In ancient Egypt only a select few were chosen to learn the rights of the dead.
These were the ones who wrote with hieroglyphs and taught and buried the
pharaohs. There were test that the chosen most go through in order to do this.
In turn, in death there were stages that the dead must pass through in order to
get to the other world. Remember the Egyptians believed that your body and
possessions went with you, hence the elaborate burial rites and tombs (pyramids
for Pharaohs, their wives and children).
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1. Your guide across the desert and through your trials was the light of the
moon and the stars. Represented by the crescent moon or Phi Beta Sigma
Fraternity. If you followed this it would take you where you needed to go.
Horus - "High, Above" The falcon-god of the sun & the pharaohs.
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2. You must cross the desert to come to the place of testing i.e. crossing the
burning sands - which was nature which is said to represent Alpha Kappa Alpha.
Remember the Ivy - the Egyptian Goddess would be Qetesh: A Semetic nature
goddess worshipped in Egypt or in the Book of the Dead Sekhmet -- Re created
her as a weapon of vengeance to destroy men for their wicked ways and
disobedience to him.
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3. After crossing the desert the first thing you would come upon was the
Sphinx the guardian of the tomb or pyramid - which obviously would represent
Alpha Phi Alpha. You needed to solve the riddle of the Sphinx to pass.
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4. The vessel for your passage, the Pyramid. Which of course was taken to
represent Delta Sigma Theta. Their Greek representation in Minerva and the
Egyptian equivalent is said to be Isis "the Throne", the goddess of magic &
widow of Osiris or Satet "One Who Shoots (Arrows)", the Elephantine goddess of
the Nile floods & fertility. You enter the Pyramid where the rest of your
journey is shroud in secrecy.
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5. You must learn. Your lessons were given to you on a scroll. Which is said to
represent Kappa Alpha Psi. The god was Thoth "Leader" The ibis-god of wisdom,
writing & the moon.
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6. Bastet - "Devouring Lady" The cat-goddess of the home & sunlight. According
to one myth, she was the personification of the soul of Isis. She was also
called the "Lady of the East". As such, her counterpart as "Lady of the West"
was Sekhmet. Said to be a representation of Zeta Phi Beta and the testing of
the soul of the dead.
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7. After you had learned all you needed to learn and prove your worthiness to
Bastet, now came the ultimate test. Remember that the major organs were removed
during mummification. At this point you presented your heart to Maat - which as
I mentioned before is said to represent Sigma Gamma Rho. Maat measured your
heart against the feather on her scales. If your heart weighed more than
the feather you could not proceed on to the afterlife.
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8. Finally, you met Anubis "the Royal Child" the jackal-god of mummification
& embalming. Having the head of a jackal (a type of dog) he is said to
represent Omega Psi Phi. He assisted in the rites by which a dead man was
admitted to the underworld. Anubis was worshipped as the inventor of embalming
and who embalmed the dead Osiris and thereby helping to preserve him that he
might live again. It is said that the final test given by Anubis were physical.
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