M. Isidora Forrest's Blog

Today is the first of February. Yes, there is yet winter ahead. But the light is returning. I have hope. I went to a large protest yesterday, and I have hope. Ma’et will return, better than before—but we must Open the Ways for Her.

So today I’d like to share a meditation from Isis Magic, slightly modified, which may offer some hope and strength. Now, you may, as I do, find it a bit challenging right now—because it opens up space for gratitude, yes, even in this terrible time.

Where to do the meditation is up to you. In front of your altar is always good or, if the weather is clement enough, outside might be even better—for we can sometimes sense Isis’ heartbeat more easily in nature.

We start with the Wings and Breath of Isis. We invoke and connect with Her as we sense Isis’ mighty heart. With our own hearts opening, opening to Her, we give voice to things for which we are grateful—anything from the warm scent of cat fur to the beauty of the day to the love of our friends and activities of our communities. And try to actually speak these gratitudes out loud if you can. The power of heka, magic, is in the word—and this is intensified when spoken.

I hope you will join me in this meditation as the light is returning.

The Wings & Breath of Isis

Stand, with your arms at your sides, facing east. Inhale while simultaneously bringing your hands together at the level of your abdomen and cradling one palm in the other. With this breath, be aware that you are gathering strength. Exhale while simultaneously raising and spreading out your arms like wings unfurling. The arms should be slightly curved, with the palms facing out and slightly above the shoulders. With this exhalation, be aware that you are expending your personal energy to reach out to Isis. Breathe in and say:

“I am a Child of Isis. I am a Beloved of the Goddess.” (Repeat this as many times as you need in order to feel that it is so.)

Now turn your palms inward, forming a cup with your arms. Inhale and imagine you are drawing in the breath of Isis and it fills the cup of your arms. Exhale and open out your arms, allowing them to slowly arc down to your sides. As you exhale, imagine sharing the blessings of Isis with all the earth. To complete the sign, return to the first position.

Greeting the Goddess

Detail from Ancient Greece and Ancient Egypt by Gustav Klimt

Be seated comfortably, breathe, and begin chanting Her name. You may use any of Her epithets you like. Or simply chant Her name as Isis or Iset or Ise. When you sense Her presence, stop. Breathe deeply and slowly. Know that you are breathing the breath of Isis the Goddess. Try to match your breath to Her breath.

Heart Joined to Heart

Now, begin to sense Isis’ heartbeat. It is within Her and it is all around you. Listen to Her beating heart. Her heartbeat is in All Things. In the breath of the sky. In the song of birds. In the wind moving through grass and trees. In the flowing of the waters. In the thrumming of the great, deep Earth.

Listen and find the rhythm of the heartbeat of Isis, the Great Goddess. Become very aware of that rhythm.

Now, become aware of your own heart—awakened and alive and open to Her within your body. Place your finger on your pulse if need be to feel the heartbeat of your own life.

Now see if you can attune your human heart to the rhythm of Her Divine and Living Heart. Let it slow or speed to meet Hers. Attune your heart to Hers until you sense the two hearts beat in harmony.

Read the following aloud, speaking these Words of Power, and taking time to confirm the truth of these potent words in your heart:

“My Mother. My heart. My Mother. My heart.

“I am aware in my heart. I am in power in my heart. I am aware and in power in my heart, which is the heart given to me by my human mother—and by my Great Mother Isis.

“My Mother. My heart. My Mother. My heart.

A Klimt-inspired Isis work by Brightstone

“I am intelligent in my heart. I am compassionate in my heart. I am intelligent and compassionate in my heart, which is the heart which drums in rhythm with the heart of Isis, the Radiant One.

“My Mother. My heart. My Mother. My heart.

“I am alive in my heart. I am full in my heart. I am alive and full in my heart, the center of all Being, the beginning of all Becoming. I am alive and full in my heart, and my heart knows all the joys of my life.

“In the fullness of my Being, I am Becoming joy-full. The Star of Isis arises—all will be well. Isis comes—peace returns to me. I am sitting in the Throne of Abundance bathed in Her Light. Once again, I attune my human heart to Her Divine heart.”

Thanksgiving

Close your eyes and open your heart. Know you are protected by the wings and centered in the heart of Isis. Then name aloud some things you are grateful for. Don’t stress if nothing comes to mind right away. Just wait patiently. When you’re ready to name them, say:

“I am grateful for (naming as many things as you can).”

When you have completed your thanksgiving, say:

“My Mother. My heart. My Mother. My heart. I am aware in my heart and I am grateful in my heart. You have blessed me, Isis, and I am thankful, Great Goddess, in return. Amma, Iset. Grant that it ever be so.”

Complete the meditation by rising and working the Wings and Breath of Isis one more time.

Egyptian heart amulet, made of carnelian; “My Mother, My Heart”

At the last full moon, I vowed to meditate or make offering to Her every day for a full moon cycle. My practice had fallen off a bit and I was wanting to re-energize myself. So far, so good.

For the offering part, I’ve been using the invocation offerings in Offering to Isis (handy, that!). So I wanted to share with you one of the offerings I chose to ask for Her help at this terrible time in the history of my country. I also added a sacred image of Lady Liberty to my altar, as you can see here.

And I’ve finally memorized the offering ritual. It’s always SO much nicer when you can do it from memory; that allows you to improvise, if you like, too, which I most certainly do.

So, here’s the background information about the offering of the Unknotted Cord, followed by the invocation offering. And here’s more about offering in general, as well as invocation offerings.

Unknotted Cord

One of Isis’ most important symbols is the Knot of Isis, a knotted cord or cloth. It is an amulet of the protection of the Goddess. Knot magic, such as that represented by the Knot of Isis, was common in ancient Egypt. The Pyramid Texts tell us that Isis and Nephthys work protective magic on Osiris “with knotted cords.” References to knot magic abound, not only in the funerary literature, but also in the Graeco-Egyptian magical papyri, a valuable collection of ancient magical rites. 

A classic Knot of Isis

The power of the magical knot is in its ability to both unite and “surround” things. The tied knot is a symbol of the coming together of two things in perfect wholeness, a condition that promotes a positive outcome. A passage in the Coffin Texts says that when the hair of Isis is knotted to the hair of Nephthys, the Two River Banks (the land of the living and the land of the dead) are united. Because of this perfect wholeness, the deceased prays to be united in the Two Sisters forever, sharing in Their perfection.

Tying a knot could also refer to sexuality; the perfect coming together of female and male in an act of creation. Furthermore, because the two ends of the cord used in tying a magical knot symbolically go all the way around something, they were thought of as “surrounding” that thing. Knot magic could thus be used to “surround” or “bind” an enemy. (And here’s some info on binding magic and more for these hard times. )

This was a common motif in all periods of ancient Egyptian history. Funerary and religious texts depicted the enemies of the Deities bound and subdued. Human enemies of Egypt were frequently shown with their arms bound helplessly behind their backs. Just as a knot can surround, it can also encircle; and to encircle was to enchant—the ancient Egyptian words are the same. When the two ends of a cord were tied around a person, they were both encircled and enchanted.

A knot of unification

So the magical knot could be used to encircle and surround with protection and it could be used to bind the actions of an enemy. It could also be used to curse. A magical knot could tie a curse to someone. A person might feel themselves “bound” by a certain situation; or a tied knot could keep a medicine from working or a woman from giving birth. For assistance, Egyptians would call upon the Deities to untie the cords and free them from the curse or unwanted situation. In Egyptian idiom, “to loose what is knotted” meant “to remove difficulties.” This could be both metaphorical and literal. In the case of a delayed birth, for instance, knots found in the house might literally be untied to facilitate the birthing process.

Because of Isis’ well-known compassion, as well as Her great magical power, Isis was often the Deity called upon to “loose what is knotted.” As one of the suffering Deities, Isis understands the trials we human beings undergo.

The Compassionate One

Her compassion is clearly demonstrated in myths like the Contendings of Horus and Set and the Trials of Isis. In the Contendings, though Her son is in a life-and-death struggle with Set, the Goddess still has compassion for Her brother Set, and frees Him from the barbs of a magical harpoon. In the Trials, the Goddess heals the scorpion-stung child of the chief woman of the village, even though the woman had refused the Goddess shelter. Many modern Isis worshippers see Isis and the great Chinese Goddess of Compassion, Kuan Yin, as sister Goddesses. 

The unknotted cord is a symbol of Isis’ compassion and of Her ability to “loose what is knotted,” freeing us from pain and trouble. In later periods of Her worship, Isis was called the One Who Listens and was said to “give her hand” to those who love Her. In recognition of Her gifts of compassion, freedom, mercy, healing, and helping, Isis gained the Greek epithet Sotera (Savior). An inscription from Philae calls Her “the strong savior” Who “rescues everyone whom She wishes.” In The Golden Ass, Apuleius’ character calls Her “the holy and eternal savior of the human race.” Isidorus, author of the hymns written for Isis’ Faiyum temple, calls Her “Immortal Savior.” 

Isis could bring a very literal type of freedom to those bound by slavery.  In many of the temples of Isis and Serapis, it was traditional for slaves to be freed through a fictitious sale to the Goddess and God. Through the compassion of Isis and Serapis, slaves could literally be unbound from their masters and mistresses. Furthermore, freed slaves were allowed to become priests and priestesses of Isis; something that wasn’t true in the cults of many other Deities.

Isis is the encircling, compassionate Goddess Who surrounds us with the knots of Her protection and unties knots of trouble in our lives. She is the Lady of the Cord, knotted and unknotted. Thus do we offer unto Isis that which is Hers.

To Isis, a Cord (En Iset, Intet)

This is a gift the priest/ess/ex brings before Isis Sotera, She Who looses what is knotted: an invocation offering of a cord.

The flaxen threads of this cord twist and twist about an invisible core, answering a command given in the voice of Isis. “Embrace, entwine, be One!” 

Like these threads, I have tried to obey Her voice. To embrace rather than to reject; to bring together rather than to separate. O, but Isis I am too human! I am not even as perfect as a thread of flax. Therefore with this unknotted cord—more perfect than I—I call upon Your compassion, Goddess. Have mercy, help me, heal me. I lay my fears, my tears, and my anger at Your feet. 

Have mercy on one who would be a thread in the cord woven by Your voice. Goddess, be manifest to me and take my hand. Goddess, be present and help me to be a better human being. Teach me the magic that encircles and enchants with the knowledge of Your presence on every day, in every hour. Help me, Isis, to be compassionate like You.

Listen, O Isis, to the words of the Cord: “I am offered unto Isis for I am a birth cord. My coming together is Creation and Embrace. My unfolding is Freedom and Surcease. I am that eternal coming together and releasing that propels the Universe. I am the thread that unites all things, the umbilical of Isis. I am the Cord.”

Unto You, Isis, I offer this cord and all things beautiful and pure. M’den, Iset. Accept it, Isis.

All text is from Offering to Isis. If you’d like a copy, you can get it here.

A number of you have been asking when the new edition of Isis Magic is coming out.

I’m excited to tell you that I’m currently reviewing the final files for the NEW 25th Anniversary Edition. And it’s definitely going to be THE definitive edition.

Me, proofing the files

It should be available in late April, and if you’d like to pre-order, use one of the links in the right sidebar of this blog. (If you’re on your phone, keep scrolling until you see the text between the Offering to Isis and Isis Magic books.)

The link for Offering to Isis at Miskatonic Books is above, and there are links for Isis Magic at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Bookshop.org, which supports independent bookstores. (Bookshop.org also has a pre-order discount right now.)

Here’s a bit about what’s new and why you might want to pick up the new edition, even if you have one of the previous ones:

New Things

Also me, working hard on the book

Folks have been asking for prayers to Isis, so this new edition contains (a lot of!) new prayers to Isis—for everything from protection, healing, and forgiveness to prayers for mourning.

There are also two new solitary rituals for opening your temple space. I have my personal favorite way to open my temple. How about you?

Every stage of your deepening relationship with Isis also has some new meditations for growing your connection with Her.

There are also new sections on Isis and Her LGBTQIA+ devotees, in ancient times and now, and a new section on the Isis aretalogies for when you’re at the deepest level of relationship with Her.

The physical book is different, too. For one thing, it’s a hardback. It is larger than the 10th anniversary edition and has lay-flat binding, so it will stay open on your altar as you work through the rituals. And I think there are several ribbons bound into it to help you mark your favorite rituals or meditations.

The new cover art; it has a lapis lazuli background with gold type and image

Updated Things

One thing I love about the opportunity to help create a new edition of this (now classic!) book is that I get to update things. In this new edition, I’ve clarified a few things about which I’ve learned more in the ensuing 25 years since Isis Magic’s first publication.

There’s also updated, gender-neutral language throughout the book. I’ve also included new titles for the stages of relationship with Isis in both ancient Egyptian and Greek. (Isis was very well known and loved in the Greek, and eventually Roman worlds.)

I can’t wait to see it for myself—and I can’t wait for you to see it, too. But I guess we’ll both have to wait till the spring.

Queen Elizabeth I of England on the cover of The Faerie Queene

Several things are coming together right now, both in my life and in the world, that got me thinking about Queen Elizabeth I, faeries, misogyny, and of course, Isis. So I’m reposting this tale that shows how Our Goddess Isis has been strangely entwined with all these things in one way or another.

Did you know that Isis can be connected with Queen Elizabeth I—she for whom the “Elizabethan Age” is named?

It’s an interesting story…

It’s a story that speaks to the influence of Isis’ myth throughout the ages. It is also a story that reinforces Isis’ importance as a feminist icon.

So let us start in 1558, the year Elizabeth, daughter of Henry VIII, became queen. Elizabeth never married, and thus never shared her throne. She reigned for over 40 years. She was called “Gloriana” and “Good Queen Bess” and “the Virgin Queen”.

Knox’s lovely piece of work

But this whole unmarried-queen-ruling-by-herself thing was problematic. If you think sexism sucks now, imagine 1558. Even queens were not immune. It was a given that women were inferior in all ways, from moral strength to intellectual strength to physical strength. And Elizabeth’s advisors were forever pestering her to marry. “Frailty, thy name is woman,” sayeth the Bard in Hamlet to absolutely no one’s surprise. Women had virtually no rights under the law and were subject in all things to first father, then husband.

1558 was also the year that John Knox published his polemic against women rulers called The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstruous Regimen [that is, “rule”] of Women. It was specifically against the Catholic queens of Scotland and England (Knox was Protestant), but as Elizabeth came to the throne in the same year, you can be sure he applied it to her as well. Knox summed up the general attitude this way:

For who can denie but it repugneth to nature, that the blind shal be appointed to leade and conduct such as do see? That the weake, the sicke, and impotent persones shall norishe and kepe the hole and strong, and finallie, that the foolishe, madde and phrenetike shal gouerne the discrete, and giue counsel to such as be sober of mind? And such be al women, compared unto man in bearing of authoritie. For their sight in ciuile [civil] regiment, is but blindnes: their strength, weaknes: their counsel, foolishenes: and judgement, phrenesie, if it be rightlie considered.

As you might expect, Elizabeth took offense and she opposed Knox, successfully keeping him from being involved in his beloved “Protestant cause” in England. Queens do have some power after all.

What Elizabeth needed was some propaganda of her own. So she carefully constructed her public image, sometimes by portraying herself as the mother of her people, sometimes as a king or prince, and sometimes by having herself compared to various Goddesses—Goddesses Who were thought, by this time, to be safely in the past. This meant that Their myths could now be used to portray queenly and Protestant values without too much consternation.

“Elizabeth I and the Three Goddesses,” by Hans Eworth, 1569; Elizabeth actually owned this painting, which both associates her with the Goddesses and has her besting Them, for she kept the golden “apple” or royal orb for herself. Another version of the same image, attributed to Isaac Oliver in 1588. The fashions have been updated for the times.
As you can see, Bess didn’t hate this concept.

Sir Walter Raleigh wrote a long poem that helped promote the cult of Elizabeth as the Virgin Moon Goddess Diana. During royal functions, as well as in Elizabeth’s raiment, the liberal use of the symbols of the moon and moon-like pearls helped promulgate the idea.

As war leader of her people, Elizabeth would style herself after Minerva, a Goddess capable of war, but more known for Her wisdom and love of peace. While addressing troops who were preparing to repel the Spanish Armada, she wore an Minerva-like plumed helmet and steel cuirass over a white velvet gown. She turned sexism on its head with the most famous line of her speech: “I know I have the body of a weak, feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too…”

I thought Pfeiffer was awesome as Titania, the Faerie Queen in Midsummer Night’s Dream

Then in 1590, Edmund Spenser wrote a long, highly allegorical poem called The Faerie Queene, which he dedicated to Elizabeth and in which he symbolically portrays his queen through various characters in the poem, including Gloriana, the Faerie Queene of the title.

The poem is classic sword-and-sorcery, knights-and-damsels; Elizabeth liked it enough to award Spenser a pension for life.

It is in The Faerie Queene that we meet Isis as a symbol of Justice and equitable queenly rule. Spenser wanted to associate Elizabeth’s rule with an ancient Golden Age ruled over by another strong queen: Isis, the Divine Queen of Egypt. Spenser tells us that Isis was “a Goddess of great powre and souerainty” and that justice and equity were among Her blessings. So too are power, sovereignty, justice, and equity hallmarks of Elizabeth’s reign. Elizabeth is further associated with Isis—as well as with the famous Queen Cleopatra—by the fact that the Faerie Queene lives in “Cleopolis.”

Spencer’s dedication to Elizabeth

In support of his Faerie Queene, Spenser writes that during recent history men had not properly recorded the deeds of women rulers, particularly their deeds of war. However, in ancient days (such as the time of Isis) female rulers were given the credit they deserved. He also explains that men’s jealousy of women caused them to “curb women’s liberty.” And we are still dealing with this.

Scholars think that we are seeing the influence of the Hermetica as well as Giordano Bruno’s Egyptian-themed work on Spenser’s choice of an Isis-and-Osiris theme in Book V of the poem.

Britomart, the female Knight of Chastity, is Isis-like, while the male Knight of Justice, Artegall, is Osiris-like. They are lovers, separated by various adventures, which require Britomart to search repeatedly for Artegall just as Isis does for Osiris.

Artegall from a graphic novel

We see Britomart at her most Isian in Book V, Canto VII of the poem as she sets out to rescue Artegall from the evil Amazon queen Radigund. (As you can see, there are lots of female characters in the tale; even the evil ones.) Along the way, Britomart stops to rest at a temple of Isis (also called “Isis Church” in the poem) and is received there by the priests. The long-haired priests, dressed in silver-trimmed linen robes and moon-shaped headdresses, are in the midst of their offering rites. Britomart is amazed by the beauty of the temple, gawking openly.

The priests take her to the sacred image of Isis, which is as beautifully wrought as the temple itself. The image is crowned with gold “to shew that she had powre in things diuine”, carries a wand, and with one foot treads upon a crocodile that represents both “forced guile and open force” and is being suppressed by Isis.

“Britomart” by Walter Crane, 1900

Britomart kneels down and prays at the Goddess’ feet. The wand in the hand of “the Idoll” moves, which Britomart takes as a sign of good fortune and falls asleep: “There did the warlike Maide her selfe repose, Vnder the wings of Isis all that night…” The priests, too, went to sleep and “on their mother Earths deare lap did lie.” They kept strict chastity and eschewed both meat and wine (especially wine).

Now Britomart dreams a dream that foretells her fate. She sees herself, as a priestess, making sacrifice to Isis. Then her linen robes becomes scarlet and her headdress becomes a crown of gold, like that of the Goddess Herself. She is in wonder, yet pleased by the change as she becomes merged in Isis. Suddenly, a wind arises that fans the altar flames and threatens to set the temple on fire. The crocodile beneath the foot of the sacred image of Isis comes to life, devours the flames and the wind, and starts toward Britomart. The image of Isis raises Her wand and beats him back.

Britomart sleeping “under the wings of Isis” in Isis Church

Chastised, the crocodile now humbly comes to Britomart, begging her to love him. Which she does, becoming pregnant with and then giving birth to a great lion that subdues everything. (How’s that for a dream, eh?)

At that, Britomart wakes, confused and upset. The priests are already up, preparing for the day. Their leader notices Sir Knight’s dismay and asks her about it. She tells him the dream.

Immediately, he sees that she is of royal blood. He tells her that the crocodile represents Artegall and also the just “Osyris” Who sleeps forever beneath Isis’ foot, protected from those “cruell doomes of his.” The priest tells her that she and Artegall will have a lion-like son and start a dynasty. (Elizabeth, of course, is of this heroic line.) After rewarding the priests with gold and silver as gifts for their Goddess, the knight continues on her way.

“Prince Arthur and the Faerie Queen” by Henry Fuseli, 1788

According to Spenser’s tale, other heroes are also part of Elizabeth’s heritage, including King Arthur, the British warrior queen Boudicca, and the Anglo Saxon heroine Angela. Yet the story of Isis and Osiris, associated with Spenser’s greatest virtue, Justice, is especially important.

Though Britomart and Artegall reign with great justice for many years, eventually, Artegall is killed—by treachery—and taken from Britomart just as Osiris must eventually leave Isis to rule in the otherworld. Yet before he dies, they conceive a son, a Horus-Child who will begin the dynasty destined to lead to the reign of Elizabeth, the royal virgin who marks the glorious culmination of the Britomart-Isis and Artegall-Osiris line.

Portland weather relented and I finally got to see Her on New Year’s Eve!

Okay, so it had clouded over by midnight, but at about 9 or 10, I got to see Her sparkling high in the night sky, showing through the misty clouds, and the bright light of the nearly full moon.

But let me back up a minute and tell you why I was so excited to see Her.

Those of you of a Kemetic bent already know that the ancient Egyptian New Year began with the predawn rising of the Star of Isis, Sirius, in mid-to-late summer. After a long absence, this summertime rising marked both the start of the New Year and the coming of the all-important Nile flood.

But there is another time in the year that the Beautiful Star of the Beautiful Goddess is most prominent. What’s more, it at that time that She is even more glorious than during Her summer heliacal rising.

That time is right now. At our own modern New Year.

Sirius is even more breathtaking now because we can see Her illuminating the nighttime sky for much longer. In summer, we get only a brief glimpse of Her light just before dawn—and then Her starlight disappears in the greater light of the rising sun. But now, ah now, those of us in the northern hemisphere can bathe in Her starlight all night long. (In the southern hemisphere, Sirius is best viewed in summer.)

Sirius is the bright star on the lower left; it is the heart of the constellation of Canis Major

But there’s yet another wonderful Mystery. At midnight on New Year’s Eve, Sirius reaches its highest point in the night sky. And so we are completely justified in claiming Sirius as our star of the New Year, too, just as She was for the ancient Egyptians.

I utterly and completely love this fact.

Of course, Sirius continues to dominate the night sky throughout the winter months, so New Year’s Eve isn’t your only opportunity to admire Her. It’s just that right now She is at Her height in the sky.

As a devotee of Isis, I take it as a sacred duty to spend at least some time during the winter observing the beauty of the star of the Goddess in the night sky and offering Her the praise of my heart.

If you’d like to join me, look to the east-southeast after sunset. See that diamond-like star near the horizon? That’s Her. No other star in the belly of Nuet can match Her for brilliance. (In fact, the second brightest star is only half as bright as Sirius.) And of course, if you continue lifting your gaze upwards, you will see the constellation of Orion, which the Egyptians associated with Osiris, the Beloved of Isis. As the night goes on, She rises higher into the sky, until at midnight, She reaches Her highest point.

Iset-Sopdet in Her celestial boat following Usir-Sah

If you have access to a telescope, O please, please do use it to look at Her, especially when She is near the horizon and before She reaches Her apogee. The Goddess flashes with green, blue, pink, and white starlight.

To acknowledge the Goddess’ ancient connection with Her star, some shrines and temples of Isis, including the small Isis temple at Ptolemaic-era Dendera, were oriented towards Sopdet, the Egyptian name of the star.

The location of Sirius in the Canis Major constellation, as well as Her ancient association with Anubis, connects Isis with canines. In a second-century aretalogy from Kyme in modern Turkey, Isis says of Herself, “I am She that riseth in the Dog Star.”

Osiris on His back (note the position of the three belt stars) with Isis-Sopdet below (framed by the trees), upraising Him

Just as Orion the hunter is inseparable from his hunting hound, so the Egyptians saw a connection between the constellation they called Sah (Orion) and the most brilliant star in the heavens, Sopdet. Sah could be identified with Osiris Himself or considered to be His Ba, or Divine manifestation, just as Sirius could be Isis’ manifestation or Ba. As Orion rises before Sirius, you can see the ancient myth of Isis searching for Her lost husband played out before you as the constellation Orion appears to move through the sky ahead of the Beautiful Star.

I hope the skies where you are are much clearer than our cloudy Portland skies. But even if it is cloudy where you are, even if you can’t see Her, that doesn’t mean She isn’t there.

She is always there.

May your New Year be prosperous, beautiful, deep, and renewing. Grant that it be so, Isis. Amma, Iset.

We usually connect the ancient Egyptian “Wandering Goddess” motif with fiery Lionesses like Tefnut and Sakhmet. And although Isis is indeed among our Wandering Goddesses,* right now, I’m thinking of a different type of wandering. I mean the kind of wandering that humans have always done, as they move from place to place, from nation to nation. For just as humans move, so do Goddesses. And Isis may just be the wandering-est of Them all.

Isis in Pompeii, where this fresco was painted in Her temple

For from Her original home in Egypt, Isis moved. She moved into the Greek world, and then into the greater Hellenistic world (just as it moved into Egypt). She moved into Rome, and the lands that the Roman Empire eventually ruled. She moved across the European nations. She is found in Ephesus and Babylon and London. Through Her unique talent for extreme syncretism, Our Goddess—the Great Mother, the Great of Magic—was to be found nurturing and helping and healing and initiating people far, and farther, from Her native Egypt. Today, there is almost nowhere in the world that does not, at least, know the name of Isis.

So today, I’d like to share with you some evidence, some vestigia, if you will, of Her wandering in a few of the far-from-Egypt places into which She wandered in ancient times. The time is about the second century CE, and the places are the Balkan and Danubian provides of the Roman Empire.

Here’s a map so you can know where in the world we’re talking about.

I came across an article specifically about the sistrum as emblematic of the worship of Isis in these provinces. And frankly, when I first found it, I thought it was probably going to be boring. But I was wrong. And there were pictures (which I will also share), so that’s fun.

Isis on a carnelian gemstone, with sistrum and (rather large) situla from Oescus, a major Roman city in northern Bulgaria. I like how She is actually shaking the sistrum.

As you’ve already guessed, Isis came into these places with the Romans, for She was a ubiquitous, if sometimes controversial, Divine Presence in Rome. She was first worshiped in Roman cities privately, and later with state support, from the late 1st or 2nd centuries BCE.

The evidence we have of Isis in our Roman provinces mostly comes from a period when Her worship was (more or less) supported by the Roman government—from the Flavian period up to the Severan Dynasty, 69 CE to 193 CE.

This was a time when Her worship was at a high point throughout the entire Mediterranean region. There are remains of several Isis sanctuaries in the provinces we’re discussing which date from this period. (After that time, while the sanctuaries were still there and Isis was still present, most of the evidence of Isis worship comes from individual devotees, rather than state support.)

The reconstructed Iseum museum complex in Szombathely

One of those sanctuaries, in Savaria (in the modern city of Szombathely, Hungary), has recently been rebuilt as a museum—or rather—it has been enclosed within a museum, and looks rather wonderful. All the provincial Isis temples were built along what is known as “the amber road,” a trade route that carried Baltic amber from the Baltic and North Seas to the Mediterranean.

The Savaria Isis temple itself

Sistra, or their representations, were most often found near the official sanctuaries, as well as in funerary contexts. In other words, they were found where they would have been most often used—in the sanctuaries—and also in tombs, where they may have served as symbols that marked a priestess or devotee of Isis. The actual sistra, and images of them, that have been discovered to date, are usually plain, or have a cat, or a cat with kittens, at the top. So, at least some of them were Bastet versions.

One interesting thing archeologists have found was a mold for an Isis figure that they believe was intended to be applied to vessels. So someone was making vessels with an Isis relief on them. I love it.

One side of Annia Tryphaina’s sarcophagus, with fires on the altars, sistrum, and mercury wand

The earliest representation of a sistrum from these provinces is from Thessalonica (northern Greece; Macedonia), and dates to the second half of the 2nd century BCE. It’s on a plaque that mentions male and female mystes, or initiates, and is thus evidence of Isis and Osiris Mysteries in this area.

A Hadrianic-era marble sarchophagus of a woman named Annia Tryphaina, also found in Thessalonica, shows a scene of Isis ritual being conducted by a veiled priestess (perhaps Annia herself?).

Here’s something else I found interesting, also from Macedonia. During the excavations of the Isis sanctuary at Stobi, they found a small sistrum used as a pendant—a piece of jewelry. So just as I have a mini sistrum as a piece of Isis jewelry, at least one ancient devotee had a similar piece. The sistrum thus served as an Isiac amulet—just as it still does today.

People in the provinces might also have Isis medallions to remind them of Her and demonstrate their devotion. This terracotta medallion has a rather charming bust of Isis on the front and an inscription on the back. It is now in the National Museum of Transylvanian History, in Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

Some of these Roman provinces also struck coins with Isis and Her sistrum (and sometimes Her situla) on them. Provinces in Moesia Inferior and Thrace (see map above) struck such coins.

Isis-Sothis, rattling Her sistrum and riding the celestial dog of Canis Major; from the sacred dwelling place of the Goddess within the Savaria sanctuary

Since the article I’m reading focuses on the sistrum per se, the writers were cautious in their conclusions. But they made the interesting comment that the further north one goes, the less the sistrum seems to be an actual musical instrument, and the more it becames simply an attribute of the Goddess Herself. In other words, where we see sistra, whether or not they could actually be used as instruments, there we are likely to also find devotion to Isis.

As an attribute of the Goddess, I am always reminded of Plutarch’s discussion of the sistrum in his essay “On Isis & Osiris”:

The sistrum also makes it clear that all things in existence need to be shaken, or rattled about, and never to cease from motion but, as it were, to be waked up and agitated when they grow drowsy and torpid. They say that they avert and repel Typhon by means of the sistrums, indicating thereby that when destruction constricts and checks Nature, generation releases and arouses it by means of motion. (Plutarch, Moralia, Book 5, “On Isis & Osiris,” section 63)

The vibration of the rattling sistrum is as the constant vibration of the atoms that make up all things and shows the living activity of all things. Thus, it is an apt attribute of Our Lady Isis, Lady of Life, Who can not only “shake things up,” but also offers us the power of Her Divine Life to underlie and support all things.

A marble votive offering of footprints and sistra from Bulgaria; for more on footprints at Isis temples, see this post. A votive relief of Isis with sistrum from the provinces An altar that makes me happy: Isis and Sarapis on two sides, Liber Pater (Father Freedom, identified with Dionysos) and Libera (Lady Liberty, a feminine, Roman version of Liber) on the other two; from Croatia

* Learn about that here, here, here, here, and here.

To you and yours, I wish every blessing of the Returning Light.

Osiris is whole once more. The hearts of Isis and Nephthys are happy. The Sun Child is born again.

We can—and will—change things for the better. Ma’et will prevail. Keep persevering. Keep resisting. Hold your heka warm and powerful and alive within your heart.

Know that She loves you.

The ritual of “Festival of the Two Kites: a Khoiak Funeral for Osiris” is complete.

It includes a lamentation by the Two Sisters (you take both parts), an offering ritual that re-assembles His body and enlivens His Ka (with lunar associations), an empowerment of His Ba by the joining of Osiris and Re and renewal in the Nun (with solar associations), and the raising of Osiris as Foremost of the Akhu (with stellar associations).

Rather than formatting the whole ritual for this WordPress blog (it really isn’t great for formatting ritual), I’ve put it into PDF format and you can download it here. You are most welcome to use it as you wish, and even join me in doing this rite on solstice eve, if you like.*

I’ve written this for myself, because She asked me to, which means I haven’t explained everything in the ritual itself. You can find information on making offering here. You can change up the offerings listed as you wish, making them meaningful for you.

“Kheperu” is an advanced technique for a priest/ess/ex with some experience under their belt.

If you’ve done this technique before, you might have done so under the name “Assumption of the God/dessform” or “Aspecting.” If you’re an experienced ritualist, that’s what it means when the ritual says to take on the Kheper of Isis or Nephthys.

If you’re not so experienced, you can just read the text without actually “taking on the Kheper” of the Goddesses.

During the course of the ritual, let yourself truly mourn for Osiris, then work magic for His renewal, and finally allow yourself to feel joy for His completed renewal and coming forth among the Starry Gods as Lord of Eternity.

According to the text in which the Lamentations of the Goddesses was found, it is beneficial for anyone who does the rite. Should you choose to join me, I hope it may indeed be beneficial for you, too.

Art by Rowena Doge

*Please note that I have added a copyright notice to the ritual as it is not published anywhere else.

As traitorous and cruel goons continue to kidnap our neighbors from home, school, and work, as this fucked-up and evil regime continues its attempts to strip rights from women and anyone else not white, heterosexual, and male, and as it actively works to plunder and destroy the earth for its own corrupt profit, a friend recently asked which epithets of Isis we might call upon to aid our ongoing Works of Resistance.

It is an excellent question.

Binding Magic, Protection Magic

The ancient Egyptians were all about the protection from, and vanquishing of, enemies. The funerary texts are full to the gills with declarations that the deceased has defeated their enemies and no harm shall come to them. The magical papyri, written in Demotic, Coptic, and Greek, record ancient Egyptian modes of magic—including binding rites.

Iset Hekaiet

In such binding spells, the ancients often employed images, such as the ubiquitous “bound prisoner” motif. Such images are found all the way back to predynastic times in Egypt. Essentially, it’s a small figurine of the enemy, kneeling and with his hands bound behind his back.

Modeling clay, wax, or oven-hardened clay would make a fine medium for your enemy image. Give it the appropriate features and name it by the enemy’s/enemies’ name/s. Sometimes, as part of their punishment, convicts were given a new name (things like “Re hates him,” for example)—so any denigrating names you’d care to bequeath upon the enemies would be very appropriate.

Then call upon the power of Isis the Magician, Iset Hekaiet (EE-set Hek-KAI-Yet), to empower your spell.

Prisoner with bound arms, kneeling

As you create your image, chant its name/s into it. Then call upon Isis the Magician to bind and destroy the enemies. Do this by stating your intention, then vibrating, chanting, or singing Her name and epithet, Iset Hekaiet, until you achieve a light trance. When you feel complete with this, declare the spell to have worked, “according to the voice of Isis the Magician, the Lady of Magic, who bewitches everything, Who is never bewitched in Her name of Isis the Magician.” This last statement is a line from one of the spells in the Demotic Magical Papyri. (Demotic is late Egyptian, so this is indeed an ancient Isis spell.)

And because your enemy is bound, you are protected from them. As a final piece of your spell, you could visualize Isis’ wings about you to reinforce that protection. Plus, it feels really good.

Other epithets of the Goddess that you can use for such workings are Her names of power:

Iset-Sakhmet (EE-set SAHK-met), “Isis the Powerful One;” also, Isis joined with Sakhmet

Iset Useret Weret (EE-set OU-sehr-ett WEAR-ett), “Isis the Great, Powerful One”

Iset Nebet User (EE-set NEH-bet OU-sehr), “Isis, Lady of Power”

Iset Baet er Sakhemu (EE-set BAH-ett air SAHK-hem-moo), “Isis, More Mighty than the Divine Powers”

Egyptian curse pots

Breaking Red Pots

Alternatively, rather than binding, try breaking. This is another traditional, ancient Egyptian magical ritual for subduing enemies. The Egyptian term for the rite is Sedj Desherut, “Breaking Red Pots.” Out in the desert, in the Red Lands, archeologists have found broken red pots and figurines with curses written on them. Such curses usually go by the name “execration texts.”

To do your own Sedj Desherut rite, obtain a red pot (such as a terracotta plant pot, or you could get a ceramic pot from the thrift store and paint it red). Write the enemy’s name, with appropriate curses, on it (Sharpie markers work well for this). I’d suggest getting at least three pots to break, because you’re gonna like it. Then set up somewhere safe for breaking things (like a tarp on a hard surface so clean up is easy), use eye protection, and have at it. (Caution: do NOT use glass; it’s too splintery.)

Scream out your anger as you call upon Isis in any of Her power names above and SMASH! the pots. If you’re still not satisfied, you can take a bat or stick and beat the broken pieces into even smaller pieces. Believe me, it’s highly cathartic. We did it in Sakhmet’s name at our last local summer solstice rite, and folks did not want to stop.

Invoking Her for Justice

Those of you who are at least a bit familiar with ancient Egyptian culture will likely have heard of the Egyptian concept of Ma’et, “Rightness,” “Truth,” “Justice.” If there is one thing we know about the US today, it’s that we are WAY out of “true,” out of alignment. We are decidedly not Ma’et.

Naturally, Ma’et is also a Goddess, and Isis is often assimilated with Her. You can read more about Iset-Ma’et here.

For this spell, you don’t need anything other than yourself and your personal shrine, altar, or wherever you usually connect with Isis. Using simple prayer and invocation, in your own words, ask Isis to help make things ma’et.

Here are some epithets you can use to call upon Her:

Iset Ma’et Weret (EE-set MAH-ett WEAR-ett), “Isis-Ma’et the Great”

Iset Ankhet em Ma’et (EE-set ANKH-ett ehm MAH-ett), “Isis Who Lives on Ma’et”

Iset Nebet Tep Nefer (EE-set NEH-bet tep NEF-air), “Isis, Lady of Righteousness” (literally, “Isis, Lady of the First of [all that is] Beautiful/Good”)

Iset Nebet Ma’a Kheru (EE-set NEH-bet Mah-a KEH-roo), “Isis, Lady of Vindication” (relates to the vindication of the Judgment before Osiris, but I think it can be applied more broadly)

Iset Sahkperet Ma’et em Ta (EE-set Sakh-PEAR-ett MAH-ett ehm Tah), “Isis Who Brings Forth Ma’et on Earth”

Isis the Protectress

Iset Hetemet Isfet (EE-set HEH-tem-ett EES-fet), “Isis Who Destroys Unrightousness” (Isfet is the opposite of Ma’et.)

Invoking Her for Motherly Protection

Iset Mut (EE-set Moot), “Isis the Mother,” or Isis joined with the Goddess Mut

Iset Mut Weret (EE-set Moot WEAR-ett), “Isis the Great Mother”

Iset Khut (EE-set KOOT), “Isis Who Protects”

Iset Reset (EE-set REH-set), “Isis Who Watches”

Iset Nedjetyt Neferet (EE-set NED-jet-yit NEF-air-ett), “Isis the Good/Perfect Protectress”

And Remember to Make Offering

Anytime we’re asking our Divine Ones for something, it is good practice to make offering in return. The actions of asking and offering, offering and receiving, receiving and offering again are some of the ways that energy moves in the universe. And for the accomplishment of any task, energy must move.

Who knew I could find a pic of an ancient Egyptian voter writing to her representatives?

While it would be fine to offer Isis the usual bread, water, and flowers that we often give to Her as offerings, may I suggest a different kind of offering for your Spells of Resistance? In this case, consider offerings such as: giving money to support groups working for justice, if you can, add your body and voice to protests, make Resistance art, write to your representatives, vote—even in small local school board elections, and share (fact-checked, please) information in whatever channels you have available.

But this is just the beginning. What are other acts of Resistance that we might call upon Isis to empower? And in what other names might we call upon the Powerful One to aid us—She Who Destroys Isfet?

*Please note* that all pronunciations are approximate, and may Isis forgive my bad ancient Egyptian.

So, I’m still working on the funeral for Osiris (the mini-Khoiak Festival), but I’m getting there. I plan to perform the rites on winter solstice, under the dark moon.

Sopdet by Jezhawk Designs. Buy your print here.

Now, as we approach winter, the clear, cold nights and newly denuded branches of the trees may cause us to look up and up, into the depths of the skies.

And when we do (unless we’re in Portland, Oregon, like me), we may see the brilliance of the stars, the holy children of Great Mother Nuet, the Secret One, the Mysterious One, shining bright. Yet, even here in cloud-blessed Portland, sometimes it is a clear night and Nuet’s children sparkle oh-so-brightly. The child of Nuet Who shines most brightly to me, of course, is Isis.

And while I love Isis as a powerful Sun Goddess—the Eye of Re, and a Re-et of Re-et Goddesses—and I find Her Mysteries in the secrets and transformations of the magical moon, I am most drawn to Her, on an astronomical level, at least, as a Star Goddess.

The Star of Isis

If you’ve been reading this blog, no doubt, you already know that Her star is the star Sirius. This Latin name is the one by which She is most well known today. The Greeks called Her Sothis, which is just the Greek version of Her Egyptian name, Sopdet. She is the brightest star in the night sky and Her name means “sharp” because of the long, glittering, multi-hued and sharp-looking rays of light that extend from Her celestial being.

From at least the time of the Pyramid Texts, if not significantly before, the star Sopdet is associated with Isis. The Pyramid Texts tell us,

Your [Osiris’] sister Isis has come to You, rejoicing/aroused for love of You. You have placed Her on Your phallus and Your seed issues into Her, She being ready as Sothis, and Horus Soped has emerged from You as Horus Who is in Sothis.

—Pyramid Text 366

To locate Sirius, look to the left of Orion’s belt

Star Lore

Knowledge of the star was vitally important to the ancient Egyptians because the heliacal rising (just before the sun) of the Star of Isis signaled the coming of the Inundation flood that nourished Egypt’s fields, as well as the start of the Egyptian New Year.

To acknowledge Isis’ ancient connection with Her star, some shrines and temples of Isis, including the small Isis temple at Ptolemaic-era Dendera, were oriented towards Sopdet.

If your own skies are clear at night, it is easy to spot the Star of Isis in the northern hemisphere. She is to the lower left of the extremely easy-to-spot constellation of Orion, which has always looked to human beings like a human torso. The ancient Egyptians called the constellation Sah and associated it with Osiris.

Orion has been visualized as a Great Shepherd, Hunter, Warrior, or simply a Giant. And since every shepherd or hunter must have his hunting hound, Sirius itself, as well as the constellation in which it is the lead star, has been envisioned as a Great Dog. Interestingly, this is true in cultures throughout the world, from ancient Mesopotamia to China (where Sirius is a wolf) to Native North American tribes like the Blackfoot, who called it Dog-Face, and the Inuit, who called it the Moon Dog. (The Wikipedia article on Sirius seems to be pretty good and includes references.) Surely it was envisioning Orion as a shepherd, hunter, or warrior that led so many ancient peoples to see Sirius and its constellation as a companion dog.

Sopdet, wearing the star hieroglyph as a crown

Heliacal Rising?

Sirius cannot be seen during a period of about 70 days, from sometime in May to sometime around or after midsummer. Before this time, Sirius and the sun are in conjunction so that the sun’s greater light blocks the visibility of Sirius. The heliacal rising of Sirius is when the star and sun are sufficiently separated so that—for the first time in 70 days—Sirius can be seen on the horizon just before dawn. (See below for a calculator for when She rises in your area.)

In the northern hemisphere, this occurs in the hottest part of the year. From Classical times, this period has been known as the “Dog Days” since the Dog Star of Sirius is once again visible. This hot part of the year can be miserable indeed. Homer knew it as a time of fevers and suffering. The Romans thought it made dogs act crazy. We think of it as a time when we’re panting like a dog because of the heat.

While the ancient Egyptians didn’t have the Sirius-dog connection, when Egypt came under Greek, and then Roman, rule, Isis gained Her canine-star connection. (In Egypt, She had been associated with the Canine God Anubis very early on.) In a later-period aretalogy from Kyme in modern Turkey, Isis says of Herself, “I am She that riseth in the Dog Star.”

Sopdet could also be considered the Ba—the manifestation or “soul”—of Isis. In the same way, the constellation Sah is Osiris’ Ba. In the skies, since Orion rises before Sirius, we can see the ancient myth of Isis searching for Her lost husband playing out before our eyes as the Orion constellation moves through the sky ahead of the Beautiful Star of Isis. In the “Lamentations of Isis and Nephthys,” Isis says to Osiris, “Your sacred image, Orion [Sah] in heaven, rises and sets every day; I am Sothis following after Him and I will not forsake Him.”

There is an additional interpretation of the movement of the stars through the sky that takes us to an even more important point in the Isis-Osiris story. When the Orion constellation first appears on the horizon, Osiris seems to be on his back, with Iset-Sopdet rising beneath Him. As the night passes and the constellation rises higher into the sky, He “stands up,” with Isis at His back all the while, pushing upward until the God is raised.

Osiris on His back (note the position of the three belt stars) with Iset-Sopdet below (at the bottom of the photo, framed by the trees), upraising Him

Even more than the myth of Isis following Osiris to pick up the pieces, we can see Isis raising Osiris from the dead in the skies above. We can understand this as the stellar model of the ritual of Raising the Djed Column, which the pharaoh, with the help of Isis, performed on earth.

New Sirius Rising Calculator

In looking back on some of my earlier posts on this subject, I discovered that the online calculator I’ve been linking to—the one that lets you calculate when Sirius rises in your area—is no longer available.

However, thanks to KnightSpectral on r/Kemetic on reddit, I can share with you a new, free, online calculator. It’s from in-the-sky.org. Just give it a date in summer near when you think Sirius might rise in your area (try starting on July 1st, for instance), and let it use your local time. Then look down the resulting chart until you no longer see “Not observable” and instead see a date and time. That’s your local rising time and date.

I’ll share this link again in summer as we await the rising of the brilliant Star of Isis. But we have another star mystery coming January 1. And we can talk about that later.

Check out the serpents around Sopdet’s starry crown