Bennu is the ba (soul) of Ra, a sacred heron that embodies the sun god's cycle of death and rebirth.
In Heliopolitan theology, the Bennu alighted upon the primeval benben mound and uttered the first cry of creation, heralding the emergence of Atum as the creator god.
The Bennu bird perched upon the Benben stone at the dawn of creation, its cry initiating the cycle of day and night from atop the primordial mound that first rose from the waters of Nun.
The Bennu emerged from the primordial waters of Nun at the first dawn, the first living creature to take flight over the formless abyss before land or sky existed.
In Spell 83 of the Book of the Dead, the deceased transforms into the Bennu bird to pass through the Duat, invoking the same eternal cycle of death and resurrection embodied by Osiris.
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