Anuket
Gazelle & Antelope
Anuket is an Ancient Egyptian Goddess and personifies the Nile. Her sacred animal is Gazelle or Antelope. Anuket was worshipped each year with the commencement of the inundation of the Nile to give thanks to the Goddess for the life-giving floods to ensure that the water levels rose to a good height to bring a good crop and subsequent harvest as the people depended on it for survival.
The Nile Inundation
Anuket’s association with the gazelle is perhaps not obvious at first, but the gazelle’s ability of running at great speed and leaping high and far in the air is quite similar to the way the water moved, especially in the South. Anuket is also the Goddess of the hunt. Because of her symbolising the life-giving waters of the Nile in an otherwise dry desert-like climate, Anuket was also Goddess of fertility.
A Tender Embrace
Her name means “Embrace” and this can be seen on more levels than one. There is the embrace of the waters of the Nile at inundation, but also the embrace of the mother of her child and the woman who embraces her lover to create new life. She is the Goddess of childbirth, as well as of abundance. She was also worshipped by the sailors for safe passage and safe return on the Nile river. As a patroness of the poor, she supplies those in need with wealth and fertility.
Protection
Anuket teaches you to allow energy to flow freely. She protects you in times of distress and eases your fear, especially in labour and childbirth. She nurtures and nourishes and reminds you that you are always provided for with all you need at any time. Working with her energy will open the gates to free flow of energy where before you have restricted or blocked it. Celebrate life’s abundance in your own personal experience and note how this increases, the more you acknowledge and appreciate it.