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Sekhmet & Bastet: The Feline Powers of Egypt
Sekhmet & The Feline Powers of Egypt is a detailed study of the history, mythology, symbolism and worship of the lion and cat goddesses of Ancient Egypt. Lesley Jackson traces the evolution of Sekhmet and Bastet within the context of Ancient Egyptian religious rituals, beliefs and practices. Other feline deities, such as the goddesses Mehit, Menhyt, Mestjet, Pakhet (Pasht), Seret, Shesmetet and Tefnut, and gods such as Mahes, Ruty and Amun are also included in this work, providing additional insights into the importance of feline divinities in Ancient Egyptian religious life.
Sekhmet is the Lady of Heaven, Mistress of the Two Lands, Mistress of the Gods and the Great One, as well as being the Eye of Ra and the beloved of Ptah. In the famous story of the Destruction of Mankind, Sekhmet is tricked into drinking a vast quantity of beer to distract her from killing all of humanity, which she was doing to avenge the Sun God Ra. Bastet was also initially a Lion Goddess who with time evolved into a Cat Goddess associated with the smaller, more docile, domestic cat. Her name translates as She of the ointment jar, represented with a hieroglyph of a sealed perfume jar. These goddesses were invoked in numerous aspects of ancient life, including for their fiercely protective and healing abilities, and their aid in divination, oracles, malicious magic and love spells.
In this thorough study, the author illustrates how feline symbolism and power permeated Ancient Egyptian life. Evidence demonstrating their importance is brought together from an extensive range of sources, including artefacts, tomb scenes, statues, funerary texts and amulets employed in guarding the body and tomb of the deceased. The names, epithets, iconography, characteristics, festivals and temples of Sekhmet and Bastet provide further insights, alongside information on the cultural, historical and symbolic world within which these powerful deities were worshipped.
Sekhmet is the Lady of Heaven, Mistress of the Two Lands, Mistress of the Gods and the Great One, as well as being the Eye of Ra and the beloved of Ptah. In the famous story of the Destruction of Mankind, Sekhmet is tricked into drinking a vast quantity of beer to distract her from killing all of humanity, which she was doing to avenge the Sun God Ra. Bastet was also initially a Lion Goddess who with time evolved into a Cat Goddess associated with the smaller, more docile, domestic cat. Her name translates as She of the ointment jar, represented with a hieroglyph of a sealed perfume jar. These goddesses were invoked in numerous aspects of ancient life, including for their fiercely protective and healing abilities, and their aid in divination, oracles, malicious magic and love spells.
In this thorough study, the author illustrates how feline symbolism and power permeated Ancient Egyptian life. Evidence demonstrating their importance is brought together from an extensive range of sources, including artefacts, tomb scenes, statues, funerary texts and amulets employed in guarding the body and tomb of the deceased. The names, epithets, iconography, characteristics, festivals and temples of Sekhmet and Bastet provide further insights, alongside information on the cultural, historical and symbolic world within which these powerful deities were worshipped.
Kindle Edition
Published May 8, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
May 15, 2022
Informative and interesting, but I was looking for worshipping guides for working with Bastet and had to trawl through a lot of this.
April 8, 2025
A must read for anybody interested in scholarship on Egyptian religion and history. I learned so much about so many different gods and goddesses. I will be reading the other books in this series.
August 11, 2020
Rather disappointed with this. The writing was, overall, dry. The grammar, such as the use of comma splices, was distracting. It was the sort of book that needs plentiful illustrations of the artworks discussed; I spent a lot of time looking for them on the internet. Mildly interesting, but I wouldn’t particularly recommend it.
January 31, 2024
Nicely researched and presented. The book was rather holistic with regard to the feline divinity rather than the narrow focus of the goddesses mentioned in the title. Hence I found the title quite misleading. I expected to know more and in-depth about Sekhmet and Bastet, especially Bastet. The myths, the cults, the importance of the goddesses were explored but not at my expected level. This was quite disappointing to me in that way. Apart from that, I enjoyed reading the book and it shed a light on many interesting things about the Egyptians, especially their philosophies and symbolism. Egyptians were an interesting and well versed civilisation and this book, at many levels, proved that.
Would love to read more from the author.
Would love to read more from the author.
April 6, 2021
Cats are self-contained and enigmatic which has associated them with the divine and also meant that they were credited with uncanny abilities - cats love to stare into space or chase imaginary or invisible beings to entertain or spook their owners. The Egyptians didn't have an ambivalent attitude towards cats, they saw them as benevolent and divine and any aloofness or strange behaviour merely emphasized the divine link.
The information contained is meticulously organized and presented in an academic manner. I would not recommend this book to readers who do not already posess a basic knowledge of Egyptian mythology and history, because much of the foundation of the information is not elaborated upon.
The goddesses' forms of representation in arts is also predominant in the author's text, but the book lacks illustrations.
The information contained is meticulously organized and presented in an academic manner. I would not recommend this book to readers who do not already posess a basic knowledge of Egyptian mythology and history, because much of the foundation of the information is not elaborated upon.
The goddesses' forms of representation in arts is also predominant in the author's text, but the book lacks illustrations.
November 15, 2023
This isn't my favorite of Lesley's Egyptian books, but that is only because it did not assist in my studies as much as I had hoped, though I may have researched Sekhmet enough beforehand.
These books are paramount in my studies for my historical fiction. Lesley puts everything into great perspective while hitting a plethora of details along the way. Her writing style is very open to various opinions and occasionally she will throw in a concept of her own, but never tries to sell it, like a fool on the street corner.
If you have an interest in the gods of ancient Egypt, these books are a great place to dive.
These books are paramount in my studies for my historical fiction. Lesley puts everything into great perspective while hitting a plethora of details along the way. Her writing style is very open to various opinions and occasionally she will throw in a concept of her own, but never tries to sell it, like a fool on the street corner.
If you have an interest in the gods of ancient Egypt, these books are a great place to dive.
December 6, 2020
Good, well-organized (if rather dry) information, but absolutely criminal lack of editing. If you can endure the constant misuse of commas instead of semicolons as well as occasional sentence fragments, you’ll be able to power through. It seems perhaps a minor quibble but ended up being surprisingly distracting.
April 11, 2022
Extremely Informative! It reads like a history book, but I am okay with that. Definitely not from a "witchcraft POV" but none the less has information that could be useful for anyone that aligns with this Goddesses.
June 19, 2024
The book gave a decent introduction to goddesses Sekhmet & Bastet. Considering how dense egyptology can be, the text was easy to follow. Each goddess is given individual chapters after the introductory chapters covering general symbolism and history of the feline species in this region. Jackson shoots off and highlights other notable feline/eye goddesses, such as Hathor, with aspects linking them to Sekhmet and Bastet further expanding my understanding of the interconnection of the different goddesses in the pantheon. Jackson’s writing style poses countless open-ended questions throughout the entire book forcing you to grapple with the fact that a lot of what’s studied of Egypt’s history is actually open to interpretation. It was frustrating especially in the beginning because as a reader I like to be given a clear, concrete run down of the subject matter. Here’s the facts and here’s the sources. However, Jackson digs into the false security of “knowing it all� and pokes questions to make you realize that your guess is as good as the Egyptologists because certain gaps are just simply left to history and our own imaginations to discern. There were various sections that felt like lengthy rambles loosely connected to the symbolism of felines in the culture. All in all, a descent introductory book that can be used to jump off and research specific interests. Just skip or skim the bits you don’t care for.
January 30, 2023
I wish the title didn't include Sekhmet or Bastet, although they are mentioned, this book does not focus on the two goddesses solely, their worship, their mythos, none of it. Though the introduction prefaces by saying the purpose of this book is to explore feline power in general, the author does admit it was much more difficult for them to write a book solely on the two goddesses so I mean the title does fit but also I think keeping it at simple the feline powers of Egypt would've been more fitting. Aside from the titling; the book itself and the contents are fascinating looking back at historical iconography and understanding the land of Egypt and nature with all the animals involved to aid in how cats become such reverent beings was a fascinating read. Especially learning about other feline deities I have not heard about before! Though as another reviewer has stated more visuals, pictorials and photography would've benefitted from supplementing the text. Still enjoyed reading the book and felt everything was quite straightforward and easy to digest.
April 15, 2021
Not about Sekhmet and Bastet. One chapter about Bastet, with a couple tidbits sprinkled here and there. More of a history of cats and lions/cat symbolism in Egyptian mythos. And it was all over the place. I was really excited to read this...I feel bad giving it a low rating.
August 25, 2024
Really interesting read. Very educational while also being engaging. I especially enjoyed all the archeological facts sprinkled throughout the book.
June 6, 2024
Hyper interessant mais très technique.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
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