Sekhmet & Bastet: The Feline Powers of Egypt

278 Pages·2016·2.11 MB·English

by  Lesley Jackson

SEKHMET & BASTET
THE FELINE POWERS OF EGYPT

LESLEY JACKSON

Published by Avalonia
www.avaloniabooks.co.uk

Published by Avalonia
BM Avalonia, London, WC1N 3XX, England, UK
www.avaloniabooks.co.uk
SEKHMET AND BASTET: The Feline Powers of Egypt © Lesley Jackson,
2017
All rights reserved.

First Published by Avalonia, March 2018
This Kindle edition, May 2018

Typeset and design by Satori Cover design by Satori.
Illustrations by Brian Andrews, © 2017

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data. A catalogue record for this
book is available from the British Library.

This book is sold subject to the condition that no part of it may be reproduced or
utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including
photocopying, microfilm, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval
system, or used in another book, without written permission from the author.
DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to Sekhmet, the Lady of the Original Power,
to Bastet, the Goddess Great of Festivity,
and to my late brother Julian.
Biography

Lesley Jackson has always had an interest in, and a yearning for, the
mysterious geographical; be it lost worlds, otherworlds or the sacred places of
this world. A career in IT was merely a logical façade. Many years of
involvement in the local archaeological society deepened her interest in ancient
cultures and their religions.
Since being blessed with early retirement, Lesley has devoted much of her
time to researching and writing about early religion and mythology. Ancient
Egypt is an enduring passion, but other paths are always beckoning from around
the misty hills. She is the author of Thoth: The History of the Ancient Egyptian
God of Wisdom (Avalonia, 2011), Hathor: A Reintroduction to an Ancient
Egyptian Goddess (Avalonia, 2013) and Isis: The Eternal Goddess of Egypt and
Rome (Avalonia, 2016).
She lives in the remote East Riding with a tolerant husband and an ever-
increasing volume of books and rocks. Any remaining spare time is spent
travelling or baking and making chocolates.
Acknowledgements

No study of Egyptian religion would be possible without access to their
writings. I am indebted to all of those who have studied these ancient languages
and have provided translations for the rest of us to use.
I would like to thank the British Library, and the Egyptian Exploration
Society and the University of Hull for the use of their libraries.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
THE IMPORTANCE OF FELINES
THE NATURAL HISTORY AND SYMBOLISM OF CATS
SEKHMET
INTRODUCING THE OTHER LIONESS GODDESSES
BASTET FROM LION TO CAT
THE NON-FELINE EYE GODDESSES
FELINE GODS – A DIFFERENT ENERGY
CREATION AND THE ORIGINAL POWER
THE EYE OF THE SUN AND THE URAEUS
DIVINE RETRIBUTION
THE RETURN OF THE DISTANT GODDESS
DUALITY AND BALANCE
THE DANGEROUS AND THE PROTECTIVE
SEKHMET THE HEALER
IN THE BEYOND
FATE AND MAGIC
FESTIVALS AND RITUALS
TEMPLES
SACRED FELINES
FELINES IN ART AND ARTEFACT
CONCLUSION
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ENDNOTES
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
“Her majesty came down as the potent and prospering Eye to join the
world through her to the Spirit of God. At peace, to dwell in Isheru in
her form of Sakhmet, Mistress of the Two Lands.”[1]

Sekhmet and Bastet are well known and popular Goddesses today, and
much of their appeal lies in their feline iconography and characters. They, and
the other less well known Feline Goddesses, are inseparable from the concept of
the Solar Eye Goddess who is the visible solar disc and the Daughter of the Sun
God. This fuels both their character and their strong duality. But there are other
major Goddesses, Hathor and Mut, who are Solar Eye Goddesses without feline
characteristics despite having one of the Feline Goddesses as an alter ego.
It has proved difficult to study Sekhmet and Bastet in isolation. They may
stand dominant but feline power spreads across Egypt like the rays of the rising
sun. So I have included all aspects of feline power in this book whilst trying to
answer the main questions that the feline deities pose. Why is there such a
predominance of Goddesses? Why are they so interchangeable in the myths and
are frequently angry or benevolent forms of each other? Finally, what about the
Feline Gods of Egypt? Why aren’t they particularly feline in character and why
don’t they dominate given the importance of the lion as a symbol of the king? I
have excluded the sphinx despite its feline association as it really is a topic in its
own right.