Chapter 8. Egyptian hieroglyphs

𓈌 (Akhet)

Horizon, the sun rising between two humps of a mountain, is mirrored by the Egyptian pylon, two tapered towers with a lower entrance between them. 
* Akhet, like a head resting on a pillow, is where we disembark with Ra to pass across the underworld.

𓋹 (Ankh)

The key of life, or life itself, eternal life, a staff or cross with a teardrop shape replacing the upper bar. Ra, the sun god, holds an ankh because he’s the creator of life, or that’s what we say.

𓇳 (Ra)

The sun deity who rules the created world, the god of order and royalty, the god of sky, earth, and underworld has the head of a falcon and bears the sun disk encircled by a cobra balanced on his head. * Gods to whom we attribute the behaviors of the universe are deeply embedded in the shape of our thoughts and in our languages, spoken and written.

𓂓 (Ka)

A person’s vital essence, the horns of a bull, two hands raised up in praise. * Ka is one of five or more parts that composed the soul of an Egyptian. A soul is invisible; its existence, its unity, its composition are myths, but most human beings believe they contain this magical thing.

𓅽 (Ba)

A bird with a human head wings folded or outstretched is everything that makes a person unique. * The Egyptians thought that Ba could transcend the body for a time, but was itself the person needing to breathe and to eat after death.

𓇽 (Duat)

Star in a circle, the god (Osiris) is entrapped (in the underworld). Each morning the sun god (Ra) defeats chaos to rise and renew the cycle of life.