Hathor

Hathor (Egyptian Hwt-Hor, “House of Horus”) is one of the oldest and most beloved deities in the Egyptian pantheon — a goddess of extraordinary range who encompasses love, music, dance, sexuality, motherhood, the dead, and the western sky. She is the celestial cow who births Ra and nurses the pharaoh; the golden-skinned lady of the sycamore tree who welcomes the deceased into paradise; the goddess of such fierce joy that her worship involved music, dancing, and the rhythmic shaking of the sistrum as a liturgical instrument. No Egyptian deity spans the full spectrum of human experience — from ecstatic joy to funerary comfort — as broadly as Hathor.

The cosmic cow

Hathor’s most ancient form is the celestial cow, her body arched over the earth as the sky, stars painted on her belly. She is the mother who nursed the pharaoh at her divine breast — temple images across Egypt show the king drinking from Hathor’s udder, identifying him with the sun that she carries. The Pyramid Texts link her to the earliest layers of Egyptian royal theology; she is the mother of Ra in some traditions, the eye of Ra in others. This flexible identity — simultaneously mother, daughter, and eye of the solar god — is characteristic of Egyptian theological thinking about the great goddesses, who could be multiple things at once without contradiction.

The Seven Hathors

Ancient Egyptian Legends preserves the myth of the Seven Hathors, seven manifestations of Hathor who appear at the birth of a child and prophesy its fate. They are the closest Egyptian equivalent to a concept of destiny — the divine witnesses who see what a life will hold from its very beginning. The Egyptian Cinderella-like tale of the Doomed Prince involves the Seven Hathors’ prophecy of a death that the story’s characters spend their lives trying to prevent.

Lady of the West

In her funerary role, Hathor becomes the Lady of the West — the divine welcome at the threshold of the Duat. Book of the Dead Chapter 186 shows her emerging from the western mountains to receive the dead, offering them water and the fruit of the sycamore tree. Where Anubis guides and Osiris judges, Hathor welcomes — she is the first face the dead see, the comfort after the crossing. This role made Hathor beloved in funerary practice across all of Egyptian history.

Hathor in practice

Hathor is approached with music, dancing, and joy — the sistrum (sacred rattle) is her instrument, and sounding one in her honor is a valid devotional act. Her offerings include mirror-like objects, musical instruments, wine, honey, red flowers, and perfume. The Book of the Dead Chapter 186 can be read as a welcoming contemplation for the recently deceased. In modern Kemetic practice, Hathor is an excellent patron for creative work, for grief work (in her western/funerary aspect), and for any practice involving the body’s joy.