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January 30, 1978. DEATH, DOGS AND ANUBIS. Eugene Halpert, M.D.
Anubis, the dog- or jackal-headed god, was intimately involved in the mortuary practices of the ancient Egyptians. Examining the widespread association of dogs with the idea of death, Dr. Halpert elucidated certain aspects of the intrapsychic meanings of death, dogs, and Anubis. In the manifest content of the dreams of two patients, images of dogs and dog-headed people were prominent. Associations linked the image of the dog to thoughts of death, separation from the mother, and cannibalistic rage. The rage was projected and displaced onto the mother who was represented by the dog. By reviewing a number of religious beliefs, superstitions, myths, and burial rituals, Dr. Halpert showed that the association between dogs and death spans both time and geography, being found in such various cultures and religions as the ancient Greek, Hindu, northern European, Zoroastrian, and pre-Columbian Indian. Anubis was the god of embalming as well as a key figure in postmortem judgment for the Egyptians. After noting the high degree of correlation between the ancient Egyptians' hymns and prayers to their god Anubis and the associations of his patients to their dream images of dogs, Dr. Halpert concluded that wherever the association between death and dogs arises—in myth, religious ritual, or fantasy—dogs represent the preoedipal mother, expressed in repressed, projected, and displaced form. Dogs therefore represent the rage and anxiety engendered by the threatened loss of the maternal object, including the wish to eat and be eaten by the mother. When the image of a dog appears in connection with death, it is representative of very early superego precursors.