As one of the most complex and powerful goddesses of Ancient Egypt, Hathor (originally “Hwt-Her”) represents the divine feminine principle in synergy with the masculine. According to The Dictionary of Nature Myths: “… Egyptian goddess Hathor has been labeled a sky goddess, a moon goddess, a sun goddess, a goddess of agriculture, a goddess of moisture, and a universal Mother Goddess and creator of the universe.… She personified the female principle—primitive, fruitful, creative, and nourishing. Hathor was a fertility goddess and, in that sense, also a goddess of love, much like Isis, the Greek Aphrodite, the Babylonian Ishtar, and the Sumerian Inanna…” (89)
Hathor (who later merged with Isis) is often depicted as a beautiful woman wearing a red solar disk between a pair of cow's horns. She was known as “the Great One of Many Names” and she was pivotal in every area of life and death in ancient Egypt. Her many names included Golden One (as daughter of Ra), Mistress of Life (an embodiment of beauty, music, dance, celebration, drunkenness, joy, love, romance, passion, perfume and gratitude), Mother of Mothers (representing fertility, childbirth, mothers, children and women’s health) , Mistress of Heaven (as the celestial nurse whose milk is life-giving), Lady of the Stars (linked to Sirius), Lady of the Necropolis (as gatekeeper of the underworld & helping the dead be reborn).
Geraldine Pinch (2004) writes “This complex deity could function as the mother, consort, and daughter of the creator god.” (137) Pinch notes that the union of Hathor and her creator-father "could be thought of… as a merging of the creator with his own active power" (138), signifying the importance of balance between the feminine and the masculine in maintaining order and harmony.
In her benevolent aspect Hathor is the personification of love, but in her destructive alter ego, she switches into the leonine goddess, Sekhmet, whose name means “She who is Powerful”. In the guise of Sekhmet, Hathor was regarded as “The Eye of Ra”, the feminine aspect of creation that often brought destruction to humankind, ultimately to transform its relationship with the divine.
Image credit: Ptahmassu Nofra-Uaa.
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