The Wheel of the Year continues to circle, and days slowly lengthen. With this increase in light, we also experience our coldest temperatures of the winter. It’s as if night, now decreasing in power, blasts out its last hoorahs before the onset of spring. The sun has most recently been in Aquarius, the essence of which involves broad vistas, visionary pursuits, and humanitarian causes. I honor the great Egyptian goddess Nut as 2015 patron goddess of Aquarius.
The Great Goddess Nut’s power was immense in ancient Egypt. Pharaohs were considered the consorts of Nut, and much of their station derived from being so.
Nut is the Egyptian Great Mother who serves as the personification of the night sky. She was visualized as a woman with her body curved over the earth, her arms in one direction, and her legs in the other. Her arms stretched out over the dead to hold them in a loving embrace. The earth god Geb was her consort. He reached out to Nut with an erect penis, as symbolized by the obelisk. Nut is also sometimes pictured as a celestial cow that gave birth to the Milky Way. She was the nurturing waters of life, the maternal source, and the sheltering womb of both the unborn and the dead. I recall what Hermann Hesse said of the mother in Narcissus and Goldmund: “Without a mother you cannot live. Without a mother you cannot die.”
Cheers & Happy Reading!
Flossie Benton Rogers, Conjuring the Magic with Paranormal Fantasy Romance
I enjoyed this post, Flossie. Thanks.
Thank you for stopping by, Daisy. Glad you enjoyed it!
Is Nut the equivalent of Greek Gaia? Personification of Mother Earth, mother of the Titans, creator and giver of birth to the Earth and all the Universe?
Your mythological posts reopened my interest in mythology.
Thank you for another interesting post!
Nut has a lot in common with Gaia. I would say that Hathor and Isis as we think of them today are a little more equivalent to Gaia in her role as great mother earth. Nut is the personification of the night sky. She is the goddess of stars. From her breasts came the Milky Way and all the beauty and splendor above and around us. This beauty also contains us, and we are part of it. Her bounty rained down on earth, combining with Geb, an earth lord, to create fruitfulness for humankind. You are so right, though, in that without Nut’s creation of the stars, the universe and earth would not exist. I’m so glad your interest in mythology has sparked again. I love the exploration of myth.
Another interesting look into ancient mythology. I’d never heard of Nut or Geb. Your posts always introduce a new thread of folklore to me!
Thank you, Mae! You are super special.
I love the goddesses, I work with Isis and Hathor
Isis and Hathor must be wonderful to work with, Ronnie!
I love your Mythic Mondays, Flossie. The Herman Hesse quote was beautiful.
Thank you! Narcissus and Goldmund is one of my top favorite books.
So beautifully written, Flossie. I love the quote from Herman Hesse. Thanks!
Thank you, Jennifer! You are so nice to stop by and comment. Hesse is one of my very faves.