Although belief had a profound influence in Egyptian cultural development, the ancient Egyptians relied more on faith than an actual set of religious beliefs.
Before jumping to the topic of Egyptian Goddesses, let’s start by including a brief summary of the creation of their myths.
At one time only the ocean existed on earth. An egg–or flower, depending on the version–came up out of the water and the Sun God Ra was born. Ra conceived four children: Gods Geb and Shu and the Goddesses Tefnut and Nut Shu. Tefnut rose to become the atmosphere, while Nut became the sky. Geb became the earth.
The Development of Gods/Goddesses of Egyptian Faith
After creation, it is believed the myriad of Gods and Goddesses emerged to make up the Egyptian faith.
Among them was the Egyptian Goddess Bastet, a Sun Goddess who became popular in the second dynasty. She was the Goddess of the sun and everything warm. Admired for her strength and agility, she is represented as a woman with the head of a cat.
Isis, the Egyptian Goddess of all, is reminiscent in the mythology of Hera, queen of the Gods in Greek mythology. She is the most well-recognized goddess of the Egyptian faith and is worshipped to this day for her magical abilities and her believed power over mankind by choosing to take life with the bite of a serpent. She choose to have mercy on those who repent when they utter the original name of Ra which is believed to drive out the poison. Having the gift of articulate speech from Hera was believed to give the dead the ability to could anywhere in the Underworld. This also brought those who did Goddess worship to honor her as the queen of the living and the queen of the dead as well.
The Egyptian Goddess Nut is also worshipped throughout Egypt. Nut is depicted as the original mother earth goddess and also had many children. The hieroglyph for her name shows her wearing a pot on her head, also depicted at times as a womb. She is the Goddess of the sky and comes down at night to visit her brother Geb, bringing darkness.
The Egyptian Goddesses each have their own area of the world to attend, and the more popular deities still have working temples to this day in Egypt. There are so many temples and places of worship that students studying Egyptian mythology and religion can spend years studying in various temples and learning about many different practices.
There is much to learn about the ancient Egyptian Gods and Goddesses who may be looking over us even today.
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