Best Of
Re: Just for fun: the random, useless announcements thread!
7 Weird Ancient Egyptian Gods & Goddesses You've (Probably) Never Heard Of - Fun Guide for KS2
Nov 29, 2021 3 min read
Updated: Mar 31
The Ancient Egyptian religion includes over 2000 gods and goddesses. Although there’s so many, there’s a great number of Egyptian gods & goddesses that we know very little (or sometimes nothing) about. Because of this, you’ll often find a select few of the most popular gods and goddesses are included in every book, worksheet, article and classroom display about Ancient Egyptian religion.
We’ve even written an article about these popular Egyptian deities ourselves!
Ancient Egyptian imagery
But what about the less well-known gods and goddesses? What about the ones that nobody mentions because they’re just a bit… well… odd?
Well, we’ve scoured the long lists of Egyptian deities to find you 7 of the weirdest Ancient Egyptian gods & goddesses that you’ve (probably) never heard of.
Ancient stone toilet seat, rectangular with a circular hole, displayed under warm light. The surface is textured and beige in color.
An Ancient Egyptian toilet - courtesy ddenisen
Dua
God of: Toilets
Dua was the Egyptian god of sanitation and, yes, toilets! This meant he was responsible for keeping things clean, particularly in very dirty places such as bathrooms. Sanitation also includes the safe disposal of everything that ends up in your toilet (yes, this was a long winded way of saying “getting rid of your poop”!). So in many ways he could be described as a deified flush.
Weathered stone pharaoh statue with headdress, in dim light. Textured surface, some damage visible. Calm expression. Dark background.
Not enough prayers to Khenti-Khas to protect this nose!
Khenti-Khas
God of: The Noses of the Dead
And the award for the most obscure job for an Egyptian god goes to Khenti Khas, who is responsible for protecting the noses of the deceased. And clearly Khenti-Khas had his work cut out for him: many Egyptian statues were vandalised by ancient Egyptian people who believed that chopping off a statue’s nose would kill any part of that person’s spirit still living inside the statue. Lets hope Khenti-Khas was more successful in protecting the noses on the mummified dead bodies themselves.
Stone lion head fountain spouting water against a blurred green and dark background, evoking a regal and serene atmosphere.
Its not polite to spit - courtesy Linnaea Mallette
Tefnut
Goddess of: Spit
Alright so you may have heard of Tefnut before – she is often summarised as the goddess of water. But “goddess of the water” is a very generalised title and we certainly don’t want to get her confused with Anuket who is also a goddess of water, but more specifically the water in the River Nile. So let’s get down to the specifics. Tefnut is the goddess of moisture. This includes moist air, dew, a light drizzle and yes, even spit. In fact, Tefnut’s name can be translated as meaning “to spit”. And she has even been depicted as a picture of a mouth in mid-spit action. Poor woman!
Ancient Egyptian painting of four adults and a child walking, wearing patterned garments. Background has floral motifs and symbols.
Ancient Egyptian clothing
Hedjhotep
God of: Fabric
Hedjhotep was said to have invented clothing and was responsible for creating the clothes for the Pharaohs, the gods and the deceased. Not a lot is known of Hedjhotep, but he occasionally turns up in Egyptian mythology stories alongside other gods and goddesses. For example, he often hangs out with Tayet, the goddess of weaving. He also occasionally turns up in mythical stories featuring Shezmu, the god of treatments for headaches and stomach aches (pretty sure he should have made it onto this list too) where Hedjhotep sensibly makes bandages for him.
Egyptian painting of Anubis, a jackal-headed figure, embalming a mummy on a lion-shaped bed. Hieroglyphs and geometric patterns in background.
Ancient Egyptian Mummification in progress
Sepa
God of: Centipedes
Centipedes seems a strange thing to be a god of – but Sepa’s job was a very important one. The Egyptians were obsessed with preserving their dead and would mummify dead bodies to keep them in tip-top condition. Unfortunately for the Egyptians, insects would often attack the dead bodies before they could preserve them, forcing the body to start to decay. But the Egyptians had a secret weapon – the centipede. Centipedes feed on other insects so the Egyptians believed they protected the dead. So it was Sepa’s job to protect the dead through the use of predatory myriapod invertebrates with 100 legs (that's a centipede to you and I).
Egyptian painting of three figures in traditional attire, holding ankh symbols. Ornate geometric patterns and lush plants in background.
Helping Anubis mummify the dead
Kebechet
Goddess of: Freshness
No, we’re not saying that Kebechet was the goddess of armpit deodorant or fabric conditioner. Kebechet was the daughter of Anubis, the Egyptian god of death & mummification. So Kebechet was responsible for keeping the dead bodies nice and fresh during the embalming process. Imagine what a difficult job that must have been. But Kebechet knew what she was doing, because she was also the goddess of embalming fluid. Lucky thing.
Goose with outstretched wings stands on green grass by a lake. Sunlit feathers show brown, white, and black hues, creating a calm scene.
Could this be the "Great Honker" himself?
Gengen Wer
God of: The Celestial Egg
If this isn’t something straight out of a video-game, we don’t know what is. Believe it or not, Gengen Wer was a celestial goose. And if that wasn’t enough, his name means the “Great Honker”. In Egyptian mythology, it is said that Gengen Wer laid a great honking heavenly egg that contained the life force. Gengen Wer’s job is to protect that life force. What a goose!
lobster
Re: Just for fun: the random, useless announcements thread!
I've been making daily plans (to-do lists) for a long time now. It helps tremendously with keeping anxiety at bay, knowing what I'm supposed to / want to be doing, not getting sidetracked, and knowing whether I hit my targets for the day.
However, this week, for the first time, I made a weekly plan for work. Even better, I've been sticking to it. I was drawn to do it because I had a phase of a lot of work, and the last time that happened, I became an anxious mess. The weekly plan has done wonders for my anxiety and allowed me to do fun things without remorse or worry before work and once I hit my targets for the day.
Can recommend! 
marcitko
Re: The Plant Medicine Path
I came across this wonderful short docu by a team at The Guardian, about the indigenous people of the Amazon in Ecuador. Ayahuasca is part of their people’s heritage, and the docu talks about how taking the medicine out of the rainforest makes it more self centred and less able to heal. It talks about how western ayahuasqueros don’t really maintain the connection with nature when they go back to their country and to the cities.
Jeroen
Re: Dogen's Shobogenzo - Komyo (光明)
I did get around to listening to his series on Shobogenzo. I didn't study it so I couldn't really retell much of it, much of it was newer sort of information. I listen while working so my relation is pretty casual. I make up for it in volume, a few hours every day and eventually stuff starts to soak in.
The main thing I did take away though was Brad himself and his approach to teaching Zen. I've kind of shied away from that path over the years as it always sort of struck me as being too clever by half in all the ways it would kind of play word games in an attempt to shock you out of "it" instead of just speaking plainly. Brad's approach was more plain spoken and honest. I think I need to read some of his books, I'll probably try emailing him and see if I can't get a suggestion on where to start. Also thinking of dropping by treeleaf to see what's up there.
Have a good time all the time!
person
Re: The AI tsunami
@Jeroen you could try regenerative gardening. Just added a link on my website.
https://mettaray.com/Health/
also...
https://communitysupportedagriculture.org.uk/
We are not and never have been dependent on technology. Except for the sheep amongst us. AI is a tool and humans are good at breaking their tools...
lobster
Re: A chat with Mpisi
The introvert vs extrovert situation very much chimes with me. I’m quite an introverted person, but for a while I was a volunteer member of a mental health team in the Dutch town where I lived. The idea was to provide support for people who were just under the radar, not ill enough to need professional help but not doing so great on their own. I’d regularly meet a client in the local community centre, for coffee and cake and a talk.
This was very much concerned with loneliness and people who didn’t get out much. One was an avid player of the MMO game Second Life, one was an ex-truck driver who was now retired, one was a recovering mental health client trying to do mail delivery for the postal service. They were all definitely introverted people.
I wasn’t an active part of the team for very long, I’m not really good enough at small talk to be comfortable doing that work. But it showed me that even very introverted people will show up if you make an appointment for coffee and cake with them. However, lacking extroverted family members in the immediate surroundings who drag you along, it’s hard to find projects like the one I was engaged with.
You could say these things are a public health initiative, because loneliness is as much a predictor for an early death as obesity or smoking.
Jeroen
Re: A mindful study of love
Third, there were the talks I used to have every day with my dad. Sometimes they were about areas where I felt I could use his support, but often we also talked about his interests, like Graham Hancock and the Boston Celtics, a basketball team. That exchange of interests, of him allowing in his life the things that happened to me like my adventures in mental health, and of me picking up things that were interesting to him, is also an expression of love.
Jeroen
A mindful study of love
I wanted to say a few things about love…
First of all, there was the golden being of lovingness and grace that I encountered in a vision. I fell in love when I saw it, it was so beautiful, I was overwhelmed. It was like a primary experience, I felt my heart opening and there was this “aaaahh”, a surrender. It was like a moment of multiple perceptions, there was a small female face framed with golden hair, and at the same time there was a large being of flowing golden lines, and in between there was this experience of incredible lovingness, a divine grace. The words don’t do the experience justice, it was short, just a few seconds, and almost indescribably beautiful.
Second, there is the coffee I make for my mother every day around noon. I often find her asleep in her chair, and wake her up to drink coffee and have a biscuit. I know it pleases her, and it makes me happy to have made her happy. That too is love. It’s like when I told my father that my mother enjoys it so much when visitors bring her flowers. Whenever he came to visit us after that, my father would stop off at the supermarket and buy her a couple of bunches of flowers. He enjoyed making her happy. Giving is a powerful way of expressing love.
I found this article, it’s worth a read:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-mindful-self-express/201311/10-research-based-truths-about-people-in-love
Jeroen