The Faces of Bast

Bast is the Egyptian Goddess and protector of cats, women and children. She is Goddess of sunrise. Her goddess duty changed over the years, but, she is also known as a goddess of love, fertility, birth, music and dance. Bast is the Goddess of the moon and possessor of the Utchat. The  all seeing eye of her brother Horus.  Her scared city is Bubastis, was in lower Egypt (the northern part). Bubastis signifies "The House of Cats" in ancient Egyptian. Bast feast day is celebrated on October 31. The Egyptians celebrated the feast of Bast with merry making, music, dancing, drinking much like our modern Marti Gras. Bast is often shown holding a sistrum (a type of rattle), during the celebrating,  worshipers shuck a sistrum. Bast has a twin sister name Sekhmet. Together the twin sisters formed the "Yin Yang" of Egyptian religion.  Bastet being the positive force and Sekhmet being the destructive force. Bast is depicted in art many ways, the most common is the body of young woman with the head of a domestic cat. (Her sister, Sekhmet is shown with the head of a lioness). Another popular form of Bast, is her earthly form, a seated cat, when in this form her name changes to Bastet. Bast's scared color is green.

Bast has always appealed to me, mainly because I love anything Egyptian and cats. Over the years without even realizing it, I have collected images and jewelry depicting Bast. Another reason for her special appeal is as keeper on the positive force. I believe that positive/negative energy is what sustains life on Earth. It's my belief all organic beings have these charges running through their bodies. Every positive charge has its companion negative charge. When one charge becomes greater than the other, things get out of control situations become unbalance and unpleasant events happen.

Back to The Temple of Hatshepsut

For More Bast Information Visit These Sites

Bubastis the House of Cats

The Temple of Bast

Bast the Cat Goddess

The House Of Netjer