The Spirit of the Shadow of Ba

The Spirit of the Shadow of Ba

The painting of Ba next to its shadow representing the journey of the soul or protection depicts the dark shadow emerging from the tomb to reunite with the spirit and material existence. The Ba bird emerges from the tomb to reunite with the sun The dark shadow in the tomb of Irinefer TT 290 at Deir el-Medina from the 19th Dynasty New Kingdom Book of the Dead, shows a significant and independent individual a bird with a human head a mobile spiritual aspect of the soul capable of leaving the tomb in broad daylight. This brief scene illustrates both The black circle represents the underworld for the rebirth of the sun in the tomb located in Irinefer's burial chamber.

Servant of the Place of Truth during the reigns of Emperors Seti I and Ramses II highlights the duality of regeneration through mummification and funeral rituals circulating throughout the universe equivalent to Netjeru the Creator God himself proven after judgment subject to continuous passage from the visible space between the two sides of the reality of the single universe This transcendence of the spiritual being Ba affirms the belief in the ephemeral life of mummies. 

The living corpse doctrine with its nature still clinging to the world and shrouded in shadow is sometimes depicted alongside the shadow of the Ba as it leaves or returns to the grave.The soul's desire to soar freely into the afterlife like a bird coupled with its nature still bound to the earthly realm and shrouded in shadow is often linked to concepts in the Book of the Dead representing the liberation or attachment of the soul. One scene from the Book of the Dead depicts the daily journey of the Ba soul the reflective consciousness of the deceased capable of continuing after the judgment of Osiris To achieve transcendence it is essential to reassemble the complete life energy including its shadow according to the doctrine of validating the individual Ba.