Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Nuit: The Night Sky

Nuit. Goddess of the sky as represented by the night sky (stars).  Goddess of resurrection.  Her hands and feet attach to the Earth at the four cardinal points, representing N, S, E, and W.  Mother of the Sun and the Moon.  She gives birth to the Sun every morning, and eats it every night.

"She gives birth to the sun in the east and swallows the sun in the west."

"Nut was sometimes represented as a woman carrying a vase of water on her head, which was often horned.  The hieroglyph for her name, is a water pot, which is also thought to represent a womb or Aquarius."

"She was a goddess of death, and her image is on the inside of most sarcophagi. The pharaoh entered her body after death and was later resurrected."

"In the Book of the Dead, Nut was seen as a mother-figure to the sun god Ra, who at sunrise was known as Khepera and took the form of a scarab beetle (at noon he was Ra at his full strength, and at sunset he was known as Tem (Temu, Atem) who was old and weakening):

Homage to thee, O thou who hast come as Khepera, Khepera the creator of the gods, Thou art seated on thy throne, thou risest up in the sky, illumining thy mother [Nut], thou art seated on thy throne as the king of the gods. [Thy] mother Nut stretcheth out her hands, and performeth an act of homage to thee....

The Company of the Gods rejoice at thy rising, the earth is glad when it beholdeth thy rays; the people who have been long dead come forth with cries of joy to behold thy beauties every day. Thou goest forth each day over heaven and earth, and thou art made strong each day by thy mother Nut....

Homage to thee, O thou who art Ra when thou risest, and who art Tem when thou settest in beauty. Thou risest and thou shinest on the back of thy mother [Nut], O thou who art crowned the king of the gods! Nut welcometh thee, and payeth homage unto thee, and Maat, the everlasting and never-changing goddess, embraceth thee at noon and at eve....

The gods rejoice greatly when they see my beautiful appearances from the body of the goddess Nut, and when the goddess Nut bringeth me forth."

Sources: http://www.crystalinks.com/nut.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nut_(goddess)

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