Anubis: Guide and Guardian fo the Dead

Ancient Egypt was an Empire that lasted an extremely long time with a written language that we sort of understand and lots of references to things that, if you were the average Egyptian, you would have known, but we, several thousand years later, are left scratching our heads at. Add to this the changes in popularity, hierarchy, myth and names of the various deities due to shifting politics, customs and societal views, and it is safe to say that coming up with a definitive mythology of the Egyptians is problematic at best.

That being said, much of what we think we know about Egyptian mythology actually comes from the writings of a Greek. The historian Plutarch wrote about the Egyptian religion in a series of “letters” to his niece. (You can read it here). For the sake of simplicity, and because it is these myths that are most commonly used in modern society and Western Mysticism, I am going to stick with the Plutarch version when I talk about the Egyptian Gods. Feel free to give other accounts in the comments section.

That disclaimer over and done with, it’s time to get to one of my favourite deities: Anubis. Anubis is often a shadowy figure in modern pop culture but this is a lot to do with the Western idea that death=bad therefore gods of death=bad. The Egyptians, on the other hand, were absolutely obsessed with death (though do not take this, as some do, to mean that their whole belief structure revolved around death) and had elaborate formulas that were designed to get you through the labyrinths of the underworld (The Duat) so as to finally unite with Osiris in what could be seen as paradise. These formulas are often called The Book of the Dead, or The Book of Going Forth by Day. In these accounts, Anubis is often seen as the guide of the dead and is therefore a helpful and good deity.

The story of Anubis’ conception and birth as set out (more or less) by Plutarch is one of my favourite stories. His mother Nepthys, being married to the god of sterility (associated with the desert) and bit of a jerk named Seth, is sick of not being barren. So one day, she goes over to visit her twin sister Isis’ husband Osiris, gets him drunk so he can’t tell Isis or Nepthys apart (being as they are twins I am assuming that this would be fairly easy), seduces him, has sex with him and conceives Anubis.

Now, when Seth finds out about Anubis he gets (not entirely without reason) upset, and tells Nepthys he’s going to kill her child. So Nepthys hides Anubis and goes running to her sister who, unlike many women, does not go “dude, you slept with my husband, I hate you” but instead goes “poor sister, here, let me take Anubis as my foster child.” Isis, as Queen of the Gods and a pretty bad-ass magician thus poses enough of a threat to Seth that he backs off and stops trying to kill Anubis. And they all live happily ever after until Seth chops Osiris up into bitty bits but that is another story.

There are several things that are remarkable about this myth, and they showcase the personalities of many of the more important gods quite nicely. I will probably refer to aspects of this myth later when talking about Nepthys, Isis and Seth. As for Anubis however, there are several important aspects to this story of his conception and birth. The first is that he is the child of Osiris and Nepthys, giving him a slightly darker aspect then would a child of Osiris and Isis, but also aligning him rather firmly with the “good guys”. The other aspect is that he is not only his mother’s son (lending him that protector and warrior aspect) but also is Isis’s foster son, aligning him with the Mysteries. It is in this aspect that Anubis can be seen as a spiritual guide in this life, as well as a guide in the Duat. It is also in this aspect that I (personally) feel he is connected to the Hermit card in the tarot.

This brings us to the many functions of Anubis. In Ancient Egypt, Anubis was a guide for the afterlife, a participant in the weighing of the heart in the Hall of Ma’at (something else I will get to in another entry), a guardian of the tombs and the god of embalming and mummification. In the story of Isis and Osiris, it is Anubis that helps fit Osiris back together after his dismemberment and preserves his body so that Osiris can become the God of the Underworld. It is in the image of this act that the Egyptians mummified their dead. In fact, the priests who would perform the rights of mummification were priests of Anubis and would often wear jackal masks while doing so. (I think that is one of the few things the movie “The Mummy” got right.)

So what can the myth of Anubis mean for us today? Anubis symbolises the Guide and the Protector. Even though we aren’t dead, we can still focus on these aspects of Anubis to give us strength to go into scary places in our lives or to protect us from scary aspects of ourselves. On a less psychological note, Anubis is great for helping protect us during ritual or astral work or to guide us through meditation. As well, his heightened jackal senses make him great for finding both physical and spiritual things. As well, Anubis could be a great comfort to those about to embark on the journey of death. It is comforting to think of a being that will (literally) hold your hand and lead you through one of the most difficult transitions of your life. I personally find the figure of Anubis to be very comforting and he has often given me strength during times of upheaval and transition in my life.

In conclusion, the Egyptian god Anubis is not the scary death god some movies or TV shows would make him out to be, but rather a good and compassionate guide and guardian.