Isis

Mythology

Isis is the central protagonist of the most loved Egyptian myth: the death and resurrection of Osiris. When her brother and husband Osiris was murdered and dismembered by their evil brother Seth, Isis traversed all of Egypt searching for the scattered pieces of his body. She magically gathered them all (except the genitals, devoured by a fish), reconstructed the body and used her enormous magic to resurrect Osiris briefly — long enough to conceive their son Horus who would later avenge the death of his father. After conceiving Horus, Osiris descended definitively to be eternal king of the underworld; Isis raised Horus secretly until his maturity, protecting him from Seth.

In addition to this central myth, Isis appears in many other myths: Isis and the seven scorpions (her magical journey protecting Horus child), Isis and the secret name of Ra (clever myth where she manipulates Ra to obtain his secret name and his power), Isis as healer of every illness, Isis as mistress of words of power. She is the most magical of the Egyptian deities — patron of magic itself in the Egyptian theology.

Symbolism and Hellenistic-Roman cult

Iconography: throne on her head (her hieroglyphic name is the throne — "she who is the throne", literal seat of the pharaoh-Horus), or cow horns with solar disk (later iconography), or vulture wings extended protecting the deceased. Sacred symbols: tyet or knot of Isis (sacred knot similar to the ankh but with curved loops, protective amulet), sistrum (sacred ritual rattle), sycamore tree.

During the Hellenistic and Roman period (300 BC - 400 AD), the cult of Isis spread massively outside Egypt, all through the Mediterranean. Big temples to Isis in Rome, Pompeii (the famous Iseum), Athens, Alexandria, all the great Hellenistic-Roman cities. Her popularity competed with the established Greek-Roman gods. Many features of her iconography (mother holding child Horus on her lap) influenced later Christian iconography of the Virgin Mary with child Jesus — direct visual continuity. Her cult was so popular and competing that Christianity, after gaining political power in the 4th century, severely persecuted it; the temple of Isis on the island of Philae was the last great Egyptian temple in operation, finally closed in 537 AD by Emperor Justinian.

Modern reading

In modern Wicca, Western occultism and feminist neo-paganism, Isis is one of the most powerful invoked goddesses. Represents the complete divine feminine: magical wife, devoted mother, healer, mistress of life and death, divine teacher of magic. Invoked for: 1) Magical work of all kinds (she is THE patron magician of the West). 2) Healing physical, emotional, spiritual. 3) Reunion with deceased loved ones (her work with Osiris). 4) Recovery of lost feminine power (Isis claims her place even after losing Osiris). 5) Sustaining motherhood in difficult conditions. 6) Protection of children. Her sacred numbers: 3 (her triple form). Sacred colours: deep blue, gold.