Ancient Egyptian Religion and the Mystery of the God Thoth

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.