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/

In 1954, a retired British government worker named Gerald Gardner claimed that he had been initiated into an ancient nature religion based on pre-Christian European paganism. The practitioners of this religion were operating under the name New Forest Coven. Gardner set about to revive and repopularize this witchcraft religion by writing and publishing a book called “Witchcraft Today,” in which he reconstructed and rewrote the fragments of remaining ritual and lore from the New Forest Coven.

He referred to the religion as “witchcraft,” and to its adherents as “the Wica.” Gardner claimed that this latter term was introduced to him by existing members of the New Forest Coven, and that its use was what keyed him in on the possibility that “the Old Religion still existed.” He believed, as do many modern scholars, that this term derived from the Old English term “wicca,” which is the etymological predecessor to the modern term “witch.”

There is some debate as to the veracity of Gardner’s claims to having revived an original European matriarchal pagan religion. A few authors have argued that Gardner invented the rites and rituals of the Wiccan religion from whole cloth, appropriating elements of known ancient religions and occultism as needed. However, most scholars agree that Gardner made his claims in good faith. It seems most likely that Gardner had actually been initiated into an early 20th-century revival of the Old Religion he sought, rather than a pure survival of an ancient European tradition.

Although he published the religion’s premises in order to preserve the Craft for future generations, Gardner saw “witchcraft” as a mystery religion that required initiation in order to be properly understood and practiced. A British expatriate named Raymond Buckland gained initiation into the new Wiccan rites from Gardner’s own coven, called the Isle of Man, and brought the teachings of this coven back to the United States. Wicca gained popularity rapidly in the United States, where a cultural and spiritual revolution was in progress.

Since the early 1960s, a variety of new incarnations of Wiccan-derived paganism have spread widely. Many of these have owed their origin to Gardnerian initiates who started their own covens and performed their own initiations. Other popular forms of Wiccan practice have derived from self-initiated practitioners and mystics who have created their own forms of nature religion based on the original published materials from Gardner and others. Today several such lineages and derivations of Garderian Wicca are in widespread practice around the world.

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What is The Real Purpose of Religion? ————————————- When it comes to religion, alternative perspectives are considered highly suspect and are subject to intense scrutiny, held up to impossible standards of proof, while the accepted paradigm is lightly handled and can pass with little or no evidence at all. Those who step outside the box are dunned with requests for credentials and bibliographies, while believers in the mainstream ideology require no credentials except …

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Dallas is a spiritual explorer who studies the religions of the world in hopes of piecing together the ultimate destiny of mankind. In his journeys, he often finds use for Wiccan supplies like colored candles, special incenses, crystals, and other types of witchcraft supplies. He wishes you great success on your journey!