When people think of a "Soul", they usually think of some Magic force inside of you that God takes to heaven. So any time you hear the word "Soul", you think it must be similar to what Christians imagine. But Christianity was kind of made up "on the fly" and isn't even as intricate as Judaism, the Ancient Egyptians had a much more intricate and realistic version of the Soul.
The first example of the Soul is the Shadow which they called Sheut. They would make Statues and Silhouettes to preserve the Shadow after death. It was believed that your Shadow was your connection to the Afterlife.
Your name, known as a "Ren" in Ancient Egypt, was another aspect of Soul. It was believed that as long as a name was spoken, the person's Soul was still alive in some way. And the more a person's name was written the better, because then it had more chances of surviving and being read and spoken.
The Ka is the vital essence of a person. This would be the life Spark in someone that would determine if they were alive or dead. Now adays we would point to "Brain Dead" as the point of the Ka being gone.
The Egyptians did not value the brain like we do, they believed that the Heart was the seat of the body, since it flows to all parts. the Heart was known as "Ib", most of our ideas about Hearts being important for things comes from Egypt. Later, European people would think the Liver was the most important, which is why it is called the "Live-er".
"Ba" is similar to the idea of a person's personality and what makes them unique. Anything could have a "Ba", such as an Instrument. If you have a relationship with a Car, Gun, or a Golf Club, or Whatever, then it probably has a "Ba" and you have maybe even given it a Ren. People who smoke Marijuana give their Pipes/Bongs Ren and people try to choose them for their Ba, they just don't use those terms. The Ba was not considered different from the person, and this is the part of a person that you can see in your dreams. Even after a person is dead, and no longer part of this world, their personality or uniqueness can still persist in the family and friends of the person. The Ba is almost impossible to compare to the Christian idea of soul, the ideas are SO different that when Christianity came to Egypt, they had to use the word Psyche to get them to understand the Christian soul. The Ba is a much more physical REAL thing, and you can still see the other person's Ba in your dreams after you die.
The word "Ba" for Soul was the same as the word "Ba" for Ram, so it was common to depict dead people and Gods with Horns to show their Soul aspect. This ideaology is also the reason most Ancient religions allowed people to Sacrifice Rams for their sins.
Akh is your living intellect, or maybe what we would now call your "Mind" or maybe what the Greeks would call "Ego". If you have ever taken Mushrooms and looked in the Mirror and realized that whatever "You" are is not a body, then you have experienced your Akh. It was believed that after death, the Ba and the Ka would come together and reform the Akh. And there was a perceived risk that the Akh could die again.
Akhenaten was a very hated Pharaoh because he believed he was Gods representative on Earth and changed the Egyptian religion, his son is King Tut, who restored the Planets as the Gods. The priests set his ghost to wander the Desert, and people still claim to meet him out there.
Bat was an Egyptian Goddess, and it is thought that her name is the Feminine aspect of a person's soul. She was one of the first Goddesses in Egypt, and is depicted with 2 heads as a representation of the Upper and Lower kingdom as 1, or as 2 Banks of the Nile, or as the Past and the Future. The Sistrum is a musical instrument that was associated with her, and it was shaped like an Ankh.
Bast was the Cat/Lioness Goddess, as well as the Goddess of Music, Joy, Love, Dance and Protection. Her name contains the word for "Soul" with a Femenine Suffix, and She is is also seen holding a Sistrum. Cats were praised for their ability to kill mice and rats, as well as snakes. The snake "Apep" was thought to do battle with the Sun during the night, and Bast was known for battling Apep.
The Ankh is the symbol in ancient Egypt that looks like the Christian cross, but with a loop on top. It is known as "The Key of Life". This symbol is held by pretty much every God in Egyptian art. No one is sure what it means now, but the symbol was very common in Ancient Egypt and the symbol was used for an important ceremony every year. The Pharoah was not actually a person in Egypt, the "Par'Oh" was the main Palace, and in this Palace you could find different priests and priestesses, as well as Sacred Animals. One of these animals was the Apis bull. This bull was treated like a King all year, then during the Apis ceremony, they would put a Sun Disk on the Bull's head, and this along with the Bull's horns would make the shape of an Ankh. It is possible that the Ankh is a Representation of the Sun and the Moon, and possibly even the Sun and the Moon and a Shadow, which would make it an Eclipse. Sometimes the Sun Disk can be seen on the Heads of Gods and Goddesses, along with a partial moon. Measuring the sky was pretty much the most important thing in the world to ancient Egyptians, so being able to predict when the Sun and the Moon would do things, would have been important. Even today we are mesmerized, as a species, by eclipses.
The Eye of Horus/The Eye of Wadjet was important to the dead. The symbol was meant to protect, as well as to Symbolize the 6 Senses, being Taste, Touch, Sight, Hearing, Smell and Thought.
