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Hi! It's absolutely fine to private message me and I never mind getting asked questions about jackal deities.

I've not seen the spelling Rha before and I took a quick look through one of my better godlists and didn't see any gods whose names are hieroglyphically spelled with an R followed by an H. Doesn't mean there isn't one however.

But of course 'Ra' (or Re) jumps out at me as sounding the same. And there certainly are connections between him and jackals. Although Ra is most commonly associated with hawks, there is evidence for a rarer jackal form. In the Coffin Texts, there's a passage which directly describes him as 'the Sole/Unique Jackal in the Sky' and amusingly enough in the LGG, under the entry for 'sAb'(jackal) it lists three deities as specifically having jackal as an epithet: Wepwawet, Anubis, and Ra! Plus there was a jackal deity called Wepiu in Heliopolis, Ra's most important cult center. (My suspicion is that any deity originating from Heliopolis was probably considered to be a manifestation of the sun god. This Wepiu may have gone on to become the Wepwawet of Lower Egypt.) Both Anubis and Wepwawet were initially considered sons of Ra before they got wrapped up in the Osirian mythology. Ra's solar barque is pulled by a team of jackals called the Spirits of the West. And of course there's the syncretism Wepwawet-Re who definitely deserves mention. Undoubtedly there are even more connections which are simply escaping me at the moment.

I hope that helps your friend. Maybe some particular piece will jump out at her as relevant. If you need anything else, just let me know! Or if your friend wants to just chat about it, she can email me directly - nothing formal or anything, I just love talking about jackal deities and if she is getting Ra as a jackal that's pretty awesome cause it means I'm not alone, heh!

Because the jackal in your meditation specifically spelled out his name for you, I looked to see what there is in the way of vocabulary spelled r-h-a. There's not much actually, however there is a particle 'r' and a couple of words under 'ha/h3'. If you have any interest in diving into dictionaries it might be an interesting thing to explore! For instance there is a verb 'h3' which means to embark or to board a boat. And 'r' can be placed in front of a verb to indicate futurality or purpose: In order to embark, in order to board (a boat.) Given the many connections between jackals and the sacred barque, sailing, navigation, etc, I think that's really intriguing! It may also be that you're dealing with a netjeri spirit rather than a god, but I'm certainly not in a position to say one way or another. You'll have to ask him! smile

It's kinda weird being home alone at my boyfriend's place. Well, ok I'm not really alone, his dog is here with me. Still, it feels odd.