Virginity Checks on Female Protesters. Outrageous.

I've just read this on CNN's website. Female protesters who were arrested in Cairo, Egypt were subjected to virginity tests back in the Egyptian protests earlier this year. Just recently, a senior Egyptian general admits that the virginity of the women were tested despite denials from other officials. The unidentified general gave the following statements in defense of the intrusive inspection:

"The girls who were detained were not like your daughter or mine," the general said. "These were girls who had camped out in tents with male protesters in Tahrir Square, and we found in the tents Molotov cocktails and (drugs)."


The general said the virginity checks were done so that the women wouldn't later claim they had been raped by Egyptian authorities.

"We didn't want them to say we had sexually assaulted or raped them, so we wanted to prove that they weren't virgins in the first place," the general saidhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif. "None of them were (virgins)."

Outrageous I tell you.

Source

The Lord of The Waters

Here's my latest rendition of the Crocodile God Sobek. Sobek (or Sebek) is an ancient Egyptian god of fertility, power, abundance and water. He's one of my all-time favorite ancient gods and a patron of mine. Don't let His reptilian appearance intimidate you. As far as I can see, Sobek is a benevolent god. I often invoke Sobek for power, guidance and protection. He hardly lets me down. Also, Sobek is the husband of Hathor the love goddess and Khonsu the moon god known for His healing miracles back in the day. That tells you something.

I wish I could tell you more about He who makes the herbage green but for now look at my latest artwork and read Wikipedia's entry on Him.

Hathor's Blessings on Valentine's Day

Today is Valentine's Day and to celebrate it, I invoke the Egyptian cow goddess of love and beauty Hathor. Here's a bit of information from the all-knowing sage Wikipedius:

Hathor (ḥwt-ḥr, Egyptian for Horus's enclosure),^[1] was an Ancient Egyptian goddess who personified the principles of love, beauty, music, motherhood and joy.^[2] She was one of the most important and popular deities throughout the history of Ancient Egypt. Hathor was worshiped by Royalty and common people alike in whose tombs she is depicted as "Mistress of the West" welcoming the dead into the next life.^[3] In other roles she was a goddess of music, dance, foreign lands and fertility who helped women in childbirth,^[3] as well as the patron goddess of miners.^[4]

According to the Book of The Heavenly Cow, the people of Lower Egypt rebelled against the sun god Re who was in human form at that time. Ra knew that the people planned to assassinate Him and so He told His daughter Hathor. Hathor became so angry She became the war goddess Sekhmet and proceeded to slaughter the people. Sekhmet became bloodthirsty and refused to stop massacring when Ra told Her to stop. When Ra tricked Her into drinking wine (disguised as blood), Sekhmet got drunk and transformed back into the gentle Hathor.

It is speculated the the golden calf worshiped by the Hebrews and ordered by the legendary magician Moses to be destroyed was an image of Hathor although it could be a different cow/bull deity from other ancient Middle-eastern cultures. The Ancient Greeks who came to Egypt adore Her and identified Her with their love goddess Aphrodite. Depending on which temple, Hathor is either a consort to Horus the Elder or the wise and knowledgeable Thoth. In the temple Kom-Ombo, Hathor is the wife of the crocodile Sobek and the mother of the moon god Khonsu thus forming what I call the Sobekian Triad.

How they ended up together, I may never know.

So, by the power of Lady Hathor, I send you blessings on this Valentine's Day. Now go and eat your chocolates.

Egypt is Free. Now What?

Recent news has it that the dictatorial Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has finally stepped down after all those years. The 2011 Egyptian Protests were a success. I bet the nationwide celebrations over there aren't finished yet.


However, forgive me for being a naysayer but I feel that something is not right.


The day of the fall of Mubarak was also the day of the Iranian Revolution Anniversary. Just in case you don't know your history, after the overthrow of the dictatorial Iranian monarchy, Islamic extremism took power and many people suffered throughout the years since then. I find it a bit (okay so it's kind of a HUGE bit) ominous about the synchronicity. Will Egypt fall into the hands of religious radicals? I hope not. I just hope it's just a plain coincidence and not an omen. I surely, truly hope so.

Hathor

Here's my own rendition of the cow goddess Hathor.