Hathor Quotes

“Hathor is associated with the dawn, and the dawn barque, because she gives birth to the sun. “The beauty of your face glitters when you rise, O come in peace. One is drunk at your beautiful face, O Gold, Hathor!”[124] The dawn and early morning sun were gentle and welcoming after the dark night and before the burning intensity of the mid-day sun. “Hathor the lady of the evening”[125] is associated with the evening barque as she receives the dying setting sun into her arms and also nurses him. An evening hymn to the setting sun refers to offerings to Ra and “Hathor who suckles in the dusk”.”
― Lesley Jackson, Hathor: A Reintroduction to an Ancient Egyptian Goddess

“Hathor can also be seen as the mother of the sun god in her aspect of the Celestial Cow who lifts the newly born Ra out of the waters of the Nun. She can also be viewed as the primeval lotus from which the child sun god emerged at dawn. Hathor is mother of all the child gods, such as Nefertem, Ihy and Harsomtus, whose birth celebrates the self-renewing cosmos.”
― Lesley Jackson, Hathor: A Reintroduction to an Ancient Egyptian Goddess

“Any investigation of Hathor in this role is closely entwined with the sun god Ra as she is his mother, daughter and partner. Whatever Hathor’s association with Ra it is said that “She loves Re”.[119] Hathor’s triple relationship with Ra is a way of expressing the idea that Hathor represents a divine energy and potency which is essential to the life of the sun god. She continually renews him but he also generates the energy needed for creation to survive. One cannot exist without the other.”
― Lesley Jackson, Hathor: A Reintroduction to an Ancient Egyptian Goddess

“It is in the role of the solar goddess that Hathor can show her more dangerous aspects. The duality of her character is emphasised, especially with the splitting off of her Sekhmet persona, reflecting the ambivalence of fire in general and the sun in particular. Although the Hathor Cow may be dangerous and unpredictable, like a wild cow, this is taken to extremes in the Solar Hathor where her protector and aggressor aspect is dominant. Like fire the sun is beneficial and dangerous, both life-giving and life-taking. It is purification and charred destruction, a nurturer of vegetation and its fierce desiccator.”
― Lesley Jackson, Hathor: A Reintroduction to an Ancient Egyptian Goddess

“The desert was the birthplace of Egyptian theology. Cattle, women, water and milk were sources of regeneration and nourishment. Without water or milk there was sickness and death. These associations proved to be psychologically significant and formed the foundations of the Dynastic religion with the underlying theme of birth-death-rebirth as well as linking the cow with the life providing and protecting Goddess. The inclusion of cattle related artefacts in burials suggests an association with the afterlife. Clay models of long-horn cows have been found in Amratian or Naqada I (4000-3500 BCE) graves.”
― Lesley Jackson, Hathor: A Reintroduction to an Ancient Egyptian Goddess

“Hathor can also be depicted as a lioness, sycamore tree or a snake “who laughs with Wadjet”.[76] She is depicted as a lioness-headed snake goddess in the mammisi at Dendera.”
― Lesley Jackson, Hathor: A Reintroduction to an Ancient Egyptian Goddess

“From the early 18th Dynasty the Hathor Cow is often shown in a marsh setting either with papyrus or lotus. When shown with a lotus the Hathor Cow may relate to her Mehet-Weret form; the Divine Cow born from or personifying the Nun, the primeval chaos. It also alluded to her role as mother of Ra who was born from the lotus. Both the cow and the lotus are symbols of birth and rebirth. A cow shown with papyrus probably refers to the Hathor Cow suckling and protecting the Horus child in the marshes of Khemmis. (Both motifs are discussed in detail in later chapters.) The Hathor Cow next to a mountain is less widespread and was introduced in the 18th Dynasty. It refers to her afterlife aspects as she is standing at the entrance to the afterworld”
― Lesley Jackson, Hathor: A Reintroduction to an Ancient Egyptian Goddess

“Hathor is one of the few goddesses who carry the was-sceptre as does “Sekhmet of the was-sceptre”.[67] This is a sceptre with a head in the form of a canine and is associated with prosperity and well being. Hathor often carries a papyrus sceptre as do Bastet and the creator goddess Neith. The ukh staff is a papyrus stem crowned with two feathers and was an important object in the Hathor cult. It is similar in concept to the sekhem sceptre.[68] This sceptre hieroglyph denotes concepts such as “power” and “might”. The word sekhem could refer to deities, hence the name Sekhmet “she of might”.[69]  Hathor will also carry her cult object the sistrum”
― Lesley Jackson, Hathor: A Reintroduction to an Ancient Egyptian Goddess

“The Egyptians considered the colour of an object to be an integral part of it, the word for colour meant “substance”. Red is associated with Hathor, particularly in her Sekhmet aspect, and at Edfu she was called “Mistress of the red cloth”.[66] Like Hathor, red has a dual aspect in that it represents both life-giving and life-taking. Red is the colour of the Nile during the inundation which gives it connotations of fertility, it is also linked to menstruation and childbirth. Hathor has associations with all of these. Red is the colour of blood so linked with rage, injury, disease and death. For this reason it was also linked to the chaos god Seth. In all cultures, and in the natural world, red is a warning of danger. Some venomous snakes and insects use red to advertise the fact that they are venomous as a warning to potential predators.”
― Lesley Jackson, Hathor: A Reintroduction to an Ancient Egyptian Goddess

“The Egyptians didn’t consider the deities to be individuals the way that people are so the specific name wasn’t always as important as their characters. This made it easy for them to merge and subsume deities without encountering any theological problems. In some cases the deity could have two names or combined names such as Hathor-Sekhmet.”
― Lesley Jackson, Hathor: A Reintroduction to an Ancient Egyptian Goddess

“Gold is strongly associated with Hathor both as a solar goddess and as the goddess of mining (see chapters 5 and 15). As well as symbolising eternity, because it does not tarnish, gold is the colour of the sun and so an appropriate epithet for a solar goddess. From the New Kingdom Hathor was often called Nwbt “the Golden”. Her gold epithets were particularly popular in the later periods when she was often referred to simply as “Gold”. She was also called “Gold of the gods in Wetjset-Hor”[32] and “the golden lady”.[33] The term “Gleaming One” was an epithet of the sun god Ra but from the Late Period it was also an epithet of Hathor. The root of this word is “heaven that is gleaming” or “radiant”.[34] Ra was sometimes referred to as the “Mountain of gold” but he never had the same connection to gold as Hathor did. Hathor the “Golden One” was almost a personification of gold.”
― Lesley Jackson, Hathor: A Reintroduction to an Ancient Egyptian Goddess

“Oh, lady of the beginning, come thou before our faces in this thy name of Hathor, lady of emerald.”
― Lesley Jackson, Hathor: A Reintroduction to an Ancient Egyptian Goddess