Thoth and His Dog Faced Baboons

Here is an important stone image of an ancient Egyptian ritual showing two dog faced baboons (Papio hamadryas), the scarab beetle, the morning star representing the planet Jupiter, the left and right eyes of Ra, and the suns rays. It is dated from 332–30 bc, now in the Metropolitan Museum.

The baboon- emblems of the lunar divinity in Egypt, occupied a prominent place in the long series of sacred animals, and was consecrated to the god Thoth.  As Thoth’s sacred animal, the dog faced baboons were often shown directing scribes in their task. In Greece, Hermes would be the same as Thoth.

HAMADRYAS BABOONS

The hamadryas baboon was a sacred animal to the ancient Egyptians. In ancient Egypt, the baboon, and dog were sacred animals closely associated with the god of wisdom, Thoth who is also the deity associated with science, systems of writing, arts, and even magic. Thoth (/ˈθoʊθ/ or /ˈtoʊt/; from Greek Θώθ thṓth, from Egyptian ḏḥwty, perhaps pronounced */tʃʼiħautiː/) was considered one of the more important deities of the Egyptian pantheon. In art, he was often depicted as a man with the head of an ibis or a baboon, animals sacred to him. (Wikipedia)

DOGS

In an ancient hymn to the god Amon-Ra, it is said that “the gods gather as dogs round his feet.”  The Greek word for dog is ΚΥΩΝ / κύων, Κύνες or kuon (Kyon). In Greek mythology, Kuon Khryseos was a golden dog sent by Rhea to guard the infant god Zeus and his nurse the she-goat Amaltheia. The words “dog-head” (Greek: κῠνοκέφᾰλοι and Latin cynocephalus) also identified a sacred Egyptian baboon with the face of a dog.

33rd Degree Freemasonic Author, Manly P. Hall says this about the symbol of the dog in his infamous book, The Secret Teachings of all Ages – “The dog, because of its faithfulness, denotes the relationship which should exist between disciple and master or between the initiate and his God. The shepherd dog was a type of the priestcraft.”

BEETLES

The scarabeus is a symbol of the Lord God Almighty in his perfected humanity; and the ancient Hindoos and Egyptians so understood it. The Scarab (Scarabeus) Beetle reproduces itself without sexual contact with another beetle. They are the ultimate virgins of nature.

Many P. Hall in the book “Secret Teachings of All Ages” gives us the occult explanation of Egyptian Scarab Beetle;

Initiates of the Egyptian Mysteries were sometimes called scarabs; again, lions and panthers. The scarab was the emissary of the sun, symbolizing light, truth, and regeneration. Stone scarabs, called heart scarabs, about three inches long, were placed in the heart cavity of the dead when that organ was removed to be embalmed separately as part of the process of mummifying. Some maintain that the stone beetles were merely wrapped in the winding cloths at the time of preparing the body for eternal preservation.

The following passage concerning this appears in the great Egyptian book of initiation, The Book of the Dead: “And behold, thou shalt make a scarab of green stone, which shalt be placed in the breast of a man, and it shall perform for him, ‘the opening of the mouth.’” The funeral rites of many nations bear a striking resemblance to the initiatory ceremonies of their Mysteries.