“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.” – Manly P. Hall

The sacred beetle reproduces itself without sexual contact with another beetle. They are the ultimate virgins of nature.

In ancient Egypt, the fourth sign of the zodiac, Cancer was represented under the form of a beetle whom they had held sacred for it represented the Sun/Son. The third form of Ra, the Sun-god, was Khepera the self-produced, whose type and symbol was a beetle. However the worship of the beetle was older than Ra in Egypt.

In the oldest of the Egyptian Zodiacs two Beetles were placed in this sign for we know that in 4000 BC, as we learn from the zodiacs of Denderah and Esne, it was is the emblem of the soul that had also represented the Egyptian mode of  immortality .

The sign where today in Cancer we now see the Crab under which the immortal souls are born from the water (Abyss) in order to enter terrestrial life through the sphere of the Moon.  It is the crab and beetle who both have hard shells that provide protection for their immortal inhabitants such as our body is the vehicle for these immortal souls born in Cancer.

The scarabeus is a symbol of the Lord God Almighty in his perfected humanity; and the ancient Hindoos and Egyptians so understood it.

Horus Apollo gives us the following reason;

“that it was generated without female parentage; that the Egyptians considered all Scarabs to be male; that the Scarabceus was supposed to roll itself into a globose form, and to roll backwards and forwards from the Nile, in imitation of the sun and starry bodies. It was therefore considered to be a correct symbol of the sun, and particularly of the sun in the tropic of Cancer, where, having reached the limits of its zodiacal journey, it returns. Clemens Alexandrinus agrees with Horus Apollo, informing us that the Egyptians personified the sun by a beetle, because that animal having formed a ball of dung rolls it backwards.”

Many P. Hall in the book “Secret Teachings of All Ages” gives us a better explanation of Egyptian Scarab Beetle. I feel there is no need to recreate what he has already done so well;

“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.

Ra, the god of the sun, had three important aspects. As the Creator of the universe he was symbolized by the head of a scarab and was called Khepera, which signified the resurrection of the soul and a new life at the end of the mortal span. The mummy cases of the Egyptian dead were nearly always ornamented with scarabs. Usually one of these beetles, with outspread wings, was painted on the mummy case directly over the breast of the dead.

The finding of such great numbers of small stone scarabs indicates that they were a favorite article of adornment among the Egyptians. Because of its relationship to the sun, the scarab symbolized the divine part of man’s nature. The fact that its beautiful wings were concealed under its glossy shell typified the winged soul of man hidden within its earthly sheath. The Egyptian soldiers were given the scarab as their special symbol because the ancients believed that these creatures were all of the male sex and consequently appropriate emblems of virility, strength, and courage.

Plutarch noted the fact that the scarab rolled its peculiar ball of dung backwards, while the insect itself faced the opposite direction. This made it an especially fitting symbol for the sun, because this orb (according to Egyptian astronomy) was rolling from west to east, although apparently moving in the opposite direction.

An Egyptian allegory states that the sunrise is caused by the scarab unfolding its wings, which stretch out as glorious colors on each side of its body–the solar globe–and that when it folds its wings under its dark shell at sunset, night follows. Khepera, the scarab-headed aspect of Ra, is often symbolized riding through the sea of the sky in a wonderful ship called the Boat of the Sun.”

Pin It on Pinterest