Friday, September 25, 2009

Thoth

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Thoth







Thoth
pronounced Tee hoo tee
was a lunar deity
in the religion
of ancient Egypt










Thoth was the god of writing,
magic and learning
He is also credited
with the creation of language










Thoth is commonly depicted
as an ibis headed
divine male figure









and also appears as a baboon


At times he can be seen wearing
the lunar crescent
on his head,
as in the top picture












In drawings Thoth,
(Tee hoo tee)
is seen
holding a scribe's palette
and a stylus


In his role
as scribe to the Gods,
recording divine utterances,
words and judgments,
Thoth keeps a great library
of scrolls











Another of Thoth's tasks
was to record the deeds of the living
which were later recounted
in the Halls of Judgement
where the weighing of souls
took place after death












As the patron of scribes,
the God of wisdom
and of writing,
and the creator of magic
I suggest
that we could do no better
than to adopt Thoth
as the God of Blogging

What do you think...




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33 comments:

  1. I'll weigh in with my vote after communing with him in Egypt. One of the tour leader channels Thoth.

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  2. Hi Meri

    Oh wonderful..

    Can you be our emissary and put in the application for us...

    I'm sure he'd approve of our efforts...

    Happy days

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  3. Interesting post with info and pictures. I'm all for having Thoth as the new Blog God!

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  4. great idea and thanks for sharing all these pictures and the information too!

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  5. Hi Janie

    thanks for coming over...one vote from you...

    Happy days

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  6. Hi Juliet

    a pleasure...
    another vote in favour...

    Happy days

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  7. Hi Delwyn

    What an interesting post!
    So enjoyable!
    I recently went to see "Egypt's Sunken Treasures Exhibition" which was held in Yokohama and came across many images of Thoth.
    I sometimes wonder why many Egyptian gods and goddesses have bird or animal faces. There are many theories...Very intriguing!
    Thank you for sharing!!

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  8. Hi Delwyn

    Your posts never disappoint.

    Interesting idea, adopting Thoth. I wonder if he would keep those occasional technological gremlins in check for us?

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  9. Hi Sapphire

    The exhibition must have been wonderful Sapphire...Maybe the Egyptians felt the bird symbolized the heavens or the spirit world...and holds super human powers...the ability to transcend the worldly realm...I wonder what the baboon tells us...

    Happy days

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  10. Hello Martin

    It's worth a little bit of supplication don't you think...I wonder what might be a suitable offering...do you think my wild bird seed might do?

    Happy days

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  11. Fabulous post Delwyn and I didn't know the pronunciation. One of my most vivid dreams ever involved being chased whilst shouting "I am beset by the agents of Hathor" so Egyptian Gods loom large, for some reason, in my less concious self.
    So that's a vote from me!

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  12. Hi Delwyn...
    It would seem to be appropriate... he being the god of writing, magic and learning...and the recorder of deeds of the living...that's what blogging is!!!

    Smiles Always,
    Wanda

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  13. hi delwyn - what a cool post! the first time i knew one of the many ways in which my dad was "different" was when i came across two books he was reading "the book of thoth and one of blavatsky's books. i was in my early teens - so i read them when he wasn't there!! one feature of thoth that i have always been intrigued by delwyn is the role of serving "as a mediating power, especially between good and evil, making sure neither had a decisive victory over the other". i am surprised that you didn't suggest ma'at given her more universal role. thanks for this. have a lovely evening by the river. steven

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  14. Fantastic post. I have long been interested in ancient history so had read a little bit about Thoth (did not know how to pronounce it in English, though, so, thanks for that).

    Greetings from London.

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  15. Delwyn, that is what I was thinking as I read your words... too funny. Sure, it sounds like the perfect deity to rule over blogging. Now how do we go about adopting him?

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  16. Enjoyed these Egyptian god images Delwyn. It always amazes me how the gods of ancient Egypt and their functions predated and foreshadowed what Christians pack into their one God. Saw an interesting documentary recently on how in ancient Egypt there was a boy god, born of a virgin, who lived with parents of modest means, and gathered people together to perform miracles that fed them, etc. etc. The parallels with Jesus were astounding - and we have to remember this predates the birth of christianity.

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  17. Enjoyed this a lot and I, too, learned the correct pronunciation from you. Ancient Egypt has been a source of fascination for me since I was a teen. Especially the art and stele. I think that perhaps I lived in that world in a past life, maybe even was an artist there.

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  18. I have a good friend who insists that it was Thoth's WIFE who invented writing and therefore is the Goddess of writing. LOL! I don't know how she came about this information, but I got a kick out it. Thoth (or his wife) would be a good god or goddess of blogging. Blessings!

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  19. That type of art has always seemed so "flat" to me - no shadows, very little dimension or perspective, if that makes any sense. Glad to know the correct pronunciation - I love words!

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  20. a very good idea, Delwyn.
    and can we have Sei Shonagon as the first blogger?
    then we only need a patron saint; who could that be?

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  21. Good Morning Friko

    Just perfect...

    Hmmm we'll have to think about that...

    Happy days

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  22. Hello GW

    Doesn't Thoth have a wonderful pronunciation...I have found myself repeating it over and over...

    Happy days

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  23. Hi Marion

    Thoth's partner in works anyway was Ma'at the goddess of truth and harmony. She assisted with the weighins at death...deciding who would get into paradise...

    Happy days

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  24. Hi Ellen

    Perhaps you did. I think we have to follow those magnetic pulls to other cultures and times...they reveal things about us...if we listen...

    Happy days

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  25. Hi Bonnie

    Yes Bonnie
    creation stories, tree of life stories, great floods, tempting serpents ...all feature in diverse cultures all around the world.

    Joseph Campbell is great at pulling myth together as a manual or guide for the discovery of the human psyche and behaviour, for understanding cultures and their mores...

    The aboriginals have the rainbow serpent...in their mythology...

    Happy days

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  26. Hi Vicky

    I don't think we have to worry about that...I am sure he already has us under his wing...

    Happy days

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  27. Hi Mr C

    and isn't the pronunciation great...I keep saying if=t for the pleasure

    Tee hoo tee....

    Happy days

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  28. Hi there Steven

    I thought Thoth more appropriate because of his language and writing powers, the widsdom and the magic...

    but OK Ma'at can come along too...after all she is his partner in the final weigh in at death, and does a lot of good work maintaining harmony and protecting truth...and we need her help too...

    Thoth and Ma'at it shall be...

    a fine balance...

    Happy days


    Happy days

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  29. Oh, yeah, I'm with you on this one. Creating magic, through wisdom and writing. What could be better than that?

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  30. That's fabulous, Delwyn! You couldn't have chosen better! I see just the logo we could use, too: the day and night one with the papyrus and white moon above the crescent moon and the stars at night. In fact, I have Thoth, the God of Blogging, as a logo on my blog right now! Thank you, Delwyn!

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  31. Hi Nancy

    oh great- you are in agreement...
    perfect


    Happy days

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  32. Hi Margaret

    I should have known you would see eye to eye...

    Really...

    I'll come and see...

    I have put up the first Thoth image in my sidebar too...

    Happy days

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  33. I love to learn new things and that is usually what happens when I come to visit you!!

    Thoth (and thank you for explaining how to pronounce this!!!) is most likely the God of blogging indeed!

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