There are many Eyes of Ra celebrated at this time of year: Aset, Nebet Het, Nit, Sekhmet, Mut, Sekhmet-Mut, Bast, Bast-Mut, Hethert and Tefnut just to name a few. An Eye of Ra is a title of many ancient Egyptian goddesses who protect the sun god, Ra with magic, weapons and flame. They are the solar goddesses whose journey reflects the shortening and lengthening of days of the seasons of the year. This is the time of Their return.
So light candles and lamps. Offer water, milk, beer or wine. Offer food and drink to the Goddess as She returns from Nubia.
Let there be light, laughter, reverence, love, strength and peace throughout this time of year. To all the F words: Faith, Family, Friendship, Forgiveness and Forever.
Have a blessed holiday. Blessings of the Goddesses to you all!
Mothers’ Night (Modranecht) is a holiday celebrating the Mothers, a group of ancestral, prosperity and abundance-giving goddesses called the Disir or Matronae. This celebration was on eve or day of the Winter Solstice. Frigga is also honored on the 12 Days of Yule along with other Northern European Gods and Goddesses.
Frigga (Frigg) is associated with the Disir/Matronae and is honored on this night. (Freyja can also be honored here too, but this is about Frigga, so).
Frigga (Frigg) is the Germanic Goddess of the home, hearth, family, childbirth, weaving, spinning, craft-work, artisans, wisdom, folk magic and fate. She is the Queen of Asgard, First of the Goddesses, Mother of the Gods, Queen of Heaven, Wife of Odin, and Mother of Baldr. She is a seeress as well and is the only one besides Odin himself who can sit on Hlidskjalf and see throughout all the Nine Realms.
She is also the Goddess of the Ancestral Mothers (Disir) and Norns. She weaves the clouds and thus, the weather. She is the Goddess of the Orion’s Belt.
Blessed Mothers’ Night (Modranecht)! Blessed Yule!
I have been interested in Witchcraft for many years. (I follow a Goddess of Magic, is anyone here surprised?). I’ve done spells and read books and now I watch Youtube channels. Here are some of my favorite witchcraft related Youtube channels!
Kelly-Ann Maddox is a professional Tarot and Oracle card reader. She has tons of informative videos on witchcraft, paganism, the Goddesses (Hel and Mary) and Shadow Work. She is the author of Rebel Witch and has a website: Kelly-Ann Maddox
Thorn is a Gardnerian Priestess and very knowledgeable about her stuff. Her videos are thought-provoking pieces about witchcraft and the witchcraft community. She is the author of Traditional Wicca and The Witch’s Path.
There is a Procession of Nebet Het/Nephthys in a larger festival of a Procession of Khnum-Ra from the Temple of Esna on Nov. 1-6 (on my calendar).
The Procession of Nebet Het/Nephthys starts today! The Sister of Set, the Mourner of Wesir, the Sister of Aset, Lady of the Temple, Lady of the Underworld, Lady of the Tomb, Sun Goddess, Who Dispels Darkness, Kind and Full of Love.
She is Merkhetes (She Whose Flame is Painful) and Kherseket (She Who Wipes Away Tears). She is both a mourning and protection goddess. May Her names be known and may Her blessings flow.
Brigantia–Her name may mean “Exalted” or “Queenly”. She is the tutelary deity of the Brigantes and is a Romano-British deity who has similarities to Athena/Minerva and Brighid. Her only titles were left in Roman inscriptions on altars. Her titles are Goddess, Heavenly, Nymph-Goddess, and Imperial Guardian. Her symbols were the crown, spear, helmet and shield; a globe, wings of victory and the head of a Gorgon on her brooch. She is a goddess of nature especially water and trees; a protective war deity; a goddess of artisans and their crafts, a lady of sovereignty, a goddess of knowledge, a healing goddess and a heavenly Queen. She may have been a goddess associated with oracles. Like Brighid, she is the goddess of the hearth and home.
Offerings to Her include milk, honey, wine, beer, mead and fruit.
Brigantia of Nothern England.
Celtic/Roman and English Epithets
Caelestis (Heavenly)
Dea (Goddess)
Nymph-Goddess (Goddess of nature associated with waters, trees; healing and oracles)
Tutela Augusta (Imperial Protector/Guardian)
Victoria (Victory)
Sources
MacGrath, Sheena. Brigantia: Goddess of the North. Lulu, 2015.
The Lady Brigantia
by JewelofAset
Lady of Wales
Ffraid is Her Name
Lady of the Distaff
and the Spindle;
Weaving is Her trade.
In Ireland, Brighid is Her name
Lady of Hearths and Wells,
Lady of the Hearth-fire, Temples
and Sacred Writing;
These are Her spells.
Brigantia is the Lady of Great Britain
Queen of Heaven,
Lady of the Distaff
Lady of Victory and the Royal Guardian
These are My names.
And this is Who I am.
Hearth and Home
Distaff and Spindle;
These are the implements
when I am Goddess of the Home and Domestic Duties;
This is Who I am.
Warrior Queen, Bearing Arms
when I wear the helmet
and hold the spear and shield.
Lady who dons the Gorgon Head
as a brooch,
when I am Lady of War.
And this is Who I am.
This is Who I am.
For all those who ask for Me.
This is who I am.
I am like Athena, yes.
And Minerva too.
She has a cognate in My name
which is shared with Brighid of Ireland and Wales.
So, I had a small get together at my house to honor Aset (Isis), Wepwawet, and Yinepu (Anubis). My friend M. took these pictures and she gave me permission to post them here.
I just finished reading a new dissertation: Ashby, Solange. “Calling Out to Isis: the Enduring Nubian Presence at Philae.” PhD diss., University of Chicago, 2016.
I found a few cultic references which I thought were interesting.
Some Nubian Altars to Her had:
a horned altar–cow horns as she is a cow headed goddess
a palm branch–to symbolize life and renewal
Aset Emblem–sundisk encircling cow horns
Pouring Libations–I’m assuming to the dead or to Wesir.
Some altars had snake iconography
Some altars had a three-petal flower emblem on bowls
Within Nubia and at Philae, Aset was honored with Wesir, Heru-sa-Aset (with a Nubian place name epithet), Anubis and Nebet Het. She was also honored alongside some Nubian deities. (pages 195-202; 206-207; 243-244; and 256-258)
2nd Akhet/Paopi/September
10-Procession of Bast, Goddess of Ankhtawy
18-Eve of the Festival of Opet
19 to 3 Akhet 10 (24 days)-Festival of Opet
3rd Akhet/Hethara/October
1-Speech of Sekhmet-Bast
20-Procession of Bast, Mistress of Ankhtawy, Before Ra She is Angry
29-Speech of Bast
4th Akhet/Koiak/November
10-Speech of Bast, Lady of Memphis
12-Speech of the Image of Bast
15-Feast of Sekhmet and Bast
1 Peret/Tybi/December
3-Feast of the Drunkenness of the Eye of Ra
19-Speech of Bast
19-Feast of Bast
20-Procession of Bast Who Protects the Two Lands
21-Bast Guards the Two Lands
28 to 2 Peret Day 4-The Distant Goddess Returns from Nubia (6 day festival)
29-Bast and Sekhmet Guide the Two Lands
2 Peret/Mechir/January
29-Feast of the Navigation of Bast
4 Peret/Parmuthi/March
1-Feast of Ra and the Eye of Ra
4-Day of Chewing Onions for Bast
11-Speech of Bast
2 Shomu/Payni/May
16-Feast of Bast, Purifying Sekhmet
Sources
Bakir, Abd el-Mohsen. The Cairo Calendar No. 86637. Cairo, 1966.
Brier, Bob. Ancient Egyptian Magic. New York: William Morrow and Company, 1980.
So the Youtube Pagan Challenge is a meme of sorts where a question is asked each week out of the year and people respond via a video on Youtube. (Is there a blog one like this?)
Here are two of them I absolutely loved. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.
Fiercely Bright One 