BAST

 

Background information:

 

Bast’s holy city Bubastis possessed Egypt’s greatest temple. She is depicted enthroned as the cat-headed incarnation of Isis, or alternately as the seated Sacred Cat. Related to Neith, the Night Goddess, Bast symbolized the moon in its function of making a woman fruitful, with swelling womb. She was also the Egyptian goddess of pleasure, music, dancing and joy.

Bast is a Kemetic (ancient Egyptian) Goddess [1]worshiped at Bubastis in the Nile Delta[2].

In ancient artwork, Bast is typically shown as a beautiful girl with the head of a cat. She is commonly shown with black, white, yellow, or glowing skin. Sometimes She is shown as a light-skinned European girl with long blonde hair and bright blue eyes. She is often shown as fully cat.

Bast is the Goddess of cats, the rising sun, the moon, truth, enlightenment, lesbians, sexuality, physical pleasures, fertility, bounty, birth, plenty, the household and protector of the home, civilization, creation, music, dance, the arts, hemp, and the battler of serpents which attack the sun god. Bast also represents the Maiden aspect of the Triple Goddess. She was viewed as the beneficent side of the lioness-goddess Sekhmet. [3]

Other Civilizations Bast is associated with:

Germanic, Greek and Roman (where she was the second most popular goddess among women, after Isis) and many other cultures worshipped Bast even though Bast originated in ancient Egypt.

Other names for Bast:

Kemetic names: Bast, Bastet, Pasch, Ubasti, Ba en Aset (N.B. In addition to native variations by locality or over time, there are often several possible transliterations into the Roman alphabet used for English.)[4]

Greek names: Artemis, Kore Artemis

Artemis was the goddess of the hunt, the mistress of the beasts, and the goddess of the moon (hence Bast's association with the moon). This virgin goddess of the moon, like Bast, killed and punished those that Zeus or the Fates wanted punished [The Illiad (24.603)/The Odyssey (15.403)] much like Bast helped to protect Ra (the sun god).[5]

Bastet is the name of Bast when She is in fully cat form.

Pasch is recorded in extremely ancient documents as being an older version of Her name. We get the modern English word “passion” from Pasch.

Sacred Times:

Day of the Week: Bast is associated with Monday.

Months: Bast is associated with March and April.

Wiccan/Pagan Holidays: Ostara (Spring Equinox) March 21. Ostara is one of the eight Sabbats of the Wiccan religions. Ostara is the Germanic version of Bast.

Feast of Sekhmet and Bast: Dedicated to Sekhmet and Bast. Forerunner of Halloween. Celebrated on October 31.

Sagittarius Festival: Greek holy day. Sagittarius Festival, dedicated to Artemis/Diana, whom the Greeks considered to be the same Goddess as Bast. Celebrated on November 22.[6]