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litcest · 1 year ago

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Incest on the Nile, Part One

Oh, the Egyptians. One of the greatest ancient civilizations. Remembered by their mummies, pyramids and well, incest. Not only in the myths but in the man pharaonic lines.

"It's incest! Like the Kings and Queens of Ancient Egypt!"

As said by Melanie, from The Magic Toyshop, upon seeing a brother and sister kissing. I had full intention of making a gif from this scene in movie, but the version I can find on youtube is of such bad quality that I decided it's not worthy.

Either way, the point is, the Egyptian Pharaohs were famous for inbreeding, and their gods reflect that. Specially because the Pharaohs were seen as being an incarnated god, so it makes sense they do as the gods did and marry their sisters. Besides, incest helps with the concentration of power, which is something monarchs love.

According to the The Bremner-Rhind Papyrus, which recounts the Heliopolis Creation Myth. There was the first god, who narrates the text and is left unnamed, but through other sources we can assume to be Atum, who is often associated with Ra, and through that association, to Amun. This first god created Shu and Tefnut and this lineage created all the other major gods. The texts says:

"I came forth from the roots, I created all reptiles and all that exists among them. Shu and Tefnut begat Geb and Nut, and Geb and Nut begat Osiris, Horus Mekhantenirti, Seth, Isis, and Nephthys from the womb, one after the other, and they begat their multitudes in this land."

Shu and Tefnut

Shu, god of air, and Tefnut, goddess of moisture, are the children of Atum. An account of their birth, in which they are said to be twins, is given in the pyramid text of Pepi I, who ruled between the 24th and 23rd centuries BC:

"Atum is the one who came into being as one who came (with penis) extended in Heliopolis. He put his penis in his fist so that he might make orgasm with it, and the two twins were born, Shu and Tefnut."

In the pyramid text of Unis, who ruled circa 2345–2315 BC, the two are mentioned to be, together, considered the "Dual-Lion":

"Dual-Lion, who made their two gods and their body themselves—that is Shu and Tefnut, who made the gods, begot the gods, and set the gods."

Tefnut and Shu were frequently represented as a dual-headed being, so I would dare to say they are quite co-dependent, like those couples to never leave each other side. Execpet that one time Tefnut left Shu to go on a killing spree in Nubia. A text known as the Leyden Papirus narrates "the mission imposed by R[a] on Thoth and Shu to conciliate Tefnut, his daughter, who as a result of a quarrel has assumed the form of a lioness and withdrawn to the Nubian desert; the two gods transform themselves into apes, pacify the goddess by the magic and eloquence of Thoth, and return with her to Egypt" (West, 1969).

Geb and Nut

Geb, god of earth, and Nut, goddess of the sky, were the children of Shu and Tefnut, and they were in love. However, the sun god (be it Ra, Amon or Atum) feared that the children of this union would usurp the throne of from, so he placed a curse that forbid her from giving birth in any day of the year, which had 360 days. Luckily for Nut, Thoth helped her, by getting the light from the moon god, Khonsu, and using this light to make 5 extra days in the year. On each day, Nut gave birth to a different child: Osiris, Horus, Set, Isis and Nephthys. The sun god didn't like this a bit and ordered Shu to physically hold Geb and Nut apart so they could no longer have children.

Geb and Tefnut

Some traditions, starting in the 30th dynasty, claim that Geb married his mom, Tefnut, after his father forcefully split him from Nut. In the Shrine of Ismailia, better known as the Shrine of El Arish, there's an inscription that recounts Shu's battle against Apep, and that Geb used his father's absence to take control of the Kingdom. The problem is that most translation of this text are in German, I don't speak German. The little I could translate, with Google's help said something like:

"Geb looked at his mother; he desired her very much, and his heart longed for her, and therefore he travelled the earth in great suffering [...] he found her in that place called Pecharti; then he seized her by force. Now there arose a very great uproar in the palace."

However, other version don't include the rape. According to Jørgensen (2014) the Tebtunis Mythological Manual, which dates to the 2nd century CE, says that:

"He lay with his mother Tefnut, so that they were doing harm to Shu."

Maybe Tefnut consensually had sex with Geb, since the text describes "they" both a doing harm to Shu. But, more likely than anything else, considering that this is such a late myth, this story shouldn't be considered as reflective of Geb and Tefnut's relationship. Scholars speculate that Geb taking Tefnut as his wife is a way to symbolize the transfer of kingship of Egypt, with Geb taking both the crown and the wife of Shu.

The Curious Case of Hathor

I think that it's a well established fact that myths tend to change with time. Hathor is the victim of many of theses changes. It seems that initially, in the Old Kingdom, she was thought of as being the wife of Ra. In this position, she was the mythological mother of the Pharaoh, a role that later would be filled by Isis. However, she is also conflated with Sekhmet, daughter of Ra, and fills the role of the Eye of Ra. You know the story about Teftnut going on a murder spree? Sometimes, it's Hathor who is the one to cause devastation. On the complete polar opposite, she's also said to be the mother of Ra, but in a solar cycle type of deal that each day she births him and each night he births her and so they are forever reborn.

Hathor is also credited as being the mother of Horus, possibly having had this role for even longer than Isis, but after Isis rose to prominence, she appeared in the ole of a care taker to Horus, nursing him with her milk (she's a cow goddess) while he was hidden from Set. However, in some locations, she is linked to Horus not through motherhood, but through marriage, being his wife.

Interestingly, Hathor never seem to occupy two of these roles at the same time. She's never a mother-wife to Ra or Horus. Her role seems to change accordingly to what is 'popular' at the time. This is why I'm including this as a curious case of incest, because as far as I can find, she's never married to her son. She just happens to be married to two someone who are sometimes said to be her son.

In my own personal syncretisation of all this versions of Hathor, I would say she's the daughter and consort of the Ra, who dies every night and she rebirth him every day, making her his mother too. Then, when kingship passed to Horus, she married him, having also have nursed him in his infancy (or maybe he is her biological son from her union with Ra). This would be a nice and neat way to make sense of it all, but mythology is rarely nice and neat.

References

Allen J. P. (2015). The ancient Egyptian pyramid texts (Second). SBL Press.

Faulkner, R. O. (1938). The Bremner-Rhind Papyrus: IV. The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, 24(1), 41–53.

Jørgensen, J. K. B. (2014). Egyptian Mythological Manuals: Mythological structures and interpretative techniques in the Tebtunis Mythological manual, the manual of the Delta and related texts. Det Humanistiske Fakultet, Københavns Universitet.

Wilkinson R. H. (2003). The complete gods and goddesses of ancient Egypt. Thames & Hudson.

West, S. (1969). The Greek Version of the Legend of Tefnut. The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, 55, 161-183.

#proship #shipcest #parent x child #egyptian mythology #brother x sister #sibcest #mother x son #father x daughter #mythology review

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deinemuddalutscht · 1 month ago

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Everything I could find about the scorpion wives of Horus

R. K. Ritner argues that Sepertuenes and Tabithet are distinct, forming two out of a group of seven wives of Horus, of whom the others are Ifdet, 'She who runs,' Wepetsepu, 'She who judges misdeeds,' Sefedsepu, 'She who slaughters misdeeds,' Metemetneferetiyes, 'Beautiful when she comes,' and Batcheh, though Tabithet and Sepertuenes are the best-attested. I recommend checking out the YouTube video "Robert Ritner | Seven Brides with Seven Stingers: The Scorpion Wives of Horus" or reading Robert Ritner's The Wives of Horus and the Philinna Papyrus (PGM XX), 1998, or Robert K. Ritner's Tabithet is Biyet, the Lady of the Cobra, a Daughter of Ra, 1997, if you're interested in this subject.

However, it is also possible that Sepertuenes is an epithet for Tabithet, or that both are epithets for Selket or Isis, who are also associated with scorpions and referred to as wives of Horus.

The seven scorpions may be connected to the seven Hathors. A spell from Papyrus Geneva MAH 15274 tells of Horus emerging unscathed from an encounter with the seven Hathors, all of whom had head wounds. The wording suggests that it was a sexual encounter, but it remains unclear why the Hathors had head injuries. The spell recounts part of Horus' youth, when he had to hide from Seth with Isis. It includes a humorous story in which Isis warns Horus that the god Babi is roaming the land with 77 red dogs. Babi was associated with Seth, as Babi's form and companions—red dogs—were linked with the portrayl of the Seth-animal. In any case, Horus does not seem to take his mother's warning very seriously and is then attacked by Babi, who bites him in the leg. In the end, Isis manages to heal the bite wound.

These scorpion wives are also likely mentioned in the "O.BYU Mag." text, a Coptic love spell written continuously over three ostraca. This spell primarily consists of a narrative in which Horus asks his mother Isis for help in winning the love of a woman (maybe multiple ones) he meets in the underworld. Horus encounters either one or several female figures, referred to variously as “women/woman,” “beauties/beauty,” or “maidens/maiden.”Their/Her description focuses on their/her skin color (white or red), their/her black eyes, and their seat near a fountain or well, or upon thrones: ("I am Horus the son of Isis. I went into a gate of stone, I came out from a gate of iron. I found the woman NN, child of NN, the beautiful one, the white one with the black eyes, with the burning pupils , the one that my soul loved. I said to her, “Lie on the dirt , NN.” She did not want ⟨me⟩, neither was she willing … I cried before Isis, my mother. Isis said to me, “Why are you crying, Horus, my son?” ⟨I said⟩, “Do you not want ⟨me to cry?⟩, Isis, my mother? I went into a gate of stone, I came out of a gate of iron. I found the woman NN, child of NN, the beautiful one, the white one with the black eyes, with the burning pupils, the one my soul loved. I said to her, “Lie on the dirt, NN.” She did not want ⟨me⟩, neither was she willing.” Isis said to me, “⟨Even⟩ if you did not know how to find me, ⟨say (?)⟩“Come to [my] cup (?) that I might eat,do not leave me until it happens that she shall fulfill all my desire, now, quickly, quickly, by ⟨the⟩ power of Iaō Sabaōth.’")

As Robert Ritner has argued, these women almost certainly derive from the seven scorpion brides of Horus, known mostly from Pharaonic magical texts, with Tabithet being the most prominent. These scorpion-women may be related to the seven scorpions who accompanied Isis as protectors when she fled with Horus from Seth, (and) or they might represent the seven Hathors.

According to myth, Horus deflowered his wife, causing her to bleed and sting him, possibly alluding to scorpion mating behavior, where the female may sting or harm the male. ("Hail to you, Horus, by the blood of Tabithet- Horus deflowered her on a bed of ebony- Tabithet, the lady of the cobra, a daughter of Ra'! I will recite (?) against her as a hero . A falcon is to the right, another one to the left of her. However, I will escape. Horus, hail to you! Come to me, Tabithet, wife of Horus! Come, I am Horus!")Note that the words for daughter and son don't always literally mean daughter and son and can refer to all kinds of descendants lik a grandchild or great-grandchild. That why all gods and goddesses were called the sons/daughters of Ra at some point. Horus is burned by the poison and is eventually healed by fluids, like saliva or beer, and by knotted bands, which, in some versions, are made by the repentant wife. In one text, Tabithet’s appearance is described, focusing on her “faïence-faced” look, possibly symbolizing the dark, glossy scorpion carapace, whose color ranges from black to red or yellow. Similar descriptions of women being white or red, or black-eyed, may connect to this image. Another close parallel, identified by Ritner, is found in a Roman magical text where seven dark- or faience-eyed maidens draw water to cool a burning child on a mountain peak.

However, similar narratives are also found in other cultures, including Greece, Mesopotamia, and the Near East. These similarities point to the complex cross-cultural exchanges of the ancient Mediterranean, and caution against attributing influences to a single cultural source. Egyptian charms involving the wife of Horus do not entirely explain the Coptic Horus-Isis charms, where Horus lusts after the maidens but is rejected. This may indicate an adaptation from healing charms to love spells, with the burning of lust replacing the burning of poison, a common motif in Greek literature.

In Hs. Schmidt 1, the spell seems to serve a different function—as a sleep spell—although this may still connect to love spells, with Horus commanding the woman to “lie down” and complaining that she did not sleep. This could imply a sexual submission rather than simply sleep. Horus’ unsuccessful attempts to proposition the women gather the attention of Isis who asks him what the matter is. Interestingly the maiden are described as facing one another which could hint as a connection between Isis and the maidens, possibly as her scorpion attendants. ("Hear Horus crying, hear Horus sighing: “I am troubled, poured out/melted for seven maidens, from the third hour of the day until the fourth hour of the night. Not one of them sleeps. Not one of them dozes.

Isis His mother replied to him within the temple of Habin [near Hermopolis, where a temple and priest of Horus are mentioned as late as the 7th century CE] with her face turned toward the seven maidens and seven maidens turned toward her face: “Horus, why are you crying, Horus, why are you sighing?”

“Do you wish that I not cry, do you wish that I not sigh, from the third hour of the day until the fourth hour of the night, while I am poured out/melted for seven maidens, not one of whom sleeps, not one of whom dozes?" Even if you did not find me, and you did not find my name, take a cup and a little water, whether a little breath or a breath of your mouth or a breath of your nose, and recite down over them, ‘O … two angels through whom sleep was set upon Ebed-Melech for seventy-two years, set sleep upon NN, child of NN, make his head heavy like a millstone, upon his eyes like a sack of sand, until I complete my demand, and I fulfil the desire of my heart, now, now, quickly quickly!’”)

The Pedestal of the Healing Statue Chicago OIM 9379 contains a spell in which either Tabithet tells Hathor of her encounter with Horus and initiates some kind of conflict between herself, Horus, and Hathor or refers to Tabithet as Hathor, disagreeing with another unnamed affair of Horus. The state of the text unfortunately does not permit us to reconstruct the myth. I attempted to translate it but it might not be completely accurate since its a very fragmentary spell: "What did the position against you. See, the poison said to your wife "I have entered the bed of Horus after his heart desired me more than you." She has brought disorder into your home. It was something evil inside the heart of your wife. Come with your power as/inside/over (...) May you vanquish the poison in every limb of the patient. May you throw the poison to the ground, may you open it for the things it said about you. May rejoicement return to your house, may the heart of Hathor rejoice. May the anger of her against you vanish. May the poison of your evilness die. May the heart of Bithet, the Golden one, the mistress, the wife of Horus, rejoice." In what would be the sole reference to Tabithet outside a magical context, Horus-pa-chered is referred to once at Edfu as the “son of Tabithet,” who is also characterized as “nurse of the Golden One".

Ostrakon Bruxelles E 3209 also calls Tabithet a daughter of Osiris/Sepa:

("Come, painful waters inside of the body of NN, born of NN like she came out of Bitchet, the wife of Horus, the daughter of Sepa. The daughter of Osiris when she as a child and Ra was young")

The goddess Sepertuenes is mentioned with her sister Tabithet in Borghouts spell 101 ("O Mistress of [. . .], skin-wearer who has come forth from Heliopolis, the Daughter of the Hooded One [or “She of the Nemes Headdress;” possibly equating the hood of a cobra with the Egyptian nemes headdress], without my adding Sepertuenes, she to whom the Earth Petitions, recite, pray for this young Horus that he might go off recovered to his mother, by the blood of Ta-Bitchet since Horus opened her in the evening. Seal the mouth of every reptile, O Ta-Bithet, Shining of Face" )

She is also mentioned in pLeiden I 348 = AMS 26: "( Oh Sepertuenes, wife of Horus, Oh Nekhbet, Nubian one, Oh eastern one (?), Oh Wenut, mistress of Hermopolis! Come, may you come (...)" ) as well in a short spell against skin diseases in the London Medical Papyrus. Her name isn't really translatable but Leits came up with "to which one comes, to which the land is left" (Leitz, Lexikon der ägyptischen Götter und Götterbezeichnungen. Issue VI., 275)

Papyrus Chester Beatty VII tells us the following about Sepertuenes: (" When Horus had looked behind him he found Seth following him and vice versa. That heron, which is sitting down the two crests of the tendon in its vertex were drawn out and fitted with 7 knots. It was announced to Ra : The chest has gone forth from Heliopolis!' It is not known what is in it. A seal is in it, of black stone. Come to the earth, poison, at the words of Sepertuenes of the first corporation of Ra. She has been telling her name to Horus for three years, while the blood stuck on her thighs since Horus deflowered her. Come to me that you may exorcize these malignant that are in the body of NN born of NN as when Horus went to his mother Isis, in the night when he was bitten!")

The names for Sefedsepu and Ifdet come from a spell against scorpion wives in Papyrus Chester Beatty VII. The spell also directly confirms that there are at least seven scorpion wives of Horus that form a group:

("flow out, Sk[orpion]![---] [Name of the gods], with a broad back and numerous segments, [---] Sepertu[enes, wife of Horus]! [Come at my saying according to] what I say!I am the god who arose from himself, [---] Isis. O poison, [---] Ra, while Nut, who gave birth to [the gods], spoke [---] NN, son of NN.Come, [come out] at the word of [---], the wife of Horus![Look, I] am Horus, the physician who can appease a god.[Flow out of the body!]Come, come out at the word of [---], the wife of Horus!Look, [I am Horus, the physician who can appease a god].Flow [out of the body]!Come, come out at the word of [___]-Ifdet, [the wife of Horus]!Look, I am Horus, the physician [who can appease a god].[Flow] out of the body [out]!Come, come out at the word of Wepetsepu, the wife of Horus! Look, I am [Horus, the physician who can appease a god].Flow [out of the body]![Come, come out at] the word of Sefed-sepu, the wife of Horus!Look, I am Horus, the physician who can [appease a god].[Flow out of the body!]Come, come out at the word of [Metemet-]Neferetiyes, the wife of Horus!Look, I am Horus, the physician who can [appease a god].Flow out of the body!Come, [come out at the word of ---, the wife of Horus]!Come, [come out at the word of ---, the wife of Horus!]!Look, I am Horus, the physician who can appease a god.Flow out of the body![---] Horus (and?) (goddess) [---], food herb [---].flow [out] of the body! ")

Although some scholars think that all these Scorpion Goddesses may be manifestations of the one Great Scorpion Goddess, Serket. In another spell from Papyrus Chester Beatty VII against poisoning, Wepetsepu specifically calls herself not only by her own name but also refers to herself as Serket. But it also isn't uncommon for Egyptian deities to be referred to by the name of another deity especially when they share similar domains. Furthermore, the translation I could find of the spell actually sounds more like Wepetsepu is the poison while Selket is the healer trying to remove it. But translations can be tricky and I'm no expert. The spell in question goes as follows: (" Oh you that have attacked me! I am not the one who attacks you, Wepetsu is the one that attacks you! Poison, come to me, for I am Selket")

Sefet-Sefekh,Metemet-nefertiyes and (Ta-)bithet are also mentioned in another spell from the Papyrus Chester Beatty VII, though Tabithet is the only one specifically stated to be the wife of Horus:("The light will shine, the Nile will flood, so that sacrifices will be offered in Heliopolis!(For) the NN., whom NN. has born, he is healthier (literally: better) than he was, according to the saying of Sefet-Sefekh, according to [the saying of ...]-hedj, according to the saying of Hetjay, the Lady of Spells, according to the saying of Ut, the Lady of Flame, according to the saying of the Lady of Uraeen, according to the saying of Nebet-peseschet, according to the saying of Metemet-nefertiyes, according to the saying of Nebet-bitjet, the Lady of the Bandages, according to the saying of Bithet, the wife of Horus, according to the saying of Herenses, the beloved son!")

The scorpion wives, like all daughters of Ra, are also connected to the Uraeus: ("I am Batcheh, the wife of Horus. I am the uraeus, the creation of the gods",Papyrus Leiden I 343 + I 345)

The problem with the seven Scorpion wives theory is, that we have more than seven names for the scorpions. First there is Sefet-Sefech: "One should recite for NN, son of NN, as one recites for Sefet-Sefech behind the wall. These painful fluids of the scorpion(s) that are in the body of the NN, son of the NN, shall move away, just as 〈they〉 moved away from Horus after he had seen his enemy who had fallen under his feet.Behold, I am not the one who recites for you.It is Sefet-Sefech who shall recite this for you, as she recited for Horus, saying: “The son of a noble man came forth from the earth!" (Papyrus Chester Beatty VII)

Sefet-Sefech helped to heal Horus from scorpion wives, she is mentioned in Chester Beatty VII which made a lot of references to the other scorpion wives and her name means "Seven slayer" so she is clearly connected to the myth of the seven scorpions although she isn't specifically called a wife of Horus. The role of healer would link Sefet-Sefech to either Isis or Selket. If we go with Selket then maybe we have seven minor scorpion wives who attacked Horus and Selket as the main scorpion goddess-consort who helps her husband from the attack of her subordinate scorpions/sisterwives. Or maybe Sefet-Sefech is supposed to be the embodiment of all seven scorpion wives combined, who knows?

Then there is the goddess (Ta-)Menet, who is also mentioned in Chester Beatty VII and is specifically called a wife of Horus: "Oh Ennead, come and see the poison after it has come veiled, for it flooded over the shore like the flood!The light will shine, the sun will shine, so that sacrifices will be offered ((in the temple, which)) is in Heliopolis!

(For) NN. son of NN. has risen! A knot is tied in a bandage, his beginning is tied in the face of / in the presence of Ra. I will speak [... ... ..., according to] which is said by me.Because I have blinded your eyes, you will no longer open them, because I have paralyzed your fingers, [you will not] [...], [because I have] your sting you will not thrust it [in] to cause you to become black like Horus and red [like Seth]. ... your nose by the saying of the “heavenly woman,” the daughter of Ra, by the saying of Menet, the wife of Horus (...)"

It could be possible that Menet is simply a shortened form of Metemet-nefertiyes. And if it isn't confusing enough, there is also another scorpion wife of Horus that has nothing to do with the myth of the scorpion wives (thankfully), but she is a scorpion wife of Horus nonetheless: Hededet.

She appeared at Edfu as an independent goddess before she became associated and later merged with Isis. At first, she was considered as the consort of Horus. Later the cult of Osiris was incorporated into Edfu’s mythologies, making Isis-Hededet the mother of Horus-Behdety as well as the wife of Osiris.

#egyptian gods #egyptian mythology #horus #isis goddess

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troutfur · 2 years ago

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WAIT WAIT WAIT HEAR ME OUT

kittypet fae but they DO have powers

like make the twolegs wizards or something and oopsie! due to prolonged contact with magic(not harry potter fuck jk rowling), kittypets absorbed it.

You could go many different ways...

Patron au: Different Groups of kittypets pray to kitty cat gods for powers n stuff

Biblically accurate angel stuff

They could do spells, have extra tails/heads/eyes/ears/etc.

mayhaps?

The kittypet fae AU is the creation of @skyclan-funny-name-squad so I'm going to be directing this ask their way, but as for my own thoughts...

This is close to an idea I was toying around with for an alternate Sol backstory in which he was an occultist's pet and somehow ended up learning planetary magic and astrological timings and such and he wanted to do some ritual or another using the planetary energies of the eclipse. I don't have much thoughts beyond that.

I've had kemeticism on the brain as of late, I'm in fact preparing to begin performing more regular moon cycle rituals in honor of Djehuty [Thoth] and my akhu [ancestor spirits], so you bringing up the idea of the cats receiving powers from deities immediately made me think of Bastet. I know there are other pagans out there who dedicate their pets to their deities and from a kemetic point of view it honestly seems perfectly logical that if you make a shrine in your house your pets could serve as temple animals. Fun way to reconstruct that part of pharaonic temple ritual.

BUT ANYWAY, if Bastet were to grant powers like that to a house cat dedicated to her what I'm picturing is something like what Lionblaze has going on in the Hollyfawn MAPs by CheetehZ. You know, the ability to turn to actual lions and stuff.

#warrior cats #wc #warrior cats au #btw if anyone wants to ask me about kemeticism or paganism I'd rather you go to my main #aerial-jace is the blog #I'd prefer to keep discussions of my religion strictly WC-focused if they happen on here at all

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bansheeoftheforest · 2 months ago

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A Life for You and Me [TKC Walt x Anubis]

I have not read the books since I was genuine child and I am absolutely refusing to read anything other than the wikis. I do not go here BUT I keep having reoccurring dreams about waltxanubis and I finally gave in. Here yall have the most ooc fic for the BEST ship in tkc <3 Also my first ever fic that isn't tgs!

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Wordcount: 6,374

Summary: Anubis contemplates his godly existence and Walt offers comfort.

Or; in which Walt tries to be a gentleman, and Anubis slowly realizes that his heart is craving /more/.

CW: None! They are hypothetical 18-20+ year olds in this tho, and also probably very ooc

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Perhaps Walt Stone could finally learn to get used to his existence.

He hadn’t really had any time to get used to life, or enjoy it, as he spent many of his waking moments wondering when the curse would strike. The curse, which had taken his father, his father, and every ancestor before him, a result of the greed of his pharaonic ancestor. The curse, which had waited to take him since the day he was born. The curse, which had made him unable to use magic, resided him to a life of amulet-making. The curse, which had made him live on the brink of death. The curse, which was now dormant. Now he could safely enjoy his life, nuzzled within the palms of death himself.

Death, or Anubis, his new companion, lounged in a more corporeal form upon Walt’s bed- although he supposed it was Anubis’ too, as they shared body and possessions. Their two souls still resided inside the mortal’s body, but Anubis occasionally enjoyed taking shape outside of their shared form, something not entirely solid but not transparent, either. The jackal-headed god enjoyed lounging around in Walt’s bedroom when they were alone. He had no problem to do as such in front of people, either, but -while he, of course, would never admit it- often felt safer when put away into the depths of Walt’s own body, as he very rarely wanted to deal with other people.

Walt sat upon the floor, back against a wall, facing the bed upon which his companion laid. Anubis was casually dressed; a simple black t-shirt which hung loosely around his meager frame, with a pair of comfortable pants that, for once, wasn’t denim. He had decided to skip the jewelry which often adorned him and between his lips laid an unlit cigarette, which he had the decency to not smoke in the room, but still seemed to enjoy having in his mouth. The god’s hair had grown longer, and was slicked back until it curled around his neck and pointed ears, and his skin had gone from a corpse-pale white to a pale tan, a testament to his time out of the Duat, a healthier image than the one Walt had first gotten to know. Walt himself was dressed similarly. While the sun was setting into evening, it was summer, and the dry heat was hard to beat, and so his usual outfit of a tanktop and shorts were a perfect match.

Something felt different today, neither were sure why, but they felt like they had tip-toed around the other. Like something delicate within them, between them, was about to be ripped apart; something unsaid which was threatening to reach the surface, something which could potentially destroy the bond they had built, the life they had built. At the very least, that is what Walt felt. Anubis had been quiet for most of the day, laying dormant within their soul, seemingly deep in thought. He had not commented any snide remarks or questioned the intricacies of the modern world, nor had he responded when Sadie made a jab at him. He was simply quiet, and now, he laid upon Walt’s bed. Walt couldn’t help but to stare at him, as if trying to solve a puzzle. He occasionally let his gaze wander to the textbook within his lap; a manuscript falling apart at the seams, a study of Egyptian funerary rites, assigned by Anubis himself. Yet, as the minutes passed, he found it harder and harder to remove his focus from the figure on his bed, as Anubis let his gaze travel around the room. They were eyeing each other, while simultaneously acting like they weren’t.

There was no special occasion, no real reason for Anubis to take form outside of Walt’s own body, but he seemed to have gotten bold lately. He enjoyed feeling like another person in Walt’s company, rather than a part of him, a voice in the back of his head, an occasional remark or question. Anubis seemed content with merely basking and lounging whenever he had the opportunity, and Walt was not one to force his friend to be productive. He would be taking every moment to rest too, had he resided so long in the underworld.

Still, as Anubis did not speak, neither did Walt, not wanting to intrude on the god currently intruding on him. Despite their history, Anubis was rarely social, almost shy, never conversing more or in further depths than necessary, although he was often more sociable with Walt himself. Walt knew better than to coax him out of his shell, and yet, Anubis held his emotions upon his sleeve- or perhaps he felt so strongly that Walt could practically feel it in the air, or perhaps it was simply the part of him, deep within his chest, that made him understand. Carter often remarked that Anubis seemed emotionless, apathetic, unreadable, but Walt felt that he couldn’t be further from the truth.

Anubis was in thought, perhaps uncertain. He was not looking at Walt anymore, instead he glanced off into the distance while chewing on the end of his cigarette, which Walt couldn’t imagine to be appetizing. Perhaps it was his position, the way he laid, or perhaps it was the expression upon his face, which read as something more than mere zoning-out. He felt- or looked- awfully human.

Finally, the jackal-god sighed, removing the cigarette from his lips and letting it vanish in thin air. His head fell back into the pillows of the bed. A sign of giving up. The first emotional movement he had done all day.

Walt looked up, and Anubis made no attempt to move. He could see every movement from where he currently sat, every rise and fall of his torso as he breathed, from his covered chest and down to his abdomen, where the shirt hiked up ever so slightly. It made the rest of the lean body move with it, exaggerated with the soft pillows which followed his every move. It looked almost sensual- a thought he just a year ago would never have thought he would ever think, especially not now, as the uncertainty settled between them.

He hesitated, but cleared his throat. As Anubis didn’t react, he asked;

“What are you thinking about?”

Anubis didn’t respond for quite a while. The uncertainty still hung in the air, perhaps clearer, as the god weighed his options. Perhaps attempting to find a way to explain, or to come up with an excuse. Walt watched as another sigh accentuated the movement of the god’s body. Finally, the god spoke.

“I am not sure.”

There was no stutter, no hesitance as the words were said, yet it was still felt as Walt considered the words for a moment.

“Would you like to talk about it?”.

Once more, silence. Walt realized that he was quite captivated with the rise and fall of Anubis’ chest, while Anubis wondered if this -whatever thoughts that swirled in his head, his worries, his feelings- is what had caused their tension.

“I am not sure you would like to listen.”

Walt adjusted his position slightly, straightening his back, despite Anubis not being able to see him; like he was trying to prove that of course he would listen, of course he could be trusted with whatever it was that bothered the other. A challenge, or a test, a way for Walt to prove that he was someone to confide in. It had been years, and sometimes it felt like Anubis still struggled to trust Walt, to confide in him, to remember that he was his Eye and his closest friend. For Walt, it did not feel like it was his god laying upon his bed, nor the sole reason for his current survival. He was just a friend. Someone closer, something deeper. Something intimate but unsaid, unknown between them.

“Of course I'll listen”, for you.

Walt debated moving closer, perhaps it would make Anubis feel... Calmer, or safer. He wasn't sure, nor was he sure why Anubis wouldn’t feel safe, why he thought he wouldn’t. His wish to ease his worries only felt... Natural.

Anubis, as usual, seemed to consider his words. He shifted, as if he wanted to move, but was unsure if it would be a smart choice; like he wanted to be seen, but didn’t dare to be seen. Walt could not see much more than the god’s torso, but saw how his arm shifted to push his hair from his face. Unnaturally human.

“I am debating,” the god finally spoke, “how human it is to be... A god.”

Walt perked up slightly. He considered the sentence, tasting the words on his tongue for a moment. He had not expected something so philosophical, or perhaps he had, something deep only a god of mortality could think up.

“Oh?”

He saw how the other hesitated. The tan body was tense, and he could almost see the translucent veins pop against the god’s skin all the way from where he was sitting. Finally, Anubis moved, sitting up and leaning against the wall to which the bed was pushed against. His eyes were closed, and his head tilted slightly upward. A sign of acceptance. Walt waited with bated breath, eager to hear the thoughts and feelings his god would spill for him.

“I do not feel like a god.” Anubis started, his voice was quiet. “I do not feel divine or holy or powerful. I do not feel like I behave like the other gods, or that I properly fit in with them. It feels unnatural to feel and yet I feel. And….”

He trailed off. His face scrunched and he closed his eyes, frustrated with himself, moving his hand as to wave himself off, as if to make Walt forget that he ever spoke, having committed the grievous sin of sharing his feelings, with a mortal no less. Embarrassed, perhaps humiliated, mortified that he revealed his own feelings to his own host. Or perhaps relieved to get the thoughts that were harbored within his soul put into words. Walt finally stood up, placing the book he had in his lap aside, and took a seat next to the god, mirroring his position as their backs rested against the cold wall. Anubis opened his eyes once more. As they looked at each other, Walt attempted to smile comfortingly. Anubis’ face twisted into more uncertainty.

“I think that is perfectly normal,” Walt replied, taking a chance as he gently placed his hand upon Anubis’ lower arm, which was currently resting against the latter’s lap. “Just because you are a deity, doesn’t mean you are simply an unconscious force. You have a soul too, you know. Souls feel. ”

Anubis looked between Walt and the place of physical touch, slightly bewildered. He was right, of course, he knew that he had a soul, yet it was hard for him to grasp the mortal’s words. He had a soul. And with a soul came personality, and feelings. With a soul comes differences.

“I... I feel left behind.” Anubis confessed, quietly, barely above a whisper, looking straight ahead. “Like the others- like they understand more. I should have grown up by now, and yet I am a mere child.”

Walt continued to look at him, let him speak in peace, until silence settled. His gaze softened, and he gave the other’s wrist a comforting squeeze.

“Well, that is not odd. You were left behind. But it doesn’t have to mean that you are alone anymore. We will grow, together.”

Of course he was not alone now. He had Walt, and the thought of growing together with him, spiritually and physically, felt comforting. In some capacity, he even had the rest of the House of Life. Until the day of Walt’s natural death, or his chosen separation, Anubis would be a part of him, something buried within his very soul, his very person. And as Walt’s soul left their constructed body, Anubis would return to the Underworld, for another four thousand years to pass as he resided barely any time at all in the Duat. It had taken him four thousand years of his existence to find his first host, he doubted he would find another one anytime soon. But until then, he had Walt, perhaps Sadie and Carter as well, perhaps the rest of the House, even if not all of them seemed to particularly trust him. Even if he did not seem to particularly trust them.

“... Yes, you may be right.”

Anubis didn’t sound entirely convinced, and Walt understood that he may not feel like talking about it further, yet he did not want to leave the other feeling uncertain, or misplaced.

“I do not think that you are questioning things unnecessarily,” Walt continued, although his gaze left the god. “After all, while I know it is a part of your problem, you are a teenager. I doubt gods miss out on puberties and phases and all those hormone imbalances- It is when you are a teenager that you start feeling properly, start to question properly. It is only natural. I know it hurts, but it will get better.”

Anubis snorted, but stayed silent.

“I understand that you are struggling with placing yourself, but I also do not want you to think that that is unnatural. You are right, it is very human to feel, but you may not be a thing in between, you may just be any teenager trying to make sense of the world they find themselves in. Regardless of what you feel, or think, about yourself and others- I am here, and we will get through that together, yeah?”

It seemed to calm him. Anubis’ shoulders lowered slightly, and he took a deep breath. It was shaky, but a new air of peace came upon them. He did not yet reply, seemingly thinking over Walt’s words, tested them, probed them, questioned how much he believed them- yet his body remained slack, like he felt comforted, or perhaps even believed him. Once he finally spoke, it was barely above a whisper.

“...Walt?”

Walt turned and gave Anubis his full attention.

“Yeah?”

“...Thank you.”

Walt couldn’t help but smile, a bright smile which could light up the whole room. Anubis actually looked at him, and his gaze was soft, an equally gentle smile upon his lips. For a moment, Walt felt the air in his lungs, warm and thick, breath hitched as he fully took in the god’s face, like he was seeing it for the first time, for a new time. The beautiful skin, noticeably pale and yet not chalky white anymore. A sharp, androgynous jaw and beautiful black hair, slicked back, accumulated into soft locks at the back of his head, the urge to run his fingers through the soft mass was overwhelming. Perhaps likening his image to a ‘Greek god’ would be a bit too ironic, but there were few words to describe Anubis’ beauty. The pantheon was filled with beautiful gods and beautiful magicians, none could compare to him, the Egyptian Aphrodite.

“Of course,” Walt finally said, breathless, “any time.”

His gaze had stayed a bit too long, the god’s expression was questioning, yet Walt simply looked away once more.

As they settled into silence, the mortal let his thoughts wander. It was a bit funny to think about the situation they were in, as they sat upon Walt’s bed, practically holding hands. It had been years since they first met, since he became the god’s host. Their bond, their relationship, which had started as pure distrust from Walt’s side, a misunderstanding, disproving of Anubis’ relationship with Sadie, to relief to hear that the god had no intentions of such a relationship with her. As the distrust settled, it became transactional, or perhaps mutually beneficial; as Anubis’ host, Walt could live, and Anubis could have his own life. By now, Walt saw a side of the god that he now wasn’t even sure Anubis had seen himself; something... Perhaps not self conscious but certainly not confident, more awkward, shy, but curious, willing to learn and listen to adapt to the world around him. Something passionate, something willing. His reputation for a constant, horrid mood was something Walt rarely saw, perhaps it was the fact that the god finally got to breathe fresh air and feel the warm sun on his skin. He had survived to be a young adult, thanks to him, and Anubis got his own life too. They had survived, together.

For a moment, Walt wondered what the Kanes would have thought, if they had entered the bedroom this very moment. At the same time, he couldn't care less. This had nothing to do with them, and all to do with the bond between a host and his god.

He was brought out of his thoughts as he felt a pressure against his shoulder, weighing him down ever so slightly. As he looked to his side, he saw Anubis’ head rested against him. It was rare for the god to initiate physical contact, and yet now he let his host become his personal pillow. His eyes were closed, had Walt not known better he would have thought he was asleep. To think that a god with a reputation of being cold, cruel, fiery, was now happily cuddled up against his arm, peaceful, quite intimate- Walt could not help but to smile, and press his own head against Anubis’.

...

They stayed like that for quite a while, he wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but it was getting late. What was previously a beautiful afternoon had quickly turned into a painted sunset, and now the darkness gave way for the stars and the moon, the cycle of night. It pained him to move and disturb the delicate moment they now were in- he knew that Anubis didn’t need to rest, but Walt was merely human, and knew his lack of sleep would affect Anubis as well.

“Hey, buddy?”

Anubis cranked open a lazy eye, which turned to look at the mortal, unimpressed.

“It is getting late, perhaps we should tuck in.”

Anubis furrowed his eyebrows, yet moved away from the other. His disappointment was clear on his face, yet neither said anything. Walt got up, stretched for a few moments, and moved towards his dresser on the other side of the room. He rummaged for a suitable sleeping shirt, and began to strip down into his underwear. It did not matter that Anubis was behind him- at least he did not care- after all, they shared a body, and what the god now saw was nothing new. Yet, Anubis blushed and looked away. It was one thing to be in the body while clothing was removed, but to be a spectator and watch made his heart beat faster, an overwhelming feeling he wasn’t sure how to handle.

Once Walt was in nothing but his sleeping-shirt and his underwear, he turned back towards Anubis. The god remained seated, perhaps not yet having processed that he was being kicked out, but hurriedly went off of the bed. Walt gave him a look he couldn’t read, but went past and laid down upon the mattress. Anubis stood by the side, weighing his options; he could take his animalistic form and reside by the bed, or he could move back into Walt’s body, or he could-

“You coming?”

Anubis blinked, and looked at his host. Walt held his arms open expectantly, invitingly, like what he was suggesting was obvious.

“...What?”

“It is either my arms or the floor, y'know. And I do not particularly feel like kicking you out of my bed, when you were so comfortable before.”

Oh.

He couldn’t say that he had ever been offered to share a bed with someone before, not even with Walt, as he often simply returned into his host’s body or changed into his canine form to reside close by. And yet now, here they were, with Walt’s arms stretched open, waiting expectantly. For Walt, it felt natural, like it was obvious, like this was how they normally slept. For Anubis, it was a shock which threatened to make his delicate heart burst within his palms.

As Anubis stared, his cheeks flared up in a violent display of red. He hesitated, but as Walt did not move, Anubis took a deep breath, climbing into bed with him and obediently laying down where Walt motioned for him to be. Once he was still, he had his head upon the mortal’s shoulder, near his breast, facing the other as Walt’s arms snaked around him, holding him close. He could feel the gentle pounding of the other’s heart, a steady thump which practically made him melt, comforted him, a little lullaby.

It was almost laughable. Over five thousand years old, and now he was cuddling with his first ever host, and blushing like a mortal teenager at that. He should be properly embarrassed of himself, and yet the warmth of the body cradling his, the smell of the clay and glazes and salts from the amulets and natron, it was all too intoxicating. It filled his senses until all logic disappeared, and all he could properly think about was Walt. Walt, who gave him a new life, Walt, who cradled him. Walt, who listened. Walt, who was his friend. Walt, who had already closed his eyes, and waited for sleep to take him. The soft beating of his heart and the warm scent made it impossible to resist, it did not take long for the god’s eyelids to flutter shut, properly content, properly calm.

...

Morning came all too soon as the sun once more rose upon the sky, warm rays filtering through the window where neither blinds or curtains were shut, casting its embrace upon the room of Walt Stone, who was quick to wake by the new light. It was a pleasant warmth, a start to an equally pleasant morning, and he enjoyed every last second of waking up. He had no urgency, no duties to attend so early, he could merely bask in the sun and let his body wake up by itself. Yet, as he slowly returned to his conscious state, he started to process the situation he was currently in.

In his arms lay Anubis, still. His back was turned towards him this time, yet Walt’s arms still held him, spooning and holding him close. He laid still, like a corpse, and yet he could feel the other’s chest rise and fall within his arms. He could almost not remember how they ended up like this, yet he had no complaints for the consequence. A soft sigh of content escaped his lips, as he squeezed Anubis closer, burying his nose into the thick, fur-like locks at the base of his neck. It felt heavenly, to lay against the warm body of the other, feel his frame against his, hear his slow breaths as he dreamed. Yesterday’s worries and tension was all but forgotten, replaced with the intimacy they shared.

The god seemed to be far away, in a deep sleep, but shifted ever so slightly, moving closer. Walt could hear low, rumbling sounds emitting from the jackal-god, almost as if he was purring. Walt Stone felt his heart squeeze within his very chest. He could not help himself, he let his lips brush against the bare neck, and felt how the god- or perhaps simply ‘man’- in his arms shifted even more. Seemingly ticklish, even while asleep, as his leg kicked against Walt’s automatically. He held him closer, tighter, as if to bury him within his very soul, and let his lips travel over the small part of bare shoulder revealed by the dark shirt the god wore.

Anubis awoke gently, but quite reluctantly. He rarely rested, rarely slept, and to be lulled into such a state was enticing. Yet, he could not help but to be pulled back to the realm of the awake as he felt something soft press against his neck and shoulders, soon he processed the pressure against his back and his side. He opened his eyes, and tried to figure it out.

He was in Walt’s room, so much he understood. He was not in Walt’s body; his corporeal form was too familiar, too light and airy compared to the robust form of his host, and yet he quickly spotted Walt’s own outstretched arm in line with his own line of sight, protruding from under his own body. He squinted, realizing his head was resting on said arm. Walt seemed to have noticed that he woke up, as the movements behind him stopped. Anubis tensed.

“Good morning”, came from behind him, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.”

He should turn around, yet the fear, panic, embarrassment, or whatever it was kept him from it. He felt his own blood creeping up from the rest of his body, accumulating by his cheeks, turning his face red.

“You’re quite cute, y’know. Did you know that you purr in your sleep?” Walt yawned, his voice was still thick with exhaustion.

Oh, dear Ra.

Anubis had never wished to be able to escape his host more than now.

He barely dared to move, as if any further movements would break the delicate balance of the situation. They still did not face each other, and yet Walt, of course, noticed the other’s embarrassment as he watched the red creep up Anubis’ face.

“Hey, hey-” Walt shifted, urging the other, “no need to be embarrassed.”

Before Anubis knew what was happening, Walt moved, and he was suddenly under the host, eyes wide. Walt could not help but to think that he looked beautiful still; laid beneath the mass of the other, face flushed, golden eyes glistening in the morning sun, hair tousled and shirt skewed, revealing his delicate skin, entirely intoxicating. He practically forgot his own intentions, the position they now where in, as he took a deep breath and tried to get himself out of the spell. His brain grasped for anything to say, anything at all.

“...Did you sleep well?”

He asked it so casually, as if he was unaware. Anubis’ looked at him almost innocently, confused, with eyes that had never gazed upon a lover or another’s body in such a manner. Like a lamb eagerly looking at its shepherd, pure devotion. All he could do was nod, speechless.

Walt wasn’t sure what really came over him, perhaps he had forgotten that Anubis was merely his god, his friend, not a lover. Not someone which he should have such intimate contact with, not someone he should have invited to his bed, into his heart, into his very soul. And yet the feelings overcame him, the instincts took over. Walt shifted his bodyweight slightly, to free one of his hands. He knew Anubis was capable, yet he did not wish to crush him with his entire weight- yet. He let his thick fingers caress the god’s gentle face, watched as the other’s eyes fluttered shut and he instinctively leaned in against the touch.

He doubted that this was... Common. Such intimate gestures and displays of affection between a god and their host, with intentions neither fully dared to speak out loud. Walt’s thumb continued to move over Anubis’ cheek, watching the gentle sighs of contentment escape the other’s lips. Walt logically knew better, but his instincts didn’t care, and it did not seem like Anubis had enough of his own logic to be able to reason against this.

As Walt’s thumb stopped, Anubis’ eyes started to flutter open, gently, still half-lidded. He looked at Walt with such a darling expression, simply waiting for what else Walt would do. He never imagined a god would be so submissive, although that thought got his own cheeks to burn. He was not sure whether it was his own or Anubis’ heart he felt pounding against his chest, but as he felt the gentle thumpthumpthump between their shared bodies, something came over him, a deep sensation of intimacy, of want, of need- a pleasant and unbearable warmth which grew within his chest and spread throughout his very body. Before he knew what he was doing, he leaned in, placing his lips against Anubis’. The god let out a sound of surprise, his eyes widened, and yet he soon melted in. He moved his arms around Walt’s neck, pulling him closer, as the mortal deepened the kiss.

It was slow, soft, and yet the pressure got harder, their movements quickening. Walt let his body move closer, let his knees move him upwards to press the other down into the pillows. His hand stayed against Anubis’ cheek, and his other, newly freed hand began to move towards his waist. He had no plans to go any further, yet he felt like the fabrics between them were unbearable, and he craved to feel the other’s skin. His fingers snaked under the other’s shirt, gracing his delicate skin.

The god felt a jolt move through his body, like being struck by lightning. Anubis gasped against his lips, scrunched his face ever so slightly, and moved one of his own hands towards Walt’s shoulder, pushing him away.

“Ah- Walt- stop-”

His voice was barely above a whisper, yet Walt did as told as soon as he processed it. He let go of the other, and moved to sit up, giving the god some space.

As he moved away, as he watched Anubis sit up and examine himself, a million worries flooded his mind- had he gone too far? Had he made him uncomfortable? Was Anubis upset? So many worries, none of which he set words to, and yet similarly, within the god’s head swirled a million different emotions- a deep sense of ecstasy, fleeting discomfort, perhaps even overwhelm. He did not dislike the action, the touch, the kiss, but he was unsure what he felt about it. At the same time, he struggled to believe that any of this had happened in the first place- that he had shared a bed with Walt, and as they woke up, they had shared a kiss, an intimate touch he had never previously experienced. He felt his cheeks flare up, he was not sure if it was embarrassment or if he was just flustered.

Their moment felt like an eternity, as mere seconds passed, until Anubis finally faced Walt. He wasn’t sure what to say, how to explain- perhaps apologize. He opened his mouth in an attempt to say something- anything- but no words came. As he stopped, Walt took the moment.

“I’m terribly sorry, I didn’t mean to take advantage.”

Walt did not regret the kiss, he did not regret the touch, but he regretted having taken liberties he wasn’t owed, for which he hadn’t asked, he regretted possibly having upset Anubis and he regretted possibly having pushed him further away. Anubis took a deep, shaky breath.

“No, do not apologize.” he said, “I just... It is not something I have... Ah, indulged in before. It was...”

He trailed off, like he wasn’t sure what it was, but Walt could still feel the mix of their emotions within the air. Hesitation, overwhelm. It made his stomach twist.

Anubis shook his head gently, mostly to himself, before he continued.

“I am just unsure why... Why me?”

Walt blinked.

“...What do you mean?”

“I mean... Why did you kiss me?”

They looked at each other for a while. Waiting for an answer, thinking of an answer.

“I... I don’t know. It felt right.”

Anubis’ eyebrows furrowed. His head tilted, and whatever upset he had seemed to turn into confusion.

“Do mortals not display- ah- ‘romantic’ attraction that way? Was that... Was that not what you meant to do?”

Walt looked into his eyes, and saw the mix of disappointment, worry, like he was afraid of the answer. Walt took a deep breath, and gently reached for Anubis’ hand. He did not grasp it, but let Anubis pull away if he so wished. Anubis remained still.

“I did. But I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable, or upset. I should have asked before, I’m sorry.”

The jackal-headed god stayed silent. He seemed to debate his words, what might be a good thing to say, perhaps debating on how to reject his host. Finally, he let his fingers grasp the offered hand.

“No, I... I liked it. I am just not... Experienced, and I think it...” He hesitated, as if afraid to admit it, “I think it intimidated me.”

Walt cradled the god’s hand within his own, and felt a sense of relief wash over him. He couldn’t help but smile, a gesture which was met by a soft twist of the other’s lips.

“That’s okay. This doesn’t have to be a big thing- we can forget about it and act like it never happened, or- if you’d like... We could try again- later. We could take it slow and I... I really like you, Anubis.”

A confession. And an offer. A proper offer, a romantic display, laid bare. It was nothing like Anubis had ever imagined, nothing like stories he had heard from Hathor, and nothing like the modern displays he encountered in the modern world. Yet it still felt just as raw to him, an offer of the heart, waiting for him to take the chance. Anubis considered it. It felt slightly ridiculous- to fall in such a way, for such bare displays. Yet his heart yearned and the longer he remained quiet, the more it gnawed upon his ribcage, threatening to break out through the violent pounding within his very chest.

His gentle smile twisted into something brighter, something happier.

“I would like that. I... I like you too.”

‘Like’. Such a juvenile way to put it. Yet they knew how deep the words, the feelings, the soul went. They shared a moment, where they gazed into each other’s eyes and let their fingers be intertwined. Walt’s smile had quickly turned brighter as well, a large grin, happy and proud. Anubis moved his free hand and placed it upon Walt’s cheeks, before drawing in closer, placing his lips against the other’s. Slow, sweet, and gentle. Walt’s arms snuck around his waist, pulling him closer, but still giving him ample space to leave if he so wished. Yet the intimidation that Anubis seemingly had felt disappeared, evaporated, as the heat began to grow within, the urge and wish and the pulling closer and the biting of lips. A neat contrast; Walt’s want to be a gentleman, to treat the god gently, to love him, and Anubis’ increasing urge to devour and be devoured, crawl within his skin, feel what no mortal could ever feel, be something someone else never could be. A heart grown violent.

The hunger grew, Anubis had practically crawled into Walt’s lap, letting instinct take over and eagerly licking the other’s lips for access, or to taste. Walt simply let it happen, let the god lead, mind far too gone to question anything just yet. At the very least until Anubis grabbed his shoulders and pushed him down into the mattress, never breaking away from the kiss. Walt did his best to pull away to finally breathe, prompting Anubis to sit up, straddling his hips. Their lips ached and bruised, thumping with the same heartbeat they both shared.

“I thought you said you- ah- wanted to take it slow,” Walt gasped, although he cracked a smile, “this doesn’t feel very slow to me.”

Walt’s knees were raised, and Anubis leaned back against them, taking a good look at Walt as he did so. The mortal almost felt honored as the god panted ever so slightly, proud that he had gotten so breathless. Anubis looked gorgeous, and Walt could feel his heart swell within his very chest.

Anubis, as usual, did not respond. Instead, he dropped down, until he was laying upon Walt’s chest. His face nuzzled against his neck, legs curled up, hands gripping Walt’s collar. He was nothing but a pressure valve finally opened, yet now the steady stream calmed. Walt Stone would be his doom and he knew it, yet the intoxicating scent made him obsessed. This was his place, upon Walt’s chest, as it always should be.

He felt the vibrations and movements as Walt laughed, amused with the god’s antics, with how clingy he already was. He kept his arms wrapped around him, let him do whatever he pleased, closed his eyes and simply indulged.

That was, at the very least, until he realized Anubis’ plan.

“....Is this just a ploy to keep me in bed for the rest of the day?”

This time, it was Anubis’ turn to laugh, a low rumble which spread through his entire body. It was as much as any admittance or confession, Walt sighed playfully.

“I have things to do, Anubis.” There was no bite at all, of course, he knew damn well Anubis could bat his pretty eyelashes at him and he would stay in bed for the next eon, but he would not admit that to the god, who definitely knew his weakness already.

Anubis nuzzled closer, he could feel the smile against his neck.

“As far as I am aware, the only thing on your schedule today was to stay with me and continue your training. And so it matters not that you stay right here, with me.”

He was right, of course. But it felt awfully tender to hear the words from the god himself. Walt sighed gently, the soft smile still upon his lips. One hand moved towards Anubis’ hair, running his fingers through it.

“You make a good case, sir,” he joked. The continual canine purr began to grow in Anubis’ chest. “I think I might stay a while.”

Anubis' smile grew wider, and he pressed a gentle kiss to Walt’s neck. Walt made himself comfortable, and as the morning sun slowly moved across the sky, he closed his eyes, and enjoyed the warm body pressed against his.

Yeah... He could get used to his new existence.

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gardenofhera · 1 year ago

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Sekhmet, Bast, and Hathor: Power, Passion, and Transformation through the Egyptian Goddess Trinity

By Normandi Elis | GODDESSES IN WORLD CULTURE | 2010

Three very powerful goddesses take a single form as the oldest divine being in ancient Egypt. They are the lion goddess Sekhmet, the cat goddess Bast, and Hathor, the beautiful woman who wears cow horns. All three goddesses can be found in the Old Kingdom of pharaonic Egypt (circa 3000 BCE) and may predate the First Dynasty (5000-3150 BCE).

Hathor originated in the predynastic cult of the sacred cow, which saw the Milky Way as the body of the sky goddess. All the stars that lay therein were souls of her children waiting to be born or returning to her in the afterlife. Sometimes Hathor the cow was called Mehurt, whose breasts flowed with milk. Images of the dancing horned goddess were carved on the rocks of the Egyptian savannah as early as 6000 BE. The cow goddess appeared atop the Palette of Narmer, the first pharaoh of a united Upper and Lower Egypt. By the Fourth Dynasty, the face of the cow mother had turned into the sweet, beautiful face of a young maiden. In human form, she wore a crown of cow horns that cradled between them the gleaming disc of the moon or the sun. They called her "The Golden One." The diadem recalls Hathor's celestial home.

She was, at various times, both mother and daughter of Ra, the sun god, and the consort of many divine beings whose temples flanked the Nile. Most notably, at the Temple of Edfu, she was the consort of the hawk god Horus, who was embodied in the living pharaoh while the pharaoh's queen embodied beautiful Hathor. Through all of her incarnations for more than 6000 years, Hathor remained the most frequently seen goddess in temples up and down the Nile. In some form or another, all goddesses drew upon her attributes; even the goddess Isis, whose appearance in Egypt coincides with the cow goddess, was often depicted wearing cow horns and was, at times, called the daughter of Hathor.' Two other ubiquitous goddesses embodied the duality of her nature-Sekhmet when she manifested solar attributes. and Bast in her lunar attributes.

Bast appeared dressed in green, the color of fecundity. A nurturing presence, she exhibited those feminine qualities associated with the moon. Her presence in the niches of most Egyptian homes was a peaceful, loving one. She tended her children, fed them, bathed them, loved

them, and soothed their hurts. This cat-headed goddess was the tamed version of her bloodthirsty sister Sekhmet.

Powerful Sekhmet wore a crimson robe. Fiery, fecund, and magical-the energy of life itself--the lion goddess protected the pharaoh. More statues of her remain in Egypt that of any other divinity. On the walls of Karnak temple, the lion goddess may be seen dashing alongside the chariot of pharaoh Ramses II as he entered battle. Sekhmet was considered a great spiritual warrior. She protected the temples and borders and exhibited in female form the solar qualities most identified with the sun god Ra. When the wicked of the world wearied the god, Ra sent his daughter Sekhmet to deal with them.

The Solar Origins of Sekhmet

Sekhmet's main feast day in Egypt was celebrated when the star Sirius in the constellation of Canis Major rose prior to sunrise during the month of August. The rise of Sirius signaled the coming change and renewal that occurs each year following the "Dog Days" of summer. After the thaw of snowcaps in central Africa's mountains, the annual Nile flood begins to wend its way northward, ending the summer drought and initiating the season of inundation.

In dramatic fashion, the rising Nile waters pushed the flood from Khartoum in Sudan, down through Upper Egypt, and finally all the way to the Delta in the north. When the inundation first trickled forth, the waters looked greenish before they turned an opaque, dark ruddy color from a type of red algae pushed out of the central African tributaries and downriver by the melting snow and floodwaters. The Arabs called this the Red Nile.

The red flow soon precipitated a burst of life-generating activity along the Nile banks. It may help here to realize that the Egypt of 10,000 BCE was a different place than today's land. Rather than being primarily desert, Egypt was a lush savannah, teeming with life. Some suggest that the overgrazing of cattle and climate change may have caused the Sahara savannah to turn into desert. After this change, around 6000 BCE, life in Egypt shrank to occupy primarily the Delta and the narrow strip of arable black earth washed down into the bottomland on either side of the Nile.

One of the many festivals that celebrated the flood and opened the Egyptian New Year was called "The Inebriety of Hathor." The beer-and wine-drinking festival that followed the first sign of flood was connected to the intoxicating drink that soothed the savage Sekhmet, a solar form of Hathor. The festivities that accompany the festival of "The Ine-briety of Hathor commemorated the saving of Egypt from the ravaging power of Sekhmet.

Ra, who created all things, ruled the earth in peace for thousands of years. But as he grew old, his human subjects forgot him and no longer offered their adoration. Outraged, the god summoned his council, soliciting their advice. Nun, god of primordial waters, suggested sending forth Ra's fiery solar eye, Sekhmet. The idea of sending his lioness daughter delighted Ra, who imagined irreverent humans fleeing, trembling in terror, and cowering in the mountains.

At her father's bidding, Sekhmet began to teach humankind a lesson by devouring every man, woman, and child who crossed her path. She ravaged all the land in both Upper and Lower Egypt, through the mountains and savannahs east and west of the river. She started in Nubia and ate her way north toward the Delta. The river ran red with the blood of those she had slain (a reference to the Red Nile flood). As the fierce goddess waded through the carnage, her feet turned red with the blood of her victims.

Ra looked down upon the havoc Sekhmet had created and felt immediate remorse. The thirst of his daughter for blood knew no bounds. He tried to rein her in, saying, "Come home. Thou hast done what I asked thee to do." But Sekhmet replied, "By my life, I love the taste of blood.

My heart rejoices and I will work my will upon humankind." She would not be deterred.

Ra realized he had made a grave mistake, but neither god nor human could stop Sekhmet. But if she could not be stopped, perhaps her willful passions could be diverted. Ra turned to Thoth, god of wisdom. Thoth quickly sent his messengers to Elephantine Island, where the river burst forth from rocks. "Bring me the fruit that causes sleep," he said, "the fruit that is scarlet and its juice crimson as human blood." When the messengers returned, Thoth and Ra commanded the women in the city of Heliopolis to crush red barley and make beer. They mixed it with the juice of pomegranates and other magical ingredients, according to the recipe of Thoth. The women of Heliopolis made 7000 measures of this red beer.

At dawn, this soothing red brew was poured into a pool outside the city, where Sekhmet would find it. Thinking it was the blood of her vic-tims, the lioness lapped up the mixture until it was gone. When the potion took effect, the heart of the fierce goddess was soothed. Sekhmet lay down and purred, no longer seeking revenge. She stretched out in the field for a sweet little sleep, having transformed herself into the gen-tle, nurturing, loving cat goddess, Bast.

This myth shows for the first time the emerging dual nature of Hathor. Bast is the sensual, purring, nurturing aspect, while Sekhmet is the roaring lion, a goddess with a temper. Bast reveals the nurturing mother of her kittens; Sekhmet shows herself the protector of her pride and her cubs. When Hathor's solar qualities are the focal point, the goddess assumes Sekhmet's lion form, and when her lunar qualities are at play, she appears as Bast the cat.

The beer that soothed Sekhmet was a staple of the Egyptian diet.

Because the brewing and fermentation processes made the Nile water more potable and healthful, beer was offered at breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

But wine was the favored drink of great celebrations. Whenever Hathor appeared as the "Queen of Happiness" and "Mistress of Drunkenness, Jubilation and Music" in one of more than forty festivals held in her temple at Dendera, alcoholic beverages were in plentiful supply. The sacred wine that induced a trancelike state may have contained psychotropic plants, says Robert Masters, possibly including belladonna, wormwood, or opium? C. J.

Bleeker believed that this sacred drunkenness was "the medium through which contact could be effectuated with the world of the gods."

Triple Aspects of the Goddesses

Bast and Sekhmet are such tightly linked aspects of Hathor that the three goddesses were sometimes sculpted standing back to back on the handle of a cosmetic mirror. Because the ancestry of all three goddesses reaches back into the early dynasties of Egypt, they may be aspects of a single, superlative feminine divinity. The goddesses names evoke that divine being by her attributes: Sekhmet (the powerful one), Bast (the soul of mother Isis), and Hathor or Het-hor (the house or shrine of the gods."

In later times, the Ptolemaic Greeks (circa 300 BE linked Hathor with Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty. Their reasoning is easy to follow, for Hathor's consorts were many. She was consort to Horus the Younger, the falcon god. She was linked as well to a number of gods, among them the crocodile Sobek, the ithyphallic Min, and the solar Ra. She shared her power equally with the gods but remained independent of the Goddesses

The festival of "The Inebriety of Hathor" calmed that inner rage and provided Egypt's general populace with an outlet for their pent-up emo-tions. "Similar festivals were celebrated at the end of battle, in order to pacify the goddess of war, so that there would be no more destruction.

On such occasions, the people danced and played music to soothe the wildness of the goddess."

The Blood Mysteries

Together Hathor, Bast, and Sekhmet create a unified image of the divine feminine as maiden, mother, and crone. The three goddesses represent the stages of the blood mysteries that rule a woman's life as she moves across the roles of lover, mother, and elder. Beautiful Hathor is the consort of Egypt's gods and the perfect embodiment of the queen partnered with the pharaoh who embodies Horus. Bast is the mother protector of children, surrounded by her litter of kittens; she is also the bridge between the sensual young adult woman and the older, but still sexual wife and mother.

Sekhmet embodies the cyclical blood that flows at birth and death; the blood that flows from mother to child in the womb; the blood on battle-fields, and the menstrual blood or the blood of circumcision that separates the budding young adult from childhood. It is the cyclical red flood of the River Nile that became equated with the red, renewing menstrual blood that cleanses and prepares the way for renewal and regenesis. This blood is a kind of communion, in which humankind partakes of the divine drink of the gods. That is the mystery of transubstantiation.

Blood held within was called the "wise blood," and menopause marked a time for women in ancient Egypt when the inner Sekhmet produced divisions and created magic. The red henna (or Egyptian privet) that adorned the heads of women in Egypt was a tribute to her and was said to be her "magic blood." Heads, hands, and feet were dipped in the colors of the goddess. Cheeks and lips were brushed with her paint. Even mummy cloths were sometimes dipped in henna as a sign of rebirth from the blood of the goddess.

To the left of the 'Temple of Karnak sits a small temple dedicated to the great trinity of Memphis Ptah, Sekhmet, and their offspring Nefertum.

During the Eighteenth Dynasty the pharaoh Thutmose III refurbished the temple to honour the trinity. He made his annual harvest festival offering of "Feeding the Gods" at that smaller temple rather than at Karnak. To this day, inside that temple resides a large, black basalt statue of Sekhmet, who was said to be "great of magic." In fact more statues of Sekhmet can be found at Karnak than at any other temple and more statues exist in situ than any other divinity.

Thutmose III beseeched Sekhmet by calling her Mut, a word used to mean both "mother" and "death"; its hieroglyph of the vulture symbolized both. Not only does the vulture lay eggs, but it eats the dead. On a higher level, nurturance often demands sacrifice. The goddess feeds her people, who in turn feed the goddess. Thutmose III provided thrones of gleaming electrum for Ptah, Sekhmet, and Nefertum. He filled their temple with vessels of gold and silver, with "every splendid, costly stone," with fine linens and "ointments of divine ingredients." On the day of her feast, Thutmose stood before the altar and made the sacrifices that restore Egypt to "life, prosperity, and health." His gifts line the offering table: many jars of wine and jugs of beer, ducks and geese, a multitude of loaves of white bread, bunches of vegetables, baskets of fruits, and "offerings of the garden and every plant."

The Healing Arts

The healing arts were part of the magical power of a wise woman, and Sekhmet was known as an important healing divinity. Inside one of the ten side rooms that surround the inner sanctuary at the Temple of Edfu, a medical library was kept, and in this place the healing priests, called wab sekhmet, conducted healings." On the left side of the doorway was inscribed the magical, repeating image of a lion-headed cobra. A serpentine Sekhmet seemed to unwrap herself from seven coils and rise out of a shallow basket, her lioness head held high, her eyes glittering, and her tongue thrust between her teeth. Here the goddess appears as the life force itself.

While the priests and priestesses of Bast were adept at soothing jangled nerves and easing depression with herbal potions and music, the healers who were "great of magic" were more often high priests and priestesses dedicated to Sekhmet. They wore leopard skins to link them to her powerful feline energies. Because these goddesses understood the powerful visions brought by intoxication, both Sekhmet and Bast were said to bring healing dreams.

The Beneficent Role of Bast

The cat Bast offered the image of a kinder, more nurturing feline form.

She often appeared as a woman with a cat's head carrying on her arm a basket with a litter of kittens. Mythologist Robert Briffault remarked upon the cat's great adaptability to motherhood and her ability to love substitute children equally with her own. Typically, cats who have lost a kitten willingly adopt the kittens from another litter.' In this area, Bast and Isis share the role of surrogate mother. Before Isis begat her son Horus, she mothered the jackal-headed god Anubis who had been abandoned in the desert.

A number of Egyptologists cite Greek sources that describe Bast as the "Soul of Ra"; like a cat that had nine lives, the sun god Ra had nine divine beings under his command. These nine primordial gods, called the Great Ennead, were generated from Ra's light substance. Other ancient Egyptians identified Bast with Isis as the true mother of all, whether she was mothering her own children or the abandoned children of others. Nearly every household with children had a wall niche devoted to Bast. Before her were laid fresh flowers, cups of milk, or other offerings. Statues of Sekhmet may have been the appropriate energy to guard the temples, the borderlands and the pharaoh, but Bast was the welcome guardian of the home. Little cat figurines of Bast with round head and pointed ears were produced in great quantities for private devotion. Families often owned a number of cats.

Affectionate and graceful, they made great companions, and they kept away mice and snakes. When a cat died, it was mourned as a beloved family member, mummified in great ceremony, and buried with honour. Fifteen centuries later when the Suez Canal was being dug, workmen had to stop for weeks at a time to clear away the multitude of cat mummies they had uncovered in ancient pet cemeteries.

The cat goddess sometimes wore a necklace bearing the healing Eye of Horus, called the wadjet. At other times she wore on her breastplate the lion's head of her sister Sekhmet, a reminder of her fierce other self and of the mercurial ability of the feline goddess to change from lap kitty into warrior in the blink of an eye.

The dual nature of the goddess-her loving nature on the one hand and her wild anger and abandon on the other are nowhere more tightly woven than in the myths of Bast and Sekhmet. Prayers to Hathor are quick to praise both aspects, lest one offend the other. This Hymn to Sekhmet-Bast appears in The Egyptian Book of the Dead:

Mother of the gods, the One, the Only. Sekhmet is th name when thou art wrathful. Bast, beloved, when thy people call. (Sekhmet) daughter of the sun, with flame and fury. . .. Bast, beloved, banish all our fears. Mother of the gods, no gods existed Til thou . . . gave them life.

In the Nile Delta Bast retained her stature from prehistory down to the reign of the Ptolemaic Greeks (343 BCE. According to the histories of Manetho, Bast's sacred city Bubastis, was active as early as 2925 BE and influenced the theology of the priests of nearby Memphis, Heliopolis, and Sais." During the Fourth Dynasty, pharaohs Khufu and Khafre kept laborers busy refurbishing and adding to Bast's main temple, in addition to building the pharaohs' grand pyramids. One royal inscription found on the Giza Plateau near Khafre's pyramid reads: "Beloved of the Goddess Bast and beloved of the Goddess Hathor."? Such an inscription linking Bast and Hathor is remarkable, since no other inscriptions of any kind occur elsewhere on the site.

During the Twenty-Second Dynasty, pharaoh Sheshonk I elevated Bast from local patron to the stature of a national heroine, chiefly because his lineage descended from her sacred city of Bubastis. By 930 BE all Egypt adored Bast. King Sheshonk I, who considered himself a son of Bast, boldly moved the capital city from its long-standing home in Thebes to his hometown in Bubastis.

Although only a few crumbling walls remained in Bubastis, Sheshonk restored the Old Kingdom temples and erected new temples to honor the cat goddess. According to Herodotus, who visited the city around 600 BCE, no other temple compared with the grandeur of that of Bast. It was built in the very heart of the city, situated on an island enclosed by two divergent streams of the Nile that ran on either side of a single pas-sageway. Each stream seemed 100 feet broad, and on the banks of the river were "fair-branched trees, overshadowing the waters with a cool and pleasant shade." A tall tower could be seen clearly from every part of the city. Inside the enclosure wall a beautiful garden of trees shaded the priests who carefully tended it. Part of the temple was said to have been built around an ancient sacred persea (avocado) tree. At the center of the temple stood a beautiful golden statue of the goddess Bast.

Throughout the Delta in general, and at her sacred city Bubastis in particular, Bast was adored for her sensuality, congeniality, and loving nature. The Greeks especially loved her, and Bast festivals were never more popular than during the Graeco-Roman period. When migrating Libyans appeared in the Delta around 100 BE. the nonulation of the city soared once again.

Herodotus calls the "Great Festival of Bast at Bubastis" (April 15) one of the most important festivals in Egypt. At times bawdy, at times ecstatic, the festival celebrated Hathor as the consort, while it also celebrated Bast and her sister Sekhmet. The three were never found far apart. This may have been a result of the wine- and beer-drinking that accompanied nearly every feast day in Egypt, all the more so when one is reminded of the mystery of blood that transformed the ravaging Sekhmet into the purring Bast.

During the Great Festival visitors came from far and wide, clattering through the streets, clustering along the riverbanks, and crowding their boats onto the Nile. The festivals often drew over 700,000 people_-including men, women, and children-and the days were filled with dancing, music-making, love-making, and wine-drinking. Drinking wine was viewed as a high religious sacrament, for its color was reminiscent of the blood of the divine and a reminder of spiritual renewal. Bubastis was the wine capital of ancient Egypt, its rich Delta soil providing large pharaonic estates bearing the choicest grapes. The white wines of Lower Egypt were called the Wine of Bast, while the red wines of Upper Egypt were called the Wine of Sekhmet.

Bast's island temple could only be reached by the crowded little ferry-boats that plied the waters of the Nile. Some of the larger boats filled with richly adorned noblemen and women sailed down river all the way from ancient Thebes. As they approached the little towns along the Nile, villagers heard the swelling strains of music coming from the flute players and the women playing castanets. They heard the songstresses and sometimes trickles of laughter. Long before Bubastis was reached, the wine and beer had begun flowing. As the boats neared town, the villagers came down to the edge of the water to greet the entourage. If the boats stopped in town to freshen supplies, even more people crowded aboard to join the sailing party.

Herodotus said that more wine was consumed in Bubastis during the festival than at any other time of the year. Delicious foods included honeyed breads, raisin cakes, pomegranates, figs, roasted fowl, and meats.

The streets fairly writhed with dancing, music playing, and singing all day and night.

Hathor: Goddess of Dualities

The ubiquitous goddess Hathor who reigned in heaven, on earth, and in the afterlife was the patron goddess of all women in whatever stage of life, but she is most beloved as the consort or divine wife. Her name Het-hor literally meant "the house" or "the shrine" of Horus, the falcon god. That shrine was her sacred womb.

In older myths, Hathor was the mother of Horus the Elder when he appeared as the solar child that the sky mother birthed onto the horizon.

In later myths, Hathor became the beloved of Horus the Younger, whose mother was Isis. Whether she was connected to the elder or younger Horus, Hathor remained always eternally youthful and beautiful, even though she was older than Isis.

Her temples were found at Memphis, Thebes, the Sinai, and elsewhere.

She was honored at Edfu, Kom Ombo, and Esna. The most important and well known of her temples was the Temple of Hathor at Dendera, which in its present condition is a Ptolemaic temple built around 332 BCE, but its inscription says it was built upon the previous site where the Fourth Dynasty King Cheops erected a temple to the goddess.!* Its most famous attribute is its dramatic astronomical ceiling with symbols of the zodiacal signs that can clearly be recognized as the twelve familiar constellations.

And yet, its pole star is not in Ursa Major but in Draco, the constellation that it would have appeared as pole star around 4500 BE, an age that predates the temple having been built by Cheops. This representation of the sky and the temple of the sky goddess Hathor seems to point to the dawning of ancient Egyptian civilisation.

In her temple Hathor's statue was venerated and venerable, adored and adorned for thousands of years. Thus, the statue acquired the power to heal, to speak, and to bring dreams to her worshipers. Pure Nile water poured over the base inscriptions of her statue could heal diseased bodies, minds, and spirits. The pilgrims wrote stories of their miraculous healing in prayers, poems, and inscriptions through the Dendera temple.

As the oldest goddess in Upper Egypt, Hathor was assimilated into nearly every other goddess. Isis the mother and Hathor the consort become interchangeable. Wherever there was a temple that honored Hathor, there was also a smaller temple that honored Isis, and vice versa. In the Temple of Isis at Philae, the inscribed "Songs of Isis" praise the beauty and majesty of Hathor.

Oh, Lady of the Beginning, come thou before our faces in this her name of Hathor, Lady of Emerald, Lady of Aset, the Holy!'S Because there were so many temples devoted to Hathor, many more women than men served in priestly offices engaged in her service, a custom unlike that of other temples in Egypt. At daybreak the pharaoh engaged in a ritual in which he broke the clay seal on the door of her shrine in order to gaze in silent adoration upon the beautiful face of the goddess. To the mistress of heaven he offered incense, the menat necklace, the sistrum rattle, and maat, the image of truth. 'These were among the pharaoh's gifts to his beloved, for Hathor was the goddess of the queen and thus coming before her was the culmination of a love story.

The sacred marriage of the pharaoh (as the embodiment of Horus) and the queen (embodiment of Hathor) was celebrated in May, during one of many harvest festivals. The festival began at the Temple of Hathor in Dendera and lasted about fourteen days, ending in Edfu at the

'Temple of Horus. During the festival, the statue of "The Golden One" was carried along the Nile by boat amid music, dance, and song. The union of the two most important lights in heaven was the culmination of the meeting of Hathor and Horus in Edfu. Their marriage took place precisely on the day of the new moon, when the sun (Horus and the moon (Hathor) met in heavenly conjunction. The ancient Egyptians called this "The Day of the Beautiful Embrace."

On the inner face of the east pylon of the Temple of Edfu is a description of the annual festival of the sacred union. The ritual marriage took place privately inside the temple where the divine couple remained for three days, consummating their holy marriage. Meanwhile outside the temple walls the entire population of Edu continued their celebration: drinking, feasting, singing, and dancing.

One song performed for the wedding celebration was called "Hymn to the Golden One." It was sung in chorus by several priestesses while the pharaoh enacted the offering rituals:

The pharaoh comes to dance. He comes to sing for thee. O, mistress, see how he dances! O, bride of Horus, see how he skips! ... He offers thee This urn filled with wine. O, mistress, see how he dances! O, bride of Horus, see how he skips!!?

The first record of a celebration of the sacred marriage appeared during the reign of the Middle Kingdom pharaoh Amenemhet I, around 2000 BE. Linked with the harvest season rites, it commemorated the first fruits of the field and was held in honor of the ancestors.

In the union of the god and the goddess, all life had its regenesis. Of all the festivals in Egypt, this truly was Hathor's day. It was a festival in honour of the bride, for it is she who becomes mother of the holy child.

The hierogamos or sacred marriage was a union of opposites. In this pair, Hathor is the divine mother, the sky, and Horus is the falcon god and the earthly king. It is a sacred marriage of sprit and flesh, heaven and earth. Every royal couple who ever lived reenacted the marriage sacrament as much for the renewal of the land and their people as for themselves.

Three days after the hierogamos was celebrated, the festival of the "Conception of Horus" occurred, which celebrated the seed that means the renewal of life. This was also considered the conception day of the pharaoh and of the child who would succeed him. From lovemaking came the heir to the throne. Here, father and son were merged into one.

Hathor's love was sexual, maternal and spiritual. These triple aspects represent the deep passion for love, life, and light that runs through all her cosmic creation. Her powers generated "constant and ceaseless becoming." Her love for humankind was eternal.

Notes

Normandi Ellis, Feasts of Light: Celebrations for the Seasons of a Woman's Life Based on the Egyptian Goddess Mysteries (Wheaton, IL: Quest Books, 1999), 144.

Robert Masters, The Goddess Sekhmet: Psychospiritual Exercises of the Fifth Way (Woodbury, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 1991), 44.

C. J. Bleeker, Hathor and Thoth: Two Key Figures of the Ancient Egyptian Religion (Leiden, Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 1967), 91.

Ibid., 132.

Masters, The Goddess Sekhmet, 44.

See the "Cannibal Hymn of Unas" in Miriam Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature, vol. 1, The Old Kingdom (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1975), 36-38.

James Breasted, Ancient Records of Egypt (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1906), 2:225-248.

Normandi Ellis, Dreams of Isis: A Woman's Spiritual Sojourn (Wheaton, IL: Quest Books, 1995), 178.

Robert Briffault, The Mothers New York: Macmillan, 1927), 594.

Margaret Murray, Egyptian Religious Poetry (London: John Murray, 1949), 103.

E. A. Wallis Budge, The Gods of the Egyptians New York: Dover, 1969), 1:445.

Marilee Bigelow, "Bast," Khepera 2, no. 2 (March 1991).

Budge, The Gods of the Egyptians, 1:449.

Bleeker, Hathor and Thoth, 76.

James Teackle Dennis, The Burden of Isis (London: John Murray, 1918), 55.

Lucie Lamy, Egyptian Mysteries: New Light on Ancient Spiritual Knowledge New York: Crossroads, 1981), 80.

"Hymn to the Golden One," in Bleeker, Hathor and Thoth, 99. Reprinted with permission.

Bibliography

Bigelow, Marilee. "Bast." Khepera 2, no. 2 (March 1991).

Bleeker, C. J. Hathor and Thoth: Two Key Figures of the Ancient Egyptian Religion. Leiden, Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 1967.

Breasted, James. Ancient Records of Egypt. 5 vols. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1906.

Briffault, Robert. The Mothers. 3 vols. New York: Macmillan, 1927.

Budge, E. A. Wallis. The Gods of the Egyptians. 2 vols. New York: Dover, 1969.

Dennis, James Tackle. The Burden of Isis. London: John Murray, 1918.

Ellis, Normandi. Dreams of Isis: A Woman's Spiritual Sojourn. Wheaton, IL: Quest Books, 1995.

Ellis, Normandi. Feasts of Light: Celebrations for the Seasons of Life Based on the Egyptian Goddess Mysteries. Wheaton, IL: Quest Books, 1999.

Lamy, Lucie. Egyptian Mysteries: New Light on Ancient Spiritual Knowledge. New York: Crossroads, 1981.

Lichtheim, Miriam. Ancient Egyptian Literature. Vol. 1, The Old Kingdom. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1975.

Masters, Robert. The Goddess Sekhmet: The Way of the Five Bodies. New York: Amity House, 1988.

Murray, Margaret. Egyptian Religious Poetry. London: John Murray, 1949.

#sekhmet #bast #hathor #egyptian goddesses #blog #goddesses #world history

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