THE GODDESS PROJECT: Made in Her Image
BAST
“You are the Great Cat, the avenger of the gods, and the judge of words, and the president of the sovereign chiefs and the governor of the holy Circle; you are indeed the Great Cat.
-Inscription in the Valley of Kings
Bast (or Bastet) is the Egyptian Cat Goddess of protection, health, joy, dance, love and family.
Ancient Egyptian cats were revered as sacred because they protected the home from snakes and mice, therefore keeping the families and their stored food supply healthy. They were thought to have straddled the physical and metaphysical planes probably because cats could see in the dark and had heightened senses. Considered royalty, cats were allowed to roam freely- doing harm to a feline meant serious punishment. Royalty were often depicted with cats in famous hieroglyphics. Cats wore gold collars and ate from their anyone’s plate they chose. Queens and Kings had up to 300 mummified cats along with their other treasures buried in their tombs. ( “More than 300,000 mummified cats were discovered when Bastet’s temple was excavated.” says Wikipedia. )
All modern domestic cats are said to have Egyptian ancestry.
A yearly Mardi Gras-type festival was held at Bast’s temple in Bubastis (House of Bast) in Lower Egypt in which some 700,000 people would attend.
AlaBASTer was named for Her, as it was tradition for ancient Egyptians to keep their protective ointments and oils (many cat-shaped) in alabaster jars.
As Divine Mother, women wanting children would wear tiny statues of Bast surrounded by the number of “kittens” they desired. According to National Geographic, in 2010, when Her temple was excavated they found over 600 small cat statues that were probably offerings from the hopeful. You can read more about Bast in the Egyptian Book of the Dead.
It is said to call upon Bast now to protect your pets or to bring more joy and health to your home.
When my sweet and precious friend, Catherine agreed to become a Goddess Project model, she asked me which Goddess she should portray. I thought and thought and suddenly it came to me, Catherine (who prefers to be called “Cat”) is obviously the ancient Egyptian cat Goddess, Bast! And she is. Cat is stunning, sexy and more loving than anyone you’ll ever know. But rub her or hers’ the wrong way and her claws will come out.
Special thanks as always to Our photographer and graphic artist, David Clanton. davidclanton.com
For more about the project go to Our Free Sophia Facebook page, freesophia.com or
https://plus.google.com/107287050579003737566
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