Auset: Kemetic Profile
What is the power of your thoughts combined with your words?
Auset is simply the most important deity in Kemetic culture, in my opinion. She is the seat of power; she is the force that your peace rests upon. She represents prayer, dedication, words of power, medication and that aspect of God, in you, that can never be defeated.
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𓊨𓏏𓁐
In almost all of the stories related to her, she is able to face the most powerful of beings and emerge from those experiences having won and achieving her objectives.
Here is the exact breakdown of her name:
• The Throne (𓊨): This is the foundational root of her name, visually representing the step-seat of power.
• The Bread Loaf (𓏏): As with Nebet, this half-loaf of bread represents the phonetic "t" sound, marking the word as grammatically feminine.
The Determinative (𓁐): This silent symbol of a seated woman or Goddess is placed at the very end to indicate that the name belongs to a female divine figure.
There are many stories that talk about the powers of Auset, but I’ll share this one to illustrate how these figures are really just aspects of your soul.
Auset had grown weary of simply having the power to control things on the physical realm, she even grew tired of having control of the other deities. She wanted her power to be on the level of God itself.
One of her divine powers was that whatever name she spoke—-that person would have divine life breathed into them (that was her gift, given to her from her father Ra). Now Ra never let any one of his children know his real name, it was forbidden for them to know it.
So Auset devised a plan…. She took some of the spittle that dropped from Ra’s mouth and turned it into a devastating monster. She didn’t let the monster stay in the sky, but put him on the ground where he could hide among the trees in the Earth.
It took the form of a serpent.
One day when Ra was walking through the Earth, the serpent surprised him and jumped out and bit him. Because the serpent was made from Ra’s own spittle, its venom was powerful….even for Ra.
Ra gathered ALL of his children around him. They all tried to cure him, but none of the deities could do it. Finally, they said, "Call Auset, she may be able to heal anything."
Ra said that he felt cold and hot at the same time and the venom was coursing through his body. He summoned Auset.
She came and said, "Dear Father what has happened? Has something you have
made reared up against you?”
(Note: the only thing that can defeat us, is something inside of ourselves).
He told he Auset what happened and she said, "Just tell me your name and I will command that the poison leave you."
Ra said, "I am he that created the universe. I cause the God Hapi (Nile) to rise and flow, brining life to everything in the land. Before existence, itself, I existed."
Auset said, "That is true my Father, but you still did not tell me your name."
Ra relented. The pain from the serpent—made from his own spittle—was too great.
He made all of the other deities disappear and he and Auset were alone.
He gave her the internal understanding of what his name is and she was able to call it. She said, "Poison, I command you to leave and to fall back to the ground so that
Ra will live! Ra shall live and the poison shall die!"
Ra recovered and Auset had the knowledge of the most powerful sound in the world, Ra’s name.
QUESTIONS
What do you think is the real power of the spoken word, in your opinion?
Why do you think the Kemetic people put so much emphasis on "Words of Power" (Hekau -speech itself)?
Use this infographic to discuss these things with your children, if you like.
