There was no defined religious creed in ancient Egypt.
Beliefs varied from region to region and personal lifestyle
to personal lifestyle. So I will be talking about a variety
of Egyptian beliefs but not one central “religion”. Since
Myths often grew into beliefs many recognized opposing
myths without believing that one negated the other.
For instance while one myth credited the creation of the
universe to Ptah, who created himself and the universe
out of himself, another myth claimed a belief in a creator,
one who had always been, who created all things. These
ideas were not viewed as mutually exclusive. If there is
one lesson we can learn learn from the Egyptians it is
that just because someone else’s beliefs differ from your
own does not invalidate their beliefs, or yours. Ancient
Egypt was the quintessential melting pot. The belief
that open minds create an open universe was widley
accepted .

Many Egyptians believed in not one but two paradises.
One ruled by Ra, the sun god, the other by Osiris.
The Osirian paradise was where men were judged
according to their deeds. Similiar to the christian
belief in standing in front of the open book of
life on judgement day. Osiris was an agricultural
deity to whom the belief in “reaping what you sow”
is attributed. The realm of Ra however did not
require good living to enter but magical formulae.

In the Egyptian Book of the Dead, which you can find
a link to on our “In Search of Knowledge” page,
it seems the reason for mumification was to preserve
the body for the return of the soul after 3000 years. This
belief in transmigration of souls is connected with the
similar concept of the souls being passed from father to
son, thus a son becomes the image of his father, as Horus
was ofhis father Osiris. There existed various forms of the
archaic chaos-egg myth associated with the gods Ptah,
Khnumu, seb, Osiris and Ra. As the European giant hides
his soul in the egg, which is within the duck, which is within
the fish,which is within the deer and so on, and Bata hides
his soulin the blossom, the bull, and the tree ere he becomes
“husband of his mother”, so does Osiris, “hide his essence
in the shrine of Amon”, while his manifestations include
a tree , the Apis Bull, the boar, the goose, and the
Oxyrhynchus fish, Similarly when Set was slain he became a
“roaring serpent” a hippopotamus, a crocodileor a boar.
The souls of Ra, Ptah, and Khnumu are in the chaos egg like
two of the prominent Hindu and Chinese gods. Other
Egyptian deities who are “hidden” include Amon, Sokar,
and Nieth.This persistant myth, which appears to have
been associated with belief in transmigration of souls, may
be traced even in Akhenaton’s religion. We have “Shu
(atmospere god in his Anton (sun disk)”, and a reference
in the famous hymnto the “air of life” in the “Egg”. There
can be little doubt that the Transmigration theory prevailed
at certain periodsand in certain localities in ancient Egypt,
and the statement made by Herodotus was well founded,
despite attempts to discredit it.

The conception of a creator was associated with that
form of earth, air, and water worship perpetuated at
Memphis, where the presiding Deity was the hammer
god Ptah, whoresembles the chinese Pan-Ku, Indra of
the Aryans, Tarku and Sutekh of Asia Minor, Hercules,
Thor, and so on. The creatrix was on the other hand
more closely associated with lunar, earth, and water
worship, and was the principle deity of the
Mediterranean race spreading into Asia Minor and
Europe.

I could write 50 pages on the Egyptian influence of
religion in other cultures but I think I made my point.
Studying Ancient Egyptian religious myths and beliefs
can give us great insite into our current beliefs and
practices.

I encourage you to study further into these ancient
beliefs. You can find links to Ancient Egyptian
Religions on the In Search of Knowledge page on our stores website.
For more information on Ancient
Egyptian Religions try thee sites

Egyptian Religion at Aldokkan.com
Ancient Egyptian Culture
Guardians Egypt

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