Goddesses of Ancient Egypt ~ H-I

Hagar
A desert goddess of lower Egypt. Occult lore links her to the moon.

Hak
A frog-headed goddess of resurrection.

Hapimou
This name means the Nile. "He" was depicted with the beard of a man and the breasts of a child-bearing woman.

Hast
Another goddess of the underworld mentioned in the Book of the Dead.

Hathor
The Great Celestial Cow Goddess of ancient Egypt, creator of the world and all it contains. Protectress of women, she is the Goddess of love and joy, the mistress of merriment. She is the sovereign of music and dance and the weaving of garlands. She often places Her spirit in the sistrum, a sacred rattle which drove away evil spirits. Her temple was the home of intoxication and place of enjoyment. She nourishes the living with her milk and welcomes the dead into the next world. She was also worshipped in 11th century B.C. Israel. Sometimes depicted with a lion head, as the Sphinx, the lotus was Her flower.
This ancient Goddess of Creation and Nourishment of Life was worshipped as a major deity in Egypt for over 3000 years. After she gave birth to the solar globe in her form as a Cow Goddess, she held it between her horns while swimming through the cosmic ocean. Hathor was originally worshipped in the form of a cow, sometimes as a cow with stars on her. Later she was represented as a woman with the head of a cow, and finally with a human head, the face broad and placid, sometimes depicted with the ears or horns of a cow. She is also shown with a head-dress resembling a pair of horns with the moon-disk between them. Sometimes she is met with in the form of a cow standing in a boat, surrounded by tall papyrus reeds.
As the "Mistress of the Necropolis" she is shown as the head of a cow protruding from a mountainside. In this case she wears a menat necklace, which is a symbol of rebirth. In later times, when the Osiris cults gained popularity, her role changed. She now welcomed the arrival of the deceased to the underworld, dispensing water to the souls of the dead from the branches of a sycamore and offering them food. Hathor was also represented as a cow suckling the soul of the dead, thus giving them sustenance during their mummification, their journey to the judgement hall, and the weighing of their soul. In the Late Period, dead women identified themselves with Hathor, as men identified with Osiris. Relations: Daughter of Nut and Ra. Wife of Ra, mother of Ihy. Many legends portray her as the mother of Horus the Elder. Other as the wife of Horus of Edfu, The fruit of this union was Horus the Younger . At Thebes, she was considered a goddess of the dead, and wore the hieroglyph for "West" (amenta) on her head. She was also the patron of love, dance, alcohol, and foreign lands.

Hatmehet
(Fish) Consort of Banebdjedet, She is the Guardian and Patron of fishermen and the fishing industry.

Hedetet
A scorpion goddess mentioned in the Book of the Dead.

Heket
Frog-headed goddess of childbirth. Her husband fashioned the bodies from clay and she gave them life.

Hepat
(Hekit) Goddess of Midwives, concerned with birth, particularly with alleviating the dangers and pain of the birth process. The frog was her animal

Heretkau
(Human) Cthonic mortuary Goddess concerned with protection of souls in the afterlife. Images often associate her as a servant or assistant to Isis.

Heptet
A serpent-headed goddess of resurrection who is associated with the resurrection of Osiris.

Heqet
A primordial goddess with the head of a frog, worshipped as one of the Eight Gods at Hermopolis, and seen as the consort of Khnum at Arsinoë.

Herit
Goddess of the North.

Her-sha-s
Goddess of the mid-day desert.

Her-tept
Another serpent-headed goddess of the underworld. She takes care of the mummified Osiris.

Het
Het is the Egyptian serpent goddess who rules fire.

Isis
Originally Isis was known as Au Set, a predynastic Egyptian Goddess dating from 3000 BCE. At the apex of her influence, this Goddess of Rebirth was worshiped throughout the Greco-Roman world. Her temples were finally closed in the 4th century AD, but her role as Mother of God, as well as many other Christian borrowings from her mythos, were assumed by the Virgin Mary. She laid upon the dead body of her husband-brother, Osiris (whose annual death symbolized the fertilizing of fields by Nile floodwaters), and conceived Horus, the falcon-headed deity who is the original "son of God(ess)."
The name Isis means "throne woman," and she was venerated as the inventor of agriculture, law and medicine, and as the Mother who placed the Sun God Ra in the sky. According to Egyptian scriptures, "in the beginning there was Isis, Oldest of the Old, the Goddess from whom all becoming arose."
Triple Isis: Mother Goddess of Birth, Life and Death. This dark-skinned African trio is perhaps the oldest example of the trinitarian ancient goddess. Cat Goddess Bast is her lunar/fertility aspect, holding ankh (a tantric life-force symbol) in her left hand and sacred poppy in her right. With her sun-disc/moon crescent crown, Isis Queen of Heaven and Earth represents the Mother Goddess aspect. She is the prototype of the Mother of God later adopted by the Christian tradition. Sekmet, the ravaging lioness, with her burning solar eye, is the goddess's destroyer/devourer aspect.
Wings spread on bended knee, the Great Goddess Isis was the original Divine Mother; hieroglyphic hymns praised her as "she who made light with her feathers and wind with her wings." A magnificent golden colored image can be seen on a royal mummy case, on which her form was painted in order to catch the departing soul in her wings and shepherd it to a new life.
Isis was worshiped throughout the Greco-Roman world. She was venerated as inventor of agriculture, law and medicine, the Mother who placed the Sun God Ra in the sky.
This goddess of healing and magic lived with her brother/husband Osiris until he was killed by his brother Set. Isis found his body in Phoenicia in a tamarisk tree and returned it to Egypt for a proper burial. After Set's second attempt to dispose of the body, Isis brought Osiris back to life and later conceived a child with him, Horus.
Isis created a snake that bit Ra, highest of the gods. He asked her to heal him but she claimed that she could not until he whispered his secret name to her; he did and, in curing him, she gained eternal power over him.
The Goddess of motherhood, marital devotion, healing the sick, & the working of magical spells & charms. She was believed to be the most powerful magician in the universe, owing to the fact that she had learned the Secret Name of Ra from the god himself. She was the most important Goddess of all Egyptian mythology, & embodies the archetype of Great Mother. The female counterpart of Osiris, in human terms, she was his sister. She was the same as him only of the opposite gender. Just as mankind is of two opposite yet equal genders, male and female, the nature of the divine cannot be expressed without reference to the same two aspects. Isis was the female nature of the human aspect of God. She was equal and opposite to Osiris and yet her function, like that of a woman was very different.
The more elements that are brought into play concerning Ancient Egyptian theology, the more complex everything becomes. Nothing was ever simple! Isis was in simple terms, the immaculate conception of the Universe. She was the means by which life was generated through the power of Ra, the constantly visible aspect of Fire, the force that was responsible for everything.
She was revered by the Egyptian people as the great mother-goddess and represents the maternal spirit in its most intimate form. She is often seen suckling a young Horus. In the Osiris legend she is seen as a dutiful wife, a grieving widow and as a protector of the dead. As a winged goddess she may represent the wind. In the Osiris legend there are references to Isis wailing and moaning like the wind. She is also continually travelling up and down the land in search of her lost husband. Upon finding Osiris' body, she takes the shape of one of the swiftest birds, a kite. Flapping and darting above his dead body she wails in mourning. She restores life to Osiris by flapping her wings and filling his mouth and nose with air. Isis was a great enchantress, the goddess of magic. Together with Thoth, she taught mankind the secrets of medicine. She was the embalmer and gaurdian of Osiris. She is often rendered on the foot of coffins with long wings spread to protect the deceased.