Anubis an Inner Guide

Anubis is almost the logo for esoteric Egypt. You’ve seen him in colophons. You’ve seen him in movies. You can buy little idols of him in little shops of occult bric-a-brac. The Egyptians took two sorts of canines – man’s best friend and the now extinct Egyptian red wolf and made two guardian gods, Wepwawet (the wolf) and Anubis (the dog). He could lead the Pharoah’s army, the boat of Re, and the souls of the dead. He was the Egyptian prototype of the shaman, the professional crosser of realities. He is the black dog that any folklorist encounters – if you research your own city you’ll find “black dog” sightings. In that rather odd sense, he is the most visible of all the Egyptian pantheon.
Colonial scholars wanted to deemphasize him and tried saying he was a jackal. Even the Egyptians themselves tried to cage the dog by incorporating him into the Osirian mythos by the middle dynasties, but they kept the shaman’s mask for the Opening of the Mouth ceremonies. The Greeks missed the boat by identifying Hermes with Thoth. Thoth isn’t dangerous enough, funny enough. The great Egyptian Hermes was and is Anubis.
He was the only one of the old gods that never went away. Whether as the ghost of Wild Edric or the prototype of St. Christopher. Anubis couldn’t be banished. As a dog, he is faithful. He is willing to help you enter other realms safely just as he has for five thousand years. As a wolf, he is fierce, wild, and willy – and willing to transform you into one of his packs. He has chosen to live alongside mankind 30.000 years ago and he is making a return at this stressful time. As he always has.
Judith Page is a rational scholarly human. Judith Page was also chosen to help some of the old gods back into their seats. We see them all around us – in Marvel movies, in modern art – let’s renew old partnerships with careful objective scholarship and wild magical ecstasy. It’s time to throw an old god a bone!
Don Webb ~ author of Overthrowing the Old Gods