The Festival Of Bast~April 15
Part 1 of 3
Dr Raven Dolick MsD
Apr 15, 2016
All rights reserved
According to many pagan calendars, April 15 was the annual festival of Bast. This was Egypt's most popular festival. A precursor of modern mardi Gras, it was renowned for parties, revelry, and drunkenness. Herodotus, the Greek traveler and historian writing in the fifth century BCE, claimed that more wine was consumed in Egypt during this festival than during the entire rest of the year. Although many details are lost, Bastet's festival celebrated female sexuality and generative power.
Boats sailed up the Nile toward Bubastis (her cult city). As each barge approached towns and settlements, it would halt and the mainly female celebrants on board would loudly hail local women congregating on the riverbanks. They would shout sexual obscenities to each other, dance wildly, and perform ana suromai, the ritual act of lifting up the skirts to expose the vulva, associated with laughter, healing, and defiance of grief.
Colors: Pink, yellow, clay-color
Element: Fire
Altar: Upon a cloth the color of clay, set ten lit candles of pink and yellow, and the figures of many cats. In the center should sit a figure of Bast, and a sistrum. The one who has been chosen to do the work of the ritual should pick up the sistrum before the invocation, with an obeisance to Bast, and it should be shaken after every sentence.
Offerings: Give aid to an animal shelter. Give food to household cats.
Daily Meal: Fish.
Invocation to Bast
O great Mistress of Cats,
Lady of pleasure in ancient times,
Your eyes sparkle with mischief
And you grant your favors capriciously,
Giving them only where the whim takes you.
Yet we who inhabit this strange world,
Below you yet in power over all your subjects,
We would ask your blessing on us
As we give our blessing to those who are in our mercy.
May we never forget, Lady of tame predators,
Who are not so tame as we might like to believe,
That when we are in a position of power
We should never forget the spirit of those beneath us.
Bless us with joy in life, Lady Bast,
And may we go to our graves
Never forgetting what it is like to play.
Hail Bast! (Repeat response)
Hail Bast! (Repeat response)
Hail Bast! (Repeat response)
For the rest of the afternoon, work should be done at an animal shelter, or spent playing with cats, which on this day alone is not shirking the work. Some folk of the House may choose to be cats themselves for this day; they need do no work, and it is lucky to pet them, but they must not stand on two legs or the spell will be broken. During this time, they must meditate on what it is to be in the strange predicament of the tamed predator who is dependent on the whims of humans.
Part 2
Bastet The Great Cat Goddess
Titles: Mistress of the Oracle; Great Conjuress of the Casket, Lady of the East
Names: Bast, Bastet
Attributes: Basket and ankh (symbol of life)
Planets: Sun and moon
Color: Green
Animal: Domestic cats are her servants and sacred animals
Bastet, great cat goddess, has dominion over sex, fertility, marriage, magic, music, childbirth, prosperity, joy, dance, and healing - in short, the pleasures of life. She protects humans against infertility, dangers of childbirth, evil spirits, illness, and bodily injuries, especially those caused by venomous creatures. A tomb inscription says Bastet bestows "life, prosperity and health every day and long life and beautiful old age."
She was the Lady of the East, the mother of all cats, and wife of the god Ptah. Although she was said to be the embodiment of the living power and gentle heat of the Sun, through her sacred cats she was also connected with the Moon.
Bastet offers special protection to women and children and serves as matron of magicians and healers. Her cult began in the Nile Delta swamps. The earliest known portrait of Bastet dates to circa 3,000 BCE. By about 950 BCE she was worshipped throughout Egypt. For a while, she was the most popular goddess in the kingdom. Her veneration reached its zenith during the reign of Osorkon II (874 - 853 BCE), when a major temple was erected at her cult city, Bubastis. Devotion to Bastet officially survived until 30 BCE and the Roman conquest, the Romans having little sympathy for animal-shaped gods.
Iconography:
She is depicted as a cat, often bejeweled, or as a woman with a cat's head sometimes surrounded by kittens and fashionably dressed in a green or blue dress.
Offerings:
Bast can be honored by establishing a woodland or garden shrine to the Nature spirits and wild animals. Put a statue of a cat in this sacred space to represent the goddess. Her name may be related to a word meaning "perfume." Ancient Egyptian perfume was typically in the form of a salve. Offer her precious cream perfumes or offerings that benefit her sacred animal, cats.
Part 3
The Festival Of Bastet April 15.
Cat Protection Ritual
For protection and blessings by the goddess Bast, of yourself and your cat pets, set up an altar with cat pictures and/or statues. These pictures and statues can be of any kind of cat, domestic or wild. Place a picture of yourself, your family, and some of your cats there also. Have two green candles on the altar. This ritual can be performed by itself or as part of a cast circle ritual.
Note: This ritual also calls for a sistrum, which is a sort of rattle made of metal, and deeply associated with the goddess Bast and Egyptian magick. If you don't have one, use a bell or small wind chimes instead.
To begin the ritual, take the sistrum and slowly dance or walk around the ritual area, shaking the sistrum asayou go. Begin and end in the East and move clockwise. Chant as you go:
Joy comes from Bast, the Lady of Cats
The goddess loves and protects all animals.
As a daughter/son of Bast, I call upon her
To pour out her blessings.
Return to the altar and shake the sistrum while you say:
Hail, Bast, Lady of Cats.
Hail, Goddess of earthly delights.
Teach me to rejoice in the being that I am.
Teach me to love and be happy.
If you have pictures of your cats, look at them now with love and happiness. If you don't have pictures, call up their images mentally. Call each cat by name as if presenting him/her to the goddess. Be alert to the atmosphere around you, for you will very likely experience the presence of the goddess in some manner.
When you have finished, take the sistrum and go to the East. Shake the sistrum five times. Say:
The ears of Bast are sensitive
to every word of harm sent against me and my pets.
My cats and I are protected.
To to the South, shake the sistrum five times and say:
The claws of Bast are sharp in my defence.
My cats and I are protected.
Move to the West. Shake the sistrum five times. Say:
The teeth of Bast are bared to evil-doers.
My cats and I are protected.
Finally, go to the North and shake the sistrum five times. Say:
The eyes of Bast can see through darkness.
Nothing escapes her notice.
My cats and I are protected.
Return to the altar. Shake the sistrum three times. Say:
Listen well, all those who would harm me and mine.
Here is erected a mighty fortress, an unbreakable shield.
You cannot enter here. Your evil thoughts return to you.
The gate is locked against you.
Visualize a green light filling the room, caressing you and the pictures of your cats. Don't be surprised if your cats themselves enter the room to soak up this blessing.
Lovely Cat-Goddess, I thank you for your blessings.
Keep us in safety, good health, and happiness.
Protect my little ones wherever they may roam.
Blow a kiss to the goddess and extinguish the candles. As a special treat, both to Bast and to your cats, present your pets with a catnip toy to play with.
Cat Healing Chant
To petition Bast (the goddess of cats) for healing of cats, chant the following before her picture/statue while holding an actual picture or mental image of the sick animal:
Lift the hand of disease.
Restore health!
Cast out all illness.
Restore health!
Pour your healing powers through (name of cat).
Bast! Restore Health!
Repeat the chant 5 times, or until you feel it is complete.
No comments:
Post a Comment