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Nut

 Nut is one of the oldest goddesses in the Egyptian pantheon, Mother of Isis, Osiris, Set, and Nephthys.  She swallows the Sun every evening and rebirths it every morning.  She is the Goddess of the sky and all heavenly bodies, mother of the gods, she who holds a thousand souls.  Her fingers and toes touch the four cardinal directions, north, south, east, and west.  In her human depiction, she is represented by cat pose in yoga.  

Nut original painting available through Saatchi Art.  Prints and merch available in shop or through RedBubble or Fine Art America.

She is also sometimes represented as a cow, with her milk representing the heavenly river, the Milky Way.  Interesting, cat and cow poses alternate in yoga practice.  The first domestic cattle were bred from the wild aurochs. Both male and female aurochs had large horns.  Modern Texas longhorns are thought to be a relatively close relation to the aurochs.  I once slept in a tent on the open range near longhorn cattle and it was a bit unsettling.  They are large.  They all look like the bulls from old Saturday morning cartoons.  The Great Mother Goddess, depicted as a cow descended from the wild aurochs, is powerful and can perform miracles like creating life and turning water into milk.  Much healthier than Jesus's wine trick.

Nut, Egyptian Sky Goddess in her bovine form, with the Milky Way.  Prints and merch available in shop or through RedBubble or Fine Art America.

In ancient Egypt, "pharaohs were sons and consorts of Nut... Egyptians said every woman was a nutrit, Little Goddess." (source)

Finally, as Nut rebirthed the Sun and Moon each day, she was also associated with the rebirth of humans in the afterlife, and was often depicted on the inside lid of sarcophagi, with her arms stretched down to embrace the deceased.


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