Chapter 5: Hymn to Neb-kheperu-ra:
Tutankhamon Invocation
Hail unto thee O Pharaoh,
Golden mask found tomorrow,
With lapis eyes forged anew
Watching over the Egypt you once knew.
Who could say what they found
In that hole in the ground?
Was it gold or godly treasure
Or just a curse of thy measure?
Harken unto olden times
When words held such melodious rhymes,
The birds, the doves, the Ibis one
Worshipped in the temples done.
Hurried the plunderers took
Of God and Earth both were shook.
Gone are they whose stolen life,
Cannot yet find thy adoring wife.
How is thy golden lion?
Is he cursing over the fiends of Zion?
Those slaves that built up Pi-Ramses
And contained that famous, fabulous disease.
From rock and grain of sand they bare
Of ragged linen the commoners’ wear,
Do the excavators dig in relentless Sun,
Of conquests and cities thy spear hath won?
O Tutankhamon of Egypt’s glory
Has come amid the Pharaoh’s story,
For hence has arrived the enemy of Ra
In the form of a plunderer’s candelabra.
Lover of Life they say in the tavern
From Khafra’s lips to the smallest cavern.
No one knows what lies the people say
If in the end only they would pay.
Your death is a mystery to them
Of Brier and Budge and Zahi’s whim,
Only you know the asp you allowed
To bite through thy arm you shallowed.
Bob Brier says you were murdered!
Of Ay and Horemhab both conspired!
Does he know the truth you buried
In that tomb so quickly hurried?
From ducks and lions of thy hunting
People say you were bluffing,
Who can say a meager Pharaoh
Can conquer the jungles from that morrow?
Syrians, Nubians, and Hittites all
Who sang the praises from Pharaoh’s fall,
Did not win the battles of immortal hearts that be
Nor in the afterlife you promised me.
O sing the songs of the Neteru
From Narmer and Thutmose and old Khufu,
Who is the best king of late
Whom even Ankhesenamon could never hate?
Eternal life, golden couch, and offerings
Once laden with such finer things,
Given up on death’s steel floor
Never again will you deplore.
From Hatshepsut’s tomb we see
The Plan of Gods gone with thee,
Afterlife music channeled through air
Amid the songs sung in there.
Mummy’s Curse people say it was
That slew Carnarvon with Ammot’s jaws,
Or was it Fate in centuries told
Of Pharaoh’s wrath nine hundred fold?
O Pharaoh of the Golden Horus
Guardian of the Blue Lotus,
Eternity is yours to live
And the vengeance that the ancients they give.
We found but a small alabaster Chalice,
Not unlike one Cleopatra’s Palace,
And if the words spoke to your heart do shine
Mixed in magic and good wine.
Then you will conquer all your foes,
From rebirth unto next life’s woes,
And forever be the victory
Of Tutankhamon’s magical weaponry.
One more word must be said
So they never again could be dead,
Your fame, your words, your deeds do declare,
In eternity and immortality, in one newborn’s tear.
That you never died a mortal death,
For evermore you can saith,
Olden age once and reborn flower
Destroys all corruptible power.
Golden One of centuries’ dust
In one iron dagger’s rust,
When ceremony and pomp both do fail,
That thy reign always prevail.
Chapter
5C: For Traveling in and out of the Duat:
To whosoever
knows this chapter, your soul and spirit will go forth from the tomb (burial or
urn) and into the blessed land of Heaven. You will be given sustenance there,
and shall live again in comfort. You
will pass the Judgment of the Heart, with a pardon from Anubis. You will be
given a residence with irrigated gardens, fields of wheat and barley, a granary
and farm, Ushabtis (workers), and other items for a successful afterlife.
(From): Tales of the Kheri-Heb & other short stories. © 2006 MJ Costa
For several generations the
secret Brotherhood of the Kheri-Heb was dormant, hidden from the society that
feared them. This Order constituted more
than ordinary Lector Priests. These were
professional magicians.
What I am about to tell you
has been a secret for hundreds of years; if the House of Life discovers that I
told anyone of their secret, they will summon wild Jackals and Hyenas in my
direction.
The Brotherhood first came
into being by order of the King. He
instructed them to record and observe all natural forces in order to know how
to manipulate and control them. This
meant they would know how to control the wind, the rain, storms, flooding,
hail, earthquakes, and lastly people.
Already some experimented by controlling the motion of moving
water. Others became interested in
making walls of fire, circles of lightning, and teleportation via
meditation. Some made stairs from
stacking motionless water, and so walked across a canal. They even knew how to restore life to the
dead, enter the Netherworld, and commune with ancestral souls and the
gods.
There was one Kheri-Heb by
the name of Kashta-Ankh. He also served
as a Divine Scribe at the city of Abtu (Abydos). His choice of magical effect included textual
magic, or the way of causing events by inscription in official documents,
letters, and decrees. At first
Kashta-Ankh was devoid of powers, except one – the power of Fate. When as a child he discovered this power, by
accident. He was walking along the
pathway leading to the Temple of Amon during the recess from scribal
school. A carrier pigeon flew by,
dropping a small scroll. Kashta-Ankh
picked it up and unrolled it. It was a
prayer to Anubis. Anubis was the god of
the Netherworld, and divine physician to Osiris. Prayers to Anubis were letters to the
dead. Kashta-Ankh took the small scroll
to his home along the eastern canal. He
found his scribal equipment – a rectangle of wood holding reed pens, two balls
of colored ink, a wooden writing board, an ink pot, and a scroll of fine
papyrus. Kashta-Ankh wrote on the small
scroll, asking to be granted the power to heal and restore life to the
dead. He then rolled it back up and
returned to the Temple. Once there,
Kashta-Ankh found a carrier pigeon and tied the small scroll to its leg and
sent it on its way.
Weeks passed. Kashta-Ankh paced about the entry to the
Temple of Amon, waiting for something to happen. A chariot was heard, its horses trampling the
ground to his right. Suddenly the
chariot crashed, its tires striking a rock on the ground. The occupant fell to the sandy ground,
clutching his exposed leg. Kashta-Ankh
looked about for someone to help, then ran to the charioteer’s aid.
“My leg! My leg! Oh Amun,
please bless my leg. I think it’s
broken,” said the charioteer.
Kashta-Ankh examined the
leg. It felt raw and was bleeding excessively around the wound. He called out the name of Anubis, then placed
both hands over the wound. A small
flicker of light glinted off his fingers.
When he withdrew the bleeding ceased and the bones were as they were the
day before. The charioteer, in shock,
blessed the boy and stood up as if nothing happened. The charioteer told the Temple about the
accident and about Kashta-Ankh. A senior
Lector Priest met and interviewed the young Kashta-Ankh, bidding him to join
the Temple as a member. Kashta-Ankh was
grateful, and so accepted the offer.
That night Kashta-Ankh’s
uncle died while eating a piece of Gazelle meat that caused him to choke while
listening to his nephew. Kashta-Ankh
fell to the floor and lamented, covering his uncle’s body with his. A minute later his uncle spat out the meat,
and was alive. Later that night he went
to the family shrine in his Reception room and made offerings of myrrh incense
to the statue of Bes-Anubis. When he
later went to sleep, a dream occurred.
This dream commenced with Kashta-Ankh sleeping in his bed, and the god
Toth appeared by the window. Toth
congratulated the young scribe, and raised his arms above his beak. Toth then glowed with sapphire light, his
arms illuminating the body of Kashta-Ankh.
Toth spoke in plain Egyptian: “You are my bodily son, O
Kashta-Ankh. I reward you for your
service and answer your prayer. Call
upon my name when you are ill and I will heal you. I bestow my power upon your Akh, that it may
grow and become proficient.”
Kashta-Ankh awoke the next day, and
gathered his scribe equipment. He
decided to write a series of letters to the Governor of Abtu, hiding his real
name. His alias was “Tehuti-Ankh.” He
wrote them all in papyrus and used a clay seal for protection. One letter asked the Governor to put down a
fictitious rebellion at the rock quarry.
Another letter stated that there was to be a famine in the Fayuum to the
north unless the Temple of Amon is given offerings, paying all the scribes that
worked there in gold. A third letter
stated that the sky would be cloudy if the Governor didn’t watch the Nilometer
that day. A fourth letter was concerned
about the health of the Apis bull population, and asked for people to make
offerings to them in shrines along the path leading to Kashta-Ankh’s
apartment. The Governor did as he was
asked, thinking the letters were official.
A week later, a union rebellion occurred
at the limestone quarry nearby. They
said they were underpaid when compared to the workers at the granite quarry. Word came in that there were cows suffering
from malnutrition at the Fayuum. This
was spread by gossip and rumor. The
Nilometer was dry during the afternoon in its higher levels. An Apis bull collapsed near the Temple of
Ptah at Mennofer, from unknown causes.
People were making offerings in a panic to the Temple of Amon and along
the path leading to Kashta-Ankh’s home.
Kashta-Ankh saw all these events and
wondered how and why this worked. He
consulted his shrine of Bes-Anubis. Then
he took a nap.
The Governor of Abtu heard of all these
things and ordered the Guards to patrol in the area, looking for a prophet or
enemy sorcerer. They did not think to
look for Kashta-Ankh, as he was merely a child.
The city was under lock-down for a few days. Then it returned to normal. People went about their duties.
Years later when Kashta-Ankh was a
teenager, he wrote a letter to Pharaoh.
He was angry with Pharaoh over the treatment of foreign prisoners used
as slaves. He said that the “gods of the
Ennead will smite all Egyptians with clumsiness until the prisoners are treated
fairly.” Pharaoh scoffed at this letter.
He went about his duties then entered the royal harem. One harem advisor was carrying a jug of fine
ale as Pharaoh was walking nearby. The
advisor saluted the Pharaoh, and the jug splashed all over him. Pharaoh was drenched, but was not injured in
the accident. He later entered the
Temple of Isis for an inspection of the tribute. Two guards collided into the tribute bearer
whom was carrying breakable objects made of faience. Pharaoh then remembered the letter, and so
returned to his office.
Pharaoh made a decree stating Egypt was
under attack by foreign sorcerers, and that all citizens should keep watch for
anything suspicious and report it to the royal guards. Kashta-Ankh waited. Over the next month all people except for
Kashta-Ankh were suffering from clumsiness.
Lights were falling from the torch holders at the Palace, people were
dropping groceries at the marketplace, sculptors made errors in their work, and
artists were beaten for making shaky drawings.
The foreign prisoners were released by order of the Queen. She had read the letter in Pharaoh’s office,
and realized this was real.
When Kashta-Ankh was an adult his power
was more effective and more dangerous.
Kashta-Ankh was now a full-fledged Kheri-Heb priest in the House of
Life. His duties were to the Pharaoh,
the Temple, and to his brethren Kheri-Hebs.
An enemy sorcerer was attacking the Temple with written spells made on
linen mummy wrappings; he was an obvious Necromancer. This sorcerer was hiding out in the Valley of
the Nobles, in one of the vacant tombs under construction. The linen spells were found on new mummies
commissioned by the Temple and the House of Death. This sorcerer used the name Horus as his
alias. This proved difficult to counter,
for who in their right mind would curse the god of the same name?
Kashta-Ankh wrote a series of Temple
missives aimed at this sorcerer, in the Temple library. Temple ritual involved making wax figures of
a man unwrapping mummies, then sticking pins in it, and holding it over a lit
candle. Kashta-Ankh sent these missives
to the Valley of the Nobles via carrier pigeon.
Each missive included literary rubbish with magic formulae imbedded in
them.
They were
signed with Kashta-Ankh’s real name as he was now working at the Temple and
could not afford to use his prior alias.
The sorcerer found Kashta-Ankh’s name
and immediately cursed him. That night
as Kashta-Ankh was going to sleep a small coral snake was found just under his
bed covers. He stood up in a fright, and
picked up the snake while chanting a few words of power over it. The snake became stiff like that other desert
snake that becomes rigid when in danger.
He then made a small wax snake and held it over a newly lit candle. The coral snake then burst into flames.
Kashta-Ankh went to his Reception room
and wrote on a piece of pottery, “He who sent me this snake will feel the
sting of Scorpions, now.” He then signed
it as “Tehuti-Ankh.” Then he buried it
just outside his apartment, in the sand.
The next morning the pottery shard was missing. Apparently a cat dug it up and a neighbor
found it while passing by. By noon a
group of royal guards met Kashta-Ankh at the Temple, demanding to speak with
him. They escorted him to the Courthouse
of Ptah in Abtu. Standing in the doorway
was Pharaoh. He asked Kashta-Ankh about
the pottery shard, and if he knew of anyone who was called “Tehuti-Ankh”, that
“evil sorcerer who plagued Egypt and mocked Pharaoh” ten years ago. Kashta-Ankh declined to divulge his
alias. Instead he said the sorcerer in
the Valley of the Nobles would know, and that he had cursed this sorcerer at
his home, thus explaining the name on the shard and how it came to be near his
home. Pharaoh released him. Then Pharaoh ordered his guards to patrol the
Valley looking for “Tehuti-Ankh the Sorcerer.”
Kashta-Ankh read an incantation to
reveal the name of the sorcerer while at the House of Life, then took a nap on
the ritual couch. A dream commenced. It
started as the Falcon Horus talking to him.
The bird said something incoherent and that last line was about being
bitten by a scorpion. When Kashta-Ankh
awoke he researched dream interpretation books, looking for an answer. He consulted with another Kheri-Heb about the
dream. He was informed that because the
Falcon god spoke to him, that it may be related to the sorcerer himself. Kasha-Ankh walked to the statue of Horus, and
placed a statue of Selqet next to it.
Then he burnt incense to both, and made offerings.
A carrier pigeon landed at the
Temple. Kashta-Ankh picked up its
message and read it. It said, “Hail
Adversary! You are a worthy opponent, O Kashta-Ankh. I believe I sent you a present, and you
rewarded me with desert insects. Now you
sent me the followers of Pharaoh. You
are not the great sorcerer, Tehuti-Ankh, that Pharaoh demands to arrest. You are too pathetic a mage to be him…
Perhaps if you find him, I will be greatly impressed by his presence. Then I will cease all operations against the
Temple, for being in his presence is reward enough.”
Kashta-Ankh cut a piece of papyrus and
rolled it up for a message. He then wrote in red and black ink, “Greetings
Adversary, I have to admit your powers of perception are alert. Perhaps the mummies of your habitation will
awaken and inform you of the real Tehuti-Ankh; maybe he is among them? You
obviously like sleeping with mummies in the dark tombs of the elders.” Then
he rolled it up and sent it via carrier pigeon to the Valley of the Nobles.
The next day screams were heard in the
Valley. The royal guards were summoned
and a man wearing old linen was seen running up and down the passages. He said that the dead were chasing him. Closer inspection of the tombs revealed two
torched mummies, and empty mummy cases.
The man asked the guards for asylum.
When Pharaoh was summoned the man said that he found Tehuti-Ankh in the
tombs, and that this was the mummy that chased him out. Pharaoh did not believe him readily, so he
sent for Kashta-Ankh. Kashta-Ankh came
with his equipment from the Temple. He
asked the man his name. It was
Horus. Then Kashta-Ankh asked him about
his job. He said he was a scribe. Kashta-Ankh was not convinced, so he put him
to a test.
“Write me a spell for curing disease,”
Kashta-Ankh asked.
The man did as he was asked. He gave the papyrus to Kashta-Ankh, who gave
it to Pharaoh. Kashta-Ankh said, “You
write well enough for a scribe. And your
quail chicks closely resemble the ones on the other papyri given to me by the
sorcerer living in your area.”
The man was in shock, then tried to run
but the guards blocked his way. Pharaoh
was impressed and so ordered the man be arrested. Then Pharaoh cleared Kashta-Ankh of any
criminal wrongdoing, citing that the sorcerer Tehuti-Ankh was finally
captured. Kashta-Ankh smiled and
returned home.
Chapter
6: For hiring Ushabtis (workers) in
Duat:
“Hail O
my Shabty figure(s), if Lord Osiris orders me to do labors in the Afterlife, if
he orders me to irrigate the farms, germinate the fields, fill the canals with
water, carry the sand from East to West; you will become my proxy and will work
in my place, for you shall say: ‘Here I am’ when called upon…”
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