, it was reserved for the
hierophants alone, with the object of allowing their physical
molecular elements to pass into the still coarse bodies of the masses
and help forward ordinary souls by the powerful influence of the
magnetic potency with which they were charged. It is also for this
reason that the body of a Yogi, in India, is interred, whilst in the
case of other men cremation is the rule.

On the other hand, among the multitude of beliefs left in Egypt by
degenerate traditions, there were found some which hinted, more or
less clearly, at occult truths, and which might have perpetuated or
generalised this practice. It was supposed, according to Servius, that
the transmigrations[112] began only when the magnetic bond between the
soul and its remains had been broken by the complete disintegration of
the corpse; consequently they did all in their power to preserve this
latter.

This belief may readily be connected with theosophic teaching which
says that the affinity existing between the visible corpse and the
soul clad in its kamic (astral) body, the animal soul in Kamaloka
(Purgatory), is capable, in certain cases, of detaining this soul on
earth, after its disincarnation, and thus delaying, for a longer or
shorter period, the disintegration of the elements of the passional
body. It is these elements, not the soul, that pass over into animal
bodies, and, contrary to the opinions set forth in Egyptian
exotericism, it is to the interest of the soul to free itself from
terrestrial attraction and from its kamic (astral) vehicle, and not to
remain bound down to earth. Consequently, embalming was a mistaken
action, the result of an error of doctrine, or at all events of
teachings that were incomplete, imperfectly transmitted, and
misunderstood.

Egypt multiplied her symbols of palingenesis. Resurrection--in the
sense of re-birth in general--was symbolised by the toad which then
became the goddess Hiquet. This animal was chosen because it lives in
air and in water,[113] because it can remain imprisoned a very great
number of years without either air or food[114] and afterwards come
back to life. G. Maspero, in his _Guide du Visiteur au Musee de
Boulac_, tells us that the early Christians in Egypt had adopted this
symbolism, and that the lamps in their churches were formed in the
shape of a toad, and bore the inscription, "I am the Resurrection," in
the Greek language. This goddess-toad may still be seen in the museum