M. Isidora Forrest's Blog, page 40

The Light of Isis

I am away for a work trip this week, so I offer you a repost of an article about something we may be all starting to feel now as the light returns and the darkness recedes… 

As the days grow longer, a certain soft joy fills me.

By no means has winter here in my part of the Pacific Northwest been harsh. Yet I find that the increasing light releases me, urging me to draw in deep breaths that I didn’t even know I longed for.

That is what Light can do.

Many of us have spent so much of our spiritual capital in “accepting our inner darknesses,” that we can forget to take the time to accept our inner illumination as well. If truth be told (and it shall be), it can often be easier to accept the Beautiful Dark than to bathe in the Brilliance of the Light. The Light gives us nowhere to hide. We are ultimately vulnerable before It, obliterated by Its beneficence. Now that’s scary.

Happily, our Goddess—while She is quite at home in the dark—is also a Lady of Light. And though She is quite capable of obliterating us with beneficence, She can also offer us Her Light as the spring sun offers its warm and persuasive light to the seeds and roots that are just now awakening in the muddy earth.

Isis is associated with all the heavenly lights—as you likely know. Our Goddess is indeed a Sun Goddess. She is also seen in the light of Her holy star, Sirius, and even in the light of the moon, at least in later periods.

An oil lamp from Egypt, Roman period. It shows Isis and Harpocrates.

A festival calendar from the temple of Edfu records a summer procession of Isis the Brilliant. During that festival, the image of the radiant Goddess was carried among the people in Her sacred boat, coming to rest in Her boat-sanctuary. There, the calendar text tells us “every kind of good thing is offered to her.” Some modern Kemetic Orthodox groups celebrate this as the Aset Luminous Festival. Participants illuminate paper boats with candles and set them adrift to carry worshippers’ prayers to Isis. In accordance with the ancient traditions, offerings are also given to Isis at this time.

Isis’ temples in Italy may have been particularly well lit. Fifty-eight lamps were found in the temple at Pompeii. In that not-overly-large temple space, that many lamps would have provided a great deal of light. A personal Isis shrine in Pompeii had 20 lamps. Lamps were common votive gifts to Isis as well. In his ancient novel, The Golden Ass, Apuleius describes the lanterns, torches, candles, and “other kinds of artificial light” that were carried in a procession for Isis.

Isis as High Priestess and Goddess of Light from the Thoth Tarot Deck, art by Frieda Harris.

Surely not all of this illumination was purely practical. Indeed, Apuleius notes that the processional lights were symbols of the heavenly light of the stars in the Goddess’ heaven. He also uses many allusions to light and radiance in telling his readers about Isis. For example, the blessings brought by Isis are described as “radiant” (inlustre). The initiating priest in Apuleius’ story says that, unlike blind Fortune, Isis sees and “illumines the other gods too with the radiance of her light.”

It is also possible that Roman-period priests of Isis may have carried lighted lamps about in daylight as a symbol of the spiritual light bestowed by their Goddess. Seneca mentions a “linen-clad old man” (Isian clergy were notorious wearers of linen) who carried around a lighted lamp in broad daylight. J. Gwyn Griffiths, one of my favorite Isis scholars, thinks this may refer to a priest of Isis.

Just as light can literally dispel darkness, it is frequently a symbol of dispelling spiritual darkness. The Light of Isis illuminates the dark corners of our souls and shines light on our paths as we seek to understand the Divine Mystery. With our ancient sisters and brothers—initiates of the Mysteries of Isis—we can understand that the Light of Isis can help us grow in the brilliant Light of Her love, wisdom, and protection.

P.S. In googling for images for this post, I found Isis Lighting, Inc., a lamp store, and, of course, there’s a popular young adult sci-fi series, The Keeper of the Isis Light. What I love about stuff like that is that it demonstrates the consistent associations—ancient and modern, sacred and secular—that still cling to our Goddess.

Filed under: Goddess Isis Tagged: Aspects of Isis, Darkness and Light, Deities, Goddess, Invocation of Isis, Isis, Isis Magic, Lady of Light, Priestess and Priest of Isis, symbolism of light

Isis in Petra

The “Treasury” (originally a mausoleum crypt)

Who has not been astounded by the beautiful ghost city at Petra? Intricately carved from living, rose-hued rock, many of Petra’s ancient buildings have survived while their free-standing contemporaries have not.

Petra is in modern Jordan. It may have been established as early as the 3rd or 2nd century BCE and was the capital city of people known as Nabataeans. Petra—the name comes from the Greek word for “rock;” we do not know what the Nabataeans called it—was built into a rocky slope of a mountain and near a wadi, a valley that is dry except during the rainy season.

The “Siq” is the passageway by which modern visitors usually enter Petra

Nabataean architects and engineers are famous not only for the incredible buildings of Petra, but also for their brilliant control of the water supply. They were able to contain and store the waters of the flash floods to which the wadi was subject and to manage the flow of a small stream that was Petra’s sole ongoing water source. The work they did turned this desert city into an artificial oasis and enabled its caravan trade to flourish. Petra is one of the world’s most precious cultural sites, and like most of them, is threatened by both environmental conditions and tourism.

The Isis image from Wadi as-Siyyagh; without the inscription, “This Goddess is Isis,” we wouldn’t recognize Her

As you no doubt expect to hear by now, Isis was to be found in ancient Petra, just as She was throughout much of the Mediterranean world. She may have been brought there with Alexandrian craftsmen when they came to work at Petra, or by Nabataeans themselves who encountered Isis either in the Levant or in Egypt. We know of Nabataean settlements in the eastern Delta of Egypt.

The earliest date to which researchers are willing to commit for Isis’ arrival in Petra is 25 BCE. A sanctuary at Wadi as-Siyyagh on the outskirts of Petra includes an inscription that labels one of the rock-carved images there: “This Goddess is Isis.” The way the inscription is phrased and the ambivalent iconography of the image makes researchers think that Isis was being newly introduced to Petra at the time.

One of the winged lions from the Temple of the Winged Lions, photo by Richard Nowitz

On the other hand, the , to which we have referred many times, notes Isis as being called Savior “on the rock,” which may mean Petra. The aretalogy itself dates to the 2nd century CE, but its contents may go back to the 3rd or 2nd century BCE. Generally, scholars don’t accept this as solid enough evidence for Isis in Petra that early, nonetheless, it’s interesting.

Also interesting is that one of Isis’ most common aspects at Petra seems to have been Her mourning aspect. (Which, by the way, actually would accord quite well with Her Savior aspect; as the Mourner, She weeps for Osiris, but as the Savior, She weeps for us all.)

The Sorrowing Isis image found in the Temple of the Winged Lions

We know that She was honored in Petra in this aspect because of several Sorrowing Isis terracotta figurines found in what is known as The Temple of the Winged Lions, or “North Temple” if you want to be boring about it, as well as similar images found in other excavations throughout the area.

The most spectacular piece that was uncovered in the Temple of the Winged Lions is a rectangular stone with a female face on it inscribed ”Goddess of Hayyan son of Nypt.” Some have suggested that the headdress wreath once contained an Isis crown and thus have tried to say that the temple belonged to a syncretic Isis + Local Goddess, but I’m going to have to vote with the scholars who deny it on this one.

The wonderful sacred image of Al-Uzza or Allat from the Temple of the Winged Lions

The image is quite unlike any known for Isis and quite like many known for local Arab Goddesses. The wonderful image is most likely Al-Uzza, the matron Goddess of Petra, or perhaps just Allat, which means simply “Goddess” just as Allah means “God.”

Excavating a rubbish heap that covered older Petran homes, British archeologists found terracottas of Isis with Harpokrates, dating at earliest, to the 1st century CE. There is also an alabaster fragment of an Isis statue from ez-Zantur, another area in Petra, probably from about this same time. They have even uncovered a pottery workshop outside of Petra where they were making Isis images in addition to votive images for other Deities.

The Isis-knotted image from Wadi Abu Olleqa

There is another Isis sanctuary at Wadi Abu Olleqa, again outside of Petra but on one of the main routes. There we can easily see the Isis knot on the now-headless image’s breast.

Important evidence of the influence of Isis in Petra comes from the fact that the Isis crown, known as the Basileion, was used on Nabataean coins from around 7 BCE. We also have records of several theophoric personal names from Petra: Abdisi and Thimisi; the “isi” in these names is “Isis.” (I’m afraid I don’t know what the other Arabic parts of the names mean. Can anybody help me out?)

The Basileion of Isis on a coin with Cleopatra on the obverse

Some have tried to connect the central figure on the famous Treasury, originally built as a mausoleum and crypt, to Isis. She seems to be a standard Tyche, the Luck of the City, with cornucopia in hand. Yet beneath Her feet is what does indeed look like it might be the horned headdress of the Cow Goddess (long associated with Isis by this time) with stalks of wheat flanking the horns and perhaps (I can’t make it out) the Amun feathers between the horns.

Isis-Tyche on the Petra Treasury (click the image to see it larger)

So I’m willing to buy this figure as an Isityche, especially since the Basileion headdress of the Goddess has been found on Nabataean coins.

Since it was originally a mausoleum, perhaps Isis-Tyche was intended to bring luck and abundance in the afterlife.

 

A close up of the “Isis crown” below the figure of Tyche

The Sorrowing Isis images of Petra are nothing like the more ancient Egyptian images of Mourning Isis. Instead, they show a seated Isis, usually with the characteristic Isis knot in Her costume, in a posture of dejection. The image came into Petra, then was reproduced locally when it became popular.

Now, here’s the weird thing. According to Veit Vaelske, an archeologist at Berlin’s Humbolt University who has studied the Isis evidence at Petra, there seems to be no particular person or being for Whom Petra’s Sorrowing Isis sorrows. (Apparently no Osiris images have been found in relation to the Isis images.)

Vaelske seems rather amazed by that fact (exclamation points were used!) and thinks that this solitary Isis may be a particularly Nabataean form of the Goddess.

An Isis-Tyche from Petra

I’m not sure that’s entirely justified. By this time, Isis’ worship was so thoroughly disseminated that any Isiac, and even non-devotees, would know exactly why She sorrowed. The Goddess’ image needn’t have been paired with a dead Osiris to communicate the extremely well known myth.

Or perhaps, as I mentioned before, this lone and mourning Isis could be intended to represent the Savior Goddess Who sorrows for all of us as we each pass through the tribulations of our own lives.

Filed under: Goddess Isis Tagged: Goddess, Goddess Isis, Goddess worship, Isis, Isis & Horus, Isis and Al-Uzza, Isis in Petra, Isis Magic, Isis-Tyche, Pagan Spirituality, Petra

Isis, Lady of the Star

One of my favorite tarot images: Isis as The Star in the Ancient Egyptian Tarot by Clive Barrett

Some people see Isis in the pale, magical light of the moon.

Some see Her in the golden, lifegiving rays of the sun.

I do find Her there. Oh yes.

But for me, the heavenly body in which I most easily see Her is the star, Her star: Sirius (Sopdet in Egyptian, Sothis in Greek). I can’t help it. And it isn’t just because of Her strong ancient connections with the Fair Star of the Waters, the Herald of the Inundation. It’s something about the way my particular spiritual “stuff” fits with Her particular Divine “stuff.” Her diamond starlight draws me, lures me, illuminates my heart and mind.

I fell in love with Her as Lady of the Star the first time I saw Sirius through a telescope. As I watched, Her brilliant star sparkled with rays of green and blue and pink and white. It was incredibly, unutterably beautiful. It was alive. And pure.

The Star of Isis is at its highest point in the night sky right now

I’m writing this on New Year’s Eve, a special time for those of us who find Isis in the light of Her star. Why so special? Because here in the Northern Hemisphere the Star of Isis reaches its highest point in the night sky at midnight on New Year’s Eve. This means that the Star of Isis can be our New Year’s Star just as the heliacal rising of Sirius was the Star of the New Year for the ancient Egyptians. I find that fact to be a small and precious miracle, a gift of the Goddess that we can upwrap every New Year’s Eve. (For some Sirius science, look here.)

Likely, you already know why Sirius was important to the ancient Egyptians, so I won’t repeat that here. But I would like to add a few interesting bits about Sirius that I haven’t written about before; in particular, the orientation of some Egyptian temples and shrines to Sirius at the time of their construction. For instance, the small Isis temple at Denderah and Isis’ great temple at Philae seem to have been oriented toward the rising of Sirius. Philae may even have a double stellar orientation: one axis to the rising of Sirius, one to the setting of Canopus.

Iset-Sopdet following Sah-Osiris in Their celestial boats

Overall, Egyptian temples have a variety of orientations. A recent-ish survey (2004-2008)—that actually went to all the temples in Egypt and measured the orientation; genius, no?—shows that most temples were oriented so that the main doorway faced the Nile. But not only that. It seems that the temples were also oriented toward other astronomical events, most especially the winter solstice sunrise, which makes very good sense as a symbol of rebirth.

Orientation to Sirius is rarer and harder to be certain of since the earth’s position in relation to the stars has shifted over the millennia.

A Horus temple, called the “Nest of Horus” on the summit of the highest peak of the Hills of Thebes, seems to have been oriented to the heliacal rising of Sirius around 3000-2000 BCE. Nearby, an inscription carved in rock during the 17th dynasty records the observation of just such a rising of Sirius. This high place would have been ideal for Horus in His nest to await the coming of His mother Isis. On the other hand, the archaeoastronomers who did the survey I mentioned believe that it may also be oriented to the winter solstice sunrise, an event closely associated with Horus.

The archaic temple of Satet on Elephantine…using the natural boulders of the area

Another temple that may have a Sirius orientation is the archaic temple of the Goddess Satet on the island of Elephantine. The original temple was built amidst the great boulders on the island and really is quite simply the coolest temple ever. It seems that when it was built (around 3200 BCE) the rising of Sirius and the rising of the winter solstice sun were at the same place—so it could have been built to accommodate both important astronomical events.

After the initial study, the same team followed up with a survey (in 2008) of some temples in the Fayum that they hadn’t been able to study before as well as temples in Kush. They found generally the same results except for the Nile orientation as many of these temples were built far away from the river. They made note of a son of a Priest of Isis, Wayekiye, son of Hornakhtyotef, who was “hont-priest of Sothis (Sopdet) and wab-priest of the five living stars” (the planets) and “chief magician of the King of Kush;” this according to an inscription on Isis’ temple at Philae dating to about 227 CE. This emphasizes the importance and sacrality of the study of celestial objects and events to the kingdom and it is quite interesting that this was the work of the Chief Magician. This 2008 study revealed that the largest number of Kushite temples and pyramids were oriented to either the winter solstice sunrise or the rise of Sirius.

The star Sopdet over the head of the Goddess

Another interesting thing the study found was that by the time of the New Kingdom, in the 34 temples that were unmistakably dedicated to a Goddess—specifically Isis or a Goddess identified with Her—the most important celestial orientation point was the rising of Sirius. But, in addition to Sirius, the star Canopus was also a key orientation point. According to their data, Goddess temples in general were more frequently aligned with these very bright stars, Sirius and Canopus, while God temples were more often oriented to key solar-cycle events.

The New Year has always been a time of reorientation and renewal, of oracles, portents, and purifications. As Sopdet, the Ba or Soul of Isis, shines down on us from its highest vantage point, now is a perfect time to undertake our own personal rites of renewal and reorientation. It is a time of clarity as we bathe in Her pure starlight, a time when we may ask for Her guidance. Whatever your favorite divination method, why not do a reading for the New Year now? Or, if you like a more ritualized oracle, try “The Rite of Loosing the Eyes” in Isis Magic. It is a winter rite in which you purify yourself and your temple, then ask Isis and Nephthys as the Eye Goddesses Who Go Forth to bring you news of what the New Year has in store.

From that magical moment of midnight on New Year’s Eve and for about the next week, Sirius will ride at its highest in the night sky, shining Her Light upon us. I hope you will join me in celebrating Her beautiful presence. Amma, Iset.

 

Filed under: Goddess Isis Tagged: Ancient Egypt, Aspects of Isis, Egyptian magic, Egyptian Temples, Goddess, Goddess Isis, Invocation of Isis, Isis, Isis & Nephthys, Isis & Sirius, Isis Magic, Isis Sothis, Isis worship today, Isis-Sopdet, Osiris, Sirius New Year, The New Year Star

May Isis Guide Us in the New Year

An Egyptian rudder with seeing eyes and lotus decoration

As the New Year fast approaches, I have a wish for you: May Isis guide you in 2015. May She steer you toward that which you most desire. May She help you grow in strength and beauty of soul.

As a symbol of Her guidance throughout the year, I give you the symbol of the Egyptian steering-oar or rudder. Just as Egyptian pilots steered their earthly boats with these rudders, so they became a symbol of guidance and direction in the afterlife. And so may we take them as a symbol of guidance in our spiritual lives as well as our everyday lives.

In the Book of Coming Forth by Day, for example, the deceased prays that Horus, the son of Isis, will be in charge of the rudder of his funerary boat and that Thoth and Ma’et will be beside Him. In other words, he prays to be guided by the strength of Horus and the wisdom of Thoth and Ma’et.

When depicted in the funerary books, these Divine steering-oars are often decorated with the Eyes of Horus, representing the power of the Sun and Moon, and the blue lotuses of rebirth. In a group of four, the oars represent the four cardinal directions.

The seven Cows of Heaven and Their Bull, with rudders

But the rudder is also connected with the concept of abundance. In the Book of Coming Forth by Day, the deceased prays to the rudders of the directions asking them to grant bread, beer, offerings, provisions, long life, prosperity, health, and joy. Furthermore, directly following this prayer to the rudders is the formula of the Divine Cows and Their Bull. It, too, has to do with provisions in the afterlife, as well as rebirth from the Divine Cow. The proximity of the formulae of the Divine rudders and the Divine bovines, as well as their similar subject matter, indicates a relationship between them. Not only do both have to do with abundance and life, but also, like the four rudders, the four legs of the Divine Cow we sometimes associated with the four directions.

Isis guides the boat of the deceased in the Otherworld

Both cow and rudder are, in turn, related to Isis. She is the Divine Cow Who gives abundance and rebirth and She is also a Goddess Who guides. In Egyptian texts, Isis is one of the Deities Who guides the Sun God’s boat. In later Graeco-Roman sources, Isis is specifically connected with the symbol of the guiding rudder. As Isis Pelagia, Isis of the Sea, the Goddess was known to steer the ship of life with Her sacred rudder. Mariners of all kinds invoked Her guidance and protection as they crossed the Mediterranean, braving its many dangers.

In the Mediterranean world, the symbolism of the rudder continued to embrace the ideas of abundance and prosperity. In Hellenic lands, the rudder was a symbol of Agathe Tyche (Good Fortune). In Rome, it was the emblem of the Goddess Fortuna—and both Goddesses were intimately connected with Isis. In fact, of all the Goddesses in the areas influenced by Greece and Rome, Isis was the one Deity with Whom Agathe Tyche and Fortuna were most consistently assimilated.

Isis-Fortuna with rudder and cornucopia

As Agathe Tyche, Isis was considered the “luck” of a number of port cities, particularly Alexandria. In fact, Her headdress emphasises her connection with cities. As guardian of cities, Tyche wears an elaborate crown shaped like city walls. Legend had it that Tyche gave birth to a Divine figure called Isityche Who was said to symbolize the combination of Divine Providence and Chance. As you can easily see, Isityche is none other than Isis-Tyche. In this combined Divine figure, “Isis” represents the wise guidance of the Divine, while “Tyche”—sometimes depicted as blind—represents unseeing Chance.

The Roman version of Agathe Tyche was the Goddess Fortuna. She was extremely popular throughout the Roman world. Every Roman emperor kept an image of Fortuna in his sleeping quarters in hopes of bringing good fortune to his reign. Anyone with particularly good or bad luck was said to have her or his own “Fortuna.” Fortuna even had Her own oracular shrines. Her symbols include the Wheel of Fate, a sphere representing the World that She rules, the cornucopia of plenty, and a rudder with which She steers Fate. When Fortuna is depicted specifically as Isis Fortuna, She also wears the horns and disk crown of the abundant Egyptian Cow Goddess; thus reuniting the Egyptian symbols of cow and rudder in the figure of the Goddess Isis.

Isis Fortuna from the Temple of Isis, Pompeii

Like Tyche, Fortuna was often said to be blind. And, in fact, it may have been precisely because of this that Isis became so strongly tied to both Tyche and Fortuna. The Goddess Isis was well known to be the very opposite of blind. She is specifically a Goddess Who sees and understands the needs of Her worshippers. By invoking not just blind Tyche or blind Fortuna, but Isis Tyche and Isis Fortuna, one was invoking a seeing Fate—a more auspicious Fate steered by a skillful Mistress of the Rudder, the wise and kindly Goddess Isis.

Whether as the Divine Cow Goddess Who gives provisions and rebirth or as the guiding Goddess of the rudder and the cornucopia, Isis goes before us, guiding and leading us to abundance in all things. May She bless you in 2015 and beyond.

 

 

Filed under: Goddess Isis Tagged: Ancient Egypt, Aspects of Isis, Egyptian boat, Egyptian magic, Egyptian oar, Goddess, Goddess guidance, Goddess Isis, Goddess worship, Isis, Isis Magic, New Year, Pagan Spirituality

Isiac Solstice Tidbits

An example of hieratic cursive hieroglyhs

Sometimes I just find little bits and pieces of Isis information that don’t really warrant a whole post by themselves, but which together may be of interest. So on this Solstice Day, I am gathering up some of those end-of-the-year tidbits to share with you.

These particular bits come from the collection of Chester Beatty Papyri translated by Alan Gardiner, who as being assisted by R.O. Faulkner at the time. The texts were written in hieratic, which is a cursive method of writing hieroglyphs that developed and was used alongside formal hieroglyphs—because, frankly, hieroglyphs are a hard and tedious way to write. “Hieratic” means “priestly,” a name that it received in the 2nd century CE when it was being used only by the priests. Egyptian official and business documents were by that time being written in demotic, apparently a northern version of hieratic that eventually came to be adopted generally.

Sunrise between the pyramids: Re-Horankty

Call on Isis to banish bad dreams

Remember last week when we were talking about dreams? Well, from the context in one of the dream books, it seems that Horus was considered to be the archetypal dreamer. And when the archetypal dreamer had bad dreams, He turned to His mother Isis for help, speaking this spell (my capitalization):

“Come to Me, come to Me, My mother Isis. Behold, I am seeing what is far from Me in my city.” [And Isis replies,] “Here am I, My son Horus, come out with what Thou hast seen, in order that Thy afflictions throughout Thy dreams may vanish, and fire go forth against Him that frighteneth Thee [Set]. Behold, I am come that I may see Thee and drive forth Thy ills and extirpate all that is filthy. Hail to Thee, thou Good Dream which art seen by night or by day. Driven forth are all evil filthy things which Seth, the son of Nut, has made. Re is vindicated against His enemies; I am vindicated against My enemies.”

Once that invocation is spoken, then you take a little bread and some fresh herbs moistened with beer and myrrh, then rub your face with it. Sounds like it would work, too, though I might prefer to eat the bread.

Winter Solstice sunrise at the Amun sanctuary at Hatshepsut’s temple

Just a phrase I like 

From a poison-curing spell related to the story of Isis & Re, there’s a phrase for asking Isis to send you magic:

“Lay a spell upon me, my mother Isis…”

A magical gesture?

The first part of the spell says “I have enclosed in my right hand. I have enclosed in my left hand. I have enclosed [missing text] Horus [missing text], enclosed it in seven knots.” It is another poison-releasing spell and in the end Horus calls upon Isis.

I wonder whether the magician here is taking the part of Isis and enclosing Horus in her/his arms, perhaps symbolized by the seven knots? There were indeed magical knots of protection for the dead. These passages inspired a protective ritual in Isis Magic called “The Rite of the Tiet.”

Isis and Nephthys support Khepri in the solar rebirth

The scorpion as “the orphan girl”?

The spell asks Isis, Nephthys, and Thoth to “speak against the bite of the orphan girl. Whether the bitten die or the bitten live, it is Thoth Who replies, ‘Flow out, scorpion.'” I wish I knew the myth that explains how the scorpion is an orphan girl.

The holy butt of Isis

In a formula that lists the powers of Thoth, identifying each one with a human body part, and then further identifying that body part with a Deity, the “backside” of the human is associated with the Thoth-power “free from stealing and carrying off” and is further identified as “the backside of Isis.” Perhaps we can interpret this as “Isis has your back(side)!”

Water from the breasts of Isis

Not only does nourishing milk come from Isis’ breasts, but also cooling water. In an offering formula, Amun is asked to “take to Yourself what flows from the breast of Your mother Isis,” while water in menza-vases is being offered. In another offering formula, figs are offered as the priest says, “take to Thyself the breast of Isis of which the Gods taste.” That one gives me a little magical tingle and I shall be running out for some figs to offer.

The course of the sun on the shortest day of the year

In a related offering formula, Re is being reborn of Isis that He may live and grow to become old—and no doubt be born again:

“…Horus became the Oldest of the Old ever since He was ill, and went forth after His eye alive, when Seth had seized it; and He received it from Isis in Djeba’t-‘aryt. Come Thou forth whole between the loins of Thy mother Isis, that She may bear Thee and Thou become a stripling having been born; that Thou mayest become Re and mayst suck the milk which is in the breast of Thy mother Isis. Let Her cry be raised in She-‘adi, and mayst Thou go forth from the arms of Thy father Osiris. Make Thy life from it, and be Thou whole from it—from the sweet libation which comes forth from Thy father Osiris on the eastern side of the Great Green. Mayet Thou circle about the Ila-nebu and live on the east wind which comes forth from the eastern side of the Great Green. Mayest Thou live being small, and become a stripling, grow warm and be vigorous. And mayst Thou grow old of this Thy old age and this Thy wholeness.”

On taking action

In a different telling of the Isis & Re story, the text says that “the children of the Gods came every man with His mourning, but Isis came with Her skill.”

Mythic bits like that can sometimes make all the difference; they can inspire us or make us stronger in a difficult situation. So I hope at least one of these little bits of information has intrigued, inspired, or interested you in some way. And I wish you a happy, peaceful, and Isis-blessed Winter Solstice as the Light begins Its return and the Holy Infant, the Sun of Isis, is reborn.

The Winter Solstice sun shining upon the symbol of the sun on the Isis Temple in my backyard…from a previous year; today we have total overcast

Filed under: Goddess Isis Tagged: Breast of Isis, Chester Beatty Papyrus, Figs, Goddess Isis, Hieratic, Isis, Isis & water, Isis and dreams, Isis Magic, Isis rebirth, Isis Scorpion, Magic, Winter Solstice

The Isis of our Dreams

The most common Egyptian term for dream was rsw.t, from a root meaning “to awaken.” In dream, we awaken in sleep. (This image is from the National Geographic Cleopatra exhibition.)

Does Isis communicate with you in your dreams?

In Egypt, as in most of the ancient world, people definitely paid attention to their dreams. Kings and commoners alike regularly acted on messages received in dream. Sometimes the dreams were clear, the message needing no interpretation. Or a dream might be prophetic, providing information or warnings about the future. Some dreams instructed the dreamer to carry out certain actions; the temples were full of dedicatory plaques to the Deities stating that some action was taken “in accordance with a dream.” Yet these types of dreams were rare—as they are today. Most often, people dreamed in symbols and images that had to be interpreted in order to understand the meaning. For this, one needed a dream interpreter.

The interpreter might be a village wise woman like the one of whom we have evidence from Deir el-Medina. Dream interpreters would set up shop outside the temples—especially during festival days. But most often the dream interpreter would have been one of the priests or priestesses of the Houses of Life at the great temples. Dream Books cataloged dream symbols and their meanings and may have served as resources for the temple interpreters. We have several surviving examples of these dream books.

An artist’s fantasy version of an Egyptian healing temple

In addition to bringing one’s dream to the temples for interpretation, one might also seek a special dream by sleeping in the temple. This sacred sleep is known to scholars using the Greek term “incubation” and was particularly associated with healing temples and healing Deities, such as Isis, Hathor, and Asclepius. It was a frequent practice in temples of Isis. In fact, the temples of Isis at Memphis and Canopus were quite famous for incubation. The Goddess was known to provide accurate diagnoses and effective prescriptions to those who appealed to Her.

An example of an Isis incubation dream survives from a Greek orator named Aristides. Aristides spent a great deal of time visiting healing shrines due to his chronic illness; some have even said hypochondria. In one of his books, he describes a number of synchronicities surrounding a sacrifice of geese to Isis that was surely part of his pre-incubation rite. Then he gives a hint about his dream. He says that a light came from Isis relating to his salvation and that both Serapis and Asclepius then appeared to him and that They were both beautiful and seemed quite similar to each other.

Isis with Horus upon Her lion throne

Another interesting example of incubation in an Isis temple comes from a letter written from Aspasia (470-410 BCE), the hetaira who was so beloved by the Athenian statesman Pericles, to Pericles telling him of her journey to several temples of healing to seek relief for (perhaps) a skin irritation of some kind. On the advice of her physician, she first visited the temple of Isis in Memphis. She writes, “I beheld the statue of Isis and her son Orus, seated on a throne supported by two lions” and says that sebestus (a species of Egyptian date) grew about Her shrine and describes the burning of incense in the morning, myrrh during the day, and cyplis (kyphi?) in the evening.

Aspasia slept in the temple, but says she found no relief. The problem, according to the temple attendants, was Aspasia’s “incredulity.” Next she went to the temple of Hygeia at Patras where the Goddess “appeared to me in the form of a mysterious pentagon.” Finally it was Aphrodite Who, in in the form of a dove, cured Aspasia.

(I include this interesting anecdote for several reasons: first, to demonstrate that then, as now, the hoped for dream communication may not always come to us; second, that “mysterious pentagon” form in which Hygeia appeared to Aspasia—very interesting. And finally, Who better than Aphrodite to heal a hetaira? For me, Aspasia’s experiences ring true and reflect some of the many and varied ways the Deities can interact—or not—with us.)

Isis is also known to call to Her initiates and devotees in dream. In Apuleius’ tale that culminates with his protagonist’s initiation into the Mysteries of Isis, we learn that Lucius must remain in the temple of the Goddess—waiting patiently—until he receives a summons from Isis Herself. Only then, when he knew for certain that Isis had invited him, could he undergo the ceremony of his initiation and further cultivate his relationship with the Goddess.

This is a Roman image of Isis. Perhaps this is what Lucius’ Isis looked like to him.

Dream invitation is part of modern devotion to Isis as well. Many are the modern priestesses and priests of Isis who were called to Her service in dream or in vision, which we may think of as waking dream.

Yet, as always, there are cautions that go along with all this dreaming and visioning. We cannot forget that any information that comes from Her comes through us. The dream or vision-seed of information may come from Isis, but it passes through our human minds and souls, as well as our physical brains and bodies. It’s easy for that seed to be affected by what’s going on with us, in our daily lives and in our spiritual lives. There’s no way to avoid this. The best we can do is to try to develop wisdom and self-knowledge so that we don’t fool ourselves into thinking Isis told us something when we were really just hearing our internal echo chamber. Yet, as long as we can recognize it as our own stuff, this too can be a valuable learning experience.

If we can be honest with ourselves, then when we do have an important dream or vision, we will more easily be able to recognize it. The dream or vision will be more vivid—in our minds, hearts, and memories. We will have a sense of its importance and, at least for us, truth. (Never, ever rely on memory alone; write it down, please. I speak from experience.)

Once Isis has made Herself known to us in our dreams or visions, then it is up to us to take Her up on Her invitation or take up any tasks She may have given us.

Filed under: Goddess Isis, Modern Paganism Tagged: Ancient Egypt, Aspects of Isis, Deities, Dream interpretation, Egyptian dream book, Egyptian dreams, Egyptian magic, Egyptian Temples, Goddess Isis, Isis, Isis Magic, The Goddess, Who is Isis?

Invoking Isis

Ah, I am tied up all weekend with a special event of my paying work requiring my presence allll weeeeekend loooong.

Therefore, I offer you a rerun of a previous post for your invoking pleasure….

I invoke Thee, Isis!

I adore invocation.

I remember the first time I invoked and really—really—felt Her presence, knew She was with me. Or with us, I should say because this particular invocation was with a small group here in town. I was pretty new at public invocation and I was pretty nervous.

I had memorized the invocation (highly recommended!) and when it came time, I spoke the words. The nervous energy became strength. The memorized words truly expressed my desire for Her. With each breath I drew in to begin each sentence of the invocation, I also drew in more of Her. And I could tell I wasn’t the only one feeling it. The entire circle began to psychically “buzz” as everyone awakened to Her growing presence.

That particular invocation stuck with me as you might imagine. I even included it in Isis Magic. It’s this one:

O Isis, Beautiful in All Thy Names,

I call Thee with the breath of my body,

I call Thee with the beat of my heart,

I call Thee with the pulse of my life,

I call Thee with the words of my mouth,

I call Thee with the thoughts of my mind.

I call Thee Power and Life and Creation.

I call Thee, Isis, Isis, Isis!

This is sort of what it feels like when invocation works.

Seems pretty simple, doesn’t it? It is. A good invocation doesn’t have to be complicated or long. On the other hand, sometimes long and complicated invocations are completely wonderful, providing us with the luxury of enough time to reach the right state of mind/soul.

The word invocation means “to call upon”. It’s originally from the Latin word invocare, but comes to us by way of late 15th century French envoquer. You’ll sometimes see the word used exclusively to mean calling a Deity or spirit into yourself (because of the “in” part of the word). While invocation can be used for that purpose, it doesn’t have to be.

…and like this.

Invocation is a way to focus our intention and attention upon Isis. It offers a method for awakening and re-awakening in ourselves the knowledge of Her eternal presence. It opens a channel of communication and communion between us and Her. If we have done it well, invocation of Isis will evoke a corresponding emotion from us. When our defenses are down, our emotions are up, and we fully open our hearts and selves to Her, that’s when our invocations are effective and we find that She is fully present with us. And that is how the magic happens.

Invocation is a wonderful way to explore the many aspects of Isis. By invoking Her by Her various epithets (epithets are names or descriptive phrases that express various aspects or powers of the Goddess), we can experience and better understand the many facets of Isis’ nature.

To this end, I thought I’d share some of Isis’ many epithets, both well and lesser known, which you may wish to try out in your own invocations.

Great Goddess

Nutjeret Weret (Egy.); Thea Megiste (Gk.); Iset Weret (Egy.; “Isis the Great”). This is Isis in Her all-encompassing form as Goddess of All Things, and indeed, She is specifically called Lady of All. Other related epithets are Isis in All Her Names, Isis of Many Names and Many Forms, both of which refer to the ability of Her devotees to see Isis in all other Goddesses and all other Goddesses in Isis. At Denderah, She is called Lady of the Sky, the Earth, the Underworld, the Water, the Mountains, and the Nun (the Primordial Watery Abyss) for She is the Goddess of all manifest as well as all un-manifest things.

A noble and queenly Isis…who is actually an Egyptian nesutet named “Isis.”

Isis the Noble

Iset Shepshyt (Egy.). This is a very interesting one for me. Before I knew of this name, I had often described Her to myself as “noble.” Several other priestesses I know described Her that way as well. And then I learned that She was actually called “Noble” anciently as well. To me, She is somewhat aloof, yet entirely awe-inspiring, in this aspect. A related epithet is Isis, Lady of Dignity or Great of Dignity. At Isiopolis, there is an inscription that says that the Deities bow down before Isis’ dignity.

Isis the Queen

I just thought you’d like to have this word in Egyptian: Nesutet (“Queen”). This, of course, refers to Isis’ sovereignty over ancient Egypt. Yet as the Throne, Isis is Sovereignty Itself; She is the ruler and She confers rulership.

Beautiful Khabhuet

Khabhuet (Egy.; “Libationess”) is related to concepts like the Great Celestial Deep and the Watery Abyss. Thus this is Isis as the one Who makes effective—surely magical—libations and as a Goddess of the Primordial Depths.

Lady of the Journey on the Abaton

In an Egyption temple, the abaton is the sacred place where no one may walk, the Holy of Holies. As Isis is the Lady of the Journey on the Abaton, we may understand that She is so inherently holy that She may indeed walk there, or perhaps may even serve as our guide for such a journey; the shrine of Osiris on Biggeh, the island of Osiris’ tomb near Philae, was called the Abaton.

A Uraeus Serpent, one of the Divine forms in which Isis is sometimes depicted

Isis the Uraeus

Iset Uraiet (Egy.; “She Who Rears/Rises Up”). Uraeus is a Latinized version of the Greek word ouriaos, which is itself a version of the Egyptian word uraiet, which indicates the rearing, coiled cobra. The root word has to do with rising up or ascending, so that uraiet, a feminine word, can be interpreted as She Who Rears/Rises Up. The root word is also used to refer to the upward licking of flames. And indeed, the uraeus is often depicted spitting fire. This serpent fire represents both magical fire and the burning pain of the serpent’s venom.

In this form, Isis is the Cobra Goddess upon the brow of Re and His “Eye.” She is the Iret Eye (“the Doer”), the active power of Re. The idea is similar to Shakti, the active, feminine power related to the God Shiva in some Hindu sects.

Isis the Good North Wind

In different texts, Isis can be identified with various directions, but She has a strong identification with the north and the north wind. To understand, you have to know that to the ancient Egyptians, the north wind was the cooling, beneficial wind. It was thought that the north wind “dammed up” the Inundation, which flowed from the south, enabling the water to flood and nourish Egyptian fields. So Isis is not only the one Who heralds the Inundation and even causes it to flow (as Sopdet/Sirius), but also keeps it in place where it will fertilize the fields. She is called the Good North Wind and the Living North Wind.

A hip-hop singer has taken up the Sotera name…

Isis the Savior

Even in Egyptian texts, we find Isis as a saving Goddess. She is the one Who dispels evils, storms, and “rescues the weak from the fierce.” When Isis moves into the wider Mediterranean world, we find Her called The Savior (Sotera, Gk.), All Savior or Savior of All (Pansotera, Gk.), and the Great Hope. She is both literal savior, helping and protecting people in their every day lives and She is the spiritual Savior, Who offers those who are Hers “a life given by grace” (Apuleius, Metamorphoses). The funerary inscription of a priest of Isis declares that because of the secret rites he performed during his life, he has traveled not to dark Acheron, but to the “harbor of the blessed.” The Goddess and Her Mysteries are a spiritual harbor in storm-tossed seas—an image that is still used today by devotees of the Christian Savior God.

Enough to chew on for now, I think. May your invocations of Isis in All Her Names be blessed.

 

 

 

 

 

Filed under: Goddess Isis Tagged: Ancient Egypt, Aspects of Isis, Egyptian Temples, Goddess, Goddess Isis, Goddess worship, Invocation, Invocation of Isis, Isis, Isis Magic, Priestess and Priest of Isis, Who is Isis?

I am Isis—the Goddess & Her Aretalogies

I very much like this Cosmic Isis by artist Dahlia Khodur. Here’s a link to her FB page.

Let’s talk a bit about the Isis aretalogies.

The aretalogies are those first-person statements in which the Goddess details Her many accomplishments and gifts to humankind. Here’s an except from one in case you need a little reminder:

I am She that riseth in the Dog Star.

I am She that is called Goddess by women.

For me was the city of Bubastis built.

I divided the earth from the heaven.

I showed the paths of the stars.

I ordered the course of the sun and the moon.

I devised business in the sea.

I made strong the right.

I brought together woman and man.

I appointed to women to bring their infants to birth in the tenth month.

I ordained that parents should be loved by children.

I laid punishment on those disposed without natural affection toward their parents.

I made with My brother Osiris an end to the eating of men.

I revealed mysteries unto men.

The word “aretalogy” is, as you may be able to tell, Greek. Arete means “virtues” and logy is from logos, “word,” so aretalogy is “speaking about virtues.” In aretalogy, the Deity is usually speaking in the first person about Her or His own virtues. But that’s not always so. For instance, the Aretalogy of Maronea is not spoken by the Goddess Herself, but by someone whom She healed. In Her honor, he speaks of Her virtues.

I am Isis. I revealed Mysteries unto humankind.

Isis is one of the few Deities for Whom we have quite a number of aretalogies. As with many Things Scholarly, there are disagreements about which of these documents should be considered aretalogies, so there’s no canonical count. But we can think in terms of six to ten. (That does not count the many, many hymns to the Goddess.)

The existing copies of these important documents are all written in Greek and date (we think) from the 2nd century BCE to the 2nd or 3rd century CE. Some of the scholars who have studied them have looked for ancient Egyptian precedents for the ideas in them, others believe them to be purely Greek in origin. Dieter Muller, a German Egyptologist who studied the texts extensively, took 56 phrases that refer to Isis in the aretalogies and tried to trace them to their sources. He concluded that nine were, in both form and content, Egyptian in origin, seven were Egyptian but expressed in a Greek way, 24 were of Greek origin, and 16 uncertain, but possibly Greek. Another scholar, Jan Bergman, traced each of the statements to an original Egyptian concept claiming that the statements cannot be properly understood unless placed in context with Memphite religion and the relationship between the Egyptian Deities and Egyptian royalty. Louis Zabkar, an Italian-born Egyptologist who studied the hymns to Isis at Her Philae temple, believes that the Philae hymns contributed to the content of the aretalogies. In a epilog to his book about Isis’ Philae hymns, Zabkar takes another look at Muller’s work and expands the number of Egyptian-original aretalogical statements to 23, making them almost equal to the number of Greek-original statements. More recent scholars, too, have traced more and more of the self-statements to Egyptian originals.

One of two female figures flanking the entrance to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo; given that the museum opened in 1902, she is probably supposed to be either Cleopatra or Isis

Two of the aretalogies (from Kyme & Andros) state that they were copied from a stele “before the temple of Hephaestus [that is, Ptah] at Memphis.” Scholars thus sometimes refer to this as the M-text and believe that it could be the original from which all the other aretalogies were either copied or developed.

Some researchers have suggested that the thoughts of a famous Greek atheist contributed to the content of the Isis aretalogies. His name was Prodicus and he was a Greek philosopher (5th century BCE). His idea was that the gods were not divine at all, but were instead brilliant human beings from a primordial time who were so beneficial to humankind that people deified them. We usually hear of this idea tied to the name of a Greek mythographer named Euhemerus (4th century BCE). In fact, we even give it his name: euhemerism. But Euhemerus most likely got the idea from Prodicus.

Euhemerism was one of the ways the ancient Pagan Deities survived in the Christianized West. Since They (or they) were merely human beings, their myths could be retold—and even be used to teach “Christian” virtues. This definitely happened with Isis. (Isis Magic details some of the ways the story of Isis remained a part of the culture during this time.)

An elegant Isis from the 25th dynasty

But what does all that have to do with the aretalogies? Some scholars (Fritz Graf; Albert Henrichs) suggest that this type of Prodican euhemerism—especially in relation to the cultural gifts of the Deities—was going on in the Eleusinian cults at that time. And, since Isis and Demeter were being equated, the Eleusinian euhemerism was applied to Isis and shows up in the Isis aretalogies. You can see it strongly in the Maronea aretalogy, which may be the oldest of these Isiac documents that we have. (It does not, however, explain the “I-am” structure of the Kyme aretalogy, which is very unlike a Greek hymn and much more similar to the starker statements of Egyptian hymns.)

Now, it’s not that the Eleusinians who took up some of Prodicus’ ideas were atheists themselves. We could say that they were merely adopting one of the memes of their day. They liked the idea of their Deity being the source of important aspects of culture and incorporated it.

Some scholars believe the Isis aretalogies were created as propaganda to help spread the gospel of Isis throughout the Mediterranean. At least to some extent, that’s probably so. But there are other ideas, too. I’m reading an article right now that argues they were read aloud as part of initiation into the Mysteries of Isis. To me, the argument isn’t persuasive due to the strict secrecy of the Mysteries. If the aretalogy was recited as part of the key epiphany of the Goddess in Her Mysteries, it would likely have been kept secret rather than carved in stone and set up before the temple of Ptah in Memphis. But it’s a very intriguing idea nonetheless.

A priestess making offering; photo by Victor Keppler

Interestingly, we have a dedication from the island of Delos made to Isis and Anubis by an “aretalogos.” If there was a regular priestly function as a Speaker of Aretalogies, perhaps the recitation of an aretalogy was part of the standard worship of the Goddess rather than part of Her Mysteries. Another suggestion is that they were read during Her great feasts.

Whether PR or liturgy, it seems most likely that both Egyptian and Greek elements formed the conceptual basis of the Isis aretalogies. Memphis was one of the places where Egyptian and Greek ideas came together, and apparently without rancor. Here, key religious ideas of both Egyptians and Greeks blended, and could have resulted in the M-text.

But I wonder whether personal elements could have figured into the creation of the aretalogies as well. At least some of you have had Her speak to you in this way, telling you of Her arete in first person. It is a powerful experience; not likely to be forgotten. Perhaps you’ve even written it down to commemorate it.

For, as She has always done, Isis can speak directly to our hearts, telling us Who She Is, and especially Who She Is for us right now.

Filed under: Goddess Isis Tagged: Ancient Egypt, Aretalogy, Aretalogy of Isis, Aspects of Isis, Goddess, Goddess Isis, Invocation of Isis, Isis, Isis Magic, Isis worship today, Who is Isis?

The Blood of Isis

The Blood of Isis amulet, with the name of the deceased

The ancient Egyptian amulet of the Tiet (also Tyet or Tet) is also known as the Girdle of Isis, the Buckle of Isis, the Knot of Isis, or the Blood of Isis. Appropriately, the amulet was often made of blood-red jasper, carnelian, or even red glass. (Red glass, by the way, is a precious material and quite difficult to make; the red color comes from the addition of gold to the molten glass.)

When paired with the Djed of Osiris, the Tiet can be seen as the feminine symbol of the Goddess’ womb just as the Djed can be seen as the masculine symbol of the God’s phallus.

The redness of the Tiet may represent the red lifeblood a mother sheds while giving birth. On the other hand, it might represent menstrual blood. Some say the amulet is shaped like the cloth worn by women during menstruation. Others have interpreted it as a representation of a ritual tampon that could be inserted in the vagina to prevent miscarriage. In this case, it would have been the amulet Isis used to protect Horus while He was still within Her womb. For a whole post on the Knot of Isis, click here.

The Goddess’ blood that is our topic today is the red blood of menstruation, in Egyptian hesmen. A menstruating woman is a hesmenet. If the interpretation of the Knot of Isis as a menstrual cloth or tampon is correct, we may be well within our rights to consider Isis as the patroness of women during their monthly menstruation as well as a special patroness of women during the fertile period of their lives, this is, while they are still menstruating regularly.

Women and girls preparing for a banquet from the Tomb of Rekhmire

A young woman’s first menstruation is a sign that she is now mature enough to become pregnant, thus the ancient Egyptians considered menstrual blood to be very potent. One of the methods a woman might use to encourage her own pregnancy was to rub menstrual blood on her thighs. The Ebers papyrus notes that the blood of a young woman whose menses have just come could be rubbed on the breasts, belly, and thighs of a woman whose breasts were too full of milk, “then the flow cannot be to her disadvantage.” Menstrual blood might also be smeared on an infant to protect her or him from evil. Could it be that the Tiet amulet was developed as a more convenient way to protect children, and by extension adults, from harm through the menstrual Blood of Isis?

We have very little from ancient Egypt about women’s menstrual customs. There is one precious mention on an ostracon (piece of pottery used as a writing surface) that scholars believe originated in Deir el-Medina, the workers’ village outside the Valley of the Kings. It says,

Year 9, fourth month of inundation, day 13. Day that the eight women came outside [to the] place of women, when they were menstruating. They got as far as the back of the house which […long gap] the three walls …

The Tiet and the Djed, symbols of Isis and Osiris

From this reference, scholars infer that ancient Egyptian women, like many women throughout the ancient world (as well as some in the modern world) separated themselves from the rest of the village during their menstrual periods and went to “the place of women.” What’s more, at least eight women from this village were on the same cycle. But I wonder why this common, monthly event was significant enough for someone to write it down? As far as I can tell, no one has a guess.

None of the “places of women” have been found for certain, though there are several small structures on the outskirts of Deir el-Medina that could possibly fit the bill. Interestingly, at Deir el-Medina, the menstruation of wives or daughters is sometimes given as a reason for the man’s absence from work. The weird thing about this is that, if a man could be absent every time a wife or daughter had her period, he’d be absent at least two extra days per month…and we don’t find that many absences recorded. This has led some researchers to suggest that only in exceptional cases, for example if the woman was incapacitated by her period, could the man be absent to take care of the regular household chores.

Model of a home at Deir el-Medina; looks pretty pleasant

The other reference to a place of menstruation comes from much later—in the Ptolemaic period—when we find a reference to a “place beneath the stairs,” actually within the home, as the place of menstruation. This room must have been reasonably common for we find reference to it in a number of documents related to the sale or purchase of a home. I am imagining some ancient realtor noting the lovely little “place beneath the stairs” as a selling feature of the house. (It should be noted that a woman was the seller in at least one of these real estate transactions and in another, a woman was the buyer; more evidence of women’s relatively high status in Egypt.)

In a house in Amarna, in just such a place beneath the stairs, archeologists found two model beds made of clay, parts of two female figurines, and a stela depicting a woman wearing a cone on her head while leading a young girl before the Goddess Taweret. That all seems pretty clear to me; this is where women go to menstruate and where they celebrate the coming of age of young women, who are being introduced to Taweret, the hippopotamus-form Goddess of pregnancy and childbirth.

Egyptian woman and man taking food & drink from the Tree Goddess  in the Otherworld

These special places for menstruating women seem to indicate a taboo around menstruation; the women absented themselves from the village or stayed in a special room. We also have lists of bwt, prohibitions or “evil”, in the 42 Egyptians nomes and some of them include menstruation and menstruating women—along with things like a black bull, a heart, and a head. We’re not sure in what way any of these things were to be prohibited; perhaps by keeping them out of the nome? At any rate, menstruation in these cases was seen as something negative.

There does not seem to have been a notion of actual pollution around menstruation or menstruating women, however. Contact with a menstruating woman was not dangerous to a man, even though she was bwt in some nomes. In fact, some scholars think it was the menstruating woman who needed protection during her period. Thus, in the case of the absent workers of Deir el-Medina, the workers stayed away from the death-touched tombs in which they were working in order to protect their menstruating female relatives. Conversely, the Egyptians may have wanted to prevent the non-pregnancy/fertility of a menstruating woman from touching the cosmic womb of the royal tomb through her male relative, and thus rendering it magically ineffective.

May the Blood of Isis protect you

Interestingly, it may be that menstruation was also associated with cleansing. Hesmen is not only the word for “menstruation,” but is also found with the meaning “purification.” It was also a term for the ritual cleanser par excellence, natron.

From the evidence, menstruation in ancient Egypt had both positive and negative connotations. On the one hand, it was a sign that a woman could become pregnant—something most women desired—and it was used as a potent protection or cure. On the other hand, if one was menstruating, one was clearly not pregnant at the time, so menstruation might be incompatible with work on the magical womb of the tomb, which must be kept fertile at all times.

I think many women would agree with this ambivalent attitude toward their periods. Having a period is at once a beautiful confirmation of connection with the cycles of Nature and the Great Goddess, and it can be a painful and messy time, too. In whatever way we are currently experiencing those cycles, we can be sure that the protection, as well as the shared female experience, of the Holy Blood of Isis is with us. I don’t know about you, but I think I may put on my Tiet amulet today.

 

Filed under: Goddess Isis Tagged: Ancient Egypt, Aspects of Isis, Deir el-Medina, Egyptian magic, Goddess, Goddess Isis, Isis, Isis Magic, Menstruation, menstruation in ancient Egypt, The Blood of Isis, The Knot of Isis, Who is Isis?

The Philae Has Landed

 

The Philae lander; they should have put a tiny statue of Isis in Her temple, don’t you think?

Surely you did not expect me not to comment on the fact that the comet lander is named Philae, right? What with all the negative associations of a certain-terrorist-organization-that-shall-remain-nameless with the (most common, Anglicized) name of our Goddess, it does my heart good to hear something positive with Isiac connections in the news.

So, of course, I wanted to know exactly why they named the lander “Philae.”

Turns out that one of the obelisks found on Isis’ temple island of Philae was used to assist in the translation of the Rosetta Stone, which is what enabled us to crack the code of ancient Egyptian. The Rosetta Stone (which is now in the British Museum) has three scripts on it: Egyptian hieroglyphs, demotic Egyptian, and Greek. The Philae Obelisk (which is now on a nobleman’s estate in England) is inscribed in Egyptian hieroglyphs and Greek. The Philae Obelisk expanded the data and provided some cross-checking ability.

The Philae Obelisk in its current home in England

Since the space probe as a whole is named “Rosetta” and its mission is to “translate” information about comets to earth, the parts of the probe are named for the two inscribed items that assisted in translating ancient Egyptian. As an extremely appropriate bonus, the Rosetta probe also carries a “Rosetta disc” containing 13,000 pages of text in 1200 different languages. I. Love. That.

So…science!

And as Our Lady is Goddess of Magic, so is She Goddess of Science. For as the lately lamented Arthur C. Clark famously quipped, “Magic’s just science we don’t understand yet.”

Isis has always been associated with the science of the day. She is Great of Magic and She is The Wise.

The Egyptians certainly knew Her as wise in medical science. The Ebers Medical Papyrus, dated to approximately 1500 BCE but likely containing much older material, begins with an invocation of Her:

“Words to Be Spoken in the Preparation of Medicines for All Parts of a Person Who is Ill

As it is to be, a thousand times. This is the book for the healing of all diseases. May Isis heal me even as she healed Horus of all the pain which his brother Set had inflicted on him when he killed his brother Osiris! O Isis, thou Great Enchantress, heal me, deliver me from all evil, bad, typhonic things, from demoniacal and deadly diseases and pollutions of all sorts that rush upon me, as thou didst deliver and release Thy son Horus! As I have penetrated into the Fire and have emerged from the Water, may I not fall into the snare of the day when I shall say: little am I and piteous!”

Green Isis working Her healing and protective magic on Osiris; from a stele now in the Louvre; photo by Rama; wikicommons

Writing in the first century BCE, Diodorus Siculus tells his readers,

“As for Isis, the Egyptians say that she was the discoverer of many health-giving drugs and was greatly versed in the science of healing; consequently, now that she has attained immortality, she finds her greatest delight in the healing of mankind and gives aid in their sleep to those who call upon her, plainly manifesting both her very presence and her beneficence towards men who ask her help. In proof of this, as they say, they advance not legends as the Greeks do, but manifest facts; for practically the entire inhabited world is their witness, in that it eagerly contributes to the honors of Isis because she manifests herself in healings. For standing above the sick in their sleep she gives them aid for their diseases and works remarkable cures upon such as submit themselves to her; and many who have been despaired of by their physicians because of the difficult nature of their malady are restored to health by her, while numbers who have altogether lost the use of their eyes or of some other part of the body, whenever they turn for help to this goddess, are restored to their previous condition. Furthermore, she discovered also the drug which gives immortality, by means of which she not only raised from the dead her son Horus, who had been the object of plots on the part of the Titans and had been found dead under the water, giving him his soul again, but also making him immortal. And it appears that Horus was the last of the gods to be king after his father Osiris departed from among men. Moreover, they say that the name Horus, when translated, is Apollo, and that, having been instructed by his mother Isis in both medicine and divination, he is now a benefactor of the race of men through his oracular responses and his healings.” (Diodorus Siculus, Books 1-11. 34.)

Artist Audrey Flack titles this work “Egyptian Rocket Goddess.” I like to think of Her as Isis Technologia.

Here, Isis is a healer, a teacher of the healing and divinatory sciences, as well as the Lady of the magical science of resurrection and rebirth.

Isis is also associated with the science of alchemy, the basis of later chemical science. Indeed She is Herself an alchemist and knows the secrets of the Tincture of Isis. Here’s a link to a post on Isis’ alchemical connections.

It is also interesting how many modern scientific associations or companies dealing in science take the name of Isis. There are biotechnology and medical companies, a scientific journal, computer technology companies and more, all named for Isis the Wise. I hope that most of them will continue under Her name and not cave under the current “brand pressures,” though a few of them already have.

Isis Technologia expands Her sphere of influence with the times. So even though ancient Egypt had no smart phones or computers, I would not hesitate in the slightest to consider Isis the Goddess of Computer Science. It is completely consistent with Her ancient character. From the earliest Egyptian texts to today, Isis is the Goddess of Magic and so She is also, most assuredly, the Goddess of Science and Technology. Isis understands code. And I know for a fact that more than a few of Her modern programmer devotees have called upon Her when confounded by a coding conundrum. I’ll bet they received answers, too.

Filed under: Goddess Isis Tagged: Ancient Egypt, Aspects of Isis, Egyptian magic, Egyptian Temples, Goddess, Isis Magic, Isis the Magician, Lady of Magic, Philae, Philae lander, Rosetta, Who is Isis?