Karma, ha-Satan

Ha-Satan is a Hebrew notion related to Karma. They may have derived Ha-Satan from Egyptian Cosmology, partly from the Book of the Dead, and partly from Set.

When a soul dies, we think the spirit travels to a Judge. Many cultures seem to agree on this usually, and even share certain details.

That Judge at the End of the World will weigh a person’s life against what that person said. The life as it was lived, the Egyptians said, was written into a “Book of Life.” They had recorded their words in ha-Satan. At this point of Judgment, ha-Satan becomes a truth sayer, either as advocate or adversary. If a person lived as they believed, ha-Satan was evidence of this. If the soul declared, for example, that they were brave, and yet hid at any sign of risk, ha-Satan would be glaring evidence of this.

In Egypt, a person carried some true and some false words, the Judge sent them back to this life to try again. If they could not find truth, and wasted their words on vain and worthless matters, then the Judge may deliver them to the Dragon Anubis, who added that soul to oblivion. The soul of virtue, however, whose every word held power, would be granted entry to the Million-year barge to live with Amen-Râ.

This time between death and conception is a time of review, and part of the function of Karma. The Book of Life and the Book ha-Satan combine to conserve existence.