The Game of Life

An occult investigation of the origins, history and esoteric meaning of chess and the ancient Egyptian game of senet

Introduction

Some years ago a reader wrote to us asking whether we had ever considered writing an article about "the wonderful, mysterious game of chess." He went to say that he thought there had to be a much deeper significance about the game. He was right, there is, and in this new article we aim to discover what it is. We told him that we thought a game very much like chess probably originated in Atlantis. We also said that we believed the ancient Egyptian board game of senet was probably related to chess, and that both were very ancient. We further explained that we had no actual proof of any of this, and for this reason did not feel we could satisfy his desire without entering into many guesses, which, as our regular readers know, is something we try to avoid.

However, circumstances alter cases as the saying has it. In the course of researching and writing our series of articles on the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead and our investigation of Hermeticism we encountered several references to the game of senet. This led us to take a closer look at the origins and history of chess. We quickly discovered that although the two games differ widely as regards the number and kinds of pieces, methodology and strategy, viewed esoterically both are concerned with fate, fortune, destiny and the evolution of man. These are all subjects which are pre-eminently occult, just as our perceptive reader thought. It is the esoteric aspects of the game which this new article aims to examine and in so doing shed new light on what our correspondent called "the wonderful, mysterious game of chess."

Early chess board from India — Terracotta, ca. 2,450 B.C.

Origin and history

No one knows when or where chess first originated. Much is speculated, little is known. All we can say for certain is that the game is very old and found all over the world. Some scholars claim to have traced the roots of chess back to the Indus Valley civilisation which flourished in India, 5,000, or even 10,000 years ago. Evidence in support of this came to light in the mid 1950's when a proto-chess board and pieces was found during excavations at Lothal (see illustration above). This board and pieces were dated to about 2,450 B.C., by Indian archaeologist Dr S. R. Rao (1922-2013). The design of the pieces is remarkably similar to those employed in the Egyptian game of senet. This adds weight to our belief that Chaturanga (as the Indian game is called) and senet were derived from a common prototype. There can only be one source for this, and that source, as we have pointed out in several articles, is Atlantis. Now, this is a suggestion on our part, albeit not without some foundation. Our first piece of evidence is a form of chess called Xiangqi that was being played in China as long ago as the 5th century B.C. A story from the time of the Tang Dynasty (618-907 A.D.) relates a dream in which one Cen is visited by a messenger of the Golden Elephant Kingdom. He tells Cen that his kingdom would soon go to war with the Tian Na Kingdom. The messenger then asks Cen if he would like to watch the conflict. Suddenly Cen’s room turns into the gate of a castle prepared for a great battle. A military adviser comes to the Golden Elephant King with a unique strategy: "The flying horse (knight) goes diagonally and stops at three (third line), the general moves all over the field, the wagon (rook) proceeds straight into the enemy’s territory, and soldiers (pawns) should not move sideways." This description, brief as it is, suggests that Xiangqi was similar to chess.

Our second piece of evidence comes to us from classical Greece. When the Poet Ovid, in Book III of The Art of Love discusses the leisure activities proper to a beautiful woman, one of his descriptions reads very much like a game of chess. We quote: "I should wish her to play with skill and caution. One piece against two is bound to go under. A king that is battling, separated from his queen is liable to be taken; and his rival is often compelled to retrace his steps." (Ars Amatoria, Ovid, Book III, Part VIII). Our third piece of evidence is drawn from ancient Egypt. On one of the walls of the mastaba of Hesy-Ra, a nobleman and high priest who flourished during the Third Dynasty, ca. 2,600 B.C., there is a painting showing pieces in the form of statuettes. Similar pieces are to be seen in paintings from the tombs of several of the kings from First Dynasty. Of course, these pieces may be connected with the Egyptian game of senet and not a form of proto-chess. Although both games are for two players, senet is played on a board of 30 squares arranged in three rows. This is very different from the classic 64 squares that characterizes all known proto-chess variants. The number of pieces in senet is not 16, and none of them vary much in appearance. Moreover, the object of senet is to remove one's own pieces from the board before one's opponent rather than checking the opposing king as in chess. However, this does not rule out a common origin for both games. You can read more about senet in our Afterword.

We are on safer ground when we turn to India. More than 5,000 years ago Chaturanga was played there, though scholars continue to argue over its origins. The word means "four divisions," referring to the four departments into which Indian armies were then divided, namely infantry, cavalry, elephants, and chariotry. These were represented by pieces that would later evolve into the modern pawn, knight, bishop, and rook or castle, respectively. In the Indian version of the game, the sixty-four squares (in an 8 x 8 matrix) correspond to the occult principles associated with the layout of sacred temples. The Hindu King Balhit is attributed with writing a book about Chaturanga in which the game is portrayed as an allegory of the Zodiac. We shall come back to this point later. Some idea of the antiquity of the game may be gained from the fact that there are many paintings of the Hindu Saviour Krishna playing the game with his wife Radha (see illustration below). Now, Krishna, according to the Puranas, was born in 3,228 B.C., in the city of Mathura, in Northern India and died in 3,102 B.C.

— Krishna and Radha playing Chaturanga — Painting on silk, ca. 1300 —

This not only adds credence to the great age of Chaturanga but attests to its esoteric nature. It is impossible to think that a holy being like Krishna would waste his time playing a board game merely to fill an idle hour or two. When we also see ancient Egyptian pharaohs playing senet in their tombs we may be tolerably sure that such games were very much more than simple leisure activities. Later on we shall see that Chaturanga and chess were intended from the first to familiarise the wise with the natural and cosmic laws that govern the grand scheme of creation and evolution through the medium of a game of skill and strategy. We say 'wise' deliberately, for we do not believe that such games were originally intended for the common people, though they were undoubtedly taken up by them later on. By 'common' we mean the uninstructed masses whose thoughts and aims, then as now, were firmly glued to the material plane and concerned with material, as opposed to spiritual aims.

— Traditional Persian chess set — ca. 1800 —

From ancient India Chaturanga spread eastward and westward, reaching Persia in the late sixth century where it was called Chatrang. It is to Persia that we owe the earliest texts which mention the origins of chess. The sixth century Persian Sage Bozorgmehr, also known as Burzmihr, relates that Chatrang was introduced to Persia by "Dewasarm, a great ruler of India." Dewasarm is the Persian rendering of the Sanskrit Sharvavarman, who ruled Kanyakubja, in what is now the modern state of Uttar Pradesh from ca. 560 to 574 A.D. Bozorgmehr writes: "Dewasarm has fashioned this Chatrang after the likeness of a battle, and in its likeness are two supreme rulers after the likeness of kings (shah), with the essentials of rooks (rukh) to right and to left, with Counsellor (farzin) in the likeness of a commander of the champions, with the Elephant (pil) in the likeness of the commander of the rearguard, with Horse (asp) in the likeness of the commander of the cavalry, with the foot soldier (piyadak) in the likeness of so many infantry in the vanguard of the battle." With minor differences, these are sufficiently close to their modern counterparts to leave little doubt that the game played in Persia over 1,400 years ago is essentially the same as modern chess.

lewis chessman — King from the Isle of Lewis chess set

The word 'checkmate' used to signify the end of the game by successfully trapping the king is believed to stem from the Persian word 'Shah' (king) and the Arabic word 'mat' (he is dead). Interestingly, in German chess is called schach and checkmate schachmatt, whilst in Russia the game is called shakhmaty.

The Muslim conquest of Persia brought the game to the Arabic world in which it was known as Shatranj. From there it spread to North Africa, Sicily and Spain. By the 10th century it had reached Kievan Rus (later Russia), from whence the Vikings carried the game as far as Iceland and England. It is Norsemen who are thought to have been responsible for the famous Lewis chessmen named after the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides where they were discovered in 1831. The Lewis chessmen found further fame when they were used as the models for the magical, animated chess pieces featured in the first of the Harry Potter movies — Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

The Game of Life

The correspondences between chess and life on Earth are many. Life, like chess, is a game of skill and strategy circumscribed by certain rules within which we are free to make choices. Each choice has consequences which affect our future actions for good or ill, success or failure. In life, as in chess, we must pit our wits against an opponent, whether an actual individual, or circumstances which may conspire to aid or undermine our aims. These factors and many more influence the progress of the game and ultimately determine its outcome. We have deliberately described the game of chess in this unusual way in order to emphasize the similarity between it and the internal and external struggles of life on Earth. The internal struggle finds its most potent expression in the battle between the lower and Higher minds. This involves many different conflicts, such as doubt versus faith; superstition versus truth; fanaticism versus detachment; and fear versus courage, each and every one of which has to be overcome before understanding is gained and Peace dwells within. The external struggle includes the many challenges associated with living in the material world, such as work; relationships; health and our very survival.

Ultimately, chess is concerned with the exercise of free will within the rules and parameters that govern the game. Life, too, is ultimately concerned with the exercise of free will within the constraints imposed upon us by man-made rules, and the Universal Hermetic Laws first taught by Hermes Trismegistus. The rich symbolism of chess is unique amongst board games. Not for nothing has it been called "the royal game" and "the pastime of kings." Benjamin Franklin said that "Life is a kind of chess, in which we have often points to gain, and competitors or adversaries to contend with." The individual playing pieces represent the principles and laws that govern our lives, whilst the constraints of the board itself, combined with the limitations of movement prescribed for each piece, together with the rules and conventions of the game, are exactly analogous to the Great Game of Life itself. Success in chess, like life, depends upon the experience, skill and determination of the participants. But it is not enough to state these propositions; we need to prove them too. So we shall now examine the physical characteristics of the chess board, the character and functions of the individual pieces and the esoteric significance of both.

The chess board which has come down to us and is still used today comprises a matrix of sixty-four squares arranged in alternate shades of dark and light, usually black and white. The squares are arranged in ranks and files. Ranks consist of the rows of eight squares arranged horizontally across the board, whereas files run vertically in rows of eight squares from the top to the bottom of the board. Contemporary chess sets come in a wide variety of styles. The most well-known and popular of these is the classical 'Staunton' set shown below which was first released in London in 1849. This remains the official standard at global chess tournaments. The pieces are divided into two sets referred to as white and black, regardless of their actual colour or design. Each set consists of sixteen pieces: one king, one queen, two rooks (also known as castles), two bishops, two knights, and eight pawns.

Classic Staunton chess pieces and box — ca. 1880

Each piece has its own way of moving. The king can only move one square at a time. The queen can move as few or as many squares in any direction, horizontally, vertically or diagonally. A rook can move any number of squares along a rank or file, that is horizontally or vertically. A bishop can move any number of squares diagonally. Knights move in what can only be described as a very odd way, making them unique among all the pieces in chess. A knight may move to any of the closest squares that are not on the same rank, file, or diagonal. This move forms an 'L' shape, consisting of either two squares vertically and one square horizontally, or two squares horizontally and one square vertically. This is exactly the same move as the 'flying horse' makes in the Chinese game of Xiangqi and the Ashva (horse) in the Indian game of Chaturanga.

The knight is the only piece that can leap-frog over other pieces. It does not capture them when it does so; an opposing piece can only be captured by moving to the square it occupies and ejecting it. Finally, a pawn — the foot-soldiers of chess — can only move forward to the unoccupied square immediately in front of it on the same file. The sole exception to this rule is at the commencement of a game when it can advance two squares along the same file, provided both squares are unoccupied. A pawn captures an opposing piece if it occupies a square diagonally in front of it by moving to that square. You may recall that this was true of the Chinese game of Xiangqi too — "soldiers (pawns) should not move sideways." In addition pawns have a unique move called 'promotion'. This was known from very ancient times and well established by the sixth century in the Indian game of Chaturanga. When, in the course of play, a pawn reaches the eighth rank of the opposing side of the board, it must immediately be exchanged for the player's choice of queen, rook, bishop, or knight of the same colour. This makes it possible to have more pieces of the same type than at the start of the game. Promotion is mandatory; the pawn cannot remain as a pawn. Viewed esoterically, this Gnostic change is akin to what occultists call the 'Great Choice' when the perfected Higher Self is faced with the choice of returning to Earth as a great Teacher or Holy Messenger or going forward to reach a state of consciousness which is beyond all description and human comprehension. You can read more about this in the Afterword to our occult studies course article on Evolution — True Destiny of Man. What of the moves themselves; are they of occult significance? We should say they are insofar as they correspond to the 'moves' we choose to make in life; whether to right or left, forward or backward, quick or slow, long or short, or hasty or well-considered. Our intuitive readers will be able to see many more correspondences between the game of chess and the Great Game of Life itself.

Variants of the game

No occult investigation of chess would be complete without mentioning 'Enochian chess', a variant of the game invented by William Wynn Westcott and S. L. MacGregor Mathers, two of the founders of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Enochian chess took its name from the Enochian system of magic invented by Sir Edward Kelley and Dr John Dee in the 16th century. The game was given a pseudo-Egyptian flavour by Mathers who identified the pieces with Egyptian deities. The number of pieces in Enochian chess and their division into four armies resembles the Indian game of Chaturaji to some extent. This ancient game should not to be confused with Chaturanga mentioned earlier which, like chess, is a game for two players, not four like Chaturaji. There any similarity between Chaturaji and Enochian chess ends. To say any more would be to credit Enochian chess with a significance it does not merit. Those readers who spell 'magick' with a 'K' and believe that sigils and servitors constitute the summum bonum of the occult arts may vehemently disagree with us. We cordially invite them to read our article on Practical Magic which may change their minds — or possibly not!

Three Dimensional chess set — ca. 2000

There are many more variants of chess, such as Shoji, played in Japan since the 16th century, many of which sound much more interesting and entertaining than Enochian chess, or the even sillier variant known as 'Three-dimensional chess' illustrated above. This has been known since at least the late 19th century. For example, Raumschach, meaning "Space chess" in German, was invented in 1907 by Ferdinand Maack. Unsurprisingly, this variant appears a lot in science fiction — the TV series Star Trek and derivative movies having contributed to the game's familiarity. Apart from Chaturaji, the four-handed version of Chaturanga, mentioned above, the earliest known variant is 'Courier chess' which dates from the 12th century and was popular until the 18th century, something that cannot be said of either Enochian or Three-dimensional chess. As none of the countless variants of chess can tell us anything new or worthwhile about the esoteric meaning of the game we have essayed not to discuss them any further. It is ironic that Enochian chess, the only variant invented by professed occultists should be so conspicuously devoid of any genuine occult meaning!

Ancient Egyptian style chess set and pieces — Contemporary 1990's

Symbolism

The first symbolic property of chess to be noted is that there are 64 squares on the board arranged in an 8 x 8 matrix. We find the same number of squares arranged in the same way in the ancient Indian game of Chaturanga. This, as we saw earlier, is probably at least 5,000 years old. The number and type of pieces in Chaturanga is also the same as chess. We shall come back to these striking similarities later on. Before we do so, let us consider the numerological aspects of the board itself. On contemporary chess boards the 64 squares are divided equally into 32 dark and 32 light squares. White opposes black, just as good opposes evil on the chequerboard of life, whether embodied in individuals or collective movements and forces. Now 6 + 4 adds to ten or the Decad. As we saw in our investigation of the sacred science of numbers, ten meant 'all complete' or fully accomplished' with the Pythagoreans. It is the grand summit of numbers, which once reached cannot be passed that expresses the evolution of all things from the great First Cause. Hence the board of 64 squares can be said to represent both the material world and the Universe of which it is the reflection; the board or stage upon which the great Game of Life is played.

If we subtract the 32 squares occupied by the two sets of opposing pieces, we are left with the same number of squares in the centre of the board, a matrix of 4 files by 8 ranks. Three plus two adds to five, the pre-eminent number of Man represented by the 5-pointed star known to occultists as the Pentagram or Seal of Solomon. So 32 is one way of describing the battle ground upon which the two opponents confront one another. We may further regard them as the Higher and lower minds or selves and the board itself as the body in which they strive for mastery. The number of the pieces in each set is 16 and 1 + 6 adds to 7, the most significant of all numbers. There are a host of sevenings in Man; not least the number of principles comprising our complete being which, according to both Eastern and Western occultism is seven. We could go on analysing further numbers and their combinations almost indefinitely, but these few examples should be sufficient to show that there is nothing arbitrary or accidental in a board of 64 squares occupied by 16 pieces.

We told you earlier that the Hindu King Balhit believed that chess is an allegory of the Zodiac. According to him the 64 squares of the chess board establish a relationship between the first cause, which dominates all the spheres (realms of being) and in which everything finds its end. This confirms what we said earlier about the Decad representing the sum total of the Universe and its contents. King Balhit further states that the alternating white and black squares correspond to the two hypostases of the Universe, namely Purusha (Spirit) and Prakriti (Matter) respectively, which are interwoven during manifestation. Balhit goes on to explain that the numerical progression of 4 x 4 x 4 = 64 which may also be expressed as 8 x 8, corresponds with the 8 planets and unfolds the two great complementary cycles of the Moon and Sun in a concealed manner. Unfortunately, there are several problems with this. Firstly, he includes the Sun, Moon and Rahu in his 8 'planets', none of which are planets in the accepted sense. The Sun is a star; the Moon is the satellite of the Earth, whilst Rahu marks the northerly point where the orbit of the Moon intersects the ecliptic, or apparent path of the Sun. His remaining bodies are the five planets of our solar system that are visible to the naked eye, namely Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.

Another problem is that Balhit excludes Ketu, which marks the southerly point where the orbit of the Moon intersects the ecliptic. In Western astronomy and astrology these two points are called the north and south nodes of the Moon respectively, neither of which is a planet. Incidentally, Hinduism traditionally recognises nine planets not eight, as Ketu is included in this scheme! This begs the question of why King Balhit excluded Ketu. Ironically, Western astronomy does recognise eight planets if we include our Earth and exclude the problematical Pluto which was demoted to a 'dwarf planet' in 2007. Despite all this we cannot find any convincing correspondences between Balhit's eight planets and any of the pieces in chess. We might stretch a point and say, as some Freemasons have, that the Sun corresponds to the king and the Moon to the Queen, but where does that leave the poor bishop, knight and rook? None of the three is a particularly good fit for the seven planets. And even if one could be found, there remain four planets unaccounted for. It seems to us that one can be too eager to find correspondences where none exist. Not everything has a hidden meaning, an important point we have been at pains to make in several of our articles about symbolism.

This ancient Indian monarch may have been on to something when he said that 4 x 4 x 4 = 64 unfolds the two great complementary cycles of the Moon and Sun in a concealed manner. Let us examine this assertion. The perimeter of the chess board consists of 28 squares which corresponds to the approximate number of days in the lunar cycle that regulates birth, death and fertility. The number 64 is a fraction of 25920 which is the exact number of years that describes the gradual shift in the orientation of the Earth's axis of rotation in a recurring cycle known as the precession of the equinoxes. King Balhit asserts that calculations derived from an esoteric analysis of the chess board accurately mirror the great time cycles called Yugas which exert their influence for good or ill upon us and the world we inhabit. This seems possible, even probable. There have also been attempts to correlate chess pieces with the four occult elements of Fire, Air, Water and Earth. Herein lies another problem. There are not four occult elements but five if we include Aether, and seven if we include Time and Space. So again, we have been unable to find such connections. There we must leave this question and see whether we can discover any correspondences between the pieces and the principles or components of man's being.

One of the peculiarities of chess is that the king is the only piece that cannot be captured. With the exception of the special move known as castling which is of comparatively modern origin, the king may only move one square in any direction. He may also attack and capture other pieces, but in practise rarely does. Generally speaking, the king takes no active part in the game. This may well be the reason why, when writing about chess, the Freemason and mystic Manly P Hall thought that "the king represents the human spirit." He went on to say: "...the spirit of man can be endangered and prevented from functioning, but it can never be destroyed." This suggests he did not know the difference between the Higher Mind and Soul. It is only the former that enters into incarnation; the latter remains in the region of pure Spirit. Those of you who have read Symphonie Fantastique by J Michaud PhD will recall that Iambus — the principal protagonist in that remarkable cosmic drama — loses his soul (Higher Mind in our terminology) at the end of the book. "And so perished the god-like Soul of the rebellious Son of God Supreme — Iambus — and scattered were its principal atoms to every part of the Universal Vaults . . . to be re-assembled at some future time perchance, if God so wills it." It is clear from this that by 'Soul' the author meant the Higher Mind of Iambus and not the supreme part of man we call the Divine Soul. One cannot re-assemble something from nothing. From this it follows that if any piece represents the Divine Soul, it is probably the king, the only piece, as we said earlier, that cannot be captured.

We find confirmation of this in Chaturanga. In this forerunner of chess the queen is called Mantri meaning minister and Senapati meaning general. In the Islamic game of Shatranj this piece is called Ferz or Wazir which also means minister or counsellor. Minister, general and counsellor are all terms eminently appropriate to the role and function of the Higher Mind. Manly P Hall further thought that the bishop represented the emotional nature, the knight the vitality, the rook or castle the physical body, and the pawns the "sensory impulses and perceptive faculties — the eight parts of the soul." Frankly, this scheme, ingenious as it may be, is almost completely wrong from an occult point of view. In no esoteric system we know of is the 'soul', whatever Hall may have conceived it to be, divisible into eight parts. Two, yes; even seven, if by 'soul' we mean the totality of man's principles, but not eight. The Canadian mystic is on even shakier ground with the attributes he assigns to the bishop and rook. Since both minds possess an 'emotional' nature it is hard to see how or why it should be attributed to the bishop rather than any other piece.

However, when he says that "the white king and his suite symbolize the Self and its vehicles; the black king and his retinue, the not-self — the false Ego and its legion," we agree with him. Always assuming that by this he meant the Higher and lower selves, which is by no means clear. In this speculative paradigm the black king might be said to represent the positive pole of the lower self and the black queen the negative pole. By these polarities we mean that part of the lower self which gravitates towards its better half — the Higher Self — and is influenced by it for good, and that part which indulges its base instincts and appetites to the full, and so attunes with evil conditions. The remaining pieces of the black suite, like their white counterparts might fulfil Hall's 'emotional nature', 'vitality', and his 'sensory impulses and perfective faculties'. This disposes of the otherwise tricky problem of which piece or pieces depict the lower mind. This may have been what the pieces originally signified when chess was an illustration of esoteric truths, rather than a mere pastime. If our conjectural hypothesis is correct, and we do not say that it is, then checkmate may have represented the domination of one self over the other. We might carry this idea one step further and posit that the capture of an individual piece might symbolise the stripping away of a particular vice or gaining a virtue. What is not in doubt is that chess, like Chaturanga and Xiangqi have depths of esoteric meaning that are not apparent on the surface.

Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema — Egyptian Chess Players — oil on wooden panel, 1865

Conclusion

Here we must call a halt to our investigation. We are vividly conscious that we have but scratched the surface of the subject, but there is a limit to what can be accomplished in a short article such as this. However, we hope we have said enough to convince even the most sceptical of seekers that "the wonderful, mysterious game of chess" as our reader described it has many hidden depths. In chess as in life, the player is free to choose between several possibilities. But each new movement brings a series of unavoidable consequences into being, both good and bad, foreseen and unseen. This leads to further choices which increasingly limit our free will. So that in the end victory or defeat is not a mere matter of hazard or 'luck' as the ignorant believe but the effects of the inevitable working out of prior causes which we ourselves have put into motion.

The wise player, in chess as in life, will only hold on to his liberty of action when his decisions are in harmony with the nature of the game; when he fully recognises the opportunities and possibilities it offers him in accordance with the rules that govern play. In other words, unless free-will is allied to knowledge the game is hard to play, never mind win. The unwise player, on the other hand, in chess as in life, will lose his liberty of action because he is not in harmony with the nature of the game, is ignorant of the opportunities and possibilities it offers him, and all his choices are dictated by blind impulse. The Game of Life is lived and won — outwardly as well as inwardly — by working with the Spiritual and Material Laws of Life. This is the essential esoteric meaning of the Royal Game of chess.

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Senet

In our Afterword we explore the origins and meaning of the ancient Egyptian game of Destiny known as senet.

Senet has the distinction of being among the most studied but least understood of ancient board games. Its origin is shrouded in mystery. The Greek conquerors of Egypt barely mention it, and by the time the Romans arrived in 30 B.C., the game had fallen into neglect. The little we know of the rules of senet is derived from Roman sources who took even less interest in it than the Greeks. This ignorance and disinterest, while vexing to the scholars of board games, supports our belief that senet, like chess, is mainly concerned with the destiny and the evolution of man.

The board consists of 30 squares, arranged in three rows of ten for two players. Each player starts with five pawn-shaped pieces, which are moved across the board in a boustrophedon manner, meaning to reverse direction from one row to the next. It is thought play was decided by the roll of dice or throwing sticks, which served the same purpose as dice in ancient Egypt. A typical senet board of the 18th Dynasty (1,700 B.C. - 1,300 B.C.) belonging to Tutankhamen is shown below.

What we do know is that the aim of the game was to reach square 30 and get all one's pieces off the board while preventing one's opponent from doing so. Egyptologists believe that the serpentine journey across the board symbolically mirrored the soul's journey in the Afterlife, and that one or more squares represented the challenges and trials the deceased encountered along the way. We agree.

But exactly how this was achieved and what rules governed the movement and placement of pieces is not known. The only reliable sources of information we have are some few references in the Turin papyrus, an unnamed papyrus in the Cairo Museum, and fragmentary descriptions of the game from the Tomb of Petosiris, a priest of Thoth who is thought to have lived during the 30th Dynasty (ca. 360 B.C.).

All three sources belong to the late period of Egyptian civilisation, when the Wisdom of earlier times had been largely lost and the land was under the heel of foreign rulers, first the Persians and then the Greeks. Fortunately, in addition to these sparse records, we have many references to the game in the Book of the Dead. As we shall see, it is this much earlier source in which we find the keys to the esoteric meaning of senet that is wanting in the later papyri and descriptions from the 4th century B.C.

The earliest depiction of senet found so far is in the mastaba of Hesy-Ra, mentioned in our main article about chess. This is remarkably close to the date attributed by Dr Rao to the chess board and pieces he discovered at Lothal, in India, which we also mentioned in our article.

The remains of boards that could be senet have been found in some of the tombs of the First Dynasty at Abydos and Saqqara, dating back to 4,500 B.C. By the time of the New Kingdom, which began around 1,700 B.C., numerous depictions of kings and nobles playing senet appear in the tomb paintings and the papyri of the period. One of the many treasures found in the tomb of Tutankhamen, was the magnificent senet set shown above.

The word 'senet' means 'passing'. This is an apt term for life on Earth which, when viewed correctly, is the passing of the soul (Higher Mind) from illusion through trial and test to the life immortal in the higher realms of being from whence it need never return to this vale of tears ever again. Earthly life is also short, another meaning of the word passing. We still use the same word today to refer to those who have died and 'passed on'.

The Book of the Dead tells us that it was possible to pass to a very much worse world than the Earth after death. Egyptian theology had its hells as well as its heavens. In chapter XVII the deceased prays to be delivered from "the god whose face is like unto that of a greyhound...who feedeth upon the dead...who devoureth the bodies of the dead, and swalloweth hearts, and who voideth filth..."

If senet was intended to represent the journey to salvation or damnation then it follows that a player could as readily lose the game as win it. In the same chapter the deceased prays that he may "never fall under the knives wherewith they [the demons] inflict cruel tortures." This raises a point made earlier when we said that one or more squares on the senet board represented the challenges and trials encountered in the journey in the Afterlife.

In the senet boards which have been found to date certain squares are distinguished with a simple mark or a hieroglyphic inscription. These squares are confined to the end of the third row and are usually four in number, namely squares 26 to 29. These may have stood for important milestones in the journey of the soul.

An exception to this is a board from the 18th Dynasty in which the 15th square in the second row contains the hieroglyphs for "Life and Strength." As several boards from the tomb of Tutankhamen are similarly distinguished this may have been typical of games of the period (see detail from one such board below).

Plato said that "All systems of religious mysticism and metaphysical philosophy are based on numbers." This is a doctrine as old as Hermes that enshrines the origin and evolution of all things and beings. Hence it is no accident that, as in chess, numbers play a vital part in unravelling the esoteric meaning of the game. Numerologically, 15 adds to 6 (1 + 5), a most significant number.

The Pythagoreans called six or the Hexad 'the Perfection of parts', because it is formed by the multiplication of the first (beyond unity) odd number and the first even number (2 and 3), and so resembles the union of Male and Female. The Hexad is also the symbol of marriage, because it is formed by the union of two interlaced triangles, one masculine and the other feminine.

These correspondences would have been well known to the Egyptian Sages who first conceived senet, as well as the Egyptian nobility who played the game, many of whom were initiates. The hieroglyph for 'strength' (utcha in Egyptian) is derived from the uas sceptre carried by both Gods and rulers. This also has the meaning of victory which, when combined with the hieroglyph for 'life' (the well-known ankh), as in square fifteen, infers this was a pivotal position on the senet board.

As we said earlier, the most commonly decorated squares were numbers 26 to 29. Number 26 contained a mark related to goodness from as early as the Old Kingdom, invariably the hieroglyph nefer. Like many Egyptian terms, nefer had many meanings beyond that of goodness. It also stood for beauty. As such it forms part of the name of Queen Nefertiti ('she comes in beauty') and that of the wife of Ramesses II, Nefertari ('beautiful companion').

Nefer also meant harmony as evidenced by the stringed instrument from which the hieroglyph was derived. The number 26 adds to 8 (2 + 6) or the ogdoad which was considered sacred by the Pythagoreans because it was the number of the first cube. Among the many keywords related to it are love, good counsel and prudence. So this was clearly a most fortunate square to reach.

Not so with the next square, number 27. This was marked with the hieroglyph for water. Occasionally the god of the River Nile — Hapi — or a hippopotamus is shown instead. These markings are suggestive of ill-fortune, following the good fortune indicated by the preceding square.

Even today the expression 'deep water' is used to describe difficulties of all kinds. Hence, it is possible that any piece landing on square 27 remained stuck there, perhaps for several turns or had to retreat, such vicissitudes reflecting the perilous obstacles the deceased faced in the Afterlife.

Square 28 was generally marked with one of three variants: three seated human figures, three Ba birds or three Neters (gods). The repetition of three signs in a row usually indicates the plural in Egyptian. Hence, these three variants could be translated as men, souls (Higher Minds) and gods respectively. Given that 2 + 8 adds to ten, the number of the famous Tetractys or Mystic Decad, reaching this square may have symbolised that the end of the journey was in sight.

The number 10 meant 'fully accomplished' with the Pythagoreans. It is the grand summit of numbers, which once reached cannot be passed; to increase the sum we must retrograde to the monad. It was further called 'Deity', 'Heaven', 'Eternity' and the 'Sun', all most apt terms to describe this point in the journey home.

The next square, number 29 adds to 11. This number seems to have had an evil reputation among all peoples. The Jewish Kabbalists contrasted it with the perfection of the Decad, and just as this stands for all good things, so eleven was considered to be the essence of all that is sinful, harmful and imperfect. Eleven may further be reduced to the Dyad or number 2 (1 + 1 = 2).

The Dyad was considered unfortunate on account of it being the symbol of duality, separation and differentiation. It was through the power of the Dyad that the material world was created, in contradistinction to the spiritual. This duality is echoed in Genesis chapter 1: "and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night."

This implies that this square was regarded unfavourably by the Egyptians. It is possible that any piece landing upon it may have been forced to go back to its previous square or even return to the starting point, whereas any piece that landed on square 28 may have been automatically promoted to the 30th square, and removed from the board.

We would stress that all these suggestions are conjectural on our part since, as we said earlier, no one knows what the rules of senet were or how they may have changed over time. For we must not lose sight of the fact that the game was played for at least 6,000 years, possibly much longer. The rules of modern chess, on the other hand, were amended as recently as 2023.

It is not without significance that the final square — number 30 — is unmarked. The only exception we were able to find was a board thought to be from the 19th or 20th dynasties (ca. 1,300 to 1,100 B.C.). Square 30 on this board is distinguished by a most significant hieroglyph, that of the Sun-God Ra-Heru-Khuti, also transliterated as Ra-Horakhty, meaning "Ra, as Horus of the Two Horizons."

This cannot have been an accident. Among the very many symbolical meanings of the God Ra in this guise is that of the beautified soul which has attained the highest state of consciousness it is possible for any human being to reach. We referred to this sublime state in our occult studies course article on Material and Spiritual Evolution in which we said: "And finally, he reaches the sphere or plane of ecstatic Supreme consciousness, where he loses the consciousness of separateness and is at one with the All whilst still retaining his own individuality. He is then at the threshold of the great Choice."

This square is not without its numerological significance either. Thirty reduces to three or the Triad. The Pythagoreans called this wisdom and understanding because it symbolises the trinity of Father-Mother-Son as well as the trinity of the three higher principles in man — the Spark of Life or Prana, the Higher Mind and the Divine Soul.

Before we conclude our survey of the senet board, we must not omit to mention the serpentine path which must be traversed to reach the goal. Earthly life itself is just such a series of twists and turns. Very few of us advance a step or several in life without taking one or more steps backward. The same is true of our many incarnations in which we may retrogress as well as progress.

In senet as in Life there is no ascension without a corresponding fall. Although we do not know the rules of the game as it was played in the New, Middle or Old Kingdoms of Egypt, we may be tolerably sure that at all times play involved forfeits and rewards as we suggested when we discussed squares 28 and 29.

This poses the question of whether one piece could take another. In the reconstructed game as it is played today it can. Either the captured piece is moved back to the square from which the attacking piece came, or is forced to return to the start. If the reader desires to play the game as it is played today there is no shortage of websites which purport to teach it. But this does not mean such reconstructions prove how the game was played in Egypt.

During the Middle Kingdom the final five squares appear at the top of the board, indicating that play commenced at bottom right and proceeded in the serpentine path mentioned earlier to the top left. This is a 180-degree reversal of the orientation seen on boards from the 18th Dynasty onwards. Some scholars believe this is significant. This seems doubtful to us as the board can easily be reversed by the players, so that the first square is at top left rather than at top right.

As we said earlier, senet is mentioned in the Book of the Dead, notably in chapter XVII titled the "Chapter of Praises and Glorifyings and of Coming Forth by Day." In the Papyrus of Ani which we explored in our investigation of this sacred text, this chapter begins with the rubric: "Here begin the praises and glorifyings of going into the glorious Khert-Neter, which is in the Beautiful Amentet, of coming forth into Day in all the forms of existence which it may please the Sahu to take, of playing senet...and of appearing as a living Soul."

The title and rubric alone tells us that this text is concerned with the separation of the astral body, which the Egyptians called the Sahu, from the just deceased physical body, and the arrival of the former in the upper Egyptian Heaven as a 'living Soul'. The word translated as 'soul' was Ba in Egyptian; identical with the part of man we call the Higher Mind.

Chapter XVII is one of the longest and most important in the Book of the Dead. In it the destiny of the deceased is decided and his place among the gods in Heaven is determined by a long series of catechisms which test his knowledge of the Mysteries. The series of vignettes illustrating this chapter begins with the depiction of Ani and his wife Tutu playing senet, as you can see in the illustration reproduced below.

What of the pieces themselves? These were ten in number, divided into two sets of five, one set for each player. One set was typically cone-shaped and the other resembled the head of a push-pin as you can see in the illustration below. If there was ever any esoteric meaning attached to the shape of the pieces no knowledge of it has come down to us.

The number of pieces, on the other hand cannot have been accidental. Thirty divided by five is six; a most significant number. Thirty divided by ten — the total number of pieces — is three, or the Triad, another important number. Five itself is the number of Man as symbolised by the familiar 5-pointed star or Pentagram, perhaps the most ubiquitous of all occult signs. All very appropriate for pieces intended to represent the journey through the Afterlife.

Some modern scholars have suggested that the 30 squares of the senet board stood for the deities of ancient Egypt. We remain sceptical. A case could equally well be made for twenty deities, or sixty as the list of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses runs to many hundreds. What we can say is that neither the Ogdoad (eight deities) worshipped at Hermopolis nor the Heliopolitan Ennead of nine deities dating back to the First Dynasty divides equally into 30.

This serves to remind us of two important things. Firstly, as we said in our main article, not everything has a hidden meaning, and secondly that speculation, however ingenious or plausible, is no substitute for facts. And facts, as we have seen, are rather thin on the ground so far as senet is concerned. All we can conclude with a high degree of certainty is that it was first and foremost a game of destiny concerned with the spiritual evolution of man and his liberation from reincarnation.

No survey of senet would be complete without mentioning another ancient Egyptian game of destiny at least as old, if not older. That game is mehen, named after the serpent-goddess who protected the God Ra in his nightly journey through the dark regions of the Tuat, corresponding to what we call the lower realms of the Astral World. In other words the hell the Christian Church no longer believes in, but is very real indeed to those unfortunate enough to enter its grim portals.

The arrangement of a typical mehen board (shown above) is a spiral track formed by the body of a coiled snake with the head at the centre and the tail on the circumference. While a board has never been found together with its playing pieces, there are several archaeological finds of lion and lioness figurines with small limestone balls like marbles which are generally accepted as belonging to the game.

We know even less about how mehen was played than we do about senet. The fact that the board depicts the serpent-goddess Mehen encircling the sun god Ra suggests that, like senet, mehen represented the pathway to Ra and liberation from rebirth on Earth. In most mehen boards the snake's body is divided by grooves forming what to every appearance resemble playing spaces.

The board depicted above shows the remains of an appendage on the left-hand edge. This mysterious feature is common to all mehen boards for which no satisfactory explanation has ever been forthcoming. These protrusions appear in various forms. Some show a goose's head, others the head of a turtle.

Does this mean there was an astrological aspect to mehen? Possibly. But these zootypes could just as well refer to the symbolical transformations of the soul which are recounted in the Book of the Dead. In Chapter XVII of the book mentioned earlier, Ani prays that he may "cackle like a goose," meaning have command over his speech.

There we must leave our investigation of the game of senet and its intriguing twin with the hope that this Afterword has been both interesting and instructive to our readers old and new.

occult mysteries

The Game of Life

An occult investigation of the origins, history and esoteric meaning of chess and the ancient Egyptian game of senet

Introduction

Origin and history

The Game of Life

Variants of the game

Symbolism

Conclusion

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Senet

In our Afterword we explore the origins and meaning of the ancient Egyptian game of Destiny known as senet.

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