Het Heru
I wish to share with you my wonderful connection to this goddess - Sekhmet-Hethert or Hethert-Sekhmet
First a background/History of Sekhmet and Hathor (Het-heru)
"Sekhmet - "Powerful Female" First noted in a myth describing Ra's vengeance upon his enemies, Sekhmet, an unstoppable force from which humankind was delivered only by the timely intervention of a moment of levity (embodied in public drunkenness), is an "aggressive" form of the Name of Hethert (Sekhmet was not originally a Name in and of Herself; it is in fact more accurate to refer to Her from earlier times as Sekhmet-Hethert, or Hethert-Sekhmet.) Eventually Sekhmet would develop both a cult and a "personality" quite distinct from Hethert, as the Eye of Ra associated with divine vengeance. As a healer, Sekhmet's power to destroy things utterly would be invoked against the invisible "demons" of plague and disease; Sekhmet's priesthood in antiquity were trained surgeons of remarkable caliber, given the standards for medicine in the ancient world. Thousands of statues of Sekhmet, carved from Aswan red granite, were erected to line processional ways during the New Kingdom as a way to placate the "Red Lady" and encourage Her to turn back the plagues which came into the country at that time. Sekhmet as a destroyer is paired with Ptah the creator and Nefertem the healer at Mennefer, and Her destructive lioness-visage found echo in the images of the Names of Mut and Mertseger down-country in Uaset. Sekhmet's strongest attribute, like that of the lioness Her symbol, is that of appropriate action, especially appropriate violence/destruction.
Hethert (Het-heret, Het-Heru, Hathor) - "House of Heru" Another Name known from predynastic times, Hethert represents the feminine principle, as reflected in several of Her symbols: the cow, the mirror, and the ritual rattle or sistrum. Hethert is patroness of women, and professions given to Her priesthood include dancers, singers, actors and acrobats; even up to Greek times the arts were under Hethert's dominion. Hethert's temples, especially that at Ta-Netjer were centers for both healing and midwifery. Priests in the temple of Ta-Netjer conducted oracles with Hethert in trance rituals held in crypts underneath the sanctuary, and any person could sleep on the temple roof and hope for a dream, which could be interpreted the next morning by the priests. Hethert's association with both cows and the sistrum probably results from Her assimilation of the Predynastic Netjer Bat; "sistrum capitals" atop the pillars throughout Kemetic temples show Hethert's full face with cow's ears atop a "naos"-style sistrum. Hethert was closely associated with Heru-Behdety at Edfu, perhaps influencing the fact that She was a patroness of Kemet's queens (as Heru is to the king, so Hethert is to the queen). Some queens are referred to by Hethert's titles of "Mistress of Heaven" and "Lady of Gold." Nefertary's spectacular temple at Abu Simbel in Nubia depicts the Great Royal Wife as Hethert in many places; and her husband Ramses II is depicted in its sanctuary, suckling from the udder of Hethert as a divine cow. "
The middle 1990's began my association with Sekhmet. That is the only name in which I identified with her and it was in that aspect of the Goddess really known as Het-hert. She first came to me purely in the animal form of the lioness. It was probably a year later I began to recognize Her as Sekhmet and because of what was going on in my life at the time, Her rage was fuel to my survival.
Perhaps two years after this, my practice was taken over by my newly discovered ecstatic dance and through the dance I became acquainted with Hathor, Goddess of music, dance, and the arts. Once more this relationship was key to my survival in what had taken place in my life and is what took me out of my rage and into joy.
Earlier this year I met JuJu Mama through the internet and invested an energy exchange with her for a reading as well as a 5 month plan of honoring, as it turned out, Oshun. As a part of what she gave me was a CD with music on it that I was to dance to. All throughout the music the name Het-heru is sung and I learned that Het-heru was another name for Oshun. And so I have done my work with Oshun.
In my renewal of interest in Sekhmet, whose energy I have clearly been demonstrating, I found some information that led me to question if indeed the goddesses Sekhmet and Hathor were indeed the same goddess - dark and light faces of the same One.
The yesterday I made the discovery that the Het-Heru that I have been dancing with was none other Hathor who first brought ecstatic dance to me and that by dancing with her, I have come back home to Sekhmet as well.
I am the Soul of Hathor
Het Heru
(Greeks called her Hathor)
Het Heru is the goddess of beauty, love, sensuality and all the shiny things in life.
She is envisioned as being a very beautiful maiden usually adorned with jewelry and wearing a crown made of a pair of bull horns with a solar disc.
Het Heru is the goddess that motivates us to seek our hightest potential. She is the energy that gives us a sense of fulfillment that allures us to quest after change. Her erotic force, which stimulates passion is what motivates us all to change. It is for this reason that she is also called the goddess of love and passion.
She loves the colors green, yellow and pink. Her sacred number is five and her day of the week is Friday. Though she owns all jewelry but her favorite metal and stone is brass and diamonds, as they are her best friend.
Hathor, Womb of the Origin
Her essential hieroglyph, read as Het Heru, which translates as the house of Horus symbolizes Hathor in her ancient role as sky goddess. Here she is seen as, the primeval waters or womb of space where the great illuminated one Horus, the oldest of the sun gods, represented here by the falcon was conceived, brought forth and dwelled.
In her form as the celestial cow that nourishes all creation, Hathor is an ancient goddess who originates from pre-dynastic Egypt. Pictured in this form with stars on her belly, horns of the crescent moon and a solar disk on her head, Hathor, the 'mother of the light' and 'golden one', is the loving consort of the powerful sun god Ra. Throughout the literature she is alternatively referred to as Ra's mother, daughter, and powerful shining eye. According to the eminent scholar of Egyptian studies E. A. Wallis Budge, Hathor was perceived as "the great Mother of the World," and the "power of nature that was perpetually conceiving and bringing forth, rearing and maintaining all things, both great and small." In this role she represented the fullness of the feminine experience. "She was the mother of her father, and the daughter of her son. Heaven, earth and the underworld were under her rule and she was the mother of every god and every Goddess."