Return of the Jedi: The Symbolism of the Djed Pillar in Achieving Stability of Mind, Body, and Soul
- Mohammad Awyan
- Nov 12, 2023
- 6 min read
Updated: May 4
“I have raised the Djed, I have set it in its place, I have made it firm in the land of the living.”
— Adapted from Pyramid Text Utterance 321
In a galaxy far, far away, a young Jedi named Luke Skywalker must confront the dark side and restore balance to the Force. To triumph, he must first find stability within himself—upright, grounded, unshaken. Long before Star Wars captivated the world, the ancient Egyptians carved a symbol that embodied this very journey: the Djed pillar (𓊽).
This month, as May the Fourth reminds us of our universal longing for order and resilience, let us turn back to the oldest voice we have—the Pyramid Texts of the Old Kingdom—to discover a symbol that is not merely an artifact of the past, but a living vibration of stability that can steady your own backbone, today.
The Djed
What Is the Djed Pillar?
The Djed is one of the oldest and most enduring symbols of ancient Egypt. Archaeologically, its image appears as early as the funerary complex of King Djoser at Saqqara (Third Dynasty), and it continues to grace temple walls, amulets, and sarcophagi for over three millennia.
In appearance, the Djed is a pillar-like form: a vertical shaft with four parallel horizontal bars near the top. Its very shape encodes its meaning. In the writing system of the Old Kingdom, the Djed hieroglyph is used to write words meaning “stable,” “enduring,” and “established firmly.” As the Djed Pillar is an ancient Egyptian symbol representing stability, it is a concept deeply woven into the fabric of their language and art.
For the ancient Egyptians, the four bars of the Djed were thought to be the four pillars that support the sky itself. In some texts, four Djed pillars were believed to hold up the entire world, giving the symbol a cosmic, structural significance. It is stillness that transmits. It encodes the vertical current that holds coherence between earth and sky, self and spirit.
The Djed in the Pyramid Texts: The Old Kingdom Voice
The Pyramid Texts, carved in the burial chambers of kings at Saqqara during the 5th and 6th Dynasties, are the oldest body of religious literature in human history. It is here that we find the earliest written references to the Djed pillar.
In the Pyramid Texts, the Djed is consistently linked with the concept of enduring stability. In an utterance from the pyramid of Pepi I, the text declares:
“You shall emerge as Horus-of-the-Underworld at the head of those who never set, alive as the beetle lives, enduring like a djed-pillar for the course of eternity.”
This spell places the Djed firmly within the realm of eternal time—Neheh, the cyclical eternity of the sun’s journey, and Djet, the static eternity of the completed state. The king’s ascension is not temporary; it is as permanent as the Djed itself.
Another utterance from the Pyramid Texts may shed light on the Djed’s significance in the context of the king’s journey to the sky:
“O my father the King… be a spirit in the horizon, be enduring in Djedit.”
Here, “Djedit” (sometimes understood as the name of a sacred locality) is a place of enduring. To “be enduring” there is to share in the stability of the gods. The Djed-pillar’s magic could enhance the endurance of persons, institutions like the kingship, and even physical structures. One assumes that the djed-signs engraved on columns were hoped to improve the stability of the building itself.
The most striking reference, however, comes from an utterance related to Utterance 321, which speaks of the King ascending to the sky with Re:
“The King ascends to the sky with Re on the backbone of Osiris.”
The determinative hieroglyph for the word ‘backbone’ in this text is the top part of the Djed Pillar. Here, the Djed is explicitly identified as the backbone of Osiris—the structural support of the god of resurrection, and thus the support of all creation.
The Osiris Myth: The Spine of the Cosmic Order
The Old Kingdom does not provide a full narrative of the Osiris myth, but the Pyramid Texts are filled with allusions to its core elements: Osiris is slain, he is restored, and he becomes the lord of the Duat. It is in later periods that the story crystalizes, and the Djed pillar becomes its central prop.
According to the Osiris legend, the god of chaos, Set, murdered his brother Osiris and dismembered his body, scattering the pieces across Egypt. The faithful Isis, with the help of her sister Nephthys and the wise god Thoth, gathered the fragments and reassembled the body.
The final piece—the piece that allowed Osiris to stand upright again and rule in the afterlife—was his spine, the Djed pillar. Having completed Osiris’s backbone, Isis restored his ability to live, not as a mortal, but as the eternal lord of the afterlife. This myth resonates powerfully with the cultural principles of the Jedi. Like Osiris, Luke Skywalker must undergo a symbolic death and rebirth in order to achieve his ultimate goal. The Djed pillar serves as a powerful symbol of the transformative journey.
Thus, the Djed came to be understood as the spinal column of Osiris. To “raise the Djed” was to restore the cosmic order after the chaos of Set’s attack. It was the moment of “setting the backbone” of the universe, so that everything could stand upright again.
The Djed and Star Wars: The Cosmic Backbone
In Return of the Jedi, Luke Skywalker’s journey is a struggle to maintain balance and resist the pull of the dark side. His physical and emotional journey is mirrored by the Djed pillar: it represents the idea that a stable foundation is necessary to achieve enlightenment and transcendence.
When Luke overcomes his own inner chaos—his fear, his anger, his self-doubt—he is “raising his own Djed.” He is reconnecting with the eternal “Force” that binds the galaxy together, which the Egyptians would have called Neter: the intelligent, creative energy behind all things.
In modern terms, the Djed functions like a vertical diode of resonance. It is the current that flows between heaven and earth, the spine that connects the lower to the higher. The empire of the dark side is the breakdown of that order—a state the Egyptians called Isfet, the primordial chaos that the Djed was built to conquer. By “raising the Djed,” we realign ourselves with Ma’at, the cosmic harmony.
Applying the Djed to Your Life
You do not need a stone pillar or a temple to raise the Djed. You can do it in your own body and daily practice.
Mind: Stability of Thought
The Djed represents the backbone of your beliefs. When competing ideas or emotional turbulence pull you in different directions, ask yourself: What is my core truth? Write it down. Stand by it as the Djed stands by the sky.
Body: Stability of Health
Your physical spine is the literal conduit of nerve energy. Practices that align and strengthen the spine—yoga, qigong, or even mindful posture—are modern ways of “raising the Djed.” Each morning, imagine a golden pillar rising from your tailbone to the crown of your head. That is your personal Djed.
Soul: Stability of Spirit
The Djed was raised annually to renew the land’s fertility. Create your own annual ritual: choose a day to reflect on what needs to be realigned in your life. Light a candle, place a symbolic pillar (a crystal, a candle, or even a drawing of the Djed), and speak aloud your intention for stability.
An Invitation to Raise Your Own Djed
The Djed is not a relic of the past. It is a living frequency, available to anyone who seeks grounded resilience in a shaky world. Whether you call it the Force, the Djed, or simply your own backbone, the principle is the same: order can rise from chaos, and you can be its pillar.
About the Author
Mohammad is the grandson of Abd’el Hakim Awyan, a famous Egyptian wisdom keeper known for his work on the Pyramid Code. Mohammad and his family have lived on the land at the base of the Sphinx and Pyramids for many generations. Since childhood, he has studied the mysteries of Egyptian archaeoacoustics and sound healing with his grandfather and other scholars. Mohammad has a bachelor’s degree in tourism and has hosted several successful tours of Egypt, sharing his wealth of knowledge and expertise to help people answer questions about Ancient Egypt that they may not have been able to answer before. His personal expertise is religion, spirituality, and the ascension of human consciousness. He has been on tours with his equally famous uncle Yousef Awyan and had many discussions with other researchers of Egyptian history, archeology and energy like Ibrahim Karim, Hugh Newman, Andrew Collins, Robert Schoch, and Brien Foerster. In addition to this, he has studied hieroglyphs with Professor Mohamed Hassan Gaber. Mohammad is also the founder of Archeao-acoustics & Sound Healing, a website dedicated to sharing information about the different manifestations of vibrational energy in Egypt. He currently resides in Giza with his wife and family. You can find more information about Mohammad at archaeo-acoustics.com
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