Juno Covella - Goddesses of Midnight

Reproduced By Permission.

Juno Covella

Perpetual Calendar

of the Fellowship of Isis

compiled by

Lawrence Durdin-Robertson, M.A. (Dublin)

Baron Robertson of Strathloch

Priest of Isis

"Veil of the Oracle" by Olivia Robertson.

Excerpt from Section VII

Goddesses of the Hours of the Day

MIDNIGHT

11 p.m. to Midnight

Egyptian: THCESER-SHETAT. (Budge, Gods of Egy. Vol. II p. 301) “Goddesses and Gods of the Twelve Hours of the Night. Goddesses … Hour VI. Tcheser-Shetat”.

(Budge, id. Vol. I. p. 189) résumé of Book of Pylons) “The name of the pylon of the Sixth Division or the Sixth Hour is Nebt-aha, the guardian to the entrance to the corridor is Maa-ab, ‘Right of heart’, and he who is at the end is Sheta-ab, ‘Secret Heart’ … We must note in passing the position of the Sixth Division of the Tuat. Assuming that the Tuat was regarded as a nearly circular valley which curved round from the West, where the sun set, to the North, and curved round from the West, where the sun set, to the North, and curved round from the North to the East, where the sun rose, it follows if all the twelve divisions of the Tuat be equal in length, that the Sixth Division would be very near the most northerly part of the Tuat. And this is exactly where it was intended to be … Ra, having arrived at the North of the Tuat, must now make his way to the East”.

THE LADY OF THE BOAT; THE LADY OF THE ABYSS; AMENT-SEMU-SET; ANTHETH, HENHENITH, HEMT and SEHITH; AST-AMHIT; ISIS. (Budge, id. p. 224, résumé of Book of Underworld) “The sixth Hour … is called Mesperit-arat-Maatu … The description text says, ‘When this great god arriveth at the abyss of water, which is the lady of the gods of the Tuat, he holdeth converse with the gods that are there … The name of the pylon of this city is Sept-metu. The hidden path of Amentet, on the stream of which this great god journeyed in his boat … and the hidden similitude of the Tuat, are unknown’ …

“The illustrated edition of the Sixth Hour shows as that Ra … is once again in his old boat and sailing over the waters of the stream of the Tuat. In front of his boat are: … 2. The goddess Ament-seum-set. Beyond these is a large house with sixteen divisions … On the left hand side of the boat … [are] the goddesses Antheth, Henhenith, Hemt and Sehith”. Other named goddesses in this Hour are Ast-amhit and Isis. Both these, like the last four mentioned above, are shown sitting on invisible thrones.

Colchian: MEDEA. Graeco-Roman: NYX, NOX, Night; HECATE; SELENE, LUNA, The Moon; GAIA, TELLUS, The Earth; The Deities of the Groves, and of Night. (Ovid, Metam. VII. 180) “When she (i.e. Luna) shone full, and with a compleat Disk survey’d the Earth, Medea leaves the Palace; her Garments flowing loose, her Foot bare, and her Hair floating careless on her Shoulders: Thus solitary and unattended, she directs her wandering Steps through the dreary Silence of Midnight … The Stars alone twinkle; to these she rears her Arms … ‘O Night, (says she) faithful Confident of these my Secrets, and ye golden Stars that with the Moon succeed to the Fires of the Day; and thou, too, threefold Hecate, the Friend and Abettor of my Design; ye Charms and magick Arts, and Earth, to whom the Sorceress owes her magazine of potent herbs; Air, Winds, Mountains, Rivers, Lakes, and all the Deities of the Groves, and all the Deities of Night, attend here”.

Egyptian and Roman: ISIS and PROSERINE. (Lucius Apuleius, Metam. XVIII, p. 284, Graves’ trans.) Lucius, while awaiting his initiation is given a vision of Isis: “I … learned to be patient, taking part in the daily services of the temple as calmly and quietly as I knew how, intent on pleasing the Goddess. Nor did I have a troublesome and disappoint probation. Soon after this she gave me proof of her grace by a midnight vision.” (id. p. 286) Lucius describes his initiation: “I approached the very gates of death and set foot on Proserine’s threshold, yet was permitted to return, rapt through all the elements. At midnight I saw the sun shining as if it were noon; I entered the presence of the deities of under-world and the deities of the upper-world, stood near and worshipped them”.

Persian: THE HOUSE-MISTRESS; THE HOLY WOMAN; ARAMAITI; THE AHURANIS. See under 6 p.m to 7 p.m.

Slavonic: ZORYA OF MIDNIGHT. (Alexinsky, New Larousse, p. 285) on Slavonic traditions: “A myth of a later period attributes a special mission to the Zorya. ‘There are in the sky,’ it says, ‘three little sisters, three little Zorya: she of the Evening, she of Midnight, and she of Morning.” See also under Dawn.

Finnish-Esthonian: AMMARIK, The Gloaming. (Legend of Lapland, Anna C. Brackett, cited by Muller, Intro. to Science of Rel. p. 387). Note: Muller writes: “Can we then doubt … that their meeting (i.e. Ammarik with the Dawn-god Koit) in the summer reflects those summer evenings when, particularly in the North, the torch of the sun never seems to die, and when the Gloaming is seen kissing the Dawn?” The poem ends with the verses:

“ ‘… Only for four times seven lengthening days,

At midnight, do they stand

Together, while Koit gives the dying blaze

To Ammarik’s hand.

‘O wonder then! She lets it not expire,

But lights it with her breath -

The breath of love, that, warm with quickening fire,

Wakes life from death.

‘Then hands stretch out, and touch, and clasp on high,

Then lip to lip is pressed.

And Ammarik’s blushes tinge the midnight sky

From East to west’.”