click image above to see candle set

~ ISIS ~

"In the beginning there was Isis, Oldest of the Old. She was the Goddess from whom all becoming arose." Egyptian scriptures stated. As the Creatrix, she gave birth to the sun. Her title, "Giver of Life," was applied also to the queen mother Egypt. In Her Roman mysteries, she was addressed as "the One Who is All."

To be initiated into her cult brought a privileged status after death, an idea copied later by Christians. Her promise: "Thou shalt live in blessedness; thou shalt live glorious under my protection. And when thou hast finished thy life-course and goest down to the underworld, even there in that lower world thou shalt see me shedding light in the gloom of Acheron and reigning in the inner most regions of Styx; thou thyself shalt inhabit the Elysian Fields and shalt continually offer worship to me, ever gracious."

Her name may have come form Ashesh, meaning both "pouring out" and "supporting", an implication that her divine essence (blood and milk) kept the gods and all other creatures alive.

Isis was the Egyptian throne. Pharaohs sat on her lap, protected by her winged arms. Her crown was a symbol mu'at, "foundation of the throne", which also represented her alter ego, Maat, the motherhood-principle called Right, Justice, Truth, or the All-seeing Eye. An Egyptian hymn copied straight into the Bible: "Right and justice are the foundation of thy throne" (Psalm 89:14)

Hermetic texts state that Isis revealed the mysteries of the stars to God, who was her son. She also provided a model for Moses' miracle of stopping the waters, which she did quite casually on her way to Byblos.

Isis and her dark twin sister, Nephthys, were Egyptian versions of the creation Goddess and the destruction Goddess. Egyptians called her many names: Mut, Hathor, Bast, Maat, Heqit, Sekhmet, Sati, and Neith. Some of her destructive functions were described in the Book of the Dead.

Isis gave birth to her son, who was also her consort, and through her necromancy he was reborn again. Annually, torn to pieces and reassembled except for his lost penis. Isis crafted him a new one, of clay (although we like to think it might have been beezwax!), then gave it and him new life by invoking her own holy name as life giver and death giver. So Osiris stood up from where he lay, and lived, and mated with his Goddess... thus life went on.

Some say a teardrop caused the annual flood from Isis's eye as she raised her lament for the dead god. The Nile festival took place on the "Night of the Tear-Drop", preserved by the Moslems as the June festival of Lelat al-Nuktah, "Night of the Drop".

Isis was worshipped throughout the Greco-Roman world, from Alexandria to Arles, from the outskirts of the Sahara to isle of Britain, form the mountains of Asturias to the mouths of the Danube. Prevalence of the fairy tale "The Witch in the Stone Boat" shows how widely Isis's cult traveled, the witch being none other than she. Each of her temples featured a carved stone moon-boat containing her figure, which Christians called a witch or demoness. In pagan times, Isis's boat had its own special holiday on the 5th of March, the Navigium Isidis, Blessing of the Vessel of Isis.

Isis's cult came to Rome about 80 B.C., attained great popularity in reign of Vespasian, and flourished throughout the empire until it was ousted by Christianity four centuries later. The Goddess herself was not so much ousted as absorbed, becoming part of the Mary / Madonna cult. Some early Christians in Rome called themselves Pastorphori, a title of "shepherds" or "servants of Isis," which evolved into pastors.

In the British Museum is an Egyptian amulet , which shows the Goddess seated under her holy tree, giving birth to her divine child, and holding the ankh in one hand. On the reverse are another ankh and the legend, "One God in heaven."