Sekhmet Tattoo Meaning

War, healing, fierce power, and the force that holds both plague and cure.

Sekhmet is the lioness-goddess of war, plague, and healing — the Powerful One whose breath made the desert and whose arrows carried pestilence, the fierce feminine force so mighty that she alone could cure what she had inflicted, holding both the plague and its cure. To carry Sekhmet is to carry war, healing, fierce power, and the force that holds both plague and cure — the lioness goddess of the scorching sun and pestilence, the destroyer who is also the healer, the fierce power that contains its own antidote.

In ancient Egypt, Sekhmet was the fearsome lioness-goddess of overwhelming power: Sekhmet — the Powerful One — was the goddess of war, pestilence, and the scorching sun; her breath created the desert, her arrows carried plague, and she alone could reverse what she had sent. Her very name means 'the Powerful One,' and she was depicted as a woman with the head of a lioness, often crowned with the solar disk — the fierce, blazing power of the sun and of war made into a goddess. She was a deity of terrifying might: the goddess of war who led the pharaohs in battle, the bringer of pestilence, the burning power of the desert sun.

Her destructive power was vast: it was said that her hot breath created the desert, that her arrows brought plague and disease, that she could rain destruction and pestilence upon humanity. She was the fierce, scorching, devastating force of the sun, of war, and of plague. And yet — crucially — she alone could reverse what she had sent: the same goddess who brought plague could also cure it, who inflicted disease could also heal it. Sekhmet was thus also a great goddess of healing, her priests associated with medicine, for the power that sent the plague was the power that could lift it. The Egyptian Sekhmet is thus the Powerful One of war and pestilence — the lioness goddess whose breath made the desert and whose arrows carried plague, who alone could cure what she inflicted. Sekhmet — the Powerful One — was the lioness goddess of war, pestilence, and the scorching sun, who alone could reverse the plague she sent. The Egyptian Sekhmet is the Powerful One of war and pestilence — Sekhmet, the Powerful One, was the goddess of war, pestilence, and the scorching sun, her breath creating the desert, her arrows carrying plague, and she alone able to reverse what she had sent; her name meaning 'the Powerful One,' depicted as a woman with the head of a lioness crowned with the solar disk, the fierce blazing power of the sun and war made into a goddess — a deity of terrifying might (the goddess of war who led the pharaohs in battle, the bringer of pestilence, the burning power of the desert sun), her destructive power vast (her hot breath said to create the desert, her arrows to bring plague, able to rain destruction upon humanity), and yet crucially she alone could reverse what she had sent (the same goddess who brought plague could cure it), also a great goddess of healing whose priests were associated with medicine, for the power that sent the plague was the power that could lift it.

Sekhmet's priests were the physicians of ancient Egypt — because she sent disease, she alone knew its cure. The same temple that housed her statue was the hospital. The goddess of plague was the patron of medicine, which is not a contradiction: it is the Egyptian understanding that the power to destroy and the power to heal are the same force, directed differently. Over seven hundred statues of Sekhmet were placed in the temple of Mut at Karnak — one for every day of the year and more, so that her appeasement could be continuous. She is depicted with a lion's head and a woman's body, wearing a solar disk and the uraeus cobra. In the myth of the Eye of Ra, she was sent to punish humanity and nearly destroyed it entirely — Ra had to flood the desert with red-dyed beer, which she drank thinking it was blood, and she became intoxicated and stopped the slaughter. The feast of Sekhmet celebrated her return from destruction.

Sekhmet across cultures

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