Bastet and Sekhmet: Egyptian Goddesses of Fire, Protection, and Power

Sunlight and Claws: Bastet’s Sacred Invitation

There’s a moment—just before dusk or just after dawn—when sunlight feels like a blessing. When it rests warm on the skin, filters through petals, flares gold on glass. And then there are moments when that same sun burns. Glares. Blinds. The ancient Egyptians knew this duality, named it holy, and gave it form in two goddesses: Bastet and Sekhmet.

They are not enemies. Not opposites. Not good and bad. They are sisters. Two eyes of the same sun. Two expressions of one force: fierce and feminine.

Cats know this paradox. One moment, they’re a purring spiral of softness in the window light; the next, a flash of claw, untouchable and wild. The sacred feminine holds this same contradiction. Soft and dangerous. Loving and not-to-be-crossed.

Bastet, cat-headed and calmly watching, meets us in this tension. Guardian of the hearth, goddess of pleasure, protector of joy. She teaches us not just how to soften into delight, but how to defend it—with claws, if needed.

Bastet and Sekhmet: The Two Eyes of Ra

In her earliest incarnations, Bastet bore the head of a lioness. She stood at the threshold of temple and kingdom, ferocious and flame-eyed, the protector of pharaohs and divine order. Alongside her sister Sekhmet, she was one of the many manifestations of the Eye of Ra—that great searing force the sun god sends forth when the cosmic scales tip out of balance.

Sekhmet appears in the Book of the Heavenly Cow, a myth preserved from the New Kingdom. In it, humanity has turned against Ra. The Eye—his feminine counterpart—is dispatched as punishment. Sekhmet rages so brilliantly, so terribly, that blood spills and the earth trembles beneath her feet. And even when Ra calls her back, she does not stop. Not until he floods the land with beer dyed the colour of blood. Only then, intoxicated, does her bloodlust fade. Some say she wakes from her frenzy as Bastet.

This is not a taming. This is transformation. A shifting of shape, not of essence.

By the Middle Kingdom, the lioness becomes a cat—sleek, domestic, still sovereign. Bastet, now a goddess of music, sensuality, and fertility, stretches into a new archetype, but her solar roots remain. In The Loyalist Teaching, a didactic wisdom text from the 12th Dynasty, the ideal king is praised for embodying both: the gentle grace of Bastet and the righteous wrath of Sekhmet.

What would it mean to honour that duality in ourselves?

Altars to Bastet: Symbols, Offerings, Everyday Devotion

Bastet invites us to create sacred space in the everyday. Her symbols are sensual and powerful, grounded in pleasure, rhythm, and fierce love:

• Cats and Kittens – Independent, watchful, tender. Sacred companions that dwell on the edge of the wild.

• The Sistrum – A musical rattle used in her temples, calling joy into the body and ecstatic rhythm into the bones.

• Perfume and Oils – Fragrance offered as devotion, the scent of sanctified pleasure.

• Solar Disks – Tracing her lineage to Ra, reminding us of her radiant, elemental power.

• Lioness Imagery – Still present in her early forms, a sacred tether to Sekhmet and the unforgotten fire.

Her offerings are not demands, but invitations: music played from the hips, a bath taken without apology, a fierce and sacred no. She asks us to delight in the world without losing ourselves to it. And to know what is ours to protect.

From Lioness to Cat: What Gets Lost in the Softening

The reshaping of Bastet over time—from lion-headed warrior to sleek domestic companion—is more than just a historical curiosity. It reveals something deeper about how cultures—and empires—respond to power in feminine form.

As rule shifted from Upper to Lower Egypt, so too did the image of Bastet. Her edges were smoothed. Her roar was lowered. She was made palatable.

It’s a pattern seen across pantheons: the taming of the goddess.

Sekhmet’s rage? Dangerous. Bastet’s purr? Acceptable.

But those who walk the spiral path know better. We feel the fire even beneath the softness. We know that the full spectrum of the feminine cannot—and must not—be diminished.

Across time, we’ve seen this too: Inanna’s descent, Kali’s blood-stained dance, the vilification of witches (always with their black cats, their knowledge, their knowing). Over and over, we’re told: you may be beautiful, but not wild. You may be nurturing, but not fierce.

We say: no more.

Bastet does not arrive to purr at your feet. She arrives to show you where your joy has grown thin, where your boundaries have dissolved. She arrives to remind you that your pleasure is worth protecting. And Sekhmet watches from the doorway—not to punish, but to mirror.

 

Why These Goddesses Still Matter—And Why They Matter Now

We are living in a time when the sacred feminine is stirring. Not just in whisper, but in howl. Bastet and Sekhmet rise together—sunlight and flame, silk and claw. They come with questions.

Where are your boundaries leaking?

Where have you softened yourself into disappearance?

Where have you been told your rage is too much? Your joy, too indulgent?

To walk with Bastet this is to say yes to beauty and yes to boundaries. Yes to your own rhythm. Yes to the parts of you that are fluid and feline and not here to perform.

To honour Sekhmet is not to glorify rage for its own sake—but to reclaim it as sacred. Righteous. Alchemical.

Together, they offer us a blueprint: how to burn without turning to ash. How to guard without closing our hearts. How to purr and roar and say no with love.

Come Walk With Bastet: Inside the MoonWise Membership

Each moonth, inside the MoonWise Membership, a goddess steps forward to guide our spiral journey. Through lunar astrology, tarot, journaling, and sacred storytelling, we follow her thread through the cycles of moon and self.

This moonth, Bastet walks with us—tail high, eyes knowing. She teaches us to make joy a devotional act, to stretch toward the sun but never forget our claws.

And Sekhmet walks beside her, not banished but returned. Her fire isn’t there to burn the world down, but to burn away what is false.

Come join us in remembering. In reclaiming. In becoming whole.

May we walk this moonth—

with golden light in our eyes,

music in our hips,

and boundaries built from love.

For those wanting to explore Bastet’s energy further, a free guide is available for download.

👉 https://www.jessicaandthemoon.com/products/goddess-workbook-bast

Perfect for printing or digital use in apps like GoodNotes, it offers journal prompts, rituals, and insights to help you bring the goddess of the hearth into your life.

Workbook:

Further Reading & Resources

The Book of the Dead (Translation by E.A. Wallis Budge) – Contains references to the Great Cat and other solar deity imagery.

The Book of the Heavenly Cow (summary via UCLA) – The myth of Sekhmet’s rampage and pacification.

ARCE: Bastet and the Cult of Feline Deities – Scholarly article exploring Bastet’s evolution.

Herodotus, Histories Book II – Describes the Festival of Bastet at Bubastis.

Encyclopedia Britannica – Sekhmet – Overview of Sekhmet’s mythology and associations.

Feminism and Religion: Sekhmet and Bastet – Modern reflection with historical grounding.

👉 https://www.jessicaandthemoon.com/products/goddess-workbook-bast