Mer-neith-ites
High Priestess to the Goddess of Sekhmet
This story was forged after listening to a national ABC radio interview about archaelogist Dr Jamie Fraser discussing the discovery of a 2,500 year old mummified woman inside a sarcophagus previously thought to be empty. The woman’s name is Mer-neith-ites and I was deeply touched by Her story - the grief I felt in my bones was ancient. Her voice arose in me in rememberence…
The sarcophagus laid hidden from view in a museum storeroom for over 150 years. Labeled empty. Forgotten. Up until now, no one believed there was anything inside worthy of uncovering. Nothing to see. Unlike the other elaborately painted and marked Egyptian coffins on display, this plain wooden sarcophagus was deemed hollow. Vacant. Until, someone, on some ordinary day looked closer. Discreetly engraved on the underbelly, was the name Mer-neith-ites, High Priestess of the Temple of Sekhmet. Mer-neith-ites. Mer-neith-ites. Speaking her name felt like the hot desert wind. Old and Ancient. The smell of pungent cedarwood fills the air and my lungs. This sarcophagus was far from ordinary, and the assumptions that whoever lay inside could not afford an ornately decorated resting place - was far from the truth. This was cedarwood - sacred to the groves of Cyprus - it was more valuable than gold itself.
And it was Mer-neith-ites, High Priestess to the Goddess of Sekhmet who lay inside. Her body now in pieces, broken. Damaged. Shattered. Tomb Raiders had ransacked the temple walls, disturbing the 2500 years of quiet with their violence, brutality, raping the peace. They tore the woven veil from her face, spraying 7000 beads into the crevices on her wrapped body, ripping the jewels from around her neck and wrists, and stealing the scarab amulet placed on her heart. The crazed look in their eyes, the men, the thieves, salivating, seething, a drunken frenzy treasure hunting race. A game. They threw the lid shut. And threw her on the back of a horse drawn cart. The journey was long, miles and miles of rugged terrain, from desert to mountain crops caused more disturbance and harm to her once carefully wrapped and preserved body. Money was exchanged in the hands of the merchant and buyer, and Mer-neith-ites was sold. Sold and transported across three oceans to a faraway land, called Australia. Where she would lay again, in quiet, for over a century.
Her feet - her beautiful feet are the most intact. Delicate and strong. They say they are dancer’s feet. Oh Mer-neith-ites, tell me, tell me what you dance for? What calls you to move? Tell me Mer-neith-ites, what does Sekhmet ask of you? Sekhmet - Lion headed Fire Goddess, Goddess of War and Healing? Tell me, of your heart, of your body before it was stolen and before it was tampered with and shaken from its core. Do tell me some of your story? Those with ears to hear, let- it- be - known!
Mer-neith-ites, I speak your name in love, and sorrow in my heart.
And She spoke….
My child, my Sister, do not hold sorrow in your heart for long
For I am Mer-neith-ites
Daughter of Sekhmet, who is the Mistress of Dread, The One Before Whom Evil Trembles!
Sekhmet - Her breath is fire
And I breath her breath
I am given life by the song in her throat
I am She who can hold the Holy flames in my lap
Ignite the blaze which needs to be lit
To burn away what no longer serves
to regenerate the seeds for change
I am the Divine inferno of your womb
I am the molten lava spilling from your throat
I hold no fear
I honour beloved Queen Sekhmet
her wild wielding untamable power of destruction
She is the hot desert wind
swirls and scorched enemies with Lion flamed tongue
Because of Her
I know rage,
For I can stand in the centre of the Sun
I dance in the glowing embers
Drink in the blood laced smoke
I chew on the smouldering cinders
I gnaw at the charred carcasses
I am the fever of the charcoal night
Sekhem I am powerful
Sekhem I am mighty
Do you remember me?
I am Mer-neith-ites
Mother of many whom I pushed through my blood-soaked thighs,
Had suckle on my breasts,
some whom left with no light in their eyes
I have seen men torn apart
Women stripped, chained and forbidden
Swarms of sickness plague
Piles of forgotten bones and arrows
I know grief,
I know heartache
As deep as the highest dune
I wade through the flood
Sekhem, I am broken
Sekhem, I am the crying moon
Do you remember me?
I am Mer-neith-ites
Sister who had The Call
I am she who entered the Temple walls
To light the dawn fires
To Welcome the Sun from the Underworld night
Pray to the Stars and the earth beneath my dancing feet
On the ancient, hallowed ritual sites
I sing
I scribe
I heal
I drum
I make love
I make medicine
I hold
I am alchemist
I am sacred Witness
I am loyal ally to the Goddess
Sekhem, I am Devotion
Sekhem, I am Love
Do you remember me?
Mer-neith-ites is my name
Woman born from the desert sands
I baked bread by day
and dance the Rites by night
I yearn for tenderness
I seek the Truth
I speak the Truth
I bleed magic
I fight and nurture
I dive into the burning salt bush
and remain there in ruins
Until I rise again, reborn from my own ashes
Sekhem, I am Woman
Sekhem, I – AM - Woman
Do you remember me?
I am Mer-neith-ites
Daughter of Sekhmet
Mother of many
Sister to the Temple
Woman of the desert sands
I am Priestess
Guardian of the Mysteries
I bring all things to life and to an end
I am the fullness of time
Do you remember me?
My body once whole,
My sacred vessel, connector to heaven and earth
Now in fragments,
Just marrow dust and shards of bones, I groan
My body!
My - broken - body!!
That birthed universes!
Dissolved curses!
And fed the hungry bellies of young and old
That danced
And danced
And danced
Do you remember me?
Do you remember me?
Do – you- remember- me?
Fear not, I am still alive
I am with you now, in these Temple Walls
I am within YOU
I call on Mother Sekmet to be my companion
As I circle round
I see with the fire in my eyes
the view,
of each of you
Daughter,
Sister
Mother
Priestess
Woman
Breathe my breath, Breathe my fire.
What are you waiting for Daughter?
My Permission?
You already know what you must do
I breathe your breath. I breathe your fire
Feel me enter your heart. I am the fire in the temple. I am the light, even on a moonless night. In the cave of despair. See me. Because I see you.
You have walked through the flames
Stood centre in the fire storm
Refused to be afraid of life more than death
I ask you to rise now Sister, place your hands on your heart,
Where the ashes of your inner fire dance in the warm desert wind,
Do you remember me?
You emerge anew, arms out, heart open, wide winged
Do you remember Her?
I remember you.
I remember you.
I remember you.
