Selket

Selket


 * Other Names:**

Serqet, Selqet, Selkit, Selkis


 * Meaning of Name:**

“She Who Causes to Breathe.” Selket's name refers to her power over scorpions, as those who have been stung tend to breathe too fast and too shallow because of the poison.

or
 * Hieroglyphics:**


 * Titles:**

“Mistress of the Beautiful House” (the Divine Booth where mummification took place)

"Eye of Ra"

"Divine Mother"


 * Family:**

A daughter of Ra, sometimes Selket was thought to be the mother-wife of Neheb-Kau and Horus. Her consort was thought to be Sobek.

Egypt was a land of snakes and scorpions, so it is only natural that the worship of this goddess spread throughout Egypt. People worshiped Selket for her protection against these dangerous creatures, and revered her for her power and protective qualities. A protector of coffins and canopic jars, Selket was featured prominently in the Book of the Dead. Selket's enemies would have their breath literally taken away by the effect of her poisonous sting, but she also gave the justified dead the "breath of life" in the afterworld.

She was also a guardian of marriage and women in childbirth, and was called "Selket the Great, the Divine Mother." In the form of seven scorpions, Selket was thought to have protected the goddess Isis throughout her pregnancy and the rearing of her son Horus, and thus offer special protection to women and children. Amulets of Selket, made of gold, faience, bronze, and lapis lazuli, were popular.

Selket was depicted with a scorpion above her head, as a scorpion, or as a woman with a scorpion’s head. She often had green skin, a reference to her help with regeneration in the Duat, and the Headdress of Hathor. In rare occurrences she was pictured as a lioness, a cobra, or as a scorpion with the head of a woman. One unusual image of Selket shows her with the body of a woman, the head of a lioness, and a crocodile projecting from her back, armed with knives.

To indicate that Selket was a benevolent goddess, she was sometimes represented by a harmless type of water scorpion rather than the poisonous type. According to the Book of Two Ways, Selket protects the deceased on the "dangerous winding path" - a reference to moving the mummy to its tomb. She also protected the sun-god Ra when his barque sailed through the Duat. A golden statue of Selket was found in Tutankhamen’s tomb.


 * Feast and Holy Days:**

October 23rd (Festival for Selket)

Egyptian Deities - S