EGYPTIAN GODDESSES

ANKT

A spear-carrying war goddess, Ankt is depicted wearing a curved and feathered
crown.
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ANUKET

Anuket, a water goddess, was especially adored at Aswan and on the sacred island
of Seheil. Her name means the "embracer" and may refer to the embrace of the
Nile waters by the river's banks. In Hieroglyphs she is seen wearing a feather
headdress.
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BASTET

Bastet, the cat goddess, is the patroness of the domestic cat and the home. She
is often seen in human form with the head of a cat holding the sacred rattle
known as the sistrim. Her center of worship was located at Bubastis in the Delta
Region. Bastet is also associated with the eye of Ra, the sun god, and acts as
an instrument of his vengeance.
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HATHOR

Worshipped as a sky goddess and a cow-deity, Hathor is depicted either in cow or
human form wearing a sun disk between the horns of a cow as a crown. She is
often symbolized by the papyrus reed, the snake and the sacred sistrim. Sirius
was her sacred star. Hathor was the patroness of all women, artists, music,
dance, and happiness. She is often traditionally present in all ancient Egyptian
tombs to ensure safe passage into the after world.
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HET

Her, "maker of invisible existences apart", is the Egyptian serpent goddess who
rules fire.
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ISIS

Isis, a goddess that became universally worshipped, is associated with love,
motherhood, marital devotion, healing, eternal life, and the casting of magical
spells and charms. Isis is the goddess of day, while her twin sister, Nephthys
is the goddess of night. Her sacred symbol is an amulet called the tyet. She is
the wife of Osiris and the mother of Horus.
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MA'AT

Ma'at is the Egyptian goddess of Truth and Justice and the underworld. She
passed judgment over the souls of the dead in the Judgment Hall of Osiris. The
"Law of Ma'at was the basis of civil laws in ancient Egypt.
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MAFDET

Mafdet, "The Lady of the Castle of Life", was an early (1st Dynasty) Egyptian
goddess. Her sacred animals were the cat and the mongoose. She was invoked to
help cure snakebites.
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MESKHONI

Meskhoni is an Egyptian birth goddess symbolized by a human-headed brick.
Egyptian women crouched on this goddess' image during labor. Meskhoni appeared
at the precise moment when contractions began and remained through the delivery
to predict the future of the newborn. She often appeared as a woman wearing palm
shoots on her head.
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MUT

Mut is seen as the mother, the nurturing force behind all things while her
husband Amen is the great energy or creative force. In ancient Egyptian, "mut"
means mother.
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NEB-TI

The ruling goddess of the north, Uadgit, and south, Nekhebet and a political
symbol of the unification of Egypt.
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NEKHEBET

Nekhebet is the vulture headed goddess of the Nile's source. She and the goddess
Uadgit formed the Neb-Ti, a symbol of the political unification of Egypt. She is
also the patroness of laboring women and combined her political and motherly
roles in her mystic task of suckling the pharaohs-to-be.
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NEPHTHYS

The twin sister of Isis, Nephthys is the goddess of night, the protectress of
the dead and the guardian of the lungs of the deceased.
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QADESH

Qadesh, the "Holy One," rides a lion and holds out snakes and lotus buds. She
embodies the sacramental reverence toward sexuality as an expression of divine
force.
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RENENET

When an Egyptian child is born, Renenet pronounces its name, defines its
personality and bestows its fortune. Renenet is the personification of the force
of nurturing and its effect on a child's destiny. In a larger sense, she is the
earth itself, which offers milk and grain to her people, who worship her as the
goddess of the double granary.
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SATI

Sati, "she who runs like an arrow", also known as Satis and Satet, is an
Egyptian archer goddess who personified the waterfalls of the river Nile. Her
sanctuary was at Aswan, in ancient upper Egypt, on the island of Seheil.
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SEKHMET

Sekhmet is the lion goddess and her worship was centered in Memphis. Her name
means "powerful" and she was created from the fire in Ra's eyes as a goddess of
vengeance against sinful humans.
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SELKHET

The beautiful scorpion goddess and guardian of the dead, Selkhet has her
scorpion strike death to the wicked. She also saves the lives of the innocent
stung by a scorpion. She is one of the deities who led the deceased into the
afterlife and offered instructions in the customs of the otherworld. She
symbolized rebirth after death.
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SHAIT

Shait is the goddess of human destiny. Invisible, Shait observes a human's
virtues and vices, crimes and secret crimes. Based on her intimate knowledge of
each person, she spoke the final judgment of the soul at a human's death.
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SHESHAT

"The mistress of the house of books", Sheshat is the inventor of writing and the
secretary of heaven. She is also the "mistress of the house of architects", the
goddess that studies the stars to determine the axes of new buildings. She
invented mathematics and is the appointed goddess of fate who measures the
length of our lives with palm branches.
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TEFNUT

Tefnut is the goddess of daybreak and associated with the mountains from which
the sun rises.
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UADGIT

The sovereign cobra goddess of lower Egypt and the Nile delta. Uadgit joined
with Nekhebet to form the "two mistrersses" of the land called the Neb-Ti, a
political symbol of the unification of Egypt.