The Ghost of Akhenaten

CHAPTER 1-3

‘But why do I feel that I am personally in ancient Egypt experiencing those things?’

Mary shook her head. ‘You must not think I am claiming to know for sure everything about the nature of reality. No one does. But I see no reason why we can’t access the past, because it is part of the universal consciousness, and we are part of that. Even in the physical universe nothing is ever destroyed, but only changes form.’

Jack had heard that every cell in the body changes every seven years. If this was so, he could not be the person born to his mother — yet he knew that he was. Something continued through all the physical changes, something that was not physical. This non-physical element could be in touch with a non-physical universe.

‘The ancient Egyptians believed that the human being is made up of nine parts, or aspects,’ Mary continued. ‘I understand the Khu, or Akh, as the Spirit, the original and eternal Being of a person. The pharaoh Akhenaten incorporated that word into his name to indicate that he, as eternal spirit, was in touch with his god, the Aten. In ancient Egyptian iconography it is represented by the sacred crested ibis, a bird whose feathers are iridescent. Through it we are in touch with Eternity, for Eternity is where it actually dwells. It only temporarily overlaps, as it were, with this world, while we are in the body. By becoming conscious of the Akh we can communicate mystically with what is normally beyond our comprehension.

‘The Ba, or soul, is more local to oneself as a personality formed in time. It is represented aptly by a migrating bird, a stork, standing beside a pot with a flame burning brightly, or, perhaps more frequently, by a human headed bird. This Ba is judged after the death of the body. If its thoughts and actions in life can balance against Maat, the ultimate arbiter of truth and justice, it could pass on to rejoin the Akh, or eternal spirit. If it is judged not to be ready and has failed in some way to satisfy Maat, the ancient Egyptians believed it had to return to earth and try again as a reincarnated being, or, in some extreme cases, be flung back into the void where it ceased to have any individuality at all.

‘The third aspect of the non-material part of us was named the Ka, this was represented by two upraised arms. It seems it was thought of as being much more earthbound than the spirit or the soul. It may be what sometimes appears to us as a ghost, or helps us in invisible form as our guiding spirit. In the tomb, a false door was placed for its convenience so that it could pass in and out of this world after the death of the physical body. Food and drink were left for it, sometimes in a literal sense, but mostly in picture form. The ancient Egyptians had much more of a sense of the vital essence, the life, of a thing, not only residing in its material form, but in the idea of it. We might call the Ka the astral body — but that would not be totally accurate.’

‘What on earth is the astral body?’ Jack asked, groaning inwardly at all this mumbo-jumbo.

Mary laughed and threw up her hands. Where to begin!

Emma helped her out.

‘We also believe our physical bodies are not all there is of us. The astral body is a sort of invisible envelope around us while we are in this world, operating on a different vibrational wavelength to the physical or the spiritual, but nevertheless connecting the two. Healers can sense it and use it for diagnosing and healing what is wrong with us. When people have out-of-body experiences it is usually believed that it is this astral or etheric body that detaches itself from the physical, floats away and observes the physical from a distance. This could happen during the shock of a near death experience, or under the influence of drugs. A friend of mine experienced astral travel under morphine during the long labour to deliver her first child. I have experienced it, without drugs, unexpectedly. There are stories of saints experiencing it in states of high mystical ecstasy, and Eastern holy men inducing it deliberately by practising certain esoteric disciplines.’

‘The other six aspects the ancient Egyptians believed in are easier to comprehend,’ Mary said, laughing.

‘I’m glad to hear it!’ Jack said thankfully.

‘The Name had special significance because it was the one thing that held all these disparate elements together in the minds of others, identifying an individual. The Heart represents the motives, the will of the individual. The Shadow we might call the sub-conscious; the Double, the template given at birth to guide the individual into what it should become.’

‘You mean like that story, “The Portrait of Dorian Gray”,’ Jack asked, ‘where the portrait kept in the attic changes throughout the man’s life into a hideous monster to reveal at last what he is really like, as opposed to what he pretends to be?’

Mary smiled.

‘Well, that would be the principle working the opposite way! But it just shows how these ancient beliefs are still part of our culture, though we may distort them or deny them.’

‘I have seen Egyptian images of a potter god fashioning newborn twins on a potters wheel,’ Jack said.

‘Not twins,’ Mary corrected him, ‘but the newborn and its Double. Some Christians believe one’s guardian angel is assigned to one at birth. Perhaps this is what the Double is — not just a template which holds the image of us as we ought to be, but someone who helps us to fulfil that potential.’

But Jack had had enough. He was becoming confused and uneasy. He felt that the ground that had always seemed so firm and solid under his feet was shifting and dissolving. He needed to get away.

He stood up.

Emma seemed surprised.

‘Are we going?’

‘Yes, I have another appointment,’ he lied.

Mary smiled and stood up at once, leaning on her stick. She knew he was running away, but she knew also that he would be back.

‘But we haven’t told Mary about the papyrus fragments you have,’ Emma cried. They had been uppermost in her mind when she had arranged the meeting. She knew that Mary had studied hieroglyphics at evening classes, and, although she was no expert, she might have been able to decipher enough to tell them if they were worth getting properly translated.

Mary shook her head.

‘Another time,’ she said. ‘We must not make Jack late for his appointment.’

He could see that she did not believe that he had an appointment, but she spoke in a way that suggested she might know of an appointment that he did not yet know he had.

They left, Jack not looking back. Emma turned at the gate to wave at the old lady still smiling in the doorway.

* * * *

That night he dreamed again. Was this the appointment he had to keep?

He found himself walking in a beautiful garden, but one unlike any he had seen in England. The trees were tamarisk and sycamore fig, with tall palms against the perimeter walls, bushes scarlet with pomegranate flowers, and lilies everywhere. The sun was low in the sky but still blazing hot.

He turned a corner and found himself looking at a rectangular pool lined with flowering shrubs. On the water a variety of water lilies rested — an exquisite waxy blue the most common. At the far side, a lotus raised its long stalk and held up a luminous white flower in the fragrant air. He glanced down at his feet and was surprised to see his legs were bare and he was wearing a pair of flimsy sandals. A white linen kilt was fastened around his waist.

A slight sound made him lift his head.

On the far side, just emerging from a leafy avenue, was a woman. He caught his breath. He had no doubt now where he was. He had seen paintings of ancient Egyptian gardens and women dressed in that way, finely pleated, almost transparent fabric revealing every curve. As she paused beside the pool, the sunlight, shining through the leaves, flickered over her, turning her skin to gold and black like a leopard’s...

‘Ah, but she is beautiful,’ he thought.

‘Will she turn? Will she see me standing here ... waiting?’

‘Will her eyes — deep as the Great Green Ocean — look into mine and smile?’

There have not been many smiles lately.

She will turn to me, but her eyes will be cold and sad... Will I ever bring back the light to them?