The Ultimate Vampire Resource and Directory

Meeting the Goddess Sekhmet











For the visualised meeting with Sekhmet you will need a table or shelf to use as an altar. On this place an image of the goddess. It doesn't have to be a statue of Sekhmet, a picture of a lioness or suitable lioness ornament will do for now. On either side of this place two red, orange or gold candles. Decorate the altar with flowers of a similar colour. You will also need a small candle in a colour which you feel best represents you. This should be placed in front of your representation of the goddess. Some perfumed oil with which to anoint your personal candle is also needed. This should have a spicy exotic perfume. Sekhmet's incense should also be fiery and spicy. Eloise's recipe for Sekhmet incense is given at the end of the visulisation.



Sekhmet was often seen as the destructive power of the sun. Her name means powerful and violent. As a result a meeting with Sekhmet is one which can make the heart beat a little faster. We should also remember that, as an Eye of Ra, Bast also has a more fearsome side, while Sekhmet also has a more gentle aspect, as that of healer.



Our artist friend Ruby was inspired to paint Sekhmet's temple after visiting it in visualisation, as she did for Bast. We give this picture below as an example of what you might see, although your own imagery might differ from Ruby's. Everyone has their own private temple, created in their imaginations. Another of Ruby's pictures appears later in this article, and shows her personal visualisation of the goddess.











Sekhmet's Temple by Ruby







The Meditation

Light the altar candles and the incense.



Close your eyes and breathe deeply for a few minutes.



When you are totally relaxed, open your eyes, and light your small candle. Now, close your eyes once more, clear your mind and see only a black void before your inner eye. Imagine that blackness turning into fog, which swirls around you. Gradually, the fog dissipates.



As the fog clears, a scene is revealed before you of a desert landscape. You see a city before you, which is the ancient city of Memphis, sacred to Sekhmet. The red desert surrounds you and the air is hot and dry. Ahead of you is a 'wadi' or oasis pool. Lionesses laze around the edge of the water under the shade of tall palms. Here, like at the Temple of Bast, the lionesses seem as though they are the guardians of the place and you bow to them as you pass by.



There is a vast temple ahead of you that is dedicated to the god Ptah. He is the husband of Sekhmet and she resides in the heart of his temple.



Walk towards the temple. As you draw closer, you see that it is constructed of sandstone and comprises many colossal columns that are covered in bas relief hieroglyphs. An avenue of sphinx statues leads up to the entrance. Walk along it and through the immense gateway at the end.



The inside of the temple consists of a labyrinth of columns with no apparent altar. This is because Ptah has no visible altar. There is only a statue of the god. To enter the shrine to Sekhmet you must declare your intent to the presence of Ptah her husband and ask him to reveal to you her secret shrine.



Approach the statue of Ptah and ask his permission to pass by him to the fiery depths of his wife, Sekhmet's inner sanctum.



When you have done this, you hear a loud rumble and a doorway opens up in the floor behind the statue of Ptah. You can see a steep sandstone ramp leading down into the depths below. Begin to walk down the ramp. As you descend an orange red glow lights your way. You can see that fiery torches are alight upon colossal smooth stone walls. When you reach the bottom you find yourself in an enormous circular amphitheatre. It is lit completely by fire and there is a large pit in the centre where fire from deep within the earth roars upwards and into the shrine.



Opposite you, in an alcove in the far wall, stands a statue of the goddess Sekhmet. It is about twice life size and made of smooth black granite. Around the foot of the statue sit proud and attentive lionesses. There are no priests or priestesses present because this is the sanctuary of fire, storm, dread, war, death, yet also of life.



Stand before the statue and stare up into the goddess' face. In your mind, ask her to awaken to your presence. Tell her you wish, in the future, to work in her name, for the good of those who need her power. Ask her to acknowledge you.



See the statue open its eyes. The gaze of the powerful goddess stares in expectancy down upon you. Her open eyes are pure red orbs of light. A red glow is beginning to form around her as she comes alive. It becomes stronger until it is radiating out of all parts of the mighty statue.



Upon her head a large orange solar disk burns brightly with raging fire. In her hand she holds a radiant gold ankh that shines with a solar, life-giving light. It is almost too bright to look upon. You see the statue begin to move, slowly yet sinuously. Her footsteps shake the floor of the shrine. She towers over you, moving inexorably towards you, intensely black, yet shining with red light. She growls softly beneath her breath, like the rumble of a sleeping volcano.







Now cast your inner eye back to the statue on your altar at home and see it begin to glow with a red light. It too is coming alive. Sekhmet's presence is in the room with you now as well as in the temple.



Now, concentrate for a while on the candle of your colour and see a shaft of light of the same colour stretch out of the candle and flow towards the glowing statue of Sekhmet. Before you ask anything of her, she must see you for who you really are. She will only see you by the true colour of your spirit light.



As your coloured rays hit her statue she absorbs your very essence and at once knows who stands before her, for she can see into your soul, mind and heart with her gaze, and knows your every will and intention.



Keep visualising your colour ray flowing from the candle to the statue. Clear your mind of everything else. Let Sekhmet know you and your intention.



Now return again in your mind to the inside of the shrine where you stand before the goddess. This is the time when she might have knowledge to impart to you, or offer a symbolic gift of some kind. She may even ask you to do something for her.



Spend some minutes communing with the goddess. This is the time to talk with her so that she may know you. Perhaps you could tell her about your magical work and ask for her help. When you feel that the audience has come to an end, thank Sekhmet for her presence. Bow your head to her and then see her begin to retreat into her shrine. Again, feel the floor shake as she walks.



When she reaches her alcove, she turns back once more into a sleeping statue. Her eyes are no longer orange flame but shining black stone.



Turn to leave, paying your respects to the lionesses that protect the shrine. Pass back across the amphitheatre and climb back up to Ptah's temple. When you reach the top, the opening in the floor rumbles closed again behind you, sealing the secret shrine.



Thank Ptah for allowing you access and walk back out of the temple towards the desert. As you pass the oasis, bid farewell to the lionesses there. Imagine you are walking into a fog, which gradually turns into a black void. After a moment, the fog begins to clear once more and you are back in your own reality. Open your eyes when you are ready.







Sekhmet Incense Recipe





This is a rich red incense that smells spicy and immediately conjures an impression of heat and fiery sunlight. It is a pungent smell that echoes the strength and power of Sekhmet.





3 parts Frankincense.

1.5 parts dragon's blood.

1 part each of copal, juniper, cinnamon, benzoin and red sandalwood.

3/4 parts clove

Few drops each of frankincense and orange oil

Meeting the Goddess Bast











For the meeting with Bast you will need a table or shelf to use as an altar. On this place an image of the goddess. It doesn't have to be a statue of Bast, a picture of a cat or suitable cat ornament will do for now. On either side of this place two candles, preferably purple, blue or silver. A vase of blue, purple or white flowers would be appropriate as would some kind of incense and holder. You will also need a small candle in a colour which you feel best represents you. This should be placed in front of your representation of the goddess. Some perfumed oil with which to anoint your personal candle is also needed. Bast likes flowery perfumes for oil and incense if possible. (Eloise's Bast incense recipe is given at the end of the visualisation.)





Traditionally Bast is seen as a gentle goddess. She enjoys music, dancing and perfume. She is Goddess of love and joy and dancing. She is the gentle, nurturing warmth of the sun and the cat who can be picked up and stroked. However, we have to remember that, just like a cat, she does have a fiercer side to her nature as well.



Below is a picture of Bast's Temple as visualised by artist, Ruby, when she took part in one of our workings. You might pick up very different imagery to this - the picture is given only as an example. Ruby's inspired picture of Bast appears later in this article.











Bast's Temple by Ruby







The Meditation

Light the altar candles and the incense.



Close your eyes and breathe deeply for a few minutes.



When you are totally relaxed, open your eyes, and light your small candle. Now, close your eyes once more, clear your mind and see only a black void before your inner eye. Imagine that blackness turning into fog, which swirls around you. Gradually, the fog dissipates.



As the fog clears, a scene is revealed before you of a desert landscape of reddish sand. Nearby, you see the mighty pylon of a temple.



Walk towards the temple. Feel the heat of the sand beneath your feet, and the hot sun on your body. How are you dressed in this world? Take note of your surroundings. Use your inner eye to look around. What can you see? Although you are being led in this visualisation, there is still plenty of space for you to add detail. No two people would ever see exactly the same imagery. Begin to build up your inner world. Make it real in your mind.



Now, walk to the pylon and take a few moments to examine the walls rearing above you. Do they have carvings on them, or are they unadorned? Take a deep breath and smell the air. Incense smoke is drifting out from the temple; its heady aroma fills your nose. You can hear faint music; the bleat of pipes and the low beating of drums. Enter beneath the shade of the pylon gate, cross a courtyard, and find yourself in a vast chamber of stone columns. It is quite dark, but on the floor there are bowls of burning oil that emit a flickering light. Here, the air is cooler and refreshing, and the smell of incense is complemented by a strong fragrance of exotic flowers. Perhaps there are people here - priests and priestesses - or perhaps you are alone. Again, spend a few moments looking round. Go to touch one of the columns; feel the rough texture of the stone beneath your fingers. As you look round, add your own details to the scene. Make it come alive for you.



Now, you walk across the hall of columns and pass through a door-way. You find you have entered a small shrine. Against one wall is a large black basalt statue of a seated cat, the sacred cat of Bast. The statue has golden earrings and a collar of faience. Bowls of incense smoulder before her and she is flanked by flickering flames. You see priests and priestesses are in the shrine. They are surrounded by cats, some sitting on the floor, some lying in niches in the walls. The air is full of the music of the cats; their purrs and cries. Pause to pay respect to the sacred cat of Bast. You can talk to the priests and priestesses if you like. They may have something to tell you, or a gift to impart. Stroke the cats around you.



After a few minutes, say farewell to the priests and priestesses and leave the shrine by another doorway. You find yourself in a corridor with painted walls. Again, it is quite dark, but you can see where you are going by the dim lamp-light glimmering on the floor.



Presently, the corridor opens out into a vast room, lined by columns. Ahead of you, at the other end of the chamber, you see a flight of golden steps that leads up to a life-size golden statue of the goddess. She is a cat-headed woman, carrying a sistrum, surrounded by kittens in gold. She wears a long sheath dress and a necklace around her throat, but her feet are bare. The steps are covered in cats, sleeping, grooming, playing. The room is full of soft, but lively music, played by priestesses on flutes and drums and rattles. Other priests and priestesses dance sinuously to the music, like cats themselves. The floor is covered in petals and as you walk upon them, they release their rich fragrance.



Approach the foot of the stairs and gaze up at the goddess. Visualise that gradually, the statue comes alive. The eyes become living eyes, and slowly, the rigid gold turns to furry skin. See the goddess descend the stairs towards you, her eyes full of benevolence and peace.







While this is happening, cast your inner eye back to the room where your statue of the goddess stands before the anointed candle. Imagine that the light of this candle shines into the statue, which is an extension of the senses of Bast in the temple. Through the light of this candle, Bast can see your soul, and recognise you.



Now, spend some time speaking with the goddess. She is a friend to you. She may show you things, give you a symbolic gift or simply offer affection. She may have words of advice for your work to come, or ask you to do something for her in the real world. Let your mind wander freely.



After a few minutes, bow to the goddess, thank her for this audience, and say farewell. See her begin to retreat up the stairs. When she reaches the top she assumes her normal position and turns back into a sleeping statue of gold.



Now, walk back through the temple, bidding farewell to the priests and priestesses, and all the cats. Go out into the desert.



Imagine you are walking into a fog, which gradually turns into a black void. After a moment, the fog begins to clear once more and you are back in your own reality. Open your eyes when you are ready.







Bast Incense Recipe





This incense incorporates bothh solar and lunar influences to reflect Bast's dual attributes as both a sun and moon goddess. It is also influenced also by her love of perfume and her various magical focuses such as love, happiness and fertility.



3 parts Frankincense

2 parts Gum Arabic

1 part Myrrh

1 part Catnip

1 part patchouli leaf

1 part Rose petal

1 part sandalwood.(Red or white)

1/2 part lavender

1/2 part Orris Root

2 drops each of Ylang Ylang and Carnation oil