Episode 240: Irascible Immortals: Thoth
The folklore of Thoth in a nutshell and how I reimagined it for my writing.
Transcript
You’re listening to the Faeries and Folklore podcast by Ronel.
I’m dark fantasy author Ronel Janse van Vuuren. With nearly a decade of digging around in dusty folklore books, researching creatures of imagination that ignited my curiosity, I’m here to share the folklore in a nutshell and how I reimagined it for my writing in an origin of the fae.
This is the Faeries and Folklore podcast.
Hi, I’m your host Ronel Janse van Vuuren. You can just call me Ronel. In today’s episode, we’re continuing our exploration of the fae realm.
This episode is brought to you by my Irascible Immortals series, available in ebook, paperback, hardback and audiobook. They’ve been alive forever. They’ve been bored for some time. And now they’re showing it. Go to ronelthemythmaker.com/my-books/the-irascible-immortals-series for more.
We’re continuing our exploration of the Immortals.
Today’s immortal: Thoth
Folklore in a nutshell by Ronel
Toth, also known by various other names including Djehuty, is one of the oldest Egyptian gods and venerated throughout ancient Egypt. He is usually depicted as a man with the head of an ibis, one of his sacred animals, holding a scribe’s palette and stylus, and at times wearing a crescent moon on his head. He sometimes carries an ankh which represents life or a sceptre which represents power. The baboon is one of his sacred animals.
The crescent moon is associated with Thoth as it looks like the beak of an ibis. The sun and moon is associated with Horus, though, as they are his eyes. When his left eye – the moon – was injured in a fight with Set, Thoth restored it.
Thoth is the god of wisdom, writing, hieroglyphs, knowledge, mathematics, medicine and magic. He is also credited with inventing music, though it is usually the domain of Hathor. Thoth is the scribe of the Underworld, recording the verdict of those who enter the Hall of Judgment. Some called him “He Who Balances” or “Master of the Balance”.
He maintains the library of the gods. He is also Ra’s counsellor and regularly accompanies him on his nightly voyage through the Duat. Legend has it that he wrote the “Book of the Dead”, the “Book of Breathings” and the “Book of Thoth” – the last being all the secrets of the universe in one place, and if someone were to read it, they would become the greatest sorcerer in the world.
Thoth is also the inventor of the 365-day calendar, replacing the inaccurate 360-day calendar, by gambling for more days with the moon Khonsu to help Nut to give birth to the children Ra forbade her to give birth to on the Egyptian calendar. With his dice game, Thoth got a bit of light from the moon to create five new days for Osiris, Set, Isis and Nephthys to be born.
Clearly Thoth’s knowledge puts him above the rest.
Origin of the fae: Thoth
Thoth is the god of magic, medicine, wisdom, writing and knowledge. His sacred bird is the ibis, though he loves all birds. He only likes the baboon, though, which is his sacred animal. He is the librarian of the gods and makes sure that the great library is kept in good order. He can appear in the form ancient Egyptians worshipped him as, though he prefers to appear in his human form while in his library. Unlike most other immortals, he has never gotten bored as there is always something new to learn and to invent.
I hope that you’ve enjoyed this episode of the faeries and folklore podcast and that you’ve learned something new about faeries.
Remember that you can get a transcript of this episode in the description. If you’re new to the podcast, why not go and grab your free copy of Unseen, the second book in the Faery Tales series, on my website ronelthemythmaker.com? Loads of folklore, magic and danger await! Take care!
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