House of Nekhbet

There is some dispute whether this square represents Mut or Nekhbet. Mut - a Vulture - is mentioned as 'protectress of the dead.' Mut hieroglyph means either/both/all the name "mother" and is the name of that goddess, the divine consort of Amoun, god of Thebes.

 

In Senate it most appropriately represents the vulture goddess Nekhbet, Crown of Upper Aegypt, since she usually appears beside her sister goddess, Wadjet/Edjo (Lower Aegypt, square 10).

 

House of Orion (The Zodiac)

This constellation, represented by the Egyptians by a star and sceptre, is called Sah. The man, usually standing in a boat as here, looks backward. He holds a star or ankh, the sign of life, in his left hand, and a sceptre, sign for dominion in the other.

 

 

House of Life

Life is symbolised by the Ankh, cosmological ankle strap that connects us with this world. Each great Aegyptian city had a place called Per Ankh, House of Life. In addition to acting as a repository for knowledge about the gods; it was also used for religious festivities and ceremonies, and for the practice of medicine and magic. Aegyptians thought that recorded words and stories retained ‘life’ and should be perpetually preserved. The deceased player in Senate - who aspires to become Osiris (Osirified) and thus live eternally - by landing on this House of Life was said to have learnt that magic formulae by which this could be attained.

 

 

House of Passing with the Sun

On this square the red sun is shown over the hieroglyph meaning "heaven" with a star below. It seems to be an allusion to the hope of  the dead (as written written in their tombs and papyri) that they might travel daily through the heavens on the solar boat in adoration of Re and become members of his divine crew.

 

To followers of Akhnaton this square might be thought of as House of the Aton. Or to followers of Re, this square might be considered as the House of Re.

 

House of Heqet (House of  Repeating Life)

The frog, an aspect of the goddess Heqet, is shown atop a sign meaning "mistress". The sudden appearance of many frogs on the banks of the Nile from out of apparently lifeless desert sand (following the annual deluge and inundation of rain) made them become the symbol for resurrection, birth, fertility and regenerated life.

 

Because the frog goddess Heqet helped Osiris become resurrected from the dead, she was also thought to help mortals in the same way. The Bennu Bird/Phoenix also represents rebirth and resurrection, but out of fire and air rather than from earth and water.

 

House of Capture

The figures holding a net might allude to BD 153, "Spell for escaping from the Net within the Valley." Shown is a celestial fish net "whose floats are towards the sky and whose sinkers towards the earth," and was said to be manned by Earth gods and "catchers who go about in the midst of the waters."

 

The purpose of this net was to snare wandering souls that did not know the correct pass-words and magic formulae. If this particular spell was repeated over a model of the deceased seated in a boat, it was thought that "his soul shall stay alive forever and not die again."

 

 

House of the Divine Netting Implements

The celestial netting tools had names that were parts of the bodies of different Gods of the Netjerworld. The 'adj,' a wooden spool or cleat, is also called "The thumb of Sokar" and "The Finger of Shezmu", while the 'medjat' implement was also known as "The Hand of Isis" or "The Fingernail of Ptah."

 

The deceased (or initiate priest in ritual Senate) could use such arcane and secret names as these  to be kept safe from the danger of being caught in the net.

 

 

The Vault of Osiris

This glyph gives the name of a sanctuary at Ro-Peqer, near to Abydos centre of the Osirian tradition. This was the place Osiris was thought to be buried, and place from where he first descended to his underworld kingdom.

 

It was also centre of an important festival of the dead, called the w.ag feast, celebrated on the 18th day of the Month of Thoth.

 

 

House of Navigation

Some text quoted on the Turin board expresses the hope that the deceased might join the divine crew of the solar bark, providing a useful service to the sun god in addition as acting as one of his protectors. Control over the rudder or oars implies steering both yourself and direction of the Barque.

 

 

House of the Bread of Everlastingness

A loaf of bread is shown in a basket together with some lotus blossoms.

 

Bread, associated with the body of Osiris, is symbolic of food the deceased hoped to enjoy after death to sustain their journeying's (BD 53, 82). In the quoted passage the player is likened to “a scribe who has their wits about them”, implying mastery of the appropriate magical spells and as a result is moving rapidly to towards the final row of the board, and completion. Our third Turning Square.