I Heart Paganism’s
God Series

Thoth

The following is from the Lunar Wisdom blog (for the video version of the text, click here):

“Thoth thou sweet well for someone who suffers thirst in the desert. He is closed for him who speaks and he is open for him who is silent.”

Thoth is the patron god of: the foundation of law, mystical wisdom, magic, learning, hieroglyphic writing, spoken language, arithmetic, science, medicine, botany and astrology. He is also viewed as the true author of every work of all knowledge human and divine and is often called The Lord of the Divine Books and Scribe of the Company of Gods.

Thoth was usually depicted as a man with the head of an ibis, holding a scribal palette and reed pen. Sometimes he was depicted as a baboon holding up a crescent moon. The baboon was seen as a nocturnal and intelligent creature. This association led to Thoth occasionally being said to have Astennu as a consort and on some occasions Astennu himself.

Thoth served as a mediating power. He is present at the judgment of the dead in the Hall of Maat. He records the results of the weighing of the deceased’s heart against the feather of Maat. If Thoth finds the results agreeable he would declare the soul as righteous and he would be worthy of a blessed afterlife.

As the lord of books he was the scribe of the gods and patron of all scribes. Thoth was the measurer of the earth and the counter of the stars, the keeper and recorder of all knowledge. It was Thoth who was believed to have written important religious texts such as The Book of the Dead.

Thoth was prominent in the Osiris myth as being of great aid to Isis. After she gathered together the pieces of her husband’s dismembered body, Thoth gave her the words to resurrect him so she could be impregnated and bring forth Horus. When Horus was slain, Thoth gave the magic to resurrect him as well. Thoth was the patron god of the occultists of ancient Egypt, and was petitioned in many of the spells contained in the Egyptian Book of the Dead, such as the opening-of-the-mouth spell to reanimate a corpse, which was recited over a mummy by a high priest.

Offerings to be made to Thoth: figs, raisins, honey, frankincense, myrrh, Kyphi oil, corriander, cumin, fennel, hibiscus, ointments, water, ink and parchment.

Thoth as a baboon. Offered by a man named Horhetep.
Ptolemaic Egypt, circa 332-30 BCE
Faience, gold and silver

Number 6

The number 6 represents Thoth, the god of wisdom and learning.

The number 6 is a picture of the head of an ibis.

In Egyptian art, Thoth is depicted as an ibis headed god. Thoth was the scribe of the gods. He was the patron god of scribes. According to the foundation legend of Egypt, Thoth was the inventor of writing and of numbers. Scribes of the Thoth school created the letters of the Roman alphabet and the numbers of the Arabic number set. They used Pagan religious icons to create the symbols that are the letters and numbers we know and use today. The number 6 is a Pagan religious icon. We use Pagan religious icons to record and communicate the content of our thoughts. Our languages and cultures are rooted in the ancient culture of Isis.

Cuneiform writing reminded the ancients of bird tracks in mud.

Pagans of the Isis bloodline valued wisdom as the highest human virtue. The “Sacred Ibis” was an enduring wisdom symbol in Pagan religion. One might wonder why they chose the ibis as a symbol to represent the god of wisdom and learning. The common pun that someone’s handwriting looks like “chicken tracks” has truly ancient origins. The earliest enduring forms of writing were impressions made in clay. The ibis is a wading bird that probes for food in shallow waters along streams and ponds. Its footprints in the mud of its habitat reminded the scribes of cuneiform clay tablet writing.

The Pagan’s concept of wisdom was divided into distinctly different branches of wisdom. The educated wisdom of scribes was regarded differently from the agrarian wisdom of farmers or the military wisdom of soldiers. Farmers, soldiers, and “tradesmen” of all kinds were illiterate classes of people. Heru, the hawk god, was the patron god of soldiers who did not need to be educated in the literary arts. When armies went on military campaigns, professional scribes went along as accountants, message writers, and etc. The common feature of armies subservient to civilian governments in Western civilizations may have sprung originally from this ancient literary tradition.

Thoth was the patron god of all the scientific, literary, and bureaucratic professions that required writing skills. They chose the ibis as the symbol for the patron god of the educated literary branch of wisdom because its footprints looked like cuneiform clay tablet writing.

Priest scribes of the Thoth school were linguistic architects and wordsmiths. They designed languages and formulated words.

According to conventional language theories, our modern languages “evolved” from prehistoric languages by chance. There was no design or designer involved in the process. That isn’t true. Our languages are man-made structures in much the same way that our houses are man-made structures. Our houses may be built of wood from forests that evolved out of the ecosystem of the planet, but the houses did not evolve out of the forest by chance.

For the most part, constructors of houses refined and formulated naturally existing materials to create the products from which they built houses. Ironsmiths refined nails out of raw iron ore. Sawyers sawed lumber from naturally existing trees. They built their houses on foundations of field stone mortared together to serve their purpose. Scribes of the Thoth school designed and constructed languages by similar processes. Our major languages are structures built partly of linguistic materials from prehistorical times and partly from the creations of Thothian genius.

For instance, Thothian scribes used the names of gods and the functions of those gods to formulate words and give them meaning. Thoth was the all around god of wisdom and learning. Our word thought is derived from the name of Thoth. Our word hero is derived from the name of Heru, the god of wisdom in action. Our word assure is derived from the name of Assur, the founding father god of Pagan civilization. Those are very direct god name words that derive their sounds and meanings from the names and functions of Pagan gods. Many words in many languages are derivatives of god names. They’re not always as direct and obvious as these examples are.

Thoth was the god of writing and also of science and mathematics. Tekh was another of Thoth’s names. The Tekh version of his name is found in a variety of technical terms like Tekhnology. The tech- syllable in technology is derived from the god name Tekh. The -tic syllable in mathematic is derived from Tekh. Thoth was the god of astronomy. He was the counter of the stars, the maker of the calendar, and the measurer of time. The tick-tock of the clock is derived from the name of Tekh. It was Thoth who “first taught men to speak clearly.” Our word talk (tawk) is derived from Tekh. Thoth was the god of writing. Our word text is derived from Tekh. Thoth was wise. Our word tactic is derived from Tekh-Tekh.

Resurrect Isis

All that we know as human civilization, our cultures, our languages, our genealogies, are rooted in the old Pagan religion of EarthMother [sic] Goddess, Isis. In order for a peaceful and prosperous world civilization to exist on this planet that leaves out no part of humanity, we must return to our roots. The only alternative is a civilization based on predatory militarism as it is being practiced and promulgated over the world today.

-(source)

The Fast of Thoth
By Patti Wigington

In the Alexandrian calendar, a day-long fast was held to honor Thoth, the Egyptian god of magic and wisdom. A festival honoring this deity was held every year in August, and then a month later his devotees would spend the day praying and meditating. Thoth is sometimes called upon for workings related to wisdom, magic, and fate. He may also be invoked if you’re working on anything to do with writing or communications — creating a Book of Shadows or writing a spell, speaking words of healing or meditation, or mediating a dispute. Consider a little bit of spiritual fasting if you have time to do so today, or make an offering of some of the food you would normally consume.

Scrolls of Thoth
Artwork by Anna Zinkovsky

Ode To Thoth
By Teri Sharp

Hail, Thoth, god of learning.
I come to you for guidance,
And call your name in eternal yearning.
As the pages of my life unfold,
So rapidly, ceaselessly turning,
You bring the image to my mind
Of hot desert sands, forever burning
Away the meaningless ties that bind,
In the urgent quest for eternal truth,
A spiritual balm to ease the mind.
But if I know not what it is I seek,
How can I ever hope to truly find?
Hail, Thoth, ibis-headed god
Of the lush, fertile land of the Nile.
I seek the magic of your healing rod—
Weave your spell, that I may smile,
And wipe away the tears of regret
That I have wept for so many unremembered things
Which somehow I can’t seem to forget.
Lift the veil that humanity brings,
Let the path of knowledge be well lit,
Reveal the past to which my mind clings.
Hail, Thoth, revealer of the keys that fit.

(Source: iheartpaganism)