Ammit

The tale

In the hall of judgement of the Book of the Dead, the dead person's heart is weighed against the feather of Maat, truth and order, while Anubis works the scales and Thoth records the result. Crouched beside the scales waits Ammit, part crocodile, part lion, part hippopotamus, the three most dangerous animals of the Nile. If the heart is heavy with wrongdoing, she devours it, and the dead person is destroyed forever. The Egyptians carried heart scarabs inscribed with a spell begging their own heart not to speak against them at the weighing.

When they are met

• in quiet reflection on your conduct
• after wrongdoing, when making amends

Staying on their good side

• none; she was feared, never worshipped
• living honestly
• making amends for wrongs done

Honouring them, or keeping safe

1. Read the Negative Confession from spell 125 of the Book of the Dead and use it to reflect on how you live.
2. Keep a scarab or feather as a reminder to live by your conscience.
3. Before sleeping, ask yourself what would weigh on your heart and put it right.
4. Practise honesty and fairness in small daily things.

What their tales teach

• the lesson of living with a light heart
• honesty
• conscience
• justice

Symbols

• the head of a crocodile
• the front of a lion
• the hindquarters of a hippopotamus
• the scales and the feather of Maat

More Egyptian folklore

• The Bennu The heron of the first sunrise
• Apep The serpent of chaos who swallows the sun
• The Akh The shining spirits of the blessed dead
• The Serpent of the Island The golden serpent of the phantom isle
• Djedi The hundred-and-ten-year-old magician