Masonic & Occult Symbols Illustrate

“The scarab was, from very ancient times, and still is, sacred in Egypt; it was thought to be neither male nor female, but, instead, to contain within itself the power to create. It symbolized Khebera, the god of creation and resurrection, who was self-begotten." Another name for Khepri (also Khebera or Khepera) was Atum. Egyptian Mythology explains more about this aspect: “Atum was ‘He who created himself.’ His next act was to create further gods. As he was alone in the world, he had to produce offspring without a mate. His means was union with his shadow, or masturbation.... Atum seems often in the texts to be regarded as a bisexual god and was sometimes called the ‘Great He She." “Thus, Khepri symbolized the resurrection of the body and rebirth [reincarnation] of the soul through transformation and renewal. It is for this reason that the Egyptian custom of wearing scarabs, as well as that of placing scarabs within the tombs and on the bodies of the dead, became so popular." “Khepri (or Khepera) signifies at the same time ‘scarab’ and ‘he who becomes.’ For the Heliopolitans he represented the rising sun which, like the scarab, emerges from its own substance and is reborn of itself. Khepri was the god of the transformations which life, for ever renewing itself, manifests. He is represented as a scarab-faced man or as a man whose head is surmounted by this insect. Sometimes he appears simply as a scarab.” [Emphasis in the original] Anton LaVey, the founder of the Church of Satan, states: “The Phoenicians worshipped a fly god, Baal, from which comes the devil,