Bast and Sekhmet: Eyes of Ra

I have not finished reading it yet so can only give my impression so far.I would recommend it because there are no other books on the subject that I have found. It fills a gap. I think this deity is sadly overlooked, perhaps because of the "mad cat lady" prejudice that abounds today.It is largely written from personal experience, which is either good or bad depending on your point of view. If you are looking for someones experiences with these deities there is plenty of it here. It is not the most academic book on Egyptian lore you could find so more serious minded scholars may find it short in archaeological and historical factual content. However this book is written from and intended for spiritual practitioners rather than historical scholars.There are personal contributions from people who have been working with this energy which I have found both interesting and useful.If you are looking for an introduction to or guidance on attuning to and working with these deities/energies I would recommend this book as being a good place to start.

I bought this book in hardcover when it first came out and now I am thrilled to have it as an e-book. Since I am now an old Crone, holding books is difficult for me, but a kindle is not, so being able to dip once again into this great book is both a joy and a blessing! It is very well-researched and covers not only Bast and Sekhmet, but also many, many other Goddesses (and Gods) to which these are related. I recommend it to anyone interested in this Pantheon.

I had such high hopes for this book, after reading the other reviews on this site... then it came through the post and I was so excited. I adore Sekhmet and this book should be 50% about Sekhmet... right??Sorry.If you love cats, and want a cat based spirituality, buy this book.If you like spirituality books based on personal experience, buy this book.If you love ancient Egyptology, like facts, love Sekhmet are a total Egyptomanic and get a bit picky when it comes to statements which cannot be proven by the authors, don't buy this book.My main problems when it came to this book where;They are just scared of Sekhmet. That bugged me. I love Sekhmet she is the rage and the healing that comes after, she is the warrior and the first aider. And this book protrayed Sekhmet as 'a bit scary and we don't like her and we hide from her. We like cats. Lets go collect some whiskers for our cat spells!' Seriously I paid good money for this book?I don't own a cat, and I don't really like cats that much. Therefore all the spells in the back about protecting your cat where wasted on me. Part way through the book it decribes how when you start working with Bastet you will see a lot of cats on the street... if you look for cats you see them, they are pretty much everywhere.The actually factual Egyptology was shaky at best, but when it was there it was all quoted from Budge anyway and that was in the what I found annoying dictionary of cat gods, because I've got a dictionary of Ancient Egyptian gods anyway.The only thing I liked and found useful in the whole book was a recipe for oil for Sekhmet. Which I then found was on the authours website anyway.That's a point all of the 'useful' info is on the website. If you can bare with the horrible graphics, [...] If you look hard enough, the website is actually more up to date than the book.So in my opinion this book was a total waste of money, and I've dubbed it the 'catlady chronicals', it is something I can image the catlady from the Simpsons having in her library. I wish I hadn't brought it. Waste of money.

I have come across many books that deal with ancient Egyptian myths and religion, but this is the only one that discusses the Feline Deities, focusing on Bast and Shekmet. The part of the book that deals with the myths and origins of the feline Deities is excellent and the product of detailed research. It sheds light to some myths that have been around on the web for sometime concerning the Feline Goddesses. The ritual part is also very good. It starts with the basics for beginners and advances to more extended visualisations. A novice may find it hard to follow, but with study and persistence these rituals really pay off. There are also included several oil and incense recipes, but, in my opinion, one of the book's highlights is an ancient prayer to Osiris to heal a cat bitten by a scorpion. Although scorpion bites are rare these days, this actual ancient Egyptian prayer can be adapted to help a sick cat. I believe that this is an essential book for every pagan, especially the cat lover, and everyone who wishes to follow the "Pawprints of the Gods".

And still the only one which looks at Bast and Sekhmet - in fact either of them. There's still only a couple of useful web sites out there so a must really ...

A great read and introduction to the ancient lore of Bast and Sekhmet.