I Think I Found Her

[anubisa]

Hey everyone,

Well early this morning I had a dream about Bast. As you all know, I found my personal god first and that was Anubis/Anpu. I think Bast is reaching out to me as my personal goddess. It's taken a very long time for this to happen because I haven't felt any connection to any of the goddesses of the Egyptian religion. Do you all have any information about Bast? I would really appreciate it. Thanks.

[Gleb]

Re: I Think I Found Her

Here are some links that may appear useful:

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

http://www.crystalinks.com/bast.html

http://www.per-bast.org/bast/

From personal practice, I know that Bast focuses on joy, and helps her followers to see the beautiful things in life, and to enjoy it. Perhaps it's only in my case because I use to go hard on myself. Bast is awesome! And so is Yinepu!

I hope that helped!

[anubisa]

Re: I Think I Found Her

Thank you so much Gleb. The links have helped a lot and I had another dream about Bast so I am pretty sure that Bast is the goddess that I have been waiting for. It's strange, somewhat, Anubis is jackal-headed and Bast is cat-headed. Very interesting.

[Heka]

It's strange, somewhat, Anubis is jackal-headed and Bast is cat-headed. Very interesting.

Anubis and Bast are my favourite. I have a statue of both of them on my altar. Their heads are my favourite bit!

[anubisa]

Re: I Think I Found Her

I love Anubis' head. I've always felt drawn to him for some reason. Now though, i'm sure that Bast is the goddess I have been looking for.

[monsno_leedra]

Re: I Think I Found Her

Please don't take this as baiting, thinking your wrong or any such thing.

Can you say why you think it is Bastet? The reason I ask is Pahket is cat headed and often compared to Bastet. Early Bastet is compared and had the same statuary as Sehkmet. Some forms of Bastet are possibly equated to cross over from Mafdet. Not counting the totality of Kemetic goddess that had some sort of cat head as one of their images.

For me personally I ask as I find it interesting how people see Bastet and what time frame they see her as. Ie 2nd century she is the lion headed eye of Ra and associated with battle and the sun, by the 22nd dynasty she's more of the modern cat headed night associated goddess, eye of Horus, a bit later she is the conflated Artemis / Bastet & Artemis / Pahket due to Hellenic presence in Egypt. Then both Pahket and Bastet are also renowned for their cat burials and cat mummies at their respective temples at Baubista and Benni Hassan.

Will forewarn there are not a lot of statuary pieces to Pahket and near as I recall a limited number of engravings and such at her temple. Only a couple of detailed records of her temple that i've found or been able to get access to. Also do not confuse Pahket with Paschet which is a corrupted name for Bastet and is greatly in question from what I can find.

[anubisa]

Re: I Think I Found Her

In my heart I feel it is her. I had two dreams of a woman with a cat head. However, I will do more research. Thanks for helping me.

[monsno_leedra]

Re: I Think I Found Her

In my heart I feel it is her. I had two dreams of a woman with a cat head. However, I will do more research. Thanks for helping me.

Now I'm really curious, this entity you dreamed of didn't tell you her name? While I am always uncertain of which age of Bastet I am dealing with she was very precise and forward about saying who she was. The only one who was really out there and mysterious for me was Mafdet. Yet even then she did for she first said I am the bed upon which pharaoh sleeps in death sort of thing. Took a bit of research before I discovered Mafdet is the cat headed bed upon which the dead laid while tended to by Anubis. She's the black headed panther / leopard.

Other than having the head of a cat was there anything else that stood out if you don't mind sharing? I always find Bastet has the head of a desert cat which has long pointed ears not the ears of what western influences tend to show for her. I dislike wiki but here is a page about the Caracal which is the type cat I tend to see her as http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caracal

[HarpingHawke]

Re: I Think I Found Her

Hey everyone,

Well early this morning I had a dream about Bast. As you all know, I found my personal god first and that was Anubis/Anpu. I think Bast is reaching out to me as my personal goddess. It's taken a very long time for this to happen because I haven't felt any connection to any of the goddesses of the Egyptian religion. Do you all have any information about Bast? I would really appreciate it. Thanks.

Have you considered Kemetecism? The reason I ask is that it seems relevant to the gods who've thwapped you.

[anubisa]

Re: I Think I Found Her

Have you considered Kemetecism? The reason I ask is that it seems relevant to the gods who've thwapped you.

Well I am a Kemeticist, ugh...well I define myself as an Egyptian Wiccan. I started down that path when Anubis called to me.

- - - Updated - - -

Now I'm really curious, this entity you dreamed of didn't tell you her name? While I am always uncertain of which age of Bastet I am dealing with she was very precise and forward about saying who she was. The only one who was really out there and mysterious for me was Mafdet. Yet even then she did for she first said I am the bed upon which pharaoh sleeps in death sort of thing. Took a bit of research before I discovered Mafdet is the cat headed bed upon which the dead laid while tended to by Anubis. She's the black headed panther / leopard.

Other than having the head of a cat was there anything else that stood out if you don't mind sharing? I always find Bastet has the head of a desert cat which has long pointed ears not the ears of what western influences tend to show for her. I dislike wiki but here is a page about the Caracal which is the type cat I tend to see her as http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caracal

Ok. Now I am confused. I know it isn't Sekhmet, because she didn't have a lion-head. What I remember from my dream is that I was looking to a light. I think it was a golden light, but I don't exactly remember. I do remember her head was cat-shaped and she had a black head.

[monsno_leedra]

Re: I Think I Found Her

.. Ok. Now I am confused. I know it isn't Sekhmet, because she didn't have a lion-head. What I remember from my dream is that I was looking to a light. I think it was a golden light, but I don't exactly remember. I do remember her head was cat-shaped and she had a black head.

When Mafdet first made her presence known to me she would come out of a golden sun. Almost like looking into either a rising or setting sun low down on the horizon yet almost like a mirage in that everything shimmered and she slowly came into focus and presence. Sometimes holding a cat form all the way, other times shifting from a cat to an anamorphic human form with a cat like head.

[Munin-Hugin]

Re: I Think I Found Her

Well I am a Kemeticist, ugh...well I define myself as an Egyptian Wiccan. I started down that path when Anubis called to me.

- - - Updated - - -



Ok. Now I am confused. I know it isn't Sekhmet, because she didn't have a lion-head. What I remember from my dream is that I was looking to a light. I think it was a golden light, but I don't exactly remember. I do remember her head was cat-shaped and she had a black head.

Anubisa, go with your heart, and it will never steer you wrong. Your mind will try to trick you, and to make you doubt that what you see and experience is real or true, which while at first glance seems to be a bad thing, but in truth it is not. Take a look at things as your mind asks you to, review the options available, and then once again look back to your heart after seeing all the sides that your mind directed you to. Then all will be revealed.

[HarpingHawke]

Re: I Think I Found Her

Ok. Now I am confused. I know it isn't Sekhmet, because she didn't have a lion-head. What I remember from my dream is that I was looking to a light. I think it was a golden light, but I don't exactly remember. I do remember her head was cat-shaped and she had a black head.

Seconding others here. Just go with your heart. If it turns out She isn't Bast, then no big deal. If it originally appeared to you that She was Bast, go with it.

It's hard for others to have imput on your UPG because they weren't there having the dream. Ultimately, you're the one to decide.

[anubisa]

Re: I Think I Found Her

Anubisa, go with your heart, and it will never steer you wrong. Your mind will try to trick you, and to make you doubt that what you see and experience is real or true, which while at first glance seems to be a bad thing, but in truth it is not. Take a look at things as your mind asks you to, review the options available, and then once again look back to your heart after seeing all the sides that your mind directed you to. Then all will be revealed.

Thank you for the advice. I appreciate it a lot.

[monsno_leedra]

Re: I Think I Found Her

Again please don't take this as belittling or making light of your situation.

A lot of people will tell you to just go with your heart and assume it to be true. Yet consider you see a person all the time and you are positive her name is Catherine. You call to her as Catherine, tell everyone she's named Catherine. In your heart you know her name is Catherine. Yet no matter how hard you call her she doesn't answer. Yeah, she might turn towards you when you holler and you convince yourself she's answering you and acknowledging you. Yet she never really speaks to you. Try as you might nothing. Then eventually you start to wonder and begin to ask and discover her name never was Catherine it was Janet but you never found out who she was because you followed your heart and assumption that she was Catherine.

Or consider you get an email from some businessman in Nigeria who offers you great fortune if you'll only open an account and place money in it for them. The email seems legit, makes you feel good and somewhat important in that you've been chosen to be his representative in the US. You follow your heart and do as it asks. Not the lest reason being personal gain and needing to do nothing, well nearly nothing, to gain it. Then you find you've been taken and never discovered the truth because you didn't question and seek out the truth.

Perhaps it was Bastet who appeared to you in dream time. Perhaps it wasn't. One thing is for certain whomever it was didn't tell you who they were which suggests its not a matter of following your heart but seeking them out and discovering who she was. It seems sad so many would suggest you be a groupy and follow your heart vice actually discovering your heart and in turn discovering just who it might have been that appeared in dream time.

Especially with the advise of follow your heart it won't lead you wrong. The cyber walls are full of stories of people who followed their hearts and had their arse handed to them because of it. I'm willing to bet your physical life is full of friends and such who followed their heart blindly and got it broken off because of it. To follow your heart is to follow blindly and emotionally and assume the best regardless of what the conditions suggest.

Just imagine how much of a friendship or relationship you might have with Janet by asking and seeking than by following your heart and assuming she is Catherine. You've got a cat headed goddess whose appeared twice and gave no name. From a pantheon that has hundreds of goddess who use feline anamorphic traits. Traits that have changed frequently over the ages as various combinations of conflating have occurred. So not only are you looking potentially at a given goddess, but a given time frame, a given dynastic period and perspective, a given social and cultural period, ie 2nd century Bastet who is solar and warrior versus a 22nd dynastic period Bastet who is lunar and more fertility versus a Hellenized Bastet who is a combination of Artemis and Bastet. That assuming it is bastet your actually dealing with. Nor does it rule out the fact of an egregore Bastet that has been created by assumption of those who have created their own Bastet such as the Goddess of Lesbians Bastet that was pushed quite a bit.

A black headed cat figure is what you said you saw. Interesting, Bastet was not really a black headed cat in ancient Egypt that only came after she became popular in the west it seems. Yet Mafdet has always been black headed in the depictions of her. A female lioness can be cat looking and some of those were black headed and crossed into the Hellenized things from Egypt.

Don't assume who it is because your heart wants it to be them. Seek them out and ask who they are. Other wise you fall into the assume trap, ass-u-me. Then you'll be back here later asking why your pathway is not giving you what you need and why the gods / goddesses are not talking to you and you feel abandoned and alone. I'd also advise that since you've indicated Kemetic to a degree ponder the whole and ask was the vision one of a goddesses coming to claim or one who was sent to guide and inspire for a purpose and when that purpose is done or learnt will fade away. Consider who Anubis is paired with, consider Anubis takes the dead and such but Mafdet is the bed upon which the dead lay and are supported. Not saying Mafdet but just pointing out a pairing and a union of purpose and energy. One which at times gives a counter point to how the main figure works in understanding them deeper.

But don't fall into the "Follow your heart!" paradyn to make it true. Don't be bound to "Follow your head" paradyn either but probably fall more into the "Follow your gut" paradyn which is weighted between head and heart. Logic and emotion to counter and balance.

In the end of course up to you to decide for its your pathwalk and your life.