The SACRED WHITE COW in Egypt: The Goddess HATHOR

[Sonja Myriel]

HATHOR: ‘Important bovine goddess worshiped in three forms; as a woman with the ears of a cow, as a cow, and as a woman wearing a headdress consisting of a wig, horns and Sun disk. Her associations and cult centres were among the most numerous and diverse of any of the Egyptian deities.’ (Dictionary of Ancient Egypt, Shaw & Nicholson p 119)

A selection of Hathor’s titles, 

•           Lady of the sky 
•           Daughter of Re 
•           The mistress of heaven 
•           Lady of the stars
•           Goddess of love, music and beauty 
•           Goddess of fertility, children and childbirth 
•           The Mothers of Mothers, the celestial nurse    
•           Goddess of the dead, lady of the west 
•           The mistress of life
•           The great wild cow
•           The golden one 
•           Mistress of Turquoise
•           Lady to the limit of the universe
•           The powerful one
•           Mistress of the desert 
•           Lady of the southern sycamore 
•           Lady of malachite 
•           The great one of many names

Hat-hor – ‘House of the king.’

‘The literal meaning of Hathor was ‘House of Horus,’ (hat-hor) and it was written in the form of a falcon contained within a hieroglyph representing a rectangular building (Fig 8). Since the pharaoh was identified with Horus, Hathor was correspondingly regarded as the divine mother of each reining king, and one of the royal titles was ‘son of Hathor.’ (ibid)

Hathor’s bovine attribute 

Hathor’s most famous manifestation is as a cow. Even when she appeared as a woman, she often wore cow’s horns, or a pair of cow’s ears. Hathor is frequently depicted suckling the pharaoh, whether in the guise of the cow or as a sycamore fig, a tree that exudes a white milky substance. At the Shrine of Hathor; Hatshepsut (Venus), a queen who would rule as pharaoh and Tuthmosis III (Moon) are depicted bringing offerings to Hathor. Hatshepsut (Venus) is also seen nursing from the divine cow as seen in fig 11 and drawing 11a. 

Fig 11 
Hathor Suckling Hatshepsut

Fig 11a A drawing of fig 11

If we examine this image in more detail, we will see that Hathor is depicted as a very large cow with horns. There is also a large sun-disk between the horns; in the usual tradition this was once painted Red. Hatshepsut is shown at least a quarter of the size of Hathor and is kneeling below Hathor’s rear legs sucking milk from her udder.

The figure at the front, leading Hathor is the god Amun

 

She was originally a personification of the Milky Way, which was considered to be the milk that flowed from the udders of a heavenly cow (linking her with Nut, Bat and Mehet-Weret)

She was a sky goddess, known as "Lady of Stars" and "Sovereign of Stars" and linked to Sirius (and so the goddessesSopdet and Isis). Her birthday was celebrated on the day that Sirius first rose in the sky (heralding the coming innundation). By the Ptolemaic period, she was known as the goddess of Hethara, the third month of the Egyptiancalendar.

However, she was also a goddess of destruction in her role as the Eye of Ra - defender of the sun god. According to legend, people started to criticise Ra when he ruled as Pharaoh. Ra decided to send his "eye" against them (in the form of Sekhmet). She began to slaughter people by the hundred. When Ra relented and asked her to stop she refused as she was in a blood lust. The only way to stop the slaughter was to colour beer red (to resemble blood) and pour the mixture over the killing fields. When she drank the beer, she became drunk and drowsy, and slept for three days. When she awoke with a hangover she had no taste for human flesh and mankind was saved. Ra renamed her Hathor and she became a goddess of love and happiness. As a result, soldiers also prayed to Hathor/Sekhmet to give them her strength and focus in battle.

She took the form of a woman, goose, cat, lion, malachite, sycamore fig, to name but a few. However, Hathor's most famous manifestation is as a cow and even when she appears as a woman she has either the ears of a cow, or a pair of elegant horns. When she is depicted as entirely a cow, she always has beautifully painted eyes. She was often depicted in red (the color of passion) though her sacred color is turquoise. It is also interesting to note that only she and the dwarf god Bes (who also had a role in childbirth) were ever depicted in portrait (rather than in profile). Isis borrowed many of her functions and adapted her iconography to the extent that it is often difficult to be sure which of the two goddesses is depicted. However, the two deities were not the same. Isis was in many ways a more complex deity who suffered the death of her husband and had to fight to protect her infant son, so she understood the trials and tribulations of the people and could relate to them. Hathor, on the other hand, was the embodiment of power and success and did not experience doubts. While Isis was merciful, Hathor was single minded in pursuit of her goals. When she took the form of Sekhmet, she did not take pity on the people and even refused to stop killing when ordered to do so.

http://www.ancientegyptonline.co.uk/hathor.html

It was said that when a child was born, Seven Hathors came to his bedside to announce his fate. The Seven Hathors were believed to know the future and the moment of death for every Egyptian. A person's destiny depended on the hour of their death and the luck of ill-fortune was connected with it. It was believed that the Hathors would exchange a prince born to ill-fortune with a more fortunate child, therefore protecting the dynasty and the nation. The Hathors were shown as a group of young women playing tambourines and wearing the disk and horns of Hathor. During Ptolemaic times (when Greeks ruled over Egypt), they were identified with the Pleiades.

http://www.egyptianmyths.net/hathor.htm

Cow Horns Crown Egyptian Goddess Hathor

Goddess Hathor was represented as a woman with a Crown with the Sun between cow horns

Hathor was identified by a Cow Horn Crown with the sun disk in between. The Horns Crown that she wears (although her face is now destroyed) at the Dendera. Temple Her main worshiping center has 17 serpents in line plus she with the horns makes 18 a factor and taking into account that Hathor was related to the planet Venus, this number they are likely representing columns or sky position on behalf of the 18 moth that takes Venus to complete its cycle of Venus sky appearances, nine mouth in the early morning at the east and nine mouth at sunset in the west side of the sky. This was a very important sky factor as Mexicans did divide their calendar in 18 month as well as they had certain predilection for this planet cycles evolution.

And for such reason the wavy form of the horns must be representing the movements of the planet or the Moon in the sky with relation o the solar ecliptic in relation with the symbol of the double headed snakes or two serpents hanging over the sun, found on each side on top of the whole figure, that also represent the same wavy movement of the observation trajectory fallowing the ecliptic in relation to the stars.

Egyptian goddess Hathor’s Cow Horns relation to the Sun and Venus sky movements.

In the back of the principal structure at the Dendera temple complex in Qena Egypt there is found the goddess Hathor Horns crown although the face is now destroyed but the crown still on place with all its information in relatively good conditions. 

Plotting the sun position (actually Earth position as we go around the Sun and is not the Sun that goes around us) in relation to the Ecliptic what we see as the sun sinuous movement that the Sun makes during the year can be projected in a series o duplicated horns, as the points of the horns are made rectilinear they make an imaginary trapezoid figure to distinguish from the lower part and denote that the upper part is the winter trajectory correspondent our night and the lower part is round to show that it is summer and corresponds to our daylight of the day as the Sun disk is present.

As the top of the head of the column rests a trapezoidal temple (the sky) that resembles a mastaba, shrine or Sarcophagus and the sum rays at right are also trapezoids they must be representing the East at night in the moment of the firth ray of light at the moment that ancient Egyptians thought it was the time of the Sun’s rebirth of everyday. 

Goddess Hathor as she was a sky goddess related to the Sun birth and as well associated to the planet Venus its certainly that her ancient followers must have had credited to Her important relationship to astronomy in special to the Sun and the planet Venus orbits as perceived around us, in other word their sky mechanics based in on daily observations and taking Earth as the center of the universe. 

Since there are seventeen snakes and her face crowned by cow horns with the sun in the meddle demarking an especial event, they add up to eighteen positions whish relate to the18 month that takes Venus to complete its whole orbit around the sun and by so it can e observed nine months in the East and nine months in the west skies, for the reason that Venus is between the Sun and our planet. 

Venus does not pass through the whole sky over us, rather its yearly trajectory look like two slender arks where the sun raises and sets and being the closes planet and as its nine month had a coincidence with the women gestation period it was thought that this arks and Venus where the entrance of life in the East as the sun raised in this ark and the departure of our spirit from the light sky (life) to the night sky (afterlife) by the ark entrance at sunset like the Sun does before the nigh comes.

http://www.egyptlandofeternity.com/goddess%20Hathor%20cow%20horns%2...

http://www.gks.uk.com/hathor-isis-egyptian/

[Stasha]

oh sonja////

just wow

[Sonja Myriel]

Ah - wow - yes, your headdress reminds me so much of Hathor, too!

Isn't it interesting how she and the White Buffalo Calf Woman are connected over the Atlantic Ocean and all? 

BLESSED BE, dear soul sister - In LOVE and LIGHT,

Sonja Myriel

[Stasha]

Its funny too, it was either you or sarah who said something about that the first time i posted a pic of my headdress!

[Stasha]

i have had a very strong conenction to sekhmet, actually. which is funny, that I read that although hathor was very similar to isis, they were not the same, rather sehkmet and isis were the same! too funny!

[Sonja Myriel]

Sekhmet is the furious one - the avenger / revenger ... who destroys what needs to be destroyed ... and in her tamed form she is HATHOR, if I read the information well ... the Nurturing one ...

Isis is a younger goddess - and she substituted much of Hathor's essence, but indeed, THEY ARE NOT QUITE THE SAME - although they are often depicted very much alike ... but I love Isis' FEATHERS - and she is not a cow goddess, right?

I am sending you a sister's hug and kisses, my dear,

Sonja Myriel

[Stasha]

no, she is not a cow goddess! that is how yo can tell them apart. the lack of horns!

[Sonja Myriel]

xxx

[Stasha]

at the end of one of my activations, july 1st 2011. when i woke i was a lionness. I was very tall and my mane was sooo long! i felt blue, but almost white, sparkly crystal and blue