Seeking Sekhmet
The veneration of Sekhmet Statues in contemporary museums
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/pome.18653Keywords:
Goddess Spirituality, Contemporary Paganism, Sekhmet, Ancient Egypt, MuseumsAbstract
Despite their seemingly secular location within numerous museums across the globe, ancient statues of the Egyptian goddess Sekhmet have become focal points of contemporary spiritual pilgrimages for those seeking knowledge of “Herstory” and the numinous. The purported experiences of Goddess devotees indicate the development of a canon of reception which regards museums as both educational resources and houses of the sacred. This article examines the intersection of contemporary Goddess Spirituality with museum exhibits featuring statues of Sekhmet, considering the implications of secular institutions housing artifacts deemed of sacred significance. It will conclude by outlining how the engagement of special interest groups, such as Goddess devotees, present specific concerns, as well as potential benefits to the heritage industry.
References
Bain, Aja. “Peopling the Past: Living History and Inclusive Museum Practice.” Theory and Practice 2 (2019). http://articles.themuseumscholar.org/tp_vol2bain.
Beier-de Haan, Rosmarie. “You Can Always Get What You Want: History, The Original, and the Endless Opportunities of the Copy.” Paper presented at ICOM General Conference in Shanghai, China. November 7–12, 2010.
Blain, Jenny, “Neo-Shamanism: Pagan and ‘Neo-Shamanic’ Interactions With Archaeology.” In The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of Ritual and Religion, edited by Timothy Insoll, 1017–1031. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011.
Bolshakov, Andrey O. “Ka.” In The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt II, edited by Donald B. Redford, 215–17. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.
Bolton, Chelsea Luellon. Solar Lioness: Ancient Hymns for Sekhmet. KDP Amazon, 2020.
Breene, Katlyn. “Grandmother Sun.” In Heart of the Sun: An Anthology in Exaltation of Sekhmet, edited by Candace C. Kant and Anne Key, 90–91. Bloomington: iUniverse, 2011.
British Museum online catalogue. “Statue EA84.” https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/Y_EA84.
Bryan, Betsy. “Altered State of Religion: Sekhmet and Ritual Revelries in the Reign of Amenhotep III.” Paper presented as part of the ARCE online series. September 30, 2020.
Bryan, Betsy. “The Statue Program for the Mortuary Temple of Amenhotep III.” In The Temple in Ancient Egypt, edited by Stephen Quirke, 57–81. London: British Museum Press, 1997.
Children of Artemis (website). https://witchcraft.org/.
Christ, Carol P. Rebirth of the Goddess: Finding Meaning in Feminist Spirituality. New York: Routledge, 1997.
Clarke, John. “Planning the Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Gallery of Buddhist Sculpture, 2009–2014.” In Sacred Objects in Secular Spaces: Exhibiting Asian Religions in Museums, edited by Bruce M. Sullivan, 67–79. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2015.
Coates, Charlotte. “Making the Museum Autism Friendly.” Museum Next. 17 November, 2019. https://www.museumnext.com/article/making-the-museum-autism-friendly/.
Cott, Jonathan. The Search for Omm Sety. New York: Warner Books, 1987.
Curl, James Stevens. The Egyptian Revival: Ancient Egypt as the Inspiration for Design Motifs in the West. New York: Routledge, 2005.
Day, Jasmine. “‘Thinking Makes It So’: Reflections on the Ethics of Displaying Egyptian Mummies.” Papers on Anthropology 23, no. 1 (2014): 29–44.
Draper-Stumm, Tara. “Sekhmet Statues from the Reign of Amenhotep III in the British Museum and a Formally Uncatalogued Head Fragment: A Reassessment.” The Antiquaries Journal 98 (2018): 1–15.
Egypt Centre online collection. “Coffin W1982.” https://egyptcentre.abasetcollections.com/Objects.
Eller, Cynthia. The Myth of Matriarchal Prehistory: Why an Invented Past Won’t Give Women a Future. Boston: Beacon Press, 2000.
Flourishing Goddess. “Goddess Tour to Egypt,” https://www.flourishinggoddess.com/egypt-goddess-tour-2020/.
Forrest, Isidora. “Isis & Sakhmet or Isis-Sakhmet?” Isiopolis (blog). 8 September, 2012. https://isiopolis.com/2012/09/08/isis-sakhmet-or-isis-sakhmet/.
Germond, Philippe. Sekhmet et la protection du monde. Genève: Editions de Belles-Lettres, 1981.
Goddess Temple Orange County. “Goddess Antiquities Collection.” The Goddess Temple of Orange County (website). https://goddesstempleoc.org/goddess-antiquities-collection.html.
Goyon, Jean-Claude. Le rituel du shtp Shm.t au changement de cycle annuel. Le Caire: L’Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale, 2006.
Guilhou, Nadine. “Myth of the Heavenly Cow.” UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology 1, no. 1 (2010), 1–7.
Hamilton, Sue, Ruth Whitehouse, and Katharine Wright. “Introduction.” In Archaeology and Women: Ancient and Modern Issues, edited by Sue Hamilton, Ruth Whitehouse, and Katherine Wright, 6–24. Walnut Creek: Left Coast Press, 2007.
Harrison, Paul. Profane Egyptologists: The Modern Revival of Ancient Egyptian Religion. London: Routledge, 2018.
Harvey, Graham. Listening People, Speaking Earth: Contemporary Paganism. 2nd ed. London: Hurst & Company, 2007.
Häussler, Ralph. “Interpretatio Indigena: Re-Inventing Local Cults in a Global World.” Mediterraneo Antico 15, nos. 1–2 (2012): 143–74.
Hodder, Ian. “Developing a Reflexive Method in Archaeology.” In Towards reflexive method in archaeology: the example at Çatalhöyük, edited. by Ian Hodder, 3–14. Cambridge: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, 2000.
Humbert, Jean-Marcel. “Egyptomania: Fascination for Egypt and Its Expression in the Modern World.” In A Companion to Ancient Egyptian Art, edited by Melinda K. Hartwig, 463–82. Chichester: Wiley, 2014.
International Council of Museums. Code of Ethics: ICOM code of ethics for museums. Paris: International Council of Museums, 2017.
Jenkins, Tiffany. Contesting Human Remains in Museum Collections: The Crisis of Cultural Authority. New York: Routledge, 2010.
Joseph, Amgad. “Divine Wrath in Ancient Egypt.” Études et Travaux 31 (2018): 27–65.
Kant, Candace C. and Anne Key, eds. Heart of the Sun: An Anthology in Exaltation of Sekhmet. Bloomington: iUniverse, 2011.
Kharal, Syma. Goddess Reclaimed. 13 Initiations to Unleash Your Sacred Feminine Power. Toronto: Flourishing Goddess, 2017.
Lange, Eva. “The Lioness Goddess in the Old Kingdom Nile Delta: A Study in Local Cult Topography.” In Sapientia Felicitas: Festschrift für Günter Vittmann zum 26, edited by S. L. Lippert, M. Schentuleit and M.A. Stadler, 301–23. Montpellier: Université Paul Valéry, 2016.
Louvre online collection. “Statue A2.” https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010009171.
Lucid, Tamra, and Ronnie Pontiac. “Emergence of Sekhmet: Twelve Interviews.” Reality Sandwich. https://realitysandwich.com/323032/emergence-of-sekhmet-twelve-interviews/.
MacGregor, Arthur. Curiosity and Enlightenment: Collectors and Collections from the Sixteenth to the Nineteenth Century. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007.
Magickal Women Conference, “After the Conference Events: Sunday 2 June,” Magickal Women Conference (website). 13 May, 2019. https://www.magickalwomenconference.com/news/2019/5/13/after-the-conference-events-sunday-2-june.
Maya, Kavita. “Arachne’s Voice: Race, Gender and the Goddess.” Feminist Theology: The Journal of the Britain and Ireland School of Feminist Theology 28, no. 1 (2019): 52–5.
Metropolitan Museum of Art online collection. “Statue of the Goddess Sakhmet 15.8.2.” https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/544484.
Meyer, Birgit. “‘There is a Spirit in That Image’. Mass-Produced Jesus Pictures and Protestant-Pentecostal Animation in Ghana.” In Things: Religion and the Question of Materiality, edited by D. Houtman and B. Meyer, 296–320. New York: Fordham University Press, 2012.
Miller, Hildy. “Goddess Spirituality and Academic Knowledge-Making.” Journal for the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning 4 (1999): 25–38.
Mitchell, W. J. T. “Idolatry. Nietzsche, Blake, and Poussin.” In Things: Religion and the Question of Materiality, edited by D. Houtman and B. Meyer, 112–26. New York: Fordham University Press, 2012.
Monaghan, Patricia. The Goddess Path: Myths, Innovations & Rituals. St Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 2002.
Moore, Kimberly. “Free Sekhmet Healing Meditation Circle.” MotherHouse of the Goddess (website). 25 March, 2020. http://themotherhouseofthegoddess.com/2020/03/25/free-sekhmet-healing-meditation-circle-motherhouse-goddess-temple/.
Morgan, Robin. “Introduction: The Women’s Revolution.” In Sisterhood is Powerful. An Anthology of Writings from the Women’s Liberation Movement, edited by Robin Morgan, xv–xivi. New York: Vintage Books, 1970.
Moser, Stephanie. Wondrous Curiosities: Ancient Egypt at the British Museum. Chicago, Ill: University of Chicago Press, 2006.
Murphy, Anne. “Sikh Museuming.” In Sacred Objects in Secular Spaces: Exhibiting Asian Religions in Museums, edited by Bruce M. Sullivan, 49–64. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2015.
Pinch, Geraldine. Magic in Ancient Egypt. London: British Museum Press, 2006.
Rathouse, Will. Contested Heritage: Relations between contemporary Pagan groups and the archaeological and heritage professions in Britain in the early 21st century. Oxford: BAR Publishing, 2021.
Richards, Greg. “Cultural Tourism.” In Archaeological Displays and the Public: Museology and Interpretations. 2nd ed., edited by Paulette M. McManus, 1–12. New York: Routledge, 2016.
Richter, Barbara. “On the Heels of the Wandering Goddess: The Myth and the Festival at the Temples of Wadi el-Hallel and Dendera.” In Ägyptologische Tempeltagung: Unterconnections between Temples, edited by M. Dolinska and H. Beinlich, 155–86. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2010.
Rountree, Kathryn. “Archaeologists and Goddess Feminists at Çatalhöyük: An Experiment in Multivocality.” Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion 23, no. 2 (2007): 7–26.
Ruyle, Lydia. “Goddess Conversations at Çatalhöyük, July 5, 2006.” Journal of Archaeomythology 3, no. 1 (2007): n.p.
Sage, Samantha. “Samantha Sage: Temple to Sekhmet.” In Seized by Sekhmet: An Egyptian Goddess Revolution, edited by Barbara Jean Lindsey, 48. Cosmic Oracle Books, 2018.
Sakr, Faiza Mahmoud. “New Foundation Deposits of Kom El-Hisn.” Studien Zur Altägyptischen Kultur 33 (2005): 349–55.
Salomonsen, Jone. Enchanted Feminism: The Reclaiming Witches of San Francisco. London: Routledge, 2002.
Sarma, Deepak. “Under the Gaze of Kalo: Exhibitionism in the Kalighat Painting at the Cleveland Museum of Art.” In Sacred Objects in Secular Spaces: Exhibiting Asian Religions in Museums, ed. by Bruce M. Sullivan, 26–34. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2015.
Scully, Nicki. “Journey to Sekhmet at Karnak.” In Heart of the Sun: An Anthology in Exaltation of Sekhmet, edited by Candace C. Kant and Anne Key, 40–43. Bloomington: iUniverse, 2011.
Scully, Nicki. Sekhmet: Transformation in the Belly of the Goddess. Rochester, Vt.: Bear & Co., 2017.
Smith, Laurajane. Uses of Heritage. New York: Routledge, 2006.
Spence, Charles, and Alberto Gallace. “Making Sense of Touch.” In Touch in Museums: Policy and Practice in Object Handling, edited by Helen J Chatterjee, 21–40. New York: Berg, 2008.
Spinner McBride, Abigail. “In the Belly of the Desert Goddess.” In Heart of the Sun: An Anthology in Exaltation of Sekhmet, edited by Candace C. Kant and Anne Key, 65–66. Bloomington: iUniverse, 2011.
Straffon, Cheryl. “Cretan Musings.” Goddess Alive! Goddess Celebration and Research 13 (2008). https://goddess-pages.co.uk/galive/issue-13-home/cretan-musings-4/.
Tate, Karen. Sacred Places of Goddess: 108 Destinations. San Francisco: Consortium of Collective Consciousness, 2006.
Tate, Karen. Walking an Ancient Path: Rebirthing Goddess on Planet Earth. Winchester: O Books, 2008.
The Sekhmet Temple. “Sekhmet Temple.” The Sekhmet Temple (website). https://www.sekhmettemple.org/.
The Sekhmet Temple. “About Sekhmet.” The Sekhmet Temple (website). https://www.sekhmettemple.org/sekhmet/sekhmet-names/.
Thykier Makeeff, Tao. “Classical Reception in a New Key: Contemporary Hellenic Polytheism in Modern Greece.” In Proceedings of the Danish Institute at Athens. Vol. IX, edited by Kristina Winther-Jacobsen and Nicolai von Eggers Mariegaard, 89–102. Aarhus: Aarhus University Press, 2019.
Toner, Jerry, “Introduction: Sensing the Ancient Past.” In A Cultural History of the Senses in Antiquity, edited by Jerry Toner, 1–22. London: Bloomsbury, 2014.
Toonen, W. H. J., A. Graham, A. Masson-Berghoff, J. Peeters, T. G. Winkels, B. T. Pennington, M. A. Hunter, K. D. Strutt, D. S. Barker, V. L. Emery, L. Sollars, and H. Sourouzian. “Amenhotep III’s Mansion of Millions of Years in Thebes (Luxor, Egypt): Submergence of High Grounds by River Floods and Nile Sediments.” Journal of Archaeological Science Reports 25 (2019): 195–205.
Trulsson, Åsa, “Women on the Path of the Goddess: Sacred Technologies of the Everyday,” Culture Unbound 12, no. 5 (2020): 1–18.
Tully, Caroline, J. “Celtic Egyptians: Isis Priests of the Lineage of Scota.” In Ancient Egypt in the Modern Imagination, edited by Eleanor Dobson and Nichola Tonks, 145–160. London: Bloomsbury, 2020.
Tully, Caroline J. “Egyptosophy in the British Museum: Florence Farr, the Egyptian Adept and the Ka,” in The Occult Imagination in Britain, 1875–1947, edited by Christine Ferguson and Andrew Radford, 131–145. London: Routledge, 2018.
Tully, Caroline, J. “Researching The Past Is a Foreign Country: Cognitive Dissonance as a Response By Practitioner Pagans to Academic Research on the History of Pagan Religions.” The Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies, 13, no. 1 (2001): 98–105.
University Museums Group. “Widening Participation in Higher Education.” University Museums Group (website). http://universitymuseumsgroup.org/advocacy/participation/.
Vaughan, Genevieve. “My Journey with Sekhmet, Goddess of Power and Change.” Sekhmet Temple. 2011. https://www.sekhmettemple.org/goddess-temple-herstory/84-2/.
Wallis, Robert J. Shamans/Neo-Shamans: Ecstasy, alternative archaeologies and contemporary Pagans. London: Routledge, 2003.
Wallis, Robert J. and Jenny Blain. “‘Sacred Sites, Artefacts and Museum Collections: Pagan Engagements with Archaeology in Britain.” In The Handbook of Contemporary Paganism, edited by Murphy Pizza and James R. Lewis, 591–609. Leiden: Brill, 2009.
Wesselman, Hank. “Foreword: My First Encounter with Sekhmet.” In Sekhmet: Transformation in the Belly of the Goddess, Nicki Scully, xv–xxiv. Toronto: Bear & Company, 2017.
Whitehead, Amy. “Pagans and Things: Idolatry or Materiality? A Response to Michael York’s ‘Idolatry, Ecology and the Sacred as Tangible.’” The Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies 12, no. 1 (2010): 96–102.
Whitehead, Amy. “The Goddess and the Virgin: Materiality in Western Europe.” The Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies 10, no. 2 (2008): 163–83.
Yasin, Ann Marie. “Sacred Installations: The Material Conditions of Relic Collections in Late Antique Churches.” In Saints and Sacred Matter: The Cult of Relics in Byzantium and Beyond, edited by Cynthia Hahn and Holger A. Klein, 133º51. Washington D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks, 2015.
York, Michael. “Idolatry, Ecology, and the Sacred As Tangible.” The Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies 12, no. 1 (2010): 74–93.
Yoyotte, Jean. “Une monumentale litanie de granit. Les Sekhmet d’Aménophis III et la conjuration permanente de la Déesse dangereuse.” Bulletin de la société française d’égyptologie 87–88 (1980): 46–75.
Zwissler, Laurel. “In the Study of the Witch: Women, Shadows, and the Academic Study of Religions.” Religions 9, 105 (2018): 1–18.
