The Deity Het-Heru

Het-Heru, Het-Hert, or Hathor is an ancient goddess of Egypt who was worshiped as a cow-deity. Here is an explanation of the deity Het-Heru from the Isis Moon website.

"The name "Hathor" is the Greek corruption of the variants Het-Hert ("the House Above") and Het-Heru ("the House of Horus"). Both terms refer to her as a sky goddess. The priests of Heliopolis often referred to her as Ra's consort, the mother of Shu and Tefnut. Like Isis, Hathor was considered by many to be the goddess "par excellence" and held the attributes of most of the other goddesses at one time or another.

Like Isis and Mut, Hathor was a manifestation of the "Great Mother" archetype; a sort of cosmic Yin. She had so very many manifestations that eventually seven important ones were selected and widely worshiped as the "Seven Hathors": Hathor of Thebes, Heliopolis, Aphroditopolis, Sinai, Momemphis, Herakleopolis, and Keset.

The Greeks identified her with Aphrodite, and this is not too far off, as she represented, in the texts, everything true, good, and beautiful in all forms of woman; mother, wife, sister, and daughter; also the patron of artists of every kind, and of joyful things, festivals, and happiness.

The star Sirius (called by the Egyptians Sepdet) was sacred to her. The Goddess Hathor is the Mistress of Love and Beauty. She is the Goddess of Gold, and turquoise is sacred to her. She inspires love in people's hearts, and is the patron of women's beauty rituals. From her arises the fertility and fecundity of the Earth and Life itself.

She is generally said to be the daughter of Ra, and is easily his equal in power. Her myths and aspects have been conflated with other Goddesses over time: As the Divine Cow, she takes Nuit's place as the sky Goddess, and gives birth to Ra each morning. As Sekhmet, she represents the fiery burning rays of the Sun that can cause the crops to grow as well as the deserts to spread.

As Het-heru (her Egyptian name), she is allied with Horus in his form as Ra-Harakty. ("Het-heru" literally means "house of Horus", another name for the sky.) She and Isis are often given similar forms and functions, and can frequently be mistaken for or substituted for each other. As Uatchet, she becomes the spitting cobra that sends out the fiery solar rays to destroy evildoers. Again as the Divine Cow, she is considered the Mother of all the pharaohs.
In ancient Egypt, Hathor was the principal Goddess of several Nome cities. Her best known shrine was at Denderah (Ta-en-tarert), where a late Kingdom representation of the Zodiacal constellations has been found. She also had major shrines at Diospolis Parva (Het), Aphroditopolis of Uatchet (Tchebut), Cusae (Qesi), and Aphroditopolis of Mayten (Tchep-ahet) in Upper Egypt, and at Apis (Nut-ent-Hap) in Lower Egypt.

-->Back