Serket & Scorpions
Egyptian Goddesses Ma'at And Serket, photograph by Patrick Landmann
The scorpion goddess came to me during Scorpio season.
The Egyptian goddess Serket, also known as Selket or Selqet, is not as well-known as many of her counterparts these days — though this certainly wasn’t always the case.
Serket is a very ancient goddess and was much more popular in earlier Egyptian dynasties — a patron of pharaohs, priests, and physicians; a central character in key myths; and depicted on royal tombs and protective amulets throughout the land. Overtime, many of this goddess’s attributes were absorbed by Auset (Isis), which is partially why we don’t hear about her quite so often today.
But we’re at a time when reclaiming Serket’s feminine, transformative, and powerful scorpion medicine is greatly needed.
It’s time to shed a bit of light on this dark goddess.
Meet Serket: Protection, Afterlife, Magic, and Medicine
The Egyptian goddess Serket is a scorpion deity of protection, the afterlife, medicine, and magic. Like the scorpion, she can heal…and she can destroy.
Call on Serket for:
Protection — from outside influences, for upcoming medical procedures, from lower vibration energies, for children
Shadow Work — face and transmute inner toxins and poisons
Sexual Energy & Fertility — awaken the creative forces of nature within your own being
Transmutation — a powerful ally for working with spiritual healing techniques
Magic — she’s one of the oldest and most powerful deities of early Egypt, a patron of many priests and magical practices
Healing — access the right dose of the right medicine at the right time
Breathwork — for transmutation, healing, ascension, and increasing life force energy
As is true for many Egyptian deities, Serket appears in both human and animal form. As a human goddess, she is most often depicted with a scorpion raising its tail upon her head. In her animal appearance, she is the scorpion herself.
The scorpion was both feared and revered in ancient Egypt (much like many people’s love-hate relationship with the Scorpio of our zodiac). This is because scorpions (and Scorpios for that matter!) are intensely powerful — and this power can be used to harm or heal.
A small but mighty beast that can take down a creature many times its size with its sting, the scorpion can deliver great pain. Yet its presence in your favor offers great protection. The same is true of Serket.
Protection & Healing with the Goddess of Scorpions
As a primary protective and funerary goddess in ancient Egypt, Serket stood alongside Isis, Nepthys, and Neith to guard the deceased on their journey through the afterlife. In the Pyramid Texts, she joins these goddesses to protect the deceased king, who speaks:
“My mother is Isis, my nurse is Nepthys…Neith is behind me, and Serket is before me.” (PT 1375).1
Serket’s presence in front of the king as he traverses the afterlife realms signifies the power of her guardianship.
Just as Serket protects us from the external demons of the afterlife, she offers her protection as we face the internal demons of our psyche.
Think about the energy of Scorpio. This Zodia can sting us at the deepest levels, crawling into the crevasses of our soul to ignite our emotional wounds with its fiery venom.
If you’ve been around here awhile, you know my thoughts on this: The dose makes the poison.
The venom that can kill can also heal. Scorpio helps us illuminate and transform our hidden shadows so they no longer rule us from their subconscious thrones.
And here, we see Serket as the keeper of magic and healing.
It is only through the act of facing a poison that we can transmute it. And it is through this transmutation that we can heal.
She Who Causes the Throat to Breathe
Serket’s full Egyptian name is Serket hetyt, meaning “she who causes the throat to breathe” — and if she can cause the throat to breathe, she can stop it from breathing, too.
This makes Serket a powerful ally for working with the breath to transmute our poisons, the negative energies or thoughts that keep us from actualizing our true potential.
This is energetic healing — not the deep dive into shadow work that Scorpio can offer, but a clearing and refreshing of our energy on the most foundational level. Serket reminds us of what can shift simply from working on energetic levels, without all the stories our Western minds love to process.
Some believe that this constricting of the breath is where much of Serket’s association with scorpions comes from: Egypt is home to some of the world’s deadliest scorpions, who can cause anaphylactic reactions with their venom…in other words, they can stop the breath.
Yet there’s another powerful association this goddess has with scorpions…the water scorpion.
Nepa cinerea, image of water scorpion
Is the water scorprion the true origin of Serket & Scorpio?
The water scorpion isn’t in the same species as the scorpion we all know and love, but it looks similar, and its bite can pack a punch. Plus, the water scorpion expands and contracts as it breathes underwater, once again pointing to the breath as a key significator of Serket’s gifts.
Unlike the potentially fatal outcome of encountering a scorpion on the land, water scorpions are not deadly — which may be a better fit with Serket as a benevolent goddess.
The water scorpion also bring much of what we know about Scorpio full circle — and yes, the ancient Egyptians absolutely recognized this astrological constellation and season.
The Zodia Scorpio, confuses many people because it’s a water sign symbolized by what we tend to think of as fiery, desert-dwelling animal.
Yet what if Scorpio was always associated with the water scorpion? Water represents our emotional nature, the feminine darkness, and the mystery of the void. This is where Scorpio’s gifts lie — we travel into the darkest regions of our shadows to face our inner poisons, transmuting and transforming them again and again.
Scorpio is the season for finding and facing our subconscious drives, and Serket is the goddess who can help us do so.
Isis surrounded by the Seven Scorpions
Serket and the Seven Scorpions
One of the most well-known stories of Egyptian mythology is that of Osiris’s resurrection: In short, his brother Seth chops him up and Isis puts him back together, and then they conceive the great god Horus.
What’s not so well-known, however, is the role Serket plays in this tale. Though there are many different versions, the general theme is that Serket sends Seven Scorpions to protect Isis and her divine child while they search for the peices of Osiris’s corpse.
In one version, Serket herself guards baby Horus while Isis travels to a village in search of food. Serket’s seven scorpions surround Isis, offering her protection: Petet, Tjetet, and Matet go before her; Mesetet and Mesetetef flank her sides, and Tefen and Befen, the fiercest scorpions, guard her from behind.
Isis first approaches the door of a noble family, yet when the woman who answers sees the scorpions, she turns Isis away in fear. (But no worries — a kind peasant woman sees this happen and takes Isis in instead.)
Serket’s scorpions are not the forgive-and-forget type (and neither is Scorpio!). Seeking vengeance for this slight, they send all of their collective poison into Tefen for a most powerful sting, and he kills the baby boy of the noble family.
Of course, Serket and Isis are like…um, no. We don’t kill innocent babies. So, Serket — because she has power over the poisons she wields — heals the boy and brings him back to life.
Our greatest challenges and most potent pains are often where we hold the greatest potential for mastery.
Serket neither fears the scorpion’s venom nor lets it consume her. She embraces that this poison is part of her unique medicine, and uses her magic and power for healing and protection.
What are the greatest internal challenges you’ve been struggling with? What are the thoughts that poison your well-being?
Serket teaches us that within each poison is the medicine you need most.
If you’d like to explore the hidden gifts and healing available within your shadow, parts work can be especially effective — take a look at the process here.
Serket’s iconography
Ecstatic Healing with Scorpion Medicine
The following meditation was given to me by Serket. It’s energetic. It’s ecstatic. And surprisingly sexual…though I suppose this shouldn’t have surprised me since sexuality is part of Scorpio and scorpion’s medicine.
Serket doesn’t want us to overlay this meditation with mental stories. We’re not pulling up toxic beliefs, analyzing our thoughts, or focusing on our pain here.
Instead, we’re somatically experiencing the ecstasy of receiving the perfectly right dose of “poison”.
This is an energetic healing. Allow yourself to feel the shift in your being. And don’t worry about what anything “means”.
Before you begin, set sacred space. Affirm that you are only open to working the most benevolent form of Serket and scorpion medicine.
Take a deep breath and come into your body. Allow your mind to travel to an ancient Egyptian desert.
The goddess Serket meets you here. She is tall and radiant. She carries an ankh, symbolizing life, in one hand and a was sceptre, symbolizing power, in the other.
Seven scorpions emerge from behind the goddess and surround you.
Notice your response to these scorpions. Some fear, or excitement even, is natural. You might begin to feel a tingling sensation.
When you are ready, invite these beings to share their medicine with you. You may like to check in with the goddess first, asking her if now is the appropriate time for this healing.
One by one, they come with their stings.
Feel the effects of each sting within your body. Pleasure and pain. Exhilaration and release. Sexual energy fills your being — not with the need to procreate, but with the innate life force healing it connects you with.
Notice any resistance that arises. This type of intense pleasurable energy can feel frightening, like it might overwhelm your system or cause pain. This is natural, but if it begins to feel like too much, ask the goddess to titrate the effects on your system.
Sit with the scorpions’ medicine as long as it feels good. Remember not to analyze your experience. Just feel it.
When you sense the healing is complete, offer your thanks to Serket and her seven scorpions. Bring your awareness back into the present and return completely to your body in the here and now.
I would love to hear about your experience if you do this meditation — drop me a comment!
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1 Wilkinson, R.H. The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt. Thames & Hudson, 2003.
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