Legend: Beetles/ Scarabs

Please see the Introduction To Rabbit Hole Legend A-Z post for information about sources and purpose.

Beetle (Scarab): This reference is fairly logical to the Beatles, sharing a homonym'd name. Also there is strong association with the scarab beetle, specifically with Beatle Paul taking on a new band, Wings...a Beatle with Wings= Scarab. 

On the back cover of Paul McCartney's
 Ram album

 "The dung or scarab beetle symbolized new life and resurrection. It was called the dung beetle because of its practice of rolling a ball of dung in which it has laid its eggs. This was thought to symbolize the journey of the sun making its way through the sky. The beetles emerging from the mud were associated with life emerging from the primeval mound, and symbolized spontaneous creation." (CESS)

"The Egyptians made a distinction between the “old” scarab, who sinks into the ground, and the “young” scarab, who rises up to the sky with, or rather as, the sun. Osiris, king/god of the dead, was identified to the “old” scarab. His son Horus, the falcon god, was identified primarily with the midday sun, whereas Khepri remained associated with the morning sun. However, according to a Pyramid Text inscribed on the inside walls of the royal pyramids in the 5th and 6th dynasties (ca. 2465-2150 B.C.), the two animals were sometimes combined to produce the surprising hybrid of a scarab body, with falcon wings, legs, and tail:

I fly up as a bird and alight as a beetle on the empty throne which is on your bark, O Re!

From this time on, the scarab became the most powerful symbol of the victory life wins over death. The “Funeral Books” of the New Kingdom consecrates this role. An excerpt of the most important of them, the “Book of What is in the Underworld”, or Amduat, is painted on the wall of Tutankhamun’s tomb, behind the pharaoh’s head (above right). It shows the ark of the sun sailing on nocturnal waters. The sun is represented as a beetle, a promise of his next morning rebirth, as well as of the young pharaoh’s resurrection.[...]

[Also-] Ptah was a god of Memphis, the old capital where the pharaohs were crowned. He was originally a god of the earth: ta was the Egyptian word for “earth.” Ptah was also a divine craftsman. These two characters enabled him to be attributed with the modeling of man and woman from clay, as the scarab was a modeler of dung. The scarab hieroglyph, in addition to kheper and neter, could also be read ta “earth” or “Ptah.” In the Egyptian late period, Ptah was often represented as the older Khepri, wearing on his head the scarab who wrote his name. Hence, the scarab was another representation of Ptah, as was Ptah confused with Osiris- god of the dead during that epoch.


In the same late period, the capital was again settled at Memphis and Ptah regained his ancient preeminence over Amun from Thebes.The goddess of Sais (a city close to Memphis), named Neith, was a very old, half-forgotten deity, who also regained importance and was associated with Ptah. In earliest Egyptian period, her symbolic animal was a beetle, probably the Elaterid, Lanelater notodonta. Afterward, this particular beetle was forgotten and confused with the scarab, who was considered male. Therefore, the beetle was no longer an appropriate symbol for a goddess, and was replaced by the vulture, since, for obscure reasons, vultures were all reputed to be female.

[Also]- In Germany, where scarab worship, in the form of the stag beetle, has persisted longest, the equation scarab = Christ was widely accepted. The quintessential German artist, Albrecht Dürer, associated the stag beetle with Christ in various paintings, and produced a famous watercolor of the insect. "<Follow this link to the source and continue reading this really informative article>

"Initiates of the Egyptian Mysteries were sometimes called scarabs. The scarab was the emissary of the sun, symbolizing light, truth, and regeneration." <Another excellent source link to follow>

"Many people ask what are Beatles? Why Beatles? Ugh, Beatles, how did the name arrive? So we will tell you. It came in a vision--a man appeared in a flaming pie and said unto them "From this day on you are Beatles with an A." "Thank you, Mister Man," they said, thanking him."

-John Lennon

Introduction to the Rabbit Hole Legend A-Z

When getting to know the Beatles, you will encounter many strange seeming things, some of which might seem absurd in context, others will just be ubiquitous or suggest a deeper meaning not immediately apparent on the surface. Part of getting to understand the Beatles Mysteries begins with learning to read between the lines, backwards, inverse or upside-down. Here I will begin to examine some of the Beatles symbols, iconography and lyrics in order to flesh out deeper meanings behind what appears on the surface to be a disordered raft of psychedelia and Lewis Carroll-ian imagery.

I will be getting many of my interpretations from the books, The Illustrated Signs & Symbols Sourcebook: An a to Z Compendium of over 1000 Designs by Adele Nozedar (2008), (Hereafter ISS). or Mark O'Connell and Raje Airey'sThe Complete Encyclopedia of Signs & Symbols. 2007, (Hereafter CESS). Other internet sourced information will be linked to, or cited,  for your own verification. Also- 1,001 Symbols: An Illustrated Guide to Imagry and its Meaning, by Jack Tresidder, Chronicle Books. 2003.(Hereafter 1,001S)

I'd like to briefly introduce the author of my main research source: "Adele Nozedar has long been fascinated by the power of symbols and visual signs, which led her to the formal study of alchemy. As well as being a researcher, Adele has exhibited photographic work and runs a studio in Wales." I was particularly interested in drawing references from her book because of her British cultural heritage and focus, which I find most important for trying to understand the worldview and cultural perspectives of the Beatles members.

I'm not suggesting, necessarily that the Beatles meant to infer the symbolic meanings of all these things (One can mention an apple without meaning anything about sexuality), but I do believe that at least John was very aware of imagery in art and the language of symbols through his education in the art academy, and his interests in authors like James Joyce and Lewis Carroll.  

"In Nature's Temple, living pillars rise
Speaking sometimes in the words of abstruse sense
Man walks through woods of symbols, dark and dense,
Which Gaze at him with fond familiar eyes. 

Like distant echoes blent in the beyond
In unity, in a deep darksome way,
Vast as black night and vast as splendid day,
Perfumes and sounds and colors correspond"
 - Charles Baudelaire
 (Wikipedia: "April 9, 1821 – August 31, 1867 Baudelaire was a French poet who produced notable work as an essayist, art critic, and pioneering translator of Edgar Allan Poe. His most famous work, Les Fleurs du mal (The Flowers of Evil), expresses the changing nature of beauty in modern, industrializing Paris during the 19th century."   Side Note: Looking into Charles Baudelaire leads to some fascinating insights, and "The Flowers of Evil" is a very worthwhile poetry collection to look into. Flowers play a prominent role in Beatles imagery, and his Poem "Le Soleil/The Sun" is an interesting poem to have in mind while looking into the Sun references made by the Beatles, both as a group and in several individuals' songs (Ou est le Soleil?)

"Whether consciously or unconsciously, the symbol carries the sense of joining things together to create a whole greater than the sum of its parts, as shades of meaning accrue to produce a complex idea."- Mark O'Connell and Raje Airey, The Complete Encyclopedia of Signs & Symbols. 2007.

We'll begin here, but look forward to more to come in the future! I originally intended to post this all as one post (the introduction and the entries), but after completing it, I found it was far too long for anyone's patience...so little bites, in alphabetical order, to follow!

Minding my own business, I happen across a Rabbit. Curiosity ensues.

Once upon a time, whilst mindlessly tumbling through Stumbleupon.com I chanced upon a post detailing 10 basic clues in the legendary "Paul is Dead" Myth/Mystery from the "Sgt. Pepper" album.

 "What an intriguing myth to still be perpetuated so many years after the fact" I thought. Surely by now it had all been resolved, case closed, everything fully explained and accounted for....and Down the Rabbit Hole I fell.

I was curious about this odd bit of "urban legend". Alas, I knew nearly nothing about the Beatles. As a child I was raised strictly religious and was once made to read a book, "Pop Music and Morality" as punishment for listening to Jesus Jones. This book, ironically, was where I first learned about the back-masking in Beatles albums...but I didn't believe it. I didn't really care for much of what I'd heard of Beatles' music, anyways- much of it was creepy and strange, such as I Am The Walrus and Come Together...it didn't make any sense, I couldn't relate to it. I did vaguely think they had a strange obsession with Paul because of the weird line I thought went, "Nobody was really sure if he was from the house of Paul" and they seemed to always be pointing at him. 

I did grow up in the MTV age, though, and was vaguely familiar with Paul McCartney from the video, "Say, Say, Say" with Michael Jackson and such. I remembered seeing a picture of Paul performing Hey Jude and, when cataloging my childishly observant mind, I reflected on the fact that Paul was strange- he never seemed to look the same! The only other time I recall ever paying any mind to the Beatles or Paul was a dream I had within a couple of days of hearing him be interviewed on the radio briefly before they played Biker Like an Icon. In the dream I was in a hot-air balloon flying over a picturesque farm with a red barn, a stage to the side, and a band playing on it for a small gathering. My balloon swooped in close to the guitar player and I saw up close Paul's detailed face and I remember thinking, "Paul McCartney looks nothing like himself!

My curious, intuitive, childhood observations were aware that something was amiss with the Beatles; and now the rabbit had appeared before me. I thought the best way to decide what was going on with this story was to first look into it directly: What was the evidence supporting this idea? Has there been a credible refutation, like a DNA test? Dentist Testimony, anything other than the basic, "Pshaw, no, of course not"; which left something to be desired all of the sudden. I knew that, like young Alice's intuition, curiosity and acute observational skill which led her through the tricky world of chaos and rationality to the truth, my childhood mind and intuition knew that something was going on that was not true.

The first place to begin was to learn everything I could about the Beatles, their history (before during and after), their music, the art around them, the history and culture of that time period and place. One of the first things I discovered was that there are as many versions of any given Beatle truth as there are versions of Strawberry Fields Forever. We'll discuss this further when we look at "Shoes". One can never be too sure that any specific fact is true, and all facts need to be investigated for consistency. That being said, I have journeyed far in the past 2 years of my investigation. I think the internet has changed everything, and that there is enough substantial evidence that, at the very least, SOMETHING is amiss! What it is, ah, that's where we fall down the Rabbit holes; but, whatever it is:

I'd love to thank whatever force injected the "Paul is Dead" myth into my life, because through it I came to know the Beatles, and their individual lives and music (I am aghast at having lived life without George Harrison's music!), at the opportunity to explore such an amazing story, that even as it officially stands is so amazing and complexly divine in it's eloquence in a literary sense- so mind-blowing bizarre and beautiful....and horrifying if you fall down certain holes. Beware and keep your shields raised and your energy cleansed...something wicked, weird or absurd or divine this way comes! Ha ha!!