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I have always liked the goddess Isis- she was the original one who awoke me and reminded me of the wisdom of the Ancients. Her winged aspect graced the margins of many a paper in school, much to my teachers’ ire. Her sister-goddess Maat is also a favorite of mine. But I didn’t run into Sekhmet until I was well into my adult years- her energy was radically different enough that she actually frightened me at first, and I was wary of her and her power for a long time. But fortunately, she is a patient, and even persistent sort of goddess, and she finally got my attention in a big way, and kept it. It was ten years ago that I visited the British Museum in London, where they have one of the more extensive and better preserved Egyptian collections outside of Cairo. Here you will find the Rosetta Stone, and many other delights from Egypt. But what captured my attention, both in the first, and a couple of subsequent visits, were the row of four Sekhmet statues lined up along one wall. One basalt one in particular attracted me, and they were right out where you could touch them, just like you could touch the Rosetta Stone. Silly me, I ventured to reverently touch the Ankh she held in her lap, and mentally tell the Goddess hello. She answered me- returning the greeting. It was like touching a friendly lightning bolt- my skull was lit up within with the light of a billion suns. It was the first of a series of strange things that happened- touching that statue must have set them off. I chalked them all up to the spiritual growth spurt I was having at the time, and let it go at that. But then a friend gave me a small silver Sekhmet pendant. Her face looked odd, but it was her. I started seeing her in all sorts of places. A book about her fell into my hands. My learning began to move from the feminine, repressed lunar aspects I’d learned in my Wiccan training, towards a solar aspect that was- to my surprise- still feminine in its aspects, but powerfully masculine in its execution. Solar goddesses and feminine solar energies are rare, and there are only one or two actively practiced religions left that acknowledge a solar feminine aspect. But Sekhmet had me in her sights, and was slowly stalking my mind and heart. My metaphysical studies continued. I wore the Amethyst, as my Cherokee guide urged me, but as time passed, the powerful colors of deep red, violet/cobalt blue, and yellow/gold began to attract my attention. I began to collect cobalt glass, and that particular color blue, so dark it is nearly black, strongly drew me. It was the color of the midnight sky, or the sky over the terminator of dawn and dusk. It was the color of sapphire (my birthstone) and of the sacred stone Lapis Lazuli. Sekhmet still paced around the back of my mind and my thoughts, biding her time. I have always liked large felines- cheetahs, panthers, and tigers especially, but including all cats large and small. In my living room, I have a large towel with a serious looking tigress staring back at me, a painting of a lioness done by my sister, and stalking serenely across my TV is a Goebel black leopard. I say serenely because he has a contemplative look on his face, and his mouth is closed. I have two large pampered housecats, as well. Yet, for some reason, I was not quite comfortable with the aspects of Sekhmet that were portrayed in the common literature or the book that was written about her. I decided to do something about this discomfort. When I reached a certain stage and confidence in my metaphysical capabilities, I decided to ‘tune in’ to her and get her own side of the story. She seems to be the sort of goddess who readily ‘picks up the phone’ when I think of her. I very quickly made a conscious connection with her and asked her to tell me her story, and answer some questions. She readily did so.Then, to my surprise, she requested my 'voice' as a channel for her Blue Lotus aspect. She wished to teach these mysteries to awaken and catalyze the "Blue People". I accepted this honor, and respectfully requested that I wished to be a ‘clear channel’, writing for her with minor edits for clarity- but I wanted to be present, not possessed. She happily- almost eagerly- agreed. I was told that I would reflect and interpret her ‘blue’ aspect, and that her Outer symbol for me would be a tiger, and by that sign, I would know She was with me. This symbol was successfully tested when I visited a channeler friend, and she immediately 'saw' a tiger when she opened to Spirit. I opened my mind and handed her the keyboard, and here is what she told me (direct quotes are in Italics): Sekhmet’s name simply means ‘power’, powerful, or ‘primal power’ in the language of the Black lands. She is a root and primal goddess, and from her spring the many powers of all the other gods. She could be likened in some ways to the primal energies that create ‘Big Bangs’ (there wasn't just one Big Bang, according to her, there were many!) because that is essentially what she is- pure catalyzing power. She can act both as a weapon of destruction and a healer of plagues. She is solar, and carries both the primal red and the primal blue in her color world. These spring from the primal white, which are all the colors combined, the Crown of Creation. "You will recover and hold the Blue Lotus." The blue aspect has been lost for quite some time, and has not yet been examined by searchers in the Akashic until now. My job, as she tells me, is to be the recoverer, translator, and interpreter of this blue aspect and its energy. It holds many secrets, and many keys to ancient power and technology that makes our own pale in comparison. There will be very few 'holders of the Blue Lotus', (her name for this blue aspect) because very few currently can endure her tests for worthiness. She will go into more detail about the Blue Lotus in due time. (Stay tuned!) {Editor's update: "Blue Lotus" is a title.} "My beloved know well my Red Disk." Her red aspect (her name for this is the Red Disk) is well known, and is the source of her primary story that most people know her by. That story being that Ra, being unhappy with the direction mankind was taking and their lack of respect for the gods, decided to punish them. He turned Sekhmet, in her righteous and wrathful red mode, loose on mankind and she went to war with them. She blazed and flamed bright as the sun, and did not stop the killing until the other gods neutralized her with beer mixed with pomegranate juice, which sated her and returned her to normal. She was also invoked in her blue aspect, as Healer- and as merciful destroyer of plagues. This aspect is not as well known, but she was one of the patron goddesses of medicine as well as war, and her healing was extraordinary and magickal. I asked the aspect of Sekhmet which has anchored and revealed herself to my mind to tell me in contemporary terms what Power she represented. Here is what she told me: "I am the blazing sun. I am the glowing nebulae in the universe. I am Light, visible and invisible, and vibration, both subtle and gross. The Power that is my name is what you now call nuclear fission, because in war my power breaks apart in brilliant light. And it is nuclear fusion, because in healing, I bring needed elements together. Both aspects are my Name and my Power, brilliant and unstoppable, brighter than the sun. I can direct it for good or for ill, to bless and to blast- and its unimaginable power is what drives all life. I am the blue corona of the sun, invisible until the moon reveals it by blocking the disk, and I am the brilliant disk of the sun- which both heals and burns. I dwell within all matter and creatures." Her aspect is feminine because her power is generative and changing. But she is not a nurturing mother goddess- she gives that power to the primal mother goddess to utilize. She is masculine as well, but again, in an active aspect, not in a fatherly, generative or nurturing way. That power she gives to the primal father god to use, as well as the choice to bless or scourge. She holds the power of both genders because she is the primal spark of power and light and vibration that eventually separated and became those genders. As she puts it, "I am the Hand that plucks the string, which brings forth the vibrations that create all you know." Her body is female, and her head is male- she has a lion’s mane and a woman’s breasts. Her body is curved like a woman, but her stance is powerful and assertively masculine- her hands are either fisted with pointing thumbs, or flat on her lap with an Ankh in her left hand. Other Egyptian goddesses are always pictured wearing sheath dresses with their breasts sometimes exposed, but their torsos and midriffs covered. Sekhmet, on the other hand, is the cross-dresser, and has been portrayed wearing just a kilt, as a male would, and her entire torso is sometimes nude, including her navel. She also does not always wear female armlets, and her headdress is sometimes the masculine nemes tucked behind her mane. She is seen in feminine dress more often, and always in feminine garb when she is portrayed with her consort, Ptah. She has a son, Nefer-tem, and he is almost always shown with two knives, and no solar disk. He is the Holder of the Healing Lotus, and is the god of perfumes, incense, and healing balms. She was portrayed as a lioness in the Egyptian pantheon, but is equally comfortable in the guise of any great cat, for, as she says, "I Am all things to those who can truly See Me." She embodies the balanced primal blend of the genders, before they were separated in their fall into matter. She demonstrates that one can hold the capabilities of both genders in a single body- to have a ‘guy’ mind in a ‘girl’ body, and vice versa. She is not ashamed of either polarity of the genders she displays- the united and unipolar gender is always addressed as ‘female/generative’ because it is from this that all further life issues.
Sekhmet speaks: "You have forgotten the ancient united and balanced origins of creation and have fallen into deep darkness and ignorance. By seeing your gods as primarily masculine, you have eclipsed the major Source of your own power and nearly silenced within your hearts the voices of the Creation that made you. The imbalance of your perceptions is the root cause of many of your current woes. You must return to your feminine roots, and reclaim your powerful feminine heritage, but without eclipsing that of the masculine. You must understand and realize that the male and female must be in parity, for without parity and the balanced exchange of energies unique to the separated genders, you cannot remove yourselves from the darkness and ignorance that now plagues you."
Sekhmet speaks: "The masculine is red, and the feminine is blue- your culture has it both reversed and diminished. Returning these colors to their proper polarities will begin the process of rebalancing and rediscovery." I think she’s talking about the tradition of putting baby boys in pale blue colors, and baby girls in pink. Pink, as you are probably aware, actually dims and diminishes the more active aspects of the mind, but is extensively used in girls toys, dress, and decoration. Red, being a primal fire color, brings self confidence, stimulates appetite, and spurs learning. Blue builds power, but its paler aspects bring depression and internal aggression. Cobalt blue, on the other hand, brings inner calmness, and the deep realization of inner power. She will speak here again when the time is right, and those who are ready to learn have gathered. It is an honor to be the keyboarder and interpreter for such a One, and a small feather in the wings of Horus. Sa Sekhem Sahu ã 2001 by Sunfell
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