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Isis, Sister of Nephthys, Mistress of Magic

by Caroline Seawright May 7, 2001Updated: November 29, 2012

Isis (Ast, Aset), unlike her twin sister Nephthys, is one of the most f amous goddesses of ancientEgypt. Although it is thought that her worship originated in Af rica, was nurtured and ref ined in Egypt,she was a popular goddess in predynastic times in the Delta area. At the opposite end of Egyptianhistory, her worship spread through the ancient world by the Greek tourists the Romansconquerors, albeit in a dif f erent f orm with the original myths of the goddess long f orgotten. Herf ame quickly spread to all corners of the Roman empire. There was even a temple to Isis on theRiver Themes in Southwark, London!

The last recorded f estival of Isis was held in Rome in 394 AD but it was one ofthe last of the old f aiths to die out, surviving less f lamboyantly ... until the f if thcentury AD.

-- Dr M D Magee, Christianity: Mystery Religions — Isis, Osiris, Dionysos, Orpheus

Isis was, of course, sister to Nephthys, and also to Osiris and Set, and motherof Horus. To the ancient Egyptians, she was all that a mother should be - loving,clever, loyal and brave. Many statues and images show Isis holding the inf antHorus on her knee, suckling the young god. To the Egyptians, she was the purestexample of the loving wif e and mother, and that was how they worshiped her -and loved her - the most. In a culture where f ertility was a sign of success andsexual attractiveness, it 's no wonder that the Egyptians cherished the f ruitf ulIsis.

She wasn't just a mother - Isis was also a great magician. She became one of themost powerf ul magicians in Egypt when she managed to trick Ra into revealinghis secret name to her.

Thus when she wished to make Ra reveal to her his greatest and most secretname, she made a venomous reptile out of dust mixed with the spitt le of the god,and by uttering over it certain words of power she made it to bite Ra as hepassed. When she had succeeded in obtaining f rom the god his most hiddenname, which he only revealed because he was on the point of death, she utteredwords which had the ef f ect of driving the poison out of his limbs, and Rarecovered. Now Isis not only used the words of power, but she also hadknowledge of the way in which to pronounce them so that the beings or things towhich they were addressed would be compelled to listen to them and, havinglistened, would be obliged to f ulf il her behests.

-- E. A. Wallis Budge (1969), Gods of the Egyptians: Part 2, p. 214

With her magical powers, she was able to bring her husband back to lif e, when he had been torn apart byhis brother Set. She then f ashioned a replacement f or Osiris' missing penis, and blew lif e - with theappropriate magic words, intonations and rituals... and a litt le help f rom Thoth - back into husband. Sharinga night of passion, the deities conceived Horus and Osiris died again, and went on to become Lord of theUnderworld.

But despite all of her magic, there were things that even she could not do without help.

Isis hid her son Horus in the papyri and water lily (lotus) thickets of Chemmis, inthe delta area of Lower Egypt. She knew that if Set ever f ound out about herson, he would kill him. She had to hide with her son, and watch over him, day andnight.

Even though she was a goddess, and a great magician, she still had to leave thesaf ety of the thickets to beg f or f ood. On one of her trips, Set f ound out where the mother and child werehiding. Knowing that Isis would be gone f or a while, he transf ormed himself into a snake and reached thechild unseen. Biting the young god, shooting poison through his body, Set then made a quick getaway.

Returning to the thicket, Isis f ound Horus lying lif eless on his back. She could hardly hear his heartbeat. Notknowing what sort of illness af f ected her song, she tried to work her great magics, but her powers haddeserted her. She was alone, her husband was head and none of the gods were there to help her.Despairing, she took Horus in her arms and ran to the nearby village. The f ishermen of the village took pityon her, and did their best to try to cure her son, to no avail. A wise woman examined the child, who told thegoddess that it had been Set, disguised as either a snake or a scorpion, who poisoned him. Realising thatthe woman was right, Isis became angry.

She let out a great wail:

'Horus has been bitten!O Re! a scion of yours has been bitten!Horus has been bitten!The heir to your heir, a direct link with the kingship of Shu,Horus has been bitten!The babe of Chemmis, the inf ant of the House of the Prince,Horus has been bitten!The beautif ul golden child, the innocent orphan childHorus has been bitten!The son of the "Benef icent Being", born of the "Tearf ul One",Horus has been bitten!Him I watched over so anxiously, f or I f oresaw that he would avenge his f ather....'

-- Robert Thomas Rundle Clark (1960), Myth and Symbol in Ancient Egypt, p. 190-191

Nephthys heard Isis' cries, and came in her bird f orm of a kite, f lying to the mashes, "Pray, tell what hashappened to Horus the son of Osiris? Ah Isis, my sister! Beseech heaven and the divine crew will bring Ra'sboat to a standstill and the cosmic wind will cease to blow f or the boat of Ra while Horus lies on his side."Serqet joined the two, saying "What is it? What is it? What has happened to the child Horus? O Isis, pray toheaven so that the sailors of Ra will stop rowing, so the Barque of Ra may not leave f rom the place whereHorus is."

Raising her voice, she cried to the Boat of a Million Years with a cry so great that it stopped the sun boat in its course and shook the earth, because Isis knew the secret name of Ra. Looking down at the grieving goddess,Ra sent Thoth to f ind out what happened.

The Great Lady

The God-Mother

Lady of Re-a-nef er

Isis-Nebuut, lady of Sekhet

Lady of Besitet

Isis in Per Pakht

The Queen of Mesen

Isis of Ta-at-nehepet

Isis, Dweller in Netru

Isis, Lady of Hebet

Isis in P-she-Hert

Isis, lady of Khebt

Usert- Isis, Giver of Lif e

Lady of Abaton

Lady of Iat-Rek (Philae)

Lady of the Countries of the South

When he heard, Thoth consoled the goddess:

"What is the matter, O Isis, you who are so divine and skilf ul and know yourspell? Surely nothing has gone amiss with Horus? An assurance of his saf ety isin the boat of Ra. I have just come f rom the barge. The sun is in its place ofyesterday so that all has become dark and the light has been driven away untilHorus recovers his health - to the delight of his mother Isis."

-- Robert Thomas Rundle Clark (1960), Myth and Symbol in Ancient Egypt, p. 191

Thus it was that Thoth worked great magic and the poison was driven out ofHorus' body, bringing the baby back to lif e again, to the delight of his mother.

Thoth then ordered the people of the marshes and all birds and animals wholived there to keep watch over them. Their lif e in the delta was still hard, but theystayed until Horus was old enough to have revenge on his uncle f or the death of his f ather.

Her heavenly symbol was the star Sirius (when connected to the goddess Sopdet), the star that marked thebeginning of not only the Egyptian new year, and the season f or inundation of the Nile, but also the arrivalof spring. It was a sign of renewed wealth and prosperity f or the whole country.

During her history, Isis was a goddess up took on the attributes of the othergoddesses (including Nekhbet, Wadjet (Edjo), Ma'at, Bast and Hathor), even f roma very early stage in Egyptian history. As such, she became a goddess oflimitless attributes, a goddess of water, earth, corn, star, wind, motherhood anda goddess of the underworld. She, along with her twin, was both a goddess ofmourning and a f riend of the dead, and a patron goddess of childbirth andmotherhood. In her role of guardian of the dead, she was thought to protect theliver, along with Imsety - a human headed Son of Horus - in the canopic jar on thesouth cardinal point.

Isis was a winged goddess who represented all that was visible, birth, growth,development and vigour. Having wings, she was a wind goddess (as was hersister). She travelled widely, moaned and cried loud enough to shake the heavens and used her wings toblow lif e into her husband. The kite was sacred to her, and she could transf orm herself into this bird at will.She brought the heavenly scent with her through the land, leaving lingering scenes of spices and f lowersher wake. She brought f resh air with her into the underworld when she gave f ood to the dead. Sherepresented both the lif e-giving spring winds of Egypt and the morning winds that hailed the arrival of thesun each day.

Some of her many specif ic tit les included:

Others included:

"the Divine One, the Only One, the Greatest of the Gods and Goddesses, the Queen of all Gods, theFemale Ra, the Female Horus, the Eye of Ra, the Crown of Ra-Heru, Sept, Opener of the Year, Lady of theNew Year, Maker of the Sunrise, Lady of Heaven, the Light-Giver of Heaven, Lady of the North Wind, Queenof the Earth, Most Mighty One, Queen of the South and North, Lady of the Solid Earth, Lady of Warmth andFire, Benef actress of the Duat, She Who is Greatly Feared in the Duat, the God-Mother, the God-Mother ofHeru-ka-Nekht, the Mother of the Horus of Gold, the Lady of Lif e, Lady of Green Crops, the GreenGoddess (Wadjet), Lady of Bread, Lady of Beer, Lady of Abundance, Lady of Joy and Gladness, Lady ofLove, the Maker of Kings, Lady of the Great House, Lady of the House of Fire, the Beautif ul Goddess, theLady of Words of Power, Lady of the Shuttle, Daughter of Geb, Daughter of Neb-er-tcher, the Child of Nut,Wif e of Ra, Wif e of the Lord of the Abyss, Wif e of the Lord of the Inundation, the Creatrix of the NileFlood."

-- E. A. Wallis Budge (1969), Gods of the Egyptians: Part 1, p. 213-214

The Knot of Isis, known as the tyet amulet, is representative of the knot Isis wore to tie her dress. It is thus also known as the Girdle of Isis or the Buckle ofIsis. It was a symbol of protection, and was thus of ten used as a f unerary itemwhere it was made f rom red carnelian, jasper or glass, and in this role it wasknown as the Blood of Isis. It was of ten paired with the djed pillar, the backboneof Osiris, in both temple and tomb decorations as well as on sarcophagi andbeds. Such knots were used as amulets due to the Egyptian belief in their powerto bind and released magic.

According to the Book of the Dead, whoever wears such a knot will gain theprotection of Isis and her son Horus, and they will be welcomed into the nextworld. In one version of the Book of the Dead, called the Theban Recension, themagical powers of Isis were granted to the deceased if the tyet amulet wasdipped in the sap of the ankh-imy plant, placed in sycamore wood, and thenplaced on the mummy. An incantation completed the spell: "Let the blood of Isisand the magical words of Isis be mighty and protect and keep saf ely this greatgod [the deceased] and to guard him f rom that which is harmf ul." With this special protection from Isis andthe tyet amulet, the deceased could travel anywhere he or she wished in the underworld.

-- Pat Remler (2010), Book Egyptian Mythology A to Z , pp. 106-107

However, during the Old Kingdom, it was related to the bovine deities Hathor and Bat, and may havebeen related to the of f ice-bearers of their cults. During the Late Period it not only represented thegoddesses Isis and Hathor, but Nephthys and Nut as well, and had become a protective device:

...the tyet is commonly depicted as an amuletic pendant slung low f rom the belt in statues dating f rom theThird Intermediate Period on. Block statues including this detail of the suspended amulet of ten show itdangling rather conspicuously just over the knees of the seated f igure. In late examples such as this,however, the emblem usually seems to be present as a protective amulet rather than a badge of of f ice.

-- Jimmy Dunn, The Tyet Symbol

Isis's name comes f rom the hieroglyph of the throne with a f emale endingreading "Mistress of the Throne" (Osiris also has the throne in his name,meaning "Occupier of the Throne"). Originally it was the symbol f or 'f lesh',reading "Mistress of Flesh". Not only did her name suggest that she was Queenof the Gods, but that she had also once been a mortal woman. In Egyptian artand myth, she has been depicted as both human and divine. She was representedas a goddess with the headdress of a miniature throne. Later on, she took onthe aspects of Hathor, and took on the bovine goddess' headdress of cow's horns

with the sun disk between them. As a human woman, she was shown with a queen's headdress, with theuraeus on her forehead.

Her cult originated at Per-hebet, and spread over the whole of Egypt and beyond. Ancient Egyptian f estivalsf or Isis included 'The Festival of Isis', 'The Birthday of Isis', 'The Marriage of Isis and Osiris', 'The Feast ofLights of Isis', 'The Lamentations of Isis and Nephthys f or Osiris', 'Isis Seeks the Body of Osiris', 'IsisRejoices as She Finds Osiris' and 'The Birth of Horus, Child of Isis'. Originally, she was a black goddess,identif ying her as of Af rican origin.

© Caroline 'Kunoichi' Seawright 2001 - present