Ab
The Egyptian idiom for the heart-soul, principal of the seven souls: the one which
is "weighed in the balances" by the Goddess Maat in the underworld Hall of Judgment after death. As in India, the heart-soul was depicted as a small dancer dancing an endless tempo in the hub of the body, just as Shiva or Kali kept the pulse of life in the core of the cosmos. The hieroglyphic symbol of the ab was a dancing form.1
The seven souls were:
- aakhu - primordial life spirit, resident in the blood;
- ab – the heart, formed from the mother’s blood;
- ba – the ghost that appeared after death and flew in and out of the tomb, sometimes as a
bird;
- ka – the semblance or image, the
"other" self seen in reflections;
- khaibut – the shadow;
- khat – the material living body,
resurrected "in the flesh" after death; and
- ren – the secret name or
soul-name.
References and Notes:
- Budge, Sir E.A. Egyptian Language. New York: Dover Publications (1977). Pg. 44.