This month's full moon altar honours the Egyptian Cat Goddess Bast/Bastet. Bast is the goddess in her fully feline form and Bastet is the goddess manifested as a woman with a cat's head. Bast/Bastet was a favourite goddess of the cat-loving Egyptians. Her worship started around 3,000 BCE.
I obtained my Bast statue in the 1990s from a museum-reproductions catalogue. She is adorned with an ornate gold collar featuring the Eye of Horus and also has a sacred Scarab Beetle on her forehead. Both are symbols of divinity.
My Bastet statue was purchased about 20 years ago in an Edmonton spirituality store (which shortly thereafter burned down and never reopened). Bastet holds a ceremonial sistrum in one hand (a shaken percussion instrument) and an aegis (protective collar or shield) in the other, both of which depict kittens.
Bast/Bastet is a goddess associated with fertility, pregnancy and childbirth, who protects against disease and evil spirits as well. However, she also has a very special and rare attribute -- she is the Goddess of Playfulness and Fun.
Like all cats, Bast/Bastet likes nothing better than a good time; she takes delight in every little thing. Her message to us humans is that fun and play are necessary for a balanced life, so "lighten up!"
In recognition of her wisdom, therefore, several cat toys adorn the altar as offerings to the Divine Feline.
This month's altar cloth is a white cotton pillowslip that I embroidered about 50 years ago in 4-H when I was 12 years old. The embroidery is very simple indeed -- single, running, daisy and satin stitches along with some French knots.
[Photos © Debra She Who Seeks, April 2021]
And, of course, you KNOW who has to have the last word on today's topic --
