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Becoming Osiris: The Ancient Egyptian Death Experience by Ruth Schumann Antelme and Stéphane Rossini (translated from the French by Jon Graham) ISBN 0-89281-652-X Published by Inner Traditions International

Reviewed by David Williams for Cup of Wonder Issue 6

"Thou art handsome Osiris! Thou hast appeared in glory, powerful, glorious. Thou hast fixed thy forms: thy countenance is Anubis"

This book was originally published in 1995, intriguingly, the subtitle (in French) was "The Rites of Immortality of Pharaonic Egypt," not "The Ancient Egyptian Death Experience" which makes it sound rather like something you might expect to see in Disneyland outside of Paris. The authoress is a Professor of Egyptology at the Louvre, and the illustrations (which are numerous and beautifully drawn) are provided by her co-author.

The book itself is some 126 pages long, and is divided into three stages: The Embalming, The Opening of the Mouth Ritual and The Book of the Dead: Methods of Obtaining Immortality The last stage is subdivided into a number of chapters, and an index, glossary of terms, list of Neteru cited in the book and suggested further reading, makes it a suitable read for the beginner as well as the more advanced scholar. There is also a brief introduction to the book "Ancient Egypt in Context" which sets the scene for the beginner. The quality of the translation is indeed very good, but there are some words which may sound strange to readers (e.g. thanatopractitoner [embalmer]).

Readers of Budge and Faulkner's translations of the Book of the Dead and other funerary literature will be familiar with the complex and often puzzling nature of the texts. They themselves were more concerned with the formal academic and grammatical translation of the texts, a dry but very necessary piece of work. Professor Antelme's work seeks to breathe some life into those dry bones, to try to give us some understanding of what they actually meant to those who were speaking them, in times long gone by. The main theme is one of progression from death to life eternal, aided by the material in the Book of the Dead, and an attempt to express it in terms that will mean something to today's reader.

The first Chapter gives a basic account of the mechanics of embalming and the attendant Neteru associated with the process, while the second chapter (as it admits in the opening lines) only skims the surface of the "Opening of the Mouth" ritual. She does however make the interesting point that the Funereal Banquet was intended (in part at least) to give the newly dead the energy to proceed through the Duat and reach Amenti. This tradition still exists in Celtic lands in the form of the "Wake" held after the funeral.

It is the Third Section that goes more deeply into the meanings of the Book of the Dead. It starts with Chapter 4 (The Return to the Universal Matrix) which considers Chapters (Spells in the Faulkner Version of the Book of the Dead) 1 to 16 in which the newly dead is consecrated as Osiris, and provided with Shabtiu and magical spells. This is followed by considerations of the Teachings for Coming Forth by Day, Magical Self Defence in the Duat, before proceeding to "Transformations and the Solarisation of the Deceased," Its place in the cosmic Cycle of Things, and the final (and ultimately triumphant) appearance before the Tribunal of Osiris (otherwise known as the 42 Assessors). Once through this the Justified Osiris can proceed onwards to Immortality and join the Gods of the Circumpolar Stars "who shine for ever and ever." Each chapter in the book looks at various well known spells from the Book of the Dead and what they mean in terms of the soul's journey through the Duat in modern and understandable terms.

I enjoyed reading it, and commend it to your attention. One of the most telling pieces is about the need for Osiris to be slain by Set, so that humanity can see that death is not an end, but leads to resurrection and transfiguration beyond the Western Horizon. The purist will undoubtedly find much to object to in the book, but it deserves to take its place alongside the works of Schwaller de Lubicz and others who attempt to express the complex funerary rites of Ancient Egypt in terms comprehensible to modern people.