Scorpio

Selket, The Scorpion Goddess

(October 24 - November 22)

by Elikozoe

Selket statue in Cairo museum,
Wikipedia Commons

Selket (Also spelt Selkis, Serket etc.) was the Egyptian Goddess of magic. She was traditionally depicted in the form of a woman with a scorpion on her head (or in some variations, as a woman with scorpion body parts.)

In Egyptian mythology she was essentially revered as a beneficial goddess. In some myths, she helped Isis and her son Horus by sending her seven scorpions to protect them from Set. Selket was also associated with childbirth and nursing, offering her protection to women and children.

She rules over all venomous creatures (scorpions, snakes, spiders…) and as such, embodies the venom as well as the antidote, thus being both a protector of the dead and of the magicians (dealing with poisons and philters.)

Protector of the tents of embalmers, she was associated to the canopic jar holding the intestines of the deceased —which was deified as Qebehsenuef, one of the Four sons of Horus (the hawk-headed one).

As well as the astrological sign of Scorpio (ruled by Hades, Greek god of the Afterworld) this ancient goddess is reminding us of the ambivalence of death and re-birth.