The ancient Egyptian Goddess Ma'at embodies truth and justice, principles that are foundational to the ideals upon which the Founding Fathers established in the United States. The Declaration of Independence emphasizes the inherent rights to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," which reflects a commitment to justice and equality.
The concept of Ma'at involves moral integrity and righteousness, values that were crucial to the rhetoric and aspirations of the American Revolution. The Declaration of Independence speaks to the moral justification for seeking independence from British rule.
The goddess Ma'at symbolizes truth, balance, order, justice, harmony, morality, law, and cosmic order. However, not in human concepts but divine. The Egyptians saw this as distinctly different. Humans made laws to regulate their innate fallibility and discourage criminal and immoral activities.
The Egyptian culture was centered on order, everything had its due place in the world. This included religion, society, and seasonal changes.
Divine Law, in Egyptian eyes, was not fallible or dependent on human moral and ethical codes. It meant the absolute laws of universal physical-energetic relations, such as the law of balance, karma, attraction, and cosmic order. Thus, Ma’at was more a principle than a deity with a rich mythology.
Unlike most other deities, excepting Heka, the personification of divine magic, Ma’at did not have a cult following. She hardly features in any mythological stories, and yet, her influences were all-pervasive. She was honored by living your life according to her laws and she was considered to be one of the most important deities of the pantheon.
The name Ma´at is generally translated as ‘that which is straight’ or ‘truth’ but also implies order, balance and justice. Thus, the goddesses Ma’at came to represent the concept of balance and order because many Egyptians needed to explain the world around them. She was the one that kept the stars in motion, the seasons changing, and the maintaining of the order of Heaven and Earth. The opposing force of this was known in ancient terms as “isfet” or chaos.
Behold. The Goddess rises.
Ma’at is here to help those that wish to reclaim their personal Sovereignty and independence to courageously seek our true spiritual path to health, happiness, and enlightenment. She brings compassion and beauty and encourages all to acknowledge that we are worthy of reclaiming personal authority under our higher self and divine love in our lives.
In the ancient Egyptian mystery teachings, the Goddess Ma'at is the one that brought cosmic harmony and balance to their lives.
Her titles are Eye of Ra, Lady of the Judgment Hall, Mistress of the Underworld, the mother, Lady of Heaven & Queen of the Earth.
She is the personification of fate, harmony, judgment, justice, order, reincarnation, and truth.
Her sacred animals include elephants, ostriches, and vultures.
Ma'at's sacred color is red, and her blessed stones are emerald & jade.
She was paired later with a male consort, the Lunar God of Wisdom & Magic, Thoth. In other accounts, Thoth was paired with Seshat, a less well-known Goddess of Cosmic Order.
In art, Ma'at appears either as a woman with an ostrich feather on her head, in her hand, or with it as her head. She also appears as simply an ostrich feather.
Ma’at is portrayed on the wall of the pyramids, but you might have a hard time telling her apart from Isis. She too had rainbow wings and her symbols were a stone platform which symbolized the stable foundation on which order was built but also the primeval mound which first emerged from the waters of Nun (chaos). Like Isis, she was very beautiful. The difference is she has a plume, a feather that extends from her crown.
This single ostrich feather represents truth and living truthfully and in harmony. If a person's heart was heavier than the feather, it indicated they had unresolved issues or emotional wounds, or that they had lived a life out of balance.
In Egyptian mythology, Ma’at oversaw the weighing of hearts in the Hall of Two Truths, in the Duat, the Egyptian underworld or realm of the dead. This process, depicted in tombs and funerary texts such as the Book of the Dead and the Book of Gates, determined the fate of the deceased's soul.
Each Egyptian’s heart (conscience) was weighed against the feather of Ma’at. Anubis would present the deceased before Osiris, who, with the attendance of 42 minor deities, performed the weighing. If the heart was heavier than the feather, it indicated that the person had failed to live a balanced life by Ma’at’s principles.
Consequently, the heart might be cast into a lake of fire, devoured by the demon goddess Ammit, or the soul would remain in the Duat, barred from entering Aaru, the Egyptian paradise. This is why the heart was left inside the mummy during embalming, while other organs were placed in canopic jars.
In contrast, if the heart was as light as the feather, the soul was deemed balanced and free to enter the afterlife in Aaru. At times, Osiris served as the judge, but the scales always represented Ma’at. Rather than being punished, a person with a heavy heart would be compassionately sent by Ma’at into another lifetime to resolve these issues, heal, and restore balance. Achieving balance meant living true to oneself, fostering right relationships with others, and respecting the natural world (ayni).
Here are some questions from Heather Ensworth:
Are you weighed down by unresolved issues?
Is your heart carrying the heaviness of old wounds?
Are you burdened by heavy emotions: grief, depression, guilt, resentment, anxiety, or anger?
Is your heart heavy from the pressure of thoughts & beliefs that constrict you?
Do you critique yourself for not being “good enough” or for in some way being inadequate, wrong, or bad?
Is your heart heavy because you are in a relationship, a job, or situation that is no longer true to who you are?
Do you feel weighted down by guilt, regret, or a sense of lost opportunities?
Are you feeling weary & lost, knowing that you are bound by patterns and constraints that prevent you from living in the fullness of who you are?
Are you burdened by the pain of the world and the turbulence that surrounds us?
Are you weighed down by sadness about our collective choices and our global destructiveness towards our natural environment?
I have one final question: What can you be grateful for even on your worst day?
It’s time to heal and address the imbalances within us. Let go of burdens and embrace your true self. We don’t achieve lightness by ignoring our wounds or avoiding the pain in our hearts. Instead, we become light as a feather by healing these wounds (doing our shadow work), understanding they are part of our growth journey, and letting go of the past narratives/stories that bind us. It’s time to free ourselves and embrace our true essence as beings of divine love light.
Ma’at’s name is derived from "Ma," meaning mother. In this role, the great mother holds and supports you through the process of seeking balance and healing. Her compassion guides you towards a state of harmony and lightness. So, open yourself to love, compassion, and forgiveness. Embrace the connection with this nurturing Mother Goddess, as she helps you heal, release burdens, and experience her loving presence. She ensures that you feel seen, heard, and cared for as you reclaim your personal sovereignty and independence.
“Each time you allow your inner goddess to radiate outwards,
you’re the glow in the dark for someone else.”
~ Lyn Thurman
What “darkness” from the past will rear its ugly head? According to astrologer Ray Grasse, Pluto is described as “transformation, death and regeneration, the pitfalls & potentials of power, confronting shadow issues, and so on.” Pluto returns are associated with the fall of Rome, England’s Great Famine, and America’s Great Depression & legacy of slavery. It carries a civil-war energy and can show up as sabotage, insurrections, terrorism, false flag attacks, pandemics, explosive scandals, hidden corruption (including sex crimes/trafficking), treasonous activities, and environmental upheavals (from oil spills to farm/food issues to wild weather). Sound familiar?
This is a pivotal period for our planet and America’s Pluto return presents powerful opportunities to clean up our social, political, medical, educational, economic, and environmental issues. Ma’at reminds us of the importance of balance in both our earthly life and the celestial cosmic order. This month of independence is the perfect time to embody Ma’at’s message of sovereignty and reclaiming divine love in our lives…the American dream.
With self-reflection this Plutonian period can be the birth of a new paradigm – one that is more fair, just, and equitable. Are you able to keep your heart as light as a feather?
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