Egyptian Goddess Sekhmet

Her breath created the desert, her rage nearly destroyed mankind. She is the bringer and curer of diseases, created from the very eye of Ra himself to avenge him. She is the warrior goddess of Upper Egypt, protector of the pharaohs and a matron goddess of women.

Sekmet is also called Sakhmet, Sekmet, Sachmet, and Sekhet. The power of her story is universal, and the wrath of Ra is personified through her. This violent rage of hers was reported to cause the near-extinction of the entire human race.. find out how below.

In the Egyptian myths, Sekhmet was born when Ra cast his eye down upon the earth. She took on aspects of the Sun God, her head forming into the fearsome lion's head as a representation of power and nobility. It is said that her viciousness and ruthlessness were so complete that she nearly killed the human race to extinction. Ra, feeling remorse over the loss of his people, had a change of heart and tried to stop Sekhmet in her war path. She turned on him, her Father-Creator, and professed that the death of those who spurned and opposed him filled her heart with joy.

To stop her, Ra ordered a massive amount of alcohol to be gathered. In some versions of the myth, beer is used, in others it is date wine. To this, depending on the telling of the myth, pomegranate, mandrake, or ochre is added to the alcohol to give it the appearance of blood. This is dumped into the Nile, and tempted Sekhmet so that she drank the entire river, and it is only this that stopped her rampage over the people.

Sekhmet is represented in hieroglyphics as a beautifully shaped woman with the head of a female lion. On her head is the Sun Disc topped wreathed in a viper. She is closely aligned with Bast, the cat Goddess, and together these two Goddesses watch over the west and east.

Devotions to Sekhmet included twice daily worship at any of the 700 statues which were erected in her honor, offerings made of meat and milk, and jars of wine left at the feet of her statues to placate her vengeful spirit.