Nephthys

The knowledge presented contains information for those who want to understand the great Goddess of Darkness known as Nephthys, also known in Greek mythology as the great Olympian deity of the heavens, Hestia. Nephthys is a member of the Great Heliopolitan Ennead of Egypt, being a supreme deity of supernal and extreme importance. In the Goetia, she was labeled as the demon Bathin. Her other divine names are presented below:

The Ritual above is a major way to engage in the mysteries of this Goddess, the sister of Isis, the solemn, sacred Queen of the astral realms and the afterlife.

NEPHTHYS

Nephthys is an extremely important goddess ruling over very important processes of Life and Death. She is one of the foremost Goddesses, and it is no exaggeration to say Nephthys' prominence in all facets of Egyptian religion was second only to Isis and Hathor. Although Nephthys is considered to be a highly mysterious and enigmatic Goddess in the contemporary imagination due to a general lack of understanding of her symbolism, the records of the Egyptian household, palace, temple, tomb, hieratic document, and various sets of sacramental objects all have her imagery emblazoned upon them. Even as far back as the Old Kingdom with its mysterious texts of the pyramids, Nephthys played a highly prominent role tied to the Pharaohs¹, and this means that her divine pedigree is assuredly of great antiquity.

Understanding why this is the case means understanding part of the intrinsic relationship of Isis and Nephthys. Their association conveys the duality of of life and death. The pair are constantly portrayed together. Nephthys is referred to as being the sister² and daughter of Isis, but additionally as the minister, the midwife, the nursing mother, and the twin of Isis. In addition, much of Nephthys' public worship was relationally positioned in regard to the temple cults of Osiris, and her few physical chapels tend to correspond with the larger complexes of Set, relating strongly to the mythological tetrad of divine figures who give way to the birth of Horus that Plutarch famously elaborated upon.³

Utterance 553, Pyramid Texts: ⁴

My mother is Isis, my nurse is Nephthys.

Nephthys is identified as part of a dyad with Isis in kite form as early as the Pyramid Texts.⁵ The two sister Goddesses became inextricably associated with the lamentation rituals of Egyptian funerals and holiday periods. The high-profile mourning events hosted in the temples of Osiris started to grow into rather complex, stratified events during the Middle Kingdom⁶; during this time, the mourning events were incontestably important for the health of civic religion. Proceedings by the Ptolemaic period give off the impression that the rituals were of an even higher importance, because they left behind a backlog of documents like the Bremner-Rhind Papyrus⁷ describing in immense detail the patronage, preparation and precision necessary for the organizers to pull them off.

Historians interpreting this paper trail quickly comprehended the importance of the Osirian lamentation rituals. Late–Ptolemaic Osirian liturgies preserved in the Bremner-Rhind Papyrus, whose instructions for performance specify the consecration of the temple, give step-by-step instructions for the ritual preparation of the two women representing Isis and Nephthys (purity, depilation, wigs, and naming inscriptions on the upper arms), then provides sung strophes timed to specific festival dates in the Khoiak season at the Osiris temple of Khentamenti (Abydos), and these holy rites would involve lamenting the strewn Osiris of the great mythology. Dressed as Isis and Nephthys and by obligation free of bodily and spiritual defect, the two female priestesses (She of the Kites) were regularly chosen to also conduct funerary rites in a very dramatic manner to ensure the soul of a deceased person would continue to live peaceably in funerary contexts ⁸. The main living role of Nephthys was viewed in these enactments of the divine play by the average Egyptian eye.

Numen (Vol. 5), C.J. Breeker: ⁹

A close study of this material must lead to the conclusion that the religion of the ancient Egyptians consisted mainly in the performance of certain sacred actions, from which religious salvation was expected. The effect of these cultic actions depended on their immanent mythical value. To the Egyptian mind, religiosity was not bound up with the knowledge of a certain doctrine but with the celebration of certain rites that were somehow rooted in myth.

Nephthys did not have major temple complexes, and given her immense antiquity in Egyptian religion, this fact may seem strange. However, smaller, modest temples and chapels dedicated to her still existed across Egypt, particularly encased in the complexes of Set. The site at Sepermeru, for instance, is representative of a type of building dedicated to her. It is assumed by the design aspects that these chapels have a strongly mortuary bent to them, being places of silence and contemplation. Her priesthood of these places was important but seeemingly modest, which the Wilbour Papyrus hints at as a source.¹⁰ The papryus shows that there was both a prophet and priest of the House of Nephthys in Sepermeru established by Ramesses II during the time of his successor, Ramesses V. By the Late and Ptolemaic periods, she had further chapels at Edfu and Philae, and a temple dedicated to her and Anoukis at Esna.¹¹

Her name in Egyptian, Nebot-Het, means 'the Delineation of the House' or, more simply, 'the Mistress of the House.' The word 'house' is used interchangably with 'temple' in Egyptian language. Nephthys was considered to embody the inner spiritual sanctum of the home. There exists a not insignificant amount of evidence that Nephthys was worshiped privately in households, and in urban life, the amulets commoners wore with her likeness testify to a Goddess whose presence was represented through private and public symbolism on the breast of the people. Nephthys was known in some ancient Egyptian sacral theologies as the "Helpful Goddess" or the "Excellent Goddess".¹²

Nephthys is understood by Egyptologists to be the Goddess of the Air. The Chakra of Venus, the Middle Chakra, is ruled by air and fire. This Chakra deals with using the astral body. The symbolism of levity and death connected to this Chakra (upon death, one's soul exits the body through it) is in parallel to Nephthys' rulership of the lower realms of the Astral, where many of the dead inhabit, a realm that only a few living people have access to. In Egyptian religion itself, Nephthys was often called upon to intercede and protect the souls of the dead in front of Ma'at. In the guise of a protector and oath-beholder, she is represented as having the wings of a kite and blessing the Pharaoh, analogous to the inscriptions at Philae. ¹⁴

In tandem, Set rules over elements of the visible world, which is a world with the majority of humanity totally blinded in ignorance. Consequently, Set and Nephthys are equated with the underworld, darkness, and the night, being one of the male and female principles of these matters in the same manner that Thoth and Seshat represent knowledge.

As the Ǫueen of the Dead, Nephthys is notably associated with Isis and Anubis who came to be known as the child of Nephthys³. As the product of Nephthys and Osiris' affair in mythology, Anubis becomes the Lord of the Dead and enacts the decrees of the two deities, carrying out all the bindings and synchronicities involved in life and death. These include the union of matters necessary for the individual to continue incarnating, like matters of race and health, a parallel to the internal processes that Nephthys creates in the soul for the 'Second Birth.' Many other mystical processes are associated with Nephthys who, is also called the 'Binderess' and 'Nurse' in Ancient Egyptian. She represents many processes and alchemical matters of uniting the body and soul together for the 'Second Birth,' a process overseen by Isis. In this context, the House of Nephthys does not merely represent a physical place but the body and soul itself, supported by the pillar.

She is associated often with Seshat, enacting her decrees of reality and acting as a deputy to the Goddess of Fate.

Symbolism

Firstly, the visual symbolism of Nephthys being the identical twin to Isis shows a code involving the Ka or astral body, which is the ethereal 'twin' of the mortal living body and moulds itself to the shape of the physical body in each incarnation. Often, the most visible difference is in the colors of their clothing, with Isis wearing brighter and Nephthys wearing darker tones.

This card was called ‘the House of God’ in the past as noted on the page of Bastet, and the reversed form is one of the most cryptic cards. Visually, the card shows this confusing nature, lightning striking from below and people falling upwards is almost oxymoronic. The fate of the crowned and bejeweled figures who jump from the sinister structure likewise becomes more mysterious. Whichever way, the Tower reversed beckons the querent to confront the darkness. In alchemy, it relates to the breaking of the vessel, but the reversed version deals with its reconstitution.

The Minor Arcana card is the Ten of Swords, another card conveying the absolute end of a situation in a thoroughly negative sense. The man, laying on the ground, is impaled by ten swords, with one of his arms bent, his index and middle fingers positioned gesturing towards a crimson shroud enveloping his body like a wave, just as the tumultuous black sky gives way to the citrine dawn. His head is fixed to the earth. In the background, there is a still body of cyan water and mountains meaning that even in destruction, calm will descend.

The end card of the Swords sequence is one of the most negative of all Tarot cards and relates to the devastation involved in an upcoming or unfolded situation. The dawn imagery shows there is still hope, just as Nephthys assists the fallen ones. Part of this card relates to secret insights only the Goddess can give.

HESTIA

Homeric Hymn to Hestia: ¹⁹

Hestia, in the high dwellings of all, both deathless Gods and men who walk on earth, you have gained an everlasting abode and highest honor: glorious is your portion and your right. For without you mortals hold no banquet, where one does not duly pour sweet wine in offering to Hestia both first and last.

In ancient Greece, every single home contained a sacred hearth, so every home contained a dynamic shrine to Hestia.¹⁸ The state afforded Hestia the title of the bearer of the household hearth and ‘the inner circle’. The presence of this space within a Greek household meant a commitment to certain responsibilities; guests had to be well-treated and to treat their hosts well under oaths to Hestia and Zeus Xenios.¹⁹²⁰ To violate this sacred right either way meant severe penalties. She was invoked rigidly before meals and during celebrations but also during times of grave commemoration, and families would even offer a portion of their food to Hestia during these times as the ‘greatest share’.¹⁹.

Orphic Hymn to Hestia: ²¹

To Hestia, Fumigation from Aromatics. Daughter of Kronos (Cronus), venerable dame, who dwellest amidst great fire's eternal flame; in sacred rites these ministers are thine, mystics much blessed, holy and divine. In thee the Gods have fixed their dwelling place, strong, stable basis of the mortal race. Eternal, much formed, ever florid queen, laughing and blessed, and of lovely mien; accept these rites, accord each just desire, and gentle health and needful good inspire.

But if the fire had been polluted by the presence of nefarious foreigners occupying a city, it was ordered to be snuffed out and relit.²⁹ Due to her presence in households, temples to Hestia in the Greek world were mostly sparse. According to the ancient sources like Pausanias in his travels through Greece³⁰, sacred complexes dedicated to her were simple by design and lacking in any sort of ornamentation or embellishment that would distract from specifically serene contemplation at Priene, Delphi and other cities. The sole temples of Hestia at Sparta and Hermione were unadorned other than having an altar.³¹ The records of inscriptions at the British Museum demonstrate that another temple to her existed in the Piraeus,³² while an important center of religious worship was Entella in Sicily among a colony city of Greeks.³³ Subtlely, it was said every temple ever built had a mysterious element dedicated to her, something continually reaffirmed throughout Antiquity.³³

One of the most important cult sites of hers in contradiction to this austere trend was in Ephesus where a site was dedicated to Hestia Boulaea.³⁴ The Ephesian Prytaneion was constructed in the form of a temple with a grand hall and Doric-columned courtyard, while this courtyard was paved with a mosaic depicting the shields of Amazons, exceptionally ornate in its design. Continued maintenance of this flame was considered to be of strategic importance by the inhabitants of that great city. It served both religious functions and civic ones. The flame of Hestia burned on its altar for centuries, and in the presence of the fire of the Goddess the city continued its eminent prergoative. Unlike the centralized priesthood of Vesta in Rome, her priesthood was multifocal and varied throughout the Hellenistic world, though it appears that the Ephesian priesthood of hers was the most important under the Curetes,³⁵ who were primarily associated with Artemis but carried out many attested functions of Hestia in that city and by a certain point moved to the Prytaneion. A large amount of women achieved priestly significance in Ephesus,³⁶ as an inscription from a Roman priestess called Claudia Trophime, a priestess of Hera and Hestia, indicates how Hestia was essentially beyond description and beyond myth:

Ephesos 2058, inscription of Claudia Trophime: ³⁷

αὕτα καὶ μακάρεσσιν ἐπήρκεσ’ ἐν εὐφροσύναισιν,

αὕτη καὶ θαλερὸν φῶς κατέχει πατρίδος·

ἁδυτάτα δαῖμον, κόσμου θάλος, ἀέναον φῶς

ἃ κατέχεις βωμοῖς δαλὸν ἀπ’ οὐρανόθεν.

κλεψιποτεῖ Πείων τὸν ὑπ’ ἠέρος ὄμβρον ἐν αὐτῷ

χωρῶν εἰς λαγόνας πρὸς πελάγους μέγεθος·

πῶς δέ τις ἄν σε φράσειε, θεόκτιτον ἃ κατέχεις φῶς,

σώζουσ’ ἐν σεαυτῇ λείψανον εὐμετρίης;

She too brought joy even to the blessed immortals in their gladness;

she too keeps watch over the flourishing light of her fatherland.

O sweetest Daemon, blossom of the ordered world, eternal flame,

you who hold upon your altars the torch sent down from heaven.

Paean drinks in secret the rain that falls from the sky into himself,

passing into his hollows, vast as the measure of the sea.

How could anyone ever declare your nature, you who hold the God-built light,

preserving within yourself the measure of perfect harmony?

Of the Goddesses, she is said to reign most vigilantly over the lot of mortal men:

Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite: ¹⁷

In all the temples of the Gods she has a share of honour, and among all mortal men she is chief of the Goddesses.

Owing to her status as a fixed and immovable being in conclusion, the episodes of Hestia in mythology are comparatively scarce in general. She was swallowed by her father Cronus first and spat out by him last.¹⁸ As stated at the beginning, is said that when Apollo and Poseidon requested her hand in marriage, she refused and touched the head of Zeus, activating his protective aegis. Even when the Typhon attacked Olympus, she did not flee. Throughout the mythological record, she was known as an eternal virgin who was unable to be bent by the wiles of Aphrodite and Eros, alongside Artemis and Athena. Other mythological stories involving her are indicative of Vesta and only by inference involve Hestia.

SYMBOLS

Every symbol relating to Hestia was related to the inner life of people and the family. Above all, she powers what is stable and enduring in life, the basic necessities of sustenance that continue to keep the material world in place. Her name itself means simply ‘hearth’, but in the Greek language that also became an alternate word for family or household.³⁸ Socrates speculated that it was connected to the verb ‘estin’, or ‘to be’, in Ancient Greek.³⁹ It was also said, elsewhere in the Socratic dialogues of Plato, that he claimed Hestia alone resides eternally in the house of the Gods at Olympus, untainted by contact with those below; she is the font of living.⁴⁰ Thus it can be said that the public faces of Nephthys and Hestia in each holy culture have a dualistic symbolism.

Nemean Ode XI, Pindar: ²⁸

Daughter of Rhea, guardian of parliaments, Hestia, sister of all-highest Zeus, and of Hera who shares his throne, welcome with goodwill to your sacred hall.

The flame was her most important symbol. Fire itself as a natural element is strange and unique, wherever a single flame may be quashed, fire itself can be generated again by repeated friction. Earth, water and the air cannot be generated like this; nor can electricity be accessed with such ease. This allusion is a hint about her eternal presence everywhere. Unlike Hephaestus, her flame was rigidly natural.Her sacred animal was the pig, which was exhibited at the ancient Thesmophoria festival across Greece.⁴¹ Pigs are enormously beneficial animals for any civilization. A pig does not necessarily need an accompanying field or the purchase of farmland to thrive. A single pig can remove harmful waste or food excess by consumption, its body parts can be used for any sort of cooking, clothing, cosmetics, and weaponry, and the animal is a vouchsafe for any kind of famine due to the flexibility involved in keeping its meat impervious to spoilage. Nothing was as beneficial to a family’s safety worldwide as possessing one. Another symbolic aspect of the pig is that, unlike other even-toed hooved animals, they give birth by lying fixed in place, and of course, unlike what the Yehubor slander claims, they are hygienic and fastidious animals.

Classical conventions of Hestia on vases tended to show her as clutching the chaste tree (agnos) branch sitting down or in a procession involving other Goddesses. She also often sits upon a simple and rustic wooden throne or chair, demonstrating her simplicity, watchfulness and contentment. In his Natural History, the Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder noted that Athenian girls would scatter the leaves of the chaste tree on their beds strictly during the Thesmophoria to "quench the fire of lust" and preserve their chastity.⁴² The cooling idea rather cryptically interpreted Hestia’s role as the virgin keeper of the hearth's flame for a committal purpose. The chaste tree symbolized the Goddess’ energetic virginity and oneness, showing her unwillingness to be mixed with other, lower materials and her rigid spiritual purity as the flame keeper of Olympus; the symbol is not necessarily a moral about sexual mores.

In Classical era statuary, Hestia has highly distinct qualities to other Goddesses that make her symbolism quite unique. She is typically represented veiled and often looking away from the viewer in contrast to the synchronicity of expression between the face and the hands usually made by other Gods. Facial features given by the sculptor represent a stern, calm and thoughtful woman, and her worn peplos is built like a pillar in a robust manner, as to be not form-fitting whatsoever and to show how she is fixed in place. Her hairstyle is sometimes shaped with bangs or a fringe, which in the context of the time the statues were made were tied to youth. Always Hestia shrouded herself with a veil whether on pottery or in statuary, even in the presence of her mother, Demeter. The veil is one of her symbols and was tied to most orders of Greek womanhood; it shows the distinction between the one and the multitudes. Her rare appearance in Greek art was rigidly enigmatic and mysterious. Of the Twelve Olympians, it was said, she possessed the virtue of silence and scrutiny among them, and the veiled Goddess only opened her mouth to laugh. Visual depictions of her are rare in line with her lack of a direct mythological role.

Another symbol of hers was the scepter, aligning with her queenly attitude in description. She is often shown in processions of the Gods tailing last behind the others with this object.⁴³ are certain marked similarities to the symbolism that pervades the imagery of Nephthys.

THE HEAVENLY HESTIA

In comparison to her mythological paucity, the Pythagoreans gave Hestia a highly mystical role as the fixed center of the world and associated her with the Monad:

Introduction to Presocratics: A Thematic Approach to Early Greek Philosophy with Key Readings, Giannis Stamellos: ⁴⁴

The Pythagoreans offered significant cosmological observations . . . It is also noteworthy that the early Pythagoreans denied the geocentric and geostatic model of the universe. According to the testimony of Aristotle (De caelo 293.18), they placed *fire* and not earth at the centre of the universe. The earth became a celestial body, which creates day and night by its circular motion around Hestia (hestia meaning ‘hearth’). Ten divine celestial bodies, ten being the perfect number, which encompasses the whole nature of numbers, rotate rhythmically around Hestia in the following order: the dark counter-earth (antichthon), the earth, the moon, the sun, the five planets (Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, Mercury) and the sphere of the fixed stars (aristotle, Metaphysics 986). This new cosmological model is usually attributed to Philolaus (B7 and A16) and explained through the importance of the Monad in Pythagorean metaphysics. Since the Monad is the divine source of all numbers and is identified with, or represented by, the purity of the fire, the source of the celestial bodies should be a divine fire in the centre of the cosmos (Aristotle, Metaphysics 986).

As mentioned, Socrates, as portrayed by Plato, metaphysically discusses the cosmogonical role of Hestia in the Phaedrus:

Phaedrus, Plato: ⁴⁰

Hestia alone abides at home in the house of heaven; the others go forth in their procession.

In addition, Socrates links her name to ‘ousia’ or ‘Being:

Cratylus, Plato: ³⁹

What may we suppose him to have meant who gave the name Hestia?…….that which we term οὐσἰα (ed. ousia) is by some called ἐσἰα (ed. esia), and by others again ὠσἰα (ed. osia). Now that the essence of things should be called ἑστἰα (ed. estia), which is akin to the first of these (ἐσἰα=ἑστἰα), is rational enough. And there is reason in the Athenians calling that ἑστἰα which participates in οὐσἰα. For in ancient times we too seem to have said ἐσἰα for οὐσἰα, and this you may note to have been the idea of those who appointed that sacrifices should be first offered to Ἑστἰα (ed. Hestia), which was natural enough if they meant that ἑστἰα was the essence of things. Those again who read ὠσἰα seem to have inclined to the opinion of Heracleitus, that all things flow and nothing stands; with them the pushing principle (ὠθουν; ed. othoun) is the cause and ruling power of all things, and is therefore rightly called ὠσἰα.

The other Gods may go out to move, separate and reshape, but Hestia is the fixed center and pillar of the universe who maintains the divine fire, the guardian of everything static that enables the divine procession to keep on going without falling into chaos. The Stoic writer Cornutus⁴⁵ explains Hestia through the idea of standing firm, inward centrality, and being the foundation on which the cosmos stands. Others further linked Hestia’s name with ‘hestánai’ in Grek, meaning to stand amidst or in the middle. In addition, Hestia became identified with the earth itself as its fixed guardian. Sallutius, the later Neoplatonist theorist, simply stated that “the earth belongs to Hestia”⁴⁶, linking her with the cryptic remark that she is the chief Goddess for mortal men among the Homeric hymns. All of these marked a significant reason she was invoked first and last in all kinds of ceremonies; her fixed nature was an absolute necessity to keep the world coherent.

VESTA

Considering the creation myth surrounding Vesta, her rulership is allegorically linked to two key traits: her hearth as fire and her virginity. The connection between virginity and fire is essential to understanding Vesta's divine core. Fire, throughout religious and philosophical traditions, symbolizes sacrifice, life, power, and purification.⁵⁰ Dionysius of Halicarnassus describes the Roman veneration for fire, attributing its consecration to Vesta as the goddess who kindles celestial fires from within herself, symbolizing immaculate conception.⁵¹ Similarly, according to Plutarch, the second king of Rome, Numa, proclaimed fire as the universal force governing all things, worthy of reverence by vestals.⁵² Vesta embodies the primordial fire, representing creative energy and purity. While fire can be destructive, it also purifies, clearing away impurities to make way for new growth and fertility. Vesta's virginity symbolizes her self-sustaining creative power, in contrast to the need for external union with a partner. This is why she pleaded to remain chaste to Jupiter, an allegory for the energy’s self-sufficiency and how Priapus was unsuccessful in his attempted rape. This symbolism encompasses the celestial, earthly, and spiritual domains. Ancient narratives depict Vesta as synonymous with the earth itself, embodying the life-giving spark that sustains all existence while also symbolizing the foundational values of family and home.

As a domestic goddess, Vesta's presence permeated every aspect of Roman life, from the closeness of individual homes to the city of Rome itself. In each family household, the hearth served as her sacred altar, symbolizing the heart of the home and the first goddess of daily rituals and offerings.⁵³ The home represented the nurturing and protective aspects of the goddess, fostering a sense of security among its inhabitants. The cult of Vesta served as the foundation of Roman religious life, with the goddess revered as the centre of the earth and the personification of fire, symbolizing both the vitality of Rome and the earth's importance as a centre of magnetism, i.e., home.⁵⁴ It was Vesta who protected Rome from her enemies and protected her sovereignty. She could be seen as the mother of Rome and its people. The sacred flame tended by the Vestal Virgins was believed to illuminate and safeguard the vitality of Rome itself, making Vesta's temple a sacred space at the heart of the city (Alonso, 2010, as cited in Galito, 2018, p. 5). The extinguishing of Vesta's sacred flame signalled ill omens for Rome, implying vulnerability to enemies, as the virgin goddess represented the city's impregnability as an unpenetrated virgin. This duty fell to the Vestal Virgins, revered as sacred and holy by the Romans. To depict Vesta as anything other than the guardian of Rome's purity and safety, a hearth or torch, would be considered blasphemous, emphasizing the devotion and importance permitted to her worship.⁵⁴ Though, as seen in figure 1, she has been depicted in her role as a patroness to bakers, which is not uncommon because of her domestic, homelife rulership.

Vesta was equated strongly with the household Gods called the Penates, with this being strongly reinforced during Augustus' innovations of her cult, as historian Macrobius relates.⁵⁵ The Penates were associated with Aeneas of Troy who was the mythological ancestor of the Romans, and Vesta herself was associated with that ancient city of the Iliad, perhaps suggestive of her worship in Ephesus down the Aegean coast. Vesta's worship held deep cultural significance, dating back to the founding of Rome in Lavinium a city of refugees from Troy, highlighting her role as the embodiment of safety, security, and peace for the Roman people.⁵¹ Then she was worshiped in a similar way in the second Trojan colony, Alba Longa.⁵¹ Since the mother of Romulus and Remus, Rhea Silvia, was herself a Vestal, allegorically the worship of the Goddess was integrated into many different facets of Roman symbolism and statehood from the beginning. The serious nature of the Vestal cult is comprehensible in light of how Romans viewed her as an ancestral figure.

Although the Vestal Virgins were said to exist in Rome since time immemorial due to the Trojan inheritance, both Dionysius of Halicarnassus and Livy point towards a particular kind of systematization of the cult during the reigns of the first two kings of Rome, Romulus and Numa. Her fire was lit on the 1st of March on a continual basis every year from conventions originating in this period. The sacrifice rituals related to each hearth of the Curiae were sacralized by King Numa into a single urban flame accessible to all, without removing those household flames, as the works of Dionysius of Halicarnassus claim.⁵⁶ Peculiarly, if the central fire was extinguished, complex ritual tools even in the times of Numa were used to rekindle it. Unlike what is known about Hestia, we have much information from the account of Plutarch about the nature of this Roman kindling procedure in his biography of the earliest Roman leaders:

Some Observations: On the Worship of Vesta, and the Holy Fire, in Ancient Rome: with an account of the Vestal Virgins, G.H. Noehden, The Classical Journal, Volume 15: ⁵⁷

It might happen, that, by some casualty, the holy fire was extinguished, and must be lighted again. This then was not to be done by the common and vulgar method: but it was to be rekindled by fire, immediately derived from heaven. Plutarch. Numa c. ix.⁵², speaking of the Vestal fire, adds: οὐ φασι μὴ δεῖν ἀπὸ ἑτέρου πυρὸς ἐναύεσθαι, καινὸν δὲ ποιεῖν καὶ νέον, ἀνάπτοντας ἀπὸ τοῦ ἡλίου φλόγα καθαρὰν καὶ ἀμίαντον; “which fire, they say, is not to be lighted from another fire, but must be revived, and renewed, by kindling a pure and unpolluted flame from the sun.”

For that purpose, a peculiar mirror was generally employed, by Plutarch called σκαφεῖον. It seems to have been formed of a piece of metal, in the shape of an equilateral rectangular triangle, which was wrought concave. What the metal was, we are not told. The word σκαφεῖον denotes a spade, or shovel, and the mirror may have been so denominated from the resemblance of its form to the shape of that instrument. Plutarch describes it thus: Ἐξάπτουσι δὲ μάλιστα τοῖς σκαφείοις, ἃ κατασκευάζεται μὲν ἀπὸ πλευρᾶς ἰσοσκελοῦς ὀρθογωνίου τριγώνου κοιλαινόμενα, συννεύει δ’ εἰς ἓν ἐκ τῆς περιφερείας κέντρον: “They generally light the fire by means of the Scaphia, which are made by the side (or rather surface) of an equilateral rectangular triangle being excavated (or rendered concave) in such a manner, as to verge, from all directions, towards the centre.” There may originally have been a meaning attached to that particular shape. The action of the sun upon the mirror is then accurately delineated: Ὅταν οὖν θέσιν ἐναντίαν λάβῃ πρὸς τὸν ἥλιον, ὥστε τὰς αὐγὰς πανταχόθεν ἀνακοπτομένας ἀθροίζεσθαι καὶ συμπλέκεσθαι περὶ τὸ κέντρον, αὐτόν τε διακρίνει τὸν ἀέρα λεπτυνόμενον, καὶ τὰ κουφότατα καὶ ξηρότατα τῶν προστιθεμένων ὀξέως ἀνάπτει, κατὰ τὴν ἀντέρεισιν, σῶμα καὶ πληγὴν πυρώδη τῆς αὐγῆς λαβούσης: “when, therefore, the mirror is placed in a position facing the sun, so that the rays, being reflected from all sides, are gathered and united at the centre, it rarifies and dissipates the air, and quickly kindles any very light and dry material, when brought near it, because, in consequence of the reflection, the rays obtain the consistency and power of fire.”

THE SHRINE OF VESTA

Because of Vesta's importance to the state, it was also the site where state wills and documents, senatorial documentations and other aspects were carefully stored.⁶¹ It housed the Palladium, a wooden statue or xoanon of Pallas, considered to have been taken from Troy itself. In the fire of 191, the Vestals managed to save this sacred object, a particularly auspicious sign during the troubled era of Commodus. The Roman emperor Augustus created a distinct innovation with the Vestal cult. When he ascended to being Pontifex Maximus, he gave part of his private house to the priesthood of the hearth with a new shrine to the Goddess. The Pontifex Maximus was tied to her cult in a way unknown before. The association with the hearth goddess to the central aspect of Roman power is shown by the fact the Roman emperors then became Priests of Vesta by default. ⁶² This alternative hearth became the site of many of the most important rituals of Roman statehood.

Vesta had several holidays in Rome, the most famous being the Vestalia running from June 7th to 15th, climaxing on June 9th, often treated as days of ill-portent. On the first day of festivities the penus Vestae, the holiest of holies often curtained off to the public, was opened, for the only time during the year. Women could enter through a specific barefoot ritual during the Vestalia, as Ovid says.⁴⁹ Among the duties of the Vestal Virgins was the baking of bread used in the Roman rituals, and through this she became associated with cooks. The Vestalia itself became a holiday for bakers and millers.⁶³ The millstones and asses used in grinding were garlanded with flowers and hung with small loaves. This festival was also tied to the Penates as the spirits of the kitchen and storechamber. Calendars were written to show the first day, June 7th, was called 'the opening of Vesta', while the 15th was considered 'the closing of Vesta.' There was no ordinary public right of entry into the inner shrine. The strongest literary evidence presents it as a place normally reserved for the Vestal Virgins, with male entry treated as improper, paralleling the taboo nature of female entry into the shrines of Ares. Only the Priest could enter among men, and evidence suggests that particularly impious or crazed emperors were treated with scrutiny. Even men who rushed in to save sacred objects in the holiest zone ended up blinded by flames.⁵⁸ For this most sacred inner recess, the Penus Vestae, where the hidden state talismans were kept, access was brutally tight. A late and explicit Roman source, the Historia Augusta, says that this sanctuary was one “into which only Vestal Virgins and the priests may enter,” and its note explains that the sacred objects there were such that only the Vestals and the Pontifex Maximus might look upon them. Elagabalus' crime of marrying a Vestal was considered evil, but his looking into the sanctuary as a crazed individual and transferring its objects to the Temple of El-Gabal was simply damnable.⁶⁴

VESTAL VIRGINS

To be a Vestal was of no small consequence. Initial candidates had to be six to ten years old, free of defect and free of any ties that could compromise their work. Numa set out that marriage was expressly forbidden. The Vestal child, usually from a dozen to twentysomething other candidates, would typically be chosen from a patrician family, although this was also open to plebeians as time went on.⁵⁴ The Vestal was to serve for thirty years as part of her Oath. In each of the three decades of her service, the Vestal had to function as a student, a servant and a teacher respectively. If a Vestal died in the role, then single adult women of any kind could take her place.

Vesta was known to be associated with the donkey or ass, rather than the pig. Donkeys in garlands were often driven during the procession of the Vestalia. A peculiar symbol of Vesta is the phallus, which perhaps seems paradoxical for a virgin Goddess. Her priesthood was associated with the phallus because Roman religion treated the phallus as a sacred protective and life-generating sign that had the capability to ward off evil, and the Vestals themselves were custodians of at least one such symbol, the fascinum. It also represented a masculine aspect of the flame and extended into why the Vestal Virgins were tied to the continuance of fertility among families and others.⁶⁸

IZANAMI

Izanagi hears that eating the food of Yomi, the underworld, means Izanami will be there forever. He goes down to the abyss to bring her back. In the Kojiki, Izanami tells him that he has come too late because she has already eaten the sinister food, but says she will consult the deities of Yomi and asks him not to look at her while he waits. Impatient, Izanagi breaks off a tooth of his comb, lights it as a torch, and looks inside. He sees that Izanami’s body has decayed and is crawling with maggots, and that eight thunder deities have been generated on or in her corpse, including the deity Raijin. Horrified, he flees. Enraged that he has seen her in this corrupted state, Izanami sends the Yomotsu-shikome (“ugly women of Yomi”) after him. As he runs, Izanagi throws down items from his body to delay the pursuers: in the Kojiki these become foodstuffs that the pursuers stop to eat, while in the Nihon shoki parallel account he also hurls down his many-toothed comb, which becomes bamboo shoots. The pursuit escalates: the thunder beings and hosts of Yomi are sent after him as well. When Izanagi reaches Yomotsu Hirasaka, the slope or pass at the boundary between Yomi and the world of the living, he takes three peaches and uses them to drive back his pursuers. Then Izanami herself comes after him. Izanagi blocks the passage with a huge boulder, and the two stand facing one another from opposite sides of it. There they effectively end their marriage. In the Nihon Shoki, Izanami declares that she will kill one thousand people each day in the land of the living; Izanagi responds that he will cause fifteen hundred births each day. This exchange explains, mythically, both death and the excess of birth over death.

Having escaped from Yomi, Izanagi is polluted by contact with death and impurity, so he performs a rite of purification (misogi). In both the Kojiki tradition summarized by Kokugakuin and the Nihon Shoki tradition, this cleansing leads directly to the birth of major deities, most famously Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi, and Susanoo.⁷⁰⁷² After Izanagi seals the entrance to that dimension, Izanami stays there as the underworld goddess (黄泉津大神, “Great Deity of Yomi”), permanently separated from him, and her continuing mythic role is to be the death-dealing power of Yomi.⁷⁰

OYA

In Candomblé, Oyá is known as Iansã or lyá Mésàn. She is said to control all forms of mystery involving death.⁷⁵

Yehuboric Symbolism and Goetic context

The Book of Revelation provides a striking parallel to how Nephthys is represented in the Goetia as the demon named Bathin, also known as Mathim or Marthim, depicted as a male knight on a pale steed.

Revelation 6:7-8:

Καὶ ὅτε ἤνοιξεν τὴν σφραγῖδα τὴν τετάρτην, ἤκουσα τῆς φωνῆς τοῦ τετάρτου ζῴου λέγοντος· Ἔρχου. Καὶ εἶδον, καὶ ἰδοὺ ἵππος χλωρός· καὶ ὁ καθήμενος ἐπάνω αὐτοῦ ὄνομα αὐτῷ ὁ Θάνατος, καὶ ὁ ᾅδης ἠκολούθει μετ' αὐτοῦ· καὶ ἐδόθη αὐτοῖς ἐξουσία ἐπὶ τὸ τέταρτον τῆς γῆς, ἀποκτεῖναι ἐν ῥομφαίᾳ καὶ ἐν λιμῷ καὶ ἐν θανάτῳ καὶ ὑπὸ τῶν θηρίων τῆς γῆς.

When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a pale horse. Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine, plague, and the wild beasts of the earth.

The fourth seal is the Middle Chakra. This part of the Bible is alchemical in the nature of its curses and is intended to assert the primacy of the Hebrew 'right' over death and all its matters. The horse is symbolic of Her rulership of the Astral realm. Another code here is that χλωρός as a word in Koine Greek means greenish-pale and is often indicative of rotting, but also reinforces the visual connection to the Middle Chakra. Note the similarity below. The ability of Nephthys to control all things on the astral is referenced in the oblique reference cursu velocissmo hominem de regione in regionem transfert:

Pseudomonarchia daemonum, Johann Weyer⁷⁷

Bathym, alibi Marthim Dux magnus C fortis: Visitur constitutione viri fortissimi cum cauda serpentina, equo pallido insidens. Virtutes herbarum C lapidum pretiosorum intelligit. Cursu velocissimo hominem de regione in regionem transfert. Huic triginta subsunt legiones.

Bathin [Bathym], sometimes called Mathim [Marthim], a great duke and a strong, he is seene in the shape of a verie strong man, with a serpents taile, sitting on a pale horsse, understanding the vertues of hearbs and pretious stones, transferring men suddenlie from countrie to countrie, and ruleth thirtie legions of divels.

Many of the representations of Death as a male figure on a horse in western culture thus come from this Yehuboric understanding.