Nut
Mother Goddess Of Us AllHer name is pronunced 'Noot'. 'Nuit' means 'night.' Nut was originally a mother-goddess who had many children. The
hieroglyph for her name, which she is often seen wearing on her head is
a water pot, but it is also thought to represent a womb. She was
daughter of
air god, Shu and water goddesses, Tefnut. She was shown in Egyptian artwork as a dark, star-covered naked woman,
holding her body up in an arch, facing downwards. Her arms and legs
were imagined to be
pillars of
sky, and hands and feet were
thought to touch
four cardinal points at
horizon. Far
underneath her lay
earth god, Geb, sometimes ithphallyic, looking
up at his sister-wife. She was also described as a cow goddess, taking
on some of
attributes of Hathor. Geb was described as
"Bull of
Nut" in
Pyramid Texts. As a great, solar cow, she was thought to
have carried Ra up into
heavens on her back, after he retired from
his rule on
Earth. She is also pictured as a giant sow, suckling many piglets. These
piglets represented
stars, which she swallowed each morning before
dawn. Nut was considered to be
mother of
sun and
moon.
During
day, Nut and Geb are separated, but each evening Nut comes
down to meet Geb and this causes darkness. If storms came during
day, it was believed that Nut had some how slipped closer to
Earth.
Nut is
barrier separating
forces of chaos from
ordered
cosmos in this world. Her fingers and toes were believed to touch
four cardinal points or directions.
The sun god Re was said to enter her mouth after setting in
evening
and travel through her body during
night to be reborn from her
vulva each morning. She gives birth to
sun in
east and swallows
sun in
west.
In one myth Nut gives birth to
Sun-god daily and he passes over her
body until he reaches her mouth at sunset. He then passed into her
mouth and through her body and is reborn
next morning. Another myth
described
sun as sailing up her legs and back in
Atet (Matet)
boat until noon, when he entered
Sektet boat and continued his
travels until sunset. As a goddess who gave birth to
son each day,
she became connected with
underworld, resurrection and
tomb.
She was seen as a friend to
dead, as a mother-like protector to