Wadjet

Wadjet


 * Oth****er Names:**

Wadjyt, Uto, Udjo, Uzat, Edjo, Buto, Uadjet, Uranus


 * Meaning of Name:**

“The Papyrus-Colored One,” meaning “The Green One,” which was a general name for the cobra.

or
 * Hieroglyphics:**


 * Titles:**

“The August One, the Mighty One”

//Nesert// (“Searing One”)

“The One Who Travels in Lightning”

“Devouring Flame”

“The Red Crown”

“Eye of Ra”

//Wepset// (“She Who Spits Flame”)


 * F****amily:**

Wadjet was thought to be the daughter of Ra or Atum, the wife of Hapi or Ptah, and the mother of Nefertem and Wepwawet.

A very ancient goddess of heat and fire, Wadjet was often shown as a rearing cobra, the protector of the pharaoh, ready to strike and kill his enemies. She was thought to destroy his enemies by spitting poison and fire.

Wadjet was sometimes depicted as a giant cobra rising up behind the pharaoh, her hood spread above him in protection. She was also depicted as a woman with the head of a cobra, wearing the Red Crown or the sun-disk, a lioness, a winged cobra, a lioness-headed woman, a cobra with the head of a lioness, a vulture with the head of a cobra, or as a mongoose.

Wadjet was assigned the fifth hour of the fifth day of the moon. In the Pyramid Texts it is said that the papyrus plant emerged from Wadjet, and that she was connected to the forces of growth and the earth. In some instances Wadjet was shown as a cobra twined around the pharaoh’s Papyrus Scepter – papyrus stalks were sometimes carved on her images. Egypt is unusual in not having an earth goddess; it is possible that originally Wadjet was the earth deity. Her name, “The Green One,” seems to bear this out.

Wadjet can be seen on many different crowns of Egypt, resting on the pharaoh’s brow. An enormous image of Wadjet once protected the forehead of the Great Sphinx at Giza. The pharaoh was known as //Nebty// ("Heir to the Two Ladies"), the goddesses of Upper and Lower Egypt, Nekhbet and Wadjet.

The ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic symbol of the cobra was used in words such as “royalty,” “goddess,” and “queen.” The worship of Wadjet is so ancient that the sign that preceded the name of any Egyptian goddess was the cobra. In Predynastic times queens and chief consorts wore a golden crown surmounted by many tiny cobras. Egyptian queens held the title “Serpent of the Nile,” representing the goddess who embraced the king. In myths, Wadjet protected the goddesses Isis throughout her pregnancy and the raising of her son Horus, and was thus thought to offer protection to women and children.

Sometime during the reign of Hatshepsut, a colossal natural pillar of rock that jutted out vertically in front of the cliff face at Deir el-Bahri was carved or embellished to appear as a gigantic cobra, guarding the temple of Wadjet below. Far to the south in the Sudan at Napata, the flat-topped mountain Gebel Barkal exhibited a similar rocky pinnacle that is also believed to have been decorated to appear as a giant cobra. Here too, at the base of the sacred mountain, was a sanctuary to the goddess Wadjet.

Wadjet acted as a mythical mother and midwife of the king. It is sometimes thought that in early times Wadjet’s power could be turned against the pharaoh himself, her bite being the death instrument administered by Anubis at the appointed time for the pharaoh’s death. She was associated with the protective Papyrus Scepter amulet. Small statuettes of Wadjet have been found, made of gold, faience, and wood. The mongoose and the shrew were revered as her sacred animals - both were mummified and entombed in statuettes of Wadjet. At Tuna el-Gebel, mummified cobras have been found.


 * Feast and Holy Days:**

December 25th (Going Forth of Wadjet Singing)

April 21st (Feast of Wadjet)

May 1st (Month of Wadjet)

June 21st (Ceremony of Wadjet)

July 2nd (The Wadjet Eye Has Returned Complete)

March 14 (Feast of Wadjet)


 * Quotes from the Book of the Dead and other sources:**

 An Egyptian proverb states: "One should welcome the cobra Wadjet and spit on the python Apophis."

Hymns of Wadjet


 * Egyptian Names Honoring This Deity:**

Wadjetrenes, Wadjet-ronpet, Sit-Wadjet ("Daughter of Wadjet"), Wadjetmose ("Born of Wadjet")


 * Outside of Egypt:**

The Wadjet-cobra was believed to have been copied by Moses as his “brazen serpent” (Numbers 21:9). Among Coptic Christians, “Uraeus” became one of the secret Names of God.

Egyptian Deities - W