Sekhmet's Porch of Drunkenness & Salute to the Sun Goddesses -- August 2025
- Karen Tate
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
Today, as we all look forward to the cool breezes of Fall let us bid farewell to the heat of Summer by paying tribute to the Sun Goddesses...
Fiery, Formidable and Fierce
Today, as we all look forward to the cool breezes of Fall let us bid farewell to the heat of Summer by paying tribute to the Sun Goddesses, with particular emphasis on Sekhmet (sometimes seen as an aspect of Hathor) and this time of year dedicated to her celebration called the Porch of Drunkenness held around mid-August.
The Festival of Drunkenness, held once, sometimes twice a year, was a communal affair held in both temples and people's homes. Typically, the participants of this festival would be served lots of alcohol, get drunk, and fall asleep. At first glance this might be mistaken as an excuse for mass intoxication of the celebrants, but that would be an inaccurate assumption as this was a sacred event. In the temples, the celebrants would be awoken by the sound of drums and music. Upon waking up, they would worship the the Goddess - some believe as Hathor, others Sekhmet- or both!. If they were lucky Goddess might have appeared to them in their dreams offering an epiphany. Perhaps this was even a form of dream incubation where the celebrant received guidance or healing.
Other aspects of the ritual celebration included dancing, the lighting of torches, and sex. In a hymn regarding the festival, there is a phrase “traveling through the marshes”, and it has been speculated that this is an ancient Egyptian euphemism for having sex.
One explanation for sexual activity may have been linked to the fertility of the land, because around mid-August was the period when the Nile began to rise. Therefore, sexual activity during the festival may have also been perceived as a means of bringing the Nile floods back, and thus ensuring abundant crops would grow from the well irrigated farm land.
If you’ve heard anything at all about Sekhmet, it’s probably a patriarchal myth where Sekhmet is little more than a mercenary destroying a misbehaving humanity at the direction her father, the Sun God Ra. Well, some believe this patriarchal myth is designed to encourage a distrust of women by men and for women to fear their own power. Sekhmet is a not just a Sun Goddess, but a Mother Goddess and a Healer Goddess. She’s also a remover of obstacles and we call her the Lady of Tenacity Manifested, among all her other glorious and powerful names. Her son is Mahes, the patron of doctors and her consort, Ptah is a builder god. Hardly a Goddess of wanton destruction.
Today Sekhmet is an archetype for womens’ empowerment. She teaches women to say no without guilt, to set healthy boundaries, to have strength, determination, courage and to lean in. She’s courageous and independent. She’s also playful with her cubs and like the mother lioness who hunts alone or with her pride to feed themselves, she represents female partnership and solidarity. As the Sun, which can be life giving or withering without proper care, she teaches us discernment. When we are within her embrace we feel secure and safe yet enabled and capable. We say a woman or man who embodies Sekhmet has found their Sacred Roar.
You might like to know that the Sekhmet temple and sacred compound that stands in Indian Springs outside Las Vegas exists because an a woman in the Goddess Spirituality community went to Egypt where she discovered Sekhmet. When she learned of her reputation as a healer and mother, she prayed to Sekhmet to become pregnant after many years of failure. She promised Sekhmet if she became pregnant she’d build her a temple. Well, you can probably guess the end of this story. She became pregnant not once, but thrice, with three daughters and Genevieve Vaughan kept her promise to Sekhmet and today women and men enjoy her wonderful ecologically built temple where they practice not a capitalist version of monetary exchange, but gift giving.
Another Sun Goddess, the Celtic Brigid or St. Brigit to Christians, is a another great fire Goddess. We call on her in January as we await the coming fire and light and make our resolutions. She’s both a fire goddess and her sacred realms is also the healing waters. What do you get when you mix her aspects of fire and water? Steam. Steam to propel your resolutions forward to fruition. Bridget is a great motivator.
And finally for today, we'll pay tribute also to the lesser known Shinto Sun Goddess, Amaterasu, from Japan. Today the Shinto devotees in Japan still worship her at her many shrines and her symbol, the sun, is hiding in plain sight upon their country’s flag. Very interesting about Amaterasu is her myth is similar to the Greek Demeter. In her sorrow Amaterasu withdrew from the world and with her departure, the world withered, became barren and there was widespread famine. Similar to Demeter, when Amaterasu witnessed a bawdy dance performed by one of her counterparts showing her yoni she began to laugh and with her laughter the fertility of the land was restored.
Hence we see the diversity and life-giving powers of our Sun Goddesses without whom we might not survive. Next time we're feeling their heat, let us remember their names!
As we will it, so shall it be!
We are the collective consciousness and we determine our reality!
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