What does it mean?
What does Maat mean?
Maat is The 5,000-year-old Egyptian principle of truth, order, balance β and the 42 Negative Confessions the heart was weighed against.
Where it comes from
Pyramid Texts Β· Book of the Dead Spell 125 Β· Ptahhotep Β· Old Kingdom Egypt Β· 2400 BCE onward. The word lives in the long lineage of practice-oriented practice, but its specific shape is unmistakably Ancient Egypt β and that shape is part of the answer.
What the practice actually is
In ancient Egyptian cosmology, Maat was both a goddess and a principle β the order that holds back chaos (Isfet), the truth that lights the world, the balance that the Pharaoh's job was to maintain. When you died, your heart was weighed on a scale against a single feather of Maat. If it balanced β if your life had beenβ¦
If you want to go deeper
A short definition is a doorway, not a room. The full practice β the framework, the daily tools, the verses or maxims, the warnings, what to do today β lives in the concept hub below.