| SELENE: Greek Moon goddess, daughter of Hyperion and THEIA, and sister of Helios (the Sun) and EOS (Dawn); though sometimes said to be the daughter of Zeus or of Helios. She was wooed and won by Zeus and by Pan. She fell in love with Endymion and visited him nightly while he slept. Zeus granted him immortality on condition that he remained eternally asleep; and Selene came night after night to gaze on her sleeping lover. Roman equivalent LUNA. SELKHET, SELKIT, SERKET: ('She who increases by giving breath and food') Egyptian fertility and scorpion-goddess, protectress of one of the four sources of the Nile. Daughter of Ra, perhaps by RAIT. Also an Underworld goddess; when the serpent Apep was defeated and bound by the defenders of Ra, she had the task of guarding him. With her husband Nekhebkau, an Underworld serpent god with human limbs, she sometimes bound the dead with chains; but sometimes they both looked after them and fed them. With ISIS, NEPHTHYS and NEITH, she was associated with the canopic Four Sons of Horus - her partner being the falcon-headed Qebehsenuf of the West, guardian of the intestines. She was also a guardian of marriage. Depicted as a woman crowned with a scorpion or as a scorpion with a woman's head. SEMELE: Greek. Mother by Zeus of Dionysus. SENGEN-SAMA: Japanese goddess whose sanctuary is on the peak of Fujiyama. Also known as Ko-No-Hana-Saku-a-Hime, 'the Princess who makes the flowers of the trees to blossom'. May be connected with FUCHI. SENJO, THE: Japanese female fairies, living in Horai, a fabulous mountain in the sea. SEQUANA: Gaulish, goddess of the River Seine. SESHAT: see SEFKHET-SESHAT. SETLOCENIA: ('She of the Long Life') British. Worshipped at Alauna (Maryport, Cumberland) in Roman times. SEVEN SISTERS, THE: Australian aborigine name for the PLEIADES. Their legend (almost identical with the Greek one) occurs in several versions, all concerning their pursuit by a hunter, from whom they escaped but who (as the constellation Orion) still pursues them across the night sky. Other names: the Water Girls, the Emu Women. A named individual is Pirili; in her case the women of the Milky Way helped her and threw the hunter back to Earth; she became one of the bright stars in Orion. SEVEN SISTERS OF INDUSTRY, THE: Chinese name for the PLEIADES. SGEG-MO-MA: see LASYA. SHAlT: Egyptian. Usually a god (Shai) but sometimes a goddess; in either case a deity of destiny, born with the individual, shadowing him throughout his life and giving evidence at his after-death trial. SHAKINI: see DAKINI. SHAKTI: Hindu, Nepalese, Tibetan. Tantric, but widely influencing Hinduism and various forms of Buddhism. The feminine principle as the supreme force, the active aspect of eternity, as Shiva is the passive; he can exist and become effective in polarity only with her. The worshippers of that principle are called Shaktas. Several descriptions of the Tantric Shakti-worship rituals are quoted in Durdin-Robertson's Goddesses of India, pp.195-203. A title of several Hindu goddesses, and indeed the essence of all of them. Frequently identified with KALI in that goddess's much-misunderstood positive aspect. The six principal aspects of Shakti are known as THE SHAKTIS (see below). SHAKTIS, THE: see SHAKTI above. The six aspects are named; Parashakti, 'the great force or power', including those of light and heat; Jnanashakti, 'understanding, intellect', the power of mind in interpreting sensations, memory, association, clairvoyance and psychometry; Ichchhashakti, 'will, desire', the power of the will, including its simplest manifestation, the power to activate muscles; Kriyashakti, 'making, doing', the power of creative thought or inspired activity; Kundalinishakti, 'the serpentine force' of which electricity and magnetism are but manifestations (see KUNDALINI); and Mantrikashakti, 'magical power, charm', the power of letters, speech or music. SHALA: An ancient Chaldaean and Sumerian goddess. Known as 'the Compassionate'. SHAPASH: Sumerian, later Canaanite, Sun goddess, who helped ANAT recover Baal from the Underworld. SHASHTRADEVATAS, THE: Hindu war goddesses. SHASTI, SHASHTI: India, Bengal. Goddess of childbirth and children. Depicted riding a cat. SHATAQAT: A Syrian goddess of healing. SHAUSHKA: An important Hittite (Hurrian) goddess who became identified with ISHTAR. Oracular, and closely connected with the Hittite ruling families. Depicted as a winged woman standing on a lion, sometimes holding a golden cup in her right hand and a symbol representing good in her left. SHAYA: see SANJNA. SHEILA-NA-GIG: Irish and British medieval. The accepted name for the bas-reliefs found outside many old churches, priories and convents, and sometimes on castles, of a naked female figure squatting and displaying exaggerated genitals with a yawning vulva. In Harrison's words (The Roots of Witchcraft, p.212): 'The Great Mother in her crudest, least ambiguous aspect: the Female Generative Principle, completely "despiritualised", and free from all irrelevant "higher" associations.' Probably, like so many heretical carvings, added by pagan stonemasons and tolerated because of popular veneration; sometimes euphemized as being intended to scare away evil spirits from God's house. The sole authority for the name comes from an English traveller in Ireland, who asked an old man what the figure was, and thought he answered 'Sheila-na-Gig' - which has no obvious meaning in Gaelic. The best survey of them is Jorgen Andersen's The Witch on the Wall (see Bibliography). SHEKINAH: ('Brightness' or 'Dwelling') Hebrew. The Brightness of God, envisaged as female in essence and identified with Wisdom. Cf. SOPHIA. Envisaged as sitting on the Mercy Seat, in a cloud of fire, with cherubim on either side. Described in the Zohar as 'the consuming fire, by which they [men] are renewed at night'. She is the 'flaming torch' of Genesis xv: 17, the 'pillar of cloud' of Exodus xiv: 19-20, the 'cloudy pillar' of Exodus xxxiii:9-10, the 'great cloud with fire flashing' of Ezekiel i:4, and the 'shining cloud' of Matthew xvii:5. Mother of FILIA VOCIS. Day, Saturday. SHENG-MU: see PI-HSIA-YUAN-CHUN. SHENTAYET: Egyptian goddess of weaving; she wove the mummy-wrappings of Osiris. Often depicted as a cow. SHEOL: The Hebrew Underworld, and also its feminine personification. The Dark Mother, envisaged as a reabsorbing womb, frightening and insatiable, and yet peaceful. Many biblical references use the womb metaphor. SHINA-TO-BE: Japanese goddess who blows away mists. SHING-MU: Chinese. The Holy Mother or Perfect Intelligence, who conceived and bore her son while still a virgin; but this may originally have been in the old sense of 'independent woman', and 'her ancient character is revealed in the fact that she is the patroness of prostitutes' (Esther Harding). [BACK] [NEXT] This document can be re-published only as long as no information is lost or changed, credit is given to the author, and it is provided or used without cost to others. ©1987 Janet & Stewart Farrar | 
