Sekhmet

I first encountered Sekhmet in a dream many years ago. I didn’t know who this Goddess of War and Healing was at the time. But I remember how thick her energy felt, very golden, very alive.

It wasn’t until I was delving more into the Goddess Isis that I came across the Ancient Egyptian Goddess Sekhmet. Recognizing the Lioness from my dream some time before, I began my journey into the Sekhmet spiral.

Sekhmet is the Goddess of polarities: war, destruction, chaos, and healing. Her myth is that she was created from the Sun God Ra and set upon humanity to destroy us for disregarding the balance. Her sole purpose was destruction, and she was very natural in her task. So much so that the Gods could not stop her vengeance seeking, they could not quiet her fury. To end her bloodlust, they poured pomegranate- and ochre-dyed beer on the ground to entice Sekhmet to drink this laced concoction. She did, and eventually fell asleep. Upon waking three days later, she was calm, and as stories say, returned to her Hathor form.

I hold a theory that some scholars don’t agree with, but to me it feels true. This red beer Sekhmet drank, that induced a stupor and calmed her rage, I feel was a blessed psychedelic. And on her journey with this brew, the medicine she received opened her mind and softened her heart and imparted lessons and wisdom and ways of being into her consciousness. I believe this potion from the Gods taught her to become the great healer she became.

The journey of alchemizing the gnarliest of energies, the rage, the addictions, the crazed aspects of grief, often require multiple iterations. And within the rhythm, deep lessons are gleaned. And if integrated, a profound wisdom can be gained. When alchemized, rage, wrath, hatred of self and others, and fury can be transmuted into the way of the healer. But it takes a significant amount of surrendering to come through to the other side of this.

I feel the destructive energies of Sekhmet at this time as Life is presenting me with a crucible. A lot within my life is deteriorating, dismantling, and imploding. And at this time in the world, I have a feeling it may be the same for you, too. And it genuinely feels terrifying. But can we unearth our resiliency to be present with the chaos? Can we hold space for ourselves while what is so obviously misaligned and severely imbalanced burns away? Can we sharpen our intuition to viscerally know that even if something seems safe and comfortable that it doesn’t necessarily mean it is aligned? Can we bring ourselves to understand that this terrifying destruction is itself the medicine? Can we keep faith that this destruction brings a clarity and healing? Can we release what is familiar and allow it to burn to ash?

I often wonder if this is similar to how Lilith felt leaving the “safe and comfortable” garden. Realizing only three steps into the expansiveness that the garden was never safe or comfortable. That one is merely a statue placed amongst the curation, unliving. There is only so much to explore and learn within a confined area. Hence the burning away of curation to journey deeper into our free selves.

However, getting into that freedom requires one to let go. Surrender is such a beautiful and easy word to say: Surrender. Ok, but surrender. That is a whole other beingness. And once it begins, its momentum does not let up. Much like birth, you simply must keep going, keep letting go, go deeper.

Like being burned at the stake, and the flames are licking only your feet and ankles, barely beginning to dance around your calves. It is already excruciating, and you realize there is so much more to go. It is excruciating, and you realize you’ve barely begun. This is where your relationship to “excruciating” turns inside out and changes. This is where Sekhmet’s destruction turns into medicine. This is where excruciating turns into surrender.

And as a woman who recently gave birth to my second child (again, blessedly, in the loving embrace of my home), there came a moment where I noticed my screams from the intensity, from the “excruciating,” became all there was. The feeling swallows you whole, eats your body, your heart, your mind, and your soul. And it is only the tones within your scream that hold you. And it is the tones within the angles of your scream that guide you through.

I feel choice and non-choice do not exist within surrender. I feel there is the initial choice to surrender, but once committed to, you dissolve into a pure beingness: Surrender.

For you, dear love, I offer a meditation on letting go, allowing Sekhmet’s medicine to guide you towards gracefully surrendering.

(Kindly note this meditation has a few moments of the sound of fire)

*Note: for your safety, please do not listen to hypnosis or hypnotherapeutic-meditations while driving.