"I am Sekhmet Wadjyt, I sit beside the great starboard in the sky, I am Sahyt amids the powers of Iunu." Egyptian Book of the Dead, chapter 23.
Sekhmet - 'She who is Powerful'.
Relief of Sekhmet and Pharaoh Seti I at Abydos, she holds the Ankh entwined in her menat necklace to his mouth. Symbolic of the Opening of the Mouth ceremony.
The Menat necklace is a symbol of protection and was often buried with the dead. It was also used by priestesses in sacred ceremony and is also associated with goddess Hathor, one of whose aspects is Nourisher of the Dead.
In the quote at the beginning of this post is the name Sekhmet Wadjyt, this relates to Wadjet, Serpent goddess and protectress of pharaoh, a role that Sekhmet also holds, hence combining their names Wadjet's symbol is the Uraeus which sits upon the brow of the gods. Interestingly the Wadjet (wedjat) eye is symbolic of healing power and rebirth as we see when Thoth restores the site of Horus, plucked out by Set. Sekhmet is also the Eye of Ra, all is connected!
Those of you who know of Sekhmet will be familiar with the mythos around Ra sending her to Earth to control the population, her thirst for blood and destruction took over and she went on a rampage until she was tricked into drinking beer and became intoxicated and transformed into the more peaceful aspect of Hathor. For this reason is known as the Scarlet Lady, other epithets that relate to this role:
Mother of the Dead, Lady of the Blood-bath, Destroyer by Fire, Devouring One, Terrible One. (these epithets are more are from Dr. Robert Masters book, The Goddess Sekhmet) yet despite all of her terrofying traits she was never demonised or considered to be evil, and her destruction balanced by her healing powers and being patron of healers and medics. She is the purification of the crumbling Tower and the Phoenix (Bennu Bird in Egypt) all aligned to transitions and transformational rites of passage.
As a Plague Goddess she was also an instrument of dis-ease/death to clear the way for phaorahs armies, which was a metaphor for the kings prowness in battle and his ability to strike fear in his enemies. So is the might of her power and those she protects.
Kom Ombo Temple Relief of lion devouring the hands of the enemies of Egypt, another demonstration of the protective power of the lion/lioness in Kemetic beliefs. She is associated with Lower Egypt as well as being defender of Ra against the serpent Apophis on his nightly solar barge journeys through darkness to rebirth the Sun each day. There are many lion/ess deities in ancient Egypt, not just Sekhmet, it is unclear if this is her.
In the ancient pyramid texts, Sekhmet is considered to be the mother of the kings who are reborn in the Duat (the afterlife), we have all heard of the ferocity of the lioness to protect her cubs, this is a reoccuring theme in Egyptian mythos.
Sekhmet is also one of the protectors of Osiris (god of Resurrection) and he is seen at Abydos offering her flowers.
"I place myself before there as they uraeus, my protection being they guardian, my breath is the flame agains thy enemies" (Temple of Ritual at Abydos, David, 2016.80 cited Cobra Goddesses and the Chaos Serpent by Lesley Jackson).
She is also noted in the Book of the Dead for protecting Osiris from a storm:
“Oh Hapi, great one [flood prince] of the sky, in your name of ‘the sky is safe’, may you grant that I have power over water like Sekhmet who saved Osiris on that night of the storm."
(Chapter for Breathing Air and Having Power of Water in God’s Domain”, Egyptian Book of the Dead, Theban recension (translator: Raymond Faulkner)
Prayer (part of) to Sekhmet translated by E.A. St George from her booklet Under Regulus:
I am yesterday and I am the seer of millions of years.
I am the power of the divine judge.
I dwell in the east.
I am the lady of eternity, the unveiled one.
My name is created to defy all evil.
I am the flame that shineth in the sanctuary.
I am Sekhmet
Goddess Sekhmet has many aspects but the theme of transitions and transformations runs through all her depictions and so she is a wonderful ally for all the changes that life brings us, all the little deaths and may also be a powerful guide and protector as we undergo our final journey from this world.
Dua Sekhmet - Mighty One.
Blessings,
JR
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