Page 235 - The_secret_teachings_of_all_ages_Neat

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

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THE MANTICHORA.

From Redgrove's Bygone Beliefs.

The most remarkable of allegorical creatures was the mantichora, which Ctesias describes as having
aflame-colored body, lionlike in shape, three rows of teeth, a human head and ears, blue eyes, a tail ending
in a series of spikes and stings, thorny and scorpionlike, and a voice which sounded like the blare of
trumpets. This synthetic quadruped ambled into mediæval works on natural history, but, though seriously
considered, had never been seen, because it inhabited inaccessible regions and consequently was difficult to
locate.

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ROYAL EGYPTIAN SCARAB.

From Hall's Catalogue of Egyptian Scarabs, Etc., in the British Museum.

The flat under side of a scarab usually bears an inscription relating to the dynasty during which it was cut.
These scarabs were sometimes used as seals. Some were cut from ordinary or precious stones; others were
made of clay, baked and glazed. Occasionally the stone scarabs were also glazed. The majority of the small
scarabs are pierced as though originally used as beads. Some are so hard that they will cut glass. In the