The Feather of Maat

Thanks to Geezy for the invitation in! Werd.
Welcome to my first. pop. ahh reaching for a cigarette.
I am WBvG (aspiring author working in a cubi-kill for now)  and I’ll be in here from time to time as my novel Nyx Myth progresses. I’ll be sharing parts of my writings and a few artworks to add a few thoughts to your day.

So…the Feather of Maat:

I am at an interesting point in the Nyx Myth, probably around halfway, underneath the sphinx and the great pyramid in Egypt.

A lot of my writings are based on truths and characterisations have been set up for the reader to align their experiences and their views to agree heavily with the main character, Millar. What drew me to Egyptology is that it is one of the oldest wisest civilisations that (we have records of).
In this scene in my novel the characters are climbing through a locked sarcophagus; this particular doorway belongs to a portal through to pathways which lead to an underground city called “the Darkness” one of very few places in the world where dreamers and their dreams are safe.

The ancient Egyptians had the hall of Maat; the goddess of creation; concept of truth, balance, order, law, morality, blah blah, who’s heading to the pub? Yea so the Egyptians mummified your arse and cut out your heart (which is where they believed the soul to be) and the person’s soul is weighed with a feather to see if they have been worthy enough to continue on to the afterlife (the land of Osiris). Seems fair?

In the Hall of Maat is where the judgment of the dead was performed
- It is also known as the “Hall of the Two Truths”

- Unlike Semitic Religions, Egyptians had no concept of a general judgment day when all those who had lived in the world should receive rewards and punishment for their deeds; on the contrary each soul was dealt with individually, and was either permitted to pass into the kingdom of Osiris, or was destroyed straightway.

- First the soul recites the ritual confession, known as the 42 negative confessions, claiming to be guiltless of the offences which are punishable. Sins included doing evil to mankind, theft, fraud, murder, inflicting pain, committing adultery and insulting the gods

Here are the

42 Confessions (Papyrus of Ani)

1. I have not committed sin.
2. I have not committed robbery with violence.
3. I have not stolen.
4. I have not slain men and women.
5. I have not stolen grain.
6. I have not purloined offerings.
7. I have not stolen the property of the god.
8. I have not uttered lies.
9. I have not carried away food.
10. I have not uttered curses.
11. I have not committed adultery, I have not lain with men.
12. I have made none to weep.
13. I have not eaten the heart [i.e I have not grieved uselessly, or felt remorse].
14. I have not attacked any man.
15. I am not a man of deceit.
16. I have not stolen cultivated land.
17. I have not been an eavesdropper.
18. I have slandered [no man].
19. I have not been angry without just cause.
20. I have not debauched the wife of any man.
21. I have not debauched the wife of [any] man. (repeats the previous affirmation but addressed to a different god).
22. I have not polluted myself.
23. I have terrorised none.
24. I have not transgressed [the Law].
25. I have not been wroth.
26. I have not shut my ears to the words of truth.
27. I have not blasphemed.
28. I am not a man of violence.
29. I am not a stirrer up of strife (or a disturber of the peace).
30. I have not acted (or judged) with undue haste.
31. I have not pried into matters.
32. I have not multiplied my words in speaking.
33. I have wronged none, I have done no evil.
34. I have not worked witchcraft against the King (or blasphemed against the King).
35. I have never stopped [the flow of] water.
36. I have never raised my voice (spoken arrogantly, or in anger).
37. I have not cursed (or blasphemed) God.
38. I have not acted with evil rage.
39. I have not stolen the bread of the gods.
40. I have not carried away the khenfu cakes from the Spirits of the dead.
41. I have not snatched away the bread of the child, nor treated with contempt the god of my city.
42. I have not slain the cattle belonging to the god.

(looks like we are all fucked.)

___________________________________________________

I sat on the phone tonight and couldn’t hardly get a sentence out. My brain is worn out, my mouse-finger is seizing up from a public holiday drinking injury, my eyes have dark bags, I don’t know if you’re a creative punce, a hard working doctor delivering babies or a whore on a naval ship; but I am feeling a little tired of heading in to a job which feels pointless and hard if I align or compare it with how I live my life, like the scales holding a heart and a feather, tonight I felt torn between the two worlds we are handed in life… {doobie break}

1. The world we are given to work with the laws at play. You can read on into the law of octaves, the law of all suns and the teachings of the fourth way but basically the laws of earth are cold and harsh, so fucken deal with it pal.

and

2. The world that we create. Staying up late watching anime. Rolling on caps. Doing it doggy style. Writing. Basically doing anything you want as long as you can tick off the laws of earth: pay rent, keep parents moderately happy, eat well, exercise, pay phone bill,  pay internet bill, pay off car… this shit belongs in world 1.  Sorry… so yer as I was saying lollipops, pink clouds, heaps of orgies, public holidays, maids and people getting out of your way (very polite people everywhere cheering you on).

So I have lived in world number 2 for the past 5 years. During these years I felt I was on my path, doing what needed to be done, my only problem was that I was discovering things far too slowly about my writing. I decided to start working fulltime as my consulting work dried up and I entered mobile digital design. The days are long and the empty feelings come with sighs at each week going by. The creative projects sit in dust. Suddenly months and a year goes by. I haven’t been broker. (My drinking habits coping with the world change.)
Why so much hard work and that empty feeling and frustration is like expecting Jay-Z to work in a supermarket his whole life; he’d  jump from the Macy projects.

I have certain rules within the laws of earth to abide by some are basics are like; my comforts and fears to content with. The fears are making money. The comforts are having what money provides and the downfall is that every working day is meaningless without my creative balance, a greater sense of freedom and the time to my own thoughts to help figure what the fuck is going on and who the fuck I have become; talking on phone conferences, small talk to other workers in elevators about the helmet I carry because I can’t stand public transport and animating powerpoint presentations. Fuck! Survival takes up so much time that I have no time to think let alone dream.

So, if I am Jay-Z in the supermarket or J.K.Rowling touching myself up to Quidditch Allstars in Starbucks after the kids are in bed then
I’m going to do something to change from world 1 back to world 2. Micheal Jordan played baseball (for his Dad) yes he was shit but he had a go.

So if Anubis is to weigh the scales of Maat,
What does it matter if you lived your life not living how you really want it. Sure, this can take time to plan and wait patiently and a sacrifice will always reap rewards….I’m just getting a feeling that the people that deserve it – are really pig headed and act decisively (with great discipline) and probably live with their moms.

Chose one dream and focus on one.

So I am just wondering, maybe I can live by my own simple set of commandments, pay rent and trudge off to work each working day,
just Christ one day soon I live in the hope and hard work that I will be dancing back to my world of 2.

TWO WORLDS ARE THERE IN YOU.
_______________________________

WORLD 1

Life.
Survival.
Money.
(Don’t forget) Dreams.
_______________________________

WORLD 2

Life.
Dreams.
_______________________________

Cut out the crap. Follow your dreams.
Because I don’t know I’m making it through on those 42 confessions.
See you in the beer garden (not a cubicle workstation) with a published book on the shelf.

For the leavers, the dreamers, the schemers, the high beamers,
the benders, the lenders, the out of luck, the desperate fucks;
to the red cloaked romantics
I wish you a world you always dreamed of.

Written late on a work night.
Wearing trackpants and a tshirt with a hole.
Fragrance: Fahrenheit CD.
Drinking: Nettle tea (forgot to get the cup after boiling the kettle).
Listening: to Whisperings: Solo piano Radio | Piano music to quiet your world on itunes radio > classical

.WBvG.

Written by - Willy Butt Van Gelderen