The best way to understand the Egyptian gods is to understand the culture they lived in. Egyptian spirituality was a living and changing thing so over time the roles of the gods changed as both the politics and the culture of the various Egyptian nomes changed. When Egypt was unified, eventually the city states expanded into what was called a Nome, a concept more similar to state as we know it now.

So the people of Bast, and Bast herself, would eventually in a sense become more domesticated, less warlike. It was a prosperous time and Bast herself was seen as a guardian not only of people, a role she never lost, but also of prosperity, the stores of grain and other valuables. The people of Per-Bast (the name of the city of Bast) did have the habit of adopting cats which did not start out as a universal practice across Egypt. Over time it spread though, both for social /emotional reason and practical reasons as those who kept cats did prosper more. In Per-Bast, cats were more like the cattle or elephants of India, sacred and allowed the run of the city. They even had large graveyards devoted specifically to cats who did receive mummification.

Funny how the people of Europe had to later re-invent the wheel so to speak. Discovering they needed cats to get rid of rats and protect the grain.

Which brings up another associations of Bast. Medicine. She was seen as a goddess of ointments and the moon. The people of Per-Bast, besides being big fans of flowers and herbs, probably had a thriving apothecary business. So as wild as the followers of Bast were, they remained true to that in spirit even if they gave up the violence. As the goddess of ointments, Bast was seen as a coworker with Anubis who was the original god of the dead before Osiris. The whole death cycle was a core aspect of Egyptian spirituality and mysticism. Any god having a role in it was very important. So one of Bast’s titles was eye of Ra, perhaps originally the sun, but later the moon. The connection between those two things and a cats eye is pretty easy to see, yes?

Yes, they glow in moonlight.

So I think I have covered the general spirit of Bast, yes? Do you have a sense of her?

As a sort of reverse psycho-pomp she was associated with childbirth as a midwife awaiting the emergence of a new soul into the world.

In a sense Bast is alive and well, occupying the spirit world that is the internet, playing a strong and active role there, and still then has her hands in commerce and medicine as well as war. Arab spring would be perhaps a clear example? What they called the internet driven uprising and the Egyptian turmoil is also relying heavily on social networking media as well. As much as some may disdain it, it seems obvious that social networking has changed the world permanently.

Your thoughts are welcome. Be well friends.

Travis Saunders
Dragon Intuitive
~science,mysticism,spirituality~