He's Got the Whole World in His Hands

When we think of the word chaos we generally are referring to something like "orderless confusion" which is a usage from c.1600.

Meaning "utter confusion" is an extended sense from theological use of chaos in the Vulgate version of "Genesis" (1530s in English) for "the void at the beginning of creation, the confused, formless, elementary state of the universe." The Greek for "disorder" was tarakhe, but the use of chaos here was rooted in Hestoid ("Theogony"), who describes khaos as the primeval emptiness of the Universe, and Ovid ("Metamorphoses"), who opposes Khaos to Kosmos, the ordered Universe . . ." [OE]

Red Barron Pizza Box

We also have the mathematical branch of study called "Chaos theory" formalized c.1977, and famously referred to in the movie, Jurassic Park [based off the book by Michael Crichton]. 

Oh, it simply deals with predictability in complex systems. The shorthand is the butterfly effect. The butterfly can flap its wings in Peking and in Central Park you get rain instead of sunshine. -Dr. Malcolm

Chaos theory, in short, is the study of,

. . . dynamical systems whose apparently random states of disorder and irregularities are actually governed by underlying patterns and deterministic laws that are highly sensitive to initial conditions. Wikipedia, Chaos Theory

It is somewhat paradoxical in this sense[Chaos Theory] to use the word chaos to describe what is actually being governed, but the point is that it appears to be chaotic. Ah, what would we do without chaos in this sense? What a wonderfully boring world this would be. 

Chaos is from from Latin chaos, from the Greek khaos "any vast gulf or chasm, the nether abyss, empty space, the first state of the universe, from khaos "abyss, that which gapes wide open, that which is vast and empty from *khnwos, from PIE *ghieh- to yawn, gape, be wide open [OE]," or stem kha- to yawn, gape [OED]."

Kaw or caw, is the sound a crow makes. When a crow caws it opens its beak like a yawn or gape (kha-, *ghieh-). In fact the word crow is said to probably be imitative of the sound of the bird, as is raven ultimately. Raven which is from Old English hræven, initially a harsher more guttural sounding word, from the hypothesized PIE root *ker- "imitative of harsh sounds", also the source of Latin cornix "crow," corvis "raven," Greek korax, korōnē, koraki "raven, crow".

Cawing or Kha-ing Crow

Odin's ravens (Old Norse hrafn) Huginn "thought" and Muninn "memory, mind,"  made daily flights across the whole world and reported back to Odin everything they saw and heard. 

Huginn and Muninn

Perhaps the ravens also brought to mind that so called "chaos" at the beginning of the universe with their deep black pepla and fathomless black eyes. In Norse mythology this primordial abyss is known as Ginnungagap. It was the void or chaos which existed prior to the ordered universe or cosmos.

It was in the earliest times that Ymir dwelled. Neither sand nor sea, nor cold waves, nor earth were to be found. There was neither heaven above, nor grass anywhere, there was nothing but Ginnungagap. -Voluspa-Stanza 3, James Allen Chisholm translation

Ár var alda, pat er ekki var, vara sandr né sær né svalar unnar; jörd fannsk ævá né upphiminn, gap var ginnunga en gras hvergi. –Voluspa-Stanza 3 

In other translations gap var ginnunga is translated as "yawning gap," "yawning chaos," "chaotic chasm," "swallowing abyss," "abyss of chaos,"Yawning Chasm [chaos]," "Gaping Void," and "the great void," among others.

Yawn is from Old English ginian, gionian "open, the mouth wide, yawn, gape", from Proto-Germanic *gin-,  also PIE *ghieh-, like "chaos" from the same. 

Gap is taken directly from old Norse gap from PIE *ghieh-, as well. And Old Norse gina is "to yawn," old High German ginen "to be wide open," German gähnen "to yawn". So we see that the elements of the term Ginnungagap, however it is translated, has a double emphasis upon the concept of PIE *ghieh- to yawn, gape, be wide open [OE].The words chaos, chasm, gap and yawn are all said to come from the same hypothesized PIE root *ghieh- "to yawn, gape, be wide open".

How did this apparent nothingness or abyss then evolve into the meaning of what we think of as chaos today?

It is strange that we think of something being chaotic when it has myriad disorganized and/or random parts, and yet the primordial abyss is the original sense of chaos. The primordial chaos seems to be more nothingness than chaotic. But when you think about it, the abyss is not really nothing, it is rather a womb of infinite potential in a state of perfect entropy, inert uniformity, or stasis. Otherwise, how could anything have arisen out of this "nothingness"?  It seems the original sense of chaos was the chaos of the infinite undefined. It could be anything, and in that sense, it was nothing. In this sense chaos is truly terrifying and awesome, perhaps NOTHING is more terrifying. 

This primordial abyss is often thought of as a huge black void, but it can also be pictured as limitless whiteness. Like a white room, representing nothingness, with a creator standing in the middle, as in the movie The Matrix.

Orpheus and Neo in a Simulation of Primordial Chaos

Or, on a less grand scale, a writer, artist, architect, musician, etc. begins a work in a state of utter chaos, that is, with a blank paper or canvas, where anything is possible, and that unlimited possibility is precisely the problem. Some might argue that the white room is an even more terrifying metaphor for chaos than utter blackness. Take this example from Herman Melvile's, Moby Dick, The Whiteness of the Whale,

Aside from those more obvious considerations touching Moby Dick, which could not but occasionally awaken in any man's soul some alarm, there was another thought, or rather vague, nameless horror concerning him, which at times by its intensity completely overpowered all the rest; and yet so mystical and well nigh ineffable was it, that I almost despair of putting it in a comprehensible form. It was the whiteness of the whale that above all things appalled me. But how can I hope to explain myself here; and yet, in some dim, random way, explain myself I must, else all these chapters might be naught . . . 

Is it that by its indefiniteness it shadows forth the heartless voids and immensities of the universe, and thus stabs us from behind with the thought of annihilation, when beholding the white depths of the milky way? Or is it, that as in essence whiteness is not so much a color as the visible absence of color; and at the same time the concrete of all colors; is it for these reasons that there is a dumb blankness, full of meaning, in a wide landscape of snows- a colorless, all-color of atheism from which we shrink . . . – ch. 42: The Whiteness of the Whale, Moby Dick

The Greeks personified chaos as the primordial goddess, Χαος Khaos (Chaos). She was also interestingly associated with air and the creation of birds, or what we might call "caw"ers. In Aristophanes', Birds, Khaos is winged like Eros, and is the mother of the birds, the birds whose "origin is very much older than that of the dwellers in Olympus."[702]

Winged Nyx, Personification of Night

Here the chorus of birds speak,

Firstly, black winged Night [Nyx] laid a germless egg in the bosom of the infinite deeps of Erebus [darkness], and from this, after the revolution of long ages, sprang there graceful Eros with his glittering golden wings, swift as the whirlwinds of the tempest. He mated in deep Tartarus with dark Chaos [Khaos], winged like himself, and thus hatched forth our race, which was the first to see the light. –[695-699] Aristophanes. Birds. Eugene O'Neil, Jr. 1938

Ancient Egypt also had certain stories associating the beginning of time and creation with a bird called the Benu bird. The name, Benu (transliterated from the hieroglyphics as bnn), is said to be related to the verb weben (wbn) "to rise in brilliance, to shine". 

As an aspect of Atum, the Benu bird was said to have flown over the waters of Nun before the original creation. According to this tradition, the bird came to rest on a rock from which its cry broke the primeval silence and this determined what was and was to to be unfolding creation. - touregypt.net

It is said that this bird began time and drove back chaos.

Benu Bird Perched on the Benben Stone (Primordial Mound), or Pyramidion, Papyrus of Nakht, 18-19th Dynasty

This imagery is similar to the story of creation given in Genesis where the Spirit of God, moves over or "hovers"(like a bird), over the waters [Nun].

The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Genesis 1:2

In certain time periods Atum and Ra, were combined because they illustrate different aspects or mythologies concerning the same archetype of creator god. This type of merging happened frequently with the different gods and goddess of ancient Egypt over long periods of time. Remember, the time span of what we call ancient Egypt covers about three thousands of years, beginning around 3100 BC. Atum was first worshiped in Heliopolis, in Lower Egypt, during this Predynastic Period, and Ra, came to be prominent by the fifth dynasty, between the 25th-24th centuries BC. 

So Ra, was also associated with the Benu bird, as was Atum. Ra or Rē (who's name was represented by the hieroglyph for "sun"), was the sun god, the light, like a "ray" perhaps, not unlike the Benu bird, the "shining"(wbn) one, who was, in fact said, to be the ba of Ra. The ba was an aspect of the soul represented as a birds. Birds were fitting representations for the soul because of their ability to fly and thus portray the mobility of the soul after death. 

Ba hovering over a dead man, from a Book of the Dead papyrus, British Museum

Apep or Apophis(Gk.), called "Lord of Chaos", was known as the enemy of Ra. He was pictured as a long snake. However Apep seems to be more a product of the original chaos, rather than the embodiment of that chaos itself. Or, we could say, Apep came to be as a consequence of creation which arose out of chaos.

The few descriptions of Apep's origin in myth usually demonstrate that it was born after Ra, usually from his umbilical cord. Combined with its absence from Egyptian creation myths, this has been interpreted as suggesting that Apep was not a primordial force in Egyptian theology, but a consequence of Ra's birth. . . Apep, wikipedia

It could be said that when Ra came to be, a duality or contrast also came to be. Whereas the primordial chaos had been a state of absolute equilibrium or "nothingness," once the light was created, the opposite of the light became darkness as opposed to light, and could then be labeled as evil. In ancient Egypt, Apep came to represent this concept called isfet (ízft), meaning "chaos, injustice, violence," or as a verb "to do evil." Isfet was opposed to ma'at "truth, order, harmony". Without the concept of light there is no judgment upon darkness as evil. Apep came to be after Ra, in this way. 

Set fending off Apep on the solar barque of Ra, 21st Dynasty, Book of the Dead, Egyptian Museum, Cairo

Creation started with a "caw," that is, with the cry or call of the Benu bird, but can end with a cough. Having a cough sometimes is a sign of sickness which can precede death and one's being placed in a coffin. 

Cough is from early 14c., coughen, from Proto-Germanic *kokh- which is onomatopoeic, or imitative, as is also the ultimate origins of the words caw, cry, squeal, howl, yell and call.

Coffin is derived from latin cophinus "basket hamper", from Greek kophinos "a basket" which is of uncertain origin. I'd venture to guess, then, given the origin being from a word meaning "basket", that rather than being from an imitative sound, like those other similar sounding words relating to chaos, coffin is related instead to the letter K, as in kaf / kaph, a letter of the Hebrew alphabet, which is thought to be derived from a pictogram of an outstretched hand. The word kaph in Hebrew is "the hollow of the hand, palm of the hand, sole of foot; hollow, socket (as in of a joint); pan." So it has to do with the shape being curved, bent or cupped. And indeed the shape of the letter is a cupped shape. 

Kaf / Kaph

Maybe we could say say that the palm is the "basket (kophinos) of the hand" because it can hold items as a basket holds items.

And in Egyptian hieroglyphics kefa / kepha was a closed fist and had the meaning "fist, grab, grasp, seize, grip [also of mental concepts and of emotions], it was also apparently used to refer to the vagina. 

Kefa / Kepha

Interestingly enough "basket" is also a euphemism for lady parts. So, ashes to ashes, dust to dust, kepha (vagina) to coffin, or out of the basket you came, to the casket/coffin you shall return. 

The ancient Egyptian god Khepra / Khepri / Khepera / Kheper, (ḫprj), derived from the verb ḫpr "develop, come into being, create," and symbolized by the scarab beetle, kheper (ḫprr), was associated with the morning sun, creation, rebirth and transformation, so, indeed, it would be beneficial to be held in the grasp of this god (in the kepha [grasp] of the kaph [palm] of Khepra [the creator]) upon one's death to hopefully be born to new life. So this is in-kefa or kefa-in (coffin).

A coffin is a container like a basket or a cup. It, in some ways, mimics or is symbolic of the womb or primordial abyss from which we came, and the primordial abyss is often described as waters, such as the ancient Egyptian god Nu / Nun, who's hieroglyph contains the three (representative of many) pots, or might we say "cups"?

Nu/Nun

Cup is from Latin cupa "tub, cask, tun, barrel" it is thought to be cognate with Sanskrit kupah "hollow, pit, cave." So, this is similar, to Hebrew kaph in its meaning of "hollow." Cupa, also is cognate with Greek kype "gap, hole." Ahhh, so here we are back again to gap. Gap var ginnunga, the yawning chaos before time, or might we say kype (gap) of Nun, or "cup"(tub) of Nun? Nun, the limitless container of none or nothingness before time began, the sea of infinite potential. How different is this in concept, then, to the primordial womb out of which creation was birthed, i.e., chaos? Thus, it seems we could say there is a certain connection between the words cough and coffin. 

When people cough, not only do they make a "kha / caw" sound, but they also make something resembling a cave or a gap, as people do also when they yawn.

Cave is from Latin cavea "hollow"(place), a noun use of the adjective cavus "hollow", so again this is like kaph "hollow," the shape of a cupped hand, and kupah "hollow, pit, cave." However, the OE says cavus is from PIE *keue- "to swell," also "vault, hole," as in the words cumulative and cumulus. I say, talk to the hand! 🙌

My great-grandfather, Frank Daywalt, was caught (past participle of catch from PIE *kap- "to grasp") in a cave in, in Cowenhoven Tunnel, Aspen, Colorado in 1921. I'm sure that must have been a chaotic scene. It did put him in a coffin and he probably died coughing, trying to cover his face with his kaph (cupped hand). As the report says, he was "caught by a run of fine dirt on the tunnel." Poor great-grandpappy! 

Frank Daywalt, May 9, 1876 - Nov. 9, 1921

And my grandmother was very young. What a dark time for her family! His absence must have created a huge void and a yawning gap in their hearts. But we won't call it evil, just very sad and unfortunate. We'd like to think that the creator has a plan, and what appears to be chaos is really ordered and purposeful. 

He's got the whole world in his hands. 

P.S. Serendipitously, my grandmother's father just happened to pop up in this etymological post which I just finished, and today is her birthday!! Born February 18, 1915. She died 35 years ago in February of 1986. So, I have to include a picture of her as well. Happy Birthday Bam [short for Bambi, her nickname]! RIP <3

né Catherine Yvonne Daywalt, [photo]Feb. 5, 1956

Cut the Crap

    Scarabeus sacer

Dung beetles literally cut through or excavate the crap to make their dung balls. The scientific name for the scarab beetle, or dung beetle is Scarabeus sacer. Scarabaeus is Latin meaning "beetle," from Greek karabos κάραβος "beetle, crayfish, crab,"and sacer meaning "sacred, holy." 

A scarab is a beetle, from Old English bitela "little biter," from Old English bitel "biting," from Proto-Germanic *bitan, from PIE root *bheid- meaning "to split, crack.[OE]" Biting does split and crack, but *bheid- could also be said in describing the appearance of the beetle. Beetles have a crack down the center of their backs from the split between their hard outer pair of wings called "elytra(p.)," from Koine Greek elytron (s.) έλυτρον "sheath, cover" [also base of medical terminology such as, elytritis "inflammation of the vagina"], from elyein "to roll around, enwrap.

Scearra, Old English meaning "shears" is from Proto-Germanic *sker- "to cut." So we might also say that the scarab / beetle is also a "cutter" as well as a biter. The beetles collect little bites or bits (related to Old English bite "act of biting," and bita "piece bitten off"). We might say the scarab shears off bits of dung and rolls them into balls with their scored (also from *sker-, "sker"-ed) projections on their tibiae. Scrape, scrape. Very sker-y(and scary view when magnified)!

Ancient Egyptians were some of the first people to make shears / scissors. There have been examples found dating from c.1500 BC, of the spring type below.

    Metropolitan Museum of Art, Roman Period, c.AD 2nd Century, Bronze Shears

Kheperer / Kheprer / Kheper, ḫprr in ancient Egyptian is "scarab beetle." As a symbol the scarab was associated with renewal, rebirth, life, resurrection, and victory over death. Its name was from the Egyptian word khefer / kheper ḫpr meaning "develop, come into being, become, create, transform." According to the Encyclopedia Brittanica, "The scarab hieroglyph, kheper, refers variously to the ideas of existence, manifestation, development, growth, and effectiveness . . ." So rather than being a "bitter" or "cutter," the name of the scarab in ancient Egypt carried significant and profound symbolic significance, which is clearly attested to in the Egyptian mythology.

Khepri / Khepra / Khepera / Kheper / Chepri, etc., ḫprj is the Egyptian solar deity who represented the morning sun, depicted as a scarab beetle or man with the head of a scarab beetle.

    Khepri and Osiris, Burial Chamber Ramses I, d. 1290 BC, Valley of the Kings, Luxor, Egypt

The sun could be thought of as the ball being pushed across the sky by the beetle(kheperer) and was reborn each morning, just as the young of the scarab beetles emerge seemingly miraculously out of their dung balls. 

Khepri was considered to be a form of the sun god Ra / Re, and self created like Atum ("completer, finisher"), Atum who was called Re of the evening sun, that is the sun in its decent[fall, like autumn]. 

Khepri / Khepra was a god of creation, life, and resurrection. In fact Khepra is derived from the verb kheper, ḫpr ("develop, come into being, create"). One translation of his name is "he who is coming into being." Or maybe we could say Kheper-Ra, "the one who brings Ra into being," or the one who "rebirths/transforms" Ra, the sun.

Scarabs, as well as being represented in hieroglyphic writing, were often made into amulets.  In its hard domed shape a scarab is reminiscent of a mound. 

The god Ptah was sometimes represented on the base of scarab amulets or seals, such as this one.

Scarab with Image of Sekhmet and Ptah[center], c.1285-1186 BC, The Met

Ptah / Pitah / Peteh, ptḥ was a predynastic god of creation and rebirth. 

In the later dynastic periods Ptah was connected to the god Seker / Sokar as Ptah-Seker-Osiris, god of resurrection, and the necropolis at Saqqara.

Ptah meaning "the opener [as in 'beginner'], creator," was patron of craftsmen, artisans, especially stone and clay based arts. Ptah was combined with the deification of the primordial mound Tatenen "risen land" as, Ptah-Tatenen, from ta "earth / land".

So was Ptah a "bit" of ta (the primordial mound)? Or the first land splitting or separating the waters from the land? The land that splits (-bheid)? Bheid-ta? Beetle? Beetle does sound similar to Pe-tah. And the word pt / pet itself as a hieroglyph had the meaning of "sky, heaven," so we might say the pt (sky) is what "splits" or separates the waters above from the waters below, similar to Ptah splitting the surface of the waters as the primordial mound.

And God made the expanse [of sky] and separated the waters which were under the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so [just as He commanded]. Genesis 1:7, Amplified Bible

Flammarion Engraving - "Traveler puts his head under the edge of the firmament."

In Hebrew the word translated in this passage as "separated" is badal בדל!! It seems that this badal and Egyptian pt must have influenced the Germanic *bitan (from -bheid) which is the origin of  English "beetle." Perhaps the PIE root -bheid is intimately connected to these certain (both in the sense "particular" and "actual") Hebrew and Egyptian words and concepts having to do with the creator and creation. The sky (pt) hieroglyph itself actually kind of looks like something that could bite, that is like a set of fangs, as crazy of a connection as that may seem. The pet (sky) looks like it could bite.

Pt "sky" hieroglyph

Ptah began (opened) creation with the word of his mouth (when he opened his mouth, the mouth which is also split [as in the lips] when it speaks). In Hebrew the word peh has the meaning of "mouth" and also "word, expression, vocalization, speech, breath." Ptah conceived of creation in his heart and brought it into being spoken through his mouth from his word / tongue. Ptah ("the opener") was one god who presided over the "opening of the mouth ceremony." Ptah is shown as a splitter (bheid-) or separator (badal) of the lips in this passage.

. . . My mouth is opened by Ptah, with that chisel of metal with which he opened the mouth of the gods. From The Book of Coming Forth by Day, rw nw prt m hrw, aka, The Book of the Dead, ch. 23, New Kingdom

Ptah as Tatanen ("risen land") is not that much different in concept to the mythology of the world turtle / tortoise found in different places around the world. This idea of the primordial mound being like a shell or something hard like a skull.

   World Turtle - Kumra, Avitar of Vishnu Bas-relief at Ankor Wat, Cambodia, "churning of the waters of the sea of milk"(detail), 12th Century

Ptah is often depicted wearing a kind of skull cap. Skull is said to be probably from Old Norse skalli "a bald head, skull," and probably related to Old English scaelu "husk"(also meaning shell) [OE].

    Ptah Shown with Skull Cap and Feathered (Wing) Tunic, Tomb of Tutankamun, Guilded wood, faience and glass., 1321-1343 BC, 18th Dynasty, Valley of the Kings

Ptah is also often shown in a tight fitting wrapped garment, or we could say elyein[enwrap]ed. The garment in the statue from the tomb of Tutankhamun looks to be feathered, like golden wings, or perhaps elytra. We could maybe say he is "Fee-tah," or  feathered/winged. The origin of the  Greek word for "feathers, wings" is ftera, from Koine Greek pteron / pterux [pteryx] "feather, wing," as the ptero- in pterodactyl "wing finger," which we say in English as tera (and terra in Latin is "earth, land", like ta ). Ptah's form fitting wings are perhaps even reminiscent of an insect chrysalis, from Koine Greek χρυσαλλίς khrusallis, from χρυσός khrysos "gold" + second element meaning something like "sheath"[OE] (therefore apparently from elytron "sheath"?). And the modern Greek word for butterfly is, in fact, petalouda . . . from Koine Greek petálon πέταλον "leaf," from petánnumi πετάννυμι "I open, spread out." So very much like Ptah "the opener." 

    Lapis Lazuli Scarab(Khephra) with ptera "feathers" or "wings" lifting the disk of the Sun Ra with its "hands," 

So you might say Ptah is like the scarab god Khepra here [pectoral scarab of King Tut] represented as a scarab with outstretched feathered wings rather than with beetle wings[beetles are of the order Coleoptera, from Greek koleopteros, from koleós "sheath"+ pteron "wing," due to their outer double set of wings. The outer hard wings covering and protecting the second sheer set when not in flight. This koleós κολεός has the meaning in modern Greek "vagina, sheath, scabbard," similar, then, to the Koine Greek elytron "sheath, cover"]. 

The 1st of the ancient Egyptian month Rekh Wer / Mechir [Gk.], was the Festival of the Little Heat, when "Ptah lifts up Ra with his hands." So that is like the image above of Khepra lifting Ra.

Khefa / kepha / kafa, ḫfˁ  in ancient Egyptian had the meaning "grasp; fist[p.19]" and was represented by the clenched hand hieroglyph. As a determinative this hieroglyph could indicate the words "seize, grasp, attack, fist, booty, make captures in war." It could also express the act of "grasping" a new mental concept, or getting a "grip" on emotions. 

        Clenched Fist Hieroglyph -Khefa (or Rock, in the game "Rock, Paper, Scissors")

The fist(kafa) also represented the vagina as a thing elyein(rolled around), not unlike cowrie shells (kaparda in Sanskrit) which were sometimes used as symbols of fertility in ancient Egypt due to their shape which is suggestive of the female anatomy.

Cowrie Shell Girdle of Sithathoryunet, ca. 1887-1813 BC, Middle Kingdom, The Met Museum

So, Khepera the "scarab" god, could be, Khefa Ra ("graspting" Ra), holding up the sun.  And bringing / birthing the sun into the new day with newness of life, opening the new day, like a butterfly emerging from its cocoon after metamorphosis "a transforming, a transformation," literally meta "change" +  morphē "form,  shape." Beetles (kheper, ḫprr) also undergo metamorphosis or transformation, or change in form (khepera / pl. kheperu, ḫpr). 

The Gods of the Egyptians Vol I, Ch XI - The Legend of Rā and Isis

The Blue Crown or Khepresh ḫprš was first used during the 18th dynasty by Amenhotep III, c. 1386-149 BC.

    Two Ma'ats Stand Behind Pharaoh Wearing the Khepresh, From Medinet Habu, Mortuary Temple Ramses III, New Kingdom, West Bank, Luxor 

The Khepresh (aka, Blue Crown) actually looks kheper-like. It is a smooth hard shell / cover over the head. It is like a beetle on the head, or, maybe, a cap? Cap is from Old English cæppe "hood, head-covering, cape," from Latin cappa "a cape, hooded cloak," possibly from capitulare "headdress," from caput "head".

    Ramses II wearing Khepresh 1279-1213 BC, Egyptian Museum, Torino 

The Blue Crown / Khepresh is shown with the Ureaus (Gk.) / Iaret on the front, "the rearing/risen one," depicted as a rearing cobra. The Uraeus which represents the snake goddess Wadjet, is sometimes shown with sun disk and/or wings. Wadjet os also known as, "the Eye of Ra." The word Iaret, from Egyptian jrˁt is related to the eye hieroglyph ir / iri, jrt, jr "eye" and words having to do with eye. The open eye is like the rearing cobra and the iris with pupil is like the sun. The Ureaus was a sign of the pharaoh's right to rule and was affixed to the front of the different types of crowns like an activated third eye.

The Khepresh was colored blue, irtiu / irtyu "blue" in Egyptian. The blue pigment was made by the Egyptians from calcium copper silicate and is thought to be the first synthetic pigment ever produced (they were good chemists there in Kmt, one name the ancient Egyptians called their land by, named after the fertile black soil, km "black," deposited by the Nile). The synthetic blue pigment(referred to as Egyptian Blue) was used in place of the more scarce and costly crushed rock pigment, Lapis Lazuli, ḫsbed / khshdj in Egyptian. Ḫsbed irtiu, "Lapis Lazuli to the eye," i.e., artificial Lapis Lazuli, looked "like" Lapis Lazuli, i.e., blue, to the eye(iritu). Blue is like the waters of the sky, and was the blue color powder pigment used for painting the eyelids. 

    Cleopatra, 1963 Elizabeth Taylor with blue(irtiu) Painted Eyelids

Like this form of the  ir / iri, jr "eye" hieroglyph 

    Eye with Painted Upper Lid Hieroglyph

  

The rising sun hieroglyph meaning "sunrise," also "crown, coronation; appear in glory; rejoice" shares a resemblance to the painted eye hieroglyph, however, more like a closed eye that is about to open. Wake up!

 ḫˁ- rising sun "sunrise"

 

The sunrise is the rebirth of the sun, everyday made new, and is reminiscent of the mound of the first creation breaking through the waters of the abyss. 

And when the sun peeks its head over the horizon and its "eye" opens, it is sunrise, a time of rejoicing for the light that has come into the world. Ahhhh! (which is something like how you would pronounce the hieroglyph ḫˁ [rising sun, "sunrise"], I suppose.)

Ra-Horakhty was the "god of the rising sun" or "Ra is Horus of the Horizon," pictured below.

  Ra-Horakhty with Uraeus on his Head, a musician playing a harp decorated with a Khephresh adorned head, The Harpist Stele, 1069-945 BC

Nut / Nuit / Newet / Neuth was the goddess of the sky. Nwt is translated as meaning "sky".  She was sometimes pictured in blue covered with stars arching over the earth (Geb), as a cow ( a personification of the Milky Way or "galaxy"[from Greek galaxias kyklos "milky circle"]),or as sycamore tree.

Her body was thought of as an enveloping and protective layer over the earth, like a womb (or uterus, Sanskrit uderam "belly"; udder, Sanskrit udhar "udder, breast. Her udhar are in outer/udder space), or Nut shell, with a pot (potbelly shaped pot) being one of her hieroglyphic symbols (she wore a nu "pot" as a crown). Ra was said to be swallowed each night and reborn every morning through Nut, presumably born through her koleós "vagina," however, the koleós of the sky would be akin to the western horizon at the crack of dawn, where the sky rolls around/enwraps (elyein) the earth.

  Winged Image of the Goddess Nut (found together with winged scarab), Blue Faience, New Kingdom, Tuna el-Gebel, Necropolis of Khmun, Middle Egypt

The company of the gods rejoice at thy rising, the earth is glad when it beholdeth thy rays; the people who have been long dead come forth with cries of joy to behold thy beauties every day. Thou goest forth each day over heaven and earth, and thou art made strong each day by thy mother Nut. -from the Book of Coming Forth By Day, i.e., Book of the Dead

So the symbolism of Nut is reminiscent in part to Khepera, and similarly depicted to the kheper (scarab) which were sometimes shown donning a set of feathered wings and were often colored blue, or made with lapiz lazuli.

Some people say the symbolic meaning of the Blue Crown (Khepresh) is the sky because of its blue color, however, there seems to be a connection with the Khepresh to the kheper (scarab) as well. It might be noted that the Khepresh is often depicted with what are look to be be sun disks, as opposed to stars, like might be found on the body of Nut "sky".

The sun hieroglyph,  meaning "sun," rˁ , Re / Ra, and also having meanings of "to rise; day; hour; time" is a circle with another tiny circle at the center. Why does the sign for the sun have a dot in the middle of it?

    Blue Crown/Khpresh Faiance Piece, 18th Dynasty

Sometimes in hieroglyphs having to do with the sun, the sun appears simply as a disk (such as in the akhet "horizon" hieroglyph), and there is a similar disk in the middle of the eye hieroglyph, so they may have viewed eyes as types of "suns" just like the disk of the sun is shown in its hieroglyph like an iris with pupil, perhaps. The sun represented Ra, and was also equated with the Eye of Ra / Eye of Horus, i.e., Iaret / Uraeus / Wadjet.

Since the Khephresh was a crown worn by Pharaoh (for ceremony and sometimes war) it seems reasonable that it might have had the "suns" to depict many days or a long reign for Pharaoh. The Phonesian O (a circle like the sun hieroglyph), from the Proto-Sepetic letter ayin "eye," were derived from the ir "eye" hieroglyph. Its shape gave rise to the Greek Ο, Latin O, and Cyrillic O vowels.

       6'' Wheel Sheave

A sheave is a wheel with a groove on the outside of it. A rope is placed or wrapped around it. It is used to raise things up on a pulley. 

The Uraeus as rearing / raised cobra with sun disk, kind of looks like a sheave with a snake as a rope lain over it.

Amamhet and Ra-Horahkty[detail], Sun disk and Uraeus, Tomb of Nefertari

Shiva "the Auspicious One," called Paramashwara "the Supreme God," has mounded coiffed hair (from Old French coife "skull cap") and a conch looking tilaka (forehead mark)." Conch / Conk" is from Greek konkē "shell." A conch is a shell with a crack (bheid). 

    Shiva with Lots o' primordial god symbolism. 

And look at this guy, Dr. Manhattan, he has some similarities with Wadjet / Iaret "the green / blue one." He has a forehead mark that looks like the hieroglyphic sun glyph. Actually, the mark depicts a hydrogen atom (with the extra dot on the outer ring). However, the sun is made largely out of Hydogen. So the largest object in the solar system, has a similar symbol to the smallest element, of which it is made out of. Cool!

    Dr. Manhattan from The Watchmen, DC Comics, the Simplest Element(Hydrogen) Depicted as the third eye for the Most Complex Being, and the Most Intelligent/Subtle Being, Naked/smooth(arom)like a snake. 

The last shall be first, and the first shall be last.

The letter Resh in Hebrew has the meaning "head." Reshon is "first." Just like the one who has the most reason is the head, but is destined, due to that same reason to serve the rest. The head is the chief who must protect his people. The origin of "chief" is given as caput "head" in Latin, but perhaps it is also kepha "fist," that is the rock (foundation), the first mound or solid ground.

The Greeks related the Egyptian god, Ptah, to Hephaestus and the Romans, Vulcan. Hephaestus was the god of craftsmen, artisans, sculptors, metal, metallurgy, fire and volcanoes. Hephaestus wears a craftsman's cap resembling Ptah's skull cap or the primordial mound.

    Hephaestus Wearing Craftsman's Cap(Coiffe)

So Ptah (Petah), is the primordial mound, the first rock, who is also related to Khepra, the beetle, who kepha, ḫfˁ (grasps) Ra and bears him up every morning.

Peter is from Greek Πέτρος Petros "rock, stone," it is the Greek word used in translating, Κηφας Kēphas as in Jn. 1:42, Latinized as Cephas, from Aramaic kefa / kepha "stone,". Cephas, the rock, is said to be the first head of the Catholic Church. 

And I say to you, You are Petros [a detached stone or boulder] and upon this petra [a (large mass of) rock, a cliff, cave, stony ground] I will build my church. Matthew 16:18

Cephal- is a word forming element from latin meaning "head, skull, brain," from Modern Latin, from Greek κεφαλή kephalé "head; corner stone; ruler, lord". Cranium is from Greek kranion "skull, upper part of the head," from PIE root *ker- "horn, head, uppermost part of the body".

Keph from biblical Hebrew has the meaning "a rock". Kaph / Khaf / Kaf  כ is a letter in the Hebrew alphabet meaning "palm" of the hand (or sole of the foot). The kaph (palm of hand), like the letter, is  a curved "cap" shape when held up in blessing, and a blessing is a kind of covering or bestowing of protection. 

Kaphar in Hebrew means "atonment, cover over, pacify." Kaph is also the shape of a crown, keter/kether in Hebrew. Keter is at the head of the Sephirot, the Tree of Life, called the "regal crown" in Kabbalah.

Old English hæfer "he goat, buck" is from Latin caper / capri (genitive) capro (s. ablative) "goat," and capreolus is "wild goat, roebuck" from PIE *kap-ro- "he-goat, goat." Goats do have hard keters.

Capricorn is the goat sign of the zodiac meaning "horned like a goat." It is the sign placement of the sun at the head or the opening of the new year. 

    Capricorn on a zodiac Wheel "Yule"

Coffee it is one of the first things you want as you head out for the day. It is your defense, stronghold, shield, rock(kepha) as you begin your work. It jumpstarts your brain (cephal).

    Some sort of Cephal "brain" looking coffee sludge. Maybe a Walnut, or Nut as the Sycamore, photo by Julie O. /chthonickore

And what do you know? One morning I cut my coffee with cream and a Pooh shows up out of nowhere.

    Pooh in my Coffee, by Julie O. /chthonickore

Cut the crap! Pooh?

No shit, its the god's honest truth. No trick photography or manipulation. Purely God sent. Maybe Khepri sent? The god Khepra (represented by a dung beetle) sent me a pooh in my coffee? God has a sense of humor.

   Coffee Beans with Khaf Shape and Bheid Bottom, photo by Julie O. /chthonickore

But actually coffee beans do resemble scarabs or beetles. They have a hard keph (rock) and curved kaf (cupped hand) shape and have a split, crack, i.e., -bheid, down the middle resembling kafu ("fists," pl. of kafa). So it's not surprising that the name could be connected to the beetle, kheper, little scrapers of dung.

Care for a cup of coffee?

I do. I woke up at the crack (bheid) of dawn today. I'll take some of those little beetles.