NILE lyrics : "The Blessed Dead"
We Work the Fields of the Masters
And Share Not the Bounty of the Black Earth
Destitute Servile Cast Out
Affording No Tomb
We Shall Be Buried
Unprepared in the Sand
We Shall Never Be The Blessed Dead
Scorned By Asar
Condemned at the Weighing of the Heart
We are Exiled from the Netherworld
Serpents fall Upon us Dragging us Away
Ammitt Who Teareth the Wicked to Pieces
Pale Shades of the UnBlessed Dead
None Shall Enter Without the Knowledge
Of the Magickal Formulas
Which is Given to Few to Possess
Not for Us to Sekhet Aaru
Our Souls Will be Cut to Pieces with Sharp Knives
Tortured Devoured
Consumed in Everlasting Flames
We Shall Never Be The Blessed Dead
[The phrase, "the Blessed Dead," is a reference to those who
obtain the "blessed" condition in the afterlife: the beautified
condition of eternal lifein the presence of Osiris in the
Sekbet-Aaru, or "Field of Reeds." Those who had lived a moral
life, observed the proper burial rites and procedures, and
possessed all the correct magickal spells to navigate the
treacherous and horrific Egyptian underworld, who could recite
the 42 negative confessions, and whose hearts were found to be
pure at the "Weighing of the Heart," were then allowed to be
"Osirified" - to become a person like as unto Osiris - and enjoy
a pleasant afterlife as ne of the blessed dead.]
[Proper burial, though, was an expensive undertaking. It was
usually afforded only by pharaohs, priests, and the wealthy
class. What of those who could not afford the extravagant tombs,
mummification, magickal amulets, and costly papurys texts on
which were written the necessary spells for successfully
navigating the underworld? Even linen, which was used to wrap
the mummies, was so expensive in ancient Egypt that people had
to save what little scraps of it they could for years to have
enough to have themselves wrapped. Also of mention would be the
cost of professional mourners, embalmers, and priests for the
"Opening of the Mouth" ceremony. This was all extremely
expensive. Even a wealthy person in ancient Egypt would spend a
lifetime saving and preparing for his or her burial and
afterlife. I suppose it is no small coincidence that the
religious priests were directly involved in the embalming
industry.]
[But what of the middle and lover classes of people - the common
working man? What then of the slaves and servant classes? if all
these costly preparations and arcane knowledege were essential
to achieving a state of blessedness in the afterlife, would a
person of limited financial means be condemned beforehand to
burn in torment in the afterlife, so only the wealthy became the
Blessed Dead? While most of the populate certainly accepted this
fatalistic concept - and by all that we know of ancient Egypt,
embraced life and the hope of an eternal afterlife - most
ancient Egyptians probably were resigned to do whatever funereal
preparations were within their means It stands to reason,
however, that certainly some small number of lower income /
slave / working class people (predestined, of course, to certain
financial / spiritual doom, as upward caste mobility was very
limited in ancient times) would be less than inclined to accept
at face value the idea that, no matter what, by the end of their
lives they would not be able to afford to be buried as one of the
blessed dead. Would they be resigned to their eternal fate, or
live their lives with subversive viewpoints - perhaps rebelling
against the established religious order, or perhaps choosing to
worship amongst the pletbora of "other gods" of the Egyptian
pantheon? (Budge refers to them as, "Wretched little gods.")]
[Certainly the existence of the ancient cult worship of the god,
Set, is not without some sort of seditious causality. Perhaps
these, then, are the countless legions of souls damned to fiery
pits of torment in the underworld: the "Hated of Ra" or "Enemies
of Osiris." This probably would also liken these wretched and
lost souls to be followers of Set and his Seban fiends, who were
the original enemies of Osiris and precursor role models on which
later religious based their ideas of "Hell" and "Satan" and his
"infernal legions." I am reminded of John Milton, who, in
Paradise Lost, wrote of Lucifer, after he had been cast down and
came to realization of his unrepentant autonomy, "It is better to
rule in Hell than serve in Heaven." And thus, that brings us full
circle to the chorus refrain of "The Blessed Dead." complete with
infernal choirs of the underworld defiantly proclaiming, "We
Shall Never Be The Blessed Dead."]
Submit Corrections