The Moon and Harris's Dung beetle

King of the Beetles

Sorry, friends! I know this is completely off-topic but I must answer Lillie's questions.

The helmet beetle (we say "kabuto-mushi") is the biggest beetle in Japan and living on the sap of trees in forests. Stag beetles are sap-sippers too, so they always fight against each other in their dinner time. These beetle fights are very exciting, and Japanese adults as well as kids catch big, strong beetles and hold a sort of tounament with them. Today, due to the rapid urbanization we are losing many forests, so urban kids have few chance to catch helmet beetles with their own hands, which is a pity. But Japanese love for the beetle never cease. Now we have a digital beetle fight with original cards and fantasic story etc.

http://www.mushiking.com/

Just browse the site above(there are English pages). You soon understand Japanese craze for beetles. And I believe they will bring out Mushiking Tarot sooner or later.

Lillie said:

And by the way, Roppo. I would never have guessed you were from Japan. Your English is perfect.

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Is my English not bad? Thank you Lillie, I'm much flattered.

The Moon and Harris' Dung Beetle

Thank you, Roppo, for your amazing first-hand account of the wonder of the Japanese beetle. In the south-eastern United States children sometimes go on hunts for fireflies, putting them in cans or jars awhile, then freeing them. All for the fun and wonder of it. But back to the Thoth beetle : it seems to have the sun-orb instead of a ball of dung (Egyptian symbol) in its lengthy pincers. Is this a dawning or capturing or seeking for or what ? Just what is this beetle doing ?

Frank Hall said:

But back to the Thoth beetle : it seems to have the sun-orb instead of a ball of dung (Egyptian symbol) in its lengthy pincers. Is this a dawning or capturing or seeking for or what ? Just what is this beetle doing ?

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The beetle is a symbol of the Egyptian sun god, Khephra or Khepri. He is an aspect of Ra in his daily travel though the Egyptian under world leading to his rebirth on the eastern horizon.

Crowley often equates Khephra with the Sun at Midnight. Khephra is used in this capacity in one of the four solar adorations that he encouraged his students to perform.

Lastly, at Midnight, let him greet the Sun, facing North, giving the sign of his grade, and let him say in a loud voice:
Hail unto thee who art Khephra in Thy hiding, even unto Thee who art Khephra in Thy silence, who travellest over the heavens in Thy bark at the Midnight Hour of the Sun.
Tahuti standeth in His splendour at the prow, and Ra-Hoor abideth at the helm.
Hail unto Thee from the Abodes of Evening.

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Wow, Roppo!

Fighting beetles, what fun!

Yes, your English is brilliant.

Back to our friendly scarab...
I have always loved the idea that during the night there was a great big dung beetle rolling the sun along, so it would be ready to rise again the next day.
And during the day, the beetle has to go back through the underworld on his own, to be ready to collect the sun when it goes down...
Busy little chap, isn't he!

The Moon and Harris' Dung Beetle

Interesting and inspiring to think of the beetle as "an aspect of Ra" carrying the Sun through midnight and over to dawn. What does this mean for the soul's journey through the Moon sphere? Is it only a "dark night of the soul" as Crowley phrases it, or does the Spirit, our own higher Self, lead us through the fearful darkness, our Sun at midnight illuminating us, guiding us through our terrors? Is this a hopeless or hopeful situation -- confusing to me this prospect of going up between the two Anubis guards and the towers. Could the monstrous Moon conquer the Sun? Could this all be empty illusion? Karma and consciousness must vary this journey...

Thanks Aeon418 for the mythological-esoteric insight.

Budge says about Khepera....

"But there was a primeval matter out of which heaven was made and also a matter our of which the earth was made, and hence Khepera, the great creator of all things is said in Chapeter xvii (line116) of the Book of the Dead to possess a body which is formed of both classes of matter (paut). And again in Chapter lxxxv (line 8) the deceased, wishing to identify himself with this divine substance says, 'I am the elds son of the divine pautti, that is to say the soul of the souls of the dos of everlasting and my body is everlasting and my creations are eternal and I am the lord of years and the prince of everlastingness.' In the words which are put into the mouth of Khepera who is made to describe his creation of the world, the god says, 'I produced myslef from the primeval matter which I made.'"

And we all know Crowley was deeply into studying primeval matter. May be a double-entendre here.

The mystery beetle and the sun....

I've enjoyed reading this string...and have to agree that this beetle is wholely un-scarab-like. All that aside, here is a great description of the beetle's roll in this card...taken from "The Tarot Handbook" by Angeles Arrien:

"In addition, the Egyptian beetle, or scarab, represents Khepri, the Egyptian God of Transformations. The scarab sympolizes 'who he becomes.' Before him, the scarb rolls the ball of the sun, pushing it into the Other World in the evening and over the horizon in the morning as the scarab beetle pushes a ball of dung. For the Egyptians, the scarab-god represented the rising sun and symbolized the renewal of life and the idea of eternal existence."

Hope this helps. I've found that this book has helped me immensely in my attempt to tune in to Thoth.

When I was little, me and my friends used to catch flying beetles (I don't remember waht type they where) and tie them to a string. They'd fly around in circles over our heads and then fight each other in the air. It was way funner than Pokemon videogames.

Moon Symbology

Is the dung beetle moving amongst biorhythms?

There is a cresent moon, I think I read somewhere that this relates to the beak of Ibis and therefore Thoth.

I also read that the dung beetle relates to eight gods called the Ogdoad who were depicted in four pairs. Each pair was made up of one male and one female - the females were associated with snakes and the males, frogs. Each pair represented one of four concepts, namely the primordial waters (Naunet and Nu), air or invisibility (Amunet and Amun), darkness (Kauket and Kuk), and eternity or infinite space (Hauhet and Huh). Within the Ogdoad system, Thoth was associated with the moon because baboons sang to the moon at night.

I'm wondering why the card is divided into night and day. The lower part seems to be daylight, the upper seems to be moonlight. The light of the sun (the ball of the scarab) seem to be giving birth to the upper scene or creating the night. Again there are fluctuations that look like biorhythms. Does the path lead into and through the underworld; thus relating it to Khepri who pushed the sun through the sky in the day and through the underworld at night? Or does it relate to 'what always was' the primordial, the state of being before the birth of Ra from a golden egg.

The Scarab is possibly rising through the waters in order to give birth to the world - it holds up an egg - a gift from Thoth laid by an Ibis. Inside the egg is of course Ra or the Sun who gives life to the darkness, makes sense of it. So in effect, with the Moon card we are witnessing the first primordial stirrings.

I looked up a biorhythms' chart and it says that the red peaks are emotional whilst the blue are intellectual. There are also green rhythms which are physical. So if it does relate to biorhythms, I'm wondering if the card warns against being overemotional or emotions overtake the intellect?

* Physical cycle (23 days; Circavigintan)
o coordination
o strength
o well-being
* Emotional cycle (28 days; Circatrigintan)
o creativity
o sensitivity
o mood
o perception
o awareness
* Intellectual cycle (33 days; Circatrigintan)
o alertness
o analytical functioning
o logical analysis
o memory or recall
o communication

Interesting post.

caridwen said:

Is the dung beetle moving amongst biorhythms?

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I always thought so, it sure looks like it, even though I'm pretty sure there wasn't such a beast (biorythems) back then. But it fits.

caridwen said:

There is a cresent moon, I think I read somewhere that this relates to the beak of Ibis and therefore Thoth.

I also read that the dung beetle relates to eight gods called the Ogdoad who were depicted in four pairs. Each pair was made up of one male and one female - the females were associated with snakes and the males, frogs. Each pair represented one of four concepts, namely the primordial waters (Naunet and Nu), air or invisibility (Amunet and Amun), darkness (Kauket and Kuk), and eternity or infinite space (Hauhet and Huh). Within the Ogdoad system, Thoth was associated with the moon because baboons sang to the moon at night.

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Hmmm, I'll get back to you on that one.

caridwen said:

I'm wondering why the card is divided into night and day. The lower part seems to be daylight, the upper seems to be moonlight. The light of the sun (the ball of the scarab) seem to be giving birth to the upper scene or creating the night. Again there are fluctuations that look like biorhythms.

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The Moon can be there in the daytime. The Sun is still there at night. The same way we live with one foot in the underworld and the other on earth. Half of our life is mostly 'unseen', unconcious, primal, and Moonlike while at the same time ....

caridwen said:

Does the path lead into and through the underworld; thus relating it to Khepri who pushed the sun through the sky in the day and through the underworld at night?

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Yes. I believe so, on the level of Hermetic Thothiness that goes through the cards.

caridwen said:

Or does it relate to 'what always was' the primordial, the state of being before the birth of Ra from a golden egg.

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That might be closer to the Egyptian belief, but I dont think that's what the card is depicting.

caridwen said:

The Scarab is possibly rising through the waters in order to give birth to the world - it holds up an egg - a gift from Thoth laid by an Ibis. Inside the egg is of course Ra or the Sun who gives life to the darkness, makes sense of it. So in effect, with the Moon card we are witnessing the first primordial stirrings.

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But this is refelected in the nightly journey, which I think is more the focus of the card.

caridwen said:

I looked up a biorhythms' chart and it says that the red peaks are emotional whilst the blue are intellectual. There are also green rhythms which are physical. So if it does relate to biorhythms, I'm wondering if the card warns against being overemotional or emotions overtake the intellect?

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I think there are some big warnings there. Check the descriptions in BoT.