Aset
From Wepwawet Wiki
Aset is dual-aspected with Serqet.
Name
Aset (ah-seht)
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The Throne
Names - Alternate
Auset, Ese, Ast
Greek: Isis
Appearance
Most often appearing as a woman with the heiroglyph for "throne" on her head, but She can also be depicted as a regal woman taking the infant Heru-sa-Aset to breast. Aset's theophany is a kite and She is most often depicted in this form in Her roles associated with protection and funerary rites.
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Parents
Consorts
Sister/Wife of Wesir
Children
Heru-sa-Aset is the son of Aset by Wesir and in some later myths, Aset is said to have adopted Yinepu.
Epithets
- Mistress of Magic
- Aset, Great of Magic
- Queen of Heaven
- Lady of Green Crops
- She Who Gives Birth to Heaven and Earth
- She Who Knows the Orphan
- She Who Knows the Widow
- She Who Seeks Justice for the Poor
- She Who Seeks Shelter for the Weak
Roles
She learns Ra's true name and thus the secrets of the universe.
Aset is a powerful magician and protective mother. Her sister, Nebt-het appears with her in the Hall of Judgement, behind Wesir's throne. She played a central role in her son Heru-sa-Aset's ascention to the throne, which was contended by her brother Set.
In the cult of Wesir, Aset is attributed with having prepared Him for burial and conceiving a son upon His dead body, which She magically reanimates long enough to complete.
The Egyptian fertility goddess who personifies the Dog Star, Sirius. With the appearance of Sirius at dawn in July (the 'heliacal rising') the annual inundation of the Nile began, a phenomena ascribed to Sopdet. Thus she became associated with the fertility and prosperity resulting from the annual floods. In a papyrus dated from ca. fourth century BCE, Aset identifies herself with Sopdet as she laments the death of Wesir. Later Sopdet merged with Aset entirely.
Worship Centers
Myths
It was revealed to Ra that His grand-children, Nut and Geb would bear a child who would usurp His throne over the Two-Lands. Ra was determined to prevent this prophecy from ever coming to fruition, so He had forbidden Nut and Geb from being together by ordering His own son, Shu, the Father of Nut and Geb to seperate them for all of eternity. Strong as Shu had been by lifting His daughter high into the sky and away from Her Brother, Nut and Geb managed to find a way to come together and so it would come to pass that Nut would carry the children of Her Brother, Geb.
Discovering that Nut was with children, Ra was enraged. He had long thought of how He could prevent His Grand-daughter from giving birth to the heir to His throne and so, Ra, Creator of and Lord over the Entire Universe, decreed that there should not be a single day within the 360-day year that Nut would be allowed to give birth.
Distraught, Nut had supplicated Djehuty, Wisest of the Gods, for an answer to her predicament. He pondered Her problem and told Her not to fret as He would find an answer for Her. Djehuty went to see Khonsu, who ruled the phases of the moon, and played a game of Senet in which Khonsu was cajoled into betting some of his light. Djehuty being the Wisest of the Gods won the game of Senet and used the light He won from Khonsu to fashion the five days Nut needed to give birth to Her five children. Wesir was the first of the five children of Nut and Geb, being followed, in order, by Set, Heru-wer, Aset, and Nebt-het.
Ra had relinquished the throne to Shu, who after a time had relinquished it to Geb, who, in turn, bestowed the Kingship upon Wesir, who ruled over the Earth and brought a fruitful utopia to the Land. In the earliest myths, Wesir accidentally drowns in the annual innundation of the Nile Valley and, though, much of His body was recovered after a crocodile (or hippopotamus) had tore Him to bits, His penis was swallowed by a fish. In later myths, Wesir's jealous Brother, Set tricks Him and murders Him before cutting His body to pieces and throwing it into the Nile, making sure to feed Wesir's penis to a fish.
His faithful Sister and Wife, Aset had reconstituted and revived Wesir's body using Her great magical prowess, but was forced to fashion an artificial penis by which Wesir could impregnante Her with their child, Heru-sa-Aset.
For further reading, see:
- The Contendings of Horus and Seth
- How Isis, Great of Magic, Learned the Secret Name
Offerings
Food/Drink
- Goldschläger
- Never offered: fish, pork.
Items
- Knots
Stones
- Diamond
- Gold
- Jasper
- Labradorite
- Lapis lazuli
- Moldavite
- Moonstone
- Obsidian
- Rainbow Obsidian
- Onyx
- Pearl
- Rose Quartz
- Ruby
- Sapphire
Scents
Colours
- White
- Blue
- Gold
Flowers
Prayer Associations
The Names of Netjer are not static divinities like their counterparts in other cultures (i.e., Goddess of Love, God of War, Goddess of Sex, etc). They are not simply relegated to their specific spheres of influence and are therefore not powerless beyond those realms. The ancients had a healthy and regular relationship with their gods and thus asked of their particular deity anything they may have needed or wanted. However, there are many things within Aset's spheres of influence that She may be very proficient in helping you with:
- Prayers for children
- Prayers for pregnancy
- Prayers for fertility
- Prayers for a loved's one's safety
- Prayers for justice
- Prayers for protection
- Prayers to be skilled with guile
- Prayers for strength
- Prayers to survive the mourning process
Common Misconceptions
Aset is not the same goddess as Isis.
In ancient times prior to the invasion of the Greeks and Romans, She was never considered the same goddess as all the other goddess nor was She considered to be the one Goddess who held within Herself all the other goddesses.
