Who is the Nut Goddess?

Goddess Nut is in a classification called primordial gods, which are responsible for the creation of the universe. In this way, Nut is the goddess responsible for being the creator of your heavens, cosmos and stars, the mother of astronomy. As her form is of a woman, she is the conception of the mother, the initial image of what being a mother means.

Being the Goddess of the Heavens, her name inspired the word that determines nightfall in several languages: Nuit, from the French, which means night, and Night, in English. In addition, the Goddess is responsible for welcoming the dead into her celestial empire. She is the sky and everything that implies its grandiosity.

Knowing more about Goddess Nut

To understand about Goddess Nut, it is necessary to make a brief overview about her origin, about her family tree and, mainly, about her symbology in the astral field, since the goddess is responsible for several deliveries within the Egyptians' conception of the world.

Check out now a little more about this great Goddess and how her influence is understood in various fields!

Source

Nut is present in the myth of the creation of Heliopolis, which although it is considered Egyptian, has its Greek origins, making the fusion of mythologies. In the legend, Heliopolis, a city that today is part of Cairo, was created by Attis, as a gift to his son. Nut.

Together with his parents, Shu and Tefnut, they formed the city, providing conditions for it, since Tefnut is the humidity and Shu, the air. The sacred symbol that is Nut, within the religious conception, is a passage used by Osiris, the god of the dead and his son, so that he can access the celestial fields.

This 'passage' is a kind of ladder, called a maget, which was placed in the coffins of the dead so that they would have her assistance for the tortuous passage to the other world.

History of Goddess Nut

Nut was punished by the Sun God, Ra, and, according to him, she would not give birth any more days of the year. Outraged, the Goddess went to seek advice from Thoth, God of Wisdom, who advised her to seek Khonsu, God of the Moon, to ally with him, since Khonsu did not like Ra.

Nut proposed a game with Khonsu and each time he lost, he should give some moonlight to her. Until that moment, the year had only 360 days and with all the energy stolen from Khonsu, she gave birth to the other five days that complete a year.

However, since they symbolize something cosmic, she was allowed to have her children as well, who are Osiris, the God of the Dead, Horus, God of War, Seth, God of Chaos, Isis, Goddess of Magic, and Nephthys, Goddess of Water.

Nut, who was married to Geb, God of the Earth, received as a punishment from Ra her separation from him. And her father, Shu, was responsible for keeping them apart. However, the Goddess did not regret her decision at any time, as the books state.

Image and representation

When talking about the goddess Nut, for many her image is of a cow, while for others, it is a woman with an arched back, making her cover the whole world with her belly, which is lined with stars and stars. She, in an indirect way, would wrap the Earth with her belly.

Her body is covered with stars and her arms and legs are pillars and the way they are arranged, they are each in one direction, thus the orientation of north, south, east and west that we have. Her arching over the world is also a sign of protection that the goddess has with the world.

Family

Coming from a successful lineage, Nut is the granddaughter of Atum, the Solar God, daughter of Thephnis, the Goddess of Humidity, and Shu, the God of Dry Air. These 'positions' may seem quite specific and even funny, but humidity and air are fundamental to the survival of any animal or being in a fertile soil.

Together with her brother, Geb, who is also her husband and God of the Earth, she gave birth to her five children: Osiris, God of the Dead, Horus, God of War, Seth, God of Chaos, Isis, Goddess of Magic and Nephthys, Goddess of Water. who perform functions aligned with their mother.

Myths about the sky goddess

Many stories are speculated around the Goddess Nut, as she has several primary functions in building the society we know today, according to the Egyptians. Books tell, for example, that she initially had only four sons, with Horus added only in the Greco-Egyptian tales.

Nut is actually the Goddess of the Night Sky, however, over the years, it was understood that the night sky is the sky, making her title just 'Goddess of the Sky', even though her representation is full of stars and the myth shows her aligning herself with the God of the Night. She is one of the oldest figures inhabiting the Egyptian pantheon and is highly respected for it.

Goddess Nut Features

Over time and within Egyptian mythology, the goddess Nut has been given a number of adjectives and titles, which align with her powers and functions within the structure she is in. "Blanket of Stars" is perhaps the most famous, as in the passage in question, the goddess says she is a blanket that touches all places at different points.

"She who protects" was the name she received for protecting her people from Ra and his wrath. In addition to this title, she is also known for being "She who displeased the Gods", as she managed to displease Ra and Khonsu all at once.

For the Egyptians, Nut and Geb, which is the Earth, were always on top of each other, Nut being on top, which symbolized the constant sex they practiced.

Attributions to Goddess Nut

Nut is responsible for a number of functions within Egyptian and Greek-Egyptian myths and legends, she is known as the Goddess of Heaven, but that is only one of her functions and representations within this expanded universe.

Her name alludes to a number of things, making heaven be seen in a more comprehensive way. Check now the main attributions of Goddess Nut and how they dialogue with the central principle of her celestial figure".

Nut as sky goddess

Undoubtedly, Goddess Nut, since the beginning of Egyptian mythology, is the Goddess of Heaven. In the beginning, she was the Goddess of the Night Sky, but with the passing of time, her title became only Goddess of Heaven, since the sky at nightfall is the same as the sky at dawn. Within this conception, thunder is Nut's laughter and rain is her tears.

When the sun sets, it is inside Nut's mouth, who leaves it there for it to make a journey inside her body and shine back into her womb, thus illuminating the other end of the Earth. Her belly is covered with stars and celestial bodies, which makes the night vision so beautiful, as she is arched over the world.

Nut as goddess of death

Except having an intrinsic function within the cult of the dead, since she is the mother of the God of the Dead, Osiris, the Nut Goddess is was very important to the construction of the identity of what death means.

Its role is more focused on the understanding of life after death and, in a more playful way, about resurrection or, in a more westernized way, reincarnation. In the Egyptian cult, they believed that Nut had the power to bring people back to life in the form of stars, making them always part of their body and that they could always be seen by their family and friends.

In an extremely symbolic way, star-shaped loved ones say that they light up the lives of those left behind, making death easier to understand.

Goddess Nut and astronomy

At the beginning of the last century, some Egyptologists, who are scholars dedicated to understanding the culture, language and history of Egypt, claimed that the Goddess Nut has a direct relationship with the Milky Way, according to the millennial culture of Egypt.

This study, which was defended by Kurt Sethe, Arielle Kozloff and Ronald Wells analyzes the so-called "Book of the Dead", which shows a relationship between Nut and the, then cited, 'band of stars'. However, years later, Harco Willems, Rolf Krauss and Arno Egberts refuted the thesis, saying that the band cited is the horizon.

Goddess Nut and the representation with a cow

It is not known for certain why, as writings from that era have come in fragments into the hands of scholars, but in some spaces, the Nut Goddess is seen as a Healing Cow.

In these spaces, she, with her milk, is able to cure the illnesses of the world and of people. There are, in fact, several representations of Nut in 'unofficial' forms, such as, for example, a naked woman, with a more bluish coloration.

This great cow, which has its body covered with stars and covered the world; a great sycamore tree and a giant sow, which suckles her piglets and then devours them. This last representation, although it seems bizarre, is of great respect within the culture.

Goddess Nut and the tomb of Tutankhamen

The tomb of Tutankhamen is still one of the great mysteries within the Egyptian culture, as much mystery circulates inside the sanctuary with little more than 15 square meters. There are many legends, fears and things that even after centuries of discovery, have not yet been completely clarified.

And one of them is, of course, the fact that there is, on the ceiling of the crypt, a large image of Goddess Nut embraced in her own wings. The image is large and has drawn a lot of attention from scholars. It is believed that, just as tradition says that Nut has the power to help the dead in the passage, along with her son, this would be her function there.

There are still those who claim that, as Nut has as one of his functions 'to transform the dead into stars', his image there symbolizes the passage of the boy pharaoh to the other world, with the good wishes that he should be eternalized in Nut's womb as a great shining star.

Goddess Nut Symbols

To identify her and especially to identify her primary functions, Goddess Nut has a number of symbols used in her cults and also as a form of protection and even in a kind of 'conjuration' in her name.

These symbols are important and speak volumes about the history of the Goddess and how she manifests herself in different situations. Check out the main symbols of the Nut Goddess and how they fit within her history and her roles in protecting and caring for the Earth!

Pot of water

In the construction of its name, in hieroglyphic, there is a pot of water, which represents life, since water is the possible principle of all forms of life, whether animal or not. Nut is known as the mother of the universe and of time, giving birth to the days of the year and to gods crucial to the existence of humanity.

The pot of water also represents your womb, since, besides being the direct passage to life, it is also filled with water when you are generating a new being. Everything passes through water to live and that is the message passed by Nut with the pot of water.

Stairs of Osiris

As the Nut Goddess is understood as a great woman who covers the whole sky with her starry body, the passage to the world of the dead is also made by her, together with her son, Osiris, the God of the Dead.

And for this passage, Nut becomes a kind of stairway, which receives the name of maqet, that this path which, to make it more beautiful for the dead, is all adorned with stars and stars, which make the deceased calmer to pass the afterlife.

Stars

The stars are part of Nut's body, making her even more beautiful and eye-catching to compose what we call the sky. The stars are all over her body, being the primary characteristic of when we talk about the Sky Goddess.

In addition, the stars are, according to the belief of the Egyptian people, the dead who are watching their loved ones from heaven, which makes everything even more symbolic, since all of us, one day, will be part of Nut.

Ankh

The Ankh is an Egyptian symbol that is part of various rituals and beliefs, being understood in various ways, but mainly for immortality. This immortality is linked directly to the Goddess Nut, since she, besides being primordial and immortal, provides a certain immortality to the deceased.

The Ankh comes in as being part of the belief where Nut provides immortality through the stars. It causes everyone to be eternalized as cosmic beings and that power is represented by the Ankh.

Sistro

Sistro is an instrument of Egyptian origin that has its performance made from the rattle. It is widely used in rites and even within the musical culture of the country, being very present until today within the songs understood as typical.

In the Odes made to the Goddess Nut, which are a kind of sung poetry, the instrument was base, being part of the rituals dedicated to her worship and also, since many of these Odes were part of the rites.

Horns

As one of its most popular representations is being a cow, the horns are something very characteristic of its imagetic construction, and mainly because it is the part of Hathor inside Nut, which carries the eye of Ra between its horns.

Hathor is the solar goddess and also of the sky, who had her powers, in an informal way, divided with Nut. In this way, Nut brings some of her 'trappings' and vestments, besides having their very similar stories and equanimous functions, but don't be mistaken, since they are different goddesses.

Further information about the Nut Goddess

Goddess Nut has her influence reflected in several spheres, besides having her name quoted in important passages within the Egyptian culture, making her fundamental for all the mythological understanding of the Egyptian and Greek civilization in its beginnings.

Check out more information about the Nut Goddess now and how they influence the world even in the present day!

Walnut Book

The 'Book of Walnut', which was formerly called 'The Fundamentals of the Course of the Stars', is a collection of thousand-year-old astronomical books, which date back to Egyptian mythology, from at least 2,000 BC, and brings the most diverse characters and the conception of the world that the Egyptians had at that given historical moment.

Nut, as a primordial goddess, is one of the main figures in the world, mainly because almost every explanation the book brings is based on astrology, which is purely the representation of Nut and her celestial stars.

Worship of the Goddess Nut

Because Nut is a kind of guardian of life, since she represents fertility and the birth of time, and of death, since she helps make the crossing to the world of the dead easier and sweeter, her cults were made more at these times.

In general, they were almost funerary in character, always referring the dead very well so that they had a space among the stars and that Nut, as guardian goddess of the night of life, would direct them to this great 'pantheon' of the dead.

Herbs, stones and colors

Besides the motherhood and care that Goddess Nut emanates, she is also known for her sensuality and desire, since her entire history is based on this power of seduction, on this vital force that makes her desired and also worshipped. In this way, the elements used in her homage are, in general, a reflection of this.

Flowers such as carnations, hydrangeas, jasmine, lilies, roses of the most diverse colors, sandalwood, chrysanthemums and myrrh are her favorites, all with a strong and pleasant perfume, which is accentuated at dusk. Her colors are blue in various shades, silver and gold, as are the stars and stars.

Food and beverage

Some drinks are offered to Goddess Nut as well. They are lighter and seem to come out of a large tea party. This sweetness and lightness refers to Nut's behavior, which is powerful and gentle, being a great mother and generous protector.

Among them are water, the basis of his belief; milk, which makes mention of the cow; chamomile tea, cakes, especially the simpler ones, baked sweets, coconut, bread, figs and white chocolate, which can accompany all the previous items.

Prayer to Goddess Nut

Nut has some prayers in his honor. The most known ones ask for protection, harmony and prosperity. Check them out!

Great Goddess, Thou who hast become heaven,

Thou art mighty and strong, beautiful and kind, and the earth itself prostrates at Thy feet.

You embrace all creation in Your shining arms and receive souls, making them stars that embellish the vastness of Your body.

Nut, my Lady, keep me

Nut, my lady, guide me

Nut, keep me safe in your company.

Nut, mother of the stars

Nut, lady in the sky

Protect me in this dark night

And wrap me in your veil.

Ritual to Goddess Nut

Unlike what it may seem, the ritual for the Nut Goddess is not so elaborate and full of methods. On the contrary, the idea within this ritual is to create an environment of connection between you and her, where you can ask, mainly, for fertility. In a simple way, it is recommended that you have a statue of Nut.

As they are hard to get, you can take a female statue, paint it dark blue and make some silver dots, as if they were your stars. You will dance with the statue, drink something, sing, and feel close to Nut. Gradually, you will begin to feel her presence and you may even fall asleep.

Don't be afraid if this happens. You may start to hear noises, but it is just her manifestation. Just relax. Continue in a fluid, relaxed way. Talk to her, Nut is listening to you. Open your heart.

Do this ritual at night and, preferably, wear a black veil. At the end, thank for the company and the grace you want. Thank also the moonlight and the sky. After that, wait. Usually, your request is answered in the following week.

Nut is the Egyptian deity who represents the immensity of the sky!

Nut is a magnificent goddess, with a very large cultural and representative. She is the sky that surrounds us and the womb that embryos us into an infinite possibility of things. Nut welcomes us into her womb and this is understood throughout her history and also in her prayers.

She is the power of the stars and the stars. So when you feel sad, talk to the sky and the stars. Talk to Nut, because since we are wrapped in her body, she can always hear us!