Sekhmet

Sekhmet


 * Other Names:**

Sekhet, Sakhmet, Sachmet, Sacmis, Nesert


 * Meaning of Name:**

“Mighty One” or “Powerful One.” Her name is derived from the Egyptian word //sekhem//, which means “power” or “might.”


 * Hieroglyphics:**




 * Titles:**

"Lady of the West"

"Gracious One"

"Destroyer of Rebellion"

"Mighty One of Enchantments"

“She Who Dances on Blood”

//Ab-sekhem// (“Powerful of Heart”)

“The Scarlet Lady”

"The One Who Loves Ma’at and Who Detests Evil"

“Great One of Healing”

“Avenger of Wrongs”

“Lady of the Palace at the Beginning of Time”

"She of the Red Heart" (Furious One)

"Mistress of Life"

//Nesert// (“Lady of Flame”)

"Lady of Terror"

“The One Before Whom Evil Trembles"

“Eye of Ra”

“Lady of Slaughter”


 * Family:**

Sekhmet was thought to be the daughter of Geb and Nut, the sister-wife of Ptah, the sister of Bast, and the mother of Nefertem and Shesmu. She was sometimes thought to be the daughter of Atum and Mut or Ra, the mother of Maahes and Khonsu, and the wife of Sokar or Min.

Sekhmet was a solar goddess directly related to the creative and destructive powers of the sun. She was believed to protect the pharaoh in battle and destroy his enemies with arrows of fire. The king at war was described as being “terrible and unvanquishable like Sekhmet in her fury.” The “Flame of Sekhmet” was one of the most feared of divine weapons. Ramses II claimed that the goddess herself rode with him in his chariot, helping him to destroy his enemies. As a military patronness, she bore martial titles such as "Slayer of the Nubians."

Hot desert winds were called the “Breath of Sekhmet” – sometimes her breath was thought to have caused the desert. Her body was said to take on the bright glare of the midday sun. Sekhmet was thought to eat only meat, “both the raw and cooked,” and drink only red wine. Often pictured as a savage lioness stalking the land, to this goddess death and destruction was “balm for my heart.” In myths of Sekhmet destroying the world, she killed “both the wicked and the good” and her feet were tainted red with the blood of her victims. So great was her fury that even Set and Apophis gave way to her.

It is widely believed that Sekhmet is a much more ancient deity than even Ra. It is told that she “came to Egypt from a place unknown and a time unrecorded.” A very important goddess, it has been estimated that over 730 statues of Sekhmet once stood in the funerary temple of Amenhotep III, on the west bank of the Nile. There were two statues - one sitting and one standing - for each day of the year. Sekhmet was the goddess of divine retribution, justice, vengeance, and war. Not only was she associated with violence and bloodlust, but also with sexual passion, menstruation, and a love of intoxicating drink.

Women were often compared to cats - “She rages like Sekhmet and she is friendly like Bast” and “When a man smells of myrrh, his wife is a cat before him. When a man is suffering, his wife is a lioness before him” were common sayings. Lioness-masked priestesses served in Sekhmet’s temples. The gentle housecat Bast and the fierce lioness Sekhmet were two sides of the same coin - in some depictions Bast can be seen as a cat with the mask of a lioness in her hand, and some statues of Sekhmet show a little cat sitting on her legs.

The patron of surgeons and bonesetters, Sekhmet was thought to send the Seven Demons of Plague, and to protect people from them. Texts exist of incantations to be spoken over a figure of Sekhmet in a time of plague. It is said that her priests protected her statues from theft or vandalism by coating them with anthrax. The priests of Sekhmet were specialists in the field of medicine, arts linked to ritual and magic. They were also trained surgeons and veterinarians of remarkable caliber. Indeed, the chief of the king’s physicians was also the overseer of the priests of Sekhmet.

According to an Egyptian myth, Sekhmet nearly destroyed humankind and was only appeased when she was tricked into getting drunk. In memory of this, during the Festival of Sekhmet men and women “freed themselves of all unpleasant feelings, resentment, and repressed, angry passion” by drinking great quantities of wine. The white wine of Lower Egypt was the Wine of Bast; the more potent blood-red wine of Upper Egypt was called the Wine of Sekhmet.

Robert Masters, who has intensively studied the myths and rituals of ancient Egypt, believes that during the Festival of Sekhmet the Egyptians drank wine containing opium and plants from the //solanaceae// family, such as belladonna, jimsonweed, and wormwood. Similar festivals of Sekhmet were celebrated at the end of battles, in order to pacify the Goddess of War, so that there would be no more destruction. On such occasions, people danced, made love, and played music to soothe the wildness of Sekhmet.

Sekhmet was pictured as a lioness, a cobra, or as a woman with the head of a lioness, dressed in red and wearing the sun disk. Sometimes the dress she wears exhibits a rosette pattern over each nipple, an ancient leonine motif that can be traced to observation of the shoulder-knot hairs on lions (also seen on the shoulder-star of the constellation Leo.) Although they are female, leonine goddesses such as Sekhmet often had a short mane or ruff like that of an adolescent male lion.

Sekhmet was worshiped throughout Egypt, particularly wherever a wadi opened out at the desert edges. This is the type of terrain that lions are often found - many of them having come from the desert in order to drink and to prey upon cattle in the area. Tame lions were kept in temples dedicated to Sekhmet, and were a favored pet of royalty. A living symbol of Sekhmet, Ramses II had a tame lioness, "Slayer of His Enemies," accompany him into battle. The Pyramid Texts suggest that the pharaoh was conceived by Sekhmet, and one relief depicts King Niuserre being nursed by Sekhmet.

Amulets of Sekhmet have been found, made of faience, gold, carnelian, crystal, lapis lazuli, bronze, and alabaster, worn to ward off plagues and pestilence. Sekhmet was sometimes associated with the cobra because the serpent was the symbol of surgeons (as it still is today). Queen Hatshepsut erected several large, magical statues of Sekhmet around Egypt’s borders. By the queen’s words of power, legend says, these statues would spring to life and ravage any intruders, or at least frighten them into leaving Egypt.


 * Feast and Holy Days:**

August 12th (Sekhmet Repulses Set)

October 1st (Month of Sekhmet)

October 17th (Feast of Sekhmet)

October 31st (Feast of Sekhmet) November 20th (Day of Sekhmet of the Purifying Flame)

November 24th (Day of Offerings to Sekhmet)

November 28th (Feast of Sekhmet)

December 14th (Bast and Sekhmet Guide Egypt)

December 28th (Day of Sekhmet Going Forth to Her City)

December 31st (Feast of Sekhmet)

March 12th (Sekhmet Threatens the End of the World)


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

Hymns of Sekhmet


 * Eg****yptian Names Honoring This Deity:**

Sekhmetmib, Sekhmet-nefert ("Beautiful of Sekhmet"), Bekhet-Sekhmet ("Maiden of Sekhmet"), Mery-Sekhmet ("Beloved of Sekhmet")


 * Modern Influence:**

Statues of Sekhmet can still inspire feelings of awe or apprehension - the famous statue of Sekhmet which now stands in the temple of Ptah at Karnak was broken in the early 20th century by local people who feared that it might hurt their children. It was claimed that the statue came to life on moonless nights and wandered village lanes searching for children to devour. Chipped and broken in multiple places from blows with stones and clubs, the statue of Sekhmet has since been moved for its safety.

Egyptian Deities - S