Pneumatised!

MM,

Selket is an Egyptian goddess I’ve recently discovered.

It is interesting how this goddess came to me. I was at a book festival (Word on the Street) with Nathan. One of the last booths we looked at was for the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB). They had there a little touch game where a thermoform relief mould was hidden behind a veil, and you had to use your sense of touch to figure out what the image was. My second guess was correct and the lady said I could pick a relief mould of an image as a prize. Of the choices given, an Egyptian depiction appealed to me the most.

I put this relief image away for a little while, but for some reason I was drawn back to it from time to time. I kept looking at it. Then, carefully reading the braille printed at the top, it turned out to be Selket. (I was confused with the braille at first because there was an extra dot at the beginning.)

Thus far, I’ve found out that Selket is goddess of scorpions, magic, childbirth, and nursing. She is a protector and is also loosely associated with the underworld. She is related to the scorching heat of the sun (a death aspect?).

Other forms of her name are Serket, Selqet, Selkit, Selkis, Serqet. Serqet is probably the more common name, but she came to me first as Selket.

A depiction of Selket was found in King Tut’s tomb. Note the similarity of the Selket relief shown below to the image found in King Tut’s tomb.

Selket may have had a festival on or around October 23 (7th Koiak). She did not appear to have any temples, but she had a Priesthood and substantial worship.

Interesting. I will have to spend more time working with this goddess.

BB,
Cassandrah

Sources for Selket:

http://www.egyptianmyths.net/selket.htm
http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/serqet.htm
http://www.angelfire.com/realm2/amethystbt/Eselket.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serket
http://www.philae.nu/akhet/NetjeruS.html#Selket
http://www.egyptiandreams.co.uk/serket.php?osCsid=9176fde8c2efb58459e7ef38c
http://www.kemet.org/glossary/serqet.html

About thermoform
http://www.lifesci.sussex.ac.uk/reginald-phillips/beginnersPaper.htm