Goddess Festival of Sekhmet: August 7th Invocations and Healing Journey
- Debbie Irvine
- Nov 11
- 6 min read
PAHS: Festival of Sekhmet
August 7th
Debbie Irvine
Sekhmet at Her Chapel, Karnak, Egypt
Sekhmet: The Lioness Goddess of Power, Healing, and Transformation
Sekhmet is one of the most compelling figures in Egyptian mythology—a goddess who embodies the fierce paradox of destruction and healing. Her name derives from sekhem, meaning “power” or “might,” and she is often depicted as a lioness or a woman with a lion’s head crowned by a solar disk. This imagery reflects her dual nature: a warrior goddess and a divine healer.
Origins and Myth
Sekhmet is traditionally regarded as the daughter of Ra, the sun god, and the manifestation of his fiery eye. In myth, Ra created Sekhmet to punish humanity for its arrogance and disobedience. She unleashed her wrath with devastating force, slaughtering humans until Ra intervened. To stop her, he dyed beer red to resemble blood; Sekhmet drank it, became intoxicated, and fell asleep—thus sparing humanity. This story illustrates her duality: the bringer of chaos and the agent of restoration.
Symbolism and Attributes
Warrior and Protector: Sekhmet was invoked by pharaohs for strength in battle and protection in life and the afterlife.
Healer and Guardian Against Plagues: Despite her fearsome nature, Sekhmet was revered for her healing powers. Ancient Egyptians believed she held the antidote to every illness and could ward off pestilence.
Solar Power and Justice: As the “Eye of Ra,” she channels solar energy, representing purification, vitality, and the enforcement of Ma’at—truth, balance, and cosmic order.
Worship and Rituals
Temples dedicated to Sekhmet, such as those at Karnak, were centres of both spiritual and medical practice. Priests performed rituals to appease her fiery nature and invoke her healing energy. Annual ceremonies like the “Pacification of Sekhmet” involved music, dance, and the ceremonial drinking of red beer, echoing the myth of her calming.
Modern Relevance
Sekhmet’s archetype resonates today as a symbol of transformation, courage, and empowerment. She reminds us that destruction can precede renewal, and that fierce energy, when channelled, becomes a force for healing and justice.
Invocation to Sekhmet
Blood red
The colour of the Nile in flood
Flowing with red algae blooms from its origins
The menstrual blood of Sekhmet
Mother of Creation
Guardian of pestilence and war
It signals the fecundity of the Great Divine Feminine
And the resurgent Cycles of Life.
Mother, Healer, Lover, Goddess Sekhmet
We need you now
We beseech you
In all your Divine Forms
As our World once again
Forgets the Cosmic Laws of Ma’at
And droughts, famines, ecological disasters, and wars
Spread over our lands and the Earth once more.
We pray to you
We burn incense and candles
We drum and sing, rattle and dance
To fire up your fires
That they may rise and roar
From the depths of your belly
And ignite new cleansing.
As the red blood of the Nile
Flows through us
Through the lands
Through the air
Through the Akasha
May it bring
New Healing
New Cleansing
New Peace
New Love and Compassion
New Life Restored.
Sa Sekhem Sahu
Healing Ceremony
My client is deeply upset by the global events at present. An eco-environmentalist, animal refuge carer, vegetarian, and spiritual practitioner she asks that we focus on healing the Planet in our shamanic session. She needs healing and peace; she wants to send healing and peace; and I as her healer and counsellor want to serve her, our Planet, and my own family affected personally by the Russia-Ukraine War amongst all the wars and the racial/religious riots and unrest around the world at present.
We are all affected by all the conflicts, fear, loss of trust and anxieties that are being magnified at present and increasingly so.
I thank my client for setting this intention for her Healing Ceremony. We have done this previously, but when she asked to repeat it because her Inner Worlds are again being affected by the Outer Worlds, we know how powerful Sekhmet, and Bast as the soft, playful, tender aspect of Sekhmet are!
I have created this Invocation that I directed to Sekhmet after opening our Ceremonial Circle with Rattles and Invocation to the Seven Directions as usual.
I anoint my client with Essential Oils of Sekhmet and Ma’at on her Third Eye and Throat, the chakras that relate to these Goddesses.
I place Tibetan Bowls on her body, especially her Solar Plexus to help her feel the Belly Fire and Power of Sekhmet, and the Heart Chara because the Heart is the seat of everything, and a bowl near her head and Crown Chakra.
I later drum for deeper journeying.
After an appropriate time, I do Reiki Healing on her and massage all her Chakras. This moves the energy and intentions through her body.
I leave her to integrate the Journey and Healing.
When she is back in her body, she sits up on the mattress, we talk about her journey and experience.
She has released a lot of her fears, anxieties, tensions, and grief. She has met with Sekhmet intimately and travelled to a Cosmic Perspective to see the different karmas playing out, and also her own role amongst her family, friends and colleagues. It is about bringing the Collective into the Present and Immediate Field and acting from her Centre with the best Heart-centred qualities she can enact.
My cat comes in as we rattle and give thanks to Sekhmet and Bast for sweet loving pats as well as the mighty roars and fires of transformation, one step at a time, one person at a time.
For me, Honouring and creating ritual and ceremony with another person deepens my personal connections with Sekhmet over the years.
I constantly turn to Her for power and Sovereignty, to strengthen my solar Plexus, Throat, and Heart Chakras particularly so that Her Compassion may flow through me equally to balance the Power, and the Truth with Love. Having spent years focusing on the Power and Death and Rebirth Cycles with Sekhmet in my personal relationships, new information has come forward to move me more to Compassion. This I give thanks for.
There is a Time for all Seasons Under Heaven.
Sa Sekhem Sahu
An Invocation for a Friend
To Sekhmet
For Guidance, Healing, Power, and Compassion
Sekhmet Goddess of Power, Healing and Compassion
Bring your fiery power forth
To clear and release all familial ties
Of James with his father
In this Lifetime
From this present time now and going forward.
Sekhmet Goddess of Power, Healing and Compassion
Bring your Wisdom and Knowledge
So that Peace and Balance
Harmony and Justice
Joy, Love and Life
May be restored to James
And Healing and Compassion
May begin Now and continuing in the future.
Sekhmet Goddess of Power, Healing and Compassion
May James’s father also receive
The Healing, Compassion and Love that he needs
To be released from unhealthy ties and destructive energies and needs
Entangled with James and James’s loved ones
May healthy Freedom, Balance, Harmony and Peace be restored
To all family members and friends affected by this toxic and abusive connections
From this time Now and continuity forward into the Future.
Sekhmet Goddess of Power, Healing and Compassion
Bring your Loving, Gentle, Kind, Compassion
To James and his loved ones
That all may be healed and released
From the bondage and aggression
That has pervaded their lives
And brought illness and unease
Into their lives.
Sekhmet Goddess of Power, Healing and Compassion
Bring forward your allies to strengthen and deepen this Healing.
We give thanks to you
For your ongoing Healing, Re-Empowerment, Guidances and Love
May James’s Soul be freed and renewed.
Sa Sekhem Sahu
By the Power of the Enlightened One
May it be so!
I transfer the messages from Sekhmet to me to you
As I stood in her chapel at Karnak for a private meditation
She looked at me and said,
“I see you
I know you
I understand you
I feel you
I love you.”
Know that this is so
Hold it in YOUR Heart
And accept her Gifts of transmission
From me to You.
Sa Sekhem Sahu
May it be so!
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