Scarab

The Egyptians weren’t the only ones that held scarabs in high regard. In Ancient China scarabs were worshiped, considered sacred, and strongly associated with other religious symbols and the concept of ‘new life’..

The scarab beetle was sacred, divine, and special to ancient Egyptians. This beetle was linked to the creation stories and had connections to the Egyptian gods, especially Khepri, the Egyptian “beetle” god. The antennae on the scarab’s head were similar to the uraeus ( a solar disk surrounded by cobras)- a symbol only worn by powerful deities! Ancient Egyptians held scarabs in almost godlike status. They likened them to particular gods and worshipped them because the insects revealed so much about the universe and the spirit world to the Egyptians. They believed that the deep symbolism scarabs carried with them gave clarity and revealed a way for people to navigate through life.

To understand the Scarab, you have to understand the dung beetle which the Scarab is named after. The name Scarab is shortened, it’s a superfamily of beetles, the only subgroup of the infraorder Scarabaeiformia. Around 35,000 species are placed in this superfamily and some 200 new species are described each year. This superfamily includes some of the largest beetles extant today, including rhinoceros beetles, (Dynastinae), the Hercules beetle (Dynastes hercules) and Goliath beetles The female dung beetle lays her eggs in her perfectly rolled dung ball which she then buries underground. Her offspring then feed off the dung ball and reappear from underground.

This symbolic ‘emergence from the underground’ is one of the main reasons why ancients worshiped the dung beetle. Scarabs fed, laid their eggs, and hatched young ones within dung piles. Their entire existence revolved around dirt, these insects repeated the cycle over and over. Regenerating, continuing their species and the old even dying in the dung. They embodied birth, life, and death, the never-ending life cycle – symbolising immortality. Ancient Egyptians couldn’t help but notice that dung beetles were constantly transforming. They seemed productive, always discovering fresh poo, finding their way through pushing the heaviest and darkest matter to suitable locations without much struggle. They appeared to portray their ability to survive, adapt, transform, surrender to change, and start over. Similarly, scarabs epitomized the belief that there was life beyond the grave. The dung beetle’s nature of emerging from animal waste, which in this case equated to death, appears to have fuelled this belief.

Ancient Egyptians found scarabs so intriguing, they used the scarab symbol when spelling the name of their gods. The way the beetles rolled from sun up to sun down was seen as a metaphor of the birth of Khepri, a sun god who was often seen represented with a human body and a scarab-shaped head. According to the Egyptians, the god, Khepri, rose into the sky every morning from nothingness. He invented himself anew every day. He was believed to roll the ‘disk of the morning sun’ over the eastern horizon at daybreak, just like the dung beetle would roll his sphere from sunrise to sunset. A dung beetle lays eggs in mounds of waste where new beetles crawl out and still thrive. Through this observation, ancient Egyptians linked the beetles to Khepri, the self-creating god of the rising sun.

Atum, the Lord of the universe and the Source of all creation, was another cosmic deity linked to the scarab. Dung beetles hatched their eggs and created life out of nothingness . A vibrant new creation of young scarab beetles emerged, embodying the idea of spontaneous creation, something that only the god Atum could do.

Egyptologists suggest that thousands of years ago, sacred scarab beetles embodied the Egyptian sun god Ra, who was the national god and the ultimate manifestation of the sun god. As the primary sun god, Re (or Ra) was responsible for the sun’s movement across the sky. According to the Egyptians, Ra “carried the sun” across the sky from east to west daily.

Ra pushing the sun across the sky was one of the reasons the locals associated the scarab with him. It appeared similar to observing a scarab beetle snowballing dung mounds on the ground until it reached the nest.

Scarabs also protected the dead in ancient Egypt. Mummies were buried with protective scarab amulets to provide them with a safe transition into the afterlife. Jewellery and scarab-shaped accessories have been worn worldwide for ages, believed to harness Khepri’s protective powers. Egyptian locals thought these small magical objects warded off evil and ushered in good luck for the wearer in their current life and even the next.

Egyptians saw the scarab beetle as an attractor of wealth and good fortune. Their wit, industry, intelligence, and devotion to rolling dung linked them to success. Although slow in nature, they represented everything necessary for material gains. Egyptians also viewed this insect as a lucky charm, and that’s why anyone who desired wealth and success wore the scarab amulet, including the Pharaohs.

Scarabs mirrored strength the for Egyptians. The locals mellowed at the insect’s indomitable spirit, admirable skills, and diligence they demonstrated while dragging dung balls almost 50 times its body weight. In fact, male scarabs can pull up to 1,141 times their body weight. They acted as living reminders that anyone can cultivate dung beetle-like internal strength and handle anything life throws at you.

They were symbols of all things beautiful—from wealth, luck, immortality, and new beginnings. But, a dead scarab beetle represented misfortune. It meant that one was exposed to evil entities and was vulnerable to harm and bad luck. Egyptians needed to repair their weakened defences by purifying their chakra, meditating, and wearing protective amulets. Finding dead scarab beetles was also a sign of caution that one had lost focus. It served as a wake-up call for those that might have given up their dreams.

Some scarab beetle symbols featured wings. These wings were attached to the scarabs manually and were actually from a different creature, typically a bird. The wings acted as an additional connector to the god Khepri, often portrayed with bird wings. Connecting to the sun god Khepri guaranteed rebirth for the dead and assured them of smooth flight to the otherworld. Winged scarabs were also a great way to adopt the winged scarab into the previously popular Egyptian Ankh symbol.

Ancient Egypt believed in the afterlife and held unmatched funerary rites for this. The dead had to harness the resurrection, regeneration, and immortal powers the scarab represented if they wanted a peaceful transition to the afterlife.

So, how were the mummies supposed to harness these powers?

Scarab amulets. There was a reserved role for scarab amulets in a mummy’s transition to the spirit world. Egyptians buried the mummies with beetle amulets made of unique stones. An article from the University of Birmingham states that heart scarabs were sewn on wrappings and placed over the heart, chest, or throat of a body mummified body. Since the heart was the seat of a human’s memory, emotion, and intelligence, ancient Egyptians believed it was usually weighed for purity in the afterlife. Placed on the mummy was a heart scarab amulet with inscriptions from the Book of the Dead, pleading with the heart not to betray the deceased on judgment day.

Also, as a symbol of rebirth and new beginnings, a scarab amulet was believed to magically invoke protection for the dead owner, perhaps from the young sun god Khepri.

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