Book of the Dead

Chapter 101 is an incantation for transfiguring the dead individual, making them into an 'excellent spirit'.

There are no written sources earlier than the New Kingdom. The formula is sometimes found as a separate charm written on a small piece of papyrus. This separate identity is implicit in the title for the formula, the first word being mDAt 'book', implying a separate composition.

The version below comes from the Book of the Dead of Nu, on a papyrus now preserved in the British Museum (EA 10477) - the letter N alone stands for the name of the individual, written out in full in the original manuscripts:

mDAt nt arq mdwt pr-anx
r n bwt hn dd it n sA
rdi n Ax r xxy.f n pr r HA
n rx HAw n mAA irt n sDM msDr
iAty n mw pr m Hbbt
Hfd Hr mA n wiA.f
Hfd.k Hr mA n wiA.k
wDA.k r a.k n sf
iw Xnm.n.k N Ax iqr m ist.k
wDA.k wDA.f
i. ra m rn.k pwy n ra
ir swA.k Hr irt nt mH sfx DfD n mH xmt
kA.k swDA.k N Ax iqr m ist.k wDA.k wDA.f
i. ra m rn.k pwy n ra
ir swA.k Hr ntyw-im m sxd.k
saHa.k N Ax iqr Hr rdwy.fy wDA.k wDA.f
i. ra m rn.k pwy n ra
ir wn.tw n.k sStAw n imHt r sSmt ib n psDt.k
kA.k di.k ib n N n.f wDA.k wDA.f Haw.k ra Ddw m r
Dd-mdw Hr sSd n Ss-nswt sS r pn Hr.f m antyw rdi n Ax iqr r xxy.f hrw n smA tA
ir ddw n.f wDAw pn r xxy.f iw ir.tw n.f Hsst mi nTrw
Xnm.f m Smsw Hr iw smn.tw n.f xbs xft imy-spdt
wnn XAt.f m nTr Hna Xr.f r nHH
iw srwd.tw n.f bAt Hr Snbt in mnqt
in Hm n DHwty ir nn n nswt bity wsir mAa xrw
m mryt Htp Sw Hr XAt.f

Book for making the spirit excellent,
formula for abhorrence of the chest, given by father to son,
placed at the breast of a spirit, without (word of it) going out beyond,
without those beyond knowing it, not an eye seeing, not an ear hearing.
Voyager of the water, who emerges from the cavern,
who squats on the prow of his boat,
You squat on the prow of your boat,
as you are well, he is well.
O Ra in this your name of Ra
If you pass by the eye of seven cubits, the pupil of three cubits,
then you are to make N well, the excellent spirit, in your crew: as you are well, he is well.
O Ra in this your name of Ra
If you pass by the dead when you are inverted,
then you are to raise N, the excellent spirit, on his feet: as you are well, he is well.
O Ra in this your name of Ra
If the secrets of the underworld are opened to you to guide the heart of your group of gods,
then you are to give N, the excellent spirit, the heart for him: as you are well, he is well; your body, Ra, firm by the formula.
Words spoken over a bandage of king's linen, with this formula written on it in gum, placed at the neck of the spirit on the day of burial.
Anyone at whose neck this amulet is placed, there will be performed praises for him as for the gods,
so that he joins the following of Horus, and a star is fixed for him facing the one who is in Sopdet,
his body will be that of a god together with his people for eternity,
a bush will be grown for him on the breast, by Menqet.
It is the person of Thoth who did this for the dual king Osiris true of voice
in the desire that Shu might rest upon his body.