Foreword: She of the Throne
Jhenah Telyndru
“Know that I am a mother and universal nature, mistress of all the elements, primordial principle of time, sovereign of all things spiritual, queen of the dead, oceans, and queen also of the immortals.” –The Golden Ass, Lucius Apuleius
I was deeply honored when I was approached to write this foreword by Susan Morgaine – one of the editors of this anthology who is also a friend and Sister – but I was also unsure that I was the best person for this task. Celtic cultures have been the focus of my life’s work and have informed my spiritual practice for over 30 years. Although I studied ancient Egypt while I was an archaeology student and have had several moving experiences with Isis in ritual contexts over the years, I do not have an active relationship with her as a divinity. Surely, I thought, it would make more sense for a devotee of Isis to write this foreword instead? However, when Susan Morgaine explained that this anthology was an exploration of Isis as a Goddess of Sovereignty, I could not help but say yes – and was quite excited to revisit her mythos from this perspective.
Sovereignty is a common folk motif found in the literary traditions of many Celtic lands – from the earliest Irish manuscripts, to later Welsh story cycles, and on into the Anglo-Norman development of Brythonic Arthurian legends. I have spent a lot of time researching the concept of Sovereignty, its socioreligious function, and the evolution of its meaning over time and across cultures. I have also worked to gain an understanding of how a relationship between women and Sovereignty can empower the practices of modern-day spiritual seekers and devotees of the Divine Feminine.
What I have learned from my years of engagement with Sovereignty from Celtic lore is that an excavation of the symbolic language embedded in the narratives of these tales reveals an alchemical formula which we can use to guide us through the profound psycho-spiritual transformations required to reclaim our personal Sovereignty. I define personal Sovereignty as “fully conscious self-determination.” This is a state of being that requires an enormous degree of self-knowledge, particularly in regard to the recognition and acceptance of the parts of ourselves which are grounded in authenticity, as well as those which are mired in the illusions of Shadow. The seeking and reclamation of Sovereignty is a defining force in my work, and is a foundational tenet of the Avalonian Tradition as practiced by the Sisterhood of Avalon.
So what is Sovereignty?
In Celtic legend, the quest for Sovereignty is believed to have its origins in the pre-Christian past where a potential king would undertake a hieros gamos, or sacred marriage, with a representative of the land. Sometimes Sovereignty was a tutelary Goddess who appeared to the would-be-king in the form of a woman, while other traditions featured a totemic representation of Sovereignty as seen in the lore describing the ritual mating of Irish kings with a white mare, who was later sacrificed and eaten. The divinity of the Sovereignty figure is clearly acknowledged in early Irish myth; she often appears as a hideous hag who tests the worth of those who would be king. When she couples with the man she has found worthy – thereby granting him the right of rulership – she is transformed into a beautiful maiden; the land is likewise enlivened by the fertile energies arising from her union with the new king.
In Welsh tradition, the figure of Sovereignty shifts to become more subtextual; no longer overtly depicted as a Goddess as in Ireland, Sovereignty is nonetheless embodied in the form of Otherworldly Queens and Fairy Brides. Early Arthurian legends see the regenerative powers of Sovereignty conferred through more symbolic means, as with Arthur’s raid of the Otherworld to secure the cauldron of its chief, or the later hero’s quests to find the Holy Grail in order to heal the wounded king and restore the Wasteland. In later Arthurian tales, the very concept of Sovereignty shifts in meaning; rather than functioning to grant a king rulership over the land, it represents the desire of women to obtain sovereignty over themselves.
The primary role of the Sovereignty Goddess is to protect and enliven her land. Often displaying a martial aspect, Sovereignty will incite warriors to battle in defense of her territory. She acts to ensure the fertility of the land by joining its fate with that of a worthy king or chieftain, so that the land will prosper as he prospers. The most prevalent type of Sovereignty figure in Celtic lore links a king’s authority to the righteousness of his rule and the wholeness of his body. Because his fate is connected to that of his kingdom, a lawless king or one who is physically imperfect – either through illness or by way of a wound – creates an imbalanced relationship with the land that results in famine, disease, or war. When an imbalance is present, Sovereignty reverts to her hag form, and she seeks a new king to replace the old.
Another Sovereignty type sees the right to rule conferred upon a candidate who often proves his worth through a contest of arms, and upon whom rule is granted either seasonally or annually. This periodic or seasonal Sovereignty type is less common in Celtic traditions, but it is overwhelmingly the most prevalent Sovereignty motif found in the mythos of Ancient Near Eastern and Mediterranean cultures.
Kingly sacrifice and succession through combat are key themes in the seasonal Sovereignty motif, and is often compared with the Roman legend of the rex Nemorensis. According to lore,the title of rex Nemorensis – the sacred king who served as priest of the Goddess Diana in her grove on the shores of Lake Nemi – was earned by the defeat and death of the previous priest. The challenger first earns the right to engage in this combat by obtaining a piece of the “golden bough” – perhaps a sprig of mistletoe growing on the trees in the sacred grove.
The tale of Diana’s priesthood greatly influenced anthropologist James G. Frazer. In his seminal work, The Golden Bough, Frazer contends that the rex Nemorensis is an example of a widespread ancient practice of the annual sacrifice of a sacred king, who represents the archetype of the Dying God, a solar and agricultural divinity that dies every year and is reborn.
Although many of Frazer’s theories are now outdated, he did recognize a pattern of ancient belief and historic folk practices that speak to the idea of the eniautos daimon – a spirit or character who embodies the annual cycles of nature and who often serves as a proxy sacrifice to ensure the balance of nature is maintained. Just as the hieros gamos connected the king to the land and ensured its fertility, so would the sacrifice of the year king ensure the bounty of the harvest. In both cases, it is the king’s relationship with the Goddess of Sovereignty that is reflected in the turning of the seasons, while also ensuring the continued balance of the cyclic round.
With all of this as context, it was an immense joy to reread the myths of Isis with different eyes and an open heart. Although I recognize that there is so much more to be learned by a committed devotee with a well-established relationship with Isis, it was deeply satisfying to recognize the presence of the fundamental characteristics of the Sovereignty motif in her tales, and indeed, embodied by her very person. Even taken at the most rudimentary level, her very name – originally Auset, which means “Throne” – suggests Isis’ role as a Sovereignty Goddess. Indeed, the earliest images of Isis often depicted her crowned with the hieroglyph for throne as part of her headdress. However, rather than a direct embodiment of the land, Isis appears instead to be a divine personification of the throne – a quintessential manifestation of concept of Sovereignty itself.
Isis’ role to preserve and maintain the divine royal lineage is a central theme in her mythos. Daughter of the Earth God, Geb and the Sky Goddess, Nut, Isis was married to her brother Osiris who ruled over Egypt as king. Gods marrying their siblings is not uncommon in mythologies around the world, as taboos against incest tended not to apply to divinities. However, following the example set by Isis and Osiris – from whom they claimed decent through Horus – Egyptian pharaohs married their sisters or other close female kin in order to preserve the purity of their divine bloodline. Just as the pharaoh is Horus in life and becomes Osiris in death, the queen was identified with Isis – the Wife, Mother, and Protector of the king.
Great of Magic, Isis was invoked as a fierce and loyal defender of the pharaoh; she enfolded him in her wings – protecting him as she did her husband Osiris, and held him her lap-throne – as when she suckled her son, Horus.
Isis and Osiris had two other siblings, Set and Nephthys, who were also husband and wife. Where Isis and Nephthys were often depicted working together harmoniously, Osiris and Set were constantly at odds with each other, such that Osiris came to represent ordered balance, while Set exemplified chaotic imbalance. Coveting his brother’s throne, Set tricked Osiris into lying in a lead coffin, which Set then sealed and cast into the Nile, causing Osiris to drown. Although overcome with grief and shedding countless tears, Isis searched for her beloved until she found his body, which she must free from an enormous tree that has grown up around it. Before she was able to give Osiris a proper funeral, Set discovered where Isis had hidden the coffin among the reeds; in a fury, he tore his brother’s body apart and scattered its pieces across the land. Resolute, Isis enlisted the aid of Nephthys, and together they painstakingly search for and gather together all of the pieces of his body, save one: Osiris’ phallus, which had been eaten by a fish.
In order to make Osiris whole once more, Isis used her formidable magic to construct a new phallus for him. With everything now in place, the sisters bound the body back together in a process which can be seen as the mythic antecedent to mummification and Egyptian funerary practices. Empowered by her love and grief, the magic of Isis brings her husband back to life long enough to conceive a child by him. The spirit of Osiris then enters the Afterlife, where he becomes king. The son of Isis and Osiris is Horus, who is destined to fight and defeat his uncle in order to reclaim what is rightfully his. Through her actions, Isis preserves and protects the lineage of kings.
Like other Sovereignty Goddesses I have studied, Isis is a shape changer. She uses her magic to disguise herself as an old woman so she can be near Horus to help him in his battle with Set –how reminiscent of the hag in Celtic myth who tests the would-be king! Isis is also transformed by her grief, and along with Nephthys, the sisters are often depicted mourning over the body of Osiris in the form of kites – carrion-eating birds of prey whose cries sound like the wails of the bereaved. How like the association of crows and ravens with Celtic Sovereignty Goddesses such as the Morrigan, Badb, and Cathubodua!
Finally, there is a seasonal component present as well. The tears shed by Isis while mourning Osiris were so numerous, they caused waters of the Nile to rise and inundate the land. One of the central cosmological paradigms in Ancient Egyptian culture is the sense of order that arises from the annual flooding of the Nile. This overflow was both consistent and critical, for the rich soils it deposited when it overran its banks renewed the fertility of the land and insured the continued survival of the people of Egypt.
The death of Osiris resembles myths from other Ancient Near Eastern and Mediterranean cultures which feature an agricultural deity whose annual death ensures a bountiful harvest; along with this abundance, the God is said to rise again. In Egypt, however, Osiris does not return to life but rather takes his throne in the afterlife. As he does so, it is Isis’ grief which causes the land’s renewal. This is strongly reminiscent of the revitalization of the land that results from the sacred union of the king with the Goddess of Sovereignty in Celtic mythos.
This Dying God motif underscores many of the savior god cults originating in the Near East and the Mediterranean that enjoyed enormous popularity in the expanding Roman Empire, particularly in the 1st century CE. The Cults of Mithras, Dionysus, and the Eleusinian Mysteries of Demeter and Persephone offered initiatory experiences which promised renewal in the afterlife. It is around this time that the Cult of Isis, first popularized by the Greek-lineaged Ptolemaic dynasties in Egypt, began to spread throughout the Roman Empire, even into Roman Britain. Like the other popular cults with Mediterranean and Ancient Near Eastern origin, the veneration of Isis outside of Egypt was connected to her savior aspect – the promise of rebirth and eternal life in the otherworld.
As her worship spread, the domains over which Isis held power expanded as well. In addition to her roles in Egyptian religion, she became associated with the moon, the seasons of the year, the fertility of the Earth, and considered to be the force which controlled the patterns of the cosmos. A guardian of women in general, and mothers in particular, Isis was also invoked to protect ships and harbors, and to assist armies in their defense of their nations. She came to be known as Isis Myrionymos – She of Many Names.
I am fond of saying that myths endure because they have something to teach us. Becoming a Universal Goddess in ancient times, the continued popular and renewed devotion to Isis in the present day suggests that she has returned to our consciousness here and now because she holds necessary wisdoms. And just like the stories that have inspired me from Celtic traditions, I am moved by the way the tales of Isis provide us with a mythic map that can guide us in the direction of our own Sovereignty.
There are many ways to approach this Goddess and to engage with her stories; one such way is to look at her myths from a psycho-spiritual perspective. In her most ancient form as the embodiment of the throne of Egypt, Isis serves as the foundation upon which sovereignty is based. She supports and elevates the king, protects and nurtures his person, and ensures the righteous continuity of the royal lineage. She knows powerful magic, is a devoted partner and mother, and is capable of enduring love and unyielding grief.
Reflecting this dynamic within us, we can say that Isis represents the unconscious principle within our psyche, which is related to intuition, emotions, deep memory, and wisdom. Osiris therefore represents the conscious principle, related to the higher mind, cognition, and knowledge. Inseparable, even by death, the two of them create the sacred third: Horus, the crowned and conquering child, the unifying principle whose right eye is the sun and left eye is the moon. Set can be seen as representing the Shadow principle, lashing out from a place of pain and need, and whose bid to be in control results in the destruction and death of the creative principle.
When our conscious and unconscious selves are in balanced relationship with each other, we are able to act with sovereignty in the world, creating our reality in accordance with our will and as a reflection of our authentic selves. When outside forces and situations beyond our control shift us from our center, we experience imbalance. This imbalance can trigger our Shadow instincts – unconscious responses to challenges which are rooted in old wounds and unacknowledged shame – to rise up in reaction to these experiences. We become trapped in outmoded and destructive patterns, and thus imprisoned like Osiris in his coffin, we are deprived of the ability to respond with clarity or reason. We become lost in the watery realms of emotional attachment and unconscious reaction until we are overcome and shattered into pieces.
And yet, within us… arising from the depths of our grief, comes strength. An intuitive wisdom that both honors our pain and is able to harness its power to put ourselves back together again, piece by harrowing piece. This deep wisdom knows how to ask for help when needed, like Isis seeking the support of Nephthys, and is willing to embrace the Shadow in order to affect true and lasting healing. What results from this union is a new and precious source of light, a rekindling of the inner flame that allows us to see ourselves and the world with new eyes. Although we may yet mourn what has passed, when we enter into conscious partnership with our unconscious self the gifts that have been buried within us begin to rise to the surface. Thus acknowledged, these once-hidden gifts are carried forth by the waters of our intuitive selves. They spill over the earthen banks of our now-outgrown limitations and bring with them an abundance that reinvigorates our landscapes – both within us and around us.
Thus transformed, we experience a sense of greater wholeness as we enter into a balanced relationship with all aspects of our self once more. But we are not alone. Lovingly held in the lap of Isis Invicta – the Unconquered Isis – we are nurtured, strengthened and protected. Thus empowered, we are better able to stand against the challenges of Shadow when they again confront us, as inevitably as the flooding of the Nile and the turning of the seasons. Yet each time we move through this alchemical process – the solve et coagula of our spiritual rarefication and growth – we become more solidly anchored in our partnership with the Holy Throne that upholds us. And each time, we are more skillfully armed with the gifts we have found within us, allowing us to face our Shadow with ever-increasing consciousness in order to reclaim what is rightfully ours: the birthright of our Sacred Sovereignty.