Where Do You Find Your “Waldeinsamkeit”?

I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order. ~ John Burroughs

There’s a German word, “waldeinsamkeit ," that roughly translates to “the feeling of being alone in the woods.” 

From Wald (“forest”) +‎ Einsamkeit (“loneliness”).

It’s meant to describe a singular type of loneliness that is at once isolating, peaceful, and reflective.

Waldeinsamkeit is a strange name for a beautiful idea.

The concept of Waldeinsamkeit might seem scary or unsettling (the idea of being alone in the woods), but it is definitely a positive thing; it suggests a calm, contemplative atmosphere amidst a beautiful setting. If you’ve ever taken a solitary stroll through a forest and felt better for it, then you’ll understand. 

Waldeinsamkeit refers to having a connection with nature, and enjoying time alone amongst it. It is no surprise, then, that the Germans have this word, if their forests are anything to go by.

Perhaps the best known German forest is the Schwarzwald (Black Forest) in Baden-Württemberg, which was also the setting for many Brothers Grimm fairy tales. When you think about it, a lot of fairy tales are set in forests – Hansel und Gretel (Hansel and Gretel), Rumpelstilzchen (Rumpelstiltskin), Schneewittchen (Snow White), and Rotkäppchen (Little Red Riding Hood), to name a few! If anyone has experienced Waldeinsamkeit, it’s surely the characters in those fairy tales (at least, before things started to go wrong for them…).

There are even some real-life fairytale castles that exist in the heart of the German forests. The best-known of these is probably King Ludwig II’s Schloss Neuschwanstein, located in Hohenschwangau, Bavaria. This castle is often nicknamed “The fairytale castle”, and for good reason.

Yes, the woods and forests of Germany are certainly magical, mysterious, special places. It is easy to feel alone in them, and to get lost in your own thoughts as you stroll through them. Perhaps that is why the Germans have the word Waldeinsamkeit; they know, more than anyone, what it is to be alone in the woods – and how rejuvenating it can be.

Goethe frequented the Thuringian Forest, taking inspiration from the feeling among the spruce and spas around Ilmenau; Mozart found it in the springs in Carlsbad; successive Kaisers made it part of public health policy, and even Hitler insisted on it to maintain a healthy work-life balance.

And having a spot where you can go and indulge in a little waldeinsamkeit of your own can be a rewarding experience for everyone. 

One study from Japan noticed that hiking alone in forests helps reduce stress by lowering blood pressure and cortisol levels.

Shinrin-yoku is a term that means "taking in the forest atmosphere" or "forest bathing." It was developed in Japan during the 1980s and has become a cornerstone of preventive health care and healing in Japanese medicine. 

While waldeinsamkeit traditionally implies a dense, quiet wood, the emotional experience can happen just about anywhere. Maybe it’s a meaningful hideaway in your city or town that you like to keep all to yourself, or maybe it’s a bustling public square where you allow yourself to be alone in a crowd. 

Tell us about your favorite place to be blissfully alone, and why that place is so perfect for your peaceful solitude, in the comments below.

Also read:

• Shinrin-Yoku: Forest Bathing Therapy
• Silence is much more important to our brains than we think
• Ikigai: Finding your reason for being
• Having access to green places 'helps people live longer'

The Power of So Hum Mantra

A mantra is a meditation technique that helps you to take your mind to quieter, calmer levels of thinking. Mantras are often referred to as vehiclesfor the mind because with focus on the repetition of a mantra, other thoughts swimming in the mind dissipate and the mind shifts toward mental clarity and stillness.

The So Hum is the greatest of all Mantras. It is a simple but powerful technique that uses the breath and the repetition of a mantra to quiet the mind and relax the body. It is one of the most important mantras in tantrism and Kriya yoga. This Mantra comes in the Isavasya Upanishad: "Sohamasmi." 

So Hum has a special meaning in Vedic philosophy, It is a phrase comprised of two Sanskrit words. The literal translations are:

So: “That”

Hum: “I”

Therefore, the translation of So Hum is “I Am That.” 

Here, "that" refers to all of creation, the one breathing us all. This contemplation meditation is an opportunity to focus "thinking mind" on the mystery of being and to reflect upon the interdependent nature of all phenomenon revealed by the sages and confirmed by contemporary physics.

How To Practice "So Hum" Meditation

Choose a place where you won’t be disturbed. 

Find a comfortable posture for meditation (seated on a cushion or blanket, in a chair or against a wall). 

Close down your eyes, relaxing the muscles around them, as well as the crown of your head, your forehead and your jaw. Feel your shoulder blades melt down your back. The more the body is relaxed, the more the mind is able to relax into deep meditation.

Now take a slow, deep breath through your nose, while thinking or silently repeating the word So.

Then slowly exhale through your nose while silently repeating the word Hum. 

Continue to allow your breath to flow easily, silently repeating So . . . Hum . . . with each inflow and outflow of the breath.

Whenever your attention drifts to thoughts in your mind, sounds in your environment, or sensations in your body, gently return to your breath, silently repeating So . . . Hum.

Keep repeating the mantra for 5-10 minutes.

When you are ready, gently stop repeating the mantra and take a couple of minutes to relax, keeping your eyes closed.

Open your eyes.

Do this process for a few minutes when you’re first getting started, gradually building up to half an hour. 

Benefits of Meditation

The popularity of meditation is increasing as more people discover its benefits.

You can use it to increase awareness of yourself and your surroundings. Many people think of it as a way to reduce stress and develop concentration. People also use the practice to develop other beneficial habits and feelings, such as a positive mood and outlook, self-discipline, healthy sleep patterns and even increased pain tolerance.

Reduces stress

Stress reduction is one of the most common reasons people try meditation.

Controls anxiety

Less stress translates to less anxiety.

Habitual meditation helps reduce anxiety and anxiety-related mental health issues like social anxiety, phobias and obsessive-compulsive behaviors.

Promotes emotional health

Inflammatory chemicals called cytokines, which are released in response to stress, can affect mood, leading to depression. A review of several studies suggests meditation may reduce depression by decreasing these inflammatory chemicals

Research shows that maintaining an ongoing habit of meditation may help you maintain these benefits long term.

Enhances self-awareness

Meditation can help you "know yourself." This can be a starting point for making other positive changes.

It teaches you to recognize thoughts that may be harmful or self-defeating. The idea is that as you gain greater awareness of your thought habits, you can steer them toward more constructive patterns

Lengthens attention span

Focused-attention meditation is like weight lifting for your attention span. It helps increase the strength and endurance of your attention.

Meditation may even reverse patterns in the brain that contribute to mind-wandering, worrying and poor attention

May reduce age-related memory loss

Improvements in attention and clarity of thinking may help keep your mind young.

The improved focus you can gain through regular meditation may increase memory and mental clarity. These benefits can help fight age-related memory loss and dementia.

Can decrease blood pressure

Meditation can also improve physical health by reducing strain on the heart.

Blood pressure decreases not only during meditation, but also over time in individuals who meditate regularly. This can reduce strain on the heart and arteries, helping prevent heart disease.

May help fight addictions

The mental discipline you can develop through meditation may help you break dependencies by increasing your self-control and awareness of triggers for addictive behaviors

Research has shown that meditation may help people learn to redirect their attention, increase their willpower, control their emotions and impulses and increase their understanding of the causes behind their addictive behaviors.

This can help you recover from addiction, lose weight and redirect other unwanted habits.

Helps control pain

Your perception of pain is connected to your state of mind, and it can be elevated in stressful conditions.

For example, one study used functional MRI techniques to observe brain activity as participants experienced a painful stimulus. Some participants had gone through four days of mindfulness meditation training, while others had not.

The meditating patients showed increased activity in the brain centers known to control pain. They also reported less sensitivity to pain (40).

Improves sleep

Nearly half the population will struggle with insomnia at some point.

Becoming skilled in meditation may help you control or redirect the racing or "runaway" thoughts that often lead to insomnia.

Additionally, it can help relax your body, releasing tension and placing you in a peaceful state in which you're more likely to fall asleep.

Boosts sex life

Stress, confidence, over-thinking and fatigue can impact on your love life. 

Stress kills desire. In women, levels of the stress hormone cortisol can rise so high that it makes orgasm physically impossible to achieve. 

Regular meditation quiets the overactive mind, which is one of the major causes of anxiety and stress. 

And it not only decreases levels of cortisol, it increases levels of dopamine and serotonin, ’happiness’ chemicals that improve the frequency and intensity of orgasm.

Also read:

• Energy cultivated by meditators: it’s science
• Binaural Beats: how these otherworldly sounds can alleviate stress and improve overall health
• Is meditation key to a youthful mind? Meditation could help brain become 7 years younger
• Harvard study shows meditation rebuilds brain's gray matter in 8 weeks

Binaural Beats: how these otherworldly sounds can alleviate stress and improve overall health

The physical, emotional, and spiritual benefits of meditation have been well documented for thousands of years. Many studies have proven its countless benefits. 

Meditation improves overall brain function, helps you to achieve intense focus increases your ability to relax and lower stress. It can give you a sense of calm, peace and balance that can benefit both your emotional well-being and your overall health. 

And these benefits don't end when your meditation session ends. Meditation can help carry you more calmly through your day and may help you manage symptoms of certain medical conditions. It is a simple practice available to all. Learning how to meditate is straightforward, and the benefits can come quickly. 

Meditation is an umbrella term for the many ways to a relaxed state of being. There are many types of meditation and relaxation techniques that have meditation components. All share the same goal of achieving inner peace.

But there’s a type of meditation that’s gaining traction with both medical professionals and wellness practitioners. It’s called binaural beat brainwave technology, and with this style of meditation, there’s no silence allowed.

The Chicago SunTimes published an article on the benefits of binaural beats:

“Binaural means two frequencies coming in through the ears, one in each side,” said Dr. Trupti Gokani, a board-certified neurologist and founder of the Zira Mind and Body Center in Glenview. “How it works, is each side of the brain gets stimulated with a certain sound or beat. The difference between the frequencies creates an imaginary beat that takes the brain into the theta range, which is where you are calm and coherent.”

Like most meditations, you can do the binaural beats anywhere, anytime. There are apps and Youtube videos that specialize in just this type of sound therapy. But you do need a set of headphones to get the full effect of the treatment, said Gokani, because otherwise the sounds won’t alternate from ear to ear, which is the trick to getting the binaural benefits. Activating each side of the brain can also release unhealthy belief systems and patterns, Gokani said.

“The brain can get dominant on one side so when the programs that are negative, such as the sabotaging ‘The world is out to get me,’ start to run, that’s usually the left, more logical, analytical, fact-based side of the brain. When the brain gets more in alignment, it can stop the pattern of negative thinking, which is a beautiful thing,” Gokani said. “We need to stimulate the right side, which is the creative, more spiritual and connected side, and these modalities can start that process.”

Gokani said the brain connectivity process can even make things “more harmonious” for the physical body. “When the brain is connected, our physical body feels better. If the brain is having symptoms like anxiety, fear, depression, anger, it’s because the brain is operating in kind of an incoherent, non-synchronistic way. I’m actually trying these different rhythms with my migraine patients right now. Hemi-Sync is another one I’m trying.”

Hemi-Sync is a process using binaural beats and audio guidance technology that was created by Robert Monroe after decades of studying sound patterns on human consciousness. While Monroe died in 1995, his research lives on through courses and audio meditations through The Monroe Institute in Virginia.

“You can hook someone up to an EEG and actually see that there’s a physical response happening in the brain because it takes your consciousness and focuses it like a laser beam,” said Garrett Stevens, chairman and president of Hemi-Sync. “Some of the people who have come to the Monroe Institute over the years have been Buddhist monks, and lots of them say ‘I wish I’d known about this earlier’ because to achieve states of consciousness that might take years of sitting on cushions some people can achieve in eight minutes.”

Binaural beat and Hemi-Sync meditations vary in length (a few minutes to an hour) and type (guided with speaking, un-guided with no speaking.) Stevens’ Hemi-Sync site has even catalogued the meditations by category.

“Bob Monroe created these recipes some time ago through hundreds and thousands of trials,” Stevens said. “The general recipes are sleep, relaxation, wellness, creativity, manifestation and meditation.”

Binaural beat technology has also been proven to help with soldiers suffering from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

“There was actually a study that was done in 2017 that was funded by Walter Reed National Military Medical Center that focused on treating vets with PTSD using binaural beat technology and it produced statistically significant positive results on all four factors that were measured,” Stevens said.

Patty Avalon, who has been a teacher at the Monroe Institute since 2000, said participants have also reported an increase in their intuitive and creative abilities after using the meditations.

“The left [brain] hemisphere and the right [brain] hemisphere basically offer very different gifts,” Avalon said. “In our culture we don’t use the right hemisphere in our everyday lives because we live in a culture that has us get up at six in the morning and we go to work and it’s very regulated. So if you can get a technology like this that helps to activate both sides of the brain simultaneously — you have access to your more creative and intuitive self.”

You can find Robert Monroe's Audio CD 'Eternal Now with Hemi-Sync' on the right bar of our site.  


Also read:

• Energy cultivated by meditators: it’s science
• Is meditation key to a youthful mind? Meditation could help brain become 7 years younger
• Harvard study shows meditation rebuilds brain's gray matter in 8 weeks

Aleister Crowley on Atheists

Atheists are of three kinds.

1. The mere stupid man.  (Often he is very clever, as Bolingbroke, Bradlaugh and Foote were  clever).  He has found out one of the minor arcana, and hugs it and despises those who see more than himself, or who regard things from a different standpoint.  Hence he is usually a bigot, intolerant even of tolerance.

2. The despairing wretch, who, having sought God everywhere, and failed to find Him, thinks everyone else is as blind as he is, and that if he has  failed—he, the seeker after truth!—it is because there is no goal.  In his cry there is pain, as with the stupid kind of atheist there is smugness and self-satisfaction.  Both are diseased Egos.

3. The philosophical adept, who, knowing God, says “There is No God,” meaning, “God is Zero,” as qabalistically He is.  He holds atheism as a philosophical speculation as good as any other, and perhaps less likely to mislead mankind and do other practical damage as any other. Him you may know by his equanimity, enthusiasm, and devotion.  I again refer to Liber 418 for an explanation of this mystery. The nine religions are crowned by the ring of adepts whose password is “There is No God,” so inflected that even the Magister when received among them had not wisdom to interpret it.

1. Mr Daw, K.C.: M’lud, I respectfully submit that there is no such creature as a peacock

2. Oedipus at Colonus: Alas! there is no sun!  I, even I, have looked and found it not.

3. Dixit Stultus in corde suo: “Ain Elohim.”

There is a fourth kind of atheist, not really an atheist at all.  He is but a traveller in the Land of No God, and knows that it is but a stage on his journey—and a stage, moreover, not far from the goal.  Daath is not on the Tree of Life; and in Daath there is no God as there is in the Sephiroth, for Daath cannot understand unity at all.  If he thinks of it, it is only to hate it, as the one thing which he is most certainly not (see Liber 418, 10th Æthyr.  I may remark in passing that this book is the best known to me on Advanced Qabalah, and of course it is only intelligibile to Advanced Students).

This atheist, not in-being but in-passing, is a very apt subject for initiation.  He has done with the illusions of dogma.  From a Knight of the Royal Mystery he has risen to understand with the members of the Sovereign Sanctuary that all is symbolic; all, if you will, the Jugglery of the Magician.  He is tired of theories and systems of theology and all such toys; and being weary and anhungered and athirst seeks a seat at the Table of Adepts, and a portion of the Bread of Spiritual Experience, and a draught of the wine of Ecstasy.

Excerpt from the book 777 and Other Qabalistic Writings.

Find the book on the right bar of our site

Imbolc, Midwinter Festival of the Goddess's Light

February 1st is one of the great cross-quarter days which make up the Wheel of the Year. It falls midway between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox and, in many traditions, including Celtic, is considered the beginning of Spring.

Imbolc means “in the belly”. This refers to the pregnant ewes who are about to birth their lambs, but can also refer to the Goddess, as in “in the belly of the Mother”, for in the womb of Mother Earth, even though it may to be apparent to us yet, there are stirrings. The seeds are just beneath the surface, ready to sprout; this is a time of quickening and new growth. Imbolc does not bring dramatic change from the apparent death of Winter-the trees do not burst into blossom overnight, leaves do not immediately sprout from the branches, plants and flowers do not instantly carpet the earth. This is a very mysterious time-growth is gradual and seeds lie hidden in the earth, slowly pushing the first shoots up through the soil and yet all still appears lifeless.

In Western Europe, this was the time for preparing the fields for the first planting. 

The other name for this festival is “Oimelc” meaning “ewe’s milk” in reference to the lactating ewes. For our ancestors, the lambing season was another sign that Winter was combing to an end. The gamboling lambs seemed to herald the warmer days to come. 

Imbolc is a celebration of newness-the promise of fertility new life and new hope. Imbolc is the festival that celebrates the transformation of the Goddess from the dark Crone of Winter to the radiant Virgin of Spring. The ground is awakening and the seed is placed in the belly of the earth. The promises of the return of the light and the renewal of life, which were made at the Winter Solstice, are now becoming manifest. It’s the dawn of the year. It is time to creep out of Winter hibernation; it’s the time of germination. This is also a traditional time for new beginnings, a time of initiations and taking a new name.

In the Christian calendar the day after Imbolc, February 2nd, is designated the Feast of Purification, when Mary went to the temple to be ritually cleansed after giving birth. According to Hebrew tradition, all new mothers had to be “purified” forty days after the birth of a male child (eighty days after the birth of a female child). When Mary attended the temple and presented her new baby, she met the aged holy man, Simeon, who prophesied that the infant would become “a light for revelation”. In memory of this prophecy, candles are blessed in church on this day. There is a candlelit procession and candlelit services are held, giving rise to the feast name of Candlemas.

This, of course, has a Pagan origin, like many Christian celebrations. In ancient Rome, a similar rite at this time of year honored the Goddess Juno Februata. It was Juno who generated the ‘febris’ (Latin for fever and the origin of this month’s name) of love and on this day her worshippers carried burning candles.

February 1st is the feast day of Brigid, who began her life as a Pagan Goddess and ended up a Christian saint. Her name originates from the Gaelic words Breo-Saighit, which means fiery or flaming arrow. The Church of Rome could not hope to extinguish her flame, so they attempted to control and contain it by creating a saint in her image, changing the name to Bridget. Some church scholars say there never really was a Saint Bridget, but because the Catholic Church couldn’t very easily call the Great Goddess of Ireland a demon, they canonized her instead. In her temple at Kildare, nineteen priestesses tended an eternal fire-an inextinguishable flame. It is said that on the twentieth day, the flame was left to burn by itself, though some say Brigid attended it herself.

On her feast day, beginning at sunset on February 1st and ending at sunset on February 2nd, her statue was washed in the sea-for purification-and then carried in a cart through the fields surrounded by candles. Sacred fires were lit, since she symbolized the fire of birth and healing, the fire of the forge and the fire of poetic inspiration. Brigid is the protector and preserver of all memory and knowledge-she is also called Brigit, Brid or Bride. Her role is that of teacher and magical instructor and she empowers her students with wisdom and knowledge to nurture the land, keeping it safe and productive and for the good of all.

Brigid is a Goddess of Fire, Creativity and Fertility. She is known as the Goddess of poetry, smithcraft and healing. She is patroness of inspiration and midwifery. 

In Britain, there are many sacred wells and many of them are dedicated to Brigid. The water in these wells contain healing minerals and people tie ribbons to nearby bushes and trees so that they flutter in the wind like prayer flags. As the cloth is torn to rags by the wind, sun and rain, illness falls away too.

One of the nicest folk customs still practiced in many countries is to place a lit candle in every window of the house, beginning at sunset on February 1st, allowing them to burn until sunrise on February 2nd. 

Other customs include weaving “Brigid’s crosses” from straw or wheat to hang around the house for protection, performing rites of spiritual cleansing and purification, making “Bride’s beds” to ensure fertility of mind and spirit (and body if desired), and making Crowns of Light to wear.

Since this is a time of new beginnings, this is a good day to ritually celebrate all things new. Plan a ceremony to name a new baby, officially welcome a new person into your family or home, take on a new name or make a commitment to a goal.

Many Pagans have an annual ritual of voluntarily surrendering something they are fond of between Imbolc and the Spring Equinox. Perhaps this is the origin of Lent? You can give up something frivolous or serious, but it should be something you will notice and miss.

Today is Imbolc, the day of midwinter.

The cold has begun to fade away,

and the days grow longer.

This is a time in which the earth is quickening,

like the goddess womb,

birthing the fire after the darkness.

The Goddess has returned with the sacred flame.

This is a time of rebirth and fertility,

and as the earth grows full of life,

may you find abundance on your own path.

Sufi Dancing and Islamic Mysticism

Sufism is a mystical school of practice that emphasizes the inward search for God and shuns materialism. It has produced some of the world’s most beloved literature, like the love poems of the 13th century Iranian jurist Rumi. 

But Sufism, often known as Islamic mysticism, has come under violent attack in recent years. While it is sometimes misunderstood as a sect of Islam, it is actually a broader style of worship that transcends sects, directing followers’ attention inward. Sufi practice focuses on the renunciation of worldly things, purification of the soul and the mystical contemplation of God’s nature. Followers try to get closer to God by seeking spiritual learning known as tariqa. Confusion about Sufism is common, even among Muslims, according to Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, an American Sufi cleric.

Extracts from the book Occult Secrets of Vril, by Robert Sepehr 

Chapter 6 - The Mystics:

The esoteric interpretation of the Quran, also called ta 'wil, is the allegorical interpretation or the quest for its hidden, or occult, inner meanings. Initially used as a synonym of conventional interpretation, it came to mean a process of discerning its most fundamental understandings. 

The esoteric interpretations do not usually contradict the conventional (exoteric) interpretations; instead, they discuss the deepest, often secret, hidden and withheld inner levels of spiritual attainment. Sufis practice ancient alchemical techniques, developed long before Islam, which were incorporated into the Islamic faith as mysteries to allow initiated individuals to develop spiritual realization, and then in turn to teach then to others. 

Sufis often use music as a means to pray and connect with God, which members archive by entering into a group meditative altered state. Although some traditional Islamic leadership frown upon this musical expression, Sufi musical performances, including chanting, dancing, and meditation, aim to lead followers to the subjective experience of annihilation of the ego and the merging with the higher divine self to commune with God directly.

This tradition teaches that the ideal state of self realization is through subsistence, where the mystic is conscious of both universal  unity and, to a lesser degree, of his own individual identity. The goal is to experience a connection to divinity within oneself. What is most essential to Sufism  can not be learned intellectually; one can only reach it through personal experience and inward transformation. 

The Sufi philosopher Ibn Arabi, once said, "When my beloved appears, with what eye do I see him? With his eye, not with mine. For nose sees him but himself." It is said that through the heart divinity is most accessible and, according to the mystics, altered states of higher consciousness, psychologically described as an altered trance state, are ritualistically entered into in an effort to embrace and experience this spiritual union. 

Eventually the Sufis gathered and aggregated alchemical and Gnostic teachings from various ancient sources and, combining them, established numerous new synthetic mystery school traditions - an amalgamation of alchemical wisdom derived from India, Egypt, Persia and Greece. One such mystery tradition, called the House of Wisdom, was founded in Cairo. Many seeking ancient knowledge came from around the Middle East and Asia to study at this mystery school, which was divided into nine degrees leading to elighqment. Adepts who graduated from the House of Wisdom went on to found their own mystery school. Hassani Sabbah, nicknamed the 'Old Man', or 'Lord of the Mountain' formed one such school, called the School of the Hashishi ("Assassins"). This will be the topic of a next article. 

Tanoura means skirt, and the Tanoura dance, is a kind of Sufi folkloric dance very common in Islamic countries, especially in Turkey and in Egypt. Known to the West as Twirling Dervishes, the Mevlevi Order was found in the 13th century. The term “Dervish” literally means “doorway”.  The whirling is magnificent to watch, as the performers enter a hyper-conscious state, their eyes closed, yet always maintaining perfect physical balance. Similar techniques are used in some religious rituals in Columbia.

The nine parts of the human soul according to ancient Egypt

According to ancient Egyptian creation myths, the god Atum created the world out of chaos, utilizing his own magic. Because the earth was created with magic, Egyptians believed that the world was imbued with magic and so was every living thing upon it. When humans were created, that magic took the form of the soul, an eternal force which resided in and with every human being. 

The ancient Egyptians were convinced that the human soul was composed of nine main parts.

The concept of the soul and the parts which encompass it has varied from the Old Kingdom to the New Kingdom. In some eras, the soul was thought to be comprised of five parts and in others seven, but, generally, it was nine. 

Ab (The heart) was an extremely important part of the Egyptian soul. It was believed to form from one drop of blood from the child’s mother’s heart, taken at conception. In ancient Egyptian mythology, the heart was the key to the afterlife. The Ab was the heart, the source of good and evil, which defined a person's character. This was the spiritual heart which rose from the physical heart (hat) which was left in the mummified body of the deceased for this reason: it was the seat of the person's individuality and the record of their thoughts and deeds during their time on earth. It was the ab which was weighed in the balances against the white feather of truth by Osiris and, if found heavier than the feather, it was dropped to the floor where it was devoured by the monster Amut. Once the heart was eaten, the soul ceased to exist. If the heart was found lighter than the feather, the soul was justified and could proceed on toward paradise. 

Shuyet (The Shadow) was the shadow self which means it was essentially the shadow of the soul. The shadow in Egypt represented comfort and protection, and the sacred sites at Amarna were known as Shadow of Ra for this reason. Exactly how the shuyet functioned is not clear, but it was considered extremely important and operated as a protective and guiding entity for the soul in the afterlife. The Egyptian Book of the Dead includes a spell where the soul claims, "My shadow will not be defeated" in stating its ability to traverse the afterlife toward paradise.

Ren (The name) was another crucial part of the soul. A person’s Ren was given to them at birth and the Egyptians believed that it would live for as long as that name was spoken.

Bâ is most often translated as 'soul' and was a human-headed bird aspect which could speed between earth and the heavens and, specifically, between the afterlife and one's corpse. Each ba was linked to a particular body, and the ba would hover over the corpse after death but could also travel to the afterlife, visit with the gods, or return to earth to those places the person had loved in life. The corpse had to reunite with the ka each night in order for the ka to receive sustenance, and it was the job of the ba to accomplish this. The gods had a ba as well as a ka. Examples of this are the Apis bull which was the ba of Osiris and the Phoenix, the ba of Ra.

Ka (The vital spark) According to the Ancient Egyptians the Ka was a vital concept in the soul as it distinguishes the difference between a living and a dead person. The Ka was one’s double-form or astral self and corresponds to what most people in the present day consider a 'soul.' This was the vital source that enabled a person to continue to receive offerings in the next world. The ka was created at the moment of one's birth for the individual and so reflected one's personality, but the essence had always existed and was passed across the successive generations, carrying the spiritual force of the first creation. The ka was not only one's personality but also a guide and protector, imbued with the spark of the divine. It was the ka which would absorb the power from the food offerings left in the tomb, and these would sustain it in the afterlife. All living things had a ka - from plants to animals and on up to the gods - which was evident in that they were, simply, alive.

Khat (The Body) was the physical body which, when it became a corpse, provided the link between one's soul and one's earthly life. The soul would need to be nourished after death just as it had to be while on earth, and so food and drink offerings were brought to the tomb and laid on an offerings table. The dead body was not thought to actually eat this food but to absorb its nutrients supernaturally. Paintings and statues of the dead person were also placed in the tomb so that, if something should happen to damage the body, the statue or painting would assume its role.

Akh (The Immortal Self) according to ancient Egyptians, the Akh was the transformed immortal self which offered a magical union of the Ba and Ka. Once the akh had been created by this union, it survived as an 'enlightened spirit,' enduring and unchanged for eternity. Akh is usually translated as 'spirit' and was the higher form of the soul. Spell 474 of the Pyramid Texts states, "the akh belongs to heaven, the corpse to earth," and it was the akh which would enjoy eternity among the stars with the gods. The akh could return to earth, however, and it was an aspect of the akh which would come back as a ghost to haunt the living if some wrong had been done or would return in dreams to help someone they cared for.

Sahu (The Judge) The Sahu was the aspect of Akh which would come to a person as a ghost or while asleep in dreams. The Sahu was the aspect of the Akh which would appear as a ghost or in dreams. It separated from the other aspects of the soul once the individual was justified by Osiris and judged worthy of eternal existence.

Sechem was another aspect of the Akh which allowed it mastery of circumstances. It was considered the vital life energy of the person which manifested itself as the power to control one's surroundings and outcomes.