goddess who captured the imagination of initiates
from Africa and beyond was Isis (Auset). As the
wife of Ausar and the mother of Horus, she is also
believed to have been in existence at the time of
creation; thus, she symbolizes sunrise (rebirth and
regeneration). Although nature, agriculture,
healing, and law are her domain, she is most
associated with the resurrection mythologies sur-
rounding her divine marriage to Ausur. Using
magical words, Goddess Isis searched for her dead
husband’s scattered body, resurrected him, and
produced the divine son, Horus, with him. Thus,
she is the quintessential symbol of the divine wife
and mother. Goddess Isis is often found depicted
as a seated sacred mother nursing her child. She is
represented among the first of numerous Black
Madonna figures of the ancient world. She was
worshipped widely in North Africa, Syria,
Palestine, Nubia, and Rome until the 6th century.
The Northeast African goddess Maat represents
the oldest known design for spiritual justice and
divine order of the cosmos. The African goddess
Maat embodies truth, justice, order, righteousness,
bace, and harmony of the universe. Goddess Maat
is present when the dead are judged, where she
weighs the heart of the dead against her feather of
truth. Ancient Egyptian males who supervised the
courts of law were known as the “priests of Maat.”
Other Northeast African goddesses include
Sekhmet, who represented war and battle. Goddess
Sekhmet symbolized the destructive aspects of the
Sun. Goddess Seshat was married to Thoth (Tehuti)
and, like him, is aligned with knowledge, writing,
astrology, and measurement. Goddess Telfnut, the
spouse of Shu (a primordial God who symbolized
air), represented moisture in the form of rain and
mist. Heket was also an Egyptian creation goddess
who was a patron of midwives because of the way in
which she supervised the birth of the sun each morn-
ing. Goddess Heket is also associated with the Nile
River and the act of resurrection. The strength of
Egyptian (Kmt) culture and religion has produced a
goddess corpus subject to various interpretations
with the impact of migration and conquest, yet a
coherent system of knowledge.
Among the YorubaThere are many feminine orishas (goddesses in the
Yoruba pantheon). One of the most ancient of the
African Yoruba goddesses was Are in Ketu.
Goddesses such as Are are believed to be so old
that their details have been lost in time. The orisha
Oduduwa, which is most associated with male
divinity systems, has a feminine side depending on
her location in Yoruba land. Oduduwa, it appears,
evolved over time to have the image of a male-
centered deity, but evidence of the worship of
Oduduwa as female exists. The Yoruba orisha,
Yemoja, is associated with the Ogun River and the
aspect of womanhood. Goddess Yemoja is believed
to have overseen the souls in the holocaust of
enslavement (Middle Passage). The Yoruba warrior
goddess Nana Buruku (Nana Bukuu), who is also
found in Brazil, is the Mother of Obaluaiye. She
protects women and dispenses courage; although
she oversees birth, she also takes life.
The male Yoruba orishas possessed powerful
goddess-mates. Oba was the first wife of Shango,
God of Thunder and Lightning. Shango’s wife,
Oya, is responsible for storms and is present at the
time of a warrior’s death. She is also the goddess
designate of the River Niger. Oshun is another
river goddess who exemplifies beauty, love, and
wealth. She also governs fertility and divination.
Many of the African goddesses, particularly in the
Yoruba tradition, are descended from or related to
Mother Earth spirits, such as Iya Fera, Iya Lata,
and Mama Lata (African French Creole).Elsewhere in Africa
Other important African goddesses include
Minona of the Fon (Benin). She is believed to be
the sacred mother and grandmother of powerful
goddesses and is a guardian of women. Minona is
the mother of Mawu, the Earth goddess creator
of the universe (alongside her husband, Lisa =
Mawu/Lisa). She gives birth to another important
Fon goddess, Gbadu. As the African goddess of
Fate, Gbadu shuns human warfare.
The Asante (also called Ashanti) of Ghana in
West Africa revere the ancient goddess Asase Yaa
as one of the most divine feminine beings impor-
tant to their cosmological system. She is the wife
of the sky god Nyame (Nyankopon). Goddess
Asase Yaa represents the Earth, ferility, birth, and
death. West African goddesses have many similiari-
ties to other parts of Africa, including southern
African female deities.294 Goddesses