Friday, January 16, 2009

Deity of the Week

I have decided to start posting a daily deity. This one was inspired by research for a book I've recently begun working on.

Ammit


Ammit is the god of ancient Egyptian lore who devours the souls who do not pass the feather test with Ma'at.

I see this god, this strange combination of lion, hippo, and crocodile, as a message of transformation. Devouring is always part of a cycle, and why would mythology be an exception? The soul is devoured, and purified. I'm not sure what the Egyptians thought would become of the devoured soul, but I know that would not have been the end. The Egyptians seemed to have a place for everything, a continuance in existence although in changing forms. So Ammit would help us with this cycle. I would be interested if anyone has done a meditation with him in mind. He has been demonized, but those who are with me in thought would realize that one group's demons are often another's gods, and there is a Dignified and Reversed meaning behind any deity, as with tarot cards. I think practitioners can focus on either side to empower it, and keep whichever side is undesirable a little dormant, in the background. At the same time I think we still need to appease both sides.

Ammit then is a gatekeeper, an usher - we might see the ugly insides of his belly if our hearts are not light as feathers, at first, but we return in the cycle of consciousness. Perhaps Ammit appears to some of us in life to warn us away from his belly. Or is he hungry? I'm still working that out.

I can't tear myself away from the thought that the deities a person works with are highly influenced in nature by how the worker thinks of them, to a certain point. Of course, it would be unwise to confuse a goddess like Kali with a less ferocious entity, but at the end of the day, the power they have is power we have given them. It's not something to take lightly, but it's not something to completely avoid, either. Ammit says, "Hey, I am mean and ugly, with sharp teeth and pointy claws, but I can grind your consciousness into little pieace so that you lose your ego. You are remade when I shed you from my digestive system, and you go back to the earth and are reborn as someone else to begin again."

Just my thoughts for today.