The Feather of Ma'at
The ostrich feather worn on the head of the goddess Ma'at, goddess of truth, order, and justice, and placed on the scales of judgment as the counterweight to the heart of the dead. A heart lighter than the feather passed on to the afterlife; a heavier one was devoured by Ammit. The feather, also worn by the god Shu in his role of lifting the sky, became the emblem of a life measured by truth. Ma'at herself is rarely shown without it, and the hieroglyph for the feather stands for her name and for the idea of justice itself. In later and modern thought it has become a byword for fair judgment, a