Lesley Jackson > Quotes

“Horus was considered a Healing God who had been taught by Isis. Given his fraught childhood he probably empathised with the pain and despair of those who sought his help.”
― Lesley Jackson, Isis: The Eternal Goddess of Egypt and Rome

“The time of the absence of the Goddess – whether the Eye or another – is the season of fear and lifelessness.”
― Lesley Jackson, Sekhmet & Bastet: The Feline Powers of Egypt

“Although Isis is an important funerary Goddess Nephthys is often associated with the western horizon, death and the afterlife while Isis is associated with the eastern horizon and life. “Ascend and descend; descend with Nephthys, sink into darkness with the Night-bark. Ascend and descend; ascend with Isis, rise with the Day-bark.”[145] Plutarch says that she was called “Aphrodite while some call her also Victory”.[146] She is also a Goddess of hidden and sacred knowledge. “I hide the hidden thing.”
― Lesley Jackson, Isis: The Eternal Goddess of Egypt and Rome

“It is in the role of the solar goddess that Hathor can show her more dangerous aspects. The duality of her character is emphasised, especially with the splitting off of her Sekhmet persona, reflecting the ambivalence of fire in general and the sun in particular. Although the Hathor Cow may be dangerous and unpredictable, like a wild cow, this is taken to extremes in the Solar Hathor where her protector and aggressor aspect is dominant. Like fire the sun is beneficial and dangerous, both life-giving and life-taking. It is purification and charred destruction, a nurturer of vegetation and its fierce desiccator.”
― Lesley Jackson, Hathor: A Reintroduction to an Ancient Egyptian Goddess

“In the crossword hymn Mut takes on the role of Creator. “Everything came into being because of her…mankind and gods are her offspring…everyone is united to her ka.”[137]  She created through visualisation and particular emphasis is placed on her role as nourisher of vegetation. She made the “papyrus and the fruit tree through her wish”. Mut is the one who “spits out the Nile…placed plants on the entire land”. Through her light “all good plants are born”[138] and she brings prosperity to the land. Her responsibility for the essential food crops emmer and wheat are specifically named in the hymn. As the solar disc, Mut takes on the role as preserver of life for without her there would be no life. She is also referred to as Lady of the Sea and this water aspect links her to Tefnut.”
― Lesley Jackson, Sekhmet & Bastet: The Feline Powers of Egypt

“Then she was kind. Her capacity to feel deeply and to express that grief, and thus empathise with her suffering followers, enabled her to win people’s hearts and minds – both in Egypt and beyond. This kindness was an alien concept to most of the Olympian gods. The appeal of Isis was that she was a loving and tender-hearted wife, mother and sister and everyone at various stages of their lives could do with one or the other. She was a Saviour who would help people in distress and this almost guaranteed her popularity. In a dangerous, uncertain world people needed a friendly, divine figure to turn to in the knowledge that she would help and support them.”
― Lesley Jackson, Isis: The Eternal Goddess of Egypt and Rome

“From the Old Kingdom gargoyle spouts on temples often had lion heads to repel storms sent by the Chaos God Seth (the often malevolent brother of Isis and Osiris). They also allude to the inundation which occurred as the sun entered the constellation of Leo. Plutarch (46-119 CE) said “they honour the Lion, and ornament the doors of the temples with gaping lions’ mouths; since Nilus overflows: When first the Sun doth with the Lion join”
― Lesley Jackson, Sekhmet & Bastet: The Feline Powers of Egypt

“The duality of the feminine was a common theme in Egyptian symbolism and concept which may well be an echo of the Double Goddess or the splitting of the Great Mother. The duplication or pairing of goddesses is common as it is for inanimate symbolic objects whose names are feminine nouns and so are related to pairs of goddesses.”
― Lesley Jackson, Isis: The Eternal Goddess of Egypt and Rome

“Conversion to the cult didn’t mean a withdrawal from the world. Isis doesn’t want people to reject the world and its comfort and happiness. She can grant salvation in the form of a better life and this can be a prosperous life.”
― Lesley Jackson, Isis: The Eternal Goddess of Egypt and Rome

“Sekhmet is on your head, Wadjet is on your forehead.”
― Lesley Jackson, Sekhmet & Bastet: The Feline Powers of Egypt

“Devotees were referred to as Isiakoi (Greek) or Isiaci (Latin). Plutarch says that true Isiakoi were made by their pious and philosophical attitude rather than by their outward appearance of linen clothes and shaven heads.”
― Lesley Jackson, Isis: The Eternal Goddess of Egypt and Rome

“O cat, your eyes are the eyes of the Lord of the Glorious Eye, by whose eyes the Two Lands are lighted and who brightens the face on the dark road.”
― Lesley Jackson, Sekhmet & Bastet: The Feline Powers of Egypt

“Hathor is one of the few goddesses who carry the was-sceptre as does “Sekhmet of the was-sceptre”.[67] This is a sceptre with a head in the form of a canine and is associated with prosperity and well being. Hathor often carries a papyrus sceptre as do Bastet and the creator goddess Neith. The ukh staff is a papyrus stem crowned with two feathers and was an important object in the Hathor cult. It is similar in concept to the sekhem sceptre.[68] This sceptre hieroglyph denotes concepts such as “power” and “might”. The word sekhem could refer to deities, hence the name Sekhmet “she of might”.[69]  Hathor will also carry her cult object the sistrum”
― Lesley Jackson, Hathor: A Reintroduction to an Ancient Egyptian Goddess

“Gold is strongly associated with Hathor both as a solar goddess and as the goddess of mining (see chapters 5 and 15). As well as symbolising eternity, because it does not tarnish, gold is the colour of the sun and so an appropriate epithet for a solar goddess. From the New Kingdom Hathor was often called Nwbt “the Golden”. Her gold epithets were particularly popular in the later periods when she was often referred to simply as “Gold”. She was also called “Gold of the gods in Wetjset-Hor”[32] and “the golden lady”.[33] The term “Gleaming One” was an epithet of the sun god Ra but from the Late Period it was also an epithet of Hathor. The root of this word is “heaven that is gleaming” or “radiant”.[34] Ra was sometimes referred to as the “Mountain of gold” but he never had the same connection to gold as Hathor did. Hathor the “Golden One” was almost a personification of gold.”
― Lesley Jackson, Hathor: A Reintroduction to an Ancient Egyptian Goddess

“In the Oxyrhynchus papyrus there is reference to Isis controlling the river Eleutheros in Tripoli and the Ganges in India. “Mistress of the Earth, you bring the flooding of rivers.”[447] The Greeks and Romans often personified rivers as goddesses and water in general was regarded as a feminine element so Isis is likely to have ended up with such aspects regardless of her association with the inundation. In the Greek hymn of Isidorus she is the “Creator of…all rivers, and very swift streams.”[448] The tradition of Isis as Mistress of the Nile continued into the Middle Ages. There is reference to a large statue of Nursing Isis near the el-Muallaqa church in Old Cairo which was held to have supernatural powers over the Nile and protected the district from flooding. It was said to have been destroyed in 1311 by a treasure hunter.”
― Lesley Jackson, Isis: The Eternal Goddess of Egypt and Rome

“his consort Sekhmet who provides the primaeval energy for Ptah to channel into creation. The God or male principle can’t achieve anything alone but needs the Goddess or female principle to activate and energise him. Consciousness needs energy to be active and energy needs consciousness otherwise it is chaotic and aimless. The interplay of male and female energies is very prominent with the feline deities. This leads into the other concept which had long fascinated the Egyptians, that of duality. Duality fed into their beliefs with Dual Goddesses and each living being having a double or shadow of themselves.”
― Lesley Jackson, Sekhmet & Bastet: The Feline Powers of Egypt

“An icosahedron, a Greek die with 20 sides, was found near Deir el-Hagar. The names of deities are inscribed on each side. These include Isis, Nephthys, Osiris and Horus as well as the local deities of the area; Thoth, Amun, Mut and Khons. It was used as an oracle; ask a question then throw the die and the deities will provide the answer.”
― Lesley Jackson, Isis: The Eternal Goddess of Egypt and Rome

“Isidorus, a Greek who wrote a number of hymns to her, says that her true name is not Isis but “the One”.”
― Lesley Jackson, Isis: The Eternal Goddess of Egypt and Rome

“Firstly she offered something which the standard Greek and Roman religions couldn’t. The cult of Isis offered life after death, as did the Egyptian religion in general. This was very appealing to the Greeks and Romans whose religion was vague about this and what was offered wasn’t very appealing.”
― Lesley Jackson, Isis: The Eternal Goddess of Egypt and Rome

“The absence of the Solar Eye plunges Egypt into fear and gloom. This is echoed in other tales of a departed deity, such as Demeter and Persephone and Ishtar and Tammuz. The life of the land dies when the deity departs.”
― Lesley Jackson, Sekhmet & Bastet: The Feline Powers of Egypt

“Duality was deeply ingrained in the Egyptian world-view. Virtually everything consisted of paired opposites. People have their ka, their spiritual double. There is a dual mode in creation with the concept of “as above so below”.”
― Lesley Jackson, Isis: The Eternal Goddess of Egypt and Rome

“Gold rises beside her father in this her name of Bastet”.”
― Lesley Jackson, Sekhmet & Bastet: The Feline Powers of Egypt

“She plants his mutilated eyes and they grow into lotus flowers. The sun was born from the first lotus so the damaged solar and lunar eyes regenerate as the lotus which first bore them.”
― Lesley Jackson, Isis: The Eternal Goddess of Egypt and Rome

“Seven is one of the most symbolic numbers and of major significance in magic. The actual meaning this number had for the Egyptians is hard to define but it is associated with perfection and effectiveness. Important spells are repeated seven times and there are seven scorpions who escort Isis. Multiples of seven are also important. The body of Osiris is cut into 14 pieces by Seth and it is thought that this may represent the 14 days of the waning moon.”
― Lesley Jackson, Isis: The Eternal Goddess of Egypt and Rome

“Research carried out by Noble into the early Goddesses suggests that the Double Goddess is a very old concept given the many depictions of twins in the ancient world especially of goddesses with their associated sacred creatures; bird, snake and lion. She says that this represents the “yin-yang female biological cycle and its shamanic relationship to life”.[174] The Great Mother has a dual nature encompassing all that is perceived as good and all that is perceived as bad. A healthier approach than denying the dark side of the divine and ending up with an irreconcilable personification of evil. Noble proposes that the healed whole isn’t male-female but is the two components of the female archetype or energy. There is an oscillation between two phases in every natural cycle and the Double Goddess illustrates this perpetual motion.”
― Lesley Jackson, Isis: The Eternal Goddess of Egypt and Rome

“The oryx occurs as one of the earliest amulets and has been found from the Badarian Period. In later periods it was associated with Seth because it is a desert-dwelling animal.”
― Lesley Jackson, Isis: The Eternal Goddess of Egypt and Rome

“Bastet the Cat Goddess shows a number of traits reminiscent of Hathor. They have a number of shared aspects; love, fertility, motherhood, protection and a love of the sensual in perfume, music and dance.”
― Lesley Jackson, Sekhmet & Bastet: The Feline Powers of Egypt

“It was only in Greco-Roman times that Isis acquired a strong water element.”
― Lesley Jackson, Sekhmet & Bastet: The Feline Powers of Egypt

“Isis was the Beginning so there could be nothing or no one that came before.”
― Lesley Jackson, Isis: The Eternal Goddess of Egypt and Rome

“Any investigation of Hathor in this role is closely entwined with the sun god Ra as she is his mother, daughter and partner. Whatever Hathor’s association with Ra it is said that “She loves Re”.[119] Hathor’s triple relationship with Ra is a way of expressing the idea that Hathor represents a divine energy and potency which is essential to the life of the sun god. She continually renews him but he also generates the energy needed for creation to survive. One cannot exist without the other.”
― Lesley Jackson, Hathor: A Reintroduction to an Ancient Egyptian Goddess