FEASTS
OF LIGHT
Normandi
Ellis ©1999
an excerpt from her new book
Those of you who have encountered Awakening Osiris and Dreams of Isis will be delighted to know that Normandi's new book, Feasts of Light, was published last spring by Quest books. For serious students of the Egyptian mysteries, this book will be a treasured resource. It delves deeply into the myths and brings the gods and goddesses to life as it describes the ancient rituals and festivals, their pomp and purpose. Following is an excerpt from the chapter titled The Inebriety of Hathor: Transforming Anger. —Nicki
Goddess
of the blood, Sekhmet wears the crimson robe. Her name means "The Power."
Fiery, fecund, and magical - the energy of life itself - she is the scarlet
woman the Hebrews warned about. As she is highly protective and one of
the great spiritual warriors, it's not surprising that Big Daddy Ra sent
her out to do his work, and when it didn't turn out exactly as he'd planned,
let her take the rap for it. (That ever happen to you?)
In the Egyptian tradition, Sekhmet is the
crone aspect of the Goddess, the mother aspect being embodied by Bast
and the maiden aspect ruled by Hathor. The three goddesses represent the
stages of the blood mysteries ruling a woman's life as she moves from
being lover, wife, and mother to being an elder woman of the tribe. Sekhmet
rules that menopausal phase wherein the blood, no longer shed, was thought
to be held within. It was believed that if a woman was not using her blood
to create children, then the fecund fluid turned inward, marking a powerful
time of self-creation and self-government that could produce visions and
create magic. According to ancient beliefs post-menopausal women were
said to be carrying "the wise blood."
The
power of woman to use her potent will and creativity for her own benefit,
rather than for the benefit of a mate or child as she might have done
in her Bast or Hathor phases, gave certain non-Egyptian members of the
community the willies. The Greeks called her Medusa. The Powerful One,
Sekhmet, now became the "Feared One," the Gorgon, with her wild hair of
snakes and fiery gaze that turned men to stone.
The
blood mysteries are linked to the moon, as a woman cycles through the
triple goddess phases every month. During ovulation she may feel like
Bast with her gentle purring and luxuriating, but prior to and during
menstruation she might feel more like the fiery Sekhmet. Highly potent
in her magical knowledge, Sekhmet guards the gates of life and death.
Monthly she allows a little death to happen; an ovum slips away and is
gone. Just as quickly she regenerates the body, opening the way for a
new cycle of potentiality. On the other hand, she may allow the egg to
be fertilized, thus creating life but simultaneously marking another kind
of death. Motherhood ends the maiden phase of a woman's life and moves
her from focusing on self-expression in the outer world to a more inner
focus wherein her energies are used to gestate the life she is now creating.
If you get the idea that every birth creates a death, then you see how
important is the domain of Sekhmet. In her crone phase, the goddess within
very wisely chooses what to create and what to destroy. She uses her energies
for posterity, coming to a phase where she passes on the wisdom she has
learned to younger women in the community.
The
important thing to remember about Sekhmet is that her rage is a manifestation
of thwarted energy. We may have been told that nice girls don't rage,
so we turn the anger inward. After a time, the anger festers, still growing
and causing us pain. Unacknowledged anger creates illness. The truth is
that energy in all forms is a blessing. As Yoko Ono put it: "Bless you
for your anger. It's a sign of rising energy. Direct not on your family.
Waste not on your enemy." Of course, one has to do something with all
that rising energy. Using it creatively for your own benefit is one way
to break the cycle that generated the anger in the first place.
Sekhmet
can be a cure for depression, that dark cloak for repressed anger. That
energy, the rage, needs an outlet. We feel it when our emotions overwhelm
us. Then is a good time to reduce our responsibilities to others and go
inward for the journey. Often I find that my own anger is created by somebody
else's agenda and comes from coded messages that play on guilt. Usually
the message is that I am not being as Bast- or Hathor-like as someone
wants me to be. I'm learning to stop and withdraw before becoming either
enraged or despairing.
Often
I pour my Sekhmet energy into divinations, either reading cards or considering
astrological influences. At various times I've compiled a list of worries
that plague me and put them inside a box with the shed skin of a snake.
I ask the serpent power of Sekhmet to use her transformative energy to
change the situation. Amazingly, when I come back to the box two or three
months later, many of the issues have resolved themselves, or I have gained
clearer insights into them.
In
her book Amulets of the Goddess Nancy Blair has a wonderful exercise for
creating "Angry Dolls," which are similar to the poppets or voodoo dolls
sometimes used in sorcerer's magic. Rather than piercing my angry doll
with needles and cursing my enemy, I make her face wild, energetic, and
beautiful, then fill her with magical taming herbs or scents. Then the
two of us dance in a creative process. I tell her how I feel and ask her
to show me the best use of my energy in the situation. The point is that
you are the vehicle for the transformation of Sekhmet's energy. Sekhmet
makes no distinction. Her energy is neutral, a universal force that can
be used to curse or to heal; but what you put into the universe is what
you get back. Don't let your Sekhmet energy devour you in the process.
When
I feel like tearing and shredding something, I use the energy to clean
house, both physically and emotionally. I toss out things and obligations
that no longer serve any purpose, so that I make an empty place where
new life can enter. I've been known to rearrange furniture twice a month
in using anger to create possibilities or alternate points of view. I
go about cleaning all the mirrors and windows so that I can see more clearly
what is being reflected and what is being shown. I've been known to put
on a funky, yard-sale, polyester leopard-print nightgown (very Sekhmet),
turn up the volume on the music, and dance to Tina Turner's "Soul Survivor."
Anything
you can do for your body and yourself during times of tension, anger,
and deep transformation will have a soothing effect on your nerves. Hot
baths in hops are especially sedative, just like the soothing potion of
beer that Thoth laid down for Sekhmet. (I don't recommend drinking alcohol
as a way of dealing with anger, but I must admit my Grandmama's hot toddy
was perfect for the cramps.) Massages with relaxing aromatherapy oils
are wonderful means of turning Sekhmet into Bast. Learning one of the
martial arts as a spiritual practice is a great way to build your sense
of self-worth and store your Sekhmet energy at the same time. Sometimes
kicking and shouting is just what is called for!
What
you do with your Sekhmet energy is a direct message to yourself about
what and who you value. If you give yourself the message that you are
taking care of and nurturing yourself, your own dreams, your own vision,
your own wisdom, then you understand that you have less to be angry and
resentful about. When all else fails, turn off the phone, quit answering
the door, and curl up with a magical book. Tell yourself you are "wholing"
up.
Sometimes
Sekhmet energy is directed toward us from other people. Certain folks,
even people we love— our parents, spouses, children, and friends
- can wear us out simply by being present. People in the extremes of emotional
conditions, in anger or depression, create fatigue and hopelessness in
those with whom they are in contact. Because they generate large electrical
fields of emotion around themselves, they require more and more energy
to sustain their operating condition. Thus, they unconsciously pull in
the energy of others. It is imperative that we remain conscious of our
own energy flow, observe when our energy wanes and retreat, if necessary,
to protect ourselves. Psychologists may call this pattern codependence,
but we are all susceptible to psychic vampirism. We are especially vulnerable
when the "vampire" is someone we love.
If
we monitor our own energy outflow, exercise restraint and control our
emotions, we find that sekhem, or "powerful emotion," is a good thing.
Strongly felt emotions are but another name for energy, which may be used
for purposes either good or ill. As John Stuart Mill suggests doing nothing
with one's anger is not really very useful, for more good may be accomplished
by an energetic nature than by an impassive one. Use that energy to envision
and manifest a better situation for yourself and the world.
Normandi Ellis
