These days if you turn on National Geographic or the Discovery channel you can be sure to run into a program that talks about ancient Egypt and the Pyramids. It is fairly obvious that Pharaonic Egypt continues to exercise a profound fascination on people’s minds. Modern folk are not exception, but the rule, for almost every period in history was mesmerized by the mystery of ancient Egypt. Starting with the Greeks, continuing with the Romans, Islamic culture, the Renaissance down to the present, Egypt continues to embody the mystery of the beginnings of civilization. For most people, the legacy of Egypt is a dead culture buried deep within the sands of the Valley of Kings: but for many of those studying or practicing Hermeticism, it is still very much alive. Today, it is becoming more and more likely that at least part of the ancient Egyptian heritage passed through the figure of the god Thoth to an offshoot of him, Hermes Trismegistus, and then on to the modern times.

Ancient Egyptian religion is still shrouded in mystery, despite the translations of the hieroglyphs. Today we associate this religion mostly with the cult of Osiris and Isis, as well as the sun-god Re. However, it now appears that the god Thoth was an equally, or eventually more important god than these.

I must confess that I have encountered problems trying to unearth the mysterious figure of Thoth. There’s hardly anything up-to-date written about him: my main sources had to remain at the level of 1922’s classic by P. Boylan (1) and a 1973 book by J.C. Bleeker (2), none of which cover the late antique transformation of Thoth into Hermes Trismegistus. For Hermes and Hermes Trismegistus there is quite an enlightening book written by the founder of Western Esotericism research, A. Faivre (3). Yet in the end the information on Thoth is sadly disjointed, not updated and fragmentary, as if destined to perpetuate the myth and mystique of this shadowy god!

The name of Thoth is shrouded in mystery to begin with – scholars have not been able to establish an etymology (4). What is known is that he was the moon god, and he associated mainly with the ibis. Why the ibis is not clear either. It has been conjectured that the ibis’ beak has the shape of the crescent moon (5) or that the black and white of the feathers suggest the moon’s phases (6). What is fairly straightforward is that the ibis is a bird yet living mostly on the ground and near the Nile Delta – hence a trinity of the elements of air, earth and water.

In addition to the moon, Thoth has been described as the god of writing, scribes, wisdom, magic, night, the dead and natural law. If this sounds like a hodge-podge of characteristics, there is in fact a deeper connection between all these elements. Thoth is the minor key, lunary counterpart to the bright Re sun-god – his younger brother, his messenger and scribe (7). Thoth represents the mysterious, dark moonlight that paradoxically enlightens and confounds the mind. Perhaps C.J. Jung put it in the best way when he said that moonlight is soft, smooth, and unites objects rather than differentiates them as sunlight does (8). We customarily say that there is ‘magic’ to the moon. Hence Thoth is the master of magic and all of those ambiguous arts that both clarify and baffle: divination, astrology and alchemy. There is light (wisdom, understanding, law) and darkness (mystery, death) in the figure of Thoth. In fact he has the uncanny ability of uniting both of them, hence his attribute of appeaser, of go-betweener. In a popular myth, he is the one who makes peace between the warring Horus (sun, order, good) and Seth (darkness, chaos, evil). He thus puts an end to war by sacrificing his arm in the name of peace, but in the aftermath he restores the plenitude of all three wounded (9). Is it perhaps from this triad of Horus – Seth – Thoth that Hermes Trismegistus (Thrice Great) comes from? In any case, Thoth’s ability to heal wounds makes him the archetype of physicians.

As “physician”, Thoth also seems to hold the keys to the renewal and rebirth of the body. In another important myth, he is the one to breathe life into the dead god Osiris, and proclaims him the god of the heavens (10). In the famous Book of the Dead, the passed-away person takes the image of – or becomes Thoth (11). Perhaps this is an early sign of that likeable quality of Thoth that later transformed him into Hermes Trismegistus: his underlying humanity. He is, after all, the one who knows people’s hearts (12).

Thoth is also the guardian of the cosmic order – perhaps not in the way we understand order now, but as a balance between order and chaos (Horus and Seth). It is no wonder that he was called “A’an”, the god of equilibrium (13). As the one in the middle of the warring factions, he sets a law of the just measure: for instance, he is credited with appeasing the fiery goddess Tefnet and transforming her into a benevolent goddess (14). He is also the law-giver and the judge, making decisions in regards to the heir of Egypt’s throne, Osiris’ place amongst the gods, Horus and Seth quarrels etc.

As a conclusion, I will simply let Thoth introduce himself according to a fragment:

“I, Thoth, am the eminent writer, pure of hands…the writer of the truth, whose horror is the lie… the lord of the laws…I teach ma-a-t (order, universal law) to the gods, I test (each) word for its veracity…I am the leader of the sky, the earth, and the nether-world” (15). This is a god with a claim to universality, hidden knowledge, and of the divine, ordering Word, who is a loving teacher of humanity.

References:

(2), (5), (14) Bleeker, C. J. (1973). Hathor and Thoth: Two Key Figures of the Ancient Egyptian Religion. Studies in the History of Religions 26. Leiden: Brill.

(1), (7), (9), (10), (11), (12), (13), (15) Boylan, P. (1922). Thoth, the Hermes of Egypt: A Study of Some Aspects of Theological Thought in Ancient Egypt. London: Oxford University

(8) Jung, C.G. (1963). Mysterium Coniunctionis : An Inquiry into the Separation and Synthesis of Psychic Opposites in Alchemy, transl. by R.F.C. Hull. New York, N.Y : Pantheon Books.

(3) Faivre, A. (1995). The Eternal Hermes: From Greek God to Alchemical Magus. Grand Rapids: Phanes Press.

(6) Plutarch. (1908). On Morals: Isis and Osiris, trans by C.W. King. Online. Available at: http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/plu/pte/pte04.htm/ . Accessed 06 Nov 2008.

(4), (13). Wikipedia. (2008). ‘Thoth’. Online. Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thoth/. Accessed 06 Nov 2008.

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of creating peace on Earth. Jordan Maxwell continues as a preeminent researcher and independent scholar in the field of occult/religious philosophy. His interest in these subjects began as far back as 1959. He served for three and a half years as the Religion Editor of Truth Seeker Magazine, America’s oldest Freethought Journal (since 1873). His work exploring the hidden foundations of Western religions and secret societies creates enthusiastic responses from audiences around the world. He …

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Jo Hedesan is currently studying a MA in Western Esotericism at University of Exeter. She is a member of the European Society for the Study of Esotericism (ESSWE) and American Association for Study of Esotericism (ASE). She has published several journal articles and has presented papers at scholarly conferences on the topic of esotericism and history. She is writing a blog on esoteric topics and research at http://www.esotericoffeehouse.com/

At first it was as the old warriors around the village water hole in their older days, reflecting on what had gone right and what had gone wrong in all their battles, defeats, retreats, returns with victories.

What had it all been for? That would be Socrates. Others, as today, would shout all the platitudes of the day, defending what ever decisions, however apparently harmful, the present administration was taking. This little civilization on a hill was surrounded by ignorance or power.

All citizens of Greece needed to be on their alert. As at Gettysburg two thousand years later, the fate of democracy could some times hang by threads. Socrates made the leaders of ancient Greece jealous and was forced to die.

The immediate response was that the people of Athens arose as one and hounded those Governing 30 out of Athens: death, rejection, forever out of any inner council of wiser gentler Athens. This was the Athens Alexander arrived in, and took note.

Heroic to a fault, he saw his chance for immortality, I think, and I have seen no published thoughts on this motivation behind Alexander deciding with his life to go for it! No guts no glory, his inspiration would affect other people after his death, as with Socrates.

He must be good, he might as well be Great.It seems that Alexander, unlike most of us, had plenty example how life could end quickly, and unless that dying man had done good or evil in his life made a difference on how he could die, and expect to go to a better life with God, as Socrates told Aristotle, and as Aristotle told Alexander, and as I tell my grand children, his horse told me.

This really is about people and how they respond to the situations they find themselves facing, and how well prepared they are to effect change, and accept their fate. Socrates died quietly and told Aristotle, who told his pupil Alexander, that he was going to a better life.

Alexander almost died in the desert in Egypt seeking a Wise Holy Man : they blessed each other. 350 years before the birth of Jesus of Nazareth.Other ancient texts tell us that the disciples of Buddha were in Greece by about this time.

We know from history that Buddha had evolved the ancient Hindu faith of a caste system and his beliefs led him and his followers since to belief that a life of pure living and honest behavior towards others allowed one to enter naturally into a state of Nirvana at death, or Heaven.

But even our Bible speaks of the Three Wise Men of the east, and the only wise religion we can really think of out east was the teachings of Buddha, which fit well with the gentle teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. Peace.

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