Egyptian Goddess: Isis
—by Míchealín Ní Dhochartaigh

"Isis: The Mother of the Stars, the Parent of the Seasons, the Mistress of the World"—Lucius Apuleius

When the Sun god, Ra, ordered Shu (Air) to separate Nut (Sky) from her brother-lover Geb (Earth), he ordained that Nut should never bear children in any month of the year. But Thoth, god of wisdom, took pity on her, and by playing draughts with the Moon, won a seventy-secondth of its light. This became the five intercalary days, and on these Nut bore Osiris, Horus the Elder, Set, Isis and Nephthys.

Isis and Osiris were lovers and siblings, and together they ruled Egypt. Their brother, Set, Nephthys' lover (and brother) was jealous and killed Osiris by offering to give him a beautiful coffin if he fit in it. Osiris tried it on for size, it fit, and Set kept the bargain by closing the lid. Isis, bereaved, searched for her lover's body and found it; but the Set dismembered it and she had to find it again.

With the help of her family and friends, including Nephthys who had abandoned Set for his treachery, Isis found all the pieces and reassembled them, with the exception of the penis, which legend tells us that she "magically restored." Then she miraculously conceived Osiris' son, and name him Horus after her brother. Horus grew up to reclaim his father's kingship; he became the living version of Osiris. Osiris, now immortal, became King of Amenti, the realm of the dead. Osiris, Isis and Horus became the Holy Family of Egypt.

For her first 2,000 years, Isis was entirely Egyptian; although at times she did overlap with neighbouring goddesses, such as Ishtar and Astarte. Isis was later adapted into Roman culture. The name, Isis, is actually a Latinised version of Au Set (aka Aset, aka Wset) her Egyptian name where she came to be regarded as the Goddess of Whom all other goddesses are aspects. The Virgin Mary later absorbed that role as well as many of Isis' titles. Osiris' Egyptian name was Wsir.

Isis was worshipped, with established temples and priesthood, for over 3,000 years. Her exact beginning is not dated, but in the Pyramid Texts, she was already referred to as 'the Great Isis.' The final suppression of her public worship was not achieved until the Theodosian Law of AD 426 — a century after Constantine had made Christianity the "official" religion of the Empire. In Philae in Upper Egypt, however, she continued to be worshipped until into the sixth century.

In her role as goddess, Isis was a wife-mother-fertility image. She was known as the "Great of Magic" because she had tricked Ra into telling her his secret name, which gave her unsurpassed power. For the devotee, she could be appealed to directly to bend the rules in her supplicant's favour when a problem seemed humanly impossible — one of the traits later adopted Christianity and attributed to the Virgin Mary.

Isis' magical collaborator was Thoth, god of wisdom, with whose help, she became the Mistress of Healing. She was able to heal her son Horus when he was bitten by a poisonous snake. The medical Ebers Papyrus invokes her:

O, Isis, thou great Mage, heal me,
Release me from all things that are bad and evil
And all things that belong to Set,
From the demonic fatal sickness —
As thou has saved and freed thy son Horus

Isis was also known to give 'healing dreams,' a practice of priestly psychotherapy. Her other attributes included Goddess of Childbirth, Love, Magic, Marriage, Divination, Beauty, Animals and the Moon. When she was adopted by the Mediterranean peoples, she became Isis Myrionymos, 'of the countless name,' — a title still used by the Greek Orthodox Christians for the Virgin Mary. The bible story in Revelation 12 about Michael's battle with the dragon, Satan, in defence of a 'woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of 12 stars' who was 'travailing in birth' follows the story of Isis, Set and the birth of Horus exactly, stage by stage. She was also the subject of the original Madonna and Child statues, which directly echoed her nursing Horus.

The worship of Isis may have been banned at times, but the concept of Isis never died. Isis even had a role in Gnosticism and her secrets were amongst those which the Knights of the Templar said they guarded. She has played a significant role in the modern pagan and occult revivals; and the writers of the Golden Dawn, especially Dion Fortune, helped to continue the personification of Isis as the whole. According to Farrar (see source below), there now exists the Fellowship of Isis (in Co. Wexford, Ireland), which is peopled with members of varied paths, from witches to Christians, who have just one thing in common — their acceptance of the Goddess principle. .

Sources:

  • Ailanthus C: "When the Goddess Sings the Blues," in Pan Gaia, #37, Nov 2003—Feb 2004.

  • Farrar J, Farrar S: The Witches' Goddess, Phoenix Publishing, London, 1987.

Page last updated 6 Jan 2006
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