The Egyptian Book of the Dead is a western title for an ancient collection of Egyptian manuscripts, the majority of which were funerary in nature. These collected writings have also been referred to as the Egyptian Bible or identified by the names of the scribes who penned them. The Papyrus of Ani comprises the most significant contribution to these texts, though there are some other minor sources which are often included. In the original languages, these works were more accurately entitled the Books of Coming Forth By Day. One of the greatest challenges to English-language speakers when confronting all the great scriptures is the language gap. Unless one has the time and inclination to learn Arabic, Hindi, Hebrew, Greek -- or in this case, Egyptian Heiroglyphs -- it becomes necessary to read the scriptures in translation. The farther removed one's own culture, and alphabet, is from the culture which spawned this scripture, the more translation becomes a vital and subjective area. This particular book review covers a translation of the Egyptian scriptures by Normandi Ellis, which have been printed by Phanes Press under the title Awakening Osiris: The Egyptian Book of the Dead.

             Normandi Ellis is not generally considered the definitive translator of these books. That honor goes to noted Egyptologist E.A. Wallis Budge. Unfortunately, Budge's translations tend towards the mundane and prosaic. The original works were mystic, lyrical, full of alliteration and wordplay. According to Egyptian thought, The Word itself was sacred and powerful, and the mystic impact of these works was inseparable from the poetry of their language. When Normandi Ellis attempted her translations, she abandoned the strict phonetic and word-by-word translation style favored by Budge and embraced a more complete metaphorical and conceptual translation which focused on bringing the deep-rooted poetic style and power of the original into modern translation.