Sekhmet: Goddess of Destruction and Healing

The blog post for this week has been written by Pam Llewellin. Pam is a retired Practice Manager and an amateur Egyptologist with a special interest in the ancient religions and goddesses of ancient Egypt. She also co-administers two ancient Egyptian history groups for which she researches articles and artifacts of interest to post daily to the Groups.

We had the third session of the Egypt Centre’s online course this week, examining the gods, goddesses, and demons of ancient Egypt, where Dr Griffin provided us with many interesting and unusual anthropomorphic goddesses. Some that were so rare that they had limited representations, and many that would have been quite difficult to find without Dr Griffin’s information as to their whereabouts. Several of the goddesses Dr Griffin mentioned could also be depicted in lioness-headed form and, although she was not mentioned in this particular part of the course, I would like to devote this blog to the lioness-headed goddess, Sekhmet (fig. 1). Apart from her character and history, I have a very personal reason to find her fascinating and evocative, but more of that later.

Statue of Sekhmet (W496)

Sekhmet’s name was derived from the word sḫm, which translates into “power” or “might” and she would be known as “The Powerful One” and “The One who loves Maat”. Sekhmet is mostly depicted semi-anthropomorphic with the body of a woman and the head of a lioness. She wears the sun disk and uraeus upon her head and can be seated or standing, usually holding the ankh in her right hand and the sekhem-sceptre in her left as a symbol of authority and power (fig. 2). Some ancient Egyptians believed that Sekhmet was one of the daughters of Ra, the king of the men and gods who ruled with his daughter, Maat, the goddess representing truth and justice. Others suggest that she is the daughter of Geb (god of the earth) and Nut (goddess of the sky). In one creation myth, she is brought into existence after Ra gazed upon the earth. In another version, an ageing Ra was so angry with humankind, he ripped out his own eye and threw it at mankind where the divine eye becomes Sekhmet.

Fig. 2: Statue of Sekhmet (BM EA 45)

In yet another, and my personal favourite, Ra becomes so enraged at the way in which humankind was plotting against him and going against the laws of maat that he tore the cobra from the uraeus on his head and turned it into a lioness-headed goddess. She would become Sekhmet, his warrior/weapon, created in order to wreak revenge on mankind for their behaviour. She would have a reputation for fighting, not retreating, just like the cobra from whom she is created. What Ra creates though, is a goddess with a bloodlust for death and a destructive power that she is unable to control. In his paranoia that mankind is plotting against him, and seeking retribution for what he perceives as the misdeeds of mankind, Ra sends Sekhmet to teach the people a lesson. In her passionate loyalty to both her father and her devotion to the principles of the goddess Maat, she is happy to carry out her duty to her father and embarks on a bloodthirsty and frenzied rampage against mankind.

When Ra can see that the killing spree of his daughter is in grave danger of extinguishing the human race, he wanted to find a way to stop Sekhmet. He devises a plan to distract Sekhmet and dictates that beer to be brewed in huge quantities and turned red (some say with mandrake, some with pomegranate, some with ochre) and orders the priests to spill the mixture onto the earth so that it resembles human blood. Sekhmet drinks the mixture until she is very intoxicated and sleeps for three days until her bloodlust is abated, and humanity saved. One version of the aftermath hangover is that the first person she sees when she wakes up is the god Ptah and instantly falls in love with him. Their union (creation and destruction) creates Nefertum and so re-establishes Ma’at (fig. 3). Another version of the myth is when she becomes sober, her bloodlust has dissipated, and she becomes the gentle aspect of herself in the body of the goddess Hathor.

Faience statue of Sekhmet and Nefertum (W1163)

The saving of mankind was commemorated every year on a feast day of Hathor/Sekhmet. Everyone drank beer stained with pomegranate juice and worshipped “the mistress and lady of the tomb, gracious one, destroyer of rebellion, mighty one of enchantments”. A statue of Sekhmet would be dressed in red facing west, representing Upper Egypt, while the considered counterpart to Sekhmet, Bastet, was dressed in green and faced east, representing Lower Egypt.

Sekhmet was worshipped throughout Egypt, particularly whenever a wadi opened out in the desert edges. This is the type of terrain that lions are often found. Many of them having come from the desert in order to drink and prey upon cattle in the area. Some believe that the worship of Sekhmet was possibly introduced into Egypt from Sudan because lions are more plentiful in that region. Sekhmet’s main cult centre was located in Memphis, and was part of the Divine Triad of Ptah, Sekhmet, and Nefertum (fig. 4). Sekhmet, as the wife of Ptah, the ‘Creator’, and their son Nefertum is also closely associated with healers and healing. Some scholars believe that Sekhmet’s worship might pre-date Ptah by at least several hundred years, but because of the shift in power from Memphis to Thebes during the New Kingdom (1550–1069 BC) the Theban Triad made up of Amun, Mut, and Khonsu resulted in Sekhmet’s attributes being absorbed into that of the goddess Mut.

Ramesses III before the Memphite Triad (BM EA 9999)

Sekhmet is one of the oldest known deities (nṯr) in Egyptian history. She is the patron of the physicians, physician-priests, and healers. She could be known as the “lady of terror” or “the lady of life”. Even though, to the ancient Egyptians, Sekhmet was a terrifying goddess, they also believed that she had a cure for every problem including plague and disease. In order to stay on her good side, they offered food and drink, played music for her, and burned incense. They would whisper their prayers into the ears of cat mummies and offer them to Sekhmet. They believed that there was a direct connection to their deities and their prayers would be answered. Sekhmet is closely associated with kingship, and often described as the mother of Mahes, the lion god who was a patron of the pharaoh. Pharaohs Nuiserre and Ramesses II would have reliefs constructed showing them being suckled by Hathor whose title is “mistress of the house of Sekhmet”. Ramesses II would adopt her as a symbol of power in the friezes of the battle of Kadesh at Abu Simbel where she appears on the horse with her flames scorching the bodies of the enemy soldiers. But, of all the Pharaohs, Amenhotep III was the most obsessed with Sekhmet. He commissioned hundreds of statues of the goddess in Karnak Temple, and this is where I can tell you about my connection with Sekhmet (fig. 5).

 

Fig. 5: Statue of Sekhmet at Karnak

In week two of the course, Dr Griffin mentioned a little-known temple in Karnak that is not on the usual ‘tourist route’: the temple of Ptah. By coincidence, I had Googled information about Karnak temple before I visited Luxor and the article mentioned an amazing statue of Sekhmet in the temple of Ptah at Karnak (fig. 6). Our guide arranged for us to see it during a visit to the temple. When we arrived at the inner part of the temple, one of the permanent temple guards came up to me and gave me the key to open the door. Even with the door to the sanctuary open, the inside was quite gloomy and stiflingly hot. The large black granite or diorite statue of the lioness-headed goddess was at the back of the room. The energy in the room was palpable. Sekhmet was in a standing position on a plinth holding the ankh in her left hand and the sekhem-sceptre in her right. She was quite a bit taller than me and I’m 5’8”. Above her head was a small opening where the sun shone through onto the sun-disk and uraeus on the top of her head.

Fig. 6: Statue of Sekhmet

I completely lost all awareness of the other people in the room, until the guard came up to me and told me to place my left hand in front of Sekhmet’s forehead and move it slowly down the length of the statue until I reached her feet. Standing on my tip toes to reach, I placed my hand in front of her forehead. Even without physically touching her, I could feel how hot her statue was. At the same time, a gentle but unmistakable surge of energy came in a wave through my body from my head to my feet and I felt quite disorientated. It only lasted a few seconds, but it left me with a numb feeling in my left thigh (it lasted for three days – I could stick a pin in it and not feel anything!) and I was feeling completely manic and unsteady on my feet!

For three days, I could neither eat nor sleep, I was still manic, and I kept reliving in my head what had happened, trying to make some sense of it. No-one else in the party experienced anything similar, although some said they felt “something” but could not explain any further.

When I arrived home, I started to research more about Sekhmet, who she was, what she represented, anything I could find about her. As I read, I began to recognise aspects about her that I could somehow identify with and understand. I understood her loyalty and her passion, and I became increasingly aware, in a strange way, that I was “feeling” what it might be like to experience the energy one would need to “be” Sekhmet. It came as no shock to realise that she could represent that neglected and disowned part of my psyche that C.G. Jung described as the “shadow” self - that aspect which is an invisible but inseparable part of our psychic totality. It was an amazing feeling to be able to get to know more about myself through knowing her and I am so grateful for what I believe was the great gift I was given. Was the energetic exchange in the temple a healing portal for me? Most definitely. Can I explain it? Most definitely not!

Bibliography

Germond, Philippe 1981. Sekhmet et la protection du monde. Aegyptiaca Helvetica 9. Genève: Éditions de Belles-Lettres.

Graves-Brown, Carolyn 2010. Dancing for Hathor: women in ancient Egypt. London: Continuum.

Känel, Frédérique von 1984. Les prêtres-ouâb de Sekhmet et les conjurateurs de Serket. Bibliothèque de l’École des hautes études. Sciences religieuses 87. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.

Wilkinson, Richard H. 2003. The complete gods and goddesses of ancient Egypt. London: Thames & Hudson.