Rejection of sin

Rejection of sin

In terms of the intrinsic moral message, the weighing of the heart reminds us of the final judgement before Christ in the New Testament (Mt 25, 31), but it also has its magical side. In fact, convinced in the effects of magic, the people of the folk believed that the weighing of the soul could be slightly “adjusted” in order to ensure the deceased to be proclaimed a righteous man (eg. maa-heru “the true of voice”).

For that purpose, the amulet of a heart scarab was used. Such scarabs were made of stone, mostly serpentine, basalt and sandstone, whereas on their lower surface the text of chapter 30 in the Book of the Dead was engraved. The text was meant to convince the heart (represented by the scarab) not to testify against the deceased. In fact, the heart is conceived here as an instrument storing the record of truth (which is inhabited by ka).