Sekhmet

“Mine is a heart of carnelian, crimson as murder on a holy day.
Mine is a heart of corneal, the gnarled roots of a dogwood and the bursting of flowers.
I am the broken wax seal on my lover's letters.
I am the phoenix, the fiery sun, consuming and resuming myself.
I pace the halls of the underworld.
I knock on the doors of death.
I wander into the fields to stare at the sun and lie in the grass, ripe as a fig.
The souls of the gods are with me.
They hum like flies in my ears.
I will what I will.
Mine is a heart of carnelian, blood red as the crest of a phoenix." - Hymn of Sekhmet

It is widely believed that Sekhmet is a much more ancient deity than even Ra. It is told that she “came to Egypt from a place unknown and a time unrecorded.”

Sekhmet was a solar goddess directly related to the creative and destructive powers of the sun. Sekhmet was the goddess of divine justice, vengeance, and war. The “Flame of Sekhmet” was one of the most feared of divine weapons.

She was believed to protect the pharaoh in battle and destroy his enemies with arrows of fire. The king at war was described as being “terrible and unvanquishable like Sekhmet in her fury.” Ramses II claimed that the goddess herself rode with him in his chariot, helping him to destroy his enemies. Queen Hatsheput was compared to Sekhmet: “She who will be a conqueror, flaming against her enemies.”

Hot desert winds were called the “Breath of Sekhmet” – sometimes her breath was thought to have caused the desert. Her body was said to take on the bright glare of the midday sun.

Sekhmet was thought to eat only meat, “both the raw and cooked,” and drink only red wine. Often pictured as a savage lioness stalking the land, to this goddess death and destruction was “balm for my heart.” In myths of Sekhmet destroying the world, she killed “both the wicked and the good” and her feet were tainted red with the blood of her victims. So great was her fury that even Set and Apophis gave way to her.

The gentle house-cat Bast and the fierce lioness Sekhmet were two sides of the same coin - in some depictions Bastet can be seen with an aegis decorated with a lioness in her hand, and some statues of Sekhmet show a little cat sitting on her legs or around her feet.

According to an Egyptian myth, Sekhmet nearly destroyed humankind and was only appeased when she was tricked into getting drunk, changing into the gentle goddess Hathor. In memory of this, during the Festival of Sekhmet men and women “freed themselves of all unpleasant feelings, resentment, and repressed, angry passion” by drinking great quantities of wine. Similar festivals of Sekhmet were celebrated at the end of battles, in order to pacify the Goddess of War, so that there would be no more destruction. On such occasions, people danced, made love, and played music to soothe the wildness of Sekhmet.

Sekhmet was thought to be the daughter of Geb and Nut, the sister-wife of Ptah, the sister of Bast, and the mother of Nefertem and Shesmu. She was sometimes thought to be the daughter of Ra, the mother of Maathes and Khonsu, and the wife of Sokar.