(This article appeared in Circle Network News, and was written in conjunction with a class I taught in ancient Egyptian religion and magick)
Perhaps because of its endurance as a distinct cultural entity over a span of more than three millennia Egypt spawned a pantheon greater in number and confusion than any other. Identifying and sorting out the overlapping iconography and responsibilities of these deities is a task as imposing as great architecture that graces the Nile. Making broad use of the theme of "two lands" (ancient Egypt's own name for herself) below are some familiar and some not-so-familiar pairs of the fascinating goddesses of the land of the Pharaohs.
In Neolithic times, bird and serpent represented the goddess as ruler of the upper and lower regions. In a similar way two great goddesses represented "The Two Lands" of ancient Egypt. Nekhbet of Upper Egypt is represented by a vulture, Wadjyt of Lower Egypt by the uraeus serpent of Buto. These two are often found together rising from the brow or crown of the Pharaoh as a symbol of his rulership of the united land of Egypt. At the time of his accession to the throne, each pharaoh assumed five special names, one of which was termed the nebty or "Two Ladies" name, in reference to Nekhbet and Wadjyt. These two are also depicted one to each side of temple entrances, symbolizing unity beyond duality. At royal births, Nekhbet is invoked as a protective nurse. She is also called the "White Crown" in reference to the head dress of the ruler of Upper Egypt. When appearing alone, she most often takes the form of a vulture, seen from behind with wings spread wide and in each claw the symbol for eternity. At rest, with one wing spread out before her she is a protective symbol. Due to her close association with Wadjyt, Nekhbet is sometimes shown as a serpent as well. Wadjyt preserves the authority of the pharaoh over Lower or northern Egypt. Her name means "green one", and she is depicted as a cobra rearing up, sometimes with the vulture wings of Nekhbet. She is also known as the Uraeus. One of three daughters of Re who personified his divine solar eye, (along with the other "Eye Goddesses" Hathor and Sekhmet) she was once sent on a mission by Re and returned to find he had grown another eye in her place. Re pacified her jealousy by giving her the honored place on his forehead as the fire-spitting Uraeus. Although the sun-god Re was attacked by hostile snakes on his nightly journey through the underworld, he wore the Wadjyt the uraeus wrapped around his sun disk, which she protected with her annihilating fiery breath. On the Pharaoh's crown she provides that same defense, directed at his enemies.
In a way these ladies, who both have a role in the judgment of souls, might be considered representatives of two "lands" as well. Maat is the personification of cosmic harmony, truth and moral integrity - the universal law which binds both divine and human beings. According to one version of the world's beginnings, she gave breath to Atum "before creation had begun". The Pharaoh as upholder of universal law, frequently took the title "beloved of Maat", and judges wore an emblem of Maat made of lapis around their necks. Maat is shown as a lady with a feather on her head. She may appear as a feather itself, as when the hearts of the dead are weighed against her in the Hall of Judgment. If the deceased has led a life of truth and justice, Thoth (Maat's husband) will lead the soul to Osiris, lord of life in the underworld. And if the heart of the deceased proves heavy and untrue Ammut awaits. Ammut means "devouress of the dead". Hearts which failed the test of Maat would be gulped down by Ammut, forever denied the chance of life after death. A true beast of the underworld, Ammut wears the face of a crocodile above the foreparts of a lion and the hind body of a hippopotamus. Seth, the murderer of Osiris, had once taken the form of a hippopotamus, and perhaps this reminder of him here is no coincidence. In Egyptian iconography both the crocodile and the hippo are symbols of disorder, chaos, and therefore evil. So Ammut and Maat may be seen as representatives of the two lands of order and chaos.
One might consider carnivores and herbivores as constituting two lands. But one should also bear in mind that in Egypt the two lands are one! Although there were a number of Egyptian goddesses who could appear in bovine form (Isis and Bat among them) Hathor was universally recognized as the ultimate cow goddess. She may be represented as either a lady with cow horns and a sun disk on her crown, as the "great wild cow", or as a "pillar" wearing a wig, and with cows ears (as typical on a sistrum) - or she might even be represented as a lioness or a sycamore tree. Papyrus were sacred to her, since cows like to wander among the papyrus at the water's edge. Her name means "mansion of Horus", as "her womb protected the hawk-god when she was lady of the sky". Since Pharaoh is Horus, Hathor is therefore one of the symbolic mothers of the king. Hathor was goddess of sexual love, beauty, music and dance as evidenced by the Greeks' identification of her with Aphrodite. Before being supplanted by Isis, she was also the fertility goddess whose shrine was likely to be found in the home of the common woman. Hathor was considered to bring a relatively easy labor and hasten the birth process, as well. Two "birth houses" are attached to Hathor's temple at Dendera, and that temple is visited today by Egyptian women wishing for children. In ancient times courtly ladies who performed protective rites for the royal mothers and babies took the title "priestess of Hathor", and their graves may be identified not only by magickal items, but by musical instruments and dance costumes. Sekhmet's name simply means "powerful", and she is known as a great destructive force. Represented as a lady with the head of a lioness, her statues are normally carved of black granite. At Karnak, hundreds of her statues were raised, and offerings made to a different one each day. She is also sometimes called "lady of the bright red linen", perhaps referring to the blood soaked clothing of her victims. As one of the goddesses who is "the eye of Re", she breaths fire at the Pharaoh's enemies and embodies his battle rage. Sekhmet was thought to be the bringer of plague, and with typically paradoxical Egyptian thinking, her priests were often medical specialists. During epidemics they were called on to perform large scale rituals of propitiation, but for an individual illness, they would invoke Sekhmet's fury against any disease not brought on by her! Many of the magico-medical texts specify that the spells may be said by "any priest of Sekhmet". Although it would appear that Hathor is clearly benign and Sekhmet straightforwardly destructive, the truth is more ambiguous. Among all the goddesses of Egypt, these are the two who come in sevenfold form. And seven was as powerful a magick number for the Egyptians as it is for us. The Seven Hathors were thought to visit every child on its seventh day of life and declare what it's fate would be, and, of course, that fate could be good or bad. The Seven arrows of Sekhmet brought evil fates, especially in the form of disease - however this power could be directed against one's enemies. The secret is that Hathor and Sekhmet are one. In the ancient "Book of the Heavenly Cow" the god Re has become old, and fears that humans are plotting against him. After consulting the other gods it was determined to punish humanity by sending the Eye Goddess Hathor against them. Hathor slaughtered the conspirators, drank their blood and was thereby transformed into Sekhmet. That night she returned to Re, intending to kill the rest of humanity the next day. In pity Re instructed his priests to grind up red stone and use it to dye seven thousand jugs of beer, which were poured out in the desert, giving the appearance of a lake of blood. When Sekhmet returned to finish her work, she was distracted by her lioness reflection in the beer, and thinking it blood, lapped it all up, Drunken, she forgot to kill the rest of humankind, and returned home the docile Hathor. But Sekhmet had come into being and her power unleashed on the world. Sekhmet-Hathor therefore represents primordial femininity in both its facets; destroyer and matrix.
Finally, a goddess each for the "lands" of the priestess and the mother. The title and iconography of Seshat are among the loveliest for Egyptian goddesses. As "foremost in the library" she is represented as a lady wearing a leopard-skin robe with a seven-pointed star above her headband. Since the jackal god Anubis had declared that leopard skins should be worn by priests, it is likely that Seshat represents a priestess. It is speculated that this wearing of skins by priests could be a carry over from the earliest periods of Egypt before shamanism had evolved into priesthood. Certainly Seshat is an ancient goddess. As early as the second dynasty (c. 2770 BC) she "assisted" the Pharaoh in crucial measurements for the foundation of a temple. As a goddess of writing she recorded booty captured by the king's armies. And in the New Kingdom, she records the royal jubilees, writing the name of the king on the myriad leaves of the persea tree. To symbolize the "infinity of kingship" the monarch desires, she may be shown holding a notched palm branch, the standard way of recording the passage of years in Egypt from the most ancient times. Atop the palm branch Seshat balances a tadpole, the Egyptian representation of the number 100,000! Thousands of tadpoles explain why Heket the frog goddess is a natural choice for a deity of birth, fertility and creation. Sometimes appearing as a woman with a frog's head, most often she is simply a frog. As a creature of mud and water the frog was associated with the primeval forces which brought life into being. Some of the paintings which show Isis as a kite (a small bird of prey) hovering over Osiris also show Heket, the frog, nearby overseeing the event which will result in the birth of Horus. Egyptian women typically wore amulets in the shape of frogs for protection in childbirth. A musical instrument naming its owner as a "servant of Heket", may have indicated she was a midwife. With her image also appearing on such protective items as magickal "knives" there can be no doubt that although small and homely, Heket is certainly one of the numerous "Ladies of the Two Lands".
References
Anne Baring and Jules Cashford (1993) The Myth of the Goddess. London: Penguin
George Hart (1986). A Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses: Boston: Routledge and Kegan Paul
Geraldine Pinch (1994) Magic in Ancinet Egypt. Austin: University of Texas Press
Richard H. Wilkinson, (1982). Reading Egyptian Art. New York: Thames and Hudson