Akem-Shield of Sekhmet Who Incinerates the Rebels

An original Kemetic icon
By Master Iconographer Ptahmassu K.M. Nofra-Uaa.
2023

5x7 museum conservation wood panel.

Genuine... more

by Ptahmassu Nofra-Uaa

Original - Not For Sale

Price

Not Specified

Dimensions

5.000 x 7.000 x 0.010 inches

Title

Akem-Shield of Sekhmet Who Incinerates the Rebels

Artist

Ptahmassu Nofra-Uaa

Medium

Mixed Media - Watercolor, Gold, Semi-precious Stones On Panel

Description

An original Kemetic icon
By Master Iconographer Ptahmassu K.M. Nofra-Uaa.
2023

5"x7" museum conservation wood panel.

Genuine mineral pigments used as watercolor: garnet, hematite, jadeite, amethyst, lapis lazuli, turquoise, amazonite.

22kt yellow gold, 23kt rose gold, platinum, copper.

Meteoric glass (Libya), Citrine (Madagascar), bastnasite (Pakistan), ruby (India), Mohave copper turquoise, carnelian, black spinel (India).

Lead crystal (Austria).

The akem-shield or aegis is an apotropaic image of a netjer (deity) depicting the head, crown, broad wesekh-collar, and breast pectoral of the god or goddess. Used in specific ritual contexts during which the deity becomes the protective patron of a devotee, cultic location or community, the akem-shield serves not only as a form of embodiment for the ka or spiritual essence of the deity, but also as a conduit for a specific manifestation of the deity's dynamic activities. These are always aimed at the preservation of the cult-house and religious community, the working of the deity's intimate protection via Heka (Magical Force), and maintenence of the divine order, Ma'at.

This Akem-Shield of Sekhmet Who Incinerates the Rebels embodies the terrifying Goddess Sekhmet in Her moment of becoming the Eye of Ra, the most destructive aspect of the God Ra through which the divine order of Ma'at is preserved against the forces seeking to dismantle it. The flaming orb of the sun, encircled by the Cobra-Goddess, Who is Herself a manifestation of the Divine Eye, contains within it the seed of recreation for all principles or beings, the solar scarab beetle (Scarabaeus sacer), here in the form of a sublimely crafted cabochon of precious meteoric glass (Libyan glass) set in wings of 22 karat gold. A fabulous solar citrine is held in the pinchers of a magical scorpion who links this aspect of Sekhmet with the scorpion Goddess Ta-Bitjet, thus providing a further link with the Goddess Aset the Great Enchantress.

The hieroglyphic text on the viewer's right translates as: "Sekhmet Who incinerates (or burns, consumes) the rebels," the rebels here being not only those chaotic beings who attempted to overthrow the ordered rule of Ra, but also the forces that continue to work against the Ma'at of the Gods. This is Sekhmet the champion of Divine Justice, the Goddess Who hears petitions by the wronged and disadvantaged.

The magic of healing against illness, diseases, and pandemics has been built into this god-image from Her inception, which took place during the Coronavirus lock down, when the Goddess Sekhmet was invoked for protection as the virus continued to spread and take lives with it. This Shield, together with Her twin sister the Akem-Shield of Sekhmet the Eye of Ra and Mistress of Heaven, was birthed as a repository for the terrible power of the Goddess Sekhmet that both heals and destroys, purifies, and renews the created world.

Homage to You O Sekhmet Great of Healing,
Beloved of Ptah, Mistress of the Sky, the Eye of Ra!

Homage to You in Your beauty, Your power, Your terror; great are Your forms that are feared amongst the Netjeru!

O Goddess, coming forth from Your house in the sky, hear my prayer and bestow Your healing boons; for You are a hearer of prayers, a healer of all ills, and it is by Your hands that the afflicted are bestowed with new life!

Before Your hands, I place my ills;
Before Your brow, I place my ills;
Before Your two eyes, I place my ills;
Before Your breath, I place my ills;
Before Your command, I place my ills;
Before Your words of power, I place my ills;
Before Your arrows, I place my ills;
Before Your throne of the sky, I place my ills;
Before Your heart on the horizon, I place my ills;
Before Your ears of mercy; I place my ills;
Before Your Great Eye, I place my ills;
Before Your disk of the sun, I place my ills;
Before Your cobra diadem, I place my ills;
Before Your terror, I place my ills!

O Goddess, O Sekhmet of the Sky, Great Lady of Life of the Two Lands! Receive my prayers, hear with justice, and grant fulfillment to my words. You are the Daughter of Ra Who leads the heavens, and by Whose command the horizons divide. Be with me now in my time of trials, and remove my sufferings as You remove what the Gods despise!

Uploaded

July 9th, 2023