Nut
Nut – Mother of Stars; Queen of Heaven; Mother of the Deceased; She Who Holds a Thousand Souls; Mistress of All; She Who Protects
Nut is the spirit of the sky. Initially she cleaved to her brother/lover, Geb, spirit of Earth, but the two were forcibly separated by their father Shu (Air) who holds them apart. Geb and Nut’s children are Isis, Osiris, Set, and Nephthys, and possibly Horus the Elder.
Although Nut and Geb are separated during the day, at night, Nut is permitted to descend to join her true love, hence darkness. Sometimes Nut slips a little bit closer to him during the daytime, too, resulting in dark, dull, stormy days.
Nut was envisioned as a huge sow. The stars are her piglets. She gives birth to them each night, and then swallows them up every morning. Every morning Nut births the sun, reabsorbing it into herself at dusk. Likewise, she receives the dead into herself. Stars were envisioned as the souls of the dead, lying amid Nut’s bosom. Her associations with the dead caused her image to be frequently painted on the underside of sarcophagus lids.
Nut’s image has served as a symbol for the women’s Take Back the Night movement.
Nut is the queen of star knowledge and wisdom. She is the guardian of the dead, the lady of birth and resurrection.
ALSO KNOWN AS:
Nuit
Pronounced:
Noot
ORIGIN:
Egypt
FAVOURED PEOPLE:
astrologers, astronomers
MANIFESTATION:
Nut appears in the sky as the Milky Way. She may also manifest as a cow, a sow or as a woman wearing a long, tight, blue dress covered with stars.
ICONOGRAPHY:
Nut is most frequently depicted as a naked woman stretched across the sky, covered with stars. She is also depicted as a sow suckling piglets, a vulture, a hippo, or a cow.
ATTRIBUTE:
Ladder, water pot, ankh
COLOUR:
Dark blue
Tree:
Sycomore fig
SEE ALSO:
- Horus the Elder
- Isis
- Nekhbet
- Nephthys
- Osiris
- Set
- Egyptian Mythology
SOURCE:
Encyclopedia of Spirits: The Ultimate Guide to the Magic of Fairies, Genies, Demons, Ghosts, Gods & Goddesses– Written by :Judika Illes Copyright © 2009 by Judika Illes.
