A little piece about the Egyptian goddess Ma'at

In January 2000 I had the amazing experience of visiting Egypt, going down the Nile by tour boat and felucca from Luxor to Aswan and back again. 

One of the souvenirs I brought home was a small papyrus depicting the goddess Ma'at, kneeling, with her beautiful blue wings outspread. Sadly I no longer have the papyrus, but the image has stayed with me, as has the concept it represents: that of balance.

According to legend, Ma'at came into being when Ra, the sun/sun god, rose from the waters of Chaos (Nu/Nun). She is therefore described as his daughter, and stands at the head of Ra's bark/boat as it travels through the heavens and the underworld.

Ma'at is the wife or counter-part of Thoth, god of the moon and of wisdom, and embodies the spirit of justice. This particularly has to do with the Judgement of Osiris, which takes place in the Hall of Ma'at, during which Ma'at balances the scales on which the soul of the dead is weighed against a feather. The feather became the heiroglyph for Truth, and those men responsible for justice became known as the Priests of Ma'at. She is often depicted with an ostrich feather in her head-dress.

Ma'at is also seen as the personification of the natural order and stability of the created universe: it is she who keeps the stars in motion and the wheel of the year turning, sun rising and setting, and the Nile ebbing and flooding. Without her Nu/Nun (Chaos) would reclaim the universe. Ma'at thus represents the divine order established at creation, and the Pharoahs are perceived as the guardians of Ma'at, preserving and defending her and thus the continuance of the cycle of life. Hatshepsut, one of the rare woman pharoahs, built a temple to Ma'at and took the throne name Ma'atkare, often translated as 'Justice is the soul of Re/Ra' but I think more accurately 'Balance is the soul of Ra'.

And it is this primacy of balance which is why Ma'at appeals to me: we so need balance in all aspects of our lives and our beliefs, notwithstanding our particular enthusiasms, passions, and talents. It is the balance that withstands chaos, and which enables us to walk along tight-ropes and to fly!