The Ankh
The sign of divine life
The Ankh (𓋹, also written ☥) is the principal symbol of the Apotheotic Order. In Egypt it was the sign of divine life, held by the gods and offered by them to kings; within the Order it stands for the gift of a mind able to create.
The Ankh is an Egyptian hieroglyph used to write the word ꜥnḫ, meaning “life,” “alive” or “to live.” It also appeared apart from writing: in temple reliefs, on amulets and mirrors, in funerary equipment and on ceremonial objects. Its physical origin has long been debated, and a sandal strap is one of the more persuasive suggestions. Its association with life is not in doubt.
Egyptian gods were constantly shown holding the Ankh, often together with the was-sceptre of power and the djed-pillar of stability; see The Three Signs. In scenes of divine favour the sign could be held to the king’s nose, making visible the gift of the breath of life. In reliefs of the Amarna period the rays of the sun-disc Aten end in small hands, some of which present the Ankh to the royal family.
The sign outlived the religion that produced it. In Christian Egypt it was taken up as a form of the cross; see the Ankh in Christian Egypt.
Within the Apotheotic Order, the divine life the Ankh bestows is understood as the gift of the creative, conscious mind: life able to conceive what has never been, to give it form, and to give meaning to the world. As the gods of Egypt were shown offering that life to their kings, so the living mind, in its turn, gives life to the gods, characters and worlds it imagines. The Order’s teaching on this reciprocity is recorded as the First and Second Breath.
In modern times the Ankh has often been called the key of life, a name suggested by its shape more than by any Egyptian usage. The Order has taken the name to heart and reads it twice over, as it reads the breath. The Ankh is the key by which life, consciousness and the power to create were opened to us; and it is the key the living mind then turns in its own works, opening life to the gods, characters and worlds it makes.
The Ankh is also the Order’s accepted public sign of affinity; see Wearing the Ankh.