My favourite deity is Bast (Bastet, Ubasti, Pasht), the cat goddess from Egyptian mythology. She protects cats and people who love cats. I also like her because of her name which literally means (female) devourer. As the daughter of Ra, she was originally a goddess of the sun and usually depicted as a fierce lioness. She was the protector of the Pharao, named Lady of the Flames. Later, her name developed into Bastet, a variation of Bast with an additional female suffix to the one already present. Since Bastet would originally mean (female) of the ointment jar, Bast also became the goddess of perfumes and was bestowed with the title perfumed protector.
This gentler characterisation led to a decrease in her ferocity. Gradually, she became regarded as a domestic cat rather than a lioness, though sometimes she would still hold a lioness mask. She was also regarded as a good mother, so sometimes she is surrounded by numerous kittens.
So, Bast is cute, yet strong, and her name looks neat in hieroglyphs – that’s why I like her.
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yes, i wrote this for another blog, but anyways...