Amunet, the hidden one. I first came into knowing her thru a movie, the Penny Dreadful series and a video game. Whether myth or truth, to me she has become important. An Eygptian princess, a scholar, mother of the night or/and assassin? (1) Much is unknown about her, which intrigued me even more.

In one story, she is linked to Cleopatra, another Hathor and yet another in her own right as Pharaoh.

As the hidden one, she was also known as the goddess of air and invisibility. Believed to be the “female form of the greater god Amun and one of the eight deities of the Ogdoad”. Her name means a female connected to the words silence, stillness, mystery and obscurity. (2)

She is a winged goddess with ostrich feathers or/and a hawk head. As the goddess of the west, where the dead entered, she welcomed those into the kingdom of Osiris. She started as an androgynous goddess, capable of giving birth without a male. (2)

“The cult association with the goddess Neith led to the building of a temple of her at Karnak, in the time of Tutankhamun. Her cult had little following outside the Theban region and yet she still remains in history. During the twelfth dynasty, Mut became the main consort of Amun, eclipsing Amunet. In spite of this, Amunet remained “the protector of the pharaoh in the region of Thebes. (4)

Those that worshipped her practiced beliefs in the eight deities, worshipped in Hermopolis. “They were mostly seen as humans with animal heads, such as snakes and frogs.” (5)

“The Ogdoad date back to the Old Kingdom of Egypt, they are frequently mentioned in the Coffin Texts of the Middle Kingdom. E. A. Wallis Budge compared this concept to the Babylonian, Enuma Elis, viz. Abzu and Tiamat, Lahamu, Anshar and Kishar, Anu and Nudimmud. (3)

In the Hathor temple in Dendera, there is a drawing representing the Ogdoad 8. (3) The Ogdoad are the primordial 8 deities, who were the first gods and goddesses. Amun-Ra was her consort.

“Amunet was believed to have been the creator of life in Egypt and the earth of Egypt itself.” She was creator of the living, nature, death and darkness. “She often fought the battle between life and death, good and evil in her own mind and soul.” (6)

Amunet is worshipped for the creation of life, change, the moon, growth and fertility. “In rituals performed for Amunet you can include representations of sand, black or white candles, feathers, black satin or lace cloths, snake skin, cauldrons, acai berries and leaves.” (7)

Amunet’s mummified body was found in, Deir-el-Bahari, by French Egyptologist Eugene Grebaut in 1891. Her remains were found with many ceremonial tattoo markings on her abdomen and legs. Her remains now live in the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities, Cairo. (8)

“After 2,000 years, a mummy gets her face”. (9) The state of Ohio brought the face of Amunet to life by clay and “tedious work”. On September 11, 2013 Amunet became the exhibit centerpiece for “Transformation”. After 2,000 years her face is revealed again.

Amunet Ritual

Assemble on mother earth if weather permits. The middle of the circle holds the light (the cauldron, sand and candle).

Around the sacred circle holds the offering (leaves, berries).

The calling of the Goddess Amunet (hold the serpent) as we cast our circle:

Close circle, bury skin, berries, leaves and sand. You may leave the candle burning in the cauldron and dispose of sand after.

References