Isis - Goddess of Love

[Ɔkyeame Kwame]

Isis - Goddess of Love

The daughter of Geb, sister to Osiris and Seth, the opposing gods of the ancient land, Isis, would be the epitome of love. Isis was also the great wife of the god Osiris. The goddess became the essence of nurturing love and magic. When a jealous Seth slew the beloved Osiris and dropped his body into the Nile, Isis did not simply mourn her lost love, but moved all forces of nature and rescued the body of her husband from where it had come to rest in Byblos.

Isis, with her sister Nepthys, prepared for the ceremonial burial of Osiris, when his murderer, his brother Seth, stole the body away and hacked it into fourteen pieces. Isis searched the length and breadth of Egypt, gathering together his pieces and, with the god, Anubis, bound him together to make him whole, save for his phallus. Isis formed a thingy and attached it to her deceased husband’s body, for this and her unfathomable skills of re-creation, she is called Isis, ‘great of magic.’

Her magic made wings and she became a desert kite, circling the sky, wailing and lamenting over the deceased Osiris. The wings and the wind they created, wafted the breath of life into the dead Osiris. Then, the devoted wife, mounted her husband and with their union, conceived a son, Horus. Fearful that the jealous Seth would seek out and injure her son, she bid her husband farewell. Osiris descended into the to rule over the Netherworld. Isis went out into the countryside, gave birth to Horus and hid him in the papyrus marshes, guarding him from Seth and the natural forces and dangers, such as snakes and predators, until he came of age.

Ever after, kings, were the incarnation of Horus and the kings sought the protection of the goddess. The ancient regents saw the goddess with a throne upon her head and reached out to the divine essence of royalty. As wife of Osiris, associated with king ship or the deceased kings of Egypt, and as mother of Horus, the falcon god, always associated with the living Pharaoh, so Isis with her powers of love and magic became the epitome of the rights of kings.

Isis is often seen with a sistrum, the musical instrument, whose sound is pleasing to the gods. She invariably carries the ankh, the symbol for eternal life. She is often depicted carrying a was scepter and at her waist, is the powerful amulet and symbol of the goddess, ‘the tet’, a ankh-like symbol, with softened, downturned arms, carved in red stone. It is believed that the tet in combination with the djed pillar, symbol of Osiris, is imbued with the forces of nature.

As the protector of the king, she is shown with wings, curving to caress coffins and sarcophagi of many a king and even those of the nobles and high-born, who could afford to have her sacred image carved or caste and set upon their funereal equipment. In certain papyri she is shown with her falcon wing headdress, covering her ears. She will either wear plumes atop this headdress, or in her association with the other nurturing mother, goddess Hathor, she will wear a sun disc, encircled by the horns.

Throughout the rule of the pharaohs, and on into the Greco-Roman times, and on into modern times, this goddess, because of her tenacious devotion, is known as the goddess of love. The Greeks, likewise, elevated Isis with her divine consort to the heavens. Osiris was Orion and Isis was Sirius. For her brilliance, Isis was called the ‘eye of Re,’ the powerful sun god.

Another representation of Isis is as the ‘house’ of Osiris, the womb of Horus.