The Scorpion Goddess
Calling in the goddess of transmutation.
Greetings Dear One,
The season of Scorpio is associated with the Jackal-headed god Anpu, or Anubis in the Greek language. Anpu is the ever-faithful guardian that keeps watch over us and stands with us in the trenches as we journey through the Duat - the “Neterworld” or “Underworld” of Egyptian Cosmology. During Scorpio season, we each make our annual journey through this unseen realm, facing our shadows and re-assessing what needs to be healed and released.
For this reason, I am always drawn to another divine being of the Egyptian Pantheon during this season. Last year she was one of my main guides, and to say that my experience with her was transformative doesn’t even come close to the truth. She is a symbol of protection and fully embodies the qualities of the Scorpion.
SERQET
Greek, Selket
Serqet is The Scorpion Goddess. In the relationships of the Egyptian Pantheon, she is one of “The Four Sisters,” four guardian goddesses who protect the four directions, Auset/Isis in the East, Serqet in the South, Nebt-Het/Nephthys in the West, and Neith in the North.
As a goddess guarding the South, Serqet can be seen as a goddess of High Noon, in some way embodying the peak of Summer Solstice and the raging fire of the Summer Sun. But she is so much more than rage and fire and intensity, she is the alchemist. She alchemizes the fire.
The Scorpion Goddess, her crown is the body of a Scorpion with no sting. While she contains all the power of possible destruction, one of her roles in the map of Egyptian Cosmology is as she who transforms poison into medicine. Instead of attacking, she brings healing and equilibrium through the poison of the Scorpion’s sting.
Serqet is known by many names, one of them being “She Who Liberates the Breath.” The breath is the power with which our world is created. With the breath we create resonance in our vocal cords to speak our world into existence, our power of Abracadabra, we create as we speak.
In this way too, the breath is our Life Force. When we cease to breathe we cease to live. This brings forward another one of her powers as a goddess of sexual liberation. She does not create our Life Force, or Sexual Life Force if you will, but she liberates it and guides the use of it for benefit - not for destruction.
A protector of Women and Children, she is a symbol of the strength we all need here and now during this season of Scorpionic Alchemy. In honor of the season, I built an altar this morning in devotion to Serqet, a place to pray for peace, for compassion, for liberation of the Web of Life. May she in some way be of support to you as well during this time.
Ankh Neteru.
The divine in me sees the divine in you.
Alexis Nichole Smith
On behalf of Serqet & The Alabaster Temple