The Ancient Goddess Hathor

DO the ancient Goddesses have any relevance today? CATHIE WELCHMAN, right, looks at the story of the ancient Goddess Hathor and explains why some people believe that focussing on her, and other Goddesses, can bring positive attributes into their lives.

A long, long time ago, some of the refugees from the destroyed civilisation of Atlantis found their way to Egypt.

As they struggled to rebuild their lives, various non-humans arrived to help them and, with the blessing of the galactic community, they brought technological and agricultural improvements, and introduced genetic, intellectual and cultural modifications and advancements.

Hathor arrived in Egypt with her father Ra, mother Nut, and others such as Geb, Shu, Horus and Thoth. They were so much more advanced than the human race at that time, it was easy to become corrupted by their superior powers, especially when they found mankind soon made them into idols to be worshipped like Gods.

Although many advances were given to the human race, such as plants to produce larger and more productive crops, and writing down the spoken word, the aliens also used their superior technical and intellectual abilities to kill, inter-breed and strike fear into the humans. In pictures the Egyptians drew this race of alien beings with solar discs on their heads to show that they came from the sky and to distinguish them from humans.

Like many of the most ancient Goddesses, Hathor is a triple Goddess, represented by the maiden, the mother and the crone. But Hathor was also a shape-shifter, which meant she could change her form into whatever seemed appropriate for the occasion. As a joyous, rather wild young woman she enjoyed music, dancing, revelry and debauchery and, after an argument with her father Ra, she went off to live in Nubia, becoming a wild, bloodthirsty lioness. Eventually she returned and married Horus the elder, and was tamed into a woman of grace and charm, becoming a nurturing mother goddess figure, often shown as a cow suckling Horus the younger. Hathor was honoured with all human Egyptian princesses automatically becoming her priestesses, and all the pharoahs were known as the sons of Hathor.

But occasionally Hathor could revert to her wild ways. Once Ra asked her to breathe a fiery revenge against the humans who had rebelled against him. As her fierce lioness aspect, she revelled so much in the slaughter of humans, the Gods became afraid there would be no humans left to worship them.

The Egyptians depicted Hathor as a beautifully formed young woman with a solar disc and horns upon her head, standing on the right hand side of the Pharoah for protection, fertility and nurturing.

So Hathor could be described as fierce, but also courageous; emotionally extreme, but also as a charming, joyful, musical and dancing maiden, a nurturing mother and a wise older woman.

Later in Egyptian legend, Isis took over much of Hathor's magical, nurturing and mothering qualities, and it is Isis who is shown giving birth to Horus, with Hathor becoming the wet nurse. Similarly Sekhmet is described as a wild lioness who was tricked into drinking dyed ale to stop her from slaughtering humans. And Nephthys became the third aspect of Hathor, welcoming women to the afterlife. Later still the Greeks likened her to Aphrodite and many of Aphrodite's qualities of being the Goddess of love, harmony and beauty were also then linked to Hathor in the Greco-Roman temples found in Egypt.

You may be asking what have Hathor and the other Goddesses got to do with anyone to-day?

Well, the several hundred people at the Goddess conference in Glastonbury this year are finding that the Goddesses from ancient civilisations are relevant to their present day life.

Once an energy particle comes into being it remains forever. And when the Gods and Goddesses eventually left, mankind continued to tell the stories of when the gods were among them, and the stories were passed on.

Early on, mankind knew the importance of positive thinking and focussing upon a goal. All over the world these Gods and Goddesses became linked to certain abilities, skills and personality aspects drawn from the legends and, when a human required some help in their life, they made up messages and poems as affirmations.

Later these affirmations became prayers.

Statues and pictures were made to help them focus on their goal. Later still, humans began treating the energy as if it were a revengeful being to be bribed with offerings, and to be worshipped and feared. By the time of Exodus, chapter 32, it was Hathor who was represented by the golden calf made by Aaron.

While Moses was away climbing Mount Sinai to bring a moral code of conduct to his people, the people were stuck out in the wilderness in want of nurture and food. On his return, Moses told the people they would have to choose his God or face the consequences - around 2,000 people were slaughtered for wanting to believe in the power of Hathor.

As we look at the Gods and Goddesses of all the different civilisations, it can be seen that certain qualities, skills and emotions are repeated in different cultures - the only thing that changes is the name of the God/Goddess.

We know that when we want to experience those same qualities today - such as love, fertility, laughter, abundance, charm, courage, communication, etc - we can summon them up, using affirmation, song or meditation. However, with our busy and stressed minds, just trying to focus is for many like trying to talk to someone on the phone without dialling the number first. And this is where some feel that Goddess work can help them to focus.

They attend Goddess workshops, or use a picture or a statue, colour, herbs, fragrances, mantras, essences, trance, wicca or rituals. To focus on the attributes of Hathor, they wear gold or turquoise for her maiden or mother aspects; burn light green candles for fertility. To chase away dark moods, they play music, dance and sing in clockwise circles around every room in the house. Or put on voluptuous perfume such as jasmine, rose, benzoin or sandalwood for seduction. For her wise woman attributes of intuition and destruction of negative energies, they wear purple or violet and make a rattle of rice and beans in a plastic container to shake to scare away negative entities.

These people see Hathor, and the other Goddesses, not as representatives of a pagan religion, but as having attributes and skills to make life better - no different to angels, masters, fairies or saints. And each of the Goddesses can be described in terms of particular energies, attributes, colours, gems, flowers, fragrances, sound, gifts and personality.

So, just as we tune the radio to get the right station, or press certain numbers to dial a friend on the phone, they make use of the methods described above to make their lives an experience enhanced by their skill in connecting with subtle energies, which are still available to-day to those who search for them.



Cathie Welchman produces Gaia Essences, Angel sprays/colognes and Goddess essences.
Tel: 01884 259130. Email: cathie@rainbowtherapy.fsnet.co.uk