serial killers?

Read the myth of prince Setna and his son Sa-Osiri: there’s exact description of HOW the weighting is done.

http://ib205.tripod.com/setne_2.html

You will see very detailed description of egyptian afterlife, without extra glamour.
You may especially notice some things:

They
entered the seventh hall, and Setne saw the mysterious form of Osiris,
the great god, seated on his throne of fine gold, crowned with the
atef-crown. Anubis, the great god, was on his left, the great god Thoth
was on his right, and the gods of the tribunal of the inhabitants of the
netherworld stood on his left and right. The balance stood in the
center before them, and they weighed the good deeds against the
misdeeds, Thoth, the great god, writing, while Anubis gave the
information to his colleague.He who would be found to have more misdeeds
than good deeds [is handed over] to the Devourer, who belongs to the
lord of the netherworld. His ba is destroyed together with his body, and
he is not allowed to breathe ever again.He who would be found to have
more good deeds than misdeeds is taken in among the gods of the tribunal
of the lord of the netherworld, while his ba goes to the sky together
with the august spirits.He who would be found to have good deeds equal
to his misdeeds is taken in among the excellent spirits who serve
Sokar-Osiris. […]

– But, not everyone, who did
mode bad things than good things, is sent to be eaten by Ammit. Some of
the souls are being sent to “imprisonment in the Netherworld”, where
they experience punishment (you will see that on the example of the rich man in the story)

“Take
it to your heart, my father Setne: He who is beneficent on earth, to
him one is beneficent in the netherworld. And he who is evil, to him
one is evil. It is so decreed [and will remain so] for ever. The
things that you have seen in the netherworld at Memphis, they
happen in the forty-two nomes [in which are the judges] of Osiris,
the great god.”

Got to be honest, had that thought this morning when that episode of Supernatural was on and Osiris was telling Sam that it was up to Dean if he got punished or not.

Then I started thinking about the first time I was actually introduced to the concept. I can’t remember if it was a Sesame Street movie (made for tv) or just one of their episodes. But Big Bird and Snuffleupagus were in a museum when they met the ghost of a dead Egyptian boy. They helped him get into the afterlife and were even there for the judging. The boy’s heart was weighed and at first judged as being too heavy until Big Bird pointed out that of course his heart was heavy, he had been apart from his family and alone for so long that he felt unloved. Then he and Snuffy told the boy he was loved and the boy’s heart got lighter and he entered the afterlife and turned into a star. (I can’t be the only person out there who remembers this. Fucking Sesame Street characters talking to dead boys!)

Add to that the fact I’ve been trying to convince a librarian where I work to buy books about Ed Gein and copies of movies like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Idea for a Halloween display – pair a movie up with the books or books about the people they’re based on. Dracula, The Phantom Of The Opera, etc – Gein is the inspiration behind Leatherface along with several other horror movie villains) so serial killers/psychopaths were on my mind too. 

Which led to this thought which I later realized is probably all screwed up cause unlike Greek and Norse mythology, Egyptian wasn’t really studied in depth in school.