“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 Palmer Hall]
The sacred beetle reproduces itself without sexual contact with another beetle. They are the ultimate virgins of nature.
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.
The priests of Egypt not only used the scarab as a symbol of regeneration but also discovered in its habits many analogies to the secret process whereby base metals could be transmuted into gold. They saw in the egg of the scarab the seed of the metals, and the above figure shows the path of this seed through the various planetary bodies until, finally reaching the center, it is perfected and then returns again to its source. The words in the mall spiral at the top read: The Spiral Progress of the Mundane Spirit. After the scarab has wound its way around the spiral to the center of the lower part of the figure, it returns to the upper world along the path bearing the words: Return of the Spirit to the Center of Unity.” [Oedipus Aegyptiacus by Athanasius Kircher]
Leo is ruled by the Sun which rules Gold. On the opposite side of the ceiling at Dendera we see our Winged Kheper emerge from the womb of Nut, the Milky Way, in the Zodiac sign of Leo. The scarab beetle was known to have represented our five senses and the two hemispheres of the brain.
When it spreads it wings, it marks the moment we can transmute our polarity and balance these two hemispheres and enjoy the use of newly awakened senses granting us heightened awareness.
Symbols possess an esoteric language, a secret code, which the [occult] student must decipher and whose meaning he or she must unlock.— Erwin W. E. Watermeyer “Symbols: The Tools of Initiation,” Rosicrucian Digest, March 1985.
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