Michael wrote on Mon, 24 Aug 1998:

If you have read that book, then you'll know that John's contact didn't quite have a "Nice" opinion of Her or what she represented. I have my ideas on them, but they are not for this list, at this time at anyrate. The following is an excerpt taken from Robert Master's book:

"There are some important passages dealing with the very great antiquity of Sekhmet in human religions to be found in the monumental work on ancient Egypt written by Gerald Massey, 19th century scholar and trance visionary. Massey identifies Sekhmet as The Great Mother, Mother of Mystery, later denounced in the Book of Revelations as The Great Harlot:

(In Revelation, the mother of mystery is called "Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and of abominations of the earth," who has the name of mystery written on her forehead (Rev:17:5). But there was an earlier Babylon in Egypt, known to the secret wisdom, which is traditionally identified with the locality of Coptos, nominally the seat of Kep, the Kamite mother of mysteries. The mother of mystery did not originate with the scarlet woman of Babylon (nor as the red hag of the Protestants), although the title of The Great Harlot was applied to her also, who was the mother of harlots and to whom the maiden-tributes were religiously furnished in the city. Hers is a figure of unknown antiquity in the astronomical mythology, which was constellated as the red hippopotamus the preceded The Great Bear . The red hippopotamus (Apt) had already become the scarlet lady in the Ritual. Hence, the Great Mother, as Sekhmet-Bast, who is higher than all the gods, and is the only one who stands above her father, is called The Lady of the Scarlet-Coloured Garment(Rit., ch. 164, Naville). The Kamite Constellation of "the birthplace" may also serve to show why the "great harlot" should have been so badly abused in the Book of Revelation. The creator of the Great Mother was depicted in the sign of the meshen to indicate the place of bringing forth by the cow of heaven whose "thigh" is the emblem of great magical power in the hieroglyphs. The mother of mystery also carries "in her hand a golden cup full of abominations, even the unclean things of her fornications" Gerald Massey, Ancient Egypt. Vol.2, Samuel Weiser, york beach, ME, 1970, p.698. This work was first published in 1907.

Well, there ya have some scholary references to what I was downloaded with at the age of about 9 or 10, but of course, it was in a "different manner". (LOL) Agape

Vireo wrote on Mon, 24 Aug 1998:

Christine wrote:
>Thats fine..but we must also remember that Sekhmet's energy is not *always*
>nurturing and loving. Like nature it is sometimes seemingingly cruel,
>necessarily brutal, and it is our job to learn to deal with that as we deal
>with life.

Thank you! Thank you for reminding us it is a *Goddess* (a Netjer--it this the correct spelling? is there a feminine form?) we speak of here, not a "mommy" we can manipulate at will. Tho She is kind with us, She is also the One Who threatened all humankind and had to be tricked into deep sleep to stop her slaughter.

And, about the Whore of Bablon business: there's something to be remembered before we get annoyed--"the Gods of the old religion become the demons of the new." That may be what the author referred to meant, merely relating where the Xtians got this Being, Who, being powerful, naturally had to be a "whore." Unfortunately, most every God of old has been named a devil by Xtianity, Islam, even others. Many Goddesses even had Their gender changed! That's how frightened the new church was (not necessarily the ordinary Xtians) And, we must also recall that the epithet "whore" is a word thrown around at _prostitutes_, who in ancient times, often were Sacred. In other words, don't allow these words to get under your skin; reclaiming language is a great activity for everyone. Ask any African-American, feminist, gay man or Lesbian. Bright blessings of the Gods on you and yours...

Diane wrote on Mon, 24 Aug 1998:

I wouldn't (and don't) take offense at the reference. The passage doesn't reflect on Mamma Sekhmet at all. The only Trinity I care about is Sekhmet-Ptah-Imhotep, and to say that Sekhmet is affiliated with "the Infernal Trinity" means nothing to me because I don't give a rusty one for the Abrahamic Traditions nor its Trinity whether that Trinity be obverse or inverse! And it shouldn't make any difference to any self-respecting Goddess-worshipper, either. What the Christians and the Bible say about Our Mother has no consequence whatsoever. :D

Shadowdragon wrote on Mon, 24 Aug 1998:

With all due respect,I couldnt agree more,What be the difference of that which is said,when WE know better,dont we?Also most of the aspects of The Whore Of Babylon is quite allegorical and symbolic in reference to Alchemical Changes and Reference to 'Inner mysteries' and that form of Initiations.Dont take this literally,only the masses we 'fed' the outer forms of this...and yes,this doesnt have anything to do with Sekhmet or the Kemetic at all.The great whore is taken from Assyrian-Babalonian context of Astarte,the Anti-Christ as Tiamat!(APEP?) The Great Goddess Sekhmet is Much more Older and Refined than that in the sense of HER energy as the implement that gives Sekhem to PTAH to have the power create.(correct me if I am wrong here,please)

On another note...In most ancestral cultures a Whore as it was put,was a respected servant of the Goddess in any form, (actually the 2nd oldest profession, a Priestess was first) Mankind has always created this a womens issues, todays society has perverted the truest sense of Her. My .02

Aostara wrote on Mon, 24 Aug 1998:

Huzzah! And it would be nice if young girls could be initiated by trained Sacred Priests as well -- not dirty old men, mind you, but folks who could teach that sex can be fun AND spiritual! Oh -- whoops! -- let's not be heterosexist about this -- Priestesses too.

There's an excellent book out there called "Women of the Light: The New Sexual Healers" with autobios of many types of women who feel they carry on the ancient tradition of Sacred Prostitute.

BTW... I heard a rumor that the term "cathouse" might refer back to Sekhmet's sister (well, in some stories), Bast, since Her rituals had quite an ecstatic element ;->. Never heard anything like that about Sekhmet directly, but often a temper like that is accompanied by other equally strong passions....

Aostara wrote on Sun, 30 Aug 1998:

Bravo ;->

~michael wrote on Sun, 22 Nov 1998:

<< I read in the Master's book that Sekhmet is connected to the Great Harlot in the bible and is a patron of erotic dancers.>>

Yes, The Great Lady of Mystery is without question in my mind at this point in my relationship with Her, not only connected to the Great Harlot of John The Revelator's Apocalypse, but is indeed She. The indoctrination and programming instigated by the Church sinse Constantine, has been nothing less than a 180 degree reversal of the Gnostic teachings of the Original movement occurring within and around Palestine and Greece that gave rise to the reception of St. John's Revelation.

Juxtapose upon that the fact that John was receiving a vision of the Age of Aquarius thru the lens of an unconscious mind that was deeply embedded with Ariesian Age beliefs and culture. When John saw the global economic collapse of The Shift to Aquarius from the Aeon that had JUST begun for him and his Time (Pisces), he saw the chaos and FREAKED. At that time, he could not know that it was a cleansing for the GREATER good, nor did in fact, the being that gave him the Vision and Voice. Both parties looked thru their own unmoved fears of what it will take to heal Earth, The Mother.

If I am sounding pompous to you, then it is because I too am deeply embedded with my own convictions, and at times I write with the passion of inner gnosis, which is difficult and slippery to explain. But to the point.

Babalon, (or babylon, as it is translated by the secular world), is the key to the Mystery of Sekhmet's connection here. One of Sekhmet's names is The Lady of The Scarlet Robe. One clue, for Babalon is the lady which is known as the Scarlet Whore. In the Enochian Pantheon, BABALON is the Chief Goddess of that system, and it is a very Gnostic system at that. BABALON is the Goddess returning from a fallen state. This fallen state being perpetuated by alot of mischief upon the part of the peoples of earth. The ancient connection between Babylon and Egypt is unmistakable and quite readily researched, but i won't go into all that, this is already too long. BABALON is returning. She is also known as Ishtar and Innana.

Revelation 17: 3-5 (New KJV): (3) So he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness. And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. (4) The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication. (5) And on her forehead a name was written: MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

This may sound down right nasty at first glance. Yet, it is not as accusational as it may sound. The Mother of Everything has been absorbing most of the abuse that many of Her Spirits have been dishing out. How else could things have gotten this (uh hm....) "screwed" up without her being abit in the unconscious mode. The Power elite upon planet Earth has used the Mother's energy to invent a global economy and hundreds of other control and mind programing devices and institutions, which are although done out of free will, are in fact eclipsing the Light from many Spirits that would rather see an entirely different reality manifest here upon the Earth. So, what I am trying to say. is that The Scarlot Whore is a whore, only because She has given Herself to ALL Creation, and all Things. Her filth has come from the denied emotions of Creation, (yours, mine, the Angels, devils and Neters...etc., etc.), that have made manifest the situation we are in now.

She is also seen riding upon the beast and later on in the Book, falls. She and the beast.

This is Her casting out of and from Her , the Power elite of earth who has nothing more in mind than TOTAL and COMPLETE DENIAL of the Femine Current!!. She will accomplish this thru economic collapse. Truly, the poor will inherit the earth!! Her cup of Blood from the Saints, are the Adepts who have swore their life to Her renewal, of which, I number. Our sins and lack of MA'AT are the abominations in that cup. So Cheers!, here's to Sekhmet, Lady of Intoxications! AGAPE

Deborah wrote on Sun, 22 Nov 1998:

The "masculine" energy in the form of the current churches have had their rule for to long just to hand it over. All energy seeks to continue and live as it is. I look at all that is happening today and believe that is the reason. (other wise I would think it was a government plot ;-} Cat hugs and purrs

Raven Joy wrote on Mon, 23 Nov 1998:

So..amongst my searching I started discovering that Babylon was not a dirty word. That it had only become that way because of a need to make the Goddess into something evil, something to be feared. Then I went to this summer's Rainbow National Gathering and noticed that all the hippies used Babylon as a bad word, and I they weren't exactly right wing Christian, and they got it from the Reggae bands, and I'm a Reggae fan myself.

So since then I have been trying to change the image of Babylon, and in fact at the last healing gathering I went to, after on person called on us to heal the evil of Babylon, and avoid it, that I got up and spoke about how Babylon was only concidered to be evil because women had the freedom to love whom they wanted there. Just that one sentence reached quite a few people, who then said yes, we have to stop separating ourselves, and using the word Babylon to do that.

Then I started writing this song, and I thought it was a Reggae song, but the words, to Babylon kept coming up as I would sing it, and I realized I was writing a song to a Goddess, and about how good Babylon was. I haven't finished the song yet, but it keeps rolling over and over in my mind.

After that, I began connecting more with the Feathered Serpent energy, seeing Isis in it, tracing it back to the Egyptians, I've experienced Quetzalcoatl before, and felt feminine and androgynous energy from this entity, as well as male, although it its sometimes depicted as male. It felt very loving, and I started remembering past lives as a Priestess of Quetzalcoatl.

I loved finding the same images in Egypt. As I began connecting with Isis and her wings, and then Sekhmet, and Bast, ignored since my childhood. There is a story my mother told of me being 3 years old and a mountain lion coming right up to me. My mother was some ways off, and just stayed quiet, not wanting to frighten the lion. This was the best action she could have taken, for the lion just came up to me, smelled me, and walked away. Ever since then I have never been afraid of mountain lions, no matter how many people would try to convince me otherwise.

I've also had this thing for black cats, and cats in general since I was a child. It had gotten lost lately, tho I always seem surrounded by black cats. I have four now, and didn't mean to have any. The Sekhmet energy has helped me come back in touch with feline energy, after a stint with Coyote Woman.

So...I didn't mean for this to be this long, but I guess I'll keep going...It gets to Revelations soon

I got back from the Isis Oasis Convocation in October where I did several workshops with Sekhmet energy, also the serpent energy, receiving the cadeusus of rattlesnake and cobra swirling up my spine and feathers coming out my arms. Feeling the heavy kundalini energy of them all, Sekhmet, the feathered serpent, the Cobra on her head, the flames, the wings, so beautiful, so much love.

Then I went to a yard sale where a fundamentalist Christian family I know was selling things. I was drawn immediately to the painting, it was so beautiful, and it had all the symbols I'd been experiencing and exploring, the lion, the seven headed serpent (kundalini energy there for sure), and lionesses emerging from flames (probably seven of those too). When I told the mother what a beautiful picture it was, and how I'd been working with those very symbols recently, but in a good way, she proudly pointed to the son who had drawn it, and told me to read what was on the back if I thought it was so beautiful. I had a suspicion then that we wouldn't agree, so I said I didn't care what was on the back, the picture was beautiful anyway and meant to me what I saw in it, not what she did. But I left promising to read the back later.

When I read the exerpts from Revelations they had printed on the back, I was apalled. I hadn't read Revelations in a long time, and I could clearly see that I was on the side of the seven-headed serpent, but I didn't want a battle, I wanted unity. They were so wrong. I wanted to write an answer to Revelations for them, explaining the symbolism behind the vision, and why that was a wrong version of the symbols, making them evil out of fear of the kundalini power.

I realized nothing I could write would change her mind, but I wanted to write it anyway, and truly enjoyed this post which made many of the same points I wanted to make. Thank you for writing, and I hope somehow we can share this with more and more people until the message of Revelations is seen for what it is, a misunderstood vision colored by personal fear and politics.

Hope to hear more from everyone on this list. Sekhmet is releasing me from fear right now and it is a wondrous journey. I am so thankful.

~michael wrote on Mon, 23 Nov 1998:

<< I realized nothing I could write would change her mind, but I wanted to write it anyway, and truly enjoyed this post which made many of the same points I wanted to make. Thank you for writing, and I hope somehow we can share this with more and more people until the message of Revelations is seen for what it is, a misunderstood vision colored by personal fear and politics.>>

SA SEKHEM SAHU,

So nice to hear from a member of Dion Fortune's outbranching of the Aurora Aurea (Golden Dawn) and the Rosea Rubae et Aurius Crucis (The Red Rose and Golden Cross) known as The Fellowship of Isis. If I'm not mistaken, (which has been known to occurr from time to time..ha ha), that is the longest remaining active off-shoot of the "(in)"famous (tongue-in-cheek) original Golden Dawn. I hope that your October convocation involving The Sekhmetian current was fruitful, and most of all, fun and enlightening. (i have it from a reliable source that it was,in fact, quite moving). I wonder if a "guy" could ever attend?!?!?!? (again, tongue-in-cheek).

BABALON, to me, is filled with so much needed to understand Spiritual Truth, that it is not even funny. most of which, can only be accomplished thru inner-work on the self, and not so much the ritualistic work that can be done with "Her". A Higher Astral plane image of Kundalini if I ever saw one. I too, enjoyed your posting.

In the past, I made a half-ass attempt at trying to say what I posted the other night, but my use and choice of wording was poor, and it resulted in a rather, well, "different" response.

As a matter of fact, it was the Goddess Sekhmet in Her form as Babalon and Ishtar that brought me to Her. Kali and Sophia, Ishtar and Isis, ad infinitum, are all aspects of the now quite fragmented Mother of Everything (As Above, So Below, if ya catch my meaning here), but for some reason I am still working on, Sekmet just seems to integrate many of Her fragments together into a more wholistic package and Entity to work with. but basically, if you are dealing with, healing, or in any way consciously attempting to cleanse and raise Kundalini Energy (especially on the individual level), then you are working with what I call BABALON, or Sekhmet. (Serpent Power).

If the image of Babalon disturbs you, then pay attention to that disturbance, ask yourself why it may be there, and the program that told you to think of it in "negative" or "evil" terms. If that doesn't work, then by all means, go to something that is more immediately gratifying, but don't discount the whole thing entirely. When you are ready and have cleared enough of your own personal energy system, it will all be worked out, from the mental to the physical levels of your Being. For when the Kundalini rises within you, I doubt it very Siriusly, that you'll even give a damn who or what is "right" or "correct" on this issue. Unless you feel a call to work with the BABALONian current, I DO NOT suggest that you work with it. After all, it is The Mother in an abused state (if it is with fear and mistrust that you approach it with). And we have that to contend with on a daily basis in most, if not all, of the Civil and Definietly, the Military/Industrial world. BABALON can also be worked with in a way that is FAR from an Image of a denied Spiritual Feminine, but that is a very Gnostic doctrine, and involves a system of magick that I have never really seen talked about here, on sekhmetsown.

I'm asking also, at this time, for those of you that have been on this list and dealt with my energies for the past several months, to please remember your Brother in the next month in your prayers or thoughts. Life is reflecting to me some Sirius choices, and actually, I'm being quite blessed at the moment, it's just that My magickal career has reached a point where I will more than likely begin to serve, and I need all the help and support from my fellow Sisters and Brothers that I can get. Sekhmet has let it be known to me (yes, She is finally talking to me), that I may be called upon for a "greater sevice". It is humbeling, and it is with the UPMOST SEVERITY that I approach this with.

Oh yeah, by the way, just to let you know, for those that may not, Ancient Babylon is known in the present day political world as Iraq. Just to let you know just how twisted the upper eschelon's of power have contorted her Image and essence. I do not prejudge the Iraqi people, far from it, but their government...Come On!!