Kephera:  Scarab-Headed Demiurge

                                          By Michelle Jennings 

The scarab beetle, as a simple creature, was thought to lay its eggs  in a ball of dung from which new scarab beetles emerged.  This  perception, and the vision of scarab beetles rolling spheres of dung  along the ground, gave rise to the belief that the scarab was able to  generate itself without the need for the interaction of both  sexes---it was thought to be self-generating and masculine.  Rolling  the balls of dung was compared to the movement of the sun across the  sky.  The hieroglyphic shaped like a scarab carries a meaning close to  ‘to come into existence by assuming a given form’. 

 Kephera, the ancient Egyptian sun god and demiurge, was attributed the  symbol of the scarab, and was depicted as a hawk-winged scarab or a  man with the head of a scarab.  He was thought to have generated  himself before he created all other forms.  By association with the  sun and the creative impulse, Kephera represented the initial spark of  creation, like the East Indian Hindu. 

 Kephera actually represented the rising sun, who had just emerged from  the long dark night of the underworld.  His travels in the underworld  require the passage through 12 scenarios or Hours representing varying  stages of dissolution, transformation and final  re-emergence or resurrection as the Sun.  He rules the future of the  cosmos as well. He is related to the god Horus, whose symbol is the  hawk, and also to the god Atum whose symbol is the ram which is  sometimes used to depict Kephera as well.  This confusion of  representations can be explained by the different times of day the  solar deities appear:  Kephera at dawn after a deathly night journey,  Re at high noon, and Atum as the setting sun who then becomes Kephera  at the end of the night.

 Scarab amulets were bound to mummies over or inside the heart cavity  so that the deceased would be guaranteed a favorable account of his  character and thus gain access to a resurrected and renewed life.  In  the Mediterranean region, scarab amulets were worn to bring good  fortune. 

 As a Christian symbol, the scarab is representative of resurrection.  St. Ambrose,  Bishop of Milan (374 – 397 A.D.), gave Jesus Christ the  title “The Good Scarabaeus”.  The scarab is related to the ladybird  beetle, symbolizing good luck, to the sign Cancer and to the major  arcana card, The Emperor of the Tarot.  In the Chinese Taoist  tradition, the scarab represents ‘one who generates himself’ or one  who is capable of autogenesis, and also the idea of the perfection ( as  in an alchemical transformation) of what seems imperfect (i.e. gross  matter in the form of dung).  In Africa, in the Congo, the scarab is a  lunar symbol of eternal renewal. 

 The scarab is also associated with the Cosmic Egg symbolized by the  ball that the beetle rolls around. 

 As a Western alchemical symbol, the scarab has  been associated with a  double spiral, moving from the completion of one onto the other in an  eternal relationship of departure and return. 

 Western alchemy was apparently bent on transforming base metals into  gold.  In fact all the secret formulas etc. are really symbolic of the  spiritual process of becoming an immortal, i.e. living as an  enlightened being on Earth.  The diagram of the beetle following the  spirals of Earth and the planets in relationship to the Sun is an  example of the thought involved in the process. The words around the  smaller top spiral are: “The spiral progress of the mundane spirit.”;  those following the path from the central Sun to the return path to  Earth are: “Return of the spirit to the centre of unity.”  In this  system of thought, Consciousness on Earth is intrinsically tied to and  eternally generated by its relationship to the Greater Consciousness,  the Sun, as are probably the energies of the planets in our Solar  System as well. 

 It cannot be denied that the message of Kephera is that of a solar  deity which includes the ancient Egyptian gods, Jesus Christ, and even  Eastern metaphysical philosophy.  In some parts of the world, this  symbol is also associated with the moon ,and even the number of days  required to incubate the beetle’s eggs is 28–that of the moon’s cycle.   In a way, both feminine and masculine principles are included in the  symbolism, however they are parts of one whole (the Androgyne) which  within itself creates new being. 

 The concept of resurrection and life after death is also intrinsic to  the symbol of the scarab.  The alchemical significance evokes some  kind of astronomical as well as material and conscient process of  transformation. 

 In fact, this image as a crop formation, when we look at it in the  context of some of the other crop circles and formations that have  appeared, brings immediate attention to the whole idea of The New  Creation as a galactic event which invites Earth and Her  self-reflective inhabitants into a new way of existing–one which  requires a death to  old paradigms, as Kephera must travel the night  journey–before the resurrection and renewal of a new life on Earth. 

 The Mayan calendar crop formation of last year refers to a date,  December 21, 2012 on which our Solar System will be in direct  alignment with the Galactic Centre.  This date is not just any old  exciting astronomical date, but a critical point of complete  Transformation of Matter–a hitherto unimaginable new paradigm for life  on this Planet.  The ancient Maya and Egyptians (among others) have  anticipated this for millennia and have left enough evidence of their  futurist thinking to help humanity in its present state to make the  psychic shift towards the next step in our evolution. 

 It has been about 225,000,000 years since our Solar System has been in  this exact position in the Milky Way Galaxy; and about 26,000 years  ago when we entered alignment with Galactic Centre (called Huhnab ‘Ku  by the Maya) where the full complement of photon rays emitted from  that Centre impact Earth and the Solar System; we are again entering  this alignment on December 21, 2012.

  The phenomenon of the crop circles offers humankind a chance to  synthesize all the knowledge we have accumulated through the ages and  are still pursuing in the form of mathematics, physics, astrophysics,  biology, geomancy, computer sciences, astrology, genetics, psychology,  etc.  When seen from a holistic point of view, all this seemingly  fragmented imagery, information and theory form an elegant pattern of  interconnectedness and meaning for all on Earth.  Is this not enough  to augur some kind of new understanding of ourselves, life and the  universe? 

 Michelle Jennings     

 Sources 

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 Arguelles, Jose.  The Mayan Factor:  The Path Beyond Technology.  Bear  & Company  Publishing.  Rochester.  1987. 

 Bruce-Mitford, Miranda.  The Illustrated Book of Signs & Symbols.  Reader’s Digest. Montreal.  1996.

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 Stevens, Anthony.  Ariadne’s Clue: a guide to the Symbols of  Humankind.  Princeton  University Press.  Princeton.  1999.