Praise Sakhmat! Sekhmet/Sakhmet/Sekm/Skm

[AkanaAnash]

Alright,

I've been advised by the Spirits to talk to you about Sakhmat (Sekhmet)
The Great Lion Goddess.

I'll begin with an Invocation;

Great is the name of Holy Sun Mother,
She who is the Great Protector,
She who Causes Benevolence to Prevail ,
She, the Great Lion Of Justice,


She who Protects Her Son’s and Daughters with Unstoppable Force,
She, the Bright Shining One, born from the Night,
The Great Sky Fire, born from the Water.
Great Sekhmet, Strongest of All,
Holy Mother Sun who Brings Up Even The Weakest and Causes Terror to the Unjust.
Sacred Shining Sky Lion, Great of Magick Who Destroys Falsehood.
Immortal Sekhmet, Ever Living, Radiant and Beautiful Who Gives Her Power
To Her Children.
She Who Devours Giant Serpents. Burner Away of Ignorance, Who Makes Ashes Out Of Decay, The Balancer, Who Puts Disrespect To The Pyre. Who Makes False Pride into Ash. She Who Warms True Faith and Wisdom.

Praise to Sakhmat The Strongest of the Strong; She who is called;

She who is One with Magic
Mother of the Netjeru
One Who Was Before The Netjeru Were
Lady Of The Place Of The Beginning.
Beloved of Heaven
Beloved of Bast, Her Sister
Greatly Beloved of All gods
At Whose Wish The Arts Were Born
Beautiful Eye Which Giveth Life To The Two Lands
Beautiful Face,
Most Beloved By Artists
Flaming One
Sovereign of Heaven
Protectress Of The Netjeru
Lady of the Scarlet-Colored Garment
Pure One
Destroyer of Horrors
Eye of Heaven
Who’s Eye Shines
Pre-Eminent One
Roamer of Deserts
Wanderer in the Wastes
Self-Contained
Only One
Awakener
Lady of Enchantments
Opener of Ways
Lady Of Transformations
Lady Of The Many Faces
Enrapturing One
Giver Of Ecstasies
Satisfier Of Desires
Inspirer of Men
Victorious One In Battles
Overcomer Of All Enemies
Ruler Of The Desert
Ruler Of Serpents
Ruler Of Lions
Sublime One
Enlightener
Empowerer
Sparkling One
Great One Of Heka
Lady Of The Magic Lamp
Mother Of The Dead
Lady Of The Bloodbath
Destroyer By Plagues
Great One of Mending
Destroyer By Fire
Lady Of The Waters Of Life
Mistress And Lady Of The Tomb
Great One In The Places Of Judgement And Execution
Greatest Protectress
Great One Of The Place Of Silence
Unrivaled And Invincible One
Ruler Of The Chamber Of Flames
The Source
She Whose Opportunity Escapeth Her Not
Winged One
Powerful Of Heart
The Aware
The Gleaming One
Sekhmet, Who Reduceth To Silence
Sekhmet, Who Rouseth The People
Lady Of Jubilation
She to Whom The Greatest Adoration is Given.
Shining Of Countenance
Mother Of Images
Incomparable One
Lady Of Intoxications
Mightier Than The Netjeru
Most Beautiful
Most Strong
Great One Of Laws
Protectress Of The Divine Order
The One Born of the Night
The Beautiful Light
Warrior Netjert
Netjert of Benevolence
Great One In Heaven
Great One Of The Incense
Great Lady of The House of Life
Queen Of The Venerable Ones
Lady Of The House Of Books
Devouring One
Sekhmet Of The Knives
Burner Of Evildoers
The One Before Whom the Destructive Tremble
Terrible One
Lady Of All Powers
Eternal One
Lady Of The Manifold Adornments
Most Beautiful Among The Netjeru
Bountiful One
Sekhmet Who Gives Joys
Unwavering, Loyal One
Beloved Teacher
Beloved Sekhmet
Great Sun Mother


That being said, I'll reiterate that the Goddesses are all aspects of Asat, with the exception
that, when performing the Rites for a particular Goddess, it is, in that moment that Goddess
that one worships.

For example, when offering Hadab Sakhmat, I am praying to Great Sakhmat within the context of the Great Mystery of All Creation, The All Mother. To make it more simple, one cannot worship the Sun without acknowledging the Sky in Which She Stands, but one is still just worshiping the Sun...not preforming Sky Goddess Rites...as it were. (No, I don't view the Sky as the only earthly thing representing the Great Mystery, but the point is met)

It's been taught to me that it is Sakhmat (rather the Force which is called by this name) that most truly protects and guides GLBT Pagans. That it is Sakhmat who has direct influence in our lives and She Who Shines
who is, in turn devoted to us as well. It is Sakhmat who has the Power, Sakhmat Who is Strongest of All gods.
She Who Is The Most Terrible of Warriors and She Who is Without Defeat, Eternally.

Anyway, there it is...here are some pix...please feel free to discuss the Great Goddess at your leisure.

[sunstoneleo]

I actually have a statue of her on my alter And Bast of course (she helped me heal my kitty, and save him from death) I am really into egyptian paganism.

[kuotetsu]

Same here... I'm currently on my way to kemetic paganism.. From what I've read, she's the fierce lioness?.. We had a statue of her way back 1980s (I'm still not born) until now we had her statue. It feels safe when I pray to her.. But Bastet for me is much better.

[AkanaAnash]

I'm especially fond of the 99 Names...I mean...if one was predisposed to say.."what Goddess will I worship?" and one read this list (from the ancient texts)...one would probably be most impressed by Sakhmat and all her Liony-fresh-goodness...

Anyway, I made that gif after I followed a link someone else had posted about an article from said college, and the gif was just brilliant...I had to make it my own...

There's the other issue of various worship practices, but in general, I do think it's more fun to practice Sakhmat Hadab, simply because she's not some crabby old guy sitting on a cloud shaking his finger and going "you're bad!"

Sekhmet is like..."Hey! Life is awesome! You guys are awesome!...religion should be too!..Pass the Wine and turn up the music!"

Thet

[kuotetsu]

Sekhmet is like..."Hey! Life is awesome! You guys are awesome!...religion should be too!..Pass the Wine and turn up the music!"

Thet

I liked that! It's like religion is incorporated with the ways of life.. It gives much more freedom than any other kind.

[AkanaAnash]

Well K'

I donno about any other kind...I mean, if your discussing simply freedom without social responsibility, then we'll probably have to go with
the C.o.S.

Dude was all "screw the and-it-harm-none...Do what thou wilt!"

Did alright for himself though, died a rich man, so I hear tell.

[kuotetsu]

i'm talking of any other kind of religions.. just playing safe

[[Obsidian]]

I have been praying to Hathor a lot. I guess I prefer her in her Hathor role more than her Sehkmet role. Too difficult to stop her from killing in that one

Harry

[Kolohe Redux]

As a mom and pretty conventional person, I find Bast, who I see more as a guardian while Sekhmet is a warrior, to resonate for me, or perhaps in her Hathor role. I can definitely relate to drinking some wine and calming down. Actually I find Egyptian spirituality attractive and inspirational, but somewhat confusing, there's such a span of time and deities changed and evolved and then there is Upper and Lower Egypt. Thet (or anyone) if you can explain or point out a resource that breaks it down a bit I'd be intereested in that.

Kolohe

[Makbawehuh]

I couldn't vote. Mine isn't up there.

She's a nice enough Goddess... I had good times with her, but it didn't stick. She falls into my list of "One night stand"-ish Gods from my pre-Eris period.

[AkanaAnash]

Hey! Who voted "Who are you?" teehee...

Obsid'

Well, I just let the Goddesses do what they want, you know?

I'm not feeling Hathor at all.




Kolohe,

The difficulty with your question is that what we "know" of
Ancient Kemet is;

1. Mostly translations of texts from the Middle Kingdom and

afterward, which are predominately Ra/Amun based

(ie..phallocentric)

2. The names and functions of the aforementioned deities are

fairly convoluted.

3. The daily practices of the priesthood and the common people

are almost completely obscured...

hence;

working with (or for) the Kemetan,Norse, Babylonian, Aztec , Assyrian, Mayan and certain other pantheons can, and indeed must come from an
intuitive place.

(again, I don't mean to lecture...after all, some recon

practitioners are completely fine with using the pyramid texts

to dictate their practices)

((Anyway, though I usually give a nod to Great Bast, Mother Of Cats , As a childcare worker of 20+ years, had I children of my own, I'd want them protected by something ferocious, something that could take an entire army and squash them into tiny little bugs. Again, Bast totally rocks, I'm not denying that, but as Justice and Power goes, nothing beats Great Sakhmat, Shining of Heaven. ))

[Kolohe Redux]

That makes sense, probably better to consider it intuitively. We do have a stone lion by the front door. I still think that gif rocks!!

Kolohe

[White*wolf]

The Egyptian pantheon I feel very close to. Especially the Goddess Sekhmet. I remember going to a museum in New York and going to see the Egyptian section. There was a huge statue of her in that exhibit [about 6 feet tall]. I kept going back to see her. It was funny, so like every 15 minutes I'm like walking by that statue and I saying hi and waving to her. People must of thought I was nuts. I've also had dreams of her. For some reason the Egyptian pantheon loves to appear in my dreams. Horus included, even though I have absolutely no connection to him. Weird. I tend to feel closest to chaos, war and destructive Goddesses.

[Heka]

when i was a little kid i always loved ancient egypt and also their gods and goddesses. i never really read much about sekhmet, most of the info you find is about isis and hathor and nut and bastet.

i think i always had a thing for anubis tho.


i must get back to the egyptian stuff again, its still one of my favourites.

Blessings

Heka

PS i chose a egyptian word for a craft name as well, obviously. im feeling more of an afinity for egypt again. blessed be

[AkanaAnash]

Whitewolf,

I've been there. Did you know the Met Museum traded the actual Rosetta Stone for those 16 statues of Sekhmet?

Wow right?

The curator there must be a devotee as well.

Thanks for participating in the survey gyz!

In fact, I could go on and on about Sekhmet. Though I don't feel she's a "destructive" Goddess per se...I mean, after all...in the Middle Kingdoms, her name became synonymous with "physician"

I'm sure the conversation went something like.."oh, you're new here!...well that fellow over there is a sakhmat...
his names Ja'an Hotep...great guy really, if a little scary... But if you ever get sick, go see him!"

I guess, the point is, she has the power to destroy...and destroy...and destroy.(eghhhem...) ...but is only inclined to use it under extreme circumstances.

Thet