Sekhmut is usually portrayed as a woman with the head of a lioness. Sometimes the linen dress she wears exhibits a rosetta pattern over each nipple, an ancient leonine motif that can be traced to observation of the shoulder-knot hairs on lions.

She is daughter of the sun-god Re.

Sekhmet is the triad goddess of Memphis with her husband Ptah, god of arts and crafts. Nefertum was their son and the third member of the triad. Ptah is the creative potter-god who shaped the world and heavens assisted by the seven wise worker-dwarfs of Khnemu.

Sekhmet is one of the oldest known forms of Netjer in Egyptian record. She the 'patron' of the Physicians, Physician-Priests and Healers. Because She is one of the most powerful of all the Gods of Netjer. Her name literally translated means "Mighty One", or "Powerful One". Her name is derived from the Egyptian word 'Sekhem', which means "power" or "might". The word Sekhem' is literally inseperable from Sekhmet and Her worship. Because of her power - she is often misunderstood and portrayed only in a negative way. This is probably because of legends of how Sekhmet, as the destructive Eye of Ra was sent forth to punish humanity for its mockery of Her Father, Ra.

Sekhmet is closely linked to the Uraeus (Buto or Wadjyt) in Her role as the fire-breathing, 'Eye of Ra'. The pyramid texts themselves mention that the King or Pharaoh was conceived by Sekhmet, Herself.

Sekhmet was worshipped as part of a triad made up of herself, her husband Ptah and their eldest child Nefertem. She was worshiped throughout Egypt, particularly wherever a wadi opened out at the desert edges. This is the type of terrain that lions are often found. Many lions having come from the desert in order to drink and to prey upon cattle in the area.

It is said that her worship was possibly introduced into Egypt from the Sudan, because lions are more plentiful there. Sekhmet's main cult center was located in Memphis (Men-nefer)and was part of the Divine Triad there, which was made up of Ptah, Sekhmet and Nefertum. Sekhmet is the wife of Ptah, the 'Creator' Netjer of the Ancient Egyptians and their son is called Nefertum, who is also closely associated with healers and healing.

Because of the shift in power from Memphis to Thebes during the New Kingdom (1550- 1069 BC) the Theban Triad, made up of Amun, Mut (Amaunet), and Khons, Sekhmet's attributes were absorbed into that of Mut.

Sekhmet was increasingly represented as an aggressive manifestation of Mut and the Two Goddesses, along with HetHert and Bast were often synchronized. Mut-Sekhmet was the protectoress, Wife of the King of the Gods, Who also was incarnate through the person of the Pharaoh. Within the Mut Precinct were found large numbers of statues of the lioness-goddess which were erected by Amenhotep III (1390 - 1352 BC) both in the Temple of Mut at Karnak and also at his mortuary temple which was located in Western Thebes.

She is supposedly the twin sister of the cat goddess Bast They represent a duality of good and evil, yet Sekhmet herself is portrayed as having both good and evil sides. Her qualities as Healer, Mother and Protector are often overlooked. In the realm of Ancient Egyptian Medicine, almost all healers and surgeons of Ancient Kemet would most certainly have fallen under Sekhmet's jurisdiction.

Sekhmet is the wrathful form - polar opposite - of Hathor - goddess of joy, music, dance, sexual love, pregnancy and birth. With leonine head, female human body and the strength of her father, she is the noontime sun - intense blinding heat. Hathor took Sekhmut's shape when she made war on men.

She was the goddess who meted out divine punishment to the enemies of the gods and of the pharaoh. In this capacity she was called the "Eye of Ra." She also accompanied the pharaoh into battle, launching fiery arrows into battle ahead of him. Sekhmet could also send plagues and disease against her enemies, but was sometimes invoked to avoid plague and cure disease. Sekhmet's capacity for destruction is well-documented. In one story, Ra sends her to punish those mortals who have forgotten him and she ends up nearly destroying the entire human race. Only the cleverness of Ra stops her rampage before it consumes every living thing.

A corresponding relationship was made between Sekhmet of Memphis and the goddess Mut, wife of Amun at Thebes, a fusion facilitated by the fact that both goddesses could manifest themselves under leonine forms. Hundreds of statues of Sakhmet were set up in the reign of Amenhotep III (Dynasty XVIII) in the precinct of Mut's temple (known as 'Isheru') south of the Great Temple of Amun of Karnak. Their quantity is attributable to their ritual purpose in receiving offerings, each statue being so honoured on one particular day of the year.

Sekhmet, as the goddess Hathor, is the daughter he plucked from his head and sent out into the universe to avenge his anger. Nu spoke, "Let thine Eye go forth against those who are rebels in the kingdom." Then the gods spoke together, "Let thine eye go forth against these rebels. When It cometh down from heaven, no human eye can be raised against it." Sekhmet/Hathor, in the form of a lioness, hurled herself upon the men who had rebelled against Ra. She attacked them with such fury that the sun god feared she might exterminate the entire human race and begged her to stop the carnage. She had no ears to hear it. So Ra spilled 7,000 jugs containing a magic potion composed of beer and pomegranate juice in her path. Sekhmet, mistook the red liquid for human blood, lapped it up and become too drunk to continue the slaughter.

On the feast day of Hathor/Sekhmet as many jugs of reddened beer were offered as there were priestesses of the sun. Mistress and lady of the tomb, gracious one, destroyer of rebellion, mighty one of enchantments. Her body draped in red, Sekhmet faces West; her sister-daughter Bast in green, personification of the domestic cat, faces East.

The goddess is adopted by the pharaohs as a symbol of their own unvanquishable heroism in battle. She breathes fire against the king's enemies, such as in the Battle of Kadesh when she is visualised on the horses of Ramesses II, her flames scorching the bodies of enemy soldiers. The wrath of the pharaoh towards those who rebel against his rule is compared by a Middle Kingdom treatise on kingship to the rage of Sakhmet.

There was a temple to Sekhmet-Hathor at Kom el-Hisn in the western Delta, and in his temple at Abydos Sety I (Dynasty XIX) is suckled by Hathor whose title is 'mistress of the mansion of Sakhmet'. In this legend the sun-god Re fears that mankind plots against him. The gods urge him to call down retribution on men by sending his avenging Eye down to Egypt as Hathor. As the goddess slays men, leaving them in pools of blood in the deserts where they fled, she transforms into the 'powerful'.

During the night the god Re, trying to avert a total massacre of the human race by the goddess who clearly has become unstoppable in her bloodlust, orders his high priest at Heliopolis to obtain red ochre from Elephantine and grind it with beer mash. Secen thousand jars of red beer are spread over the land of Egypt. in the morning Sekhmet returns to finish her task of destroying the human race, drinks what she assumes is blood and goes away intoxicated, unable to complete her slaughter.

Spells exist that regard plagues as brought by the 'messengers' of Sekhmet. On the assumption that the goddess could ward off pestilence as well as bring it, the Egyptians adopted Sakhmet 'lady of life' as a beneficial force in their attempts to counteract illness. her priesthood seems to have had a prophylactic role in medicine.

In Tibet she is known as Senge Dong-ma, lion-headed dakini, "Guardian of the Secret Tantric Teachings". She is called Simhavaktra, in India where she also has a male reflection in the lion-headed incarnation of Vishnu, Narasimha. Pure shakti, she is doubtless a close relative to lion-mounted Durga, "Keeper of the Flame". Indeed, another Egyptian title for Sekhmet is Nesert, the flame. In the ancient Near East she was called Anat, Ashtoreth and Astarte.

A superbly carved limestone fragment from the valley of Sneferu (Dynasty IV) at Dahshur shows the monarch's head closely juxtaposed to the muzzle of a lioness-deity (presumably Sakhmet) as if to symbolise Sneferu breathing in the divine life-force emanating from the goddess's mouth. This would be in line with a statement in the Pyramid Texts to the effect that Sakhmet conceived the king. Certainly, under Sahure of Dynasty V the goddess received a shrine at Abusir.

Sekhmet's black granite statues either show her seated holding the sign of life ('ankh') in her hand or standing with a sceptre in the shape of the papyrus, heraldic plant of north Egypt. Inscriptions on these statues emphasise her warlike aspect, e.g., 'smiter of the Nubians'.

As with the Goddess Isis, Sekhmet seems to have been reinvented in the twentieth century. Although she is still regarded as a powerful force, to be approached with respect and caution, we can perceive a 'watering down' of her aspects. In Ancient Egypt she was dangerous and ferocious, the bringer of plagues and retribution, the fire of the sun God's eye. This was no benign figure, who could be adored and worshipped as a gentle mother.

Nowadays, many women view Sekhmet as a source of strength, independence and assertiveness, and commune with her frequency when these attributes need to be augmented or instilled.

To some people Sekhmet has become the symbol of the modern woman. She is still approached as a healer, bringer of justice and as a guardian or protector, but the emphasis has shifted. It seems a natural progression that Sekhmet has transformed from what was almost a force of chaos into an icon of immanent female power.

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