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Tomb painting of Anubis
and worshipper. |
| The dog emerged in many parts of the world as the principal animal of the Moon Goddess, and is strongly associated with the worship of Artemis and Diana as Goddesses of the Moon, hunting and Witches. The Dog, like the Serpent, belongs to the borderland rather than the Underworld itself and appears in both Celtic and Egyptian myth as the gaurdian to the Underworld of the dead. The dog is also regarded a psychopomp, capable of guiding the departed spirit from life to the Otherworld. Hecate, Greek Goddes and Queen of the Underworld was worshipped with dog sacrifices, the three-headed dog Cerberus being hers. An ancient Irish name for dog, madra, relates etymologically to the Latin mater, matron, matrix, and the Sumerian mama, all words which relate to the mother. In early Etruscan-Roman history, the Great Goddess herself is Lupa, the she-wolf who suckles Romulus and Remus.
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The Underworld Goddess Bau appears with a dog's head. In Sumer, she emerges as the daughter of An, who is embodied in the dog-star Sirius, strongly associated with the worship of Isis. The jackal-headed Anubis was also worshipped as a god of Embalment in Egypt. Anubis is descended from an earlier dog deity, Up-nat, from central Asia. Both were called Opener of the Way. Sirius' Greek name, Sothis, means "eye of the Dog" and it forms the centre of the constellation Canis Major - the Great Dog. Among Moslems in Morocco, dogs are considered unclean and are avoided. The greyhound is an exception, as it is believed to cleanse the home of evil spirits. In India the dog has been adopted by Indra, god of Thunder and Fire. In China the Celestial Dog is also a storm deity. Lughnasadh 1999 |
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