Saturday Goddess Blogging

Bast

I think of Bast as a Goddess of sensual pleasure -- the sort of sensual pleasure that a cat takes from napping in the sun, stretching, and being petted. She is sometimes referred to as the Goddess of perfume -- yet another sensual pleasure.

Originally a Sun Goddess, she came eventually to be considered a Goddess of the Moon

Wikipedia tells us that: Due to the severe disaster to the food supply that could be caused by simple vermin such as mice and rats, and their ability to fight and kill snakes, especially cobras, cats in Egypt were revered heavily, sometimes being given golden jewelry to wear, and being allowed to eat from the same plates as their owners. Consequently, as the main cat (rather than lion) deity, Bast was strongly revered as the patron of cats, and thus it was in the temple at Per-Bast that dead (and mummified) cats were brought for burial. Over 300,000 mummified cats were discovered when Bast's temple at Per-Bast was excavated.

While all acts of love and pleasure are rituals of The Goddess, you can honor Bast by really enjoying a nice stretch, a warm nap, a heady breath of gardenia, and, of course, petting a cat.