The Weighing of the Heart, from the Papyrus of Ani,
The Book of the Dead, now in the British Museum.
Illustration from Desmond Stewart etal, "The Pyramids and Sphinx," NY: Newsweek Books,1981 pp 70-71.

by Anubis Aha & Dionysia Xanthippos

The Weighing of the Heart was done on this giant scale - a monumental Lie Detector Test to confirm that Ani was telling the truth when he swore before his underworld judges that he is innocent of any of the sins they examine him on.

In the top register, seated on thrones before a table of offerings of fruit and flowers, etc, are, from right to left: Harmachis, "the great god in his boat"; the god Tem; the god Shu, with a feather on his head; Tefnut, the lion-headed "lady of heaven, and eye of Re; Seb; Nut, with a pot on her head, also a "lady of heaven"; and sitting side-by-side, the sister goddesses Isis and Nephthys, topped by a throne and a basket on a wall. Behind these eight, but out of sight here, are four more: Horus, the hawk-headed "great god" and son of Osiris; Hathor, the cow-horned queen of Amentis, the Underworld; and Hu and Sa, gods of authority and the star Orion. They all hold scepters, and comprise the dozen gods of "The Great Company of the Gods" of Heliopolis who judge Ani.

In the Hall of Double Maat, or Double Justice and Truth below, from left to right are: The white-robed souls of Ani and his wife Tutu (cut off in this view). Then two goddesses connected with birth and child-care, Meskhenet and Renenet. Above and to their right is Ani's ba, perched on the pylon of his tomb and waiting to ascend to the Upper World of the Blessed. Next is the central scene of the Weighing of the Heart, with Ani's heart sitting in the weigh pan on the left, and the ostrich feather of Maat in the weigh pan on the right. The standing figure on the left side of the scale seems to be Ani's "Luck" or "Destiny" (Shai), while above him is a human-headed cubit ("meschen") associated with his birthplace. Facing him is Anubis, the jackal-headed god of the dead, who conducts the dead souls into the Hall of Judgment and does the actual weighing. Here he is adjusting the sliding weight on the scale. Could he be induced to move it in Ani's favor, so that his heart exactly balances the feather of Maat? Anubis also seems to be tugging down the pan with her feather with his other hand. For only if it is in perfect balance with Ani's heart can it confirm that he was telling the truth in his replies to the judges before whom he had just recited his Negative Confession or Declaration of Innocence. Atop the scale sits a dog-headed ape associated with Thoth. (Note the hieroglyph of the scale in the column of hieroglyphs between Thoth and Anubis.) .
As Anubis weigh's Ani's heart and shows it to be as a light as a feather - the feather of Maat, of Truth and Justice, the ibis-headed god Thoth, scribe of the gods, uses his reed pen to record on a tablet the result, which will then be presented to Osiris, the god and judge of the dead, who can then "justify" Ani and let him proceed to the celestial paradise to join the gods and the other innocent souls. Should the heart of Ani or anyone else fail to exactly balance the feather of Maat, Anubis will toss it to Ammit, the Devourer, the she-monster behind Thoth with the head of a crocodile, the upper body of a lion, and the lower body of a hippopotamus, who will gobble it up and thus destroy the life of that sinner for all eternity.