ISIS, GODDESS
OF THE DIVINE FEMININEIsis, also known as Aset or Auset, is the Egyptian Goddess of Fertility and Motherhood, which in reality makes her the Goddess of Creation itself. She is also the Goddess of Marital Devotion, the Goddess of Medicine and Magick, and the Goddess of Funeral Rites. In her role as the Divine Mother, Isis is joined by the Cat-Headed Goddess Bast, her twin sister Nephyths and the Cow-Headed Goddess Hathor (Het-Hert), to become the four protector Goddesses of Egypt, and when Isis and Nephthys are pictured together, their combined power takes on the role of the Divine Mourner of the Dead. Since Isis is powerful enough to have control over every stage of life, from birth through death, it can easily be seen why she is looked upon as a Goddess of the Cycle.
Isis is the daughter of Geb, the God of the Earth and Nut, the Goddess of the Sky. She is also the sister and wife of Osiris, the Ruler of the Netherworld and Judge of the Dead, and the mother of the falcon-headed God Horus, the God of Day. Isis has always been considered an extremely powerful magician, and there are some who believe that she learned her magickal skills from Thoth. Others, however, do not share that view, instead believing that Isis acquired them when she learned the true secret name of Ra. Since Isis possesses such great and powerful magick, it can be easily seen why the High Priestess Card of the Tarot is believed to represent her.
Isis has frequently been thought of or looked upon as if she was a throne, or as if she was wearing a throne upon her head. It really matters little which way you happen to look at her, because Isis symbolizes the strong foundation of life, which has been built upon truth, authority and wisdom. Indeed, it is through that strong foundation, that women everywhere have been able to discover that same wisdom and strength within themselves.
Since Isis' name quite literally means throne, and since she was the Mother of Horus, the Divine Ruler and Living God of the United Kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt, it is quite understandable why Isis became the symbolic mother and protectress of all the Pharaohs to come.
During the 4th Century B.C.E., the worship of Isis reached great heights. Her worship took place in a magnificent temple upon the island of Philae, on the Nile River, which was constructed during the 30th Dynasty. Other sanctuaries in Egypt that were dedicated to Isis included one at Giza and another at Behbeit El-Hagar, both in the Nile delta.
The worship of Isis eventually became so great, that by the end of the 4th Century B.C.E., it had spread from Alexandria to all the lands surrounding the Mediterranean Sea; encompassing most of the Hellenistic world. Sanctuaries were also built to honor her in Greece, in both Delos and Pompei.
In Greece, Isis was frequently depicted in a triad with her son Horus and with Serapis, the Greek name for Osiris, as the Ruler of the Netherworld. Herodatus, the Greek historian, believed that Isis was an aspect of Demeter, the Greek Goddess of the Earth, Agriculture and Fertility, or of Ceres, Demeter's Roman counterpart.
In approximately 86 B.C.E., the Triple God-Goddess cult of Horus, Isis and Osiris spread to Rome, where it was an immediate success. In fact, it actually became one of the three most popular religions in Rome, joining the Cult of Cybele and Attis and the Cult of Mithra, the Roman religion of soldiers. Some time later, however, due to the sexual nature of many of its religious rites, the Cult of Isis was suppressed, and by the middle of the 6th Century C.E., when Christianity gained much strength and power in Rome, the few remaining Egyptian Temples that were dedicated to Isis were forced to close their doors forever.
Isis has always been thought of as a fairly ancient Goddess, although in no way as ancient as the Cow-headed Goddess Hathor, and while her worship may have originally begun in Egypt it spread quickly and widely, not only throughout Asia Minor, but throughout Europe and the British Isles as well. It was during that period that Isis and Serapis were worshipped as a mystery cult, within which a variety of Triple Goddess formations existed. Although little information remains regarding this cult, it is believed that it included mystical experiences, which its worshippers believed would grant them eternal life.
As time passed, Isis began to assume many of the characteristics that had originally belonged to several other Great Goddesses, and even those belonging to a few of the lesser-known Goddesses as well. Those characteristics included many of the amazing powers which had originally belonged to the Goddess Hathor, which made Isis the Goddess of Magick and Creativity.
Since Isis embodies so many different and unique characteristics and qualities, it is understandable why she became known as a Universal Goddess with all-encompassing powers. Being a Universal Goddess makes it extremely clear to the world exactly what Isis is, which is the embodiment of the Divine Feminine itself. Because her attributes were so numerous, and because she possessed the qualities of being a woman, as well as the qualities of being the Goddess of so many unique and different things, combined with being Osiris' wife and the Queen of the Netherworld, Isis actually became the culmination of all the Egyptians Goddesses combined into one.
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