Also called Khepera, Kheper, He who is coming into being.
Their story
Egyptians watched the scarab beetle roll its ball of dung and saw young beetles emerge from it, and they pictured the sun being pushed over the horizon in the same way. Khepri's name comes from the verb kheper, to come into being or to change. In the Bremner-Rhind Papyrus the creator says that when he came into being as Khepri, being itself came into being. At the end of the Amduat the sun, renewed in the night, is reborn in the east as the scarab.
Their day
Sunday. In modern practice, some honour him on Sunday as a solar god.
Best times to give to them
- dawn
- Wepet Renpet
What they like being given
- water
- incense at sunrise
- a scarab amulet
- bread
How to honour them
- Greet the sunrise as Khepri when you are starting something new.
- Carry or keep a scarab as a reminder that change is always under way.
How they can help you
- new starts
- personal change
- hope after a hard time
- rebirth
Symbols
- scarab beetle
- dung ball as sun disc
- scarab-headed man
Sources
- Bremner-Rhind Papyrus (British Museum EA 10188)
- Amduat
- Book of the Dead, Spell 30B
- Wilkinson, The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt
More Egyptian gods
- Osiris Lord of the afterlife and new growth
- Horus The falcon, protector of the rightful king
- Ra The sun who sails the sky
- Thoth Scribe of the gods, lord of wisdom
- Anubis Guardian and guide of the dead
- Khonsu The Traveller, the moon who heals
- Amun The hidden king of the gods at Thebes
- Ptah Creator by word and patron of craftsmen