Sevenfold Hathor

Vernal Equinox March 20, 2021

In ancient Egypt, soul is the underlying essence of the ancient Egyptian goddess Maat. Maat comes into form because the Nun (the primordial cosmic essence) desires to know itself. Maat midwifes her own becoming from out of Nun’s desire. From this first midwifing, Maat becomes the midwife of all becoming – and is both soul and archetypal midwife of soul, mediating “all becoming” from out of the Nun, and governing truth and justice.

Sevenfold Hathor is an aspect of Maat. She wears the menat necklace to signify her role in governing harmony and the rhythmic coagulation, dilation and contraction of the cosmic unfolding and enfolding. She is the sacred midwife who governs all divine and earthly midwifing matters, as well as love, fate, marriage, childbirth, medicine, transformational magic, dance, lovemaking, the seven notes of the musical scale, the seven colours, the seven sacred fluids. Music and colour were important aspects of ancient Egyptian magic and medicine. As the heavenly cow, she is the Milky Way, which is understood to be the celestial manifestation of the River Nile, source of all life and symbol of transformation. The goddess Nut is a manifestation of the heavenly cow. It is Nut who swallows the deceased god at sunset and undertakes his transformation through the twelve hours of night by means of love and magic. At the new dawn she rebirths them through her celestial vulva. Sevenfold Hathor’s milky wisdom is the foundation of the blood-milk mysteries of the feminine. Because she governs the seven heavenly spheres, she alone fixes the destiny of the newborn and their seven Souls at the hour of birth.

Sevenfold Hathor has evolved over time and lives forward in a multitude of figures associated with transformation of the soul – Isis-Hathor, Isis, Nephthys, Hekat, the Malayan Semai’s Seven Celestial Midwifes, Fairy Godmother, Mother Goose, Mother of the Sun King, Lady of the Lake, the Huntress, Hecate, Diana, Artemis, Anima Mundi, Mary Magdelene, the Virgin Mary, Les Trois Marias, and many others. Ancient invocations to Sevenfold Hathor address her as Lady of the Sycamores, Lady of the Turquoise Pillar, and Mistress of the East and West Gates. She in her Isis-Hathor aspect is like the Magdalene in her role as the consort to Osiris and mother of Horus, both symbolic precursors to the Christ figure. In ancient Egypt, the spring equinox was the time to celebrate the resurrection of Osiris and his reunion with Isis, and among some groups the resurrection of Horus and his reunion with Hathor.

Sevenfold Hathor and her kin continue to exist in the human psyche, continually transforming into new representatives for the archetypal transforming and midwifing energy. Sevenfold Hathor is the archetypal midwife of soul and co-creative agent for the feminine mysteries. She enters the psychological birthing chamber, trailing silver threads of connectedness to the constellation of the archetypal midwife and the many figures that deliver us into our fate and wholeness.

This topic is addressed further in Matus, G.P.(2003). Midwife of Soul: A Labyrinthine Exploration of How the Midwife Archetype Weaves Through Psychological Practice. Masters of Art. Pacifica Graduate Institute. Carpinteria, CA.