scarab

HAPPINESS. REGENERATION. LIFE

SCARAB

Scarab the lucky beetle

It is one of the most important symbols of ancient Egyptian civilization. A symbol of the sun that embodies life, regeneration and resurrection.

For the Egyptians, the way the scarab pushes the ball of dung in front of it was an image of the sun as it appears over the horizon every morning.

"Image of the Sun"

For the dead and the living, the scarab is a sign and guarantor of life that is constantly being reborn.

So the Egyptians equated him with the god of the rising sun, Chepre. But to complete the entire course of the sun by day, the sun changed into Re-Horus at midday and into Atum, the god of the setting sun, at evening. Walked through the underworld at night, to renew himself at the end of the night and to rise again in the morning rejuvenated as Chepre.

Symbol of self-creation

In Egypt, the scarab was considered a symbol of self-creation. From the beetle's giant dung ball that disappears into the earth, new beetles hatch and emerge from the earth. The scarab appears to have come into being “by itself”, without any act of procreation.

In particular, the heart, the only organ that remained in the body of the dead person during mummification, was protected by Chepre. The "heart scarab" was an amulet that was placed directly over the heart of the deceased and tightly wrapped in the mummy's bandages. It was made from green or dark materials, such as hematite or obsidian, and its underside was inscribed with a saying from the Book of the Dead:

"O my heart that I possessed on earth. Do not speak out against me when it comes to my deeds."

This saying was intended to prevent the heart from saying bad things about the dead person being judged during the judgment of the dead. The heart had to justify itself to the goddesses and gods before a person entered the afterlife. To do this, it was placed on a scale (representing the deceased) and weighed against the feather of the goddess Maat. If the deceased committed serious misdeeds in his life, the side of his heart went down and he was forever barred from the afterlife. His existence was finally destroyed.