the Book of the Dead ( PDF )

The Abode Of The Blessed.
The souls of the dead made their way to their abode in the "other world" by a ladder, according to a very
ancient view, or through a gap in the mountains of Abydos called Peka according to another; but, by
whichever way they passed from earth, their destination was a region in the Tuat which is called in the
pyramid and later texts Sekhet-Aaru,[7] which was situated in the
[1. Brugsch, op. cit., p. 211.
2. The legend reads "This is Nut, she receiveth Ra."
3. ###.
4. Wörterbuch, p. 1622.
5. Lanzone, Domicile des Esprits, p. 1; Dizionario, p. 1292.
6. Maspero, La Mythologie Égyptienne (Études, I. ii., p. 207); Jéquier, Le Livre, p. 3 The eastern mountain peak was called
Bakhatet, and the western Manu.
7. I.e., the Field of reed plants.]
{p. cv}
The Fields of Aaru and Hetep.
Sekhet-Hetep,[l] and was supposed to lie to the north of Egypt. Here dwell Horus and Set, for the fields
of Aaru and Hetep are their domains,[2] and here enters the deceased with two of the children of Horus
on one side of him, and two on the other,[3] and the "two great chiefs who preside over the throne of the
great god proclaim eternal life and power for him."[4] Here like the supreme God he is declared to be
"one," and the four children of Horus proclaim his name to Ra. Having gone to the north of the Aaru
Field he makes his way to the eastern portion of the tuat, where according to one legend he becomes like
the morning star, near[6] his sister Sothis.[7] Here he lived in the form of the star Sothis, and "the great
and little companies of the gods purify him in the Great Bear." The Egyptian theologians, who conceived
that a ladder was necessary to enable the soul to ascend to the next world, provided it also with an
address which it was to utter when it reached the top. As given in the pyramid of Unas it reads as
follows':--"Hail to thee, O daughter of Amenta, mistress of Peteru(?) of heaven, thou gift of Thoth, thou
mistress of the two sides of the ladder, open a way to Unas, let Unas pass. Hail to thee, O Nau, who art
[seated] upon the brink of the Lake of Kha, open thou a way to Unas, let Unas pass. Hail to thee, O thou
bull of four horns, thou who hast one horn to the west, and one to the east, and one to the north, and one
to the south, . . . . . . let Unas pass, for he is a being from the purified Amenta, who goeth forth from the
country of Baqta. Hail to thee, O Sekhet-Hetep, hail to thee, and to the fields which are in thee, the fields
of Unas are in thee, for pure offerings are in thee."
[1. I.e., the Field of Peace.
2. Recueil de Travaux, t. v., p. 191 (l. 182).
3. Ibid., p. 50 (l. 262).
4. Ibid., t. vii., p. 163 (1. 402).
5. Ibid., t. iv., p. 49. (l. 432).
6. Ibid., t. v., p. 186 (ll. 80, 170, 177).
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