Tag: Wadjet

Goddess of the Day – Wadjet

Wadjet

Wadjet (Wadjyt, Wadjit, Uto, Uatchet, Edjo, Buto) was one of the oldest Egyptian goddesses. Her worship was already established by the Predynastic Period, but did change somewhat as time progressed. She began as the local goddess of Per-Wadjet (Buto) but soon became a patron goddess of Lower Egypt.

By the end of the Predynastic Period, Wadjet was considered to be the personification of Lower Egypt rather than a distinct goddess and almost always appeared with her sister Nekhbet (who represented Upper Egypt). The two combined represented the country as a whole and were represented in the “nebty” (one of the pharaoh’s names, also known as “the two ladies”) which indicated that the king ruled over both parts of Egypt. The earliest recovered example of the nebty name is from the reign of Anedjib of the First Dynasty.

In the Pyramid Texts it is suggested that Wadjet created the first papyrus plant and primordial swamp. Her link to the papyrus is strengthened by the fact that her name was written using the glyph of a papyrus plant and the same plant was the heraldic plant of Lower Egypt.

According to another myth Wadjet was the daughter of Atum (or later Ra) who sent her as his “eye” to find Tefnut (moisture) and Shu (air) when they were lost in the waters of Nun. He was so happy when they returned that he cried and created the first human beings from his tears. To reward his daughter, he placed her upon his head in the form of a cobra so that she would always be close to him and could act as his protector.

Wadjet was one of the goddesses given the title “Eye of Ra” (connecting her to Bast, Hathor, Sekhmet, and Tefnut among others). In fact, the symbol of the “Eye of Ra” was often called “the Wedjat”.

In this form she was sent out to avenge her father and almost caused the destruction of mankind. Humanity was saved when she was tricked with some beer which had been dyed red with pomegranate juice to resemble blood.

There is also a suggestion that she was very closely linked to the principle of Ma’at (justice or balance). Before being crowned as king, Geb attacked and raped his mother Tefnut. When he went to take his place as pharaoh and put the Royal Ureas on his own forehead, the snake reared up and attacked the god and his followers. All of Geb’s retinue died and the god himself was badly injured. Clearly, his actions were against Ma’at and Wadjet was not prepared to allow him to go unpunished.

Wadjet is often described as an agressive deity while while her sister Nekhbet was thought of as a more matronly protector. However, she also had her gentler side. Wadjet was believed to have helped Isis nurse the young Horus and to help mother and baby hide from Set in the marshes of the delta. She was also considered to offer protection to all women during childbirth.

Wadjet and her sister also protected the adult Horus from the followers of Set. Horus pursued them in the form of a winged sun disc and Nekhbet and Wadjet flanked him in the form of crowned snakes. This protection was also extended towards the pharaoh who wore the “Royal Ureas” (serpent) on his (or her) forehead.

From the Eighteenth Dynasty the queens also added one or two snakes to their headdresses representing Wadjet and her sister.

Wadjet was associated with the fifth hour of the fifth day of the month and with “iput-hmt” (Epipi), the harvest month of the Egyptian calendar. Festivals were held in her honour on the 10th day of “rh-wr” (Mekhir) which was also called “the day of going forth of the Goddess”, the 7th day of “khnty-khty” (Payni), and the 8th day of “Wpt-rnpt” (Mesori). These latter two dates coincide roughly with the winter and spring solstices.

She was worshiped at the Temple of Wadjet, known as “Pe-Dep”. This temple was already long established by the Old Kingdom and is referred to in the Pyramid Texts. In this temple, Wadjet was linked with Horus.

Wadjet was thought to be the wife of Hapi in Lower Egypt and was linked to Set in his role as a representative of Lower Egypt. She was sometimes described as the wife of Ptah and the mother of Nefertem, probably because she occasionally took the form of a lion like Sekhmet.

Her sacred animal was the cobra, and Wadjet was often depicted as either a rearing cobra, a winged cobra, or a woman with the head of a cobra. She was also depicted as a woman wearing the red crown of Lower Egypt. She often appears with her sister Nekhbet who appeared as a snake or woman.

By the Late Period Wadjet was also associated with the ichneumon (a mongoose-like creature). This animal was known for its skill in killing snakes and was also sacred to Horus.The Egyptians placed mummified ichneumon and shrew (small mice) inside statuettes of Wadjet which were interred with the dead. The two animals represented day (ichneumon) and night (shrew). She was also worshipped as a vulture Goddess. In her form of the “eye of Ra” she was depicted as a lion-headed woman wearing a solar disc and the Uraeus (cobra).

Bibliography
  • Bard, Kathryn (2008) An introduction to the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt
  • Budge, E Wallis (1904) The Gods of the Egyptians
  • Goodenough, Simon (1997) Egyptian Mythology
  • Kemp, Barry J (1991) Ancient Egypt: Anatomy of a Civilisation
  • Lehner, Mark (1997) The Complete Pyramids
  • Pinch, Geraldine (2002) Handbook Egyptian Mythology
  • Redford Donald B (2002) Ancient Gods Speak
  • Watterson, Barbara (1996) Gods of Ancient Egypt
  • Wilkinson, Richard H. (2003) The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt
  • Wilkinson, Richard H. (2000) The Complete Temples of Ancient Egypt

Magickal Spell of the Day for July 11 – Eye of Horus Crystal Spell To Stop a Person Envying You

An Eye of Horus Blue Crystal Spell to Stop A Person from Envying You

The Eye of Horus, the ancient Egyptian Sky God, has been a symbol of protection against envy in the Middle East and eastern Mediterranean lands for thousands of Years.

The Eye of Horus was made of blue glass or faience (a blue glass and ceramic mix), or painted on a blue stone such as lapis lazuli, sodalite or falcon’s eye. Horus was depicted as a falcon -headed deity. The protective image of Horus was worn on a necklace or carried as a charm.

Items You Will Need:

A round, flat, blue crystal; a small pot of acrylic or modeling paint and a thin brush, or a fine-line permanent ink market in a color that will show clearly on your chosen crystal.

Best Time To Cast:

During the Waning Moon, after sunset.

The Spell:

  1. Draw or paint the Eye of Horus on the blue crystal as you do so picturing the envious person surrounded in gentle blue light and turning away from you.
  2. When you have finished painting, enchant your crystal by moving your hands nine times over it, palms downwards, the left hand circling widdershin (anti-clockwise) and the right hand circling deosil (clockwise). As you move your hands, chant:  “Eye bright, By day and night, Turn the sight of (name of person) from me, And on them light. Bright blessings.” (If you wish you can send blessings to an ill-wisher, you will be doubly blessed yourself.)
  3. Keep the eye charm somewhere between you and the envious person.
  4. When the paint chips or fades, it is time to replace the charm (but this may never become necessary).

Today We Honor The Goddess Nekhbet

The Goddess Nekhbet

In Egyptian mythology, Nekhbet (also spelt Nechbet, and Nekhebit) was an early predynastic local goddess who was the patron of the city of Nekheb, her name meaning of Nekheb. Ultimately, she became the patron of Upper Egypt and one of the two patron deities for all of Ancient Egypt when it was unified.

She was seen as a goddess who had chosen to adopt the city, and consequently depicted as the Egyptian white vulture, a creature that the Egyptians thought only existed as females (not knowing that, lacking sexual dimorphism, the males are identical). They were presumed to be reproducing via parthenogenesis.

Egypt’s oldest oracle was the shrine of Nekhbet at Nekheb, the original necropolis or city of the dead. It was the companion city to Nekhen, the religious and political capital of Upper Egypt at the end of the Predynastic period (c. 3200–3100 BC) and probably, also during the Early Dynastic Period (c. 3100–2686 BC). The original settlement on the Nekhen site dates from Naqada I or the late Badarian cultures. At its height, from about 3400 BC, Nekhen had at least 5,000 and possibly as many as 10,000 inhabitants.

The priestesses of Nekhbet were called muu (mothers) and wore robes of Egyptian vulture feathers.

Later, as with Wadjet, Nekhbet’s sister, became patron of the pharaohs, in her case becoming the personification of Upper Egypt. The images of these two primal goddesses became the protecting deities for all of Egypt, also known as the “two ladies” and one of the titles of each ruler was the Nebty name, which was associated with these goddesses and beginning as [s/he] of the Two Ladies… with the remainder of that title.

In art, Nekhbet was depicted as the white vulture (representing purification), always seen on the front of pharaoh’s double crown along with Wadjet. Nekhbet usually was depicted hovering, with her wings spread above the royal image, clutching a shen symbol (representing infinity, all, or everything), frequently in both of her claws. As patron of the pharaoh, she was sometimes seen to be the mother of the divine aspect of the pharaoh, and it was in this capacity that she was Mother of Mothers, and the Great White Cow of Nekheb.

The vulture hieroglyph was the uniliteral sign used for the glottal sound (3) including words such as mother, prosperous, grandmother, and ruler. In some late texts of the Book of the Dead, Nekhbet is referred to as Father of Fathers, Mother of Mothers, who hath existed from the Beginning, and is Creatrix of this World.

When pairing began to occur in the Egyptian pantheon, giving most of the goddesses a husband, Nekhbet was said to become the wife of Hapy, a deity of the inundation of the Nile. Given the early and constant association of Nekhbet with being a good mother, in later myths she was said to have adopted children.

Wikipedia