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The Order Of Thoth (OoT) 1:Introduction

2:Thoth

3:History

4:Practices

1 INTRODUCTION: The Order of Thoth is very much similar and may have possibly been associated with the "Cult of The Sun" back in ancient egyptian times. First, Thoth was the ancient egyptian God of wisdom, magic, the occult, etc. Thoth was also the God of scribes and recorded The passage of the pharaoh's "ba" or soul into the afterlife. The Order of Thoth was a very actice secret society back in ancient times. The Order of Thoth was made up of many scholars, scribes, high priests, royal architects(including Imhotep), and other nobles were part of this society.

2 THOTH Thoth (his Greek name derived from the Egyptian *ḏiḥautī, written by Egyptians as ḏḥwty) was considered one of the most important deities of the Egyptian pantheon, often depicted with the head of an ibis. His feminine counterpart was Ma'at. His chief shrine was at Khemennu, where he was the head of the local company of gods, later renamed Hermopolis by the Greeks (in reference to him through the Greeks' interpretation that he was the same as Hermes) and Eshmûnên by the Arabs. He also had shrines in Abydos, Hesert, Urit, Per-Ab, Rekhui, Ta-ur, Sep, Hat, Pselket, Talmsis, Antcha-Mutet, Bah, Amen-heri-ab, and Ta-kens.

He was considered the heart and tongue of Ra as well as the means by which Ra's will was translated into speech. He has also been likened to the Logos of Plato and the mind of God. (see The All) In the Egyptian mythology, he has played many vital and prominent roles, including being one of the two gods (the other being Ma'at) who stood on either side of Ra's boat. He has further been involved in arbitration, magic, writing, science, and the judging of the dead.

Thoth has been depicted in many ways depending on the era and on the aspect the artist wished to convey. Usually, he is depicted in human form with the head of an ibis. In this form, he can be represented as the reckoner of times and seasons by a lunar disk sitting in a crescent moon being placed atop his head. When depicted as a form of Shu or Ankher, he will wear the respective god's headdress. He also is sometimes seen wearing the atef crown and the United Crowns of Upper and Lower Egypt.

When not depicted in this common form, he sometimes takes the form of the ibis directly. He also appears as a baboon when he is A'an, the god of equilibrium. In the form of A'ah-Djehuty he took a more human-looking form.

These forms are all symbolic and are metaphors for Thoth's attributes. The Egyptians did not believe these gods actually looked like humans with animal heads. For example, Thoth's counterpart Ma'at is often depicted with an ostrich feather for a head.

The ancient Egyptians regarded Thoth as One, self-begotten, and self-produced. He was the master of both physical and moral (ie. Divine) law, making proper use of Ma'at. He is credited with making the calculations for the establishment of the heavens, stars, Earth, and everything in them. Compare this to how his feminine counterpart, Ma'at was the force which maintained the Universe. He is said to direct the motions of the heavenly bodies. Without his words, the Egyptians believed, the gods would not exist. His power was almost unlimited in the Underworld and rivalled that of Ra and Osiris.

The Egyptians credited him as the author of all works of science, religion, philosophy, and magic. The Greeks further declared him the inventor of astronomy, astrology, the science of numbers, mathematics, geometry, land surveying, medicine, botany, theology, civilized government, the alphabet, reading, writing, and oratory. They further claimed he was the true author of every work of every branch of knowledge, human and divine.

He was originally the deification of the moon in the Ogdoad belief system. Initially, in that system, the moon had been seen to be the eye of Horus, the sky god, which had been semi-blinded (thus darker) in a fight against Set, the other eye being the sun. However, over time it began to be considered separately, becoming a lunar deity in its own right, and was said to have been another son of Ra. As the crescent moon strongly resembles the curved beak of the ibis, this separate deity was named Djehuty (i.e. Thoth), meaning ibis.

Thoth became associated with the Moon, due to the Ancient Egyptians observation that Baboons (sacred to Thoth) 'sang' to the moon at night.

The Moon not only provides light at night, allowing the time to still be measured without the sun, but its phases and prominence gave it a significant importance in early astrology/astronomy. The cycles of the moon also organized much of Egyptian society's civil, and religious, rituals, and events. Consequently, Thoth gradually became seen as a god of wisdom, magic, and the measurement, and regulation, of events, and of time. He was thus said to be the secretary and counsellor of Ra, and with Ma'at (truth/order) stood next to Ra on the nightly voyage across the sky, Ra being a sun god.

Thoth became credited by the ancient Egyptians as the inventor of writing, and was also considered to have been the scribe of the underworld, and the moon became occasionally considered a separate entity, now that Thoth had less association with it, and more with wisdom. For this reason Thoth was universally worshipped by ancient Egyptian Scribes. Many scribes had a painting or a picture of Thoth in their "office". Likewise, one of the symbols for scribes was that of the ibis.

In art, Thoth was usually depicted with the head of an ibis, deriving from his name, and the curve of the ibis' beak, which resembles the crescent moon. Sometimes, he was depicted as a baboon holding up a crescent moon, as the baboon was seen as a nocturnal, and intelligent, creature. The association with baboons led to him occasionally being said to have as a consort Astennu, one of the (male) baboons at the place of judgement in the underworld, and on other occasions, Astennu was said to be Thoth himself.

During the late period of Egyptian history a cult of Thoth(OoT) gained prominence, due to its main centre, Khnum (Hermopolis Magna), also becoming the capital, and millions of dead ibis were mummified and buried in his honour. The rise of his cult also led to his cult seeking to adjust mythology to give Thoth a greater role.

Thoth was inserted in many tales as the wise counsel and persuader, and his association with learning, and measurement, led him to be connected with Seshat, the earlier deification of wisdom, who was said to be his daughter, or variably his wife. Thoth's qualities also led to him being identified by the Greeks with their closest matching god - Hermes, with whom Thoth was eventually combined, as Hermes Trismegistus, also leading to the Greeks naming Thoth's cult centre as Hermopolis, meaning city of Hermes.

It is also viewed that Thoth was the God of Scribe and not a messenger. Anubis was viewed as the messenger of the gods, as he travelled in and out of the Underworld, to the presence of the gods, and to humans, as well. Some call this fusion Hermanubis. It is in more favor that Thoth was a record keeper, and not the messenger.

3 HISTORY The OoT was believed to know where the Gods were buried; ancient texts describe a time before human pharaohs when the Gods ruled the Earth in human form, since diefication was practiced by ancient egyptians (ex. Imhotep becoming a God after building the first pyramid) it is widely believed by scholars and egyptologists alike that Horus, Ra, Osiros, Isis, Set, Thoth, Anubis etc. may have actually been powerful human pharaohs that ruled in predynastic times and did great things therefore were remembered as Gods, since there are very few records of this time period this is a major possibility. Some day we could be unearthing tombs of "Gods."

4 PRACTICES The OoT were among the greatest thinkers the world has ever known, members include but are not limited to: Imhotep, Merlin, Achimedes, Ankhmoses, Sethmoses, etc. The OoT practiced the magical arts and many were astrologists, celestial scientists, magicians, sorcerers, priests, numerologists, and many other forms of fortune tellers.

The OoT's sign was the crescent moon, the sign of Thoth, every crescent moon they would gather and make offerings to Thoth, in return he would grant them powers beyond imagine, just a few supposed powers were: flight, teleportation, enchanting objects, changing form(themselves, other objects, creatures & people)etc.

Refferences & Sources: Wikipedia History Channel World Book Encyclopedia Discover Magazine etc.