Actually,it's both. Your soul is made up of multiple parts: there's your Ka, your Ba, your Khat, your Ib, Ren and Sheut.
KA:Your Ka is your life force, it's what needs to eat in drink in this life and the hereafter. Your Ka is HOW you are and your Ba is WHO you are. If your Ka passes judgement, it becomes an Akh (pl. Akhu) which is an ancestor spirit. Netjeru/Gods have multiple Kau, but humans have only one and animals have a different kind of Ka than humans do. It's easier to think of your Ka as your "fleeting soul" In Kemetic Orthodoxy, your Beloved Deity(ies) create(s) your Ka which is the active and "visible" part of your soul.
BA:Your Ba is what most people think of when they think of the word "soul." Your Ba doesn't change all throughout life and all throughout death. Your Ka is a filter for your Ba, the Ba resides in the Ka. Whereas your Ba is considered mostly an unconscious/subconscious thing, your Ka isn't immutable like your Ba is. If Ka is your fleeting soul, Ba is your immortal soul. In Kemetic Orthodoxy, your Parent Deity(ies) create(s) your Ba.
KHAT: Khat is what your physical tangible body that hasn't reached sahu. Your khat can decay and disappear which is why Egyptians mummified the dead, to preserve the khat so the Ka will have someplace nice to come back to (although, in lieu of a mummy, statues work as well). Sahu is a little harder to describe, but it's your body after you've attained a certain degree of knowledge/enlightenment. If you can have a conversation with your Ba through meditation, your body is sahu.
IB: The ib is your heart. It's the seat of thought, emotion, will, and intention. Your ib is examined by Yinepu/Anubis in the Hall of Judgement against the feather of Ma'at (Ma'at as well as being a Goddess is also an exceedingly abstract concept that is difficult to explain but is truth, justice, rightness of being, etc). Your ib will testify for or against you epending on how you lived your life. If your ib fails, it gets fed to Ammut, the Devourer.
REN: Ren is your name. Like a lot of Native spiritualities, to the Egyptians, your words and thoughts behind your words were paramount. Your name was what defined your purpose in life and every effort was made to protect it, that's why it was such a disgrace in the ancient days to have your name removed from records. They weren't trying to erase history, they were trying (and mostly succeeded) in erasing you. If your ren is forgotten, so are you.
SHEUT: The sheut is your shadow, more or less. Because you can't exist without a shadow and your shadow can't exist without you, it's thought to contain at least a tiny part of your soul.
KA:Your Ka is your life force, it's what needs to eat in drink in this life and the hereafter. Your Ka is HOW you are and your Ba is WHO you are. If your Ka passes judgement, it becomes an Akh (pl. Akhu) which is an ancestor spirit. Netjeru/Gods have multiple Kau, but humans have only one and animals have a different kind of Ka than humans do. It's easier to think of your Ka as your "fleeting soul" In Kemetic Orthodoxy, your Beloved Deity(ies) create(s) your Ka which is the active and "visible" part of your soul.
BA:Your Ba is what most people think of when they think of the word "soul." Your Ba doesn't change all throughout life and all throughout death. Your Ka is a filter for your Ba, the Ba resides in the Ka. Whereas your Ba is considered mostly an unconscious/subconscious thing, your Ka isn't immutable like your Ba is. If Ka is your fleeting soul, Ba is your immortal soul. In Kemetic Orthodoxy, your Parent Deity(ies) create(s) your Ba.
KHAT: Khat is what your physical tangible body that hasn't reached sahu. Your khat can decay and disappear which is why Egyptians mummified the dead, to preserve the khat so the Ka will have someplace nice to come back to (although, in lieu of a mummy, statues work as well). Sahu is a little harder to describe, but it's your body after you've attained a certain degree of knowledge/enlightenment. If you can have a conversation with your Ba through meditation, your body is sahu.
IB: The ib is your heart. It's the seat of thought, emotion, will, and intention. Your ib is examined by Yinepu/Anubis in the Hall of Judgement against the feather of Ma'at (Ma'at as well as being a Goddess is also an exceedingly abstract concept that is difficult to explain but is truth, justice, rightness of being, etc). Your ib will testify for or against you epending on how you lived your life. If your ib fails, it gets fed to Ammut, the Devourer.
REN: Ren is your name. Like a lot of Native spiritualities, to the Egyptians, your words and thoughts behind your words were paramount. Your name was what defined your purpose in life and every effort was made to protect it, that's why it was such a disgrace in the ancient days to have your name removed from records. They weren't trying to erase history, they were trying (and mostly succeeded) in erasing you. If your ren is forgotten, so are you.
SHEUT: The sheut is your shadow, more or less. Because you can't exist without a shadow and your shadow can't exist without you, it's thought to contain at least a tiny part of your soul.
Souls are very complicated things lol
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