Hello, Isiacs! I’m off celebrating the equinox today. Yes, it’s Portland and it’s overcast and chilly. But the daffodils are blooming and all the little green shoots are coming up.
So, no post today, but I’ll leave you with some images of Our Lady that I had the privilege to see at the Egyptian Museum.
Many blessings to you and yours!
Under Her Wings, Isidora
One of the questions I regularly receive from folks who email me is, “how can I tell if Isis is calling me?” It’s a very good question, if a somewhat difficult one to answer.
Sometimes, people have had dreams with what they think could be Isiac imagery. Sometimes they’ve had a vision or some other experience during a ritual. Sometimes it’s a feeling, sometimes a wish or a hope.
To try to unravel this, the first thing we need to figure out is what we mean by “calling?” In other words, if She were calling us, what would that mean? What kind of obligation, if any, comes with that calling? Because so many of us have Christianity in our personal backgrounds as well as Christianity being so prominent in our societies, we might automatically associate “a calling” with a vocation for the ministry or priesthood. It’s certainly possible. But there are other possibilities, too.
What calling means to us can also depend on where we are in our spiritual journey, as well as what we’ve been studying or reading or thinking.
For instance, let’s say you’re very interested in ancient Egypt, you’ve been reading about it, and you’re in a spiritual circle of some kind that regularly invokes Deities. Then one night, you have a powerful dream in which a beautiful, Egyptian woman seems to welcome you. You think She might be Isis. She might, indeed. She could also be one of any number of Egyptian Goddesses, which you would know about from your reading. What you intuit from your own dream will be very helpful here. If you think She’s Isis, you can follow that thread. We’ll talk about that shortly.
For another instance, let’s say you’ve never had any particular connection with ancient Egypt and you’re not on any specific spiritual path. Then one night, you have a powerful dream in which a beautiful, Egyptian woman seems to welcome you. You think She might be Isis. This may be just a dream. But if you find it exceptionally powerful, keep looking. A dream like that might be pointing out that your soul is yearning for some positive Mother or Divine Feminine energy in your life. That knowledge, in and of itself, is very valuable information. On the other hand, such a dream could be the impetus to set you on a spiritual journey as you seek to learn more.
And for a third instance, let’s say you have that same dream. But you don’t feel that you’re ready—or that you even want to—do anything about it. You absolutely don’t have to. If it’s an important knock on your spiritual door, She’ll knock again. And it’s okay to say no. You won’t hurt Her feelings and there are no negative consequences.
So. Dreams are one way to hear Isis if She’s calling you. But if you, like me, are a crappy dreamer and neither remember them nor write them down, there are other ways to hear Her. There are usually signs. Signs can be tricky. In most cases, a sign is something unusual that catches your attention and relates to the particular Deity involved, in our case, Isis. Because She is a Bird Goddess, it might be wings and feathers. You may hear the sound of wings at an odd time. Or a bird swoops down immediately in your line of sight, startling you. Or a feather drops from the sky. Her symbols—like the Knot of Isis or a throne—might show up unexpectedly. Perhaps you overhear Her name in a passing conversation between strangers. This will happen, not just once, but many times. Be patient. Wait. And look and listen for the signs.
Now, if you’re actively wanting Her to be calling you, signs and synchronicities can ramp up. Does a breeze rustle the leaves of a tree as you pass, thinking of Her? It is Her breath. Have you found a piece of jewelry engraved with Her image? She confirms your Path. Did that hawk circle above you as you drive your car down a country road with Her name on your lips? She is guiding you.
Is it foolish to see these signs everywhere? Is it “just my imagination?” In some cases, sure, there will be a kind of confirmation bias. But that doesn’t matter; She’s on your mind. You’re thinking of Her. It has begun.
Sometimes, there are other ways to tell. You might have an intuition of Her presence about you. Or something weird might happen. I’ve had incense burn and disappear all by itself, strangers have given me unexpected Isis gifts, very loud disembodied voices have spoken my name. What your weird thing might be, I can’t say.
Now. There’s also an important secret about all this that I’d like to share with you. Two, really. The first is that if you want to connect with Isis, you don’t have to wait for Her to call you. You can call Her, too. Light a candle. Say a prayer. Ask Her to come into your life. If you like ritual, use the Opening of the Ways here.
The second is that being called by Isis doesn’t necessarily mean you are being called to a lifelong relationship with Her. It doesn’t necessarily mean you’re being called to serve as Her priestess or priest. It might mean you’re being called to learn more about Her—right now and perhaps only for a while. Perhaps you’re being called to relationship. And like any relationship, that means investing time. Spend time with Her, in meditation and prayer. Read about Her in anything and everything you can get your hands on. Get to know Her. See how She feels to you. Do you like Her energy? Does it fit with yours? That’s what I mean by following the thread…and just see where it leads you.
And if you find, after time, that this is not the relationship for you, that’s perfectly okay. You will have learned. You will have grown and your spiritual world will have been expanded.
But if you find that, like me, you are a lifetime (or at least longterm) devotee of Isis, then I know you will discover for yourself Her deep love, wisdom, power, and magic.
This is an important Isis myth. It almost always gets overshadowed by the main Isis and Osiris myth, the murder of Osiris and Isis’ search for Him. But this is the Isis myth that is, for many, the most unsettling when we are first learning our Isis lore; and that is the tale of how Isis tricked the Sun God Re into revealing His most secret name and thereby gained additional power for Herself and for Her son, Horus. Know that story? If not, you can read a translation here.
On the basis of this tale, some have decided that Isis is an evil magician. I have even seen the story used as an argument to show how naturally underhanded all women are! And, on the face of it, the tale is troubling. Isis decides to gain power. She deliberately poisons Re, then cures Him only after He reveals to Her His most secret, hidden, and powerful name. Although Isis’ Divine knowledge is already equal to Re’s, knowing His name gives Her even more power. What’s more, She will be able to share Re’s name with Horus, once He is oath-bound to keep it secret, and Horus will receive the sun and moon as His Two Eyes.
So what are we to make of this? Is Isis just another tricky female? Perhaps we should consider Her as one of the Trickster Deities. She’s a Divine Magician, after all, and magicians are always tricky. Or maybe Isis was forced to resort to magical artifice to break through a Divine glass ceiling. Think of royal women in the Egyptian court. Because they did not have outright power equal to men’s, they would have used tricks, subterfuge, perhaps even poison, as a path to power. We must remember that it is always human beings who tell these stories, thus all stories come through a human filter.
As you might guess, none of these explanations satisfy me. I do have one that does, but it will take me a little while to get to my point, so I hope you’ll bear with me.
Background Info
There are several things you should know about this story. First, the version of the tale that has come down to us is from a papyrus known as the Turin Papyrus (along with a few other sources). It has been dated to Egypt’s 20th dynasty, about 1186-1169 BCE. No doubt, the story itself is much, much older, but the version we have comes from the later time. Second, the story is part of a healing formula to cure snakebite. Egyptian medicine almost always had a magical prescription as well as whatever herbal or surgical therapy was given. Such prescriptions often included a myth that related to the problem, followed by a statement that just as so-and-so was cured in the myth, so shall the sufferer be cured. In this case, just as Re was cured by Isis, so shall the snakebite sufferer be cured. Instruction is given at the end of the formula to recite the story over images of the main characters in the tale.
Elements of the Myth: the old king
The papyrus tells us that Re was so old that He drooled. In a time when the pharaoh was considered a God, and therefore should be the epitome of physical, mental and spiritual perfection, it would hardly be acceptable to have a ruler so old He drooled. Myths such as the death of the Holly King in Celtic countries, ritual combat to the death between the outgoing priest of Diana at the grove of Nemi and an incoming hopeful, and Arthurian legends of the Wounded King of the Wasteland—all point to the archetypal nature of this theme.
Elements of the Myth: the Goddess of Renewal
If you know anything about Isis, you know that one of Her key powers is the ability to renew and resurrect. The Turin papyrus tells us that Isis came to Re with Her magic and that Her “speech was as the breath of life.” When the Star of Isis, Sirius, rose in summer, it signaled the beginning of the New Year and the renewal of all things. Her magic brought Osiris back to life enough to conceive Horus and then gave Him a new existence as Lord of the Dead. As some of you may know, I believe Isis is the ancient Bird of Prey Goddess. Thus She is the Lady of Death and Regeneration, an identity that She has never lost, even to this day. Since the failing Re does not willingly give up His power, Isis must create the conditions that force the old ruler to the point of renewal.
Elements of the Myth: the saliva of the God
In Egypt, magic might be worked by means of bodily fluids. Saliva, semen, blood, sweat, milk, and other such fluids were a means of creation. If it was the blood, sweat, and tears of the Deities, it was even more creative and powerful. Since Re drooled, rather than purposefully spitting (for example, when Atum creatively spit to give birth to the Goddess Tefnut), He was wasting His power.
Elements of the Myth: the holy serpent
Yet, the Goddess does not let it go to waste. Instead, She mixes Re’s drool with earth, the place of renewal from which new life grows, to create a holy cobra (or “noble snake” as in the linked translation). The cobra is a mixture of life—in that it is made partly of earth and will ultimately cause Re to be healed—and death—in that it is made from the wasted generative power of Re and is a symbol of His unfitness for His throne. And of course, the serpent is an almost universal symbol of renewal due to the snake’s ability to shed its skin and emerge new from the experience.
In the form of the holy cobra, Re’s own weakness strikes Him and brings Him more pain than He has ever before experienced. He quakes with cold and burns with fire.
Elements of the Myth: name magic
In Egyptian magical theory, to know someone or something’s name is to be able to access its essence at the time of Creation, when all heka was at its more pure and potent. In this story, Re is considered the most powerful Deity in the universe (the tale also contains a litany of Re’s great powers). Knowing His secret name confers ultimate power; including the power to heal. As Isis tells Re, “the person who hath declared his name shall live.”
If this story is very ancient, it may be that its original form, in which Isis renews Re simply because that’s what the Goddess does, was lost. Perhaps later scribes tried to explain the Mystery to themselves and their audiences by framing it as a trick to gain power. Thus what may seem like simple blackmail is actually much more profound. Re is being forced to reveal a most secret and inner part of Himself to the Goddess. To be healed, He must make Himself vulnerable to the Lady of Renewal. He must accept both Her help and Her very real power.
Once Re gives Himself over to Isis, He is healed, renewed in strength and power. He learns that He must give up in order to gain. He learns to trust the Goddess Whom He has been forced to trust. And the Goddess proves Herself worthy. In no successive myth do we ever find any evidence that Isis abuses the ultimate power She has gained.
But Wait, There’s More
In the very same papyrus in which this story is found, there is a parallel story involving Horus and Set. It, too, is a magical snakebite cure. Here’s that story:
Horus and Set were voyaging together on Horus’ golden barque. Suddenly, Set cried out, “Come to me Horus, I have been bitten!”
And Horus turned to Set and said, “Tell Me Thy name, that I may work magic for Thee. One works magic for a man through his name, and a God is greater than His reputation.”
Set replied, “I am Yesterday, I am Today, I am Tomorrow That Has Not Yet Come.”
But Horus said, “No, Thou art not Yesterday, Today, or Tomorrow That Has Not Yet Come. Tell me Thy name, that I may work magic for Thee. One works magic for a man through his name, and a God is greater than His reputation.”
So Set said, “I am a Quiver of Arrows, I am a Cauldron of Disturbance.”
“No, Thou art not,” said Horus and repeated what He had said before.
“I am a Man of a Thousand Cubits, Whose Reputation is Not Known.”
“No, Thou art not,” said Horus and repeated again what He had said.
“I am a Threshing Floor; I am a Jug of Milk, Milked from the Breast of Bastet.
“No, Thou art not,” said Horus again.
Finally, Set replied with His True Name, “I am a Man of a Million Cubits Whose Name is Evil Day. As for the Day of Giving Birth or of Conceiving, There is No Giving Birth and Trees Bear No Fruit.”
The formula concludes with the promise that the sufferer will be made as sound as Horus was by Isis, so even though in this story Horus is one Who is pushing Set to reveal His true name, the cure is attributed to Isis.
What the Trickster Teaches
It seems clear to me that a key to both of these myths is vulnerability to the Divine that precedes healing. We must reveal our innermost selves, symbolized by our true name, to Goddess, to God. We must do so even if, like Set, it is a name with which we are not entirely comfortable. We must give ourselves over to the Divine, as we are, right now, with no masks. Only in this state of radical openness can we receive the renewing gifts that Divinity has for us. Like Re and like Set, we must—at least eventually—be willing to acknowledge and trust the Divine in order to bring Its power into our lives. This vulnerability and revelation of truth can be painful, like poison; and yet the truth always frees us.
Like Re especially, we must acknowledge the power of Goddess and make ourselves open to Her. If we don’t, She will find a way—perhaps a rather difficult way—to bring that lack to our attention. But when we do reveal ourselves to Her, we can know Her and be known by Her. We can enter into mystical communion with Her as we move through the natural cycle of death and renewal that is guided by Her hand.
While I have no declared priestesshood for Nuet, She draws me. A lot. In fact, almost anytime I do spiritual work with Her, I am overawed by Her Eternity, Her Depth, Her Beauty, and I want to lose myself in Her.
Nuet is the mother of Isis. And She is also the One Who Bears All the Gods and Goddesses, and so She is called the Mistress of All. She is the Splendid and Mighty One in the House of Her Creation. She is the Great One in Heaven and the “indestructible stars” (that is, the circumpolar stars that are always visible) are said to be in Her.
She embraces the deceased “in Her name of Sarcophagus” and “in Her name of Tomb.” She is the Mistress of the Duat (the Otherworld). She is the Glowing One (as the Milky Way) and in Her we are joined to our stars, Becoming divine. She is the one Who gives birth to us and Who welcomes us back into Her starry body at our deaths. She is Heaven and She is the Otherworld. She is the one Who is “Amid the Iset Temple in Denderah” for She is over Her daughter Isis and Her daughter is both in and of Her.
As Nuet gives birth every day, She is the quintessential Mother Goddess. She births the Sun God Re each day and receives him back into Her body, by swallowing Him, each night. She also gives birth to Him yearly at the winter solstice. A cycle within a cycle within the Mother.
The decan stars, by which the ancient Egyptians kept time throughout the night, rise and set within Her heavenly body and so She is also a keeper and regulator of time. In one instance of what Egyptologists refer to as a “shadow clock,” the Hours of the Night are counted off in relation to where the sun is on/in Nuet’s body: First Hour, “hand,” Second Hour, “lip.” Third Hour, “tooth,” Fourth Hour, “throat,” and so on.
Most ancient Egyptian painted representations of Deities show Them in profile. Yet there are a few Who come to us face-forward. The Great Goddess Hathor is famously depicted that way, as is Bes, the God Who is a protector of households, children, and mothers. Interestingly, we also find Nuet shown in this way. Like Hathor, She is a Mother Goddess and like Bes, She is a mighty protectress.
We often find Her on the inside of a coffin, stretched out over the deceased person like the sky, positioned face-to-face with them. This face-forward, face-to-face position is particularly intimate, particularly appropriate for the close relationship with a mother…or a Mother Goddess. Yet facing forward is also a protective stance. We see some of these face-forward Deities holding dangerous beasties (scorpions, snakes, crocodiles) harmlessly in Their hands, demonstrating how They can protect us from real as well as metaphorical beasties. Isis’ son, Horus the Child or Harpokrates, is often shown in this way on what are known as Cippi of Horus.
Nuet has another interesting epithet that is found in the Otherworld books known as The Book of Caverns and the Book of the Earth. Just like the more-famous Book of the Dead, these are magical texts to assist the dead in the Otherworld.
In these books, there is an important Goddess known as the Secret One, the Shetait. Egyptologists generally believe that this is an epithet of Nuet. As the Secret One, Nuet can be seen, not face-forward, but standing between serpents and crocodiles that She has tamed on behalf of the Sun God (and thus the deceased). Her power over them is in the form of heat or fire. They “stay in their place due to the fire, the heat which is in this Goddess,” says the Book of the Earth. The Book of Caverns says that the Goddess “is secret of form, being in their darkness as a flame to which the gods cannot ascend.” She is thus a fiery Light in the Darkness, a flame that protects and illuminates.
And now, back from Egypt, I’m excited to have my very own photos of the illustration above. You should have heard me squeal when I recognized it in the tomb! Here it is:
The Secret One holds in Her hands a sun disk and, in this case, a ram-headed God, or sometimes a ba-bird. Either represents the Sun God, Who is in the process of being regenerated and reborn. Thus, the Secret One holds this process in Her hands.
The Book of Caverns tells us that the Secret One’s head is in the upper Duat while Her feet are in the lower Duat. The Sun God travels upon Her arms, but at the same time is hidden by Her from the Gods, the akhu (the transfigured, light-filled, potent spirits), and the dead. The process of rebirth is delicate and must be hidden until the proper time. In the Book of the Earth, it is said that “the Double Ba, He travels Her body.” The Double Ba is the conjunction of Re and Osiris—something that must also happen in the Duat in order for the sun to be reborn.
In Her Name of Sarcophagus, Nuet spreads Herself out over the deceased and then She is called Shet Pet. Shet Pet is a common epithet of Nuet’s and means “Coverer of the Sky.” With a little bit of the word play for which the ancient Egyptians were so well known, this epithet can also be interpreted as the Secrecy of the Sky (Sheta Pet) reinforcing Nuet’s identification as the Secret One.
With Her doubled snakes and containing the Double Ba, Nuet can also split Herself in two and become manifest as Her two daughters, Isis and Nephthys. Just as Nuet unites the east and west with the arch or Her body across the sky, so Her daughters form a unity as They position Themselves to the right and left of Osiris or They are to be found framing either side of one of the illustrated scenes in the Otherworld books.
The Secret One is, for me, a particularly potent epithet of the Goddess. It tastes of Her Mystery, the great Mystery of Life and Death and Rebirth. It speaks of Her Eternity. It breaths forth Her Depth and Her Power.
Those of you of a Kemetic bent already know that the ancient Egyptian New Year began with the predawn rising of the Star of Isis, Sirius, in mid to late summer. After a long absence, this summertime rising marked both the start of the New Year and the coming of the all-important Nile flood.
But there is another time in the year that the Beautiful Star of the Beautiful Goddess is most prominent. And I would argue that it is then that She is even more glorious than during Her summer heliacal rising.
That time is right now. At our own modern New Year.
Sirius is even more breathtaking now because we can see Her illuminating the nighttime sky for much longer. In summer, we get only a brief glimpse of Her light just before dawn—and then Her starlight disappears in the greater light of the rising sun. But now, ah now, those of us in the northern hemisphere can bathe in Her starlight all night long. (In the southern hemisphere, Sirius is best viewed in summer.)
But there’s yet another wonderful Mystery. At midnight tonight—as we ring in the New Year—Sirius reaches its highest point in the night sky. She will be high overhead at midnight on New Year’s Eve. And so we are completely justified in claiming Sirius as our star of the New Year, too, just as She was for the ancient Egyptians.
I utterly and completely love this fact.
Of course, Sirius continues to dominate the night sky throughout the winter months, so tonight isn’t your only opportunity to admire Her. As a devotee of Isis, I take it as a sacred duty to spend at least some time during the winter observing the beauty of the star of the Goddess in the night sky and offering Her the praise of my heart.
If you’d like to join me, look to the east-southeast after sunset. See that diamond-like star near the horizon? That’s Her. No other star in the belly of Nuet can match Her for brilliance (in fact, the second brightest star is only half as bright as Sirius). And of course, if you continue lifting your gaze upwards, you will see the constellation of Orion, which the Egyptians associated with Osiris, the Beloved of Isis. As the night goes on, She rises higher into the sky, until at midnight, She reaches Her highest point.
If you have access to a telescope, O please, please do use it to look at Her, especially when She is near the horizon. The Goddess flashes with green, blue, pink, and white starlight.
To acknowledge the Goddess’ ancient connection with Her star, some shrines and temples of Isis, including the small Isis temple at Ptolemaic-era Denderah, were oriented towards Sopdet, the Egyptian name of the star.
The location of Sirius in the Canis Major constellation, as well as Her ancient association with Anubis, connects Isis with canines. In a second-century aretalogy (self-statement) from Kyme in modern Turkey, Isis says of Herself, “I am She that riseth in the Dog Star.”
Just as Orion the hunter is inseparable from his hunting hound, so the Egyptians saw a connection between the constellation they called Sah (Orion) and the most brilliant star in the heavens, Sopdet. Sah could be identified with Osiris Himself or considered to be His Ba, or Divine manifestation, just as Sirius could be Isis’ manifestation. As Orion rises before Sirius, you can see the ancient myth of Isis searching for Her lost husband played out before you as the constellation Orion appears to move through the sky ahead of the Beautiful Star.
I hope the skies where you are are much clearer than our cloudy Portland skies. While I probably won’t be able to see Her myself tonight, that doesn’t mean She isn’t there.
She is always there. Even if we can’t always see Her.
May your New Year be prosperous, beautiful, deep, and renewing. Amma, Iset.
I am terrible with memories. I don’t mean my memory is bad. I mean I don’t honor ‘things past’ enough. I don’t take many pictures (and certainly not of myself). I tend not to care for traditional souvenirs. And I definitely have the “get rid of it” gene (which my beloved does not). In my defense, I don’t generally dwell on past wrongs either.
But I do keep magical journals. And semi-recently came across an old one. There were memories in it.
When I keep journals, I don’t record everything all the time (good Goddess, the paper trail would never end!). Usually, I keep them during periods when I’m doing a lot of intensive magical work. This particular journal, as I have said, is old. I mean really old. Like “before the fire” old. Yes, of course, you don’t know what I mean.
Before we moved to the Pacific Northwest, we lived in an apartment in Tennessee. One night the complex caught on fire. Neighbors knocked on neighbors’ doors, telling them to get up and get out. We grabbed the cat and the insurance papers and got out. The next day, with the fire quenched, we were able to go back to survey the damage. It had been a weird fire. Things like our stereo system were completely and utterly incinerated. Things like our irreplaceable magical papers (papers, mind you!) were saved. This journal was among them. I can tell from the singed edges.
So I thought I’d sit down and read it. There was lots of visionary work pertaining to a magical system I was training in. But every now and then, there were entries about Isis. This was before I knew very much about Her, before I became Her priestess, and way before Isis Magic. Yet I clearly had been working with Her (or She was working with me).
One entry reads, “I have had a very strong Isis connection since my dream the other night.” That dream was not recorded, but a vision was. I was working on love and acceptance. For the vision, I called on Isis to touch me and help me let Her love of humanity come through me. I sensed Her great, but gentle hand descend from above. She placed it on top of my head. Waves of Her not-quite-orgasmic love passed though me and out into the world. I describe that flow of energy, then write, “I again saw the bright, bright, blue glowing lotus.” It had been so bright that I couldn’t tell one petal from another; eventually, the lotus-light enveloped me. I conclude, “I am feeling very worshipful of Great Isis.”
I see myself falling in love with Her through this journal.
Another entry says, “A most wondrous dream! A prayer answered!” Apparently, my beloved was snoring, so I took my bedding and went into our temple room to sleep. I was overcome with a desire to know, truly know, that Isis was with me. I write that it was “a demanding, revealing need” for Her presence. I prayed to Her “more emotionally than ever before” to send a dream to let me know She was with me. I chanted Her name for a while, then slept.
“A few hours later,” I write, “I came from a full, deep sleep to awake with loud sobbing from happiness and amazement.” (My sobbing.) Due to the abrupt awakening, I lost part of the dream. But the actual content of the dream wasn’t the point. The point was that, in the dream, the resolution to a dream-problem happened by a miracle. By Her miracle. And it made me so happy that I woke up crying with joy. And I again saw the blue lotus flower.
I remember this event. The details are a bit fuzzy now, but I vividly remember the visionary blue lotus. I could see it anytime I closed my eyes with crystal clarity instead of the vague dreaminess that vision often has. “I must look up lotus symbolism and I must make a blue lotus talisman,” I wrote. See how much I didn’t know then? Another entry says simply, “I love Her.” And now you know why the Isis temple in my backyard is called the Lotus Temple.
Next, I found an entry that I had marked IMPORTANT with a drawing of a star, a lotus, and a sickle on top. I wrote, “In the dark month of February, on the 15th of the month, with the moon waning in Capricorn, I have taken and been taken by Isis in Her Black Aspect as my Lady, my personal Goddess.” But this wasn’t when I became Her priestess; that was long in the future then. This was my forming a true bond with Her, a bond that will last my entire life. She became “my” Goddess, I became Her devotee. This is when I really began learning about Her.
There is, of course, more in this journal. I see my own inner struggles, doubts, fears, angers, and depression. But this particular record is incomplete. These are loose-leaf pages without a binder…and it seems that some are missing. After we moved to Portland, I began buying blank-but-bound books for my journals. The next one—which I am still writing in—starts with the time when I actually did become Isis’ priestess. In this journal, I can see that I am working out the magic part for what will eventually become Isis Magic.
But I think I have regaled you with quite enough of my journal entries for now. And I have learned my lesson that I should better value memories and keepsakes. Perhaps you will do some magical work with Isis yourself today? After all, your story will be a much better tale—because it will be yours. Just don’t forget to write in your journal.
Here in the famously cloudy Pacific Northwest, I find myself thinking of a hot bowl of soup and a slice, well buttered, of bread. So today, I write today in honor of bread—both as a worthy offering to Isis and Her Divine family and as a powerful symbol of transformation.
Indeed, the offering tables of ancient Egypt fairly groaned beneath the weight of loaves of offered bread. In tomb paintings you can see them, baked into neat, conical or oval shapes and piled high upon the altars. “Thousands of loaves” were promised to Deities and deceased pharaohs. Excavations have shown that actual loaves of bread were among the grave goods of kings and commoners alike. In the Book of Coming Forth by Day, the deceased declares he will live on the bread of the Goddesses and Gods.
As in so many places in the world, bread in ancient Egypt was a basic, even archetypal, food and the grain from which it was made, an essential, as well as symbolic, food crop. To the ancient Egyptians, a loaf of bread came to symbolize all types of food offerings and all good things.
Both Isis and Osiris are strongly connected with bread and the grain from which it is made. A number of Isis’ epithets attest to this. She is the Lady of Bread and Beer, Lady of Green Crops, Goddess of the Fertility of the Field, and the Lady of Abundance. (And by “bread and beer” the Egyptians meant more than just a sandwich wrapper and a drink. The phrase meant every good thing; Egyptians would even greet each other by saying, “bread and beer,” thus wishing each other prosperity.)
For Osiris’ part, like so many Gods, He is identified with the cycle of the living and dying grain. The Coffin Texts connect Osiris and grain with immortality: “I am Osiris . . . I live and grow as Neper [“Corn” or “Grain”], whom the august gods bring forth that I may cover Geb [the earth], whether I be alive or dead. I am barley, I am not destroyed.” The texts also tell us that the deceased, identified with Osiris as the Divine grain, nourishes the common people, makes the Gods Divine, and “spiritualizes” the spirits. Thus bread and grain are more than just bodily sustenance; they are spiritual sustenance as well.
Temple walls show grain growing out of the body of the dead Osiris while His soul hovers above the stalks. But it is not enough that the grain sprouts and grows. It must also be transformed so that Osiris Himself may also be transformed. And, as in the main Isis and Osiris myth, the Goddess is the one Who transforms the God. In the myth, She does this by reassembling His body and fanning life into Him with Her wings. Using the grain metaphor, Isis becomes the Divine Baker Who transforms the raw grain into the risen and nourishing bread. In the Book of Coming Forth by Day, the deceased person asks for a funeral meal of “the cake that Isis baked in the presence of the Great God.”
As a symbol of transformation and ongoing life, grain has magical properties. Some of the funerary texts have the deceased rubbing her body with barley and emmer wheat in order to partake of these magically transforming properties.
In several temples where important festivals of Osiris were held, the priests made a complex form of bread, called Divine Bread, that was molded in the shape of Osiris. (In fact, the ancient Egyptians were quite adept at using molds to bake bread in a variety of shapes and forms.) The Osirian Divine Bread was made from grain and a special paste consisting of ingredients such as Nile mud, dates, frankincense, fresh myrrh, 12 spices with magical properties, 24 precious gems, and water.
At Denderah, this Divine Bread was modeled into the shapes of the pieces of the body of Osiris and sent to the various cities in which Isis was said to have enshrined them.
At Mendes (which is where, we must note, the phallus of Osiris was enshrined), a sacred marriage was part of the Osirian celebrations. It took place between the Goddess Shontet, a form of Isis, and Osiris as the grain. In the Goddess’ holy of holies, Her sacred statue was unclothed and grain was strewn on a special bed before Her. After allowing some time for the Goddess and God to unite, the grain was gathered up, then wrapped in cloth, watered, and used to model a full-body figure of Osiris Khenti-Amenti (“Osiris, Chief of the West,” that is, the Land of the Dead). Finally, Osiris the Divine Bread was buried with full ceremony, including a priestess who took the role of Isis to mourn Him and work the transforming magic of the Goddess.
Several ancient writers describe an entirely different type of bread also associated with Isis. It is lotus bread. According to Herodotus, the Egyptians who lived in the Delta gathered the lotuses that grow profusely there. They dried the centers containing the seeds then pounded them into flour that was made into bread. Lotus-seed bread was made from both the white and the blue water lilies. The lily rhizomes were also used; they were dried, then ground into flour for bread making—though the rhizome version was likely to have been less palatable than the seed bread. In Diodorus’ account of Egyptian prehistory, he mentions that lotus bread was one of the Egyptian subsistence foods and that the “discovery of these is attributed by some to Isis.”
Isis is the Lady of Abundance Who gives us the bread of earthly life; and She is the Divine Baker Who makes the magical bread that gives us eternal life. She is the Goddess Who regenerates the Grain God as She guides the transformation of Her Beloved from the threshed grain into the ever-living Green God Osiris. She is the Goddess of Divine Bread Who feeds our bodies and souls and Her sacred bread is a pleasing offering to Isis, Goddess of Transformation.
Let’s get baking!
Hello, Isiacs!
No new post this Sunday as I am off in the wilds of Ffynnon celebrating the Rites, Devotions, and Mysteries of Hekate for Fall Equinox.
Many blessings of the Equinox to all of you and I’ll see you next time.
In the meantime, here’s a brief video of The Opening of the Ways:
As we approach the time when night and day, moon and sun come into a brief and beautiful balance, let’s talk about Isis’ lunar and solar natures.
Many modern people first think of Isis as a Moon Goddess. And, it’s true, in later periods of Her worship, She was indeed associated with the moon—and, in fact, that’s how She entered the Western Esoteric Tradition. Yet, this Isis-moon connection isn’t all that new. It first started when Egypt came under Greek rule in the 3rd century BCE, following the conquest by Alexander the Great. To the Greeks, Goddesses were the lunar Deities, so as Isis made Her way into Greek culture and hearts, Her new devotees naturally associated Her with the moon.
But in Egypt, Osiris, Khons, Thoth, and I’ah were the Deities most associated with the moon. Isis, for Her part, was connected with the star Sirius as far back as the Pyramid Texts; the star was said to be Her ba, or soul. Yet Isis is also linked with the sun.
As the Sun was the image of one of the most important Gods to the ancient Egyptians, it should not be surprising to find that Isis, one of the most important Goddesses, also has strong solar connections. In some places—notably, Her famous temple at Philae—Isis was worshipped specifically as a Sun Goddess. Among Her solar epithets are Female Re (Re-et) and Female Horus (Horet).
Isis’ most common solar manifestation is as the Eye of Re, the Uraeus, the Cobra Goddess Who coils upon the Sun God’s brow to protect Him; and Who fights a constant cosmic battle against His great opponent, Apop (Gr. Apophis). An inscription at Philae calls Isis “Neseret [fiery]-serpent on the head of Horus-Re, Eye of Re, the Unique Goddess, Uraeus.” A hymn from Philae calls Her “Eye of Re who has no equal in heaven and on earth.” The Eye of Re is His active power. While He maintains His place in the sky, the solar power—the Eye Goddess—goes forth to manifest His Divine will. In this way, Isis and the other Uraeus Goddesses (such as Nephthys, Wadjet, and Tefnut) are similar to Shakti, the active, feminine Power related to the God Shiva in some Hindu sects. Isis is also one of the Deities Who travels with Re in His solar barque as it moves through the Otherworld. Again, Her function is to protect Him and help battle His foes.
Isis is also associated with the Sun God and the Sun in several of Her important myths. In the tale of Isis and Re, Isis gains power equal to Re’s by learning His secret name, first by poisoning, then by healing the ailing God. In another, with Her magical Words of Power, Isis stops the Boat of the Sun in the sky in order to receive aid for Her poisoned child, Horus.
But it was at Isis’ influential temple at Philae that She was most clearly worshiped as a Sun Goddess and even as the Sun itself. A Philae hymn to Isis praises Her saying, “You are the one who rises and dispels darkness, shining when traversing the primeval ocean, the Brilliant One in the celestial waters, traveling in the barque of Re.” An inscription on the first pylon (gate) at Philae says Isis is the “One Who illumines the Two Lands with Her radiance, and fills the earth with gold-dust.” (Blissful sigh. I absolutely adore this praise of Her…She fills the earth with gold dust.)
Like many other Egyptian Deities, Isis was often envisioned with immortal, golden, solar skin. Some of Her sacred images would have been covered with gold, earning Her, like Hathor, the epithets The Gold and the Golden One. A Philae hymn addresses Her, “O Golden One; Re, the possessor of the Two Lands, will never be far from you.” Some scholars believe that the holy of holies at Philae may have once been gold-leafed so that it always appeared filled with golden, solar light. Wow; to bathe in Her gold dust there!
At Her Philae temple, Isis is first of those in heaven: “Hail to you, Isis, Great of Magic, eldest in the womb of her mother, Nuet, Mighty in Heaven Before Re.” She is the “Sun Goddess in the circuit of the sun disk” and Her radiance outshines even that of Re. At Denderah, She is the power of the sun: “She Who shines as the Right Eye during the day,” and “She Who rises everyday.” She is also the Aten, the Solar Disk itself.
From Her great temple at Philae, Isis’ identity as a Sun Goddess flowed back up the Nile to Her temples at Memphis and Isiopolis in the delta. From there, it entered into the Graeco-Roman culture in the famous aretalogies (self-statements) of Isis. From a papyrus found in Oxyrhynchus, Egypt, we learn that one of Isis’ many names is Name of the Sun and that She is responsible for the rising of the Sun: “Thou [Isis] bringest the sun from rising unto setting, and all the Gods are glad.” In an aretalogy from Kyme, in modern Turkey, Isis says of Herself, “I ordered the course of the sun and the moon.” And later in the same text She says, “I am in the rays of the sun” and “I inspect the courses of the sun.”
Yet even in Egypt itself, Isis is known to rule both sun and moon. An inscription from Denderah calls Her “the great female Ra in the dual course of the sun and the moon.” She gives birth to the Sun God and His Solar Disk, according to inscriptions now in the British Museum and the temple of Esna.
As a Great Goddess, Isis ever reveals more of Herself to Her devotees. We can see Her in the golden sun and in the silver moon…and of course, in diamond starlight, too.
For me, there are two things that make August wonderful, here in Portland, Oregon. One of them is all the produce that I can go pick on Sauvie’s Island, fresh from the farmers’ fields. (My countertops are full of peaches and tomatoes right now and peppers are on the way.) The other—and the more important for us local Isiacs—is the heliacal rising of the Star of Isis, Sirius.
While everything else starts to crisp in the late-summer heat, I am refreshed in the cool morning of Her rising power.
Now some of you may be saying, “wait, wait, I thought that happens in July.” It could. When you are able to see Her heliacal (“before the sun”) rising depends on where on this globe you are.
Here in Portland, Oregon in 2023, Sirius rises at 4:31 in the morning, Local Solar Time, on August 23rd. Further south, She rises earlier. It all depends on your latitude. You can calculate Her rising in your area with this online calculator. The calculator results are in Local Solar Time. It gives you star rise and sun rise in LST.
There is some difference between clock time and Local Solar Time. But check the time of sunrise locally and you can work backward from there. In my case, I’ll want to be at my point of observation about 5:30 in the morning, about an hour before local sunrise. And this year, for once, it may be clear enough to see Her rise.
While Isis has connections to both the sun and the moon, the heavenly body in which I most easily see Her is the star, Her star: Sirius (Sopdet in Egyptian, Sothis in Greek). 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.
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 you may not know about; 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.
Overall, Egyptian temples have a variety of orientations. A survey of temples taken between 2004 and 2008—that actually went to the temples in Egypt and measured the orientation—showed that most temples were oriented so that the main entrance 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 of course 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 (1580-1550 BCE) 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.
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 since 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 Sopdet” and ”wab-priest of the five living stars” (the planets) and “chief magician of the King of Kush.” This is from an inscription on Isis’ temple at Philae dating to about 227 CE. It 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 study revealed that most Kushite temples and pyramids were oriented either to the winter solstice sunrise or the rise of Sirius.
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 associated 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. Isn’t that interesting?
If you are, as I am, feeling the anticipation of Her rising later this month, you might like to do some ritual. The Opening of the Ways is always good. You could use it as an invitation to Her. Or try a simple meditation, allowing yourself to yearn for Her coming. Waiting for Her and wanting Her is sometimes a very good exercise. You might set out a vessel of water (a shiny silver one is nice) on the night of Her rising, let it be charged with that rising energy in the dawn, then use it as part of your holy water for purification. I have just such star water that I use waiting in my shrine right now.
Last time, we talked about the Egyptian ba—very loosely translated as the soul. When represented in tombs, the ba is shown as a human-headed bird, often a falcon or hawk, and bearing the face of the person to whom it belongs.
With their power of flight, birds have always been magical creatures to us flightless human beings. Not only in Egypt, but in many cultures throughout the world, birds of various types have been associated with death and the afterlife. In some cases, birds (especially the owl) are seen as harbingers of death. Sometimes, birds are psychopomps, guides of the dead, showing the newly-disembodied human soul or spirit the correct path to the Otherworld. Researchers have suggested that the concept of birds as spirits of the dead that have returned to earth is almost universal.
But more often than being harbingers of death, birds are associated with the idea of transcendence and rebirth, as they decidedly were in ancient Egypt. The innermost coffin was sometimes referred to as “the egg,” so you can see the power of this idea almost immediately. In the funerary literature, we also find birds in connection with the so-called “transformation” spells, which are designated in the texts by the verb kheper, “to become.” So once again, we come to that important word.
As you already know, our Goddess Isis is often depicted in birdform. She is the hawk, falcon, kestral, or swallow protecting the body of Osiris, and thus all the dead, with Her powerful wings. But sometimes, She is also shown as a human-headed falcon. In this case, we are being shown Her powerful ba kheper. If you recall last week’s post, you’ll remember that in the earliest Egyptian records, the ba is a Divine Force. That Divine Force is what we are intended to see when we find Isis in this form. It is Her Great Ba that is with us.
From an inscription at Denderah, we are told that Isis is “She Whose Ba (-Power) is Great” and “She Whose Ba is Great Among the Gods,” and even “She Whose Ba is Greater Than All the Gods.” Human beings recognize the power of Her ba: “those on earth bow to Her Ba.” (And, it is often the ba of the Deity that was understood to inhabit the Deity’s sacred image; sometimes the ka, too, but mostly the ba.)
Isis is also among the Great Goddesses Who are called Ba-et Goddesses. As a Ba-et Goddess, Isis’ ba-power is understood to be exceptionally powerful among the bau (plural) of all the other Deities. Isis is “She Who is More Mighty (Ba-et) than the Gods.” She is especially powerful in the sky: She is “The Mighty One (Ba-et) in the Sky,” “The Mighty One in the West and the East,” and She is “The Mighty One of the Bau Souls.”
This last title likely refers to Isis’ status among the Deities—a Great Ba among Great Bau. But I wonder if we might also take it as a reference to Her care of the human bau, souls, who are under Her wings.
It is Isis Who initiates the human ba into its new, transformed existence without the living body of the deceased. She is the Lady of All in the Secret Place—the Otherworld—and She is asked by the deceased in the Coffin Texts to, “spiritualize me, O You who split open my mouth for me and Who guide my soul on the paths of the Otherworld.” We are told that “Isis rejoices when She sees you (the deceased)” in the Otherworld and reciprocally, that the dead (as Osiris) rejoice when they see Her, for they know they can count on Her help in their renewal.
Isis also bestows upon the deceased power and awe so that enemies of the deceased are easily fended off. The dead are told that they are possessors of “the fear (awe or power) that went forth from Isis to Horus.” While the texts do not explicitly say so, it seems to me that Isis may have endowed the deceased with some of Her powerful and “awe-full” ba-power. In another Coffin Text, the deceased is told that “the power of Isis is your strength” and that the dead one is “more spirit (akh)-like and more soul (ba)-like” than the Southern or Northern Gods.
Isis’ concern with souls continued as Her worship entered the Graeco-Roman world. She becomes known as a Mystery Goddess—and the Mysteries were always about the Mysteries of death, rebirth, and often, the saving of souls. In Isis’ famous Mysteries, initiates learned what lay before them in the afterlife so that they lost their fear of death and could live more fulfilling lives on earth. In fact, Isis was specifically known as a Savior Goddess, which not only pertains to Her ability to initiate our souls into the Mysteries of Death and Rebirth, but also to Her saving grace in our day-to-day lives.
In a Hermetic treatise, the Kore Kosmou (“Virgin of the Universe”), Isis continued to be associated with souls. (Read more about the Kore Kosmou here, and here, and here.)
In this text, Isis describes for Horus how human souls were created and how She and Osiris devised the “magic of the prophet-priests” so that our souls could be nurtured by philosophy and our bodies could be healed by the magical arts. Other Hermetic texts depict Isis teaching about reincarnation and the true nature of our souls.
From the earliest to the latest periods, Isis has been the Lady of Souls. She has, and is, an extremely powerful ba Herself and always, always maintains Her concern with and knowledge of souls.
To Isis, a Veil
En Iset, Behen
This is a gift I bring before Isis the Hidden One, Who, Revealing Herself, Shakes Destiny: an invocation offering of a veil.
For You, Isis, a hiding, a hint, a whisper, an obscuration, a veil.
From behind it, may You send revelations into my sleep. Dreaming, I understand the inner voice and vision; I coax truth from my heart. Yet upon waking, the veil is torn asunder and I only half remember that which was so potent while I lay beneath Your veil.
O, but I adore Your mystery, Your obscurity, the crooked finger of Your concealing veil! Yes, Goddess, yes—veil Yourself in the depths of the indigo sky, in a blue-green blade of grass, in fire, in eyeshine in the darkness. For I could not bear the full brunt of Your beauty!
Draw me on with insinuations. Call to me with half-answered questions. Lead me with unknowns. And I shall ever follow, carrying the train of Your not-quite-translucent veil, hoping for another brief glimpse of You, beneath it.
Listen, O Isis, to the words of the Veil: “I am offered unto Isis as a kindness to mortals for I am their shield against the awe of the Goddess. Woven of darkness and daylight, the Cosmos itself is the loom upon which I was made. All things are connected to me in warp and woof. Tayet Herself, the Weaver, has made me, a perfect thing. I am the Uniting Mystery Never Quite Revealed. I am the Veil of Isis.”
Unto You, Isis, I offer this veil and all things beautiful and pure. M’den, Iset. Accept it, Isis.
The Veil of the Goddess
The phrase “the Veil of Isis” is so common that we might not question where it came from. But perhaps we should. For one thing, ancient Egyptian women generally weren’t veiled so it would be odd to see a Goddess depicted so. Oh, there were headdresses aplenty, but not concealing veils.*
By Ptolemaic times, under Greek influence, we do see veils as head coverings come into use, though they seem more decorative than anything else. Both Greek and Roman images of Isis often include a veil covering the back of the head and hair.
The phrase, Veil of Isis, comes to us from our Greek friend, Plutarch in his essay On Isis and Osiris. In it, he is talking about Egyptian Mysteries. He tells his readers that when the new pharaoh was crowned, he become privy to hidden Egyptian philosophy and notes that the Egyptians’ knowledge of their Deities “holds a mysterious wisdom.” To illustrate his point, he notes a certain seated statue of the Goddess of the Egyptian city of Sais. He says She is Athena “whom they [the Egyptians] consider to be Isis also.” She would, of course, be Neith, the Lady of Sais, Who was indeed assimilated to both Athena and Isis.
The statue bore an inscription: “I am all that was, and is, and shall be, and no mortal hath ever Me unveiled.” It speaks to the all-encompassing power and mystery of the Goddess.
If there was such an image, we have not yet found it. Since Plutarch was writing in the 2nd century CE and the Ptolemies came in long before that, about 300 BCE, it is possible that the image of Neith-Athena-Isis could have been veiled—at least with the decorative-type veil we see in images of some Ptolemaic queens.
Proclus, a Greek philosopher writing in the 5th century CE, also quotes the inscription and adds another line: “The fruit that I have brought forth the Sun has generated.” He doesn’t mention Isis, but rather Neith-Athena and speaks in terms of the Goddess being involved in creation processes, both visible and invisible.
There are a few other ancient references to the veil of Isis. The Greco-Egyptian magical papyri refer to it on several occasions. In one, the magician invokes Isis and asks Her to remove Her veil in order to reveal the future and “shake destiny.” By revealing the Mysteries beneath Her veil, the magician hoped that the Goddess Who was worshiped as Lady of Fate and Fortune could not only predict, but could change or “shake” destiny.
Even after the end of the open worship of the Pagan Deities in the Mediterranean, Plutarch and other Greek philosophers continued to be studied. Because of Plutarch’s mention of the inscription in relation to Isis, the idea of the veil of Isis formulated more and more strongly and eventually passed into the annals of the Western Esoteric Tradition. The unveiling of the Goddess became a symbol of the revelation of esoteric secrets, sometimes specifically the revelation of Egyptian secrets.
European esotericists of many kinds came to use the metaphor of the Veil of Isis for the hiding or revealing of their own secrets. By this time, Isis was identified with the Goddess Nature, Who hides Her secrets from those who seek to understand Her.
This idea was particularly important to the alchemists who sought to uncover Nature’s secrets—She Who is Isis and Venus and Ephesian Artemis and the Anima Mundi (World Soul). Freemasons took up the idea of a veiled Isis keeping their own secrets and some even found Egyptian antecedents in their rituals.
The Romantic movement, which rejected what they considered the coldness of the Enlightenment, preferring emotion and imagination, was also developing at this time. For Romantics, Isis’ veil concealed not just the scientific secrets of Nature, but a deeper, unexplainable Mystery that is, at the same time, Ultimate Truth.
Philosophers took up the metaphor as well. Immanuel Kant said of the Saite inscription: “Perhaps no one has said anything more sublime, or expressed a thought more sublimely, than in that inscription on the temple of Isis (Mother Nature).” Influenced by Kant, the physician, playwright, poet, and philosopher Friedrich Schiller (what a guy!) tells a tale in which a young initiate rashly removes the Veil from a sacred image of Isis and is found nearly dead the next morning by the wiser priests; apparently, the secret was just too much for him.
Following in those mysterious footsteps, Helena Blavatsky’s 1877 book, Isis Unveiled, is a compendium of occult lore that purports to draw aside the veil of the Goddess for its readers. It continues to influence occultists to this day.
As a metaphor, the Veil of Isis was ubiquitous for centuries. Alchemists, magicians, freemasons, philosophers, scientists, poets, novelists, and visual artists all desired to life Isis’ Veil to discover the deepest secrets and truths, truths about Nature and truths about human beings in Nature.
This post barely scratches the surface of the many ways and places people were inspired by the veil of the Goddess. I’ve expressed some of my thoughts in the Offering at the beginning of this post. What is the Veil of Isis for you?
* It is possible to see the daily opening and closing of the shrines that held the sacred images of the Egyptian Deities as a kind of unveiling and veiling of the images.
We’re not quite there yet, but I thought you might like to have this small rite early in case you’d like to find a special outdoor place to celebrate the coming solstice.
In Egypt, about 3000 BCE, at the latitude of ancient Memphis, the summer solstice coincided with the heliacal rising of Sirius, the star of Isis, the beginning of the all-important inundation, and the coming of the new year. It was a time of joy as people anticipated the coming harvest and other blessings from the Divine Ones.
In this rite, we celebrate with gratitude the fullness of summer in the dawning light of our closest star, the sun. Yet we also know that the ba of Isis—in Her holy star Sirius—is also present with us, though still unseen by most of us in the northern hemisphere.
And, of course, Isis is a Sun Goddess, too.
Stuff You’ll Need
For this rite, you’ll need Nile water and a vessel, a flowery incense and something to safely burn it in, your sistrum, and a ripe avocado or sweet, juicy fruit like a peach, and something to cut it with. You’ll be eating the fruit in offering communion with Her, so make it something you like.
Your Temple Space
Ideally, this is an outdoor space where you can see the sun rise on summer solstice. Make sure you arrive before sunrise. If not possible, you can also do this indoors, visualizing the sunrise.
Arising
Rattle your sistrum softly at your heart. As you see the sun rise, stand and open your arms like the wings of Isis.
Ritualist: (Vibrating softly) ISET-RE, ISET-SOPDET! (Speaking softly) I welcome You with open heart into Your abode (moving your hands to cross upon your heart).
Purifying the Heart
Pour the Nile water into the vessel. Sprinkle water upon your own body, paying special attention to your heart.
Ritualist: Purify, purify, purify, purify! I am purified by the Mother of Rivers, the Lady of the Living Waters. Into Her care I release al pain, all anger, all frustration, all regret—all the sorrows of my heart. (Breathe deeply and repeat until you feel that it is so.)
The temple of my heart is made new, purified and opened unto Isis, the Lady of Abundance.
Awakening the Heart
Take up the sistrum again, light the incense. Rattling the sistrum softly at your heart (so much the better if you can feel the vibrations of the sistrum), say,
Ritualist: In the name of Isis-Re, in the name of Isis-Sothis, my heart awakens. (Breathe deeply and repeat until you feel that it is so.)
Be seated comfortably. Now listen and hear. Listen to the dawn and find the heartbeat of the Great Goddess Isis. Her noble heart beats all around you. In the awakening song of birds. In the wind moving through grass and trees. In the waters. In the deep earth.
Find the heartbeat of Isis.
Now, touch a pulse point on your own body and find your heartbeat.
Attune your heartbeat to Hers, slowing or speeding up as needed. (Just do the best you can; it doesn’t have to be perfect.)
Ritualist: (Speaking softly to yourself and to the Goddess) Iset Ib, my heart’s desire. Her heart. My heart.
I am aware in my heart. I am in power in my heart. I am aware and in power in my heart, which is the heart given to me by my mother (stating the name of your human mother)—and by my Great Mother Isis.
Iset Ib, my heart’s desire. Her heart. My heart.
I am intelligent in my heart. I am compassionate in my heart. I am intelligent and compassionate in my heart, which is the heart which drums in rhythm with the heart of Great Isis.
Iset Ib, my heart’s desire. Her heart. My heart.
I am alive in my heart. I am full in my heart. I am alive and full in my heart, the center of all Being, the beginning of all Becoming. I am alive and full in my heart, and my heart knows all the joys and pleasures of my life.
In the fullness of my Being, I am Becoming joyful. Isis arises—all is well. Isis comes—peace returns. I am sitting in the Throne of Abundance. Once again, I attune my human heart to Her Divine heart (pausing to do this).
Now speak aloud at least ten things for which you are grateful. If you can name more than that, do so. Let yourself feel joy, satisfaction, pleasure, or pleasant surprise as you name each thing. Take time to re-attune your heart to the Goddess’ heart between each thanksgiving. When you are finished, continue:
Ritualist: Iset Ib, my heart’s desire. Her heart. My heart. I am aware in my heart and I am grateful in my heart. You have blessed me, Isis, and I bless You. Amma, Iset. Grant that it ever be so.
Communion of the Heart of Isis
Take out the avocado (or other fruit) and look upon it.
Ritualist: This fruit is the fruit of the holy persea tree, sacred unto Isis. It is the fruit of the tree from between whose branches rises the Soul of Isis—Sothis—and the Face of Isis—the Sun. The wise say that the sacred persea bears the Heart of Isis (elevating fruit), therefore when I hold this persea fruit in my hands, I hold the Heart of the Goddess. Rich and sweet, the persea fruit is indeed the Heart of the Beautiful One, the Heart of Abundant Summer.
Cut the fruit into five pieces and lay them upon the altar like the five-rayed Star of Isis.
Ritualist: O Isis-Re, O Isis-Sothis, You shared with me Your sacred heart (eating one piece of fruit). Spirit is joined to spirit (eating another piece of fruit). Mind is joined to mind (eating another piece of fruit). Soul is joined to soul (eating another piece of fruit). Body is joined to body (eating the last piece of fruit). Heart joined to heart (crossing your hands over your heart).
Closing
Take up the sistrum and, beginning at your heart, rattle it in the four directions, above you and below you.
Ritualist: O Isis, You have filled my heart. You are indeed the Lady of Abundance.
Take up the vessel of water. Holding it at your heart, sprinkle water in the four directions, above you and below you.
Ritualist: O Isis, I ask that my heart remain open to Your heart, this day and every day. Amma, Iset. Grant that it be so.
Face east and the rising sun and the hidden star. Open your arms like the wings of Isis, then close them over your heart. Remove all traces of your presence, then depart in peace.
NOTE: This is a shortened version of the summer solstice rite from Isis Magic. For the more complete rite, see pages 344-351 in the second edition.
How many of us were Egyptophiles from very early on in our lives, even as children? That’s true of me. You, too?
The power of ancient Egypt is magnetic, irresistible. And our Goddess Isis is perhaps THE most well known—and for some of us, most magnetic and irresistible—of the representatives of Her ancient homeland.
We are not alone in our attraction to Egypt and to Isis. We’re not alone today, and we’re not alone historically. Fascination with Egypt and devotion to Isis spread far beyond the borders of ancient Egypt. In the beginning, Isis was a local Deity. Eventually, Her worship and that of Osiris spread throughout much of Egypt. By the 5th century BCE, the Greek historian Herodotus said Theirs was the only pan-Egyptian worship. (This isn’t so, but it shows how widely their worship had spread within Egypt.)
Even during archaic times (as early as 800 BCE), we see traces of devotion, such as inscriptions or votive images, outside of Egypt. By the 4th century BCE, Isis and Her family were adopted into Nubia to the south of Egypt and Greece to the north. Then, from the beginning of Ptolemaic rule in Egypt (305-30 BCE) through the Roman Empire, devotion to Isis spread very quickly.
Due to some ancient documents we still have, we can know that the first temple of Isis was built in Greece, in the Piraeus, Athens’ port city, by the late 4th century BCE. I found an article detailing how that may have come about.
The first thing we hear of it is in a legal document that the folks who had received said document had carved in stone and set up in the Piraeus. They wanted to make sure there would be no mistake that they had proper permission. The people who had it carved were from Cyprus and they had gained permission to set up an Aphrodite sanctuary. The interesting thing for Isiacs is that they had done it on the precedent of Egyptians having built a sanctuary of Isis in the same area. The document is dated to 333/2 BCE. So this means that the formal worship of Isis was established in the Athens area sometime before 333/2 BCE. On the Greek holy island of Delos, sometime about this same period, an altar dedicated to Isis is the oldest of the inscriptions related to the Egyptian Deities.
The person who had proposed that Athens grant this permission to the Cyrians was a guy named Lycurgus who was in charge of Athenian finances, and so was quite powerful. At least one scholar has suggested that he had something of a personal interest in the previous Isian sanctuary. His grandfather, also named Lycurgus, may have been the one who proposed that the Egyptians be allowed to build their sanctuary. If it was Lycurgus senior who was connected with the Egyptians and their sanctuary, then that would put the establishment of an Isis temple at Athens about the late 5th century BCE.
However, getting foreign sanctuaries built was not an easy thing. And in fact, Lycurgus senior was thoroughly mocked for his promotion of the Egyptian Deities. He was nicknamed “Ibis” in Aristophanes’ comedy, The Birds. An ancient scribe commenting on this nickname opined that he was called that either because he was Egyptian by birth or due to “his Egyptian ways.” A fragment from another comedian pictured Lycurgus wearing a kalasiris, the long, form-fitting sheath dress of an Egyptian woman. Yet another suggests that Lycurgus might be carrying messages home to “his fellow countrymen” in Egypt.
Most scholars are pretty sure Lycurgus senior wasn’t Egyptian—and are certain that he was an Athenian citizen—but it seems that he may have indeed been an Egyptophile. What we don’t know for certain is whether Lycurgus the younger was actually the grandson of Lycurgus the Ibis. So there may be no connection at all and the names merely coincidental. The author of the article I’m reading suggests that grants to both to the Isis and Aphrodite devotees may have been more political than religious. Athens had suffered some defeats during this time period. The author suggests that Lycurgus the younger was welcoming sanctuaries from other areas so that he could help build up Athens’ trade and thus its economic power. So it’s always money.
While it may have been money for Lycurgus the financial administrator, it wasn’t just money for other Isis-interested people in the Mediterranean. For instance, we see more Greek parents giving their children names that included Hers at about these same times. Scholars generally agree that when we see an upswing in what are known as theophoric names (“Deity-Bearing” names; for instance, “Isidora” is a theophoric name), we are witnessing an increase in the Deity’s popularity as well. In Greece, we see a few Isis-bearing names in the 3rd century BCE, many in the 2nd century BCE, then an absolute explosion of Isis names from the 1st century BCE through the Roman Imperial period.
Perhaps even more interesting is that people may have taken names that included Hers as a sign of their devotion. This is not so different today. My own theophoric name is a taken name that I legally changed to permanently connect me with Her. And I know I’m not the only one.
Isis may have been especially important in Miletus, an ancient Greek city in what is now Turkey. There are five women, known from their funerary reliefs, who all bore the name Isias (or Eisias) and had come to Athens from Miletus. Some scholars have suggested that these women may have been former slaves who were freed in the name of Isis and therefore took the name of their deliverer. Others have suggested that they were initiates of Isis who took Her name—or that they may have been both.
The five Isis-named women were shown on their grave reliefs in the famous “dress of Isis,” that is, the fringed mantle with Isis knot, and holding the sistrum and situla. But theirs were not the only examples. In fact, we know of 108 such Attic reliefs of women and some men with Isis attributes; the women wear the Isis-knotted dress, while the men hold the sistrum and situla. During the Roman period in Athens, this number makes up one-third of all the known (and published) grave reliefs. If that number reflects true percentages rather than just chance, that’s an awful lot of Isiacs.
In addition to the possibility that these Isis-accoutered people were initiates of Isis, it has also been suggested that they may have either been priest/esses, had a priest/essly function, or may simply have been especially enthusiastic devotees; for example, volunteers who helped maintain the sanctuaries and participated in the rites.
Or they may have been members of religious associations that were connected with the sanctuaries and served both a religious and social function. We know of one such group in particular that was connected to one of the Isis-Sarapis sanctuaries on Delos. It seems likely that enthusiasts would be members, or even founders, of such associations.
People could also stay for a time at the temples. In Apuleius’ tale of initiation into Isis’ Mysteries, prior to deciding to be initiated, his character Lucius simply spends time in Isis’ sanctuary:
I took a room in the temple precincts, and set up house there, and though serving the Goddess as layman only, as yet, I was a constant companion of the priests and a loyal devotee of the Great Deity.
Apuleius, the Golden Ass, Book XI, 19
I wish he had described what specific things he, as a layperson, was allowed to do to serve the Goddess. He does describe, in part, the morning rites to which the public seems to have been welcomed:
I waited for the doors of the shrine to open. The bright white sanctuary curtains were drawn, and we prayed to the august face of the Goddess, as a priest made his ritual rounds of the temple altars, praying and sprinkling water in libation from a chalice filled from a spring within the walls. When the service was finally complete, at the first hour of the day, just as the worshipers with loud cries were greeting the dawn light…
Apuleius, the Golden Ass, Book XI, 20
From the evidence we have from Greek Isis sanctuaries, it seems that the Greeks used priest/essly titles they were familiar with, but with adaptations to fit Isis’ mythos. We have records of a hiereus, a priest, a stolistes, one who adorns the sacred image of Isis, a zakoros, an attendant, a kleidouchos, a key bearer, and a melanophoros, a bearer (or wearer) of the black garments—Isis’ black garments of mourning. We can expect that Isis received offerings of food and drink, as did native Greek Deities.
We have mentions from several Roman writers about devotions to Isis. The poets Propertius and Tibullus complain of the period of sexual abstinence their mistresses undertook for Isis. Ovid writes of the crowds of penitents at the temple of Isis. Tibullus also mentions a ritual called votivas reddere voces in which devotees could join in the singing of the virtues (aretai) of Isis in front of Her temple twice a day. (I wonder if they used any of the aretalogies of Isis we know of.)
Interestingly, when Isis comes to Rome, Her Roman worshipers seemed to have tried to make Her worship more “Egyptian” than did Her Greek worshipers. For instance, Roman Isis temples celebrated the rising of Sothis. They added back Egyptian symbols, such as the divine animals: crocodile, baboon, and canine. We see the development of lifelong priesthoods, something done in Egypt, but not done in Greece. Some Roman emperors may have especially appreciated the Egyptian relationship between Isis the Throne and the pharaoh. And it is in Italy that we first see priestesses of Isis rather than just priests.
For modern devotees, knowing the ways in which our spiritual ancestors—whether in Her homeland of Egypt or outside of its borders— honored Isis can inspire us in developing our own ways to honor Her. Whether we make offerings of food upon Her altar, pour libations of milk and wine, or sing of Her virtues before our shrines, we honor the Goddess Who fills our hearts and we connect with those who have gone before us.
While Isis is Herself a Mother Goddess, She also has a Divine Mother. Isis’ mother is Nuet (Nut, Nuit), the Great Egyptian Sky Goddess.
I am not Nuet’s priestess, but O, the Secret One draws me. I am awed by Her Eternity, Her Depth, Her Beauty, and I want to lose myself in Her. And right now, on this Mother’s Day in the US, in the northern hemisphere, Our Lady Isis is Herself lost within the beautiful body of Her mother Nuet.
Right now, the star of Isis, Sirius, is hidden. Here in Portland, Oregon, She will not be seen again until pre-dawn in late August. Astronomically, that’s because the star is in conjunction with the sun. As the sun rises, its greater light makes the light of Sirius invisible to us. By late August, Sirius and the sun will move further away from each other so that, just before dawn, we can once more see the brilliance of the star in the twilight sky.
But that’s just astronomically. Mythically, Isis sojourns within the body of Her powerful mother Nuet. She Who is called the Mistress of All and the One Who bears the Gods and Goddesses. She is the Splendid and Mighty One in the House of Her Creation. She is the Great One in Heaven and the “indestructible stars” (that is, the circumpolar stars that are always visible) are said to be in Her.
Nuet embraces the deceased king and each of us “in Her name of Sarcophagus” and “in Her name of Tomb.” She is the Mistress of the Secret Duat (the Otherworld). She is the Glowing One (perhaps as the Milky Way) and in Her we are joined to our stars, Becoming Divine. She is the one Who gives birth to us and Who welcomes us back into Her starry body at our deaths. She is Heaven and She is the Otherworld. She gives birth to the Sun God Re each day and receives him back into Her body, by swallowing, each night. She is the one Who is “Amid the Iset Temple in Dendera” for She is over Her daughter and Her daughter is in Her.
But now, while Isis is in Her mother’s womb, She is also in the Underworld for Nuet is the Lady of the Duat and Her body is both the Heavens and the Underworld. So now in the rising heat of the year, our Goddess is in the cool depths of Eternity. Perhaps this is the time for us, as Her devotees, to enter the Otherworld as well.
We usually think of symbolically going into the Underworld during the endarkening time of the year rather than the enlightening. Yet now, with the rising of the light until summer solstice, it may be a particularly safe time to take that Underworld journey, for now we have the support of Isis Who awaits us there.
If we have scary things to face in our own personal Underworlds, now is a more supportive time to do so. The light of dawn comes more quickly now and the sunlight of Isis the Radiant One is more readily available to us after we have faced those inner darknesses that we must face in order to grow.
This may also be a good time to explore our relationships with our mothers. A strong priestess of my acquaintance, who was serving as a Priestess of Nuet at a festival a while ago, told me an interesting thing about how she perceived the relationship between Nuet and Isis. It was her distinct impression that Nuet did not get along with Her daughter. Of course, in the human realm, this is far from an uncommon thing. Mothers and daughters (and mothers and all their children, for that matter) can have issues. Now, with the light of the coming summer and the help of the Goddesses available to us, might be a time to shed some light on those issues.
But even if we don’t have mom stresses, this can be a time to honor our mothers, both human and Divine—perhaps under a star-filled sky. Since my own mother has already been enfolded in the wings of Isis, I shall plan to honor my Divine Mother Nuet and Her Starry Daughter, Isis tonight, for we are forecast a clear and starry night.
The festival starts this coming Friday. The weather forecast is perfection. The ritual cast is rehearsed. We are ready to go and can’t wait to see those of you who can make it. Still time to register!
The Pacific Northwest is ON for an Isis-themed Fall Equinox Festival (Sept. 24-26, 2021). This is not the same festival we were planning for 2020. That one was much more…involved…shall we say. This one is a gentle way of coming together once again as a community. So I’d like to share with you the write up for the festival, then I’ll repost something on Making Offering in the Egyptian way that will be related…
Offering to Isis: A Fall Equinox Celebration of the Goddess and of Community
If you asked the ancient Egyptians, the act of Making Offering was one of the things that maintained Ma’et, that which is Right and True. Offering helped keep the world in balance. Making Offering is part of the great reciprocal flow between the Divine and the human. It is one of the most important ways we communicate with our Goddesses and Gods. It is hallowed by tradition. It is empowered by magic.
As we turn the wheel at this Fall Equinox, let us come together in rituals of offering. Under the Wings of the Great Goddess Isis, let us gather in a celebration of our reentry into and reconnection with Community. In the presence of Isis Myrionymos, Myriad-Named Isis, Goddess of the Ten Thousand Names, let us gather with open hearts and generous spirits to Make Offering.
As we human beings have always done—from the First Time, the Zep Tepi—we shall give gifts to Isis and we shall receive gifts from Her.
We are living through extraordinary times. Many of us have gone through intense changes. There have been painful losses. And there have been surprising gains. Through Rites of Offering, we can give thanks, mourn losses, and ask for aid. We can find Divine connection and reawaken our hearts.
The Rites of Offering
Our rituals are inspired by the Daily Offering Rites worked in ancient Egyptian temples. We will come together four times, at the cross-quarters of the Holy Day and Sacred Night, to Make Offering to the Goddess in four of Her myriad names.
Yet, as a Community, we are many different people, on many different paths, who honor many different Deities. And so the Iset Weret— the Great Throne Altar of Isis—will welcome all our Divine Ones. If you wish, you are invited to bring an image or symbol of your own Divine One/s to add to the Great Altar that They may receive Offering as well.
Now, Let’s Celebrate
This festival is intended to give us plenty of open time so that we can be together…for feasting, drumming, dancing, and just relaxing. No formal workshops are planned.
Come join us in this Fall Equinox celebration as, under the Wings of Isis, we come together as a Community once more.
Now here’s a little something about Making Offering…
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Can Isis smell the flowers we place upon Her altar? Does She eat the delicacies we so carefully arrange upon Her offering mat? Does She drink the wine we pour into a beautiful cup and lift to the smiling lips of our sacred image?
Well, no.
And, yes.
Although I have had weird phenomena happen with offerings—for instance, once an entire two-ounce packet of incense (you DO know how much two ounces of powdered incense is, right?) was apparently incinerated without leaving a whiff of scent in the air of our tiny temple space—usually, the flowers wither naturally, the food dries to inedibility, and the wine evaporates.
So did the Goddess receive Her offerings or not?
For the ancient Egyptians, the sacred images of the Deities were sacred precisely because they were filled with some measure of the Deity Her- or Himself. Offerings to Isis were received by this bit of the Goddess residing in the image, and through it to Her greater Being.
The main spiritual mechanism for the transfer of an offering from offerent to Deity was the ka, or vital, life energy. All living beings—Deities, human beings, animals, fish, plants, stars, mountains, temples—have a ka. The kas of the Goddesses and Gods are extremely powerful. In one Egyptian creation myth, the Creator Atum embraces His children, the God Shu and the Goddess Tefnut, with His ka in order to protect Them from the primordial chaos of the Nun into which They were born—and, importantly, to transfer His ka to Them, giving Them life. Ka energy exists before a being comes to birth, is joined to that being at birth, lives with them throughout life, then travels to the Otherworld after death. The tomb became known as the Place of the Ka (among many other designations) and to die was to “go to one’s ka.”
The ka “doubles” the person physically, yet the ka is not essentially personal. It is held in common with all living things—including the Deities. The ka was the ancient Egyptian’s connection to a vast pool of vitality greater than the individual person.
But that’s not the end of it. One meets one’s ka after death where it can continue to protect.
Utterance 25 of the Pyramid Texts says that the dead king “goes with his ka.” Just as a list of Deities “go with Their kas,” so does the king:
“You yourself also go with your ka.
O Unas, the arm of your ka is before you.
O Unas, the arm of your ka is behind you.
O Unas, the leg of your ka is before you.
O Unas, the leg of your ka is behind you.”
You might recognize this formulation. It is a common magical formula for invoking protection on all sides; similar to casting a circle or the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram or part of the so-called Breastplate of St. Patrick (“Christ at my right. Christ at my left, etc.”)
Even though ancient Egyptians could experience the ka as separate from themselves, the ka also connected the person with the long line of humanity—for the ka was associated with the ancestors. In fact, the ancestors were thought to be the keepers of ka energy. Jeremy Nadler suggests that when people died, the Egyptians believed that they returned to the ka-group of ancestral energy to which each person naturally belonged. In other words, after death, the ka returns to its family.
This meant the living had several reasons for making offering to their ancestral dead. As we all do, they wanted to remember loved ones who had died. The offerings provided their ancestors’ kas with the nourishment required to keep the family spirit strong. But since the ancestors had ready access to the greater pool of beneficial ka energy and could bestow it on the living, people could also ask their ancestors to send them a blessing. A blessing of ka energy could nourish human beings, animals, and crops alike.
As usual in Egyptian society, the king was a special case. He could have multiple kas. He also had more intimate contact with the powerful ka energy of his royal ancestors than the average person had with their familial kas. The royal ka was especially connected with the power of the God Horus. By the time of the New Kingdom, the king’s ka was specifically identified as Harsiese, “Horus, son of Isis.”
In Egyptian, the word ka is related to numerous words that share its root. Egyptian words for thought, speech, copulation, vagina, testicles, to be pregnant and to impregnate, as well as the Egyptian word for magic (heka), all share the ka root. And all have some bearing on the meaning of ka. Ka is also specifically the word for “bull” and “food.” Connections such as these reveal mysteries. Ka is also the bull because it is a potent, fertile energy that contains the ancestral seeds that connect us with our families. Ka is also food for it is the energy that nourishes life, in both the physical and the spiritual realms. Ka is intimately connected with offering; the plural of ka, kau, was used to mean “food offerings.” Sometimes the ka hieroglyph replaces the images of food inscribed on offering tables.
Kau, food offerings, provide life-energy for the individual ka. When the Egyptians offered food to their Deities or honored dead, they were offering the ka energy of the food to the ka of the Deities or ancestors. The ka inherent in the kau nourished the ka of the spirit being. Offering thus feeds the kas of the Deities and ancestors and the great pool of ka energy to which all enlivened things are connected. Simultaneously, the great pool of ka energy is the source of the energy found in the offerings by virtue of the ongoing, archetypal connection with it. By making and receiving offering, a great reciprocal power system was set up and could be eternally maintained. No energy was ever lost; it was continually transformed and re-activated by being offered and received, received and offered. Ka energy may be considered the food that fuels the engine of the living universe.
Since offerings are given and received ka to ka, it is no wonder that the Egyptians who made offering before the sacred images in the temples, did not expect the Deity to physically consume the food or drink offered. Instead, they expected the Deity’s ka, residing within the image, to take in the energy from the kas of the offerings. Ancient texts are explicit about this. A text from Abydos says that the pure, Divine offerings are given daily “to the kas” of the temple Deities. Sometimes the Deities are said to have been “united” with Their offerings. It is the ka of the offering and the ka of the Deity that unite. In another text from Abydos, the king asks the Deity to bring His magic, soul, power, and honor to the offering meal. Clearly, the king is not expecting a physical appearance, but a spiritual one.
It is the same with our offerings. We offer the ka of the kau to Isis and Her ka receives it. We can open our awareness to this aspect of offering by envisioning the ka, perhaps as Light, move from the offering to our sacred image of Isis (if we are using one) or to an image of Her we hold in our mind’s eye. In this way, we can know that Isis has indeed received what we offer to Her.
Let us have a little Nephthys today. It is early September and there is melancholy in the air. Not to mention that there is some serious s*it going down all around us. Sometimes we look to our Dark Goddesses in such times.
And sometimes, when we look to Them, we find surprising things.
For instance, older Egyptological books informed us that Nephthys was never worshipped alone and had no temples of Her own. But that was only because they hadn’t found any yet.
We now know of several Nephthys temples, a smaller New Kingdom one within a Set temple precinct at Sepermeru, halfway between Heracleopolis and Oxyrhynchus (where that huge cache of texts, including magical texts and a praise of Isis was found), and a Ptolemaic and Roman-era temple at Komir, near Esna.
In Her Komir (Egy. Pr Myr) temple, there is a lengthy hymn to Her that identifies Her with many other Goddesses, just as Isis is known by many names. She is “the Great, the Most Excellent, dwelling in the Beautiful Country—the abode of Her brother Osiris, Who comes to life again in Her, She Who renews for Him the body that once was, in Her name of Renewing of Life.” She is invoked as Meshkenet, the Birth Goddess, Hathor, Mistress of Drunkeness and Joy, Tefnut “in the moment of Her wrath,” and Seshet, Lady of Writing and “of the Entire Library.” She is Mut and Mafdet and Meret and Heket. She is the one Who “utters divine decrees, Great of Magic, who rules in the Mansion of Archivists.” She is Excellent of Kindness and unites Herself with Ma’et. She is the Mother of Amun and the Daughter of Re. She is Mighty, Formidable, Beautiful.
In a papyrus known as the Book of Hours—Ptolemaic and probably from Memphis—praises are recorded for a select group of Deities, including Nephthys. There She is called Kindly of Heart, Mistress of Women, the Valiant, the Strong-Armed, Who Begat Horus, Potent of Deeds, the Wise, the Acute of Counsel, and the Sad at Heart.
Interestingly, Her epithets in this papyrus do not parallel those of Isis, Who is In All that Comes Into Being at Her Command, Lady of What Exists, Sharp of Flame, Who Fills the Land with Her Governance, Who Pleases the Gods with What She Says, the Savior, Isis-Bast and Isis-Sakhmet, the Sister of the Great One, Who Comes at Call, and the Living North Wind.
As Twin Goddesses, Isis and Nephthys are often called “the two” this or that. You’ll find a list of those twosome names in a previous Isis and Nephthys post here. We often think of Isis as the Bright Twin and Nephthys as the Dark Twin. And it’s true. Sort of.
For instance, the Pyramid Texts instruct the deceased king to
Ascend and descend; descend with Nephthys, sink into darkness with the Night-barque. Ascend and descend; ascend with Isis, rise with the Day-barque.
Pyramid Text 222
The Two Goddesses bear light and dark children to the same God. Osiris fathered the bright God, Horus, with Isis while with Nephthys, He fathered the dark God, Anubis. The Two Goddesses also manifest their Divine power differently. While Isis guides and sheds light on the hidden paths of the Otherworld, the Coffin Texts tell us that Nephthys speaks and they are obscured: “Hidden are the ways for those who pass by; light is perished and darkness comes into being, so says Nephthys.”
While Isis summons the Barque of the Day, Nephthys is “a possessor of life in the Night-barque.” As in Pyramid Text 217, Nephthys is paired with Set, a God of dark moods and dark reputation and associated with Upper Egypt, while Isis is paired with the benevolent God Osiris and connected to Lower Egypt. In the tomb of Tuthmosis III, Nephthys is said to be the Lady of the Bed of Life, by which was meant the embalming table. She is also Queen of the Embalmer’s Shop. Plutach preserves the tradition that Nephthys was associated with the desert and the fringes of the earth, while Isis is that part of the earth made fertile by the Nile.
But wait. As with most Things Egyptian, it’s not that simple. It’s not that black-and-white nor dark and light.
Isis is not just about rebirth and sunrise. She is also the Great Mooring Post, the one Who calls each of us to our deaths. She is the Goddess “ruling in the perfect blackness” of the Otherworld and She has Her own wrathful and fiery moods. Nephthys, on the other hand, is not only about descent in the Night-barque. She is right there with Isis at the sunrise rebirth. And She is a Goddess for Whom festivals of drunkenness and joy were celebrated. She is the Lady of Beer and while Isis, too, can be so called, I know of no festivals of Divine inebriation celebrated for Her, even given Her close connection to Hathor, the original Queen of Divine Drunkenness.
The Two Sisters are not so much opposites as complements to each other. It is interesting that Isis and Nephthys seem to have become attached to different aspects of Hathor in Their association with Her. Sad at Heart Nephthys became connected with Hathor, Lady of Joy and Divine Intoxication. Lady of Governance Isis became connected with Hathor the soft-eyed Cow Mother, the Mother of the God, and the Lady of Amentet. Yet, as always, these roles are fluid and the Two Sisters flow into one another, even as They express different aspects of Their Divinity.
People sometimes wonder whether Isis and Nephthys are two different Goddesses or one Goddess? For me, the answer is, “Yes. And no.” They are One and They are Two. In my personal work with the Two Sisters, I can’t say that Nephthys feels very much different than Isis (though there are differences), but that may be because I pay a lot of attention to Isis’ own darker aspects. That admission inspires me to take some time this weekend to honor Nephthys, Excellent of Kindness, and see what more She may wish me to know.
Finally, we come to the heart of the personal work of the ministrant of Isis. It is the last of the keys to serving Isis we’ll talk about: the work of spiritual development.
Spiritual growth or development is a process, not an end result. It is the ongoing search for and discovery of the truth of our hearts and souls, our Selves, and our relationship with the Divine.
It is not a single truth nor is it an unchanging truth. The process of growth is, after all, a process of change. It is not a truth contained in the pages of just one book—though Paths to it may be found in many books, written in many different languages. It is a truth most convincingly found in our own experience of the Divine by whatever Name we call It and in whatever form we imagine It. This truth calls us from the core of our Being. It is the truth against which our hearts will be weighed on the Scales of Truth when we pass from this world into the next.
Spiritual growth is the process of discovering our personal truth and learning how that truth is in (or can be brought into) harmony with the Divine truth. Once discovered, this gnosis—this deep, sacred knowing—can serve us as a guide for creating ways to live life more authentically and with more wisdom and compassion.
Our entire relationship with Isis is part of this process. Anything and everything we do in relation to Her, from making offering to deep communion, helps this process. Each and every time we make contact with our Goddess, we can increase our harmony with Her. We are like the strings of a musical instrument that begin to vibrate when the bow is drawn across any one of them. The ancient theurgists would have considered such Divine contact to help “purify” us, that is, to help us connect more clearly with our pure or essential natures.
All of the exercises, rituals, and meditations that make up the stages of relationship with Isis in Isis Magic are designed to help us do this. One of the key tools for growth, the “Invocation of the Shining One,” first makes its appearance at the stage of relationship called the Magician of Isis.
Like Isis Herself, the Shining One has been called by many names. In ancient Egypt, it would have been the Akh, meaning both “shining” and “effective” one. It has also been called the Higher Self, the Deep Self, the True Self, the God/dess Self, the Genius, the Atman, the Augoeides, the Holy Guardian Angel, and the Isis Within. It is that greater part of each one of us which is essentially Divine. Contact with this Divine Self is critical to our spiritual development.
Many people find they have difficulty with this aspect of the spiritual journey. I know I did. And do. It is genuinely difficult work, yet it is vital. Only patience and persistence will see us through. Simply return again and again to the work of making contact with and experiencing the Shining One, the Isis Within.
This work is hard to talk or write about because it becomes very personal and individual. For insight, there are numerous books you can explore. Look for works on enlightenment; Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, Pagan.
The work of spiritual growth will make us weep. Many times. It will also make us laugh with unexpected joy. We will catch a glimpse of the Isis Within. And then we will go on with our lives.
For spiritual growth does not mean there will be no more trouble in our lives. It does not insulate us from trouble or pain. No matter how spiritually developed we may be, we and the people in our lives are still human, capable of all the beauty and ugliness of humanity.
What spiritual development does mean is that we will be able to cope with our day-to-day duties and the trials we encounter in our lives in a much wiser and more compassionate manner. We will be better able to understand—and thus shape—our thoughts and actions so that they are better aligned with our growing gnosis. We will find ourselves less tossed about by our emotions, more able to see the beauty in life. We will become more open, less defensive.
In our relationship with Isis, we experience the sacred. We grow. We discover who we really are. We become wiser and more compassionate. We learn how to live more authentically, in greater harmony with our true selves and the Divine reality of the Goddess. It is, perhaps, the most vital aspect of serving the Goddess as Her devoted ministrant. If we have done it well, we will become better people.
Like many of us (I suspect), I have been living with a very heavy heart lately. Yet I cannot let fear or despair take me. They are not only the mind killers, they are the heart killers. All of us will need both our minds and our hearts to get through this, whether our “this” is internal or external or both. Note to self—and you, if you need it—just keep connecting with Her; keep growing toward Her.
Some time ago, I was corresponding with a man in England on Dionysian subjects. (You may recall that, in addition to my devotion to Isis, I also have a passion for Lord D.) During the course of our conversation, I said something about worshipping Dionysos. He wrote me back to the effect of “you wouldn’t catch me worshipping anybody or anything!”
I suspected we had a definition problem—and that turned out to be so, because when I explained that what I meant by worship was an expression of love, appreciation, and honor toward the Divine, my Dionysian pal wrote back saying he’d decided that, in that case, he guessed worship was okay with him.
I think a lot of people share my friend’s ideas about worship. The word is too…um… “churchy.” For many, it has come to have a hollow sound and worse yet, a hollow feeling. Some associate it with merely going through the motions—attending church, sitting in rows, singing ill-harmonized hymns, and eventually passing the collection plate. Others may associate worship with bowing before some cold and distant deity. (I am inevitably reminded, and perhaps you are, too, of Monty Python’s toadying minister: “Oh God, You are so gosh-darned BIG…”) Such prostration appears to them to have no respect for the sacred possibilities of either humankind or Nature and leaves an unpleasant taste in their mouths.
Yet worship is one of the most significant ways we can relate to the Goddess. It is certainly an appropriate way for a ministrant of Isis to relate to Her.
True worship has to do with reverence and appreciation for the Divine, as well as for that which is sacred in others, in ourselves, and in the manifested world. Worship is a meaningful way of expressing our feelings and inner selves to the Divine. It is a way of speaking about and participating in that which we find sacred. Worship requires participation not by the mere rote actions of our bodies, but by the focus of our minds, the openness of our hearts, and the willingness of our souls and spirits.
When we sense Isis’ heartbeat and understand that She senses ours, we are participating in worship. When we finally, actually know, in our bones, in our guts, in our hearts that She really is there, the door to worship is flung wide. The temple of our soul is opened, and She indwells. When we taste Her truth upon our tongues, and are grateful, grateful, grateful for that taste, then we worship. When Her Mystery allures and deepens us rather than merely baffling, that is worship. When we know Her in the light in our lover’s eyes, a blade of grass, a spider’s dance, we are worshiping.
We may do this intuitively or, using the Art of Ritual, we may speak to Isis, sing to Her, listen to Her, make offerings to Her, express our gratitude to Her, commune with Her in a ritual context. When we do this consciously and with full intent to expand our souls and spirits, it is then that we truly worship. As we come to know Isis through our acts of devotion, we come to love Her and to understand that She has always loved us.
And love…love is the true essence of the worship that a ministrant of Isis gives to their Goddess.
There will be another post in the current series tomorrow…I’m publishing this ritual from Isis Magic so it’s easy to access for some of us who will be Offering to Isis for the local Fall EQ Festival.
About the Rite: This is the all-purpose opening ritual of the House of Isis. It can serve as a beginning of almost any other rite or it can be an entire working by itself. It is an excellent opening for personal work or communion with Isis.
Temple Arrangement & Ritual Tools: Nothing special needed.
Enter the temple, face East, and give the Sign of the Wings Of Isis.
Ritualist: I am a Beloved of Isis. I am a Child of the Goddess. (Repeating until you feel it to be true.)
Perform any type of purification and consecration that works for you. When this is complete, return to center of temple, facing East, and makes the Sign of the Wings of Isis.
Ritualist: Isis is all things and all things are Isis.
Stand in the West, facing East. Again raise your arms in the Sign of the Wings Of Isis.
Ritualist: Open, O Heaven! Open, O Earth! Open, O East! Open, O West! Open, O South! Open, O North! The gates of Your temple shall be flung wide for You, Goddess Isis!
Move to the center of the temple; visualize your aura as a glowing egg completely surrounding your body. Give the Sign of Opening the Shrine.
Ritualist: Let the shrine of the East be opened unto Isis, only Isis. (Vibrating) ISET NEF.
Visualize the Eastern part of your aura becoming like a glowing net—complete, yet open to the Goddess. Next turn to the South and repeat the entire procedure.
Ritualist: (Facing South) Let the shrine of the South be opened unto Isis, only Isis. (Vibrating) ISET ASH.
(Facing West) Let the shrine of the West be opened unto Isis, only Isis. (Vibrating) ISET MU.
(Facing North) Let the shrine of the North be opened unto Isis, only Isis. (Vibrating) ISET TA.
Facing East once more, extend your arms above your head and give the Sign of the Opening of the Shrine.
Ritualist: Let the shrine of Heaven be opened unto Isis, only Isis. (Vibrating) ISET BA.
Repeat the Sign below you.
Ritualist: Let the shrine of the Earth be opened unto Isis, only Isis. (Vibrating) ISET KA.
Repeat the opening motion, starting from the heart and moving outward.
Ritualist: Let the shrine of my Heart be opened unto Isis, only Isis. (Vibrating) ISET IB.
Visualize doors opening in your heart—chains falling away, shells breaking open.
Continue facing East and make the Sign of the Wings of Isis.
Ritualist: I have opened the ways for You, Goddess Isis.
Turn your arms inward to the cup posture and invoke:
Ritualist: Come, therefore, Winged One and fill this vessel. Grace me, Isis, with Your presence. Enter into Your House and be with me. O come Beloved One, Great of Magic, Beautiful of Wings, Bright of Face.
Open my eyes to Your everywhere-presence. Awaken my heart to the voice of Your beating wings. Make bare my soul to the beauty of Your Words of Power.
I arise on wings of aspiration unto You, Goddess Isis. Come, descend from above, arise from below, expand from within—and fill me. From the rising bud of the lotus, to the mighty branch of the sycamore, to the Moon and Sun which are Your eyes, to the Stars which entwine Your hair, all the Universe is Yours, Isis—as am I. O Isis, Goddess, Mother, Sister, Queen—the Ways are open unto You—I am open unto You.
I invite You—enter in now! (Vibrating) ISIS. ISIS. ISIS.
Visualize the Light of Isis filling the cup you are making with your arms. When you feel it is full enough, slowly lower your arms, letting the Light pour into your aura. Now is the time to commune with the Goddess or perform other work.
Face East. Begin at the heart and make the Sign of the Closing of the Shrine. Then move in reverse order as you close below, above, then in each direction.
Ritualist: Let the shrine of my Heart be closed. Let the shrine of Earth be closed. Let the shrine of Heaven be closed. Let the shrine of the North be closed. Let the shrine of the West be closed. Let the shrine of the South be closed. Let the shrine of the East be closed.
Visualize your aura as solid once more. Thank the Goddess, make the Sign of the Wings of Isis, then quit the temple.
Notes:
For the Sign of the Wings of Isis, raise your arms like wings.
For the Sign of the Opening of the Shrine, put your hands in front of you, arms straight and palms together. Slowing move them apart as if opening heavy curtains. The Sign of the Closing of the Shrine is this in reverse.
I believe that the ministrant of Isis should develop some facility with ritual. Of course, this is more important for those of us who are involved in ceremony with other people, less important if we work solitary. But even for solitaries, having some ritual skill benefits our spiritual work by making it more graceful. This, in turn, enables us to be less self-conscious and better able to focus on developing our relationship with Isis.
Ritual is how we human beings do religion. Throughout the world—almost without exception—the practice of religion involves the practice of ritual. Even quiet, private prayer or meditation is normally ritualized in some way. Whether by folding our hands, sitting in a yoga asana, counting a rosary, or simply lighting a candle, some sort of ritual pattern is usually incorporated in spiritual activity.
Ritual is a communicative art that goes beyond what we are able to express by speech alone, dance alone, music alone, or intellectual effort alone. Because ritual can combine all these things—and energize them with the power of symbolism—ritual enables us to communicate with the other people in the ritual and with the Divine in ways beyond our normal capacity. Some things, particularly the ineffable, sacred things we are trying to express in a relationship with Isis, can only be expressed through ritual.
Ritual takes us beyond the body-mind/soul-spirit split. It gives us a holistic way to communicate with and relate to Isis. It is a primary tool of the ministrant of Isis for worship and spiritual growth. Working to gain ritual proficiency is particularly appropriate for someone in an intense relationship with Isis because of the strength of the ritual tradition in Egypt and because Isis is a Goddess of Sacred Magic, an art that is almost always practiced through ritual. What’s more, I can tell you from my experience with other ministrants of Isis, it seems that the Goddess often gifts us with rituals that they are then asked to share.
What ritual does
Ritual is completely natural to human beings. It is an essential, even primal, human activity. Indeed, some of the earliest evidence from our cave-dwelling ancestors is evidence of ritual.
There are biologically based rituals in which we engage—for example, sexual behaviors. We also take part in social ritual. We may shake hands when we meet each other; we mark life passages such as marriage or death with ceremony. These types of rituals give us ways to interact with each other and to understand each other, especially at times when words fail, such as funerals.
And then there is sacred ritual. Sacred ritual not only helps us recognize changes in our lives, it also helps us create changes and—this is important for devotees of Isis—provides us with a means of worship.
Ritual is not just a set of actions we move through by rote. Ritual is powerful because it deeply affects us. It affects us psychologically and it affects us physiologically, both of which, in turn, feed back into our spiritual selves.
You may be familiar with the work human potential researcher Jean Houston. She has done extensive work on what she calls “psychophysical” exercises. They include such things as visualization, working with the kinesthetic body (some ritualists might call this the astral body), learning through conversation with a personified aspect of the self, and personification of an object to discover its “essence.”
Many of us would recognize these things as elements of at least some types of ritual. From her studies, Houston concludes that these exercises give people the ability to learn more quickly, to think on multiple tracks at once, and to tune into the symbolic and mythic parts of themselves at will. This alone would make ritual worthwhile, but there’s more.
In therapy, Houston says these ritual-type exercises work much better for patients than talking therapies alone because talking therapies involve only one part of the person’s being while these exercises, (rituals), involves the whole person.
I strongly agree that the holistic nature of ritual is deeply valuable for human beings. By addressing the whole person, physical and spiritual, ritual can move us toward greater wholeness. Wholeness is one of the keys to spiritual growth and spiritual growth is one of the key responsibilities of ministerial work with and for Isis.
Invocation and offering
Some of the basic components of ritual include chanting, singing, drumming, spoken invocation, moving in circles, dancing, meditation, and repeated patterns. Researchers have studied the effect of these things on the brain and the human nervous system and there seem to be two main things that these ritual components do in the human system: they trigger our emotions and they decrease the distance between us and others—including the Divine. These repeated patterns affect the brain’s neurological ability to define the limits of the self. They break down the walls we put up between ourselves and others—including those we erect between ourselves and the Goddess. Thus ritual helps us find self transcendence. By becoming less focused on ourselves, we can better open ourselves to the experience of Isis.
On the emotional side, strong rhythm or repetition (of a mantra, for example) has been shown to produce positive limbic discharge in the brain (the limbic system is part of the brain that deals with emotion among other things), which results in pleasurable feelings. If these feelings are prolonged, a part of the brain called the amygdala gets involved; the amygdala is connected with the fear-arousal system. Some researchers think that the combination of pleasure and a slight elevation in the fear-arousal system could produce the feeling of religious awe that many of us experience.
Ritual has also been proven to lower blood pressure, decrease heart rate, lower rates of respiration, reduce levels of the hormone cortisol (the “stress hormone”), and and create positive changes in immune system function. It seems that ritual is even good for our health.
Built for spiritual experience
None of this means that there is no magic in ritual. Far from it. What it means is that our physical bodies were built for and/or evolved this way so that we are able to participate in the magic of ritual and to better communicate with the Divine; in our case, with Isis.
Our bodies are not the mere cause of the effect; they are its result. As the ancient Hermeticists would say: As Above, So Below. We are a microcosm reflecting the way the macrocosm works. Our bodies do not make us experience the spiritual. They enable us to experience the spiritual. We have evolved this way because the spiritual is real, because it is valuable, and because we human beings need to be able to experience it.
The magic of ritual profoundly affects us. Whether it’s a scripted group rite, a drumming circle, or an unscripted intuitive rite, ritual is one of our most powerful tools for human growth, spiritual expression, and Divine communion. The ministrant of Isis should have at least some facility with this important tool.
There is a saying in the western esoteric initiatory tradition that seems particularly apt for the ministrant of Isis: “I desire to know in order that I may serve.” In means that we are not entering into our service simply because we’re greedy for secrets or status. It means that we seek knowledge so that we can better serve the Goddess, our communities, and our world.
Since ministerial service is essentially about giving, improving our own knowledge base and experience also means we will have something valuable to give.
Of course, those who serve the Goddess have always been expected to have some special knowledge, for example, knowing how to properly conduct the rites required to create and maintain a relationship with Isis. But this devotion to learning goes beyond that, too. The Greek philosopher, Porphyry, in his work On Abstinence, paraphrases the Stoic philosopher Chaeremon’s observations on the Egyptian priesthood:
“But they divided the night into the observation of the celestial bodies, and sometimes devoted a part of it to offices of purification; and they distributed the day into the worship of the Gods, according to which they celebrated them with hymns thrice or four times, viz. in the morning and evening, when the sun is at his meridian altitude, and when he is declining to the west. The rest of their time they devoted to arithmetical and geometrical speculations, always laboring to effect something, and to make some new discovery, and, in short, continually exercising their skill. In winter nights also they were occupied in the same employments, being vigilantly engaged in literary pursuits…”
Porphyry, On Abstinence, book 4, section 8
Thus, being a ministrant means not only knowing the proper rites, but also pursuing knowledge of all kinds, striving always to “make some new discovery.” There can be no doubt that teaching went on in the Egyptian temples. Of course, this was knowledge only for a very select group of people. Yet it informed the work of the priesthood so that they could be more effective in their service on behalf of Egypt and the people as a whole.
The Mysteries, such as the Mysteries of Isis or the Mysteries of Eleusis, were open to a wider group of people—as long as you could afford the travel and other expenses. Here, too, the officiants were expected to have special knowledge and understanding. Furthermore, they were expected to share that information with the initiates.
It was, in part, for this special knowledge that one undertook the Mystery rites. Initiates might expect the revelation of certain secrets regarding the Deities of the Mysteries. They might learn about new aspects of the Deities or be taught secrets of myth or ritual. Many would have been given important information about how to ensure a happy afterlife, as were Orphic initiates who were instructed on the proper spring from which to drink on their journey toward rebirth. In fact, it was quite commonly expected that the ritual guides of the Mysteries guided their clients to knowledge.
You may recall that in Apuleius’ tale of initiation into the Mysteries of Isis, he was shown certain books (seemingly in hieroglyphs) that contained the instructions for his preparations for initiation. In fact, one of Isis’ late epithets is Lady of the Book. The aretalogy from Oxyrhynchus says that She was called Understanding at the town of Apis; and Isis has always been a Lady of Wisdom. Isis is a Goddess Who encourages learning and wisdom in Her devotees, and especially in Her ministrants.
Alas, modern Isiacs have no great temples in which to study or established Mysteries of our Goddess in which to serve.
As is our path in general, our course of study in Her honor must be more individualized. As one who serves Isis in this deeper capacity, there are things we should know. As far as it is possible, we should know the history of Her worship, how people honored Her in the past, what they thought and said about Her. That is one of the reasons I wrote Isis Magic. To be Her ministrant, I needed to know these things; and then, I needed to pass them on. That was one of Her tasks for me. Acquiring that knowledge formed a large part of my personal training. Even so, there is much Isis-related scholarship out there in the world and I still find out new things about Her and how people have related to Her throughout history. I try to share those new discoveries here on Isiopolis.
As a ministrant of Isis, you will likely be in a position to influence others. If you are teaching, you will need to know something in order to be able to teach it. As your students learn, you will have to continue learning so that you may always have something new to teach them. If we don’t keep on learning, we become dry vessels—not only for any thirsty students we may have the privilege to teach, but for ourselves as well. To keep our intellectual and spiritual juices flowing, we must keep learning.
But “book learnin” is just one of the ways of knowing. The other is experience. This means we must develop our personal relationship with Isis; we must experience Her. This is a subtle kind of learning. It is different for each individual. And yet, there are commonalities. It is these subtle commonalities that let us know we’re connecting with Isis specifically.
This is even trickier when it comes to Isis because She is a Great Goddess. She has many, many aspects and different people may connect with different aspects. Still, there is a feeling commonality. I’m pretty sure that if you connected with Isis as Great Mother and I connected with Her as Great of Magic—and we could share each other’s feelings—as Her experienced ministrants, we would know that we were both experiencing Isis.
In the grand scheme of explaining things, that doesn’t help much, does it? Yet that’s what experience does. As a ministrant of Isis, you should be able to tell. On the other hand, we can’t let our experiential knowledge be used to deny someone else’s experience, even if we don’t agree with it, or to boost our own egos because we have the “right” answer. Our experience should be used to guide, and only with the permission of the guided (as in a teaching relationship).
The Pagan internet has been lit up in the last few years with a good deal of theological soul-searching about the nature of the Divine and our relationship to the Divine. It is very exciting that we have grown to the extent that it is time to have these discussions; I just wish we could have them without so many arguments.
Our experiences as devotees and as ministrant of Isis will lead us to find our own answers to these important questions. Our experiences can add value to the ongoing discussion about the nature of the Divine and our relationship with It. Our experiences may be used to guide others as they begin their own paths and until they find their own answers. But we must use our experiences wisely. Developing that wisdom is part of our Work as people who serve Isis.
With a number of us gearing up to serve as ritualists in an upcoming Pacific Northwest Fall Equinox Festival, I’m re-running an older post on what it means to serve Isis as Her priest/ess. (Also, I’m scrambling to get the ritual written before our next Festival Crewe gathering, so bear with me.)
Of course, not all of our Festival ritualists will desire a relationship with Isis beyond the festival. Probably most won’t; they may already have important Divine connections in their lives. But for those who may, I offer these next few posts as starting thoughts for discovering a specific type of relationship with Her.
Oh, and another thing. As these are older posts, they used the gendered terms “priestess” and “priest.” As a community, we haven’t yet settled on a gender non-specific title for the intensely connected relationship with the Goddess that I will be talking about. So I’m going to try out a new one…and we’ll just see how that goes.
In ancient Egypt, the terms were very gendered; you really can’t get around that. One was either a Male Servant (hem) of the Goddess or one was a Female Servant (hemet) of the Goddess. So we’re not going to rely on ancient Egyptian terms, but English.
And now, here’s the older post with updates…
Of course, we can all have a deeply meaningful personal relationship with the Deity or Deities of our choice in whatever capacity we choose. But being a ministrant of the Deity is a particular kind of relationship; a particularly worthwhile one if you find yourself attracted to Isis.
If you already serve a specific Deity, you have likely already done some thinking on this topic. If not yet, you may decide, sometime in the future, that you’d like to have a deeper, more formal relationship with Isis as Her ministrant.
But what does it mean to serve Isis in this way? The easy answer is that it means different things to different people. The more difficult, and truer, answer is that we each have to figure out for ourselves what it means to us.
So how do we do that?
A good place to start is with what it has meant to serve the Goddess in this intensely connected manner. So over the next few posts, we’ll talk about some of the things we know about ancient Servants of Isis as well as some of the ways we can discover for ourselves what being Her ministrant may mean to us today.
Service has been part of a ministrant’s job description as far back as we know. In one sense “one who serves” is the very definition of this role. This is true of our English word “minister.” To minister is to serve and, as you can see, it is the basis of the non-gender-specific word I’m trying out here. Generally, a ministrant’s service goes two ways: to the Divine and to the greater circle of worshippers.
For people in mainstream religions, which have very prescribed ways to serve, things are—in at least this way—easier. For example, if you are a Catholic priest (you can’t be a Catholic priestess), you would have a very clear idea of what it meant in your particular religion to “serve God.” You would have gone through specific training meant to teach you precisely this.
Having precise ways to serve was true in ancient temples of Isis, too. Besides the upkeep and maintenance of the temple complex, there were particular ritual acts that had to be performed every day; for example, opening the shrine of the sacred image of Isis each morning and “putting Her to bed” each night. And of course, there were offerings to be made, festivals to be celebrated, and funerals to conduct. A ministrant of Isis might play the role of the Goddess in certain rituals. The Servants of Isis would learn the words to the sacred songs and invocations and how to perform them properly in the rites. Some served as sacred musicians.
But this type of formal structure of service is not available to us today. In a non-mainstream, more informal type of spirituality—such as those of the modern Pagan-Polytheist-Wiccan-Witch-insert-your-identifier-of-choice-here communities—things are less clear. It means that this path, if truly and deeply followed, is more difficult than those of mainstream religions because we have to blaze our own trail. It also requires a significant degree of perseverance and self-honesty to be able to make the important decisions that we must make when creating a personal path.
To take this alternative path, we need perseverance because we will not always know which branch of the path to take…or it will be dark…or it will even be boring. We need self-honesty because we often walk this path alone. And walking alone, with no one to consult, we can sometimes take a wrong turn. We can delude ourselves into not seeing things about ourselves or a situation that we should be seeing.
On the other hand, this path can be extremely rewarding precisely because it is difficult. Whereas in mainstream religions there tend to be established answers to the Great Questions, we must find our own answers—fresh and new every time. What happens after death? What does it mean to serve Isis? Why is there evil in the world? What is the nature of reality? What is the nature of humanity? What is the nature of the Divine?
All these are important questions that spiritual people have tried to answer from the beginning of time, and for which we still seek answers today. It is worth our time, as lovers of Isis, to seek our own answers to these questions.
Some will define service as “doing Goddess’ will on earth.” That’s a valuable insight; but how do you know if you’re doing Her will? Is it as simple as listening to your inner voice? Perhaps. Yet how do you know you’re hearing correctly and not coloring it with your own personal psychology or desires? I can tell you for a fact, it will ALWAYS be colored by your own personal psychology and desires. That’s not a disaster; it just brings us back to that self-honesty thing.
So how do you get around yourself? Discovering how to do that is part of the work of a ministrant of Isis. For some, it may be the key part. So I’m going to come back and talk about this some more when I come to the topic of personal spiritual development in a later post. For now, back to service.
What about the other kind of service—service to the greater circle of worshipers?
You’ll find a wide variety of expressions of service in this area. Some ministrants are always available to help those in their circle, whether with spiritual or personal problems. Some take the responsibility of organizing a circle and keeping it running as their service, but don’t expect to be called on the solve personal problems. Some represent their tradition to the greater Pagan community by organizing large festivals. Some organize or moderate blog communities. Some teach. Some don’t.
Again, it is a personal decision as to how you might decide to serve. Yet I do think that we are obligated to do some service of this type. By serving other people in these ways, we acknowledge the importance—the value—of other people. By serving people, we integrate this knowledge in a deep, intimate, and personal way. (I hear some of you moaning right now. People are SO difficult. Yes. Yes, they are. And complicated. You bet they are. But they are also very worth your time and care. So very, very worth it.)
The same is true of service to others who are not a part of your circle; humanity as a whole. Many religions—most religions, actually—place value on helping those in need. Feeding the hungry. Clothing the cold. Sheltering those without shelter. This sort of service is appropriate for the ministrant of Isis as well. Caring in this way makes us aware of other people and their needs and problems. It encourages our compassion and discourages our ego-centered-ness. At the very least a Servant of Isis should give money to charity—anonymously, if possible. Do other good deeds. Help people. Help the earth. And be aware of doing whatever it is you are doing in the spirit of service—with an open, compassionate heart. In this, we do our best to imitate the compassion of Isis Herself when She healed the child of the woman who refused Her shelter or withdrew the spear from Set even as He threatened Her own son, Horus.
Ultimately, serving others makes this world a better place one person at a time. Spread kindness and you will serve Isis.
Yes!
The Pacific Northwest is ON for an Isis-themed Fall Equinox Festival (Sept. 24-26, 2021). This is not the same festival we were planning for 2020. That one was much more…involved…shall we say. This one is a gentle way of coming together once again as a community. So I’d like to share with you the write up for the festival, then I’ll repost something on Making Offering in the Egyptian way that will be related…
Offering to Isis: A Fall Equinox Celebration of the Goddess and of Community
If you asked the ancient Egyptians, the act of Making Offering was one of the things that maintained Ma’et, that which is Right and True. Offering helped keep the world in balance. Making Offering is part of the great reciprocal flow between the Divine and the human. It is one of the most important ways we communicate with our Goddesses and Gods. It is hallowed by tradition. It is empowered by magic.
As we turn the wheel at this Fall Equinox, let us come together in rituals of offering. Under the Wings of the Great Goddess Isis, let us gather in a celebration of our reentry into and reconnection with Community. In the presence of Isis Myrionymos, Myriad-Named Isis, Goddess of the Ten Thousand Names, let us gather with open hearts and generous spirits to Make Offering.
As we human beings have always done—from the First Time, the Zep Tepi—we shall give gifts to Isis and we shall receive gifts from Her.
We are living through extraordinary times. Many of us have gone through intense changes. There have been painful losses. And there have been surprising gains. Through Rites of Offering, we can give thanks, mourn losses, and ask for aid. We can find Divine connection and reawaken our hearts.
The Rites of Offering
Our rituals are inspired by the Daily Offering Rites worked in ancient Egyptian temples. We will come together four times, at the cross-quarters of the Holy Day and Sacred Night, to Make Offering to the Goddess in four of Her myriad names.
Yet, as a Community, we are many different people, on many different paths, who honor many different Deities. And so the Iset Weret— the Great Throne Altar of Isis—will welcome all our Divine Ones. If you wish, you are invited to bring an image or symbol of your own Divine One/s to add to the Great Altar that They may receive Offering as well.
Now, Let’s Celebrate
This festival is intended to give us plenty of open time so that we can be together…for feasting, drumming, dancing, and just relaxing. No formal workshops are planned.
Come join us in this Fall Equinox celebration as, under the Wings of Isis, we come together as a Community once more.
Now here’s a little something about Making Offering…
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Can Isis smell the flowers we place upon Her altar? Does She eat the delicacies we so carefully arrange upon Her offering mat? Does She drink the wine we pour into a beautiful cup and lift to the smiling lips of our sacred image?
Well, no.
And, yes.
Although I have had weird phenomena happen with offerings—for instance, once an entire two-ounce packet of incense (you DO know how much two ounces of powdered incense is, right?) was apparently incinerated without leaving a whiff of scent in the air of our tiny temple space—usually, the flowers wither naturally, the food dries to inedibility, and the wine evaporates.
So did the Goddess receive Her offerings or not?
For the ancient Egyptians, the sacred images of the Deities were sacred precisely because they were filled with some measure of the Deity Her- or Himself. Offerings to Isis were received by this bit of the Goddess residing in the image, and through it to Her greater Being.
The main spiritual mechanism for the transfer of an offering from offerent to Deity was the ka, or vital, life energy. All living beings—Deities, human beings, animals, fish, plants, stars, mountains, temples—have a ka. The kas of the Goddesses and Gods are extremely powerful. In one Egyptian creation myth, the Creator Atum embraces His children, the God Shu and the Goddess Tefnut, with His ka in order to protect Them from the primordial chaos of the Nun into which They were born—and, importantly, to transfer His ka to Them, giving Them life. Ka energy exists before a being comes to birth, is joined to that being at birth, lives with them throughout life, then travels to the Otherworld after death. The tomb became known as the Place of the Ka (among many other designations) and to die was to “go to one’s ka.”
The ka “doubles” the person physically, yet the ka is not essentially personal. It is held in common with all living things—including the Deities. The ka was the ancient Egyptian’s connection to a vast pool of vitality greater than the individual person.
But that’s not the end of it. One meets one’s ka after death where it can continue to protect.
Utterance 25 of the Pyramid Texts says that the dead king “goes with his ka.” Just as a list of Deities “go with Their kas,” so does the king:
“You yourself also go with your ka.
O Unas, the arm of your ka is before you.
O Unas, the arm of your ka is behind you.
O Unas, the leg of your ka is before you.
O Unas, the leg of your ka is behind you.”
You might recognize this formulation. It is a common magical formula for invoking protection on all sides; similar to casting a circle or the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram or part of the so-called Breastplate of St. Patrick (“Christ at my right. Christ at my left, etc.”)
Even though ancient Egyptians could experience the ka as separate from themselves, the ka also connected the person with the long line of humanity—for the ka was associated with the ancestors. In fact, the ancestors were thought to be the keepers of ka energy. Jeremy Nadler suggests that when people died, the Egyptians believed that they returned to the ka-group of ancestral energy to which each person naturally belonged. In other words, after death, the ka returns to its family.
This meant the living had several reasons for making offering to their ancestral dead. As we all do, they wanted to remember loved ones who had died. The offerings provided their ancestors’ kas with the nourishment required to keep the family spirit strong. But since the ancestors had ready access to the greater pool of beneficial ka energy and could bestow it on the living, people could also ask their ancestors to send them a blessing. A blessing of ka energy could nourish human beings, animals, and crops alike.
As usual in Egyptian society, the king was a special case. He could have multiple kas. He also had more intimate contact with the powerful ka energy of his royal ancestors than the average person had with their familial kas. The royal ka was especially connected with the power of the God Horus. By the time of the New Kingdom, the king’s ka was specifically identified as Harsiese, “Horus, son of Isis.”
In Egyptian, the word ka is related to numerous words that share its root. Egyptian words for thought, speech, copulation, vagina, testicles, to be pregnant and to impregnate, as well as the Egyptian word for magic (heka), all share the ka root. And all have some bearing on the meaning of ka. Ka is also specifically the word for “bull” and “food.” Connections such as these reveal mysteries. Ka is also the bull because it is a potent, fertile energy that contains the ancestral seeds that connect us with our families. Ka is also food for it is the energy that nourishes life, in both the physical and the spiritual realms. Ka is intimately connected with offering; the plural of ka, kau, was used to mean “food offerings.” Sometimes the ka hieroglyph replaces the images of food inscribed on offering tables.
Kau, food offerings, provide life-energy for the individual ka. When the Egyptians offered food to their Deities or honored dead, they were offering the ka energy of the food to the ka of the Deities or ancestors. The ka inherent in the kau nourished the ka of the spirit being. Offering thus feeds the kas of the Deities and ancestors and the great pool of ka energy to which all enlivened things are connected. Simultaneously, the great pool of ka energy is the source of the energy found in the offerings by virtue of the ongoing, archetypal connection with it. By making and receiving offering, a great reciprocal power system was set up and could be eternally maintained. No energy was ever lost; it was continually transformed and re-activated by being offered and received, received and offered. Ka energy may be considered the food that fuels the engine of the living universe.
Since offerings are given and received ka to ka, it is no wonder that the Egyptians who made offering before the sacred images in the temples, did not expect the Deity to physically consume the food or drink offered. Instead, they expected the Deity’s ka, residing within the image, to take in the energy from the kas of the offerings. Ancient texts are explicit about this. A text from Abydos says that the pure, Divine offerings are given daily “to the kas” of the temple Deities. Sometimes the Deities are said to have been “united” with Their offerings. It is the ka of the offering and the ka of the Deity that unite. In another text from Abydos, the king asks the Deity to bring His magic, soul, power, and honor to the offering meal. Clearly, the king is not expecting a physical appearance, but a spiritual one.
It is the same with our offerings. We offer the ka of the kau to Isis and Her ka receives it. We can open our awareness to this aspect of offering by envisioning the ka, perhaps as Light, move from the offering to our sacred image of Isis (if we are using one) or to an image of Her we hold in our mind’s eye. In this way, we can know that Isis has indeed received what we offer to Her.
A little while ago, I had the opportunity to be in the same room with several other priestesses of Isis and we were talking about Her (as priestesses of Isis are wont to do).
All of us agreed with this statement: “Isis will kick your ass.” And each of us knew exactly what the others meant by that.
We had all experienced it, you see.
But just in case you haven’t yet had the opportunity to have your own sweet butt kicked by the Goddess, I’ll explain.
When you undertake a relationship with Isis, whether that be as a priestess, priest, or devotee, it is more than likely that She will ask something of you. For instance, She might want you to get your physical surroundings in order so that you can create a temple space for yourself. She might want you to quit smoking. She might want you to start a group to teach Her Mysteries. She might want you to create a ritual or a work of art. She might ask you to volunteer at a homeless center. She might insist you learn something particular—or finally see a doctor about that issue you’ve been having.
In my case, She wanted me to write for Her.
Now, I say, “She might want,” but what I really mean is, “She will demand.” Not in a whiny, naggy way, but in an insistent, just-keep-bringing-it-up-to-you way. Like a good mother teaching Her child, the Goddess makes sure that Her request just kinda seems to be in your face all the time…until you do it, or at least until you get started on it.
But that’s just the surface stuff.
The real ass kicking is what happens as you actually undertake your mission from the Goddess.
You grow—and growth can sometimes be painful. What Isis asks you to do usually has some value in terms of your earthly life (a cleaner house, cleaner lungs), but the secret is that this particular task has also been chosen by Her to help you grow spiritually. This means that it will usually bring up some soul issues (psychology is the study of the soul; you knew that, right?) that you need to deal with in order to be a competent priestess, priest, or devotee.
And while you’re trying to deal with those little tender spots in your psyche, She will also demand of you complete honesty. Honesty with yourself. You must accept your part in your own problems; and you must accept your greater part in the solution. There’s no hiding, no blaming other people, no whining. (Well, you might whine a little and, in that case, She will always, always comfort you.) This combination of Divine persistence and motherly comfort and kindness creates the space for each of us to truly grow in Her presence.
Personally, I’ve never been sorry when She kicked my ass. I think the priestesses with whom I spoke the other night would agree. How about you?
Those of you who have been following this blog for a while may be familiar with my small rants about The Old Gentlemen of Egyptology and their innate sexist attitudes. Well, today it’s time for another rant…just a little one…but this time it’s about the Even Older Gentlemen of Ancient Egypt and their innate sexist attitudes.
You see, I just came across a scholarly article by Carolyn Routledge entitled “Did Women ‘Do Things’ in Ancient Egypt? (c. 2600-1050 BCE)” at the same time as Academia.edu served me up a thesis by the same Carolyn Routledge about ancient Egyptian ritual practice, which was an in-depth study of two specific words having to do with ritual, one of which translates as “doing things” (iri ḫt).
Routledge explains that the Egyptians used ir ḫt (“to do things”) in several specific ways. In addition to its meaning as ritual performance, including funerary rites, it also has to do with the performance of work or duty, and even negative behavior. It was used particularly in relation to physical activity.
Of course I’m most interested in ir ḫt meaning “to do ritual.” The kinds of ritual activities that were Done included libating and censing and making offering: “you perform rites [iri ḫt]; bread, beer, and incense upon the flame.”
Interestingly, there also seems to be some emphasis on doing these things with one’s arms and hands. Makes me wonder whether, in addition to the sheer physicality of using a sacred vessel to libate, a censer to burn incense, or employing some other ritual object, there was also supposed to have been an accompanying gesture. There also seems to have been a connection to written instructions in the performance of ritual. So the lector priest, the sacred reader, was one who definitely Did Things.
If one wanted to be quite specific, one could also say he was iri ḫt nṯr, “doing God’s rites” or iri ḫt nṯrt, “doing Goddess’ rites.” But notice that pronoun I just used in relation to the person doing the Doing? Yeah. He. Sadly, Routledge answers the question posed in her article title with a resounding no; women did not Do Things. At least as far as we can tell from the evidence left to us, and I must admit it seems reasonably conclusive.
For example, the king has the title, neb ir ḫt, “Lord of Doing Things.” It is often used in connection with the king Doing Things that maintain Ma’et, including cultic functions as well as kingly duties and activities. The queen, however, does not Do Things. She has no title, Lady of Doing Things. Instead, she “says all things and it is done for her.” I used to think that was a nice expression of queenly power; now, I’m kinda thinking it’s the opposite: an expression of the perceived inability of women to Do Things themselves.
There are only two exceptions: Sobeknefru and Hatshepsut, both women who ruled as king, not queen. In Hatshepsut’s case, about half of the references to that title are in the masculine form, half in a feminized form: nebet ir ḫt. (We have no references to Tausert, a later woman ruler, having that title.)
The exclusion of women from Doing Things is, of course, the basis of my rant. Or maybe it’s not even really a rant. More of a whine. Or an exhausted, put-upon sigh.
The king, priests, and officials of all stripes Did Things. But when it came to women, the “things” part of the important phrase was avoided. There are instances of women iri irw, “doing doings” or “performing performances,” but not iri ḫt. Routledge gives an interesting example of a husband and wife, both named Djehutynakht, both with the same funerary text on their coffins, but hers excludes the word ḫt.
It’s practically impossible not to smell the old sexist weakness-of-women, unfitness-of-women-for-important-stuff stereotypes here. But we don’t know. Routledge suggests that it may be because iri ḫt was associated with educated, literate, and highly trained people, very few of whom would have been women in ancient Egypt. True enough. But the question underlying that conclusion is “why not?” Which, of course, refers us back to the first sentence in this paragraph.
So what can we do with this information? Why am I sharing it with you?
First, I enjoyed learning an important ancient term for doing ritual and reading about its specific connotations. Second, we sometimes tend to idealize the ancient Egyptians—we do so love their Deities, their art, their magic and mysterious ancient wisdom. It is important to know that every society—theirs, ours, everybody’s—has flaws, often significant ones, and we should not be blind to them. And in our own case today, we must work to fix them.
And third? Third, I hope to encourage all of us to Do Things for Isis. We all have the capacity for Doing Things in the ancient sense: with power, purpose, and effectiveness. Let us also be reminded that the physicality of ritual is important. For when we are fully engaged with what we are Doing—body, mind, soul, and spirit—ritual is far from being empty show. It is instead Right Action that can truly Open the Ways so that we may come, once more, to the Divine Heart of Isis.
Perhaps it was coincidence or perhaps it was the hand of Isis, but twice in the past week, the idea of “being joined to one’s star” has been brought sharply to my attention. So today, let’s talk a bit of the Way of the Stars…and especially the way of our own personal star.
In Isis Magic, the Path of the Stars is the path of the Prophetess or Prophet of Isis. (In Egyptian, this would be Hem/et Nutjeret; the Servant of the Goddess.)
On this path, we deal with the important star Sirius (Sothis in Greek, Sopdet in Egyptian), which is the Star of Isis. The Goddess Herself may be seen in the star and sometimes the star is said to be the ba, the manifestation or soul, of the Goddess
We honor Isis in Her singular and beautiful star, but on the Path of Stars, we also work with the idea of a universe filled with millions and millions of stars—stars that are, like us, within the body of Nuet, the Sky Goddess and Mother of Isis.
In the Pyramid Texts, it is clear that the deceased king ascends to the heavens and becomes a star. This ascension also makes him Divine, a god among Gods. He takes his place in the otherworld as a star, sometimes called the Lone Star or the Morning Star.
In Utterance 245 of the Pyramid Texts, the Sky Goddess says to the deceased, “Open up your place in the sky among the stars of the sky, for you are the Lone Star, the companion of Hu…” (Hu is one of the great creative powers of Re, “Creative Utterance.” It may be that the Goddess is likening the king to Sia, “Perception,” for indeed he specifically declares himself to be Sia in Utterance 250.) Utterance 248 reiterates the king’s star-nature. He is “a star brilliant and far traveling,” and he has “come to his throne which is upon the Two Ladies [Isis and Nephthys or Wadjet and Nekhbet] and the king appears as a star.” A text from the tomb of Basa, a priest of Min and mayor of ancient Thebes, says of the deceased, “your star be in heaven, your ba upon the earth.”
While the Pyramid Texts are concerned with the king, as time went on, the Egyptian conception of the otherworld got more democratic; everyone could participate and have their own Divine stars.
But if you’ve read any of the Pyramid or Coffin Texts or the Book of the Dead, you’ll know that those sacred texts are not intended just for the dead. The texts tell us that the knowledge they impart is also beneficial for living human beings. “As for him who knows this spell on earth . . . he will proceed to a very happy old age” says one text. Another states that anyone who knows the spell will “complete 110 years of life,” while yet another explains, “it is beneficial for anyone who does it.”
The same thing applies to being conscious of or joined to your star. It is not solely a post mortum activity. If our “star” is our Divine Self, the one we will hopefully become after death, then to know our star in this life means that its light can serve as a guide as we move through our current earthly lives. What would my star self do in any given situation?
One of the Greco-Egyptian magical papyri even has a specific ritual for learning about “your star,” and which is referred to as “an initiation.” There are quite a number of preparations, but in short, you purify yourself for seven days while the moon is waning. On the night of the dark moon, you begin sleeping on the ground each night for seven nights, waking every morning to greet the sun and to name the Deities of the hours of the day. On the eighth night, you rise in the middle of the night, perform a series of invocations and magical acts, recite the account of creation, and call upon the Great God. When the God arrives, you avoid looking in His face and ask Him about your fate. “He will tell you even about your star and what kind of daimon [spirit] you have…” (PGM XIII 646-734)
It is well for us to know “even about our star.” For it illuminates the individual life and spiritual path that is uniquely ours, but it also places us in the company of the Divine Ones.
I did a meditation, not too long ago, about the Child Horus in the stillness of the womb of Isis. It came to me that it may be there and then that we are first joined to our stars. But to truly benefit from this starry relationship throughout our lives, we must continually renew, strengthen, and deepen the connection so that our star’s holy light may always inspire and guide us.
We might think of our star as our Star Self or Isis Self. But, like the Goddess Herself, it has many other names as well. It can be called the Higher Self, the Augoeides (“Shining One”), the Holy Guardian Angel, the Higher and Divine Genius, Christ Consciousness, the Atman, the True Self, the Inner Teacher, and many more. And when we are joined to it, we will be our truer and more divine selves.
While I have no declared priestesshood for Nuet, She draws me. A lot. In fact, almost anytime I do spiritual work with Her, I am overawed by Her Eternity, Her Depth, Her Beauty, and I want to lose myself in Her.
Nuet is the mother of Isis. And She is also the One Who Bears All the Gods and Goddesses, and so She is called the Mistress of All. She is the Splendid and Mighty One in the House of Her Creation. She is the Great One in Heaven and the “indestructible stars” (that is, the circumpolar stars that are always visible) are said to be in Her.
She embraces the deceased “in Her name of Sarcophagus” and “in Her name of Tomb.” She is the Mistress of the Duat (the Otherworld). She is the Glowing One (as the Milky Way) and in Her we are joined to our stars, Becoming divine. She is the one Who gives birth to us and Who welcomes us back into Her starry body at our deaths. She is Heaven and She is the Otherworld. She is the one Who is “Amid the Iset Temple in Denderah” for She is over Her daughter Isis and Her daughter is both in and of Her.
As Nuet gives birth every day, She is the quintessential Mother Goddess. She births the Sun God Re each day and receives him back into Her body, by swallowing Him, each night. She also gives birth to Him yearly at the winter solstice. A cycle within a cycle within the Mother.
The decan stars, by which the ancient Egyptians kept time throughout the night, rise and set within Her heavenly body and so She is also a keeper and regulator of time. In one instance of what Egyptologists refer to as a “shadow clock,” the Hours of the Night are counted off in relation to where the sun is on/in Nuet’s body: First Hour, “hand,” Second Hour, “lip.” Third Hour, “tooth,” Fourth Hour, “throat,” and so on.
Most ancient Egyptian painted representations of Deities show Them in profile. Yet there are a few Who come to us face-forward. The Great Goddess Hathor is famously depicted that way, as is Bes, the God Who is a protector of households, children, and mothers. Interestingly, we also find Nuet shown in this way. Like Hathor, She is a Mother Goddess and like Bes, She is a mighty protectress.
We often find Her on the inside of a coffin, stretched out over the deceased person like the sky, positioned face-to-face with them. This face-forward, face-to-face position is particularly intimate, particularly appropriate for the close relationship with a mother…or a Mother Goddess. Yet facing forward is also a protective stance. We see some of these face-forward Deities holding dangerous beasties (scorpions, snakes, crocodiles) harmlessly in Their hands, demonstrating how They can protect us from real as well as metaphorical beasties. Isis’ son, Horus the Child or Harpokrates, is often shown in this way on what are known as Cippi of Horus.
Nuet has another interesting epithet that is found in the Otherworld books known as The Book of Caverns and the Book of the Earth. Just like the more-famous Book of the Dead, these are magical texts to assist the dead in the Otherworld.
In these books, there is an important Goddess known as the Secret One, the Shetait. Egyptologists generally believe that this is an epithet of Nuet. As the Secret One, Nuet can be seen, not face-forward, but standing between serpents and crocodiles that She has tamed on behalf of the Sun God (and thus the deceased). Her power over them is in the form of heat or fire. They “stay in their place due to the fire, the heat which is in this Goddess,” says the Book of the Earth. The Book of Caverns says that the Goddess “is secret of form, being in their darkness as a flame to which the gods cannot ascend.” She is thus a fiery Light in the Darkness, a flame that protects and illuminates.
The Secret One holds in Her hands a sun disk and a ram or sometimes a ba-bird, both representing the Sun God, Who is in the process of being regenerated and reborn. The Secret One holds this process in Her hands.
The Book of Caverns tells us that the Secret One’s head is in the upper Duat while Her feet are in the lower Duat. The Sun God travels upon Her arms, but at the same time is hidden by Her from the Gods, the akhu (the transfigured, light-filled, effective spirits), and the dead. The process of rebirth is delicate and must be hidden until the proper time. In the Book of the Earth, it is said that “the double ba, he travels Her body.” The double ba is Re when He is joined with Osiris, something that must also happen in the Otherworld in order for the sun to be reborn.
In Her Name of Sarcophagus, Nuet spreads Herself out over the deceased and is called Shet Pet. Shet Pet is a common epithet of Hers and means “Coverer of the Sky.” With a little bit of the word play for which the ancient Egyptians were so well known, this epithet can also be interpreted as the Secrecy of the Sky (Sheta Pet) reinforcing Nuet’s identification as the Secret One.
With Her doubled snakes and doubled bas, Nuet can also split Herself in two and become manifest as Her two daughters, Isis and Nephthys. Just as Nuet unites the east and west with the arch or Her body across the sky, so Her daughters form a unity as They position Themselves to the right and left of Osiris or They are to be found framing either side of one of the illustrated scenes in the Otherworld books.
The Secret One is, for me, a particularly potent epithet of the Goddess. It tastes of Her Mystery, the great Mystery of Life and Death and Rebirth. It speaks of Her Eternity. It breaths Her Depth and Her Power.
The return of the light, here and now—in mid-winter—is always a hopeful time. And I do feel hopeful; more now than in the past year. When more light fills our eyes, breath comes a bit easier and hope may come to our hearts.
Isis is like that: a deep, hopeful, uplifting breath. It is one reason that She is, among so many other things, a Lady of Light. She is found in the light of the sun, the moon, and the stars. She is found in light itself.
In ancient Egypt, they held Festivals of Lights in which the entire town or city would light oil lamps that would burn throughout the night—entirely equivalent to our own stringing of lights at Halloween, Yule, or the Winter Festival of Lights that my own city of Portland puts on every February. In Egyptian homes, it was in the space before the main gate of the house that a lot of a family’s festival activity—from lamp lighting to barbecuing and feasting, would take place. I assume this enabled everyone to celebrate together and to see each other do so. In my imagination, I envision Egyptian neighbors vying with each other over elaborate displays of oil lamps.
The historian Herodotus (5th century BCE) writes about an ancient Festival of Lights at Sais, the city of Neith. He says:
“At the times when they gather together at the city of Sais for their sacrifices, on a certain night they all kindle lamps many in number in the open air round about the houses; now the lamps are saucers full of salt and oil mixed, and the wick floats by itself on the surface, and this burns during the whole night; and to the festival is given the name Lychnocaia (“Lamp Lighting”). Moreover those of the Egyptians who have not come to this solemn assembly observe the night of the festival and themselves also light lamps all of them, and thus not in Sais alone are they lighted, but over all Egypt: and as to the reason why light and honour are allotted to this night, about this there is a sacred story told.”
—Herodotus, Histories, Book II, Chapter 62
Sais was one of the sacred cities in which Isis was said to have buried a piece of Osiris’ body. There, possibly at a sacred lake at Neith’s temple, an Osirian passion play was enacted at the same time as one of these festivals of illumination. (Just to be clear, this Egyptian festival was in summer, not at mid-winter…but was a festival of light nonetheless.) And, you may know, that at Sais, Isis and Neith were assimilated, so having Osirian festivals at Neith’s temple would not have been a stretch for the ancients.
I’ve read in a couple places that the “sacred story” attached to the Sais festival to which Herodotus refers was that the lights were to assist Isis in Her search for the body of Osiris. Unfortunately, nobody has footnoted this reference, so I’m not sure if it’s something ancient or simply a modern scholar’s best guess. I love the idea of the whole town assisting Isis in Her search with light…and it makes sense given the passion play and grave of the God at Sais. What’s more, the Egyptians usually did have a mythic model for ritual activity, but I still haven’t found out who originated that explanation. I’ll let you know if I do.
We also know of ancient Egyptian festivals of light at the New Year and on the five epagomenal days that led up to it. On these days, the birthdays of Osiris, Horus, Set, Isis, and Nephthys were celebrated and lights were placed in tombs for the dead. A temple calendar from Edfu tells us of a summertime procession for Isis the Brilliant. That festival is celebrated by modern Kemetics as the Aset Luminous Festival. And so there are more lights for the the Lady of Light.
Now let’s leap forward in time some hundreds of years and move from Egypt to Rome.
The 4th-century-CE Calendar of Philocalus lists a festival called the Lychnapsia on August 12th. It was, of course, a lamp-lighting festival. The scholars who have studied it seem reasonably certain that it was an Isis festival because a.) the August 12th date of this lamp festival is at roughly the same time as the great Egyptian Festival of Lights at the epagomenal birthdays of the Deities and b.) Isis was so extremely popular in Rome that anything Egyptian would have also been considered Isiac.
Furthermore, the theory is that the August 12th date (due to some calendrical calculations with which I will not bore you) corresponded to the 4th epagomenal day—and the 4th epagomenal day is the birthday of Isis. So, in 354 CE, Isiacs could celebrate the birthday of Isis by the lighting of lamps in Her honor.
But we need not wait for the summer birthday of the Goddess or the procession of Isis the Brilliant to honor the Lady of Lights with light. After all, the Egyptians celebrated illumination festivals at a number of different times during the year.
And so I have a modest proposal: a Festival of Lights for Isis as the light-bringing Lady of the Deep Breath. In this mid-winter time, as Her solar light begins its return and Her warming breath infuses our bodies and stirs our souls, as the Green Goddess’ green shoots struggle to be born even while covered with a silver layer of snow, so let us breathe Her in and celebrate, yet another, new beginning.
Such interpretations and updating of our traditions is precisely what we human beings have always done. It enables us to connect with the richness of the past and also to have traditions that continue to make spiritual and emotional sense to us. No doubt, the festivals for Isis changed over time. No matter how conservative the ancient Egyptians were, still, things change. They changed over time within the borders of Egypt, and then when the worship of Isis came into the wider Mediterranean area, things changed even more. People who came to love Isis celebrated Her in ways rooted in tradition, but which made spiritual sense to them in their day, too.
I therefore invite you to join me in a small, new, mid-winter festival for Isis, Lady of the Dawning Light, Mother of the Deep Breath, Queen of Hope. Light a candle, a torch, a tea light. Watch the flame. Feel the light. And breathe Her breath with me.
This is a revised repost, dear Isiacs…and a little earlier than my usual Sunday posts. But don’t click away. There’s a secret here that all who love our Goddess should know.
In fact, I repost this every year because an amazing stellar event happens worldwide on our modern New Year’s Eve. And I want you to be a part of it.
You see, SHE is visible throughout the world in a striking way at New Year. So for those of us who see Isis in the light of Her beautiful star, every New Year’s Eve is special.
Why?
Because the Star of Isis reaches its highest point in the night sky at midnight on New Year’s Eve. In the Northern Hemisphere, look toward the south, and you’ll easily see Sirius shining there around midnight. In the Southern Hemisphere, look overhead or high to the north at around midnight. She will be there. Glittering and gleaming in the depths of the night sky…
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 this fact to be a small miracle, a gift of the Goddess that we can unwrap every New Year’s Eve. (For some Sirius science, look here.)
While some may see Isis in the pale, magical light of the moon. And others may see Her in the golden, life-giving rays of the sun. (I do find Her in both those places; oh yes, yes, 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 (thank you, Alana and John). 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. And holy.
You may 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 you may not know; 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.
Overall, Egyptian temples have a variety of orientations. A survey team in 2004 to 2008 actually went to all the temples in Egypt and measured their orientations. They showed 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 archaeo-astronomers who did the survey I mentioned believe that it may also be oriented to the winter solstice sunrise, an event closely associated with Horus.
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.
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 while She rides high in the sky?
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. And May They bring us good news for 2021 after the year we have all been through.
Amma, Iset. May it be so, Isis.
From the Northern Hemisphere, look toward the south, and you’ll easily see Sirius shining there at around midnight. From the Southern Hemisphere, look overhead or high to the north at around midnight.
