Page 57 - September 2022 Magazine - Bumper Edition

the ancient Egyptians, and his refusal to stay as he was duty-bound to pass to the afterlife, served as an acceptance of mortal death and assured them it was not the end.
Mummification was a long process done in stages. Obviously, the higher the position in life the deceased held, the more elaborate the process would have been. In the case of a Pharaoh, every minute detail would have been adhered to. It could take up to 70 days to prepare the body of a King.
In this case the process would be as follows:
Firstly they would shave, wash, cleanse and purify the body with oils, palm wine and rinse with water from the Nile. Now they are ready for embalming.
To do this may sound very unpleasant to us in the modern era, but way back then, it was a natural and loving process and their belief certainly outweighed any unpleasantries. The attention paid to the dead during this process was second to none and to perfect detail.
They would first start by draining the blood and fluids, then making a cut on the left hand side of the body, removing all the organs of the body, other than the heart, as these were the first to decompose and they wanted to preserve the liver, lungs, stomach and intestine to be taken into the afterlife. These are washed and packed in Natron (a natural salt used to dry out the dead bodies and internal organs) to dry out.
The rest of the organs are disposed of along with the brain, which was removed through the nose, we won’t go into detail on how, incase you are eating!
The heart was the most important organ in the body as it was believed it was the centre of the person’s entire being, so needed to stay intact taking them through into the afterlife.
Although they have discovered that in some mummies the heart had been removed, (perhaps they had done something very naughty when they were alive, so was a punishment, or they were not liked). But it is not known why this was.
The body was then cleansed again and rinsed out with a combination of water, palm wine and spices, to remove any remnants or bacteria, the body was then coated with oils again and the body packed with myrrh, cassia, frankincense and other aromatic substances and then covered completely with Natron, capturing any liquids into a jar at the end of the tipped bed the body was placed upon. The body was covered in a linen cloth and was left to dry out completely. This could take anywhere from 40 to 70 days (never longer) to complete.
Once this process was done they would cleanse the body again and pack out the body with a combination of straw, linens, sand and aromatic substances, to reshape the body and then would seal the wound shut with resins or stitching.
Going back to the organ parts...
Once the organ parts where dried out completely, they would coat to preserve, and wrap them in resin, these would then be put into four Canopic Jars, representing the four sons of Horus.
Imseti, with the lid of a Human head, held the liver, protected by the Goddess Isis
Duamutef ,with the lid of a Jackal’s head, held the stomach, protected by the Goddess Neith
Hapi, with the lid of a Baboons head,
held the lungs, protected but the goddess Nephthys
The Flickering Cauldron® Magazine -Preserving of the Dead| 57