Dictionary of all Scriptures & Myths

Understanding Biblical Symbolism


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SCARABAEUS

A symbol of the Divine nature which enters the lower nature, from which it afterwards emerges.

"The scarab was the type and symbol of the god Khepera. The unseen power of God made manifest under the form of the god Khepera caused the sun to roll across the sky, and the act of rolling gave the scarab its name, Kheper, i.e. ‘he who rolls.’ . . . Now the god Khepera also represented inert but living matter, which was to begin a course of existence, and at a very early period he was considered to be a god of the resurrection." - BUDGE, Egyptian Magic, p. 38.

The Higher Self in-rolls in involution and out-rolls in evolution, as he (the sun) traverses the lower planes of nature during the great cycle of life (the Tuat). When he has completed his course in the souls of humanity, he rises from the under-world in them and through them at the end of the cycle.

The meaning of the symbol was rightly expressed by Epiphanius, who spoke of Christ as the scarabæus of God" See also Ambrose, Bishop of Milan (Opera, tom. I. col. 1528).

 

See Also

ASCENSION (Osiris)
EVOLUTION
INCARNATION (Souls)
INVOLUTION
KHEPER
LIBERATION
RESURRECTION