Kneph “Symbol of Mysterious Spirit” Kneph symbol is a name given to a mysterious spirit or force in some ancient Egyptian texts and myths. Kneph is sometimes depicted as a snake with a lion’s head, or as a winged egg. Kneph is associated with the creative power of the sun god Ra, and also with the breath of life that animates living beings. Kneph may have been considered a form of the demiurge, the creator of the world in some philosophical systems. Kneph is also linked to the concept of ka, the vital essence of a person or thing.

Kneph is a motif in ancient Egyptian religious art, variously a winged egg, a globe surrounded by one or more serpents, or Amun in the form of a serpent called Kematef.  Some Theosophical sources tried to syncretize this motif with the deity Khnum, along with Serapis and Pluto. Under the Greek theonym Chnuphis, this figure adopts a serpent-bodied, lion-headed (“leontoeidic”) visage, being particularly common in magical artifacts in Late Antiquity.[4] It is by proxy frequently associated with the Gnostic Demiurge.