Sekhmet was the patron goddess of the city of Memphis, the wife of Ptah. One of the most feared — and fierce — goddesses in the Egyptian pantheon, she was the goddess of war, embodying the energies of the scorching sun. Sekhmet was the Sun eye of the Sun god Ra (the other eye was the eye of the Moon). Sekhmet is the formidable eye of the Sun in zenith, the power of the midday Sun to kill and destroy.
But Sekhmet was also a healer who had the magical power to both bring on an illness and to cure it. It was at the temples dedicated to Sekhmet that ancient medicine developed. Sekhmet always favored doctors and surgeons, and in the old days the priests of Sekhmet were also the best doctors around.
One of my teachers said she saw many surgeons still carrying the seal of Sekhmet in this day and age. It seems Sekhmet favored especially the precision and power of the surgical profession. A surgeon, like herself, could potentially both kill and give life. A surgeon could restore health by removing an inflamed or otherwise imbalanced part of the body — but even today a surgery is not a walk in the park, and it was much less so in the days of Sekhmet.
Sekhmet is (almost) pure fire element, able to bring power and passion into a stagnant project or situation. She has some water in her as well, connected to her healing and soothing powers (when she so chooses).
We connect with Sekhmet to work with the energies of the 15th and 17th arcana of the Hermetic tree of life, i.e., letting go of attachments and the power of healing respectively (represented by Tarot cards The Devil and The Star in the tradition I work with).
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